Roosterman No. 11

TilaokBy MANA volunteers aroundRoosterman No. 11; January, 2012No law should be passed abridgingthe freedom of the pressPersecutedby swiftjusticeTowards theend of theyear, the Philippines wasrocked by the arrest andFrom http://politika2013.wordpress.com/detention of former president GMA. The process, that includeda perceived defiance of the Supreme Court, was swift, tooswift for Arroyo’s comfort. At once, their lawyers and someso-called legal experts raised a howl over the speed that ittook government to prevent the former president from escapingout of the country; skirt and dodge around a SupremeCourt Temporary Restraining Order; file a case; secure acourt arrest warrant; and effect arrest.Why? It because our lawyers were so used to theslow motion grind of our wheels of justice. And justice in thiscase was abnormally normal. We’ll legal luminaries were justaccustomed to inept system that the efficient appearedqueer and suspicious.Or GMA’s attorneys were just trying to fool the Filipinopeople? Professional oath (err, huge attorney’s fee) mighthave compelled lawyers of Arroyo to defend her in court. Butit should have stopped there. They should not have engagedin trying to fool the public through false propaganda on theirclient’s innocence or blamelessness. That effort should havebeen exclusively directed at the court , not the people. Afterall, the court or justice is blind folded, the people are not.Justice is blind. Yes, but some justices of the SupremeCourt are deaf too. They can’t even hear the uproarwhich is now very loud and clear. Isn’t the voice of the people,the voice of God? And this is supposed to be the veryfoundation of democracy, acknowledged and manifested inthe constitution when it says the power of government emanatesfrom the people.The voice of the people is loud and clear: “ just don’tlet Arroyo get away.”Let’s hope the impeachment of chief justice RenatoCorona will put the other Supreme Court Justices back totheir senses.Simply, impeachment is a constitutional mechanism designedto enable the people to check the powers of the highestofficials of the land. Impeachment is people speakingthrough their elected representatives. Clearly vast majorityof Filipinos want to get rid of Corona because they know thatif Corona will have his way, his little girl can get away.Thus, to many of us, impeachment of chief justiceCorona was warranted. So, nothing wrong if there were congressmenwho signed the impeachment complaint withoutreading it. That was political reflex. They automatically heededthe outcry of their respective constituents. Anyway, leaveit to the senator–judges to scrutinize the merits of the case.In this case, the role of the House was merely to indicateor put the will of the people on testament. It would beup to the Senate if the will of the people would be found justand justified. (This is interactive item. You may react clickhttp://masangnagmamanok.wordpress.com/2011/12/16/persecuted-by-swift-justice/ )CVBA on the spotlightFirst, a piece of bad light. What’s this we hear that one of the founding fathers of Central Visayas BreedersAssociation (CVBA) has been sanctioned for some infraction he has inflicted on the groups powersthat be? But insiders say it was a personal matter and should only be between them so why was he made to bearthe ire of the entire organization. A case of “what are we in power for?”We don’t think so. With due respect to these insiders, still CVBA is a responsible association run by responsiblepeople. The leadership of CVBA would know what they were doing. If they did it, then there must besome solid grounds to justify their action.The good news is that CVBA director Bebot Monsanto scored 10 wins against a lone loss in the 2011 Bakbakan.Another CVBA member Ben Dimaano scored 9.5 points. Congratulations to Bebot and Ben. (This is interactiveitem. You may react click http://masangnagmamanok.wordpress.com/2011/12/16/cvba-on-the-spotlight/ )30