Yes, pas de trois. A political dance for three people. A threesome. It sounds kinky if it’s an adult film, but revolting when it’s a family affair seeking insatiable political clout via three seats in the Senate.
And I thought we had seen the last of that with sibling Senators serving simultaneously. Senators like Alan Peter Cayetano and Pia Cayetano, Jinggoy Estrada and JV Ejercito, and also mother and son tandem Loi and Jinggoy Estrada and Cynthia and Mark Villar.
Okay, there are no laws prohibiting them from running, but there are behaviors that dictate ‘delicadeza’ and ‘hiya’ which should rise above the lust for power.
And this is where these three individuals disgust many people. All in the guise for love of country and service to the public.
Baloney. There should be a law passed that no immediate family members can run for the same office at the same time.
Reminder: what you can do in Davao you should not necessarily do in the entire country.
Is it time to legalize marijuana in the country?
More than half of the States in the US have already legalized or decriminalized (for medical purposes) the use of cannabis sativa or marijuana in their respective states.
Several countries in Europe and South America have followed suit.
But back here in “ghastly” Manila, we still know for a fact that many politicians take advantage of the ignorance of the general public and perpetuate the many myths or misinformation or even superstitious beliefs surrounding this celebrity plant and even propose to increase the penalties against its possession and use, throwing young people in prison to do time, only to be released years later addicted to a harmful drug like shabu which they learned to use while in prison.
That’s the sad reality. Politicians and legislators like them don’t realize that their political stupidities ruin young lives instead of taking care of them, giving them better options for their future.
But wait. Wasn’t there a bill filed by then Rep. Rodolfo ‘Rodito’ Albano III which seeks to legalize the use of the marijuana plant for medical purposes otherwise worded as the “Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Act” for which the bill allows patients with debilitating diseases such as severe chronic pain, nausea, muscle spasms, Parkinson’s Disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, seizures, and even post-stroke victims.
After many years of extensive research, conclusive evidence leads to the fact that marijuana is beneficial for medical purposes to treat patience with such diseases, to usher them away from their suffering – illnesses with a type of oppression which goes against human rights.
Sad to say, Albano, now Governor of Isabela Province, was up against a juggernaut of ignorance from his colleagues in the House. His bill was controversial due to age-old biases and lack of correct information from those who were opposed to it.
He was up against an emotionally-fueled ignorance by pseudo-honorables moonlighting as anti-drug advocates who cannot even make the distinction between marijuana, shabu, heroin, LSD, or any other dangerous drug. However, cannabis that is used in an unsupervised manner is not medical marijuana.
The same applies for cannabis authorized by a doctor who has not adequately evaluated his patient and has not prescribed the cannabis as part of a wider care status, and does not look after his patient for subjective or objective outcomes or adverse events.
Hence, it is important to be aware of the side effects of marijuana which vary between individuals. And the irony of it is that one really won’t know such exact experiences until after one has actually tried it.
Why blame the son?
Every now and then, President Bongbong Marcos is questioned by the critical press on the human rights violations during his father’s rule spanning two decades.
In the course of the queries, one would think that the younger Marcos was part of such violations as to be a direct participant and the inventor of the torture chambers. Marcos Jr., for his part, has reiterated that the tortures, disappearances, or even murders were not a policy of his late father’s administration.
On this note, the strongman Marcos was never criminally convicted for such acts. However, media is always too quick in demonizing him, thus making it appear that he had a direct hand in the torture of thousands under a martial rule.
The same media has perhaps forgotten that such atrocities were even more prevalent and rampant after the Marcos years.
Remember how writer James Ross described in his article (Philippine Daily Inquirer February 22, 2011) when he said these words: “In January 1987, police and marines fired on peasant farmers marching along Mendiola Street toward Malacañang Palace, killing thirteen and wounding dozens.
President Aquino inexplicably endorsed the armed “vigilante” groups in Mindanao, which had already been implicated in terrible abuses.
And my colleague and friend Al Surigao, a fearless human rights lawyer in Cebu was gunned down in his home by military “assets” on June 24, 1988, just a couple of months after he wrote to me that the military’s threats against him had stopped.
Despite coup attempts, corruption in high places and a social structure in which wealth equals power, democracy in the Philippines has survived these 25 years. But democratic government is more than periodic elections.
It is about having a government that respects basic rights and ensures redress when wrongs are committed.”
Today, as a brewing congressional hearing on human rights abuses due to Duterte’s drug war, it is good to know that the wheels of justice still turn even at a slow pace. But we rest in the truth that there will always be a day of reckoning.
-o0o-
Random Memorandum: As mandated by the 1987 Constitution, a Filipino President’s State Of the Nation Address or SONA will be delivered every fourth Monday of July, at 4:00 in the afternoon, at the Plenary Session Hall of the Batasan Pambansa Complex.
Every SONA is also an opportunity for both members of the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judiciary and their VIP guests to show-off their Filipiniana regalia. It is an annual fashion show in disguise as the President’s SONA.
-o0o-
Factoid: Many Filipinos have Spanish surnames because of a 19th century Spanish decree which required Filipinos to use them. Parents often name their children after the saint whose feast day was on the day of their birth.
Filipinos are predominantly of Malay descent, usually with a Chinese and Spanish lineage making them “chinoys” and “mestizos.”