MEL STA. MARIA | Killing the Senate: Shame on all Senators for not reprimanding Rodrigo Duterte Atty. Mel Sta. Maria is the resident legal analyst of TV5. He is Dean of the FEU Insitute of Law. He also teaches at the Ateneo School of Law and daily co-hosts the program Relasyon on Radyo Singko 92.3 News FM. Seen and heard nationwide on TV and radio, while appearing in official proceedings of the Senate, Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte on Monday vowed to kill suspected rice smuggler Davidson Bangayan should the latter be caught operating in Dutertes town. At the Senate, where laws are legislated, where the rule of law is the guiding spirit of all deliberations and investigations, and where civility and not a vigilante-attitude must reign, not a single senator, not a single person present - not even the chairperson of the investigation into Bangayans alleged operations - spoke out in disgust or rebuke, or even just to call for a sense of propriety. The very next day, Sen. Cynthia Villar shrugged off Dutertes behaviour as, well, Duterte. Tis all normal for the notoriously tough Davao mayor, she said. Here where the death penalty was abolished, where the Americans were given their notice of eviction from their military bases on Philippine soil, where a senator said I accuse you to a President who was later convicted of plunder, where the claim for Sabah as Philippine territory was for the first time brilliantly explained to the world, senators indeed found absolutely nothing disturbing or out of place with a bold, brazen threat to commit murder. Having seen and hosted so many historic events, the Senate evokes pride among Filipinos for many of its former occupants: Jose Pepe Diokno, Claro M. Recto, Gerardo Roxas, Neptali Gonzales, Sr., Benigno Ninoy Aquino, Lorenzo Tanada, Arturo Tolentino, Raul Manglapus, Jose P. Laurel, and yes, even Ferdinand Marcos, among others. They must all be turning over in their graves. Referring to Bangayan, Duterte said in front of senators: If this guy would go to Davao and start to unload, pag nakita ko siya [if I see him] in the commission of a crime, I will gladly kill him. InterAksyon further quotes the mayor: Siyempre hihintayin ko siyang lumabas. Pag lumaban ito [I will of course wait for him to get out and if he fights] and he puts up a good fight, I will not hesitate. I will do it for my country. Alluding to time in prison, he added So we go to prison. I am old. I can spend the remaining days of my life in prison. Matanda na rin ako. Marami na akong sakit [Im already old and I have many illnesses]. [In] five to 10 years, I can do away the stress by reading books to while away my time. If this is the kind of person Mayor Duterte is - a public official who cannot be restrained from saying what he feels - the public must indeed by concerned about him. But for the Senate to listen to this man with nary a reaction - not even by way of a reprimand to the guy or a mere manifestation addressed to the viewing and listening public (not even specifically to Duterte) that killing and vigilantism is anathema and ultimately destructive to society - is unparliamentarian and downright disgraceful. The nonchalance further diminishes our respect for that institution and erodes whatever dignity, already damaged by the PDAF scandal, is left of it. In itself, Dutertes threat was an inappropriate statement coming from a public official. It should not have gone without a stern rebuke from the senators. Alas, nothing - absolutely nothing - was done. The senators looked on timidly. For crying shame. The public would not be at fault to consider whether or not the senators are onboard with the professed methodologies of Duterte. Our solons might indeed just be in agreement with him. If that is the case, then I am sorry for them and the nation. The late Justice Louis Brandeis of the US Supreme Court said: Our government... teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. What is more disturbing? What is more appalling? Dutertes words, or our senators silence? interaksyon/article/80064/mel-sta--maria--killing-the-senate-shame-on-all-senators-for-not-reprimanding-rodrigo-duterte
Posted on: Tue, 04 Feb 2014 04:34:29 +0000
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