Badges of constitutional shortcuts

I find it quite informative to hear people from diverse stations in life to be talking, strangely enough, about a common topic. How in the world could men, with altogether different educational levels, obviously divergent idiosyncrasies and glaringly possessed with uncommon experiences hew their minds together in a subject matter?

Few days ago, I brought 10 persons from the mountain barangay of Paril here in Cebu City to help me clear a small parcel of land in Toledo City. While 200 pesos would be measly to many people, the workers I assembled for the job were grateful they earned. So, let us agree that they belong to the poor sector.

Also within the week, I happened to exchange thoughts with the town officials of a municipality located on the western side of our province. The mayor, vice mayor and the members of the sangguniang bayan discussed such wide-ranging topics as local governance and the more profound aspects of constitutional paradigms as insights of the leaders of a third-class municipality.

Then, only few nights ago, I hosted a dinner for some top honchos of the Development Academy of the Philippines. It was not easy to pry from them their perceptions of how our government is doing by some basic comparisons between the present regime of President Rodrigo Duterte and previous administrations. Ex abudante ad cautilam, the lawyers somehow talked in unspecified questions that begged some specific answers.

Now, let us summarize thoughts.Ateenager from Paril, group felt the alarm that lives of alleged drug pushers could just be ended summarily. After I told him that the count made by a broadcast company of persons who had been shot to death allegedly by

police authorities as a result of "buy-bust operation" had reached over a thousand already, he could only make a sign of the cross. The old man in the group asked me, "attorney,