I’m still numb after getting that report from the Sandiganbayan that it approved the plea bargaining deal between the prosecution and former Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) comptroller Gen. Carlos Garcia, citing in their 22-page resolution that the Sandiganbayan’s second division admitted that the evidence they had against Gen. Garcia was weak, hence it was better to hatch a deal with the former AFP comptroller. Truth to tell, a lot of people are still scratching their heads as to where the evidence was weak when even the newspapers have been printing how much money Gen. Garcia took from the AFP coffers.
This case only proves to us that the fight against corruption should not be focused on one person alone. This resolution came out just a couple of weeks after the resignation of Merceditas Gutierrez. Of course President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III is mad at the Sandiganbayan Justices for being so insensitive to the injustice happening around us. The least they should have done was give that case a second look, rather than ramming this decision on the Filipino people’s throat as if it were a take it or leave basis!
I have said it here many times before that corruption exists in this country because of the lack of justice. When public officers including the elected leaders of this country get away when they steal public money and are not jailed for it... it is not really their fault. Rather it is the fault of our justice system. Perhaps P-Noy should now focus on fixing what is wrong in our justice system, instead of attacking personalities (like in the case of Merceditas Gutierrez) and maybe, just maybe, we would finally have justice in this land. When that day comes, the corrupt would begin to tremble in fear if and when they touch public funds for their personal benefit.
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The ripple effect of the “Harapan” debate by ABS-CBN last Sunday continues to spread throughout the country, not only because that show proved to many of us that the Filipino people do not support the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill, but also in the heat of that debate, certain truths were revealed. This brings me to what our Lord Jesus Christ said in Luke 12: 11-13: “When they bring you before the Synagogues and the Rulers and the Authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say. For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.”
One such truth was revealed by no less than pro RH former Health Secretary Dr. Esperanza Cabral who in debating with Rep. Roilo Golez admitted that contraceptives cause breast cancer, but she qualified it by saying, “it lessens the risk of ovarian cancer.” This brought a retort from Rep. Golez who said, “What good is the cure of ovarian cancer if you are already dead of breast cancer. It sounds funny but it is horrifying to know you are taking in what will eventually kill you?” I have no doubt that this exchange was prompted by the Holy Spirit... and I’m sure that Dr. Cabral must be in remorse for admitting this on nationwide TV.
In her time, Dr. Cabral’s supported the RH bill and she openly supported the use of artificial contraception, which the pro-life groups say is abortifacient. Her public revelation only shows that she is willing to kill the unborn, or allow mothers to take the risk of getting breast cancer when she asks them to take contraceptives. Perhaps Dr. Cabral should take a second look at her Hippocratic Oath because doctors of medicine are supposed to protect life, not terminate it, even if they are not yet born.
Incidentally friends emailed me the statistics on the Harapan or ABS-CBN survey that the Short Message Service (SMS) voting had a total of 6, 356 respondents or 30,42% voted for “Ipasa” or voted to support the RH bill, while a whooping 14,535 respondents or 69.58% voted for “Ibasura” or voted against the passing of the RH bill. This brings a total of 20,891 responding to the ABS-CBN survey.
As we pointed out clearly, these figures only proves that between the ABS-CBN surveys which totaled 20,891 respondents and the SWS Surveys collated from 1,200 respondents. The ABS-CBN “Harapan” survey on whether the Filipino people support the RH Bill or not was undoubtedly a more accurate sampling about this issue. Hence SWS ought to reconfigure their so-called “Scientific survey” which supposedly showed that 80% of Filipinos support the RH Bill.
Incidentally the bottom line why Pres. PNoy is supporting the RH bill is simply because he is kowtowing to US Foreign policy when he got our $454 Millennium Fund. There were American strings attached to that aid and the most important to the Americans is our passing the RH Bill.
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For e-mail responses to this article, write to vsbobita@mozcom.com or vsbobita@gmail.com. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.