CLASHING VIEWS ON…
1. DE LIMA ARREST AND PROSECUTION: LAW & ORDER OR VENDETTA?
It may just be an exercise in law enforcement, with a high-profile senator as accused
-- Charges filed by DOJ are for violation of illegal drugs, which accuse her of accepting pay-off from drug dealers when she was justice secretary
-- Aside from public hearings in Congress, she has undergone due process of law
2. RALLIES, COUNTER RALLIES IN CELEBRATING 31st EDSA DAY: IS NATION DIVIDED?
There had been no Edsa celebration that was not divided: one sector that believes in its continuing capacity to inspire, another sector that believes it was wrong (because its members were displaced by the revolt) and it served no useful purpose. The division varied merely on intensity, depending upon the issue on celebration day. Those are the sectors that battled in the display of their
Or it is personal and political vendetta, against the most visible and loudest critic of Duterte’s anti-drug war (personal animosity between them dating back to her stint as human rights chief and his as Davao mayor) and the symbol of the opposition to the present leadership
-- The use of convicted criminals as witnesses taints the integrity of evidence against her
-- Filing the cases with ordinary trial courts and not with ombudsman and Sandiganbayan and “premature” arrest respective forces on 2017, highlighting the fact that a growing number of Filipinos are disillusioned by the methods used in combating crime, fuelling suspicion if not paranoia among Duterte supporters.
Each side could be just using Edsa to promote its own agenda: the opposition and other critics, tapping Edsa’s spirit to promote the values and precepts of a democratic society; the administration using the protests to raise the drawbridge and protect itself from attack, real or just feared. warrant cast doubt on procedure
-- Who else are the VIPs they’re hauling to court for any part in the drug trade? Which makes targeting de Lima selective and dubious
Or it can be both: enough probable cause (she probably did profit from the drug trade) but at the same time enough valid basis to suspect personal and political motives, with each side exploiting what would achieve its goal; Duterte hitting back and de Lima using her prosecution as platform for her tirades
3. OSMEÑA-DINO WORD WAR: A REFLECTION ON MOOD OF BUSINESS ON MAYOR’S POLICIES?
It could be the usual disagreement between two leaders (the national government’s Michael Lloyd Dino and Cebu City’s Tomas Osmeña) on a local issue: whether Tomas is anti-business
Or it could be something More serious: the presidential assistant taking the cudgels for business who have been jittery over the mayor’s fight against the business consortium that bought SRP lots.
How to settle this: not by betting as to who can sell the lots at a higher price.