Harry, Harry quite contrary

We commiserate with Harry Roque. Trust and confidence is critical in his position. It must flow downstream from his Principal for him to earn it upstream from his constituency. The Malacanang press corps does not have the luxury nor the inclination to blindly report news that could be untrue. Bumbling mistakes may be tolerated, once or twice. But no one should abide deliberate falsehoods or indulge a messenger not trusted with the message. 

Harry has shone in his job. The man is a whirlwind.  But he does like his pissing contests. He switches from spokesman to advocate once too often, specially since he is conversant with a wide swath of policy matters. He is confident, articulate and he has mastered the arguments. But, at times, he is too good for his own good.

 The trouble with Harry. Striking a balance between his two roles has not always worked. And it doesn’t reflect favorably on his Principal and on himself. It’s a question of credibility.

 The first issue is the credibility of his words: is that the President talking or is it Harry? Next is credibility of the speaker. What he passionately defends today are what he has spent a career passionately attacking. He came to the position not only because of smarts but also because of his contagious conviction for personal advocacies. Thanks to the old Harry, we now have the benefit of foresight on how to beat the arguments of the new Harry. 

A few good men. Harry’s entry into government coopted a reliable channel for the people to express their views intelligently. We feel this same regret with Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano. Harry and Alan were two of our favorite crusaders. For Sec. Cayetano, being in the Department of Foreign Affairs was another challenge competently met. But it brought him out of his comfort zone. He is in his element when he fiscalizes and when he has no Boss but the people. Who can forget how he would thunder away at hostile witnesses in the House and in the Senate when we could still identify with the causes he represented? Inevitably, Sen./Cong. Cayetano would score his point and we would be better for it.

In Plato’s Republic, these men would be paradigms of the auxiliaries class: warriors with courage, defending the state with honor. We cannot wait to have them back in Congress.

Why we still need 133. The recent degradation of the tabernacle at the Immaculate Concepcion Cathedral in Cubao calls to mind the debate on the continuing necessity for Celdran’s law. This is the archaic legislation under which Carlos “Damaso” Celdran was convicted. The gravamen of the felony is doing acts that are notoriously offensive to the feelings of the faithful, if done in a place of worship. The basic challenge is the statute’s vagueness and the tension with the free speech guarantee.

 The contrarians argue that experiences like Cubao validates the law’s continuing urgency. Freedom of expression can never be absolute. Justice Holmes was emphatic in declaring that a man cannot invoke such freedom once he willfully screams fire inside a theater. In the same vein, a bomb joke inside a plane is similarly unprotected in the modern world. A right cannot be invoked to abuse another right. 

And then, there is the public order argument. In our multiethnic, pluralistic reality, the state has an interest in promoting social harmony. Diverse cultures and religions should be able to preserve their identities while maintaining mutual respect.

Finally, there is also the guarantee of free exercise of religion entitled to equal safeguarding as a right. A UN Human Rights Council Resolution urges States to exert utmost efforts to ensure that religious places, sites, shrines and symbols are fully respected and protected.

Suffering suffrage. The Commission on Elections registration campaign netted more than 2.5 million who came of age just in time. The figure far exceeded expectations. They thought they would be lucky to get 1.5 million.

It used to be quite the effort just to get your name listed. It was enough to be a disincentive to vote. But the improvements in place – satellite offices, rationalized paper work, and even the basic understanding by front liners of the subtleties of their sensitive duties – have greatly facilitated the enlistment of as many as possible. 

So much of what our young learn in school – on civic duty, their environment, business, law – and the myriad lessons acquired in navigating life are matters which they can vicariously control through the ballot. The burgeoning electorate has also affected political campaign calculations across the board. With 61 million voters, it will now be tougher to secure a seat at the Party-list table. The statutory two percent of all votes cast for the Party-list system resulted in a 200,000 threshold last time. Now, it could be arguably more. This should impact on strategies to secure the magic number. Will they attempt to amass their “boundary” votes in captive districts only or cherry pick from the several districts nationwide?

It was heartwarming to see the long queues of young men and women outside the Comelec offices as the registration deadline drew to a close. Yet, we weren’t equally enthralled by the long queues that have trooped to the Comelec these past days for the filing of certificates of candidacy. Just when we thought nothing could excite us, we see two of our wish list candidates stepping up to the plate: Dr. Willie Ong and Atty. Chel Diokno. Two worthy senators, right there. Quo vadis Susan Ople and Regina Lopez?

Brand me blue. Alan Peter Cayetano and Teodoro Locsin, Jr. share more than just the title of Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Both these gentlemen are stalwart products of the Ateneo Law School. The Ateneo Law Alumni Association Inc. with host ALS Class of 1994 invite all alumni to fly home for the Grand Alumni Homecoming this Friday, Oct. 19, starting 4 p.m. at the Makati Shangri-La.