Knowledge of the law: A requiem?
This bizarre soiree of ignorantia legis (ignorance of the law), to which we’ve been treated by such patent political luminaries as the Philippine National Police Chief and the President himself, got me thinking: to whom do we owe the warped distinction of being regarded as buffoons?
Surely their statements were meant for an audience largely drooling and devoted to the cause of tokhang, whose ability to process abstract ideas such as freedom, due process, and laws leaves much to be desired.
In fact, this mindset has become so mainstream that any attempt to push against this buffoonery is almost always treated with scorn online.
Of course, this is hardly the case within the coven of pseudo-political creatures to whom much of the Earth is not only flat but under their privileged proprietorship, as in their choice to hand over some of the disputed islands in the West Philippine Sea to Chinese Pres. Xi Jin Ping sans public consensus.
In the same breath, however, I have to admit that I couldn’t agree with them more when they publicly admit their ignorance of the law — the law being inconsequential to their decisions and actions for the last five years.
But that’s the problem. Owning up to ignorantia legis is nowhere near taking responsibility for their conscious disregard for knowledge in any adult sense. I say it’s conscious because in an era where information lies at one’s fingertips, to be ignorant seems to be an exercise in bungee jumping without a rope tied to one’s brain, something no person in his right mind would dare do.
Besides, any full-grown individual with a modicum of respectability should in no time step down from their post, groveling on mud and sludge if they must, in reparation for their laziness and stupidity. But, no! They insist on staying in power regardless of the humiliating situation they found themselves in. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.
Institutional tomfoolery, thus, seems to be the order of the day. Take for instance the recent audit reports released by the Commission on Audit on several government agencies, including the now controversial Department of Health.
In reaction to COA’s flagging of P67 billion in Covid-19 fund deficiencies, to say little of listed orders involving four laptops each costing P175,000 (a total of P700,000), Duterte made his thoughts plain: the audit reports should not be released to the public.
To add to what is already a reckless, irresponsible statement by a sitting President, Duterte allegedly wanted state auditors to be “kidnapped” and “tortured”.
PNP Chief Guillermo Eleazar echoed the same call not to release the reports to the public as if reading from the same script, only to backpedal hours later for saying what he said. Now imagine the chief of the nation’s police force as someone ignorant of the law. If that doesn’t scare the bejeezus out of you, I don’t know what will.
The 1987 Constitution is clear on the matter.
Sec. 28, Art. II: “Subject to reasonable conditions prescribed by law, the State adopts and implements a policy of full public disclosure of all its transactions involving public interest.”
This same provision is the baseline rule upon which the Freedom of Information Bill rests.
Are you aware that after Pres. Duterte’s remarks about the kidnapping and torture of COA auditors that an actual auditor who worked on the audit of the Department of Health died of a heart attack?
Former COA Commissioner Heidi Mendoza, in an interview with the Inquirer, said, “Today I weep for my (former) colleague. A COA-UN auditor who just died of a heart attack. He is the auditor behind the DoH report. Stress can kill, please let us offer a minute of prayer!”
If this doesn’t ruffle your feathers, people, then not even a zombie apocalypse will.
Embattled health secretary Francisco Duque III’s own telenovela rendering of a social media rant following criticisms online was for the books. How and why he insists on being Duterte’s “joystick” is anyone’s guess. But one thing is certain: Duque would rather indulge in melodrama than simply answer the audit report in his capacity as health secretary.
Think about it for one moment. Duque blames COA for the lowering of the department’s morale on account of the audit report. Does morale have anything to do with the issue of funding deficiencies?
What morale is there to speak of under a raging pandemic, widespread talk of corruption and theft in government, spiking unemployment rates, an extremely laggard vaccination program, an economy short of breathing its last, and unabated killings? Is he out of his friggin’ mind?
He thereafter plays the victim card when he said that he hasn’t been sleeping well due to the audit report. Who has, for cryin’ out loud! Does he really believe that P67 billion in deficiencies work like chamomile tea for the rest of us? That’s P67 billion of donations and taxpayers’ money he was playing with.
As head of the department, he must know what’s been going on.
Filipinos have been treated to such unbelievable levels of absurdity that one cannot enjoy breakfast without that grumpy sense of wanting to regurgitate getting in the way.
Instead of whining online, Duque could’ve simply provided the answers to the audit report.
If there is one thing the Duterte regime will be known for long after it has stepped down from office is how it has reduced public servants who allied with him, some of whom were thinkers and intellectuals, into this sniveling horde of dopey, brain-dead, frothing-in-the-mouth communicators fed on lies, misogyny, brutality, and plain old excrement.
Where they would end up after this regime throws in the towel is anybody’s guess. I pity all of them. Not long after this regime folds, everything they touch will turn into dung.
They’re too selfish to realize that they would drag through the muck all those lovingly associated with them — loved ones, family, friends, colleagues, children.
Thing is, long after they had despised and crush the very law and people who put them in power for their own benefit, it’s the latter that will remain.
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