Fact news from CNN: “DONALD TRUMP AVOIDS JAIL, BUT REMAINS A FELON.” He was charged, convicted and sentenced criminally “for 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.” (Inquirer). Do we see a similar case in our beloved Philippines?
The Philippines has a head-of-state who ran for public office despite being a “certified convict” for non-payment of real estate taxes worth millions in the 1980s, as judged/convicted by the Court of Appeals. But he was allowed to run for public office by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), whose credibility has been questioned, given the fact that its head was the lawyer of the said “certified convict.” Truth to tell, this current composition of COMELEC has not been able to fully explain some hard-nosed questions regarding alleged discrepancies and rigging in the conduct of the May 9, 2022 elections. This was persistently raised by the TNT trio, headed by the former DICT official Ret. Gen. Eliseo Rio, Jr, and other professional IT groups and individuals.
Comelec Chair George Erwin Garcia and his fellow Commissioners (even after their Co-Commissioner Rowena Guanzon had raised serious doubts about the final vote counts) have not been able to answer the TNT trio’s key question: “How was it possible that 20 million votes were counted in favor of Bongbong Marcos and publicly announced immediately after the closing of voting by 7pm on May 9, 2022”? Moreover, the TNT trio’s request for Comelec to provide them the transmission logs of the election exercise for scrutiny was never granted. From the time the question was raised and the request on the transmission logs was made, as early as June 2022, (and despite petitions made to the Supreme Court to act on the matter) no clear and honest response has been officially relayed to the TNT trio and the public even until this January 2025.
Under this present dispensation led by President Bongbong Marcos and his VP Sara Duterte, the country has been faced (even dating back in 2016 when Sara Duterte’s father became president) with an upward spiral of national problems – systemic corruption by the dynastic leaders; poverty currently suffered by more than half of the 119 million Filipinos; no justice for the families of more than 30,000 extra-judicial killings (EJKs) and other human rights violations; and China has now sent its ‘monster’ ship in the WPS. . This shows that a servant-leader is not on top of the national situation, but a felon. And like in the case of Trump, he has not been held accountable officially with a penalty and in fact no jail term for him.
It looks like the Philippines’ justice-system experience of currently having a felon as president, (and also having possibly soon a former president as a felon, having been officially publicly revealed by the Congress’ Quad committee as guilty of “crimes vs humanity” and likewise long-suspected by the ICC) was simply followed by the United States’ justice system. Does this mean there is now a new kind of meting justice on the issue of accountability and punishment in cases of convicted heads of state?
At any rate, the Filipino people surely know there is definitely something seriously wrong with the status quo, under the leadership of a felon or two. It’s no surprise then that more and more people, including those in the Visayas and Mindanao, are joining the increasing frequency of street parliaments calling for reforms in government plans and programs.
Quite noticeable too in the protest movement for good governance, are the increasing number of Church bishops, priests, pastors, government officials and military/police top officials. The cry for Truth, Justice and Good Governance is getting louder by the day!
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