Not Sereno’s decision alone

Batas Mauricio

IT would appear that under the Duterte government, incompetence and inefficiency have become a debilitating fad or a shameless passion, particularly at the Department of Transportation. Indeed, Transportation Secretary Art Tugade has been in power at the department for two years now, more or less, but the take-off and landing of commercial planes at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport have remained in shambles and a source of dismay and discomfort to many.

Yet again, I experienced waiting for one full one hour, sitting inside the plane that was to take me to Puerto Princesa City, Palawan on Wednesday, unable to fly because we have not been permitted to take-off by airport authorities. I had to go to Puerto Princesa City on that day to attend a court hearing at the Regional Trial Court there, in connection with land disputes over big estates in Coron, Palawan.

I had to wake up at 2 in the morning, got a private vehicle from the Internet to ferry me to the airport, and started waiting to fly about 4 in the morning. Boarding time was supposed to be 4:30 am yet but at 4 am, we were already asked to board the plane. Well, it was wait, wait, and wait inside the plane that the plane’s passengers and I had to endure. Sec. Tugade, can you please just have some shame over the trust given to you by President Duterte?

If you cannot do your job, can you please just resign!

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There are two ways of looking at the indefinite leave taken by Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. One, this was a brilliant tactical strategy to really enable her to fully prepare for the forthcoming trial of the impeachment case against her at the Senate.

It would be good for her to focus on her defense, so she can quench the accusations against her, once and for all.

Second, this could be taken to mean as an outright admission of the lowest depths that her position as the chief of the Supreme Court has descended to. This means that, she is now indeed affected by what is happening around her, and because even her own colleagues at the high court themselves have become her rabid enemies, she is now feeling the pangs of isolation. Well, if she would be doing this now, it would have been a lot better if she cut clean earlier.

What is pathetic in all these is that, the decision to quit her post is not a personal decision that Sereno alone can make. I am sure those who installed her as justice, and later as Chief Justice, of the Supreme Court, had, in one way or another, been pressuring her not to quit. Indeed, from the looks of it, the reason why she decided to go on an indefinite leave only after the 32nd Edsa was that, the expected replacement of Duterte by Vice President Robredo did not happen!

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I really vomited hard while I was listening to a part of the hearing of the House of Representatives on the issue of the impeachment of Chief Justice Sereno. Why? Because of the impression of being “clean” and “righteous” which lawmakers tried hard to project in their questioning on Sereno’s alleged tax liabilities, making her look like she was the only who had sinned.

Ladies and gentlemen, those propounding the questions are supposed to be Christians, who professed they are followers of Jesus! But, could they be true followers of Jesus, obeying what He decreed that only those who have no sin could cast accusations against their fellow human beings? Is it not a fact that many of those in the House also face countless cases of graft and corruption? Are they qualified to judge others?

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Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has to be replaced now to hasten the filing of cases against former President Noy Aquino, former Health Secretary Janet Garin, and former Budget Secretary Florencio Abad, relative to the Dengvaxia vaccine scandal which many believe caused the death of children who were injected with it.

This was the plaintive reaction of those who read my Facebook post (my account named Melanio Lazo Mauricio Jr., or www.facebook.com/attybatas) in which I expressed dismay over the very slow action of Aguirre on the Dengvaxia issue. I also took note of the fact that cases should have been filed against Noynoy and his officials a long time ago yet but, then, it woulds always be better late than never.

It should be very clear by now that Noynoy’s only defense on the controversy surrounding the Dengvaxia vaccine of Sanofi Pharmaceuticals (a French company) was his “lack of knowledge” of the dangerous effects of the drug on Filipino children. He said, he did not know, as he lacked knowledge, that Dengvaxia was actually pernicious.

Well, this is certainly a highly obnoxious and shameful explanation from Noynoy, given to those wanting to know why his government hurried to pay some P3.4 billion to Sanofi for the Dengvaxia vaccine, and its obviously criminally negligent use on hapless and defenseless school children. If he was not aware, or lacked knowledge, of the real effect of the drug, why was he in a hurry to inject it on Filipino children?