Political brouhaha

Once upon a time, the President was seen as the country’s unifying factor and problem solver. He opened the door for negotiating peace and saw the Bangsamoro Organic Law passed, although the peace talks with the Communist party fizzled out allegedly because the President is not comfortable with the demand for power sharing in government. Yet, after more than two years under the present administration, we still find ourselves in a seemingly forsaken country with the peso plunging, prices of gasoline and basic goods soaring, and the same stories of corruption, smuggling, crime, traffic and all.

While the President tries to be firm in his political will, as shown in the unprecedented closure of Boracay, the continuation of his publicly and internationally maligned war against illegal drugs, he continues to show inconsistencies in leadership. What is worse is that not all of his subordinates in government have been efficient. In fact, many of their ways have overzealously backfired on him creating an air full of hatred, vindictiveness, and spite brought about by insensitivity and too much politics.

How much longer would the president tolerate the antics of his PCOO official and the latter’s blogger friend who had provoked public ire several times with their peculiar but insensitive ways of expressing their views? They may have become liabilities in the task to improve the public image of the president even if they apologize every time. Well, we could not expect too much from them of all people. But being in government, Ms. Mocha Uson should be more prudent and circumspect in uploading videos and messages in the internet, especially with her friend who became an instant hit by maligning the vice president, acting out the vilified pepedederalismo jingle, ridiculing the disabled by publicly making fun of the sign language, and very recently encouraging UP students to just commit suicide instead of joining rallies.

People in government are expected to observe higher standards in the exercise of the freedom of expression. Maybe Secretaries Andanar and Roque should do something about this. I also hope the case filed by the PNP for the blogger’s bomb threat statement to dissuade people from joining a rally at EDSA is not only for show, or else, the public might think they are actually doing assigned diversionary maneuvers to distract the people from more pressing issues.

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Then we have the Trillanes amnesty voiding telenovela allegedly initiated by the Solicitor General who was about to be investigated by the senator’s committee regarding some government contracts. Amidst the brouhaha, two Makati RTC judges found themselves caught in the crossfire. Judge Alameda was bashed on social media after he issued a warrant of arrest against the senator. Good for the judge, the reopening of the rebellion case where the application for bail was already granted even before the case was dismissed in 2011, did not produce much impact as the senator simply posted bail.

The situation in the court of Judge Soriano, where the coup d’etat case was dismissed in 2011 by reason of the now voided amnesty, is different because an arrest warrant would put the senator behind bars without bail. But when the Supreme Court denied the senator’s application for temporary restraining order and said that “the Makati Regional Trial Courts should be given leeway in exercising their concurrent jurisdiction to hear and resolve the pleadings/motions filed by the parties as regards the legality of Proclamation No. 572”, is this not a mandate from the Supreme Court for the RTC to re-assume jurisdiction over the case? Could this be possible without obtaining jurisdiction over the person of the accused through an arrest? Will the judge be ignoring the Supreme Court mandate if he will not re-assume jurisdiction and decide on the legality of Proclamation No. 572?

It is indeed a damned if you do and still damned if you don’t situation. Judge Soriano needs our prayers. Will he follow the lead of Judge Alameda and justify the issuance of an arrest warrant and reopening of a long dismissed case on the presumed validity of the Proclamation voiding the amnesty granted to the senator for the latter’s failure to comply with the conditions, therefore necessarily making the 2011 case dismissal also void? Or would he adopt a different position and deny the DOJ motion for the issuance of an arrest warrant by recognizing the rule on finality of judgments and the right of an accused against double jeopardy, without regard to the propriety of the dismissal? Or will he opt to inhibit himself from the case for health reasons? Abangan!

I am not sure if the Trillanes gambit will pay off or boomerang to the Solicitor General and the President. Why pick a fight with a senator, who does not command much following notwithstanding his bravado way of talking, and whose political career is already nearing its inevitable end? I just hope this is not an intended phase of a bigger plan to sow panic and disorder to justify a more drastic government action.

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Should we not worry first of our most pressing economic problems? What happened to the peso, now at P54 against the US dollar? Why has government allowed more importation of goods and services against exports? Why is the country not producing as much? Clearly the new tax programs have majorly contributed to this. The President must immediately take action. Investors, traders, factory owners, multi-national industries are not clear with this administration’s direction. They want stability. The President should be more careful of his ways because every word he utters, every decision he makes and every action he takes may easily shake the country. Investors are always looking for peaceful, friendly and safe grounds. Ours is too political, shabby, and unruly.

If the President continues to sit on our economic woes and focuses on fighting his irritants, then we have a big problem. A few weeks ago he complained about the increase of airline rates, didn’t he? Someone better tell him that the increase is the result of inflation. Filipinos are starting to feel more pressure in our living expenses because all of a sudden, prices increased and the value of our money fell. Sanamagan!

Inflation of 6.4% reached a nine-year high last August. The prices of goods increased. What used to be a P2,000 market budget a week for a family of four has now doubled. Meat, poultry, pork, fish and vegetables not to mention rice, has become more expensive. In a country that is surrounded by land, water, and an abundance of natural resources we still suffer. Why? Because we import more food than we produce. Susmariosep!

The President and his men better put their act together. They are too preoccupied with the menial concerns of politics. Stop talking and start acting. Run the government!