Some readers who disagree over a columnist’s opinion sometimes express their disagreement in very strong language.
A columnist, therefore, should be able to defend his opinion.
A close friend of mine, Peyo Pineda—I stood as sponsor at his wedding to his wife Susie—sometimes expresses his disagreement with my opinions vehemently.
I appreciate that because only your true friends tell you when they think you’re a little off.
The following is an exchange of text messages between me and my friend of 34 years (note that we didn’t use “jejemon” language or shortened our words):
PP: Pare (friend), you once said, “you don’t kick a man when he’s down. Leila de Lima was once your friend and she’s a woman. Be yourself, be a gentleman.
RT: Peyo, she got involved in the drug trade when she accepted money from convicts (at New Bilibid Prison or NBP). Drugs have destroyed millions. She has no moral ascendancy to criticize Digong’s war on drugs.
If you know the extent of the drug problem as I do, you will understand me.
PP: I know and I detest that. But you missed my point, Pareng Mon.
(Peyo is an Atenean and a gentleman. I know what he was trying to convey: Go easy on a lady.)
RT: I know Digong goes out of bounds a lot of times. But he’s absolutely right in the drug problem. He’s obsessed with eradicating drugs because the problem has become gargantuan. If Duterte was not elected, we would be on our way (to becoming) another Colombia or Brazil or Mexico.
PP: Yes, I am with you and the President on that. It’s just that there seems to be an overkill in the De Lima case, like that preposterous claim of Mr. BMW (Buhok Mo Wig) that De Lima made P15 billion on drugs yet he cannot produce even P1 million on concrete evidence.
RT: The guy you call BMW is a brilliant lawyer, pare. That’s why he admitted there’s no “airtight” case against De Lima so far. That’s why he’s digging into the bank accounts of De Lima and her dummies and asking the help of the AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council). Our AMLC seems uncooperative. In the United States, the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) gets all the help from all agencies and institutions when it goes after Mafia wealth or money obtained through crime.
PP: Pare, I know that BMW is not only a brilliant lawyer, he also has balls of steel like when he stood up to Miriam (Defensor Santiago). I was clapping my hands when he did that. But I need to quote this “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Almost always, power makes bad men out of great men.
RT: Back to De Lima. She was a good friend, you’re right. She was an excellent justice secretary. In my column, I kept prodding her to run for the Senate because I said she had balls like Miriam. But pare, she was involved in drugs when she was justice secretary.
PP: Everybody is pouncing on her, no charges have been filed, all witnesses are convicted felons, polluted sources. Those in power all want to be in the good graces of Digong. Et tu, Brute?
RT: Pare, I will never be a party to an oppression. Peyo, if you think De Lima is being oppressed, that’s because the law is being brought to bear against her. That’s not oppression, that’s justice. She violated the law when, as justice secretary she allowed prisoners to transform the NBP into a Sodom and Gomorrah and spread drugs in the outside world.
PP: In any case, pare, you are my friend and will stay my friend, whether you are right or wrong. In the past, I defended you from your detractors and I will do it again.
RT: Thank you, my friend. I will always strive to be right or righteous in writing my column. If ever I make mistakes I will immediately apologize. I owe it to the public and my readers.
PP: That is you, pare.