Trixie Cruz-Angeles
The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.
-Anatole France
Sticking to the Constitution
Malacanang says that the junior officers should follow Constitutional processes. Now there's the pot calling the kettle black. Or the crowd stoning the Magdalene. Or Life giving Art the finger. Or.. well you catch my drift. But, as any of us know, GMA sticks to the Constitution only in the sense that gum sticks to her shoe when she inadvertently steps on it.
I mean, this administration has found so many uses for the law and the Constitution -- none of which are actually just ... the words "toilet paper", for example, comes to mind, instantly.
But lets review. What is the law anyway, but the codification of our values as a people? We value truth. But Malacanang uses the law to hide it and calls it executive privilege. We value the democratic processes and the voice of the people but GMA makes a phone call and in one fell swoop substitutes the nation's choice of a President to her choice of President. We value Justice and she gives us Raul Gonzales.
Now, the cabal of thieves calling themselves government tells the junior officers not to resort to Constitutional shortcuts? Honey, it we wanted a short cut, the lynch mob would have gotten you back in 2005, when we discovered the wonders of Garci.
But perhaps this insistence on sticking to the law at the expense of justice and free speech is best said by Esther Filderman (pardon my side comments):
"Hitler started by censoring the news, what people could read, etc. People did as he said because, after all, it was the law. Years later Jews, Gypsies, Gays, and anyone else who didn't fit into his ideal of a perfect human was being shipped off to concentration camps. Many citizens of the country let it happen because, after all, it was the law. You may not see people dying now, you may not believe it can happen. Already we have political people who want to restrict what people can do based on their religious beliefs or their love life (and in the case of the opposition to the RH Bill, both!-- Trixie). The truly brave stand up for what they believe in and don't hide behind rules and regulations...
The junior officers have made clear that they want justice and Malacanang responds by saying, sorry, you can't have that, you just get this battered copy of the Constitution and please don't mind the gum, shoe prints and the scuff marks. Hmph.
Trixie Cruz-Angeles
With reasonable men, I will reason; with humane men I will plead; but to tyrants I will give no quarter, nor waste arguments where they will certainly be lost.
-William Lloyd Garrison.
