Double standard
treatment of CJ

Have you noticed something very wrong going on? Yes, it is the fact that Malacañang blithely accused Chief Justice Renato Corona of using mass media to defend himself. Yet, the same Palace does not mind the blitzkrieg fashion presidential spokespersons and the prosecution have been hurling at the high court’s chief judge.

That’s not all, even newspaper reporters and editors have recently complained that they were inundated by an avalanche of news releases, tidbits and tweets against Corona to point that some feel nauseated already.

Notice, for example, the latest report of Corona’s having licenses for 35 handguns and sub-machineguns. As if that were a mortal sin.

Yet, the palace had not even gone out of its way to demand an explanation for the PNP asking why it had given so many licenses to the Chief Justice.

And the same time Malacañang easily dismissed the confiscation of the automatic AK-47 purportedly owned by Presidential consultant Llamas from his two bodyguards in Quezon City. That was a clear violation of the ban on the carrying of firearms by unauthorized persons outside the home of the gun owner.

But that was dismissed as a minor infraction that did not warrant even just a critique from Llamas’ gun-shooting buddy, President Benigno Aquino III.

Yet, the mere possession of 35 guns by Corona is now being questioned. Why? If the PNP licensed him to own so many firearms, why should it now be questioned? It should be the firearms section that should be asked to explain that. Not Corona to explain himself. Now, Senator-Judge Franklin Drilon, whom the defense had several times charged of acting more like a member of the prosecution panel, now demands that Ana Basa, a member of the Basa-Guidote family corporation, should be asked to testify before the Senate Impeachment Court. So with Sister Flory Basa, the 90-year-old remaining heiress of the Basa-Guidote fortune.

Yet, their names had never been included among the witnesses to the long line of charges against Corona filed by the prosecution.

The deft lawyer that he is, Drilon seems to have shown the prosecution what to do next after they had withdrawn five of them eight-point charge against Corona.

So what’s cooking? The Palaca seems hell-bent on sending Corona packing from the Supreme Court, and to hell with the consequences even if some moral laws and delicadeza are overlooked in the process. Just get him out of the High Court.

That does not sound anymore fair and square, a claim the Palace consistently mentioned as the rules it must follow in difference to the independence of Senate Impeachment Court.

I am no lawyer, much less do I sympathize with Corona. But, I like many recently who have not wanted to defend Corona, I was also miffed at how they have been throwing everything against the Chief Justice. In short, he has become an underdog.

There’s something really wrong going on.

***

Manny Pacquiao to give a recollection to the priests of Diocese of Marbel in Cotabato?

That may sound unremarkable to most. But to others, that is a news that is greeted with skepticism.

But we all know that the world of God has often worked miracles and converted the worst of sinners to the path of righteousness.

I know of several people who had greeted the story of Pacquiao’s conversion from a womanizer and a gambler into a “born again Christian”. I mean re-birth a life of faith that changed him completely.

Strange? No. That can happen very often.

As pointed out by God, Himself, His word does not fall to earth uselessly. Somehow it always produces results. Very often statingly. Otherwise, mostly quietly. But they are not wasted.

Perhaps, in his own way, Manny got chosen as an example of God’s love conquering the hard hearted. He was a known gambler. His fighting cock farm was the envy of many in his home province. And his dalliances with women had prompted his wife to file a petition for the annulment of their marriage. But that ended in reconciliation.

Thus, what happened was that Manny turned a new leaf of his life. He has eschewed chases of women interested in him. Or whom he lusted latter. Instead, ha has completed reconciliated with his wife.

Extraordinary? No, it happens everyday. And with so many.

Just to take the case of a middle-aged wife whom I talked with recently. She was married to a government functionary. But after their marriage and three children he took up with a younger girl and lived with her. Abandoning his wife and their children.

So, what happened? The woman naturally got mad at him. First, she tried to poison him. She had mixed toxic ingredient with his milk. But he did not drink it.

Later, she did worse, she tried to shoot him with his own gun. But, because of the outcry of their child, he managed to jump out of the window and ran away.

Then, later she filed a case against them to compel him to share one third of his money with their children. He did comply with this for three months. Afterwards, he again completely forgot it. But she had already withdrawn the case against him.

In between she heard the word of the Lord and converted and she afterwards forgave him.

So what happened afterwards? Soon, the husband got seriously ill and had to retire from his government job. Now, reduced to penury by his paramour, he comes back to his wife to asks for help and sustenance. Now, touched by the Word of God, she silently accepted him and paid for his hospital bills despite the fact that she hardly had enough to meet the expenses. So, what happened? The man simply asked for forgiveness from the wife that he so wronged in life. But that did not change him completely. The wife, now looking haggard, continues to take care of him, hoping that somehow the Word of God may eventually change his heart. And she just keeps sharing with him the Word of the Lord.

You may think that it is a crazy story? Sorry now. God somehow showered His love on the once distraught woman. Somehow, the husband will soon regret what he had done to his wife and their children. But because they have learned to shower on himself their love, who knows how the story will end?*

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