Conrado 'Noynoy-is-Aragorn' de Quiros continues to insist that criminal prosecution is a popularity contest @sagadasun

By -
True to form, Inquirer.net "columnist" Conrado "Noynoy-is-Aragorn" de Quiros is at it again building an entire emo plea on the back of that feature of politics Aquinoists have exploited to smithereens -- popularity.

Coming from an "article" that goes by the quaintly poetic cliche, "How the mighty have fallen", the following is classic de Quiros...
This country may be forgetful in the long run, but it does have a strong short-term memory. You see that in the wellspring of support P-Noy has gotten for his decision to stop the former First Couple from leaving. The anger and loathing are still there. The people want the former first couple punished. The people want the former first couple jailed.

As I said in an earlier piece, criminal prosecution is not a popularity contest.

The process of criminal prosecution is not one that is driven by a popular outcome. It proceeds on the basis of a rigorous examination of facts and an intelligent tying of these together into a logical conclusion.

Perhaps de Quiros should take on board a bit of the insight his editor is able to apply to his own writing today...
[...] it’s imperative for the Aquino administration to lay off on the triumphalist rhetoric for the moment (“We promised the Filipino people her day in court, and now she’s getting it,” Secretary Ricky Carandang crowed on the day of Arroyo’s arrest, conveniently forgetting how ad hoc, reactive and improvisational the government’s response had been to the Supreme Court’s TRO), and get down instead to the nitty-gritty of constructing more solid, legally unassailable cases against Arroyo. They should be, at the very least, free of shortcuts, infirmities and photo-finish touches, and filed in court expeditiously, to backstop the initial indictment against Arroyo.

As the eminent Dean Jorge Bocobo once observed, I often quote myself quoting myself. But then when one finds one's self surrounded by idiots, there really isn't much choice but to rely on one's own brilliance. Fortunately, the Inquirer.net stepped up to the job today and relieved me of some of my duties -- for now.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular this week

Duterte BPI bank scandal a trap set for Trillanes?

By -
Image
There are now papers floating around that the BPI account in Julia Vargas has a running balance of around Php22,000xx from March 2015 to March 2016. It's peanuts, and Trillanes makes a big fuzz about it? Sonamagan, even call center agents would have this kind of bank accounts; definitely does not show a corrupt DU30. And then, Trillanes talks of 42 real estate properties, but mostly owned by the children of DU30. Yet, the first one that media checks is a unit in P Guevarra, which is only valued at 2.3 million. Even ordinary employees could buy such unit. That could hardly buy just the main door, an imported antique, in the house of Binay, which has been valued at 15 million, yes just the freaking door by itself. What is this, they are again using trial by publicity, which they effectively used on CJ Corona whom they accused him of having 80 properties. In the end, it comes out Corona had only four properties, three of which was purchased for investment purposes only. I don'
Read more

Rappler CEO @MariaRessa suggests that Duterte was ORDERED to sing by Trump! 😮

By -
Image
In a tweet fielded by Rappler CEO Maria Ressa today, the causality reader could be led to believe that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was ordered to sing by US President Donald Trump. But was he really? It seems Ressa is just being too quick to selectively interpret a common Filipino colloquialism that is no different to the way we use terms like "bossing" and "chief" to address peers or even subordinates in a tongue-in-cheek manner. Ressa is most definitely grasping for straws here.
Read more

Filipinos are taught by their parents to flush at public toilets with their feet. Is this RIGHT??

By -
Image
Public toilets in the Philippines are seen to be dirty. As such many Filipinos are taught by their parents to use their feet to operate the flush lever after using a public toilet. The prevalence of this practice was confirmed after a tweet from a Filipino Netizens describing the practice attracted wide approval... Is this the right way to solve the problem of unsanitary public toilets in the Philippines? By teaching kids to use their feet to operate such facilities? It's more like teaching them to be inconsiderate and rather than be good members of the community. No wonder public facilities in the Philippines suck. It's because their users suck.
Read more

Poor people in the Philippines seem to prefer poverty over aspiring to be not poor

By -
Image
Sadly, a MAJORITY of the poor people here are bad people. That is WHY they are poor. They disrespect others, they disrespect themselves, and they disrespect God’s creation. Exactly how do they think they’ll be rewarded for that? If you genuinely had empathy, you would be able to get inside their heads and understand why they do these things, and perhaps know how to fix it. However, you are confusing “empathy” with “sympathy”. I have yet to meet a poor person who actually WANTS to do the things necessary to escape poverty. The funny thing is, everyone can see that I’m more successful than they are. They think this is because I’m “rich”. I’m sure a lot of them are full of jealousy (as benign0 describes) and sit around thinking “ha, it’s not fair, that foreigner is so rich and I’m so poor. I guess it’s OK if I steal his stuff”. Which they do. Regularly. I grew up poor. I know how it feels to be hungry, all the time, every day. I decided I didn’t like feeling like that. I’m successf
Read more