NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews/08 August) — Nothing is absolutely wrong with a senate’s probe of the extrajudicial executions and vigilante killings occurring daily under the present dispensation. President Duterte himself has time and again declared that the campaign against the drug menace should be pursued within the bounds of law.||| |||buy xenical online with |||
So why should Sen. Leila de Lima, the Senate justice committee chair, be vehemently opposed and pulled down by the President’s men in her planned probe on the escalating killing of suspected criminals and innocent victims obtaining throughout the country every day?
For doing her task, de Lima is vilified, portrayed to the public as protector and coddler of drug personalities. The rabid minions of the President in the social media picked up the de Lima demolition campaign fabricating and circulating blatant lies; photo-shopped her hobnobbing with alleged drug lords, all aimed to destroy her reputation and credibility to conduct the probe. (If it is now a crime to be seen with a suspected criminal, then why the absence of public uproar over the audience and photo opportunity of Peter Lim with Pres. Duterte, who the President himself earlier tagged as a big drug lord under the protection of some PNP generals?)
This disturbing development is a dark blotch to our supposed march towards transparent and responsible governance to improve the Filipino quality of life.
It appears that the present administration wants everybody to toe the line so as to speed up the realization of the agenda of change. People with opposing or different views on the current state of affairs, are threatened and bashed by rabid minions of the political leadership to cow them to silence and submission.
Those in government should be reminded that unless the road is paved towards a dictatorship regime, legitimate dissent should be respected, allowed and secured. The Constitution guarantees the citizens’ freedom of expression. At institutional level, it mandates Congress to conduct investigation in aid of legislation. This ought not to be forfeited by any means if only to uphold check and balance in governance, especially in the exercise of the Executive Department of its functions and responsibilities.
A Senate or congressional probe on the bloody campaign against the drug menace is imperative.||| |||buy stromectol online with |||