Storm of reform

“A lot of people are saying that their lives are more peaceful now because of the war on drugs.” – Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana. 

Not according to the International Community. The 2018 Global Peace Index report of the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) ranked the Philippines as the second least peaceful country in the Asia-Pacific. It gets worse if tested against the ASEAN only. Of the 10 South East Asian nations, the Philippines was ranked last. Hovering are International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extra Judicial Executions Agnes Callamard, bearing the indictments of their institutions.

More peaceful? Certainly not according to the latest SWS quarterly survey on the administration’s performance. For the first quarter, the people’s satisfaction with the administration on the question of “fighting crime” has fallen. It was +43 percent in December 2017. It is now +40 this March 2018. This is troubling when you consider President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s tough anti-crime platform. These surveys began (under President Corazon C. Aquino) in 1990. PRRD hit+58 following his inauguration in 2016. This was a stratospheric score. Never before had any administration been rated VERY GOOD in their peace and order campaigns.

But just one year after, the rating ebbed to its lowest at +30 only. This sat right there on the edge between the merely GOOD and the lower MODERATE. The +30 was in the same vicinity of the scores of the administration of President Benigno C. Aquino III. Right now, the +40 figure brings us right back to where we were before Secretary Lorenzana’s prized war on drugs began.

This is all moot, given PRRD’s own declaration of the institution of radical changes, precisely because of the rising tide of criminality.

How radical? By now, the country is aware that PRRD has a very low threshold for patience when it comes to index crimes. As for the President’s meaning, this is one of those Churchillian “riddle, wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma” situations. His own spokesman could not discern the message. As of this writing, about the only thing that has intensified or heightened is the people’s anxiety.

Understandably, there are those who predict an even more malevolent reign of terror to be unleashed. We hope not. The Senate’s resident peace and order gurus have lent their gravitas to reassure the public. Senator Gringo Honasan, chair of national defense and security, is confident that any such extraordinary measure will surely be consistent with the Constitution. Senator Ping Lacson, chair of public order and dangerous drugs hopes there is no abandonment of procedure and proper intelligence gathering methods will be observed. 

PRRD emphatically rules out Martial law. Speculation continues to revolve around possible heightened national emergency declarations and calling out of the armed forces. We are suddenly reminded of the landmark Lagman vs Medialdea decision and how it made lives of Constitutional Law professors more interesting.

Sec. Lorenzana, joined by Philippine National Police Director General Oscar Albayalde, are both in denial. What criminality concern they ask? If the intelligence reports of these men will mirror their cluelessness, how could they provide a basis for the President’s exercise of these extraordinary powers? It might become a stretch for the Supreme Court to make a finding of the existence of PRRD’s lawless violence in case armed forces are called out or of sufficiency of factual basis in the event martial law is declared.   

Perfect storm. There is a typhoon of good news from the upper house. Senate President Vicente Sotto III, former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, Senior Senator Panfilo Lacson I and Majority Leader Miguel Zubiri I have tallied perfect attendance records this past legislative session. Voting is one of the most if not the most important duties of Senators. More so during these interesting times when the Senate’s role as moderator of a turbulent House has become critical. With only 23 Senators, their attendance and punctuality records get placed under a larger lens.

In the case of the Senate President, he was never absent and never late. Best of all, Sen. Pres. Sotto has managed this feat going on eight years, since 2010. This astonishing dedication to duty may not garner institutional awards. After all, our Senators are really supposed to be present and on time – that’s what we elect them to do and pay them to do. But, to the many who value the return on the investment of their trust, showing up is the least our men and women in office must do. 

The iron man devotion displayed is an important indicator of just how much our faith has been valued by Senate President Sotto and Senators Pimentel, Lacson and Zubiri. In this way, they honor their office as well as the memory of the stalwart men and women who came before and who gave equal measure of respect to the institution.

Some obstinate members finesse their absence saying they were on official business anyway. True, that is their prerogative. And it falls to each individual’s sense of propriety to determine if there are more “productive” things to do than merely attending sessions. But voters are entitled to see their Senators in the session hall. Last I checked, the Senate still debates. Not everything is cooked behind committee doors. There is still enough there to inform voting decisions. When a Senator is absent, we are helplessly left without a voice. 

PASSAGES. Michael Farinas, incumbent Laoag City Vice Mayor and former Mayor for three terms, presided over his City’s rise to paragon of good governance in the north. Laoag, capital city of the Province of Ilocos Norte, has been elevated to the Hall of Fame by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the Most Business Friendly Category of their annual awards. Well done, Sir. We extend our condolences to his family and to his beloved City on his untimely demise.