NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW

By Bayawanon

First, the president had recommended to Congress to give a small amount as budget to the Commission on Human Rights since the same is playing too much of a fiscalizer against the government's atrocities. Now, the highest leader of the land is threatening the Ombudsman to probe its alleged irregularities by forming a would be commission with the sole function of probing the same in the midst of the investigation of the Ombudsman against his alleged ill-gotten wealth.

Why is the president doing these things? Is he hiding something? Do these acts of his to check the Commission on Human Rights and the Ombudsman be considered as his steps to stall the investigations against the alleged human rights abuses of the government and his alleged laundered money from the coffers of the government?

Why won't he let the CHR do its duties in finding the truth as regards the alleged government atrocities like the extrajudicial killings? If he is not hiding something, why won't he let the investigation of the Ombudsman against him take its course? If he has nothing to hide, then why should he be afraid?

As a lawyer and as a member of the bar, he is an officer of the court and also an officer of the community. Good officers of the court and the community seek the light leading to the truth, so why not look for the truth?

If the president is not guilty as charged by Senator Trillanes of amassing an unexplained wealth, then the truth will set him free by way of the investigations against him, in connection to this I hope that the probe by the Ombudsman in the matter of his alleged ill-gotten wealth push through.

Let the justice system of the Philippines take its course and let the weighing scale of that blindfolded lady tilt in favor of the interest of justice. Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law over and above any interest of any individual, be they ordinary citizens or be they honorable leaders of the country like the president, for clearly and unequivocally the long honored maxim "NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW" must be respected.

ANOTHER CASE OF PRESIDENTIAL FLIP-FLOPPING?

By Bayawanon

In his recent speech before the PHILCONSA or the Philippine Constitutional Association, President Rodrigo Duterte does not favor the DESTRUCTION of the Philippine Constitution since according to him DESTROYING the constitution tantamounts to the division of the people and the breakage of the country.

This statement of the president runs counter to his campaign in favor of FEDERALISM since for the same to push through and be adopted as a new system of government of the Philippines, the constitution has to be revised or amended. Amendment or revision of the constitution is technically the destruction of the same.

Is this another case of presidential flip-flopping or is this a new kind of presidential paradigm shift? As all, we know he constantly changes decisions, sad to say the decisions that he keeps on changing play a vital role in breaking and or making a country.

Anyway, I hope that his speech would be a good new step for the president to ABANDON HIS ADVOCACY FOR FEDERALISM for I believe that this system of government may lead to the division of the Philippines, and I hope further that he won't change his decision to abandon his campaign for FEDERALISM, otherwise his credibility would or may erode as ever.

If he would change his stand regarding this issue, then he would be considered as the most outstanding flip-flopping president in the history of mankind if not in the history of the universe from the outset of its creation.

ROBREDO CAN BE A GOOD PRESIDENT

By Bayawanon

I'll tell you, Ma. Leonora "Leni" Gerona Robredo could be a good president if the present president steps down, becomes incapacitated, impeached or dies. She could be good in the economy for she is an A.B. Economics degree holder from the University of the Philippines and she has a Master in Business Administration degree from San Sebastian College.

It is also expected that she can have a good human rights record as a future president for she has been a human rights lawyer, specifically a women's rights advocate and lawyer in Naga City.

Her three-year stint as a lady legislator in the House of Representatives and her short sojourn to the Vice Presidency may also help her be a good number one national leader of the land, lead the country and unite the same.

Her resignation as Housing and Urban Secretary of the Duterte Cabinet was a great patriotic act on her part as a protest against a sexist, despotic and destructive regime.

To sum it all up, the current second-highest leader of the land is actually prepared to take the reins of power of the presidency if the president resigns, becomes incapacitated, dies or impeached, for she is mentally and scholastically prepared to be one, not to mention the fact that she has also the experience to be one.

Above all, the Vice President has actually a great moral fiber to lead the country for she had not met any controversy which affected her morality which would probably eventually affect her leadership and she has also a great principle which would serve as her guiding light to be an incorrupt, honest and service oriented leader.

THE MARK OF A GOOD SENATOR

By Bayawanon

Sometimes on 2003, then Navy Lt. Sr. Grade Antonio Trillanes IV together with some young officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines staged a military coup against then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who was later on charged with many cases after her presidency including election sabotage and plunder. Trillanes and company staged a coup in order for the people to get rid of a corrupt government, Trillanes' coup was unsuccessful but such a coup enlightened the people on what the truth was all about.

Trillanes never asked pardon from the former president and served his sentence in jail. He, later on, ran for the Senate and won, while in his first term, he became a staunch oppositor against the Macapagal-Arroyo regime beset with so much corruption issues. Macapagal-Arroyo was later on jailed for her alleged corrupt acts but was later on freed by a Supreme Court under her ally president.

In the early part of his second term, he exposed the alleged corruption of the then Vice President of the Philippines Jejomar Binay. Through the Senate hearings conducted to probe Binay, the people of the Philippines were impressed that Binay committed the acts charged by Trillanes and his senator allies, hence Binay was soundly defeated in the 2016 Philippine Presidential derby. After Binay's term as Vice President, he was charged in court with corruption cases together with his son, a former City Mayor.

As of the present, Senator Antonio Trillanes IV is exposing the present Philippine government for its dreaded national policy on the WAR ON DRUGS which is coupled with extrajudicial executions. He is also exposing people some of whom are government elected officials and are close to the president for having been involved in the drug trade.

Despite his dedication as a good defender of democracy, there are still steps from his political enemies to take him out of his duties as a senator of the land. An ethics complaint was filed by an unethical senator against Trillanes who only did his job to find the truth.

These are the MARKS OF A GOOD SENATOR, who is unfortunately under fire for being patriotic and for trying his best to defend the best interest of his country and of his people.

QUESTIONS THAT NEED ANSWERS

By Bayawanon

A good servant serves the people without conditions, he serves the people unconditionally because he loves them. A good servant is willing to die for the people that he loves most, he has no plans to decimate the folks who are undesirable because he gives them a chance to change.

If a leader starts to eliminate part of the populace who are not on the right path, can you consider him as a good servant? If a leader encourages good people and good implementors of the law to kill bad people, can he be considered a good motivator? If a leader starts to berate people, institutions, and countries on top of his voice with the world watching, can you consider him as a good one?

Can the citizens be considered as good ones if they would condone the bad behavior of their leader? Can the populace be considered as good partners of its leaders in nation building when they are not checking the abuses of the latter? Can the people be counted as good agents of change when their leader makes dreaded steps towards change by way of bloody policies to purge the community?

Do the people make use of their critical thinking in supporting a policy which may affect them or does they only make use of their gut feeling in supporting the same? Do the people change views when a good leader makes bad decisions or do they simply and continually support their leaders whether they are right or wrong because they are their political icons whatever happens?

These type of questions are the queries that the Filipino people need to answer, for them to serve as guides so that their country, the Pearl of the Orient Seas whom many foreign conquerors fell in love with, known otherwise as the Philippines, would reach greater heights if not its GOLDEN AGE. Amen.