Herbie Gomez
THERE should be no public debate on the proposal to open and operate a casino at Limketkai center. In fact, there is no need for the city council to call for a public hearing. Reason: there is a school, the stateun University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines, just across the road. Unless they get rid of USTSP or the prohibitions on the establishment of gaming facilities near institutions of learning, any debate on the pros and cons of having a casino there would be an exercise in futility. It’s just pointless.
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There is something I do not understand about the National Democratic Front. The NDF and its support groups have been taking turns calling for the resumption of the peace negotiations yet the Front’s armed wing, the New People’s Army, is busy taking soldiers and police officers captive or attacking them. That is like kicking someone in the testicles while doing a beso-beso.
The same thing applies to the Duterte administration and its Armed Forces. The NPA has complained that while the peace negotiators were talking, soldiers kept on going to the uplands, harassing villagers suspected of being sympathetic to rebels and squeezing them for information in the guise of community outreach programs. Why won’t the military keep its distance and leave the outreach programs to the local governments and civic organizations? It’s clear--and the generals know this--that soldiers in the hinterland villages have factored in the tension buildup.
I’m afraid that the efforts were just for a show, and so the peace talks, naturally, collapsed.
But on second thought, nothing is final with President Duterte who changes his mind as fast as he changes his underwear. His public pronouncements and tantrums are always developing stories. As I write this, there is still hope for the peace process. But the negotiators and the bodies they represent must understand this: it takes two to tango.
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National Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa used sarcasm as he responded to the Catholic Bishops of the Philippines’ pastoral letter about the extrajudicial killings: “What do they want us to do? Allow the drug problem to continue?”
That is flawed logic.
I read the pastoral letter. The Roman Catholic priests did not ask the government to stop the anti-drug campaign. The CBCP merely asked the government and the police to put an end to the killings of Filipino citizens on mere suspicion of being peddlers and users of illegal drugs, and not defend or justify the murders.
And then we hear some politicians reminding the CBCP of the Separation of Church and State principle. In this context, that is misplaced. A pastoral letter or statement of position by Catholic bishops may not be considered as religion imposing on the government. The bishops are Filipino citizens who have the right to voice out their deep concern over the killings just like any other citizen of this country or even like any decent human being living overseas for that matter. The bishops exercised that right, collectively.
Let me digress a bit to hammer home a point. Take the case of Sen. Manny Pacquiao’s position on the proposal to restore the death penalty. He says he favors it because he read a story about Jesus Christ being nailed to a cross which is capital punishment during the reign of the Roman Empire. Bright.
The Separation of Church and State principle applies to a religious bigot like Pacquiao who votes for or against laws based on his own interpretation of religious stories. That, clearly, is a case of dogma encroaching on Philippine legislature. What happens is that he makes his religious beliefs the foundation of laws that are then imposed on Filipinos who are not members of his group or cult. That is not right. Pastilan.
