Mano Pope

An excerpt from The Philippine Daily Inquirer news report (June 28, 2006)...

Headline: ‘Pope knows about Garci scandal,’ says Bishop Cruz

‘Height of hypocrisy’

The Tanggulan Youth Network for Civil Liberties and Human Rights said the abolition of the death penalty law was the “height of hypocrisy.” “That the spate of extrajudicial killings continues unabated renders the abolition of the death penalty law a mere token act to boost Arroyo’s image,” said Alvin Peters, convenor of Tanggulan.

Dion Carlo Cerrafon, Student Christian Movement of the Philippines (SCMP) chair, said “it seems that the value of human life is the least concern of the administration.

Amen!

Isn't It ironic? Don't You Think?

I just read the Editorial of today's Philippine Daily Inquirer. I was browsing through it, which by the way I haven't really finished reading yet because I thought I'd rather write this piece while I still can since what I'm doing is not legal around here (using the internet other than for work-related purposes), and the very first paragraph made me wonder at once.

In verbatim, the paragraph goes... "JUSTICE Secretary Raul Gonzalez said the other day that “you can’t avoid collateral damage” in the conduct of the government’s all-out campaign against the communist insurgency. He said the loss of civilian lives might be unavoidable in the all-out war."

Off topic: he's been unleashing ridiculous comments again all over the TV and radio. Might I be given a chance to say that THIS GUY IS CRAZY! Disgrace to the profession!

However, his statement above is not as crazy, because it's true. Indeed, in an all out war, it can't be help that there will be civilian casualties. What I find ironic is this...

GMA has been pushing for the abolition of the death penalty for the longest time, right? And yet, she keeps declaring war with different groups!

See the irony?

I think the whole point of abolishing death penalty is to value life. On the other hand, the whole point of a war is to destroy lives!

Argh! When will this madness end?!

This woman has been playing both sides ever since she started politics. Did you all know that?

She was a member of the Liberal Party in her early political days, and then I think she went and joined another party. My point is, this woman has no sense of loyalty. And yet, we so openly trusted her to sit in the highest position of the land. Because really, no matter how much we say that the 3 branches of the government (executive, legislative and judicial) are equal...that's just in theory!

I didn't go to the EDSA 2, as people call it. I've always thought it was ridiculous. And now... can we now accept that it truly was? We overthrew a president that was practically illiterate, a gambler, a chronic drinker and womanizer; but he was a good man. He may not be the best, and God knows I really didn't want him to be our president, but he was a good man. He was an idiot, but at least he didn't go out and kill people.

But good man wasn't enough for us. He had to be clean. He had to have no more than one wife. He had to have no other children except from that one woman. He had to be perfect. So we threw him out and replaced him with an intelligent woman. A crazy b***h who's trying to hold the entire country by the neck! Who only won vice president because she danced cha-cha on stage everytime she campaigned.

And really, isn't THAT the biggest irony of all?

Death Penalty Finds Its Death

With a 16-0 vote, the Senate approves Senate Bill (SB) 2245, which will repeal Republic Act (RA) 7659 or more popularly known as The Death Penalty Law. RA 7659 imposes the death penalty, as maximum penalty, on certain crimes in the Revised Penal Code. Among these crimes are murder, rape (when certain aggravating circumstances are present), kidnapping (especially when the pupose of which is to extort ransom), and robbery (where the following crimes are at the same time committed: homicide, rape, arson, intentional mutilation).

Should the Bill become a Law, all criminals on death row will automatically be benefitted by it; thus, their sentence will be lowered from Death to Reclusion Perpetua (which is not exactly a Life Imprisonment, rather it is actually 20 years and 1 day to 40 years). This is what is called a Retroactive Effect. This means that it was as if the penalty of those criminals on death row has always been Reclusion Perpetua to begin with.

Now, here comes the people from the red corner and the people from the white corner. Naturally, in all controversies, there will always--ALWAYS--be at least 2 sides. The same goes in this issue. On the one hand, many victims of these heinous crimes do not approve of abolishing death penalty. On the other, many people believe that life is something God gave and that He is the only one who has the right to take it away.

Question: On which side of the ring are you?

I'm all go for the abolition of Death Penalty. "You don't know how it feels to lose someone so horribly," someone might say. True. Perhaps if I did go through the same torment as those who have lost their loved ones because of another's senseless killing, I might also be constrained to want the killer to die as payment for what he's done. An eye for an eye. But, just because I'm full of rage and would want the killer to pay for the life he has taken with his own life, it doesn't mean that it's right.

If you've seen the film Dead Man Walking, you might remember Sean Penn's character (totally forgot the name) being given the chance to say his last words in front of the parents of the victim he's killed. He said he was very sorry for what he's done and believes that nobody has the right to take a life for whatever reason. For whatever reason. Even if someone probably really deserved to die... nobody has the right to take a life for whatever reason.

Miriam-i Nang Matang Pinaluha

Don't wonder why I'm writing something about her now. Didn't you hear that she's all over the press saying she might not finish her term in the Senate because she's going to resign? I don't know if she's serious. I heard my parents talking about her. They said she's only probably saying that to get some attention; because nobody's talking about her anymore. I don't know. I'm still giving her the benefit of the doubt, but it's difficult to take her seriously anymore. Remember that whole I-will-jump-off-a-plane-head-first-if-Estrada-is-arrested incident? Yeah, well, he was arrested and when she was reminded of her statement, she did this ridiculously evil laugh and said, "I lied". I thought, "that's it. she's crazy." Honestly, I don't even know why she was still elected in the Senate. I think it's time for her to go home and rest with her family.

You know what though, I'm feeling generous. Let's just be reminded of her achievements long, long ago when she was still thinking straight.

Miriam Defensor-Santiago was valedictorian in Elementary and High School in Iloilo. During college, she became the first female editor-in-chief of the UP student paper called The Philippine Collegian, ending a 50-year-old male dominance therein. In 1965, she graduated magna cumlaude in her degree of Bachelor of Arts; while come 1969, she graduated cum laude from UP-College of Law.

From 1983-1987, she presided in the Regional Trial Court, Branch 106, Quezon City. Thereafter, she worked in the government until 1991. In 1988, she was awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award for government service. She ran for the presidency twice but lost both times to Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada, respectively. She also ran to be Senator 3 times and lost only in the 2001 elections.

If you'd like to go into some more details about her. Just click her picture and you'll be directed to the source of all these information.