By Reni M. Valenzuela
“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.” – Benjamin Franklin
It is consoling that we now have a Supreme Court that seems better than the previous ones we have had. Thus, Filipinos can hope that “politics,” undue influence, and personal utang na loob won’t sway a prudent, fair, impartial, untainted, and just act/decision of our honorable magistrates regarding the issues at hand, vis-à-vis Rodrigo Duterte, rather justice for the more than 30,000 victims of his bogus anti-drug campaign.
But may I ask, with due respect, dearest Chief Justice and associate justices of the High Court: What writ of habeas corpus does the government need to explain in arresting Mr. Duterte and turning him over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) when such a long-delayed act should have long ago happened?
Given the clearer-than-crystal and brighter-than-daylight proofs and evidence of human carnage in the so-called “drug war” since 2016, besides the admissions Mr. Duterte made (and bragged about) on a number of occasions, what “legal” explanation does Malacañang have to give? Aren’t the crimes clearly crimes and “crimes against humanity”? Nagtatanong lamang po.
Supreme God and Supreme Court are heaven and earth apart from each other. Remember, sirs and madams, the victims were not even given a chance to say a short prayer before they were shot. Domine, miserere nobis.
What is better about Duterte’s current situation is that he has a chance to repent inside his detention cell and live a new life even while incarcerated for the rest of his life, subsequent to an eventual, just, and prompt verdict—unlike what swiftly befell the poor victims of his bloody “war on drugs.” Mercy!
By the way, the Villars do not hide their sympathies for their “good friend,” the embattled former leader, Rodrigo Roa Duterte.
Sen. Cynthia Villar and her son Mark, an incumbent senator too and ex-cabinet member of ex-President Duterte, had just said their separate pieces of empathy and support for their friend. But what about the pretty Villar (in the Lower House), Rep. Camille?
Sen. Mark Villar narrated, “I remember during my first few years as secretary of Public Works, Duterte called me… to help look for a job for the father of a cancer patient… I remember feeling so touched by his concern for those children.” Really?
I am concerned that Digong might get offended by the good things the Villars are saying about him at this juncture because he’s still very much alive. They sound like they are reciting their eulogy for him already.
The family patriarch, former Senate President and presidential candidate Manny Villar, said he was “hurt to see a very good friend being taken and charged by a foreign entity.” But can you not keep your “hurt” to yourself, sir? The more than 30,000 victims of the “drug war” were not only hurt, they were killed (instantly).
I wonder what great favors this “good friend” has done for the Villars. No good person condones wrongdoings and overrules justice. A true friend isn’t blind to the sins of his friend. False and faux.
The Villars are entitled to their sentiments, but for them to voice out such sentiments in public is not only uncalled for but also unpatriotic, insensitive, and deplorably stony and cruel. Imprensibilis. Mystic.
“Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” – Proverbs 27:5-6
The world is big. What is personal is personal, but what is of public concern is public property, and life (or death) for all.
Justice, beyond all else.
P.S.
Guess who are creating needless hullabaloos out of the Duterte-ICC situation? And who are the ones actually painting political colors on the matter to stir artificial/theatric uproars and catalyze “controversies”—aimed at notching up dubious, suspicious ends?
Obvious.
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