Power and priority

At first it strikes as fairly impressive that for the first time in many years (or even possibly decades) justice has finally made a remarkable progress in terms of the speedy disposition of matters, though at this time it would not hurt to say that this speedy disposition is done on a purpose of which the public is free to speculate.

For now the President is indulging himself on wiping to the very last all the ugly vestige of the Arroyo regime to the point of humiliating his opponent, a mission that he has taken up so nobly upon assumption of office, beginning with the Truth Commission and recently culminating in putting Arroyo on the travel watchlist, both of which were frustrated by the Court to the chagrin of Mr. President himself. 

And now a soon-to-be-epic rivalry gathers strength. Mr. President unleashed the first blows which failed to have any impact on the chief magistrate, who on the contrary refrained from further retaliatory acts judging perhaps that welcoming the criticisms may prove to be an advantageous defense after all, since Mr. President has been observed by a few civilians and some members of the House already as a type of bully in one way or another, and the fact that he managed to gather a mixed box of bulldogs in the legislative chamber aggravates the fear of an incipient super-executive whose power might some day step loose out of its office and reach the walls of Congress and the pillars of the Court and eventually seize hold of the people. 

Or maybe there are a few noticeable factors which might explain the President's delight in encompassing all government agencies under the dictates of his vague political intentions. Having been treading the walkways his mother had laid before the presidency he thinks it necessary to separate his own identity from that of the glorious saint of the mighty Edsa Revolution, and what more convenient way to do this than to drag the head of Arroyo's corruption from the guillotine of the previous elections and show it to the celebrating people of the Republic perpetually waiting for the spectacles of political upheaval, small or great, loud or silent, occasions that mutually benefit the common good and the good of parties and politicians whose "seize the day" spirits abused our democracy and reduced history into a cycle of trial and errors.

Perhaps such a move to destroy the face of the past administration is a better way to maintain a celebrated appeal than to labor the improvement of the languishing sectors which include the underpaid worker, the underfunded student, the overlooked native, the overpromised farmer and over-expecting fisherman, the underbudgeted men of the arts and sciences, and the discouraged entrepreneur. I wish I have perceived it incorrectly when I say that Mr. President is bringing more importance or priority to his romanticized version of justice than to the realistic predicaments of justice in the form of business and political oligarchy, the poor's limited access to essential government services (not to mention the gap between them and the wealthy), environmental abuse leading to sudden waves of fearful calamities, government transparency from the lowest level to the highest, foreign debt, unemployment, and the precarious state of our overseas workers, among others, fundamental things which a more sensible executive should not have been indifferent to.

Right now I see a president who is more concerned with issues where there seems easy opportunity to highlight his power than those that seem impossible to be gotten over in six years.