FIRST District Congressman Paolo “Polong” Duterte, in a statement carried on this paper’s online issue, chastised the Senate for “honoring alleged victims of extra-judicial killing” but forgetting to honor the 44 members of the police Special Action Force “SAF” and other law enforcers who died in the performance of their duty.”
The Davaoeno Congressman said the act of the Senate is one that “shows selective remembrance.” He added that victims of illegal drugs and their families were overlooked and that the issue has been politicized.
We have no idea that the Senate officially honored the alleged EJK victims. Was it in the form of a Senate Resolution, a law granting compensation to the families of the EJK victims, or what?
But we agree with Cong Polong that the 44 members of the SAF deserve recognition that is a product of legislation to ensure that even with the passage of time, the SAF’s deaths at the hands of terrorists in a place they were not familiar with will forever be remembered.
Of course, the people cannot blame the Senate if it decides to honor the victims of EJK. Their number is so enormous that it caught the attention of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The same huge number of alleged EJK victims was the reason why the case filed with the ICC has qualified the requirements for “crimes against humanity.”
Unfortunately for the congressman, the accused in the case now waiting for trial at the ICC is his father, former President Rodrigo Duterte.
We can only hope that the ICC will give the former Philippine leader a fair trial and that the judges thereat will be able to balance the good that has been achieved in the anti-illegal drugs campaign against the perceived negative result to those who were killed, both as drug traders and as collateral damage in the campaign.
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Davao City is now ready to give financial assistance to some 36 thousand persons with disability (PWDs). The amount of assistance is P1,500.
From what we learned, the assistance is given only once a year. This same assistance, according to Councilor Enzo Villafuerte, has already been institutionalized through an ordinance that will make it every year.
But we are wondering how much help the P1,500 annually gives to a single PWD? The amount will only be P125 a month and something like P4.16 a day. If a PWD is already in their senior years, the P4.16 is not even enough to pay for a single tablet of his/her maintenance medicine.
One thing is certain, though. The P1,500 financial aid is easily made a guaranty for the payment of accumulated credit in nearby sari-sari stores ,even long before its scheduled release.
We are just wondering why Davao City cannot do a Cebu City, which also has a number of PWDs, or even a senior population.
From what we were told by our Paisanos in Cebu City, both the seniors and the PWDs are getting P1,000 monthly financial assistance plusa Christmas bonus. Isn’t Davao City having an income much bigger than that of Cebu City? And are not the city officials priding the local government to be one of those, if not the only one, that does not have existing debts from financial institutions?
Maybe it is about time our honorable members of the City Council start thinking of funding a more appropriate amount of financial aid for both the PWDs and the seniors.
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The Chinese community in Davao City is preparing for the celebration of this year’s Chinese New Year come February 16. And the place that is eyed as the site of the celebration is no other than the Bucana Bridge, the opening of which has been controversial.
This time, the Chinese community wants to make use of the bridge. After all, its construction was funded with a grant from the Chinese government. So the Chinese in the city might have thought that they’d rather make use of it in a more significant way.
So this time, both the Sta. Ana-Monteverde and Ramon Magsaysay roads will be free of various activities that are known showcases of Chinese culture. The activities will all be at the Bucana Bridge stretch.
