The arrogant, foul-mouthed former President Rodrigo Duterte should have zipped his upper hole on his very first day as a private citizen again.
But I guess the lure of public attention in the hope of maintaining relevance just keeps on getting the best of him – if he ever had them. Or perhaps Fentanyl has been having bad days with other patients, so off it goes to one who is on his way to oblivion which is a hefty price to pay just to get out of a state of irrelevance.
So now, like a dog who brags to the rest of the pack about where he buried his bone and being the only one who knows where, he tells publicly about knowing the whereabouts of pastor-turned-impostor-turned-fugitive Apollo Quiboloy aka ‘PACQ.’
The guy on the run is the spiritual adviser of the Dutertes, the same buffoon who claims to be the “appointed son of God” in the flesh today, and he owns our souls for “no one can see the Father unless he passes through me,” or something to that effect. On that note, more than being a son of a god, Duterte is a lawyer, right?
So he should know better than the hoi polloi that such careless utterances like this could get him into trouble. Someone there in Davao should remind him about Article 19 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines which states that “Any person who harbors, conceals, or assists in the escape of the principal of a crime, knowing him to be such, shall suffer the same penalty as the principal. This means that individuals who aid or assist a fugitive from evading arrest or escaping from authorities may be held criminally liable and face the same punishment as the perpetrator of such crime.”
In short, if he knows his whereabouts, it would be best for the former president to publicly call on his spiritual adviser to come out from his hiding and surrender to his arresting officers. From the beginning, when arresting officers went to Quiboloy’s sanctuary to serve a Warrant of Arrest, members of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KoJC) stood their ground and blocked the police from carrying out their jobs, not without the injuries of some people from both sides.
Sounds familiar from a past incident where VP Sara Duterte (then mayor of Davao City), prevented a sheriff from doing his job by serving a court order to illegal settlers of a piece of property. She quickly punched the sheriff several times. Shades of thuggery and gangsterism, right?
In the eyes of the public, both father and daughter project themselves as an impediment to the wheels of justice.
-o0o-
On that note, no less than Senator Nancy Binay introduced Senate Bill No. 1346 – “An act granting benefits and privileges to former Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the Philippines or their surviving spouses, amending for this purpose Republic Act No. 5059, repealing Republic act No. 2087, and for other purposes.”
Former Presidents and Vice-Presidents continue to perform many of their public responsibilities even upon retirement. As former highest-ranking officers of the land, they have post-presidential and post vice-presidential duties to perform, among which are responding to pot-presidency and post-vice-presidency mail and invitations and attending to speaking engagements.
In cognizance of these social obligations, existing legislations grant former presidents and their widows/widowers certain benefits and privileges. However, the extent and coverage of said measures are not enough to sufficiently respond to the unique position of former high officials in the public sphere even after they leave their post.
This was enacted to discourage them from being forced into activities deemed unsuitable for a former head of state.
And so, when every time former President Rodrigo Duterte utters words from the bitterness of his heart or conducts indignation rallies because a Marcos is now in Malacañang, he cannot help but bring back the past of how it was during his term and would always throw invectives to someone who is obviously more presidential than him in all aspects.
Senator Binay’s bill should be enough to keep him happy, but no, he still thinks he is the president and it’s simply fine and dandy for him to brag about the whereabouts of his fugitive friend, but would not say where he is.
I guess the ICC will make him humble with his actions if not fumble with his words. Rodrigo Duterte’s verbal diarrhea is so disparate from his daughter Sara’s “No Comment.”
-o0o-
Random Memorandum: Our country is named after King Philip II of Spain, the instigator and administrator of the dreaded ‘Inquisition’ which took the lives of numerous individuals and countless victims of oppression and colonial cruelty all over the New World. Among his first acts after his coronation was the burning of Andalucia at the stake of thousands of Moors who inhabited the place which was a province of Spain.
-o0o-
Factoid: Burnay technology reached Vigan via Chinese artisans who came from Zwi-Sao, Chun-chiu province in Mainland China. It existed in the area long before the arrival of the Spaniards in 1572. It was introduced in Vigan by Pedro Go, a Chinese settler from Chingkiang, in Fukien, China circa 1890, and established a ‘camarin’ (jar factory) on Rivero Street in Barangay VIII, Vigan City.
(Leslie Bocobo is a former Special Assistant to the Secretary at the Office of the Press Secretary, Malacañang, and a former Public Affairs Director of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.)