Stoned to death

By: Reyshimar Arguelles

RICHARD HEYDARIAN seemed the misfit when he published a column for the Philippine Daily Inquirer. It was well-composed and could be his magnum opus in writing an insightful commentary about foreign policy. In writing the piece, he exerted the same amount of effort the Duterte government spends along the lines of foreign relations. Which is to say, there’s no effort at all.

Heydarian’s unoriginal (Conrado de Quiros did the same thing in 2003) jab at this administration’s apparent lack of concern over the country’s sovereignty issues could describe just how low it is willing to stoop down and shed every ounce of dignity it has. And with Foreign Secretary Teddy Boy Locsin “finalizing” a joint exploration agreement with the People’s Republic of China, it’s evident that what passes off as a good public servant in the Duterte administration is someone whose mind is as blank as a piece of paper. You could write anything on a mind that does not recognize the authority of reason.

There is no end to the nonsense that this government would willingly promote, so long as it serves malicious agendas. The supposed benefits we get from our current policy with China have yet to show, but we couldn’t help but expect to surrender what little we possess just to pay off this loan shark of a communist country.

Of course, what can we expect from countries ruled by yes-men and careerists who are more concerned with crafting their legacies than with solving the conditions that have led us into this situation in the first place? People could only be so ambitious that they could go as far as throwing away the very concepts of right and wrong. Because as far as the Duterte government is concerned, wrong becomes right. No questions asked.

This should explain why the administration’s rabid supporters are so quick to defend its questionable decisions and spend time and effort just to show how much they love the President, like mice dancing to the tune of the piper. But of course, there are those whose fanaticism has no bounds, who see nothing wrong with reducing human life into a mere figure in an Excel sheet in this bloody and unwinnable drug war.

We could expect nothing from the new batch of leaders we’ve just elected, save for the fact that they could say the most outrageous things and still feel nothing, not even a hint of shame. Desensitized by a maniacal devotion to this administration’s proclivity to power mongering, its supporters wouldn’t hesitate to keep Filipino blood running, if it means keeping the streets safe from crime and protecting the future generation from falling into the clutches of crime.

I’m sure Senator Bato Dela Rosa is just as concerned as everyone else about the drug situation and how it affects the youth. But being someone who’s elected on a peace and order platform, Bato lacks the ability to see through his biases and choose the words that won’t dig a deep grave for his career. But this is the same Bato who sees the youth as “the driving force of the future.” This is the same Bato who advocates mandatory military service for students. And this is the same Bato who, just recently, carelessly considered the death of a three-year-old girl during a police operation as just another case of “sh** happens,” as though it never was a part of his platform to protect the youth’s future.

And just like that, the good senator himself continues to validate the actions that this horrible drug war has sanctioned. The casualties will only continue to pile up, and so long as they do, it will reach a point when this tower of murder and deceit will start to collapse upon the perpetrators themselves.

Surely, there is a day of reckoning and an accounting for all the bad decisions that were made by the administration’s lackeys. And when that day comes, we can shrug it off and say, “Sh** happens.”