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Herbie Gomez

I’D go slow on that power-tripping if I were in the shoes of Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Co.. For the sake of this country and the Duterte administration, they should slow down and moderate their aggressive but misplaced display of enormous powers to bully into submission institutions that are in place to provide the necessary checks and balances.

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The people of this country can continue to live in relative political peace and stability under a democracy, imperfect as it is. But this administration’s obsession for authoritarianism and clear acts of provocation are stirring up a political hornets’ nest. Be careful on that high horse, Mr. Speaker.

Last week, the seven-member Makabayan bloc in the Lower House openly declared its decision to sever ties with the “super majority” in order to join the resistance to what it referred to as the “fully unraveled fascist, pro-imperialist and anti-people” Duterte administration. The Makabayan bloc representatives’ decision was expected. In fact, the drawing of the line was “long overdue” given the collapse of the peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front, the booting out of so-called “progressives” from the cabinet, the efforts aimed at deodorizing of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, and their condemnations of extrajudicial killings which have characterized the Duterte administration, among others. It was an oil-and-water relationship from the very beginning, and the Makabayan bloc had refused to see that this President has never been who and what he claimed to be and, for over a year, turned a blind eye to the rascalities of this administration.

Last week’s move in the Lower House to defund the Commission on Human Rights, an independent constitutional body created to blow the whistle whenever the State and its agents go overboard and abuse their powers at the expense of civil liberties, was the straw the broke the camel’s back. Unreason was written all over the faces of Alvarez and other members of the House super majority, and the Makabayan bloc just had to bolt out. People saw through them. Such shameless act backfired and now, the super majority and Duterte have to deal with the avalanche of public outrage.

No, Duterte and his political puppies may not whip an independent government monitor and a constitutional body into submission just because the President does not like the face of its chairman, Chito Gascon. And no, they may not pressure Gascon into resigning because if the people allowed that, then the CHR will lose its credibility, and become beholden to Malacanang which should never be the case because the Commission’s strength is on its independence.

It does not look like a coincidence that Duterte and his subjects are doing the same thing to the Supreme Court and the Office of the Ombudsman. The former represents the judiciary, the executive’s and legislative department’s co-equal branch of government, while the latter is another independent constitutional body like the CHR.  Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno and Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales are facing threats of impeachment.

It is a shame that the Duterte administration is now embarking on efforts to undermine the very institutions that serve as a check on its executive powers at a time when it is pushing for Charter change in the guise of the federalism advocacy while threatening this nation with a nationwide martial law and the establishment of a revolutionary government. A revolutionary government against whom? Itself?

It is a shame that most members of Congress are looking the other way. Let us not even go far. Here in Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental, there are four district representatives who merely watched as their colleagues ganged up on an independent constitutional body because that was what this President wanted. No, they may not condemn a gangape that they watched and did not try to prevent when they could have. They could have at least interceded on behalf of the would-be victim before the crime was committed.

What are the odds that all of them were nowhere to be found when the House voted to give the CHR a measly P1-thousand budget for 2018? That is simply unacceptable and unimaginable. But according to Rep. Maximo Rodriguez of the 2nd District of Cagayan de Oro, he was absent because floodwaters prevented him from going to the Batasan Pambansa complex. Rodriguez’s counterpart in the 1st District, Rep. Rolando Uy, claimed he was outside the session hall when the house was divided. Aides of the two Misamis Oriental representatives, Pedro Unabia of the 1st District and Juliette Uy of the 2nd District, said they, too, were busy doing things outside when the Lower House voted, 119-32, for the ridiculous CHR budget. Do they really expect Cagayanons and Misamisnons to believe that their absence — all four of them — was unintentional? At the least, it would be safe to say that on that day, that crucial moment, none of Cagayan de Oro’s and Misamis Oriental’s representatives did their work and left the city and province voiceless and without representation in the House of Representatives. What a shame!

Clearly, representation was something Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental did not have on Tuesday when the House voted for the controversial CHR budget. For that, the four representatives owe their constituents a good explanation on why they did not do what they were elected to do.

When the Lower House tackles something of national significance, especially if it pertains to civil liberties, leave everything behind and vote. And when there’s flood, swim like the rest of the 151 congressmen who presumably swam to the Batasan that day.

I am not disturbed that the Lower House gave CHR a measly P1-thousand budget knowing full well that something as silly as that won’t get Senate approval unless senators are as crazy as their counterparts in the other chamber. I am disturbed because the members of the House majority surrendered reason to the pettiness and tantrums of Duterte, and bent over willingly, without any sign of resistance, so that the petty dictator could ram Alvarez’s head up and down, down and up, and up and down again and again the lower openings of their digestive tracts. How long can these congressmen take this public humiliation by way of puppetry? Pastilan.

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