Lost

I’ve reached my limit.

It was a tweet that said Justice Secretary Lelia De Lima would hold a press conference on Gloria Arroyo’s request to travel abroad. News outlets posted like crazy: Now waiting at DOJ, they said. The Secretary has just entered the room, they reported. “How was she going to rule?” they asked.

Anticipation built as De Lima took the mic. She began to speak in that eloquent English; in that deep, clear voice we’ve come to respect. And with the country watching, she looked straight into the cameras and announced… that she was not ready to make an announcement.

Why hold the press conference at all, then? It didn’t matter. De Lima had quipped that Arroyo was overstating her illness and the news-o-sphere had their soundbite. Twitter went ablaze. “Arroyo is a liar,” users said. “She should be jailed,” people agreed. Don’t let her leave!” many shouted.

Asylum

A week later, De Lima called another press conference. She banned Arroyo from traveling, and then dropped another bomb: There is information from “a reliable source,” she said, that GMA was seeking asylum in the Dominican Republic.

“I haven’t verified it yet so I cannot disclose yet,” she said  meaning, “I can’t mention the thing I just mentioned.”

Why mention it, then? It didn’t matter. News-o-sphere had their soundbite. The Arroyos denied ever visiting the Dominican Republic. Journalists found photos of Gloria shaking hands with the Dominican President, receiving a Dominican award at the Dominican National Palace. Twitter went ablaze.

Go na, Arroyo

The bile against the Arroyos is deserved, of course. How can you look at Gloria Arroyo and not think, “The rat is taking our cheese!?” It’s her face.

But hold on a minute. All this news has got me lost. What is the issue again? Let’s trace it back. Asylum is to escape punishment. Punishment is for crimes. Crimes are proven at courts. Is Gloria Arroyo a criminal? Perhaps. How do we prove she’s a criminal? By taking her to court. Have we taken her to court? No, we haven’t.

After 16 months in office, and despite all the investigations, and all the Senate reports that have been given to Leila de Lima and the Justice Department, they have yet to charge Arroyo with a single crime.

Oh, that’s a serious thing. But why is it lost in the national discussion?

Pacquiaos and Bulbulogyus

If Jose Rizal came back to life and watched today’s news, he’d think that the country’s number one fugitive is Ramona Bulbulogyu, and that Jesus had come back as Manny Pacquiao, flogging himself in front of the world so that Filipinos may live in peace (for two hours).

Jon Stewart once said that media is like the dog in the movie Up  distracted by every squirrel it sees. That’s not necessarily wrong. Media’s job is to report what it sees  to yell “Squirrel!” when there’s a squirrel, or to shout “Ramona Bulbulogyu!” just because it’s funny.

No, the problem with Filipino media  and really, with us Filipinos  is that we spend all of our efforts hunting squirrels when there are pigs and crocs around.

Wasting spit

President Aquino was right to say that when there’s no corruption, there’s no poverty. But I assumed he knew that we must fix the justice system before we can expect any justice; that in order for our society to work  in order for our country to progress  we should have a process that filters out our ills  quickly, so it doesn’t spread.

But we still have a system that’s so slow  from the fiscals at the Justice Department to the magistrates at the Supreme Court. Imelda Marcos roams around the country like it’s 1972, which means Gloria Arroyo doesn’t really need to flee the country to avoid punishment. Time is on her side.

And Leila De Lima wastes spit on announcing non-announcements, and divulging reports she hasn’t verified?

“No corruption, no poverty,” doesn’t sum up this era anymore. “More distraction, more idiocy” is more fitting. We really don’t need to hear much of the news that gets broadcasted these days. Let’s cover our ears and focus on what’s important.