EDITORIAL - Dangerous times

Almost lost in the huge Iglesia ni Cristo rally in Manila last Tuesday was the arrest of a certain Eduardo Villanueva, a computer encoder, for distributing what the police described as “anti-government leaflets.”

What anti-government leaflets are the police talking about? Close-up video shots of the confiscated leaflets show they were about the ongoing impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, a subject matter that cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be anti-government.

Even if the leaflets expressed opinions contrary to that held by President Aquino, the head of government, in relation to the impeachment case, that still does not constitute an anti-government stance.

And even if it did, since when has open criticism of government been outlawed in a country that takes great pains to project itself as the bastion of democracy in Asia. In fact, we just observed the 26th anniversary of Edsa. So why are we acting like a garrison state?

Unless the leaflets were seditious, which they were not, the police had no right to arrest Villanueva and confiscate his leaflets. And if they have not done so already, Aquino, who prides himself as the son of democracy icons, should order the police to free him promptly.

For it is indeed perplexing that while leftists and other rabble-rousers can take to the streets with far worse accusations against government and not get arrested, here comes Villanueva distributing leaflets against Corona’s impeachment and he gets hauled off to jail.

Are there changes in the government that we do not know of? Are there marching orders to stifle dissent when it comes to issues that the president have taken very personally? Or are the police just being over-zealous in trying to please the president.

If there is one thing getting clear in this country today, it is the double-standard that is being applied in an increasing number of situations, at an increasing number of levels. The law cannot be trusted anymore to cut the same way for all citizens. We live in dangerous times.