Playing with Fire
Get mad, Spines!
By Gonzalo Duque
WE are developing a sneaky suspicion that our former revered Speaker, now plain congressman Joe de Venecia, is behaving like an ordinary leader of the political opposition.
Whatever he says now, or whatever he tells the press, no longer reflects the old de Venecia intellectual vintage, then a shining mark of a statesman, sobriety and scholarship. Even if we were twice defeated by him in two congressional tussles, we love to say that we benefited from the experience because he was a political guru, an unparalleled statesman.
These days, however, our former idol has descended into a cheap political oppositionist. Most, if not all, his diatribes against the President are tainted with narrow-minded bias. In other words, whatever he says about the President is always bad, negative, a no-no. They are not typical of the old, scholarly de Venecia whose journalistic phrases we loved to read.
Sayang naman, Manong Joe, that because of your political differences with PGMA, you haveceased to be the great crafter of political rhetoric.
It would better for Manong Joe to call for true reconciliation instead of fomenting anger, which is not typical of him.
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We are dismayed by many of these glittering personalities who appear in media to be praying for the health of former Pres. Cory Aquino. They do not seem to understand what the restorer of Philippine democracy has advocated in life. They do not understand Cory’s message of peace and love of country. These people pretending to be Cory’s friends and sympathizers readily get back to their old trick being political oppositionists, not genuine friends of the grand lady.
We are inspired more by what Fr. Gerry Orbos cited about a young kid who exhorted the public to do more acts of goodness and prayers to appease the sufferings of our people. This child, Fr. Orbos said, wants to remind Filipinos that God is constantly watching over us. There should be no room for hypocrisy, false friendship and grandstanding ala the Biblicial Pharisees and Sadduces.
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These series of bombings in Metro Manila and many parts of the country could not be blamed on the administration. They are nothing but evidence of the breakdown of peace and order in the country. Of course, the opposition will concoct fantastic stories that they are the handiwork of the administration as a countdown to a declaration of martial law. This is a wild figment of the imagination. We suggest that leaders of the opposition, many of whom are highly respected, should come up with more palatable and acceptable theories, rather than engage in cheap and meaningless but destructive talks.
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Gov. Amado Espino, a brilliantly schooled military officer, seems to be taking the breakdown of peace in the province lightly. As everyone in the know would attest, there are several syndicates now found to be operating in our province, drug and gambling syndicates, cattle-rustling syndicates and human traffic syndicates. In spite of this, we have yet to see our military-oriented chief executive to go hammer-and-thong against the hoodlums in the province which is acquiring a notoriety of being the habitat of bad elements.
Probably, the governor won’t want to dent his portrayal of the province as a trailblazer in education and eco- tourism, but if lawlessness remains unchecked, then all these faces of progress and development will suffer. We urged the governor to take the bull by the horns and show that he is the chief executive with the military might aghast wrong doings.
About time to get mad, huh, Guv Spines.
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