Citizens understand Draconian ways

Watching the proceedings on TV about the extent of the drug trade in and out of New Bilibid Prison (NBP), one reaches the conclusion that most members of the House of Representatives are nincompoops.

Many of the lawmakers posed irrelevant and inane questions to resource persons at the justice committee hearing.

Others were not listening to the questions already asked by their colleagues and repeated the same questions, prolonging the proceedings.

One of them took two to three minutes laying down his premise before going on to his question.

Most of them were obviously grandstanding for their folks back home, trying to show some brilliance but succeeding in showing their foolery.

These lawmakers are a reflection of the voters of the districts that they represent.

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No matter how much Sen. Leila de Lima denies accusations that she played footsie with drug convicts at NBP, she’s damaged goods.

Her claim that the witnesses at the House justice committee were coerced or tortured doesn’t hold water since most of them were spontaneous—one even trying to be comical—in their testimony.

How could they have been coerced or tortured when they looked eager to volunteer information to the committee?

As a longtime police reporter, I could see if a person received some coaching to say something. Those who came to the hearing obviously did not.

Their words flowed naturally like they were engaged in a conversation and not being interrogated by a panel.

There was no sign of nervousness at all.

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At the expense of being repetitive, had another presidential candidate won, this country would be on its way to becoming a “narco-state” like Colombia or Mexico.

In those two countries, authorities are on the defensive from drug traffickers and their minions, instead of the other way around.

That’s why the citizenry understands the Draconian measures being taken by the Duterte administration to arrest the further deterioration of the country’s moral fiber caused by drugs.

Mr. Duterte came in the nick of time.

His parents should have named him Salvador, meaning savior.

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It’s hard to contemplate where this country would have headed had Digong not won the election.

It’s possible the number of drug addicts and users—estimated at 3.7 million—would have ballooned to three times its present number in the next six years.

And by then, the drug problem would have been too gargantuan to solve.

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President Digong has pointed to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) as the “most corrupt” government agency.

He should order the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to investigate rampant bribe-giving and-taking at the Bureau of Customs; he will know it’s the most corrupt.

The NBI has a special unit to deal with corruption, its antigraft division.

NBI investigators might want to focus on the Office of the Commissioner, the Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Enforcement, and the X-ray unit.

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Isabela Regional Trial Court Judge Felipe Jesus Torio should be dismissed by the Supreme Court for favoring a respondent in a rape case.

The respondent, Enrico Mabbayad, is a process server of Torio’s sala.

Torio accepted the downgrading of the charge for two counts of rape against Mabbayad to mere child abuse.

If that’s not being biased, I don’t know what it is.