One does not make the other

As citizens, Hilario Davide III, Agnes Magpale and Arleigh Sitoy have all the right to sue anybody as they please. And so they in fact did, taking turns in filing a host of charges against Gwen Garcia and several others.

But aside from being citizens, Davide, Magpale, Sitoy and Garcia are also candidates in the 2013 elections. Their being so therefore makes it necessary to ask whether the charges were filed as a matter of right as citizens, or as a means to attack a political opponent.

If the charges were filed as a matter of right as citizens, such right can be assigned to any other citizen without affecting the nature and gravity of the charges, as well as the kind of redress the charges seek.

In other words, it did not have to take candidates Davide, Magpale and Sitoy to do the filing against candidate Garcia themselves if they wanted to make it appear that such filing was a matter of their right as citizens concerned about some alleged anomaly regarding the Balili purchase.

By filing the charges themselves when they are no longer just citizens but candidates as well, and the person they charged happens to be none other than another candidate who happens to be on the other side of the political fence, the nobleness of motive cannot but become suspect.

How much, therefore, of the charges are motivated by a genuine desire to seek redress to a perceived anomaly, and how much by a desire to sweep away a political opponent by legal action in order to profit politically from a legal victory.

By the way, in both the legal battle and in the political war, Davide, Magpale and Sitoy are projecting themselves as the good guys as opposed to Garcia as the bad guy. But good guys are expected to prove their merit regardless of which arena they choose to fight.

Charges have already been filed for the legal battle. But in the political war, Davide, Magpale and Sitoy have yet to prove they are worthy of the people’s vote. It is not enough to say an opponent is unworthy. Davide, Magpale and Sitoy need to prove their own worth as well.

This nation can never take off if it keeps electing officials not on the basis of their own merits but on the worthiness or unworthiness of their opponents. If Davide, Magpale and Sitoy need jobs at Capitol, they must prove how good they are, not how bad their opponents can be.