Very bullish these days is the wagering on the jokingly but somewhat seriously talked about boxing bout between Davao City Mayor Baste Duterte and Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III. No, the wager is not who between the two will come out the winner. Instead, it is whether or not the bout will ever push through.
Yes, how would the boxing, even if it is supposed to be for charity – a condition set by Torre when he decided to accept Mayor Baste’s challenge –when the one who dares the police chief to a fist fight, suddenly sets his own condition.
And the condition set by Davao City Mayor Baste is way out of the context of his original challenge. Imagine demanding that for him to pursue his dare to the PNP chief he now demands that President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. undergoes a drug test using his hair follicle as specimen.
Isn’t it weird that in match the challenger sets a condition after the challenged accepted the dare on certain condition? Then, upon learning of the acceptance and the condition, the challenger immediately comes up with his own – a condition so detached from the source of enmity.
Why did Acting Mayor Baste not directly address his fist fight challenge to the President? And to be fair offer as condition to have the fisticuff proceed that the both of them undergo a drug test prior to the fight night or day as the protagonists will agree?
Meanwhile, the diehards of both parties are having no let-up in stoking the fire that is now fast heating up the climate in the Duterte – Torre blow by blow.
Should these partisans succeed in setting the ember into a raging flame then a fisticuff between a city executive and the highest official of a country’s law enforcement agency will be the first ever to happen in the modern world.
And it happens where? Only in the Philippines. And we Filipinos? Either we be proud or ashamed of such a feat.
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This early in the phase of the construction of the Samal Island-Davao City Connector Bridge Project a life has already been claimed.
The victim, a worker of the bridge who is a resident of Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte fell into a board pile while he was preparing to pour concrete mixture. According to reports some of his fellow workers were able to retrieve the victim and brought him to the Samal Zone Hospital in Peñaplata. The victim however, was declared dead on arrival due to brain trauma resulting from his fall.
Now this sad incident happens while the bridge project is hassled with legally-based complaints from some environmentalist groups and business entities.
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We fully agree with Vice President Sara Duterte when she said there is no law that obliges every Filipino to listen to the State of the Nation Address (SONA) of the President. And she was one hundred percent correct when she further said that it is the President’s Constitutional duty to report to the nation – to the Filipino people – the true state of the nation while under his watch.
But isn’t it that every Filipino wants to know what is happening to the country and what are the things being done by those who are running the government to keep the country going? If we do not bother to listen to the President’s SONA, or read in the papers what he said in his address just because there is no law obliging everyone to listen…or read, are we not voluntarily forfeiting our right to know? In the process, does such unconcern make us unworthy as citizens of this country?
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The strongest criticisms on the failure of government to prevent the flooding of so many cities and provinces in the Philippines, especially Metro Manila, appeared to have come from Davao City national administration critics.
But wait, is not Davao just lucky the continuous strong rains brought by typhoon Crising and the South winds or Habagat did not hit directly the city? May be Davao City is spared by the disaster that has brought down the knees of several areas in the country.
Had our area been unfortunate to suffer the brunt of the undesirable weather, we doubt if Davao-based administration critics will ever have the idea of hurling such criticisms.
Or, the critics will end up listening to such sarcastic question as, “Look who are talking?”
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