House coup?

Ben Contreras .

WAS it a “coup d’état” that just took place in the halls of Congress? Sigh, it reminds me of one that took place at the Cagayan de Oro Press Club years ago.

How it was conceived and executed took Pantaleon Alvarez by surprise when he shouldn’t be being one of the conspirators of previous political coup.

I have no love lost for Alvarez. He abused his position to the hilt. In one of his sorties here, we were surprised to find police and military personnel posted in different places along the highway. Soon enough, a caravan of vehicles passed by apparently political big shots from somewhere. We thought it must be the President and his entourage. Nope, it turned out that it was Alvarez and Co..

I didn’t like his answer when women of our politicians were the issue. His answer and reaction smacked of arrogance and abuse of power.

Did he really say he can impeach the President if he wanted so? That would be another ingredient for his ouster coupled with his tiffs with presidential daughter and Davao Mayor Sara Duterte.

The ouster of Sen. Koko Pimentel and Alvarez, president and secretary general, respectively, of the PDP Laban Party is very telling. Like I once wrote, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte will have to form his own party like the presidents before him.

Former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo may not be a choice many would love to see, not with her “Hello, Garci” blunder, negative reactions will flow and spread like wildfire. But for those who are apolitical and choose to see the good side of a bad situation, they choose to credit her with her good economic policies that are being followed thereafter.

I am no economist, so I will just leave that to the experts.

One of the beautiful lines in PRRD’s speech on Monday was this: “Human rights is your concern, mine is human lives.” Critics find the two as one and the same. And what do you expect? Haters will never agree to anything that comes from PRRD’s mouth.

Is Gloria bane or boon? That remains to be seen in the next few days or weeks. Ahh, Philippine politics. Indeed, we are a unique people.

For those who opted to live their lives hating Duterte, nothing the latter does or says would be right. Nope, there is no point engaging them to a discussion. Let them stick to their own mindset. After all, it’s still their right to be so. We all choose to be what we are and believe in.

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Are they serious? People of Tibasak who were victims of “Sendong” and “Vinta” are contemplating on filing a class suit against the Department of Public Works and Highways and the contractor of an unfinished dike.

When we filed a case against former DENR Secretary Ramon Paje, the office of the Solicitor General represented him. In short, the enemy then was the government. It took a while to get the writ of kalikasan. But we did it. A friend, who is a victim of maneuvering by a politician and government agency, will also have to face the representative of the Office of the Solicitor General. Now, the flood victims of Tibasak will likely face the same situation. I am confident though that the result will be in his favor.

I did my own investigation for him. The result of which is that they lied.