Heckle and Jekyll

Our President was heckled on Independence Day. His long line of predecessors all faced this baptism of literal in your face criticism, some more gamely than others – the ultimate exercise of free speech and petitioning the government.

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is ok with criticism. A cool customer, he welcomed the commentary and recognized their right. Recall that he even braved the protesters’ stage at the 2017 State of the Nation Address. But the Kawit hecklers were arrested anyway. In this, the Duterte administration has proven no different than Aquino III.

There is an elaborate public forum analysis in disputes involving freedom of expression at events. There is treatment variance in the spectrum of private to public. The legality of time, place and manner regulation depends on the character of the forum. In PRRD’s case, the Kawit balcony of the Aguinaldo shrine is part of a public museum and its frontage, a freedom park. It turns out, the maximum tolerance he benevolently assured was the applicable rule, after all.

Hecklers tend to forget that their target has the equal freedom to speak. There is no automatic freedom to hijack a speaker’s space.

But liability for arrest really depends on how much of a disorder was created. In Kawit, there was hardly any. The local police should heed the President’s message of leniency. Pursuing the case shows weakness, not strength.

None are so blind as those who refuse to see. One week from the time Delfin Lorenzana, Secretary of National Defense (SND) publicly disavowed the criminality that PRRD himself acknowledged to exist, we have seen a priest gunned down, a judge murdered, etc., etc., etc. This week’s public statement from the SND on the West Philippine Sea (WPS) is a continuing question mark on his department’s intelligence capabilities.

The temptation to assign blame is one that even military men are not immune to. There must be as many interpretations of Honor Codes as there are soldiers. But, suspending the disbelief in seeing this fighting man mouth appeasement scripts, we are surprised at: (1) his public indictment of the WPS situation being mismanaged; and (2) his claim that we should be happy with more tourists, trade and fish. Were it not for his highly visible face to face with Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jian Hua at Kawit, we would be forgiven for believing that he is thankful that China, in it’s goodwill, allowed us to fish.

It wasn’t always like this. SND’s public persona has usually been on that side of valor. He has had his moments: the visit to Pag-asa (Thitu) in Kalayaan (Spratlys) island group, oblivious to the threat to his personal safety; Martial law administrator in Marawi; his vocal protest of the Kagitingan (fiery cross reef) militarization. In this last caper he was even publicly corrected by Secretary Herminio Roque and gently reminded that he is SND and not Secretary of Foreign Affairs. 

It is when he moves from National Defense to Press Secretary that SND finds trouble. Defending a country is not easy but neither is defending unpopular policies.

Happy with crumbs? Former Senate President Frank Drilon handily trotted out the statistics that SND could have had in hand while espousing the crumbs justification. Vietnam has been defiant at no economic cost for its audacity. With respect to China, Vietnam’s trade, FDI and tourism figures dwarf our numbers. Here we are, swallowing the bitter pill with nothing to show for it but sour faces. 

Foreign policy should serve the national interest. When it doesn’t, it becomes the duty of our elected Senators to point this out, weighing short term political and economic gains against long term consequences. We are thankful that some national leaders like Senator Drilon have not abdicated their duties in this regard.

He hates drugs, whiffs and … priests. It is not only the religious who are violated when attacks are heaped on men of the cloth. Priests represent the best of us, apart from being representatives of the higher power they symbolize. Its not easy to become a priest. Apart from the self limiting vows, it takes a longer time to matriculate. Typically, five to six years after college. Doctors and lawyers are the only other professions given that elevated stature – owing to their vows to learning. You assault them and you assault the values of charity, compassion and excellence they represent.

Bullying the pulpit. PRRD immediately condemned the killings of the Catholic priests in Nueva Ecija and Cagayan. But his inner Jekyll could not let go of an abiding abhorrence of the clergy. Recall that even “the Kiss” in Seoul came on the heels of his freebie book on church scandals.

Once again, we are seeing an unconventional use to which the prestige of his office is put. The phrase bully pulpit’s connotation is that of using the President’s high station to inspire or preach lofty ideals. The sort of preaching that we are now seeing is clearly not that.

The Jeffersonian “wall of separation” between Church and State is not just a barrier prohibiting government’s support of a religion. It also serves to protect the religious from persecution. The idea is to respect the freedom to choose your religion and practice your faith.

Passages. Alma Maceda Calleja, Pepito Vera Perez, Manuel M. Calanog Jr. Towering figures in the lives of one impressionable young boy and his brothers. Apart from the generous surrogate assistance to our parents, their extraordinary lives served as road maps. They belonged to a generation that bore out the importance of living lives of purpose; how we can be better than ourselves and do more for others. We will never forget you. Tomorrow, Fathers Day, we celebrate this critical role of shepherd that you all so ably performed. If we do not lose our way, it will be because we are guided by the compass of your good examples. When you see him, please greet our Dad for us a Happy Fathers Day.