Possible Pacquiao presidency

Batas Mauricio

PRESIDENT Duterte must truly know the possibilities of Sen. Manny Pacquiao, the greatest boxer that ever fought on world class rings, becoming the next president of the Philippines. After all, they both come from Mindanao, and are now very close friends. But, even three years before, I have already been writing about a “President Pacquiao” for our country.
Here was what I wrote in this column on November 2013: “With his convincing 12ound victory over Brandon ‘Bam Bam’ Rios Sunday (Nov. 24, 2013) at The Cotai Arena at the Venetian in Macau, calls for Manny Pacquiao to become President of the Philippines have resurfaced. One such call came all the way from New York, USA.
“Mariano Patalinjug (MarPatalinjug@aol.com) wrote: ‘Is (Pacquiao) a ‘Born-Again Christian’ now? If so, he is still very much a Christian! The Roman Catholic Church, through its powerful political arm, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, will very likely give putative presidential candidate Manny Pacquiao its full support.
“And why not this world-famous greatest boxer, pound for pound, Manny Pacquiao, as President of the Philippines! We’ve had a brilliant lawyer, a graduate of the University of the Philippines, whom the Filipino people easily if not eagerly and with such hopes elected President. Did he use his brilliance for the good of his country and his people?
“You know the answer to that one, of course! He used his brilliance to earn (a distinction from) the Guinness Book of World Records as the greatest kleptocrat among the world’s leaders of his time!
“Maybe it is time for the Filipino people to elect as President somebody who is less brilliant… but who may have a truly [vs. hypocritically] kindly heart for the Filipino people. I do not think he has any ambition of making it to the Guinness Book of World Records as a kleptocrat. The world already knows him to be the greatest boxer, pound for pound, of all time. I think that’s good enough for Manny Pacquiao. He has the potential to be a good President…”
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If the elite Presidential Security Command whose duty is to assure the safety of the President at all times cannot even protect its soldiers from bomb attacks as shown by the Lanao del Sur incident, Filipinos should really worry and take extra precautions.
Either our soldiers have become too inefficient in their duties and responsibilities, or terrorists have developed a higher degree of sophistication in their war against the authorities, inflicting injuries or deaths at will, without any fear of being thwarted or arrested.
Indeed, the times have become delinquent. And judging from what has been happening, there is no longer anyone who could protect our people—both from the rouges within our society and our country, and from alien forces who want to bring in more terrorists to fight the government, or more smuggled goods and illegal drugs to make them richer all the more.
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Much has been said–and, I am sure, more will be said–of what many say was the prurient and below-the-belt way congressmen feasted on the sexual relationship between Sen. Leila de Lima and her former driver-lover, Ronnie Dayan, when Dayan testified before the Committee on Justice and Good Government of the House of Representatives.
With due respect to all parties, I believe the lesson that this episode in the history of our lawmakers from the lower chamber of Congress imparts is simple: if anyone would not want to be the subject of any unsavory comment, or legislative inquiry, he or she must try to avoid being unsavory, and must strive to behave truly prim and proper, especially if he or she is a government official.
As it is, the public has a right to know what the government official does even in private, for it can happen that this private conduct can impact on his or her duties as a government official. As it is, the old adage remains true: he who lives in a glass house must either strive to live a clean life, or refrain from throwing stones at others who also live in glass houses.
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I browsed through the 32 sections of Article VI of the 1987 Constitution to see if there is something about “inter-parliamentary courtesy” in the basic law of the Philippines, but I did not find any provision about it, much less any reference to what it means.
I had to do this little research on this matter because it is threatening to pit the two houses of Congress–the House of Representatives and the Senate–against each other, in the wake of plans by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez Jr. to issue a warrant of arrest against Sen. de Lima in connection with his advice to Dayan to disregard a House subpoena for him to appear in the lower chamber.
If the Constitution did not provide for any “inter-parliamentary courtesy”–which de Lima and other senators are using now to oppose the warrant to be issued by Speaker Alvarez against her–certainly, there is no legal prohibition against the arrest of a senator who encouraged disobedience against the orders of one branch of government!