Breath of fresh air
What a refreshing, welcome change from what we have been used to. Makati RTC Branch 148 Judge Andres Soriano “checked the mighty presidency,” to borrow the words of Far Eastern University Institute of Law dean Mel Sta. Maria. Judge Soriano will be remembered for his decision denying the issuance of a hold departure order and warrant of arrest against Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.
Not an easy decision to make.
With so many kowtowing to Du30 who wants to get what he wants, Judge Soriano is like a breath of fresh air, “restoring much needed credibility to the justice system,” according to former solicitor-general Florin Hilbay.
Yes, the legal fight is not over, with this administration confident that the higher courts will side with it. However, Judge Soriano, with his historic decision, awakened hope among Filipinos with his independence and courage. Thank you, Judge Soriano! Mabuhay po kayo!
Our nation also witnessed another brave Filipino exposing the truth about the P6.8 billion worth of shabu cleared and released by the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
Contrary to the claims of BOC Commissioner Isidro Lapena and DU30 that the magnetic lifters did not contain any dangerous drugs, Ma. Lourdes Villamar Mangaoang, customs deputy collector for operations and former BOC X-ray Inspection Project chief lawyer, “told a congressional hearing that the four magnetic lifters found in Cavite contained shabu.”
Her words: “Dogs don’t lie. X-ray machines don’t lie. Only people can lie. I am very sure it was deliberate, because that was modus operandi.”
According to a 2010 article published in The Philippine STAR, this lawyer was called “Iron Lady” of the BOC “by the Cagayan de Oro Press Club in recognition of her exemplary leadership and sterling performance during her stint as the Bureau of Customs district collector of the port of Cagayan de Oro City.”
This courageous lawyer was “a consistent scholar from elementary to high school, finished her Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, her Bachelor of Laws in UP, and passed the Bar examination with flying colors. Mangaoang has received 39 awards, commendations and plaques of appreciation for her accomplishments. She also received a plaque of recognition for the deployment of X-ray scanners that facilitated the processing of 12,622 entries which caused the seizure of regulated chemicals, undeclared CDs and DVDs, highly-regulated air-soft guns, misdeclared rice shipments and motor vehicles.”
Mangaoang deserves our gratitude, prayers, and support for her courage in exposing the truth, especially now that she is receiving death threats and is contesting her latest reassignment to the Customs Compliance Monitoring Unit.
Coming in as another breath of fresh air is the recent announcement of Facebook last Tuesday, October 23, that the company “removed about 95 pages and 39 users for violating spam and authenticity policies encouraging people to visit low quality websites that contain little substantive content and are full of disruptive ads.”
Many of the sites were deleted not because these were pro-Du30 or pro-Marcos but clearly because they were “low quality” pages filled with lies, fake news, foul language and were violating “spam and authenticity policies.”
One can be partisan without compromising the truth, without insulting the intelligence of viewers with fake, unauthenticated information, and definitely by using civil, not foul, language.
May we be graced with more positive, feel-good news.
People and acts of courage inspire and instill hope amid continued posturing of undeserving and shameless candidates proven guilty of corruption and abuse of public funds.
Thank God for Filipinos who stand up for Him, for truth, for justice, for our people.
- Latest
