#EndImpunityPH

OVER the weekend, I was preparing a column with a sarcastic take on Sen. Ronaldo Bato dela Rosa’s “s**t happens” comment on the death of three-year-old Kateleen Myca Ulpina.

However, I received a far more important statement from the Philippine UPR Watch, which I thought trumps anything that I planned to write.

Therefore, I have decided to cede my column space for their statement. Please do read on:

The resolution tabled by Iceland and supported by many States at the current 41st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council to comprehensively and methodically address the horrendous extrajudicial killings and the plethora of rights violations in the Philippines is a highly significant international initiative.

It is a big step in stride with other parallel measures and contemporaneous efforts that merits the full support of an intergovernmental body that is mandated to ensure the promotion, protection, and respect for human rights at the global level. Despite desperate efforts of the Duterte administration to package its violations as worthy of praise and emulation, the evolution of the firm resolution emphasized the futility of attempts to evade accountability on the human rights violations committed by State actors and the international community’s acknowledgment of the grave human rights situation in the Philippines. We likewise appreciate all other current diplomatic initiatives that express concern on the dire situation in the Philippines.

Under the banner of the Philippine UPR Watch, human rights defenders from Karapatan,  National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, National Council of Churches of the Philippines, and Iglesia Filipina Independiente conducted intense lobby and advocacy activities on the human rights situation in the Philippines during the current session of the Council in Geneva.

The Philippine NGO delegation met and conversed with several State Missions, some UN Special Procedures and various international human rights organisations to provide direct testimonies and documentation on the killings and attacks against human rights defenders, church workers and lawyers, on the atrocious climate of impunity with the implementation of the Philippine government’s  bloody and cruel “drug war” and counterinsurgency program, the use of draconian policies and measures including martial law in Mindanao, and the failure of domestic institutions and mechanisms to provide real succor and effective redress for victims of human rights violations.

The NGO delegation also addressed the misleading theatrics and gross disinformation rants of apologists of the Philippine government in Geneva, which are riding in tandem with the orchestrated propaganda blitz in the country and junket roadshows in the US and Europe. Measured against reality and hard facts, such as PR stunts, however, are empty rhetorics and desperate efforts to evade accountability.

We invite the international community of nations and peoples to see through all these charivaris by nervous officials.

Spin #1: The Philippine government refutes the data and reports on the number of victims of extrajudicial killings in the drug war by citing statistics of the Philippine National Police which are “merely” 6,000 deaths. This is not a numbers game to be wagered over human lives. The numerous cases and consistent reports have indicated that what appears to be a  “shoot first, justify later” tendency of the Philippine National Police has resulted to the mad slaughter of poor Filipinos deprived of their right to basic due process. It bespeaks of the cold callousness that has possessed our authorities when a newly-elected senator, who was among the primary implementers of the bloody “drug war,” has derided and trivialized the recent killing of 3-year-old Myca Ulpina, with his “shit happens” comment most insensitive.

Spin #2: The Philippine government misleads the international community in saying that majority of Filipinos approve Duterte’s drug war, citing a 2018 survey and the results of the midterm elections. Lost in translation is another recent survey result released in March 2019, where 78% or 4 out of 5 Filipinos have expressed worry and fear that they would be the next victims of extrajudicial killings. Also brushed aside are the various outstanding questions and complaints concerning fraud, machination, and violence during the recent elections and which unfortunately still prey on many of our people.

Spin #3: Filipino diplomats and officials have senselessly berated Iceland and other States supporting the proposed resolution as “colonizers,” once again invoking the country’s sovereignty, in a hypocritical attempt to evade its commitments to international human rights conventions and declarations. Indeed, the “sovereignty” card has been repeatedly misused by the Philippine government to duck accountability, while it has allowed repeated violations on the country’s patrimony and territorial integrity by foreign governments, at the expense of the rights of Filipinos.

Spin #4: Philippine authorities have repeatedly maligned civil society organizations and human rights defenders as “terrorists” and “traitors to their country,” in a vicious attempt to sow misinformation on the facts and issues on the ground and to get back at critics and political dissenters. Contrary to the vilification fetish and smear campaign of the Philippine government, Filipino human rights defenders have been killed, arrested on trumped up charges, maligned, threatened and harassed due to their work of exposing the State’s gross violation and abdication of its sworn duty to uphold the rights of its citizens. Aren’t the real traitors those in power who subvert international human rights instruments and the Philippine Constitution to justify their repeated and relentless violation of people’s rights?

Spin #5: Master fake news purveyors of the government have been boasting about a working and vibrant justice system in the Philippines, citing it as among the main reasons why international scrutiny or investigation is not needed. They touted the number of police personnel facing complaints, the conviction of Gen. Jovito Palparan and the revival of the task force on extrajudicial killings as dubious evidence. What is glaring are the following facts: one, that government officials have magnified rare minute cracks on impunity and showcased them but remained mum on the number of police personnel or soldiers convicted for committing extrajudicial killings; two, the conviction of Palparan has been widely attributed to the grim determination of the relatives of the disappeared female students, witnesses, lawyers, human rights defenders, and the international community, and not due to the Duterte administration’s efforts; and three, the task force on EJKs created by virtue of Administrative Order No. 35 has turned out to be a government body that has failed in exacting accountability for crimes perpetrated by State actors. 

Spin #6: The Philippine government tries to hoodwink the international community when it invokes adherence to international human rights instruments and cites its purported cooperation with UN human rights mechanisms, doing so cynically with tirades of vitriol and verbal insults against UN special procedures, high commissioners and prosecutors of the International Criminal Court and its repeated rejection of any international investigation or inquiry on reported human rights violations. The government has also barely responded substantially to most, if not all communications by special procedures and has made a mockery of the UN Universal Periodic Review process by abusing it as a platform to deodorize its deceptive claims on respecting human rights.

We know it will get worse before it gets better. And we are bracing for panicky reprisals. But we will stand our ground and will continue to stand in the way to stop the impunity. We ask the international community of nations and peoples: stand by us before it is way too late as it is already much too much.

Asserting our rights

“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.” — Thomas Jefferson, 1776 US Declaration of Independence

THE Universal Declaration of Human Rights is as relevant and important today as it was when it was adopted by 48 countries, the Philippines included, 70 years ago yesterday.

Human rights watchdog Karapatan has documented that from May 23, 2017, to November this year, there were 88 victims of political killings, 128 cases of frustrated killings, and 186 victims of illegal arrests and detention in Mindanao alone.

On Sunday, a group of farmers and indigenous people from Bukidnon, numbering to about 2,000, were held up by the armed police at Patpat, Malaybalay in Bukidnon. The contingent was on its way to the city to commemorate the 70th Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Not to be deterred, the contingent staged a picket rally where they were held, and the police released them 30 minutes after.

One of the delegates observed that as soon as they were returning to their buses, the police officers started dismantling their supposed checkpoint.

“Clearly, the holding point was set up waiting only for the delegates,” reports one of the delegates.

The United Nations’ Human Rights Commission, through its special rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, has warned that the ongoing militarization of Mindanao will have a massive and potentially irreversible impact on the human rights of its tribal communities.

“We urge the Philippines to observe its obligations under international law to protect the human rights of indigenous peoples, including in the context of armed conflict. The authorities must ensure that all human rights abuses are halted and that there are justice and accountability for past attacks,” Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, reported to the UN’s human rights high commissioner last year.

The figures are alarming in that since last year, there have been 2,500 lumad people displaced, and the number is rising. With yet another extension of martial rule across the island, these figures will most definitely rise some more.

The UDHR is not just some mundane covenant of 48 countries. It is a document that encapsulates the age-old question, What makes one human? We must continue to assert this declaration as this administration continues to trample the very essence of what makes us humans.

Just as libertarians before us fought tooth and nail to assert their rights for a morally upright society, it is incumbent on us to take the cudgels once again during these dark days of our country.

The cost of war

"Our so-called leaders speak with words; they try to jail you. They subjugate the meek but it's the rhetoric of failure." ― The Police, Spirits in the material world [1981]

WITH all the warmongering that has been going on the past days, the war-hawks are sure going to make a killing this coming Christmas ― pun intended.

Many pundits of different political persuasions have already weighed in on Digong Dada's supposed revolutionary government come Nov. 30. Needless to say, I am not joining the fray anymore lest My Wit's End will end up dishing out an analysis paralysis on the subject.

Instead, let's say that this column will be sort of an advanced statement of billing to the cost of what will inevitably be a full-scale nationwide war. Yes, you read it right. We are going to discuss the cost of war ― the monetary and social costs.

How are we going to do that, you ask? We will base our calculations from the available data of the recently concluded Marawi campaign of this administration. We will also include the data of former President Ejercito Estrada's all-out war in Mindanao. It might not arrive at an accurate figure, in terms of monetary cost, but at least we can get a clearer picture of how much this looming all-out war against the communist insurgency across the country would cost.

We, however, might have to multiply the estimated cost three-fold to account for the other two island groupings of the country.

Right out of the bat, no less than Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana gave an estimated cost of P3 million but that was in August. The Philippine Daily Inquirer cited Lorenzana as saying that the Army alone spent P1.3 billion midway into the supposed liberation of Marawi.

That figure is not hard to imagine considering they were successful in bombing Marawi to smithereens. During the Marawi campaign, we saw the extensive use of free-fall bombs from F-50 fighter jets. The military opted bombardment because they weren't know how to fight in close quarter battles.

In his column in Mindanews, Maki Datu-Ramos pegged the cost of each bomb at P150 thousand to P200 thousand. You only need to multiply this amount by the number of bomb-runs each day from May 24 up its supposed liberation to get a close estimation how much taxpayers' money spent to pulverized the city.

"To sum up, Mindanao wars for a period of 1970 to 2001 had cost the Philippine government a staggering P2 trillion an amount nearly equivalent to our past P2.6 trillion 2015 national budget," Datu-Ramos wrote.

It was also during the Marawi war that we saw our Army use rocket-propelled grenade launchers. We saw the Scout Rangers use them in news photos and video clips. These RPGs are courtesy of Philippine's old friend Uncle Sam.

Supposedly under the US Foreign Military Sales project, the government had an Approved Budget of Contract of P94.98 million for the purchase of 355 RPG-7s and 4,813 rounds of assorted ammunition. The final approved contract amount, however, was set at P81.73 million. You can check out the figures out at https://maxdefense.blogspot.com/2017/07/philippine-army-finally-receives-atgl-l.html.

"Based on (feedback) we receive from MaxDefense community members from the Army, the RPGs were already used in combat as early as last year against Maute terrorists in Western Mindanao," Max Defense group blogged in July, this year.

If we recall Estrada’s all-out war against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in 2000, the government coffers coughed up some P6 billion. Ed Lingao, who was writing for the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism then, estimated that the government spent P76 billion in the war in Mindanao from 1970 to 1996 alone.

Now, we go and examine the social cost of the Marawi war. According to the latest figures monitored by the Department of Social Welfare and Development, a total of 77,170 families (353,636 individuals) evacuated Marawi City. The DSWD further broke it down to 38,949 families fled to northern Mindanao, 33, 221 families fled to the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, 2,386 families fled to Soccsksargen region, and the rest to the regions of Davao, Caraga, and the central Visayas.

To date, DSWD said there are 4,668 families (20,639 individuals) still crammed in evacuation centers and an estimated 75,502 families still living with their relatives outside of Marawi City.

As I’m writing this column, Karapatan Caraga issued an alert that residents from 12 tribal communities in Barangay Diatagon, Lianga and Barangay Buhisan, San Agustin in Surigao del Sur evacuation their homes due to military operations.

At least 706 students and 51 teachers of nine Lumad schools are affected, Karapatan Caraga pointed out in their alert.

Expect this figures ― both monetary and social costs ― to triple or even quadruple when Digong Dada starts his war of attrition against the communist insurgency.

Ever since its founding in 1969, each president has taken a stab at quelling the communist insurgency through military might. For almost half a century, each president of the republic has taken the more expensive route in addressing the civil war rather than negotiating for peace and truly address the roots of the unrest in the countrysides. Why would Digong Dada change that tradition now, because he promised change? Pfft.

The United States is still very much in power in the Philippines, oligarchs are running high at the Batasan Hills, and a fickle man-child, with bouts of temper tantrums, is in the Palace. We are, figuratively, back where we started.

So much for change huh?

T.G.I.F.

“If a really stupid person becomes senile, how do you know?” -George Carlin

NOT that I didn’t expect it to happen but this administration’s supposedly best and brightest have gone bananas lately. Every single day, the functionaries of Digong Dada seem to be looking for spectacular ways to show how inept they are.

Let’s start with the less despicable to the most abhorrent stunts these schmucks have done. Sorry, too, if you will not find Margaux Uson in this list, my dear readers. I’ve limited this list to people in this administration who I thought knew better or at the very least act like rational human beings. All of these stunts happened within a single week.

After learning that public school teachers have been availing of various loans, even from 5/6 neighborhood loan sharks to make ends meet, Education Secretary Leonor Briones issues Deped Order 55 or the “Revised guidelines on the Implementation of P4,000 Net Home Pay for the Deped Personnel.”

It sounds great, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, all this fancy-titled order means is that it will make sure that the outstanding loans the teachers have due for the Government Service Insurance System and the Pag-ibig Fund are being deducted from their salaries.

The department will also “identify measures that will enable teachers to manage their finances.” Here’s a good idea. Why not increase their salaries so they can manage their finances?

But then again, it might do me good not to ask questions to this administration. It has this nasty habit of branding people “kupal” for asking questions that make them uncomfortable.

In its verified Facebook account, the Office of the Presidential Spokesman, a supposed “former page administrator” of theirs posted insults against TV News 5 news reader Lourd de Veyra and Rappler’s Pia Ranada.

Scrambling to do “damage control,” Rene “The Pastor” Abella said the access of the former page administrator who was “no longer connected to with the office” to its official Facebook page has been revoked.

“The said comment does not reflect the official and personal views of the Presidential Spokesperson or his office on the individuals being referred to,” Abella said in probably the lamest statement.

I say lame because Abella didn’t bother to name the person responsible. He did not explain why a person who is supposedly no longer connected to his office could still access to its official social media account.

Abella’s statement even lacked the most basic of statement on faux pas, an apology. For an office that deals with communications, it’s heartbreaking to see them fall flat. The statement was sophomoric at best.

However, none of that is Abella’s problem anymore. He has been replaced.

In what was a literally midnight appointment, Digong Dada announced on Friday that Kabayan Rep. Harry Roque will be the new presidential spokesman.

Roque will have the item of secretary while the bumbling Abella is an undersecretary. When he made the announcement, the President said Roque fits in his Cabinet because they’re both talkative — “medyo malikot ang bunganga namin.”

The midnight appointment raised a lot of eyebrows. Roque who has been known to be a human rights and freedom of expression advocate accepting a post known for its spins and “interpretations” is quite unnerving.

But maybe this is a good thing. After all, Roque has been known to fight tooth and nail for the assertion of human rights.

“By taking up this position, I intend to refocus the attention of the people more towards the fundamental position of the State, and less towards the manner by which such has been declared,” Roque said in his statement on accepting the post.

He stated further: “By accepting this position, I am not condoning the violence surrounding the government’s anti-drug campaign, nor do I intend to further the same.”

However, as fast as you can say “Pinocchio,” Roque’s first statement as presidential spokesman was that the President is not a human rights violator.

Way to go, earning your keep, Sir, using your background in human rights advocacy to deodorize the bloodthirsty administration. Apparently, two wigs are, indeed, better than one.

Let’s wind down this list with the two over-sexed and underlaid minions Salvador Panelo and Martin Andanar.

What can say? These guys are obviously copying their principal’s penchant for “shock” contents in their public engagements. Panelo did it during a Swiss National Public Radio and Television interview and Andanar during his “meet and greet” with Filipinos in London.

Panelo blurted out that he f**ks like an 18-year-old. Then he doubled back to say that he mispronounced the letter “p” and that he meant “pack like an 18-year-old.” This mother of packers even had the gall to accuse the interviewer that by pointing out his gaffe, she had swept aside “the meat of the interview on the rationale of the issues raised against the Duterte presidency.”

Being a Bisaya myself, I know that mispronouncing the letter “p” as “f” is common. I remember a friend who proudly declared he had just been hired by “Pilifin facking korforeyshen” and that he had been hired to “fack faynepols.”

Let’s just give this geezer the benefit of doubt for a second. If he truly meant packing his bags, how then does that connect to the prior statement that he is “better in bed?” So, no, Mr. Panelo. I won’t buy your packing reason.

Another Bisaya in this administration, Andanar, introduced a colorful Bisaya word to the world: “pala-**ot.” He relegated the critiques of this administration as noisy underlaid and bitter people.

So yeah, this government is f***d, alright!

Ampatuan massacre revisited

WHENEVER the “ber” months start rolling in, I used to look forward to Christmas like a giddy kid. But now, I try to find out whatever happened to the case of the Ampatuan Massacre. On Saturday was the 94th month since Nov. 23, 2009, when 58 people — 32 of whom were media workers — were waylaid in what has become known throughout the world as the Ampatuan Massacre, the worst case of election violence in the country, and the biggest case of violence against journalists in the world.

The incident has caught the country flat-footed, yet it also exposed several long-festering, and in many aspects, long-known yet unaddressed issues. On one hand, the incident served as a grisly wake-up call for both the national government and local and international civil societies on the issues of election violence, clan politics and dynamics, and violence against media. On the other hand, ending impunity became the priority mission of both the Philippine government and civil societies.

In coordination with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Libertas, a legal policy non-government organization, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) launched in 2013 a research project that dissected the massacre case as a way to understand these issues and offer recommendations for reforms in the country’s judicial system.

I would like to revisit this study because the recommendations it propped up are still as applicable today as it was four years ago especially now that this current administration is broaching authoritarianism by the day.

The research project output is a book entitled “Maguindanao Massacre: Case Study for Breaking Impunity, Increasing Accountability, and Broadening Access to Justice.” It is a compendium of interviews, focus group discussions and dialogues with “family members of the Ampatuan Massacre victims, key informants who are private or public prosecutors, officials from the security sector, relevant government agencies, and representatives of civil society organizations (CSOs) and media organizations.”

At the crux of the case study is the fact there is still no clear-cut definition of extrajudicial killing (EJK) especially for state players prosecuting the criminal act. The study posits that a good definition is important to set this specific criminal act apart from the other crimes. It further suggests that this particular crime is called “unexplained killing” and “to let it cover both state and non-state perpetrators.” In this way, the study broadened its scope of coverage to be more inclusive of other similar cases of EJKs, not just in Maguindanao or Mindanao, but all over the country as well.

Red-tagging of this type of crime, or identifying specific cases for special attention, also put “value” since red-tagged cases are more closely monitored by the justice department at the regional level. The label also attracts more public attention, thereby potentially increasing the confidence level of the witnesses. “It is suggested that red-tagging be done at the point of filing information in court and that red-tagged cases no longer be raffled. Aside from special handling by the prosecution, this will also facilitate human rights documentation and monitoring,” the case study reads.

The case study proposes that special courts be designated to hear this type of crime continuously. Study proponents also proposed – by way of citing one of the observation of its key informants — the resumption of peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GPH) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), because “while peace talks are ongoing, extrajudicial killings are seen to slow down and become intermittent.” In order to further speed up the court processes on EJKs and other human rights violation cases, the case study also proposes there be mechanisms in the rules of court to allow the perpetuation of testimonies of witnesses.

According to the case study, key informants from both the government and civil societies agree that there should be an enabling law on command responsibility to exact criminal liability and for command responsibility to be applicable to all criminal offenses under the country’s Revised Penal Code. The case study also recommended that there should be “transparency in the conduct of internal investigations and in the military justice system.”

Presently, the rules on command responsibility in the Philippines cover only as high as two degrees. However, a respondent from the Philippine Army conceded that — with respect to civilian supremacy over state security forces — court-martial will surrender the “subject and the case even if there is a separate crime or administrative case arising under the Articles of War,” provided that there will be clear parameters.

On Aug 30, 2011, the Senate gave its concurrence to the Rome Statute. The Rome Statute, among others, defines the coverage of the doctrine of command responsibility to all state signatories of the international.

Other recommendations put forward by the study include:

• requiring a human rights clearance process for personnel in all law enforcement agencies;
• enhancing and increasing coverage of the Witness Protection Program (WPP);
• training of paralegals on the investigation and legal support in the prosecution of cases;
• more inter-agency cooperation and evidence-sharing among agencies involved in the investigation and prosecution of the cases;
• initiation of administrative cases involving human rights violations by government agencies despite the absence of private complainants;
• more effective firearms control through improved logistics management system by the Armed Forces of the Philippines;
• more concrete measures to depoliticize the local police force; and
• engagement of the Anti-Money Laundering Council in cases involving human rights violations.

The recommendations for more effective firearms control and the need to depoliticize the local police forces stood out starkly against the backdrop of the Ampatuan Massacre. The Ampatuan clan, the family accused of masterminding the massacre, has been accused of amassing firearms and ammunition through the help of regional and national patrons. In effect, the Ampatuan clan had been able to build its own legal private army using both government arms and ammunition.

As well, the clan has been accused of using the local police force in Maguindanao in carrying out the massacre. Based on the Local Government Code, the local governments have operational control over the local police forces. In the case of the Ampatuan Massacre, the local police units were said to have been compromised by the clan because the clan had full control over the appointments and perks of the local police officers.

During the course of the case study, it was also recommended that there should be a “community and peer support in the prosecution of criminal cases” and a “rationalized and integrated financial and other support for victims of atrocious crimes, including families of the Maguindanao Massacre victims.” These recommendations stem from the outcome of a series of FGDs with the families of the massacre victims.

“In this respect, a cohesive financial support program with support coming from various sources may be rationalized and administered just by one agency, perhaps the CHRP or the DSWD, so that the families need only coordinate with one agency, Requirements can be streamlined by such agency, so that the families need not undergo repetitive processes for screening, which merely add to the families’ difficulty and frustration,” the case study recommends.

As observed in the prosecution of EJK and other human rights violations cases in the country, testimonial pieces of evidence play a crucial role. When witnesses and families of massacre victims are killed, harassed and often times slapped with trumped up retaliatory charges in court quicker than the respondents of the cases are arrested, then it negates the whole judicial process.

“Hence, there is critical need to secure witnesses. Unfortunately, one common observation is the lack of funds and insufficient of support for witnesses under the Witness Protection Program (WPP),” the case study points out. Thus, the case study also recommends that the justice department’s Witness Protection Program (WPP) be enhanced and its coverage increased.

“Truly, the Maguindanao Massacre was an unspeakable crime. It represents all that is evil in our political system. It shows what is dysfunctional in our legal processes. The only good that can come out of it is that it compels us to train our sights on these infirmities, and galvanizes our resolve as a nation to address it. The above recommendations are made in this light, so that the lost lives of the victims may not be put to naught,” the case study reads in part.

Shrifts

“Is it so difficult for alleged lawyers to understand that the mandate of CHR is to check state abuses?” – Prof. Luis V. Teodoro, former dean of the University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication

THERE have been many things that unfolded last week that I have decided to adapt my late father Emilio’s column template — shrifts. Even though the incidents are all political in nature, I cannot weave them into one narrative prose. I do not have the academic smarts to pull that one through. So, here goes.

Change has come indeed.

Now, in the Philippines, when you say “you weep for the youth,” you’ll be branded by the President a pedophile or straight-out homosexual.

“You are so fixated with the death of young males, kaya nagdududa ako na pedophile kang gago ka,”Digong Dada said of Commission on Human Rights chair Chito Gascon on Saturday as reported by GMA News Online.

Using your (demented) logic, Sir, what does that make you then — somebody who is “fixated” with illegal drugs? Aren’t you also “fixated” on branding people you disagree with as gays?

***

After more than a hundred days of being held captive by Isis-inspired Maute Group, Fr. Teresito “Chito” Suganob was supposedly “rescued” by military forces.

Opapp Secretary Jesus Dureza broke the news on his Facebook wall, without any regard to what might happen to the other hostages left behind. Maybe Dureza didn’t want to be “out-scooped” by other government agencies circling around Marawi City.

Like my former editor at Mindanews, Carolyn Arguillas, I ask: “Escaped? Released? Abandoned? Rescued?” I ask the same questions because these are four vastly different scenarios. So, which is it? One might retort that the most important thing is Fr. Suganob is safe.

An assault ops on the mosque is vastly different from a rescue op for Suganob. Both have different scenario settings and different outcomes.

Still, if he escaped and you insist that you rescued him, that’s a whole different ball game, all together. That’s not information. That’s propaganda.

I could almost see another “rescue” of the rest of the hostages in the future when this administration stumbles upon, yet, another political faux pas.

My last question on this: Sirs, are you hard of herring, the red kind?

***

The Davao City Social Services and Development Office was only implementing a city ordinance that is supposed to curb human trafficking when they caused indigenes to miss their Saturday flight to join other “Lakbayanis” in Manila.

“The implementation of the Children’s Code of Davao is something that we always do (every day) and this is to protect our children from possible incidents of trafficking,” reads the statement of Malu Bermudo of Davao’s CSSDO on the incident.

The last time I checked, the Constitution trumps any city ordinance, all the time. Yes, freedom of movement and travel is guaranteed under the 1987 Constitution. More importantly, the children are not residents of Davao City. Why should they be required to secure a permit from CSSDO?

If that’s how it is in Davao City, I’m never flying out from that city whenever I have my kids in tow. Even if, say, I’m from General Santos City or Cotabato City.

And what’s with the problem of Cebu Pacific’s ground crew?

Interaksyon.com reported: “Even ground staff of Cebu Pacific, said Trenilla, ‘took a hostile attitude towards us when they learned we were attending the SOS conference, claiming that the children were only being ‘used’.”

Is it the airlines business now to know what you’re going to do when you reach your destination? Did the pilots of Cebu Pacific Flight 387 tell the passengers what they will do with the plane as it circled its way around Mt. Sumagaya back to Cagayan de Oro?

That’s right. It is none of your business. Your business is to take people where they want to go, period. Focus on that, Davao ground crew of Cebu Pacific, because I’m sure the passengers of flight 387 didn’t want to arrive at their untimely “final destination.”

The list

“There are three kinds of people in this world: 1) People who make lists, 2) people who don’t make lists, and 3) people who carve tiny Nativity scenes out of pecan hulls. I’m sorry, there isn’t really a third category; it’s just that a workable list needs a minimum of three items, I feel.” – Mary Roach, American author

AS promised, my column this week will be about the mystery of Digong Dada’s ever-changing list of narco-politicians or illegal drugs trade matrix or whatever it is now.

Don’t get me wrong. I, too, hoped the list would usher in an honest to goodness change. I thought the way the executive deals with politicians and technocrats who have been wheeling and dealing in the illegal drugs trade was about to change.

I bet everybody was as shocked as I was when Digong Dada started naming generals, judges, and politicians. When the President started bandying the list to the public eye last year, I thought, here’s a President who isn’t afraid to take on the cabals of corrupt bureaucrats.

However, when people started to inquire who helped the President draw up such list, he was suddenly withdrawn, secretive, and most often irked by the mere mention of such inquiry.

It didn’t help either that the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the National Bureau of Investigation admitted that they were not, in any way, involved in the preparation of such list as reported by GMA news online on Aug. 30 last year.

Then PDEA Director General Isidro Lapeña (now Bureau of Customs top honcho), emphatically told a congressional hearing at the Lower House that they did not give any inputs which form part of the President’s list. NBI lawyer Henry Canapi, on the same congressional inquiry, sang to the same exact tune. Canapi said they did not submit any “subject personalities, politicians or otherwise.”

By the way, Lapeña doubled-down by saying he was unsure whether other agencies have been advising the President on the alleged drug lords in government, including the Philippine National Police.

Let’s fast-forward to the present. The question still remains. If PDEA, NBI, and the PNP didn’t help the President in drawing the list then who are these supposed intelligence consultants who helped draw up that list?

If the President’s list is to be believed, then how come the shady characters behind the P6.4 billion worth of shabu that passed through the Bureau of Customs weren’t on that list? Why is the President suddenly mum on the list?

Last week, he even advised his son to remain silent should the circus show, led by The Dick, summon him to explain the supposed role of the Davao Group in what could very well be the largest drug bust this administration’s war on drugs has ever carried out.

If the President’s list is to be believed, then why is he not helping the Senate committee investigate the butt-load of shabu that inexplicably passed through people who are highly motivated and passionate in ending the drug scourge that has gripped the nation?

As I have said before, anybody can draw up a list. Hell, even our emotionally detached, spectacularly inefficient, and grossly ineffective barangay chair drew up such a list. The bigots at our local church even contributed to the list. The list, I was told, is based on “common knowledge” which I take as a euphemism for grapevine or chismis.

I have a friend who is a member of a local intelligence unit. For obvious reasons, I will not name him. As he told me, he’d have to kill me if he gets “burned.” This friend showed me their list as well.

It is a list of local drug personalities who are under surveillance. It could have been a veritable kill list, he added. But in the wake of the incorrigible murder of 17-year old Kian Loyd delos Santos, he said they have to extend the time frames of their surveillance on these individuals. He said they wanted to be sure that when not if, they do “neutralize” these drug personalities they have more than sufficient evidence to do so. He added they will not base their decision on a Facebook post like what the Caloocan police did.

The list holds some familiar names. It has former city councilors, former mayors, and former house representatives in it. Curiously, the list even has a columnist in it, a very vocal supporter of his Excellency. My friend said they have been on to him for quite some time now.

Whether my friend’s list or that of the President are credible will remain questionable at best for as long as the people behind the drawing of such lists remain shady and unnamed. For as long as the process behind the drawing of those lists remains questionable, these will remain as such.

I repeat anybody can draw up a list. If I were to draw up such a list, I would list first all the people who have wronged me or pose a threat to taking away my power to draw up a list.

Just consider the quote above: Any workable list needs a minimum of three items. It doesn’t need due process, supporting evidence, or any modicum of rule of law. These three items, by the way, is a workable list. A list of things which we direly need in government right now.

Let’s kill the cats

WHILE my friend and I were shooting the breeze last Friday, I noticed our ceiling was already quite decrepit. One of the ceiling boards looked like it sagged in the middle part and was ready to fall anytime.

My friend, who repaired our stairway before, explained that the ceiling joists where the ceiling board was nailed to are already rotten. Whenever the cats walk across our ceiling, the nails could not hold the weight, and that’s why one of the ceiling boards is sagging in the middle, he added.

Before I continue, I should let you know that Crow’s Nest is really old. It was built during the “liberation” of the Philippines from the clutches of the Empire of Japan. It’s almost entirely made out of wood. Even the foundations are made of Narra unlike the houses of today which are made of concrete.

My friend offered two options to remedy my ceiling problem.

One, I could replace the whole ceiling construction with new wood for the rotten ceiling joists and replace the ceiling boards which are only 1/4” thick, with the sturdier 2” marine plywood.

Now, my friend said this will surely cost a lot. The materials and manpower, he added, could cost me at least P20 thousand. My friend also said there’s the time frame of the repairs to consider — his modest estimation was that it could take three weeks to replace the whole thing.

The problem is that I can’t spare that much money, I told my friend, plus I can’t expose my children to hazards of falling debris for three weeks.

He said there is another way. It is way cheaper and a helluva lot faster.

“You could just kill off all the cats,” my friend said with a sarcastic grin.

There was an awkward silence because we both realized we were solving my ceiling problem the way Digong Dada would with the drug problem and insurgency in the country.

If you still don’t get it, the ceiling problem is our country’s corrupted institutions, and the cats, well, it’s us, the Filipinos he swore to protect and love.

Resist state terrorism

“No one can terrorize a nation unless we are all his accomplices.” – Edward R. Murrow

I REFUSE to aid and abet this administration’s state terrorism. I have resisted the state-sponsored terrorism of past presidents of this Republic and I am not about to change that on account of the misleading chatter on social media platforms.

Yes, just as what past populist despots have done, Digong Dada has owned the new platforms of expression — thanks to enterprising online people.

State terrorism has been defined as “a form of terrorism which sometimes occurs when governments implement neoliberal policies lacking widespread support.” I dare say it’s lacking widespread support because far more Filipinos are not online. This administration’s noise on social media platforms is fake. We have uncovered them time and again since Day 1 of this administration.

The Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights, more popularly — or in this administration’s perspective infamously — known as Karapatan, aptly puts in its second issue of its monitor of Duterte’s first year in office.

“Duterte has become a public relations expert – spitting out arguments that drug users are less than human, strutting with public displays of apathy regarding national and international pressures, manipulating old verbal assault and threats against progressive organizations and human rights advocates who raise concern over the rights issues in the country.”

This administration can yarn every possible spin-off it could muster online but the fact remains that only 14 of every 35 Filipinos are wired online. This seemingly overwhelming “support” rhetoric on social media does not include the marginalized sectors, the sectors that have undoubtedly catapulted Digong Dada to the presidency.

I do not blame them. It is tempting, though. But I will not. These people have every right to hope for a better Philippines when Digong Dada promised it to them albeit in a brusque and curt manner. They have been manipulated and f***ed up (pardon my French) by the ruling system for so long that when Digong Dada came about, they were all too willing to pledge their allegiance to the seemingly no-nonsense talking politics.

However, his lies started unraveling from the very first day of his presidency. I don’t have to enumerate it here since it would take up most of the space for this column. I do call on readers to witness the state’s affairs with more critical lenses. Unrequited suggestion: Read up on this administration besides Facebook posts, Instagram memes and Twitter feeds.

The last thing you’d want is to be sucked into this administration’s hate rhetoric. And this hate rhetoric worsened with every engagement the president had since Day 1.

Yesterday, Digong Dada gave his second State of the Nation Address. I couldn’t wait for it since our Constitution specifically stipulates this to be done starting at 1 pm and I have to submit this column by 8 am yesterday, at the latest.

I have a soft spot for satires, as you may have noticed in my past columns. That’s why I was glad when I read Professional Heckler’s parody of Digong Dada’s Sona because to be honest about it, I did not expect the President to say something new. It would have been on his war on drugs, f**k human rights defenders, f**k the European Union, etc ad nauseum. It would have been like a “folk” song — folk this and folk that.

As I have mentioned in my past columns, satire is an effective tool in exposing the untruths issue by issue and politico by politico. However, the writer should focus their satirical lens to particular policies or individuals for this to be effective because if you satirize the whole political structure, then it will give the impression that all policies are the same. This would enforce further the status quo. In this case, the state terrorist wins.

A sample of Professional Heckler’s satirical take on the President’s Sona yesterday: “Nang ako ay maging pangulo, nangako akong magbibigay ng trabaho sa ating mga kababayan. Hindi naman sa pagmamayabang, tinupad ko ang pangakong ’yan. Ngayong hapon, kasama natin dito sa Batasan ang tatlo sa pinakamasisipag kong appointees. Hindi lang sila sa office nagtatrabaho kundi pati sa mga rally laban kay Robredo. Palakpakan po natin sina Mocha Uson, Kat de Castro at Arnell Ignacio.” (Applause.)

Digong Dada’s latest verbal stunt was when he said he is willing to go to war against the communist insurgency. Adding that he has the might of the Armed Forces behind him and the Maoists only have the indigenes on their side. He said he is willing to fight this war up to the last standing communist.

Wait. How many days, nay months, did it take him to quell a singular clan in Marawi City again? How is this administration addressing the end of contractualization? What is the position of this administration on the West Philippine Sea?

More importantly, when will he really jet ski and plant a flag on Scarborough Shoal?

Lawless

“Our people have seen what a mob can do in the hands of a tyrant who knows no law but his own. Lest we forget, the first person that Marcos executed was a drug pusher. But did he stop there?” –Atty. Jose Manuel “Chel” I. Diokno, national chairman, Free Legal Assistance Group; trustee, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

A COLLEAGUE posted a “crowd sourcing” question on his Facebook asking for one word to describe Digong Dada’s one year as president of the Republic.

I answered, “Unstable.” It should have been “lawless.” If there is a word to define this administration it is lawless.

Lawless in the sense that it holds the distinction of throwing due process out the window. It doesn’t adhere to what the Supreme Court says. It even mocks the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations.

It employs secret jails. It kills suspects, albeit with a veneer of legality, with impunity.

Although it has vowed to launch “change” in the country, the five pillars in the criminal justice system — just like before — is still pretty much only available to the rich and powerful.

The five pillars must work in concert with each other with checks and balances between them in order to best serve the public. Criticism of the Filipino legal system often centers around issues of disconnect. The five pillars represent many different facets of the legal system and society.

These are:

1.) law enforcement, including the Philippines the National Police and National Bureau of Investigation;

2.) prosecution, including the National Prosecution Service and judge advocate services;

3.) the courts,  including all levels from regional to the Supreme Court;

4.) corrections, including the prison, parole, and probation systems;

5.) community, including local governments and the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Case in point are drug users who have voluntarily surrendered to authorities under Masa Masid but were gunned down days later, anyway. These incidents are all too familiar to most of us.

The other branch of government, by the way, is too wimped out after this administration made an example of one of its members who is currently languishing in jail.

Until this administration learns to respect the rule of law, social justice, and the fundamental rights of its citizens again, we will remain waist-deep in bovine excrement. Well, at least for the next five years. That is if we are still alive, by then.