Who is minding the store?

THE good news is that President Duterte’s recent trip to Israel resulted in investment deals worth $82.9 million. The bad news is that when he comes home, he’ll be staring at a 6.4 inflation, said to be the highest over a nine-year period.

The situation must be so bad even the coopted minority in the House of Representatives is asking for the heads of the country’s economic managers. (Co-opted is a kinder description than incestuous which is when the majority and the minority are one and the same).

I remember that during the presidential campaign, Duterte promised to leave the management of the country’s economy in the hands of the experts while he focuses on law and order and the war on drugs. Considering how serious our economic predicament is, one cannot but ask, who is minding the store?

The prices of oil and prime commodities are up while the peso is registering record lows versus the dollar and other major foreign currencies. The current exchange rate of P53.55 to a dollar is said to be a 12-year low.

As if our economic woes are not enough, our rice supply has dangerously approached depletion levels and we have to do last-minute importations again. We don’t pay in pesos when we import so you can imagine the strain it will have on our foreign reserves.

My friend and SunStar colleague Mike Limpag asked on Facebook: what if I go to the Civil Registrar’s Office and find out that my application for a marriage license can not be found, does that mean that my marriage is void?

Naughty Mike. I’m sure he was not worried about his marital union but it was a good question to ask in the light of the Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV conundrum. Is the amnesty that was granted to him void because the Department of National Defense says they could not find his application?

The president’s legal advisers are confident that it is. On the other side of the fence are lawyers and opposition lawmakers who point out that the grant of amnesty went through several stages, including assessment by an ad hoc committee, a recommendation from the defense secretary and the concurrence of Congress.

Trillanes himself asserts that he has filed his application for amnesty and made a general confession of guilt and that he has documents and videotapes to prove it. Who should we believe?

One last thing: the two court cases against Trillanes were dismissed. My meager understanding of criminal procedure is that only the courts can order him arrested again and only after the cases have been reinstated. So why were policemen sent to the Senate premises to arrest Trillanes even before a motion to reinstate could be filed? It’s puzzling.