By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
According to the news, Solicitor General Jose Calida has been slapped with a criminal complaint at the Office of the Ombudsman over his alleged conflict of interest, extramarital affairs, and alleged bias for the Marcos family. Regarding the second accusation, complainant Jocelyn Marie Acosta-Nisperos alleged Calida has an affair with his 22-year-old executive assistant, who allegedly received P1.8 million in public funds as compensation. She added that Calida’s wife confronted him about the affair on April 23 after which Calida and the alleged lover took a leave of absence.
It was not in the story but according to social media posts, Milagros Calida had stormed the Office of the Solicitor General on April 23.
I know how Milagros found out about the affair. The family has an investigative and security agency and it she managing it.
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President Rodrigo Duterte bucked calls for the sacking of Calida due to conflict of interest in the matter of his family’s security agency obtaining at least P150M-worth contracts with government agencies saying that the Solicitor General’s business had existed for a long time and there is nothing wrong about government people engaging in legal business.
If as the President said, the security agency of Calida had existed for a long time and it was only when he assumed as Solicitor General that it started bagging contracts from government – there is no information in the media that the security agency has been doing business with government before Calida’s appointment – then those contracts speak of undue advantage.
Critics also point out the provision of the Constitution prohibiting members of the Cabinet from participating in any business and being financially interested with any contract or franchise with the government and its offices.
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In response to repeated statements of President Duterte that that he would have asserted the country’s jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea if it didn’t mean going to war with China, Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio reminded that war was never an option whenever the Philippines asserted its rightful claims in the South China Sea, that it was the lawyers and not the marines the country sent. “I think it’s a false choice, false option because war is not an option and it’s never been an option and it would be unconstitutional to the Philippines to go to war to assert its sovereign rights in West Philippine Sea,” Carpio told media.
The stance of Duterte regarding the country’s claim over parts of the West Philippine Sea reminds me of the saying “Kung gusto, maraming paraan, kung ayaw, maraming dahilan.”
Let’s just accept it that Duterte is shirking his duty to protect the territory of the country so he plays up the war bogey. Indonesia is asserting its rights over islands which China also claims and China has not used its military might on the former. And unlike us, Indonesia has not won an arbitration case on its maritime dispute with China.
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In response to criticisms that he is doing nothing on the Chinese’ continuing build up in the West Philippine Sea, President Duterte recently said: “Nanalo kayo, andiyan pa si Aquino. You had so many months there. Bakit hindi niyo pinuntahan at sinita?”
This is a lie because the favorable ruling on the maritime dispute between the Philippines and China was only released on July 12, 2016 when he was already president.
Furthermore, by his statement, he knows the right action is to accost the Chinese but why has he not done it and not doing it in the almost two years he is in power? It is the appropriate response if someone else will do it but not when it is him who should do it?
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President Duterte recently made a justification for having two wives and several girlfriends: “If a vehicle, which is made of metal, would need a spare tire, how much more for us human beings?”
There is nothing we can do about an old man who likens women to spare tires. But it is possible he would not have started thinking that women were spare tires if not for the women who were willing to act like spare tires for him.
Neither would Duterte have coarsely said that a simple kiss would alter the gloomy economic outlook on the Philippines of International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde had he not seen women changing their minds at the mere kiss or touch of a man.
In other words, Duterte’s patent disrespect for women did not come from thin air.
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How do you know President Duterte is incapable of cursing personalities same way he did President Barack Obama, the Pope and the European Union and a lot of Filipinos?
When they are capable of grabbing a portion of the Philippine’s territory.**
