Decency in governance as casualty
JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre was actually the first to broach the idea of using a video, purportedly of Sen. Leila de Lima having sex with her former driver, in the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte’s pursuit of the senator. He said he might present it in court once cases against de Lima are filed. His “partner in crime,” House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, followed suit. He approved the showing of the sex video in the House probe against the senator.
That sex video, whose circulation online intensified when de Lima, who formerly chaired the Senate committee on justice and human rights, announced that her committee would be conducting an investigation into the incidents of extrajudicial killings sparked by the Duterte administration’s “war” against illegal drugs. That was the time when the campaign to demonize the senator began. Since then, everything has been hurled her way except the proverbial kitchen sink.
I haven’t seen the video, but many of those who did said the sex act was faked to make it appear that the duo doing it were de Lima and her former driver. Consider that the supposed relationship between de Lima and her former driver is important in the narrative that says she was involved in the illegal drug trade at the National Bilibid Prisons when she was justice secretary. De Lima supposedly received the drug money through her former driver.
That the sex video is fake didn’t seem to concern both Aquirre and Alvarez, which shows how “conscientious” they really are in the pursuit of the truth in the de Lima affair. Establishing the authenticity of the sex video is an important step before the video could be presented, if ever, in court or in the House. But Aguirre and Alvarez are not doing that.
Good that there seems to be a growing outcry about the plan. Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, who is also head of Duterte’s own PDP-Laban party, warned the House that showing the sex video in the probe would invite a political backlash. The women senators, Grace Poe, Risa Hontiveros and Nancy Binay have also spoken against the plan, together with Vice President Leni Robredo.
Days ago, somebody asked me why the militant group Gabriela didn’t come out to denounce the plan. I thought this was probably because of the militants’ “alliance” with the Duterte administration. But I was wrong because members of Gabriela-party list in the House, together with the entire Makabayan bloc recently criticized the plans of Aguirre and Alvarez. Many other politicians have also recovered their voice after being mesmerized by the President.
This issue reminds me of that joke about a boss telling one of his fanatical supporters to jump off a building. Without hesitating, the “fan” asked his boss, from which floor?
I doubt if the idea to show the video in the House came from the President. He may have ordered Aguirre and Alvarez to go after de Lima, but I think he left much of the implementation details with his subalterns. And in their eagerness to impress their boss, they went hammer and tongs after the senator, even using dirty tricks to get the job done. Theirs is a classic sipsip act.
In 2010, I supported the presidential bid of Benigno Aquino III in the hope that he would be able to restore the decency in governance that was damaged by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s rule. I would like to believe Aquino did just that in his six years as president. If the Duterte administration does not mend its ways, chances are decency in governance will again be the casualty.