With the resounding outcry to the effect that the people are not stupid, the Palace’s spokesman, Panelo, admitted that his copy of the ‘Oust Duterte’ matrix came from an unknown number. Is that how it is or is it an admission that the gambit failed to scare the media or the people?
Then the vice president came out calling for an investigation if indeed the allegations that some members of the President’s family were into drugs. Particularly telling in her call was that the so called ‘Bikoy’ video on such involvement was backed by supposed bank accounts. So it should not be difficult to find out if indeed such accounts exist and if the amounts—in the hundreds of millions of pesos— allegedly deposited in these were true.
Another is the case filed in the Supreme Court where Rappler and its reporters seek to nullify the ban on them from covering the President. Later, 40 nationally known journalists filed a petition to intervene in the case as the ban can easily be extended to them and that would be an abridgment of the people’s right to know.
The other week also marked a prime time interview of former Senator Rene Saguisag on TV channel News One where he articulated in just a few words the difference between the difference between this regime and the Marcos regime. He said, “When people talked about extrajudicial killings during the Martial Law years, the reaction of Marcos was—what killings are you talking about? Now, the President’s reaction is ‘kill pa more.’”
It was in the same program where Saguisag revealed that when he was a professor or dean of the Sand Beda College of Law, he voted to expel then student Rodrigo Duterte from the college for having shot (not fatally) somebody, a fellow student. He was however outvoted by the Catholic brothers or priests who were running the college.
These show that the media and highly visible personalities are not afraid to confront the powers-that-be especially with regards to the truth and the people’s right to know. Such attitudes can readily spread like wild fire.**
