Noynoy's report on the Supreme Court decision to junk the Truth Commission
Reading the address of President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III to the Filipino people on the Supreme Court Decision junking Executive Order Number One was really painful. It was a painful read because it was in Tagalog. But I managed to capture a few salient points that stood out (indicated in italics after translation into English)...Is it wrong to seek the truth?
Who said it is?
Isn't it my duty to punish people who broke the law?
Who says it isn't? Then again there's the matter of this "amnesty" you granted to "Senator" Antonio Trillanes and Danilo Lim...
We established the "Truth Commission" to close one of the darkest eras of the history of our society.
One of the darkest eras? So are you putting the Arroyo era in the same league as the 20-year dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos? The Japanese occupation? If I am not mistaken, your government has been trumpeting how the Philippines has overtaken India as the outsourcing capital of the world. I don't think the groundwork for that "achievement" had been laid during the last six months of your era.
You, your children, and all your loved ones will benefit from fixing the system where all who have broken the law will be held accountable.
You had it in your power, Mr President, to hold people within your immediate circle of influence accountable for certain incidents of gross negligence that contributed to the preventable loss of eight people's lives last August. I believe the Hong Kong government has indicated how little confidence it has in your ability to "hold people accountable". Perhaps you should start working on your own backyard first.
And besides, last I heard, Filipinos already have the power to influence the sorts of laws and systems that are built in this country. It's called voting for the right people to represent them in Congress and actively engaging them on a routine basis.
While I am here, I will not allow the continued oppression of the Filipino.
Whatever you say Chief. Show us your vision for the Philippines of 2016 and your plan on how to get us there. Then again, I get the feeling this failure to launch of your Executive Order Number One will be your pet scapegoat for a six-year career of non-performance. If that will be the case, then what you assert here is actually true. Filipinos are indeed, an "oppressed" people.
I agree completely. Why the obsession with the previous administration? Now that they are in power, with access to all the resources and documentation they would need to investigate and prosecute alleged graft and corruption, why don't they just get on with it?
ReplyDeleteIt is apparent that it is their intention to use the rejection of the Supreme Court as their backdoor to justify their inability to prove their allegations against the previous president and her administration. As oppositionists then, they claimed that efforts to prosecute PGMA was being prevented by her being in power. Well, guess what, that's no longer the case. If they haven't noticed, they've been in power for six months, either creating one blunder after another, blaming the previous administration at every turn, and worst, claiming credit for work done by other people. It must have been a rude awakening for them to realize that faultfinding is much easier and more fun than problem solving. After all, it did get them into power.
All I've heard during the campaign, and even up to this day have been nothing but talk of a better way (ang tuwid na daan). Well, as it has always been my contention, it really does not matter if we are on a straight or crooked road. What matters is the destination and what awaits us at the end of that road. Or, do our leaders even know where they are taking us and how they intend to do just that. I hate to say this, but it is just unbelievable and disgusting when people who we hoped would lead our country and people into the 21st century cannot seem to know where they are going.
Ironically, I never voted for or particularly liked the former president. To my mind, she has had her own shortcomings due to her own doing or by those around her. All I know is that I must give credit and/or criticism when and where it is due.
Plus the fact that if your pitch is that you are going to make "reforms" then why focus only on the previous administration? Improprieties and anomalies go way back to 1986. Any genuine aim to revisit unresolved thievery at a systemic level would necessarily involve *everything* covered by the current legal framework within which such an initiative is being mounted. And that is one of the key underpinning philosophical cornerstones of the SC's rejection of EO#1 in its current form.
ReplyDelete