Disclose state of mental health

Batas Mauricio

WILL Vice President Jejomar Binay please tell us what, exactly, did he mean when he said he will heal divisiveness in the country if and when he becomes President after the May 2016 elections? Did he mean to say that he will simply forgive and forget the crimes that have been committed against the Filipino people, particularly by the Aquino government?

Surely, if the Commission on Audit is to be believed, there are large scale graft committed by many top honchos under President Aquino, involving billions and billions of pesos of government funds. Are we just going to forgive these grafters for the sake of healing?

Then again, even the Supreme Court is saying that the authors, proponents, and implementors of the plunderous disbursement acceleration program (DAP) which saw the giving away of hundreds of billions of taxpayers’ money should be investigated and prosecuted. Did Binay mean, to heal divisiveness, that we will simply have to close our eyes to all of these stealing of government funds just so we can be united?

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So, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte are exhibiting signs of physical ailments as the campaign season for the May 2016 elections heat up. But let me ask our readers here: which is more preferable–candidates who are sick in their bodies, or candidates who are sick in their minds?

Body ailments, my doctor-friends are telling me, can somehow be cured by medicine and a little physical discipline. But mind diseases, such as insanity, confusion of the mind, and mental derangement, can be very difficult to cure, even with the most modern medical facilities. Indeed, a person whose mind is ailing is more dangerous than someone whose body is sick.

So, in the on-going campaign for the presidency, I suggest not only a disclosure of the candidates’ physical health. I am pushing more strongly for a disclosure of the candidates’ mental status, lest we be ruled by someone who is a closet lunatic, or a certified mental case, whose decisions can unwittingly bring us to tragedies and disasters of epic proportions, whether natural or man-made!

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Here’s from Perfecto Yasay Jr.: “I hope the Filipino people will stand up and tell the President that it is wrong for him to use the resources of government at his disposal to campaign for Mar Roxas and the candidates of the Liberal Party. Coyly retreating to the backstage, and yet making his presence and influence felt, is hypocritical and will not justify his unlawful behavior.

“Aside from the misuse of public funds, he unquestionably undermines our electoral process and contributes immensely in making it unfair and lopsided in favor of so-called `administration candidates’.

“It is in fact enabling a partisan political party to use the machinery of government to cheat or gain an unfair advantage in an election that must be honest, orderly and peaceful. The worse part is that he knows this is completely unacceptable under our democracy, and pretends that it is right. In fact this is what he accused PGMA (Gloria Arroyo) in the 2010 elections.

“He also is fully aware that the 6 year non- extendable term of the presidency is purposely intended to ensure that the highest office of the land is insulated from partisan politics. Another blatant corruption and abuse of power under a very crooked path to national perdition. Tama na, sobra na, Noy!”

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The greatest mystery that continues to baffle in the Mamasapano massacre of 44 elite policemen of the Special Action Force on Jan. 25, 2015 is the clear lack of trust on the part of President Aquino on former Interior Secretary Roxas and former National Police chief Gen. Leonardo Espina to include them in the operation.

The question then, and even now, is: why did not Aquino trust Roxas and Espina over a greatly important mission of capturing or even killing a well-known Malaysian terrorist, Zulkifli bin Hir, or Marwan, who was also wanted by international police agencies? Did Aquino think then that Roxas and Espina could betray the operation and thus jeopardize it and make it fail?

Or, is it possible that Roxas and Espina are now being made to appear as having been left out of the operation so as to avoid putting any liability on them, and more particularly on Roxas, which could affect Roxas’ chances as a presidential candidate in the 2016 elections? What, Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile, do you think about this?