Mr. Pablo Garcia, do not ever again compare Madam President with our Lord, Jesus Christ. There is absolutely no point of comparison! Remember that Jesus Christ was charged with sedition for preaching the truth but He was never, EVER, charged with corruption! As a Christian, I am deeply offended by what you said which is nothing but pure blasphemy. You should know better as a true Christian! Shame on you! If you must make sip-sip with the president, please don’t use God. It is cheap talk from someone who’s supposed to be rich and well-educated.

Roni Bertone from Antipolo City, via e-mail

JOSE De Venecia Jr. is shooting from the foot of the hill facing the sun, while the majority fire at him from the top. His chances of hitting his target (the president) are slim. And he must first convince his colleagues above to stop firing — which, obviously, is next to impossible — so he can see more clearly, be heard, or be able to adjust his sights. Admin solons have taken potshots at him – pelting him about sour-graping and the like. These are expected from politicians who benefit from the accused, while nothing to gain from the whistleblower or from fulfilling one’s obligations to the citizenry or even for the sake of good governance. It must be a painful struggle for De Venecia, adjusting to such a humbling position. But still, there could be a very strong spirit of change within his new self that he now takes on those who he once faithfully served and that time even at the expense of moral righteousness and good governance. I pray that his intentions are sincere for a moral revival in Philippine politics, and not — as one solon ridicules him with — a huge cheap marketing ploy to sell his book. Let us give him the benefit of the doubt. I think the impeachment case is 99 percent dead by now because of the mechanics of numbers in the house. Nevertheless, let a small voice be heard, and let us ruminate in what it says, because somewhere under the smoke of bickering is the truth that we all deserve to know. And just before 2010 elections let all these remind us voters : “Not again.”

Victor manalac, Taytay, Rizal, via e-mail

(A tale of two very differently treated cases)

By Soliman M. Santos, Jr.

WITH due respect, as we are supposed to say, the Supreme Court’s one-page resolution of November 11 (but released only on November 21) summarily “deny(ing) with finality” the two Motions for Reconsideration of its October 14 Decision, which by an 8-7 vote declared as “contrary to law and the Constitution” the initialed but unsigned final draft of the GRP-MILF Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), is very disappointing, to say the least. According to a news report on the just released resolution, the SC reasoned therein that it had already passed on the “basic issues” and that “no substantial arguments were presented to warrant the reversal of the questioned decision.”

The disappointing nature of the SC resolution can be taken on several levels. But first it has to be pointed out that the two MRs came from several Bangsamoro civil society organizations which were intervenors in the MOA-AD case, intervening in support of the respondent GRP Peace Panel, in effect in support of the proposed MOA-AD and the unfinished GRP-MILF peace negotiations. One MR of 49 pages was filed by the Muslim Legal Assistance Foundation, Inc. (MUSLAF) on October 31. The second MR of 73 pages plus 19 documentary annexes was filed jointly by the Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society (CBCS) and the Bangsamoro Women Solidarity Forum, Inc. (BWSF) on November 5. [The GRP Peace Panel and its co-respondent government officials, represented by the Solicitor General, did not itself file a MR but a “Constancia,” i.e. a manifestation as a matter on record, expressing continuing concern about SC encroachment into executive power.]

In their MR, the CBCS-BWSF stated at the outset that “The members of the Court should do what great minds and great hearts should do, at least pause to reconsider. This includes listening to the muffled voices of the aggrieved Bangsamoro.” The CBCS-BWSF then pointed out that, after all, the several Bangsamoro civil society organization intervenors “were not (allowed to be) heard during any of the three oral argument hearings [on August 15, 22 and 29]. Their Memorandums and arguments are not even referred to in the Decision, showing that these were probably not even read.” It was as if the Bangsamoro were invisible to the SC.

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