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Herbie Gomez

DECENCY, finally.

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I held my breath as I watched and listened to President Duterte’s 14-minute inaugural address on Thursday. What a relief it was for the new President to honor his office and the nation by delivering a decent speech during that historic moment. Grossness would have spoiled the inaugural.

Duterte’s acknowledgment of the limitations of his powers, his promise to abide by and uphold the law, his pronouncement against class hatred, and call for national unity was music to the ears of many Filipinos. (The following day, I smiled as I saw photos of him exchanging pleasantries with Vice President Leni Robredo for the first time, and then there was this report that they scheduled an appointment.)

The inaugural address, as one TV commentator put it, was Duterte’s most benign speech since the election season.

In a brief snippet of the speech, he made a point that I don’t agree with. It was when he told Congress and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), “Mind your own business, and I will mind mine.” Lines like that create good sound bites that get politicians quoted. He sounded tough but that was not quite right.

Why? It’s because it’s CHR’s business to monitor and document violations of human rights especially if these are committed by government agents, and one of the functions of Congress is to check the executive branch of government.

There is a very good reason why the legislative and judicial departments are the executive’s co-equal branches, and why they should remain independent from the executive branch, and not become sit-down puppies.

Make no mistake about it–the acts of the executive department, the President, are the business of the CHR and Congress. There should be no problem if Duterte keeps his word that he knows the limitations of his powers, and that he will abide by the law and not bend the rules. But of course, he knows that already–he is a lawyer and a former prosecutor. It’s good for him however to be reminded of that from time to time.

Regardless of that, President Duterte was very respectable and presidential that day. Carry on, Mr. President.

Britain’s vote to exit from the European Union (EU) has made a lot of people in the scientific world uneasy. That could be an understatement.

You see, science people acknowledge that great scientific advances often take place when there is collaboration.

With “Brexit,” the UK may most likely lose substantial financial grants for scientific research that mainly come from the EU. According to a report in The Atlantic that quoted the London-based independent scientific academy Royal Society, the UK is one of the largest recipients of EU research funding–it received US$10 billion for scientific research from 2007 to 2013.

Why should we in the Philippines care? It’s because the UK is a global scientific superpower, and what is bad for the quest for more scientific knowledge in Britain is also bad for the rest of the scientific community–and the world.

Pastilan.

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