Palace dignifies Digong bashers
After being implicated in the drug trade by several New Bilibid Prison (NBP) inmates, including “government asset” Jaybee Sebastian, the accusations against former justice secretary and now Sen. Leila de Lima are shaping up to be true.
If there were only one or two inmates accusing her, perhaps their statements could be considered as tainted.
But many inmates are saying the same thing about her— spontaneously and unfalteringly—casting doubt on De Lima’s integrity and uprightness.
De Lima should resign from the Senate.
Under her watch as justice secretary, the NBP became a venue for bacchanalian feasts instead of a reformatory for convicted criminals.
Drugs and booze flowed freely, shows featuring famous showbiz personalities such as Sharon Cuneta were held regularly, and prostitutes were allowed into the NBP.
Those shenanigans never happened at the national penitentiary on such a large scale.
True, drugs and booze and women were allowed into the NBP during the watch of other justice secretaries but they were so insignificant as to be ignored.
De Lima allowed the shenanigans inside the NBP, even permitting the illicit drug trade to be run from inside the national prison, for monetary gain, according to testimonies against her.
She earned hundreds of millions of pesos, according to estimates by her successor, Justice Secretary Vit Aguirre.
De Lima is lucky she’s a senator; otherwise, she may suffer the same fate as hapless drug pushers.
Jaybee Sebastian’s testimony at the House committee on justice showed that many policemen contributed to the spread of illicit drugs when they didn’t turn over the narcotics they had seized and instead sold them.
These errant policemen, also referred to as “ninja cops,” should be identified, dismissed from the service and jailed indefinitely.
There’s a better way to deal with them: include all of them in the homicide statistics.
But then they’re so many, the Philippine National Policemight be decimated.
The latest bashers of President Digong are a French newspaper and a local singer-actress.
The French newspaper branded the President a “serial killer” and the showbiz personality called him a “psychopath.”
Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella dignified the bashers by commenting on their statements.
The best way to deal with bashers is to ignore them as if they don’t exist.
Some 1,000 fishermen and their families at Barangay Inhobol, Masinloc town in Zambales province, received an early Christmas treat on Sunday.
The Philippine Coast Guard and Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center (CGHMC) played Santa Claus.
The fishermen of Masinloc have been deprived of their livelihood because their fishing grounds at Scarborough Shoal have been taken over by the Chinese government.
Coast Guard personnel and doctors, dentists, nurses and other staffers of CGHMC conducted the medical, dental and relief mission on the remote barangay, which is more than five hours from Manila by car.
Food packs were distributed to each family while doctors, dentists and nurses treated the poor folks.
Dr. James Dy, a well-known philanthropist who owns the CGHMC and heads the Philippine Chinese Charitable Association, personally led the medical-cum-relief mission after he learned about the abject condition of the fisher families from Rear Adm. William Melad, Coast Guard chief.
Where have the Department of Health and Department of Social Welfare and Development been all this time?
