Post no bill, please

CONSIDERING how many times this regime has been finding ways to mess up our civil liberties, it should change its logo to a fist with the middle finger sticking out.

As if the be-wigged stooge of President Digong Dada at the justice department hasn’t wrangled the Republic’s judicial system enough to serve the regime’s vendetta, here comes another stooge who wants to impose the historically “effective” ghetto-like branding – all, of course, in the name of waging the war on drugs.

About a fortnight ago, Interior Secretary Ismael Sueño opined to label houses that are supposedly “drug free” with a decal telling people the house is such.

Sueño suggests this will be better than the violent Oplan Tokhang. He is so convinced there is nothing inherently wrong with this that he vilified Amnesty International-Philippines when the latter called him out on his plan to brand houses. Sueño even resorted to a childish play on words against the Nobel Prize laureate saying: “They should be branded as human wrong group, not human rights group.”

Who will determine if the household is indeed drug-free? Who will evaluate and confirm this as a fact? How will they categorize and what are the rules of implementation of this branding campaign?

This came to him, Sueño said, after meeting with the regional peace and order councils recently.

He said this regime is shifting to a non-violent and positive way to combat illegal drugs. Is he admitting that Oplan Tokhang was wrong? The plastering of “drug free” stickers on houses, he said, will not be a police operation but by the civilian peace and order councils from the regional down to the barangay level.

Hasn’t Sueño been listening to his boss? Didn’t Digong Dada push for the postponement of the barangay elections because “most” barangay officials are allegedly involved in the illegal drugs trade? Now, Sueño wants these people allegedly involved in illegal drug trafficking to decide which house in their barangay is drug-free? If he doesn’t see the problem of conflicts of interest in that arrangement, I personally don’t know what will.

How sure is Sueño that this new branding campaign will not be used by barangay chairpersons as a subtle campaign for their own pedestrian political careers? Let’s not forget we are going to elect a new set of barangay officials this coming October. I, for one, am not expecting for such decal. This is because I have been at odds with our barangay chairman in Consolacion – a Roa, I might add – since he practically abdicated his mandate to policing our village of drug users and hooligans. My regular (at 165 of them) readers will bear this out since I have been writing about his governance style or to be accurate his lack of it.

Plus, let me remind Mr. Sueño that we are in the Philippines – a third world impoverished country – where a house does not automatically mean one family. I live in a house being shared by two other families. Should our brilliant barangay chairman decide not to stick a decal on our house on my account – just to get back at me – won’t that be unfair for the other two families, who may or may not be involved in illegal drugs?

I am most certain that this will be used arbitrarily by barangay chairpersons who want to stay as chairpersons in their barangays after October.

“Plus, let me remind Mr. Sueño that we are in the Philippines…”

Which company will be printing the drug-free decals. Who stands to gain from this enterprise? In street vernacular: Pila man gyud, ser?

I mean, how different is this to Nazi Germany’s posting of a Star of David on the homes of Jews not too long ago. This may be a reverse of what Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim did before, spray-painting houses of suspected drug traffickers but its effect is still the same. It will discriminate the household members of a house with no drug-free sticker plastered on it.

So, no, Mr. Sueño, I will not participate in your version of a Star of David – respect my right to private property and post no bill, please.

Public conversation

THE public conversation on corruption is bound to happen whoever is in power. Even the almighty Apo Ferdie couldn’t get under wraps. It is nothing personal. It is a conversation where the taxpayers hold to account those who swore to be true and at their service.

Forbes Magazine recently cited Transparency International’s 2016 Corruption Index where the country slid back some six places in ranking – from an index of 134 in 2010 to 168. We are now neighbors with Pakistan and India in terms of level of corruption.

“President Duterte’s dramatic rise to power in the Philippines made extensive use of anti-corruption rhetoric. Yet, the impact of death squads, attacks on media, and violent intimidation to the detriment of democracy and democratic institutions is yet to be seen in 2017,” Transparency International’s observation reads in part.

Deflection must be the most useful tact in any self-respecting politician’s arsenal. Even the ones who claim they have nothing to hide.

As I see it, there is really no need for President Digong Dada to order the Anti-Money Laundering Council to “release” his bank account records because as the highest elected public official in the land every asset he and his family has, earned or inherited, should all reflect in all of his Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth. Yes, from when he was a non-crusading public prosecutor up to his winning the presidency of the Republic last year.

For the dense and ignorant, the submission of a SALN, as stipulated in Republic Act 6713, is a prerequisite of all public officials and employees – sans those in an honorary capacity, laborers, casuals, and temporary workers –upon assumption to office and on or before April 30 of every year in government service. Public officials are also required to file a SALN within 30 days after separation from government service.

“The SALN lists the properties – real estate, vehicles, jewelry, shares of stock, etc. – that an official has acquired or owns, when, at what cost, and their current market values. The SALN also enrolls the official’s liabilities such as loans, including those from government institutions (read: GSIS) and insurance payments. The SALN should list as well the names of the official’s wife and children below 18, and the names of the official’s relatives in government service up to the fourth degree of consanguinity and affinity,” our codigo cum notebook when I was with the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism reads.

So when Sen. Antonio Trillanes brought up Duterte’s supposedly suspicious fat bank accounts I was surprised that the latter’s initial response was childish name-calling and insults. The next day, as if sobered up, ordered the AMLC to “release all his bank records.” A little digression for the online trolls and fanatics, I agree that Trillanes looks creepy. Well, they both look sinister as fudge to me. But looks and gut feel has got nothing to do with the Trillanes-Duterte to-and-fro (which basically is turning out to be a b-version of a Star Wars saga).

If Duterte has nothing to hide he need simply point Trillanes to all of his SALNs. This, of course, has a lot of conjectures attached to that statement. That is assuming Duterte faithfully and honestly filed SALNs in all the years of his career as a public servant. There’s the assumption, too, that he really advocates for transparency and accountability in public service – and so on and so forth.

Trillanes’ accusations should also not come as a surprise for Duterte considering the former comptroller of the Navy’s acquisition division already filed a plunder case last year. A second attack, as it were, was bound to happen. Like a rat that got wind of a rotting cheese, it will pursue it no matter what. Trillanes will not back down. He has already drawn first blood.

Whichever sides of the fence you are sitting, Trillanes’ accusations is primarily a call for transparency. If he has shady practices in the Senate then these should also be investigated on – as pointed out by the Fifth Estate (Duterte’s barrage of spin doctors). Too bad, Trillanes beat Duterte to hurling accusations first.

This also brings to fore the need for a public conversation on the alleged corruption under the Duterte administration which was bound to happen as with the past presidents of the Republic.

So, no VG, this is not about whether I’m opposed to this administration or not. This is not about the person. This is about us – yes, including you – pulling our heads out of our asses and start asking the really ugly questions that need to be asked.

We cannot just sweep the conversation under the rug, so to speak.

Tool for change

PRESIDENT Digong Dada is a tool.

Wait. I don’t mean the slang definition of the word which is a guy with a douchy temperament and is foul mouthed. Well, he’s all that too but what I mean – for the purpose of this column – is the proper dictionary definition which is a means or an implement whereby an act is accomplished.

That was what I understood of his branding during the campaign last year. He was going to be the tool of the masses that have been neglected by the elitist Aquino administration. A government ran by oligarchs, according to Digong Dada’s communicators.

Digong Dada’s administration was selling change. It was the best part of his pitch. In fact, I dare say Mar Roxas lost because he categorically said his administration would not be any different from his friend, Noynoy Aquino. Six years (the term of office of a President) is a long time. Towards the end of Aquino’s term, most Filipinos have had enough of his excuses and his seeming indifference to the masses.

Digong Dada is our generation’s Ramon Magsaysay. His lackeys said so. He said so, too. Methinks it was what endeared him to 16 million voters. Voters who did not mind his douchy temperament and his foul mouth because he sounded like them.

Let’s go back to discussing his being a tool.

Tool to be wielded by the oppressed and exploited labor force. He promised to put an end to the contractualization scheme in the work force. He promised a stark increase of workers’ pension. So far, these promises have remained as such – promises.

Tool to be wielded by the marginalized indigenous peoples and a champion of the environment. He declared his affinity with the Lumad. Yet the killing of Lumad leaders still continue without let-up. Tribal communities have been host to mining firms, especially here in Mindanao.

However, when his environment secretary declared a no-nonsense crackdown on erring mining firms, his cabinet vetoes it. He did say he supports the closure order last week but what he says is entirely different from what his finance secretary is saying.

Tool to be wielded by the downtrodden and disenfranchised urban poor. Having resided in an urban poor community for the better part of my life has put me in the best listening position to the woes of the city’s survivors – people who have no dental and medical plans, who have to eke a living in a day-to-day basis.

However, the urban poor forms the biggest casualty in Digong Dada’s bloody war on drugs. How many times did we witness him giving real drug lords a free pass on live news TV? How many times will we have to listen to him say the poor addicts are not capable of reforming?

I thought we would be wielding this tool for change.

So, who could be wielding this tool now? If you read the dailies and listen to broadcasts of mainstream media you can have a peek at who really wields him as a tool. Nay, weapon. I say the new oligarchs have been brandishing him like a weapon. A weapon unleashed on the very people who put him to power.