Let the Sereno case rest

Ben Contreras .

HOW is that again — “Outrage over the killing of 3rd priest in Luzon”? Was there really an outrage? Granting there was, when a young man of 24, on his way to a date with a friend, was mauled and died of brain hemorrhage in the hands of a gang of four, was there an outrage? Or, if there was none, was it because the young man was just like any Juan de la Cruz who gets killed everyday in any manner and for whatever reason, and his death does not really matter? And he does not deserve a headline, right?

Well, that’s the hypocrisy of today’s mainstream media. When media is supposed to be the purveyors of truth, media has become a tool to distort truth and sensationalism for a fee.

The victim, being a priest, makes it a perfect tool for black propaganda. Does it have something to do with the recent tirade of the President against the Church (Catholic)? It sure looks like it.

The virulent attacks by Church leaders against the President are always picked up, blown out of proportion if not, sensationalized.

The next time one claims about media or any person being muzzled to silence, just read our national newspapers or the social media, they are replete with virulent expletives and curses against the President. You call that a muzzled press? Perhaps I need to buy a new dictionary for a different definition.

Fearless views, indeed. It is something rooted in the past during the days of the Marcos regime when it ran against a dictator and gained a certain degree of respectability and wide readership. Today, it may no longer be about what is true but what is convenient and beneficial to one’s interest. Hmmmm…

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The Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) boasts to be 60-thousand strong but it is not reason enough to prevail upon the decision of the Supreme Court to reconsider its verdict on Maria Lourdes Sereno.

The Supreme Court is the final arbiter of judicial interpretation. Otherwise, she is not supreme. If the Judicial and Bar Council erred in its decision to approve the appointment of Sereno as Chief Justice despite her failure to give full details of her statements of assets and net worth (SALN), it does not mean that the mistake cannot be corrected. IBP’s filing for a motion for reconsideration is tantamount to questioning SC’s decision. Is IBP above the Supreme Court? Certainly not!

Sereno’s appointment as Chief Justice was a midnight deal, perhaps a prize for something she did for the President at the time. Her removal was neither about legality nor political. It was simply karma.

Let her case rest as it is.

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I got hold of a receipt for traffic violation issued by city hall. It reads: “Nature of Collection; 20% traffic violation, 30% traffic violation and 50% traffic violation.” Why so? I guess it is meant to show how the penalty is distributed. Who are these three?

Let me guess. Twenty percent is given to the arresting enforcer, 30 percent to RTA, and 50 percent for city hall’s general fund — not to the general’s pocket, I hope.