The Bam Aquino boomerang

By Herbert Vego

WHAT did Senator Bam Aquino hope to accomplish when he said, “Ideally, cases against individuals implicated in alleged extrajudicial killings should be tried in Philippine courts”?

The statement was meant to defend his fellow Senators Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and Christopher “Bong” Go, who are among the eight alleged co-perpetrators of former President Rodrigo Duterte for crimes against humanity.

Not having attended Senate sessions for more than two months already, Bato is rumored to have gone into hiding for fear of being issued a warrant of arrest that could catapult him to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague.

To quote Senator Bam’s reason for his stand, “Kasi ang mga biktima po ay nandito rin sa Pilipinas.”

Obviously, it did not resonate well with the surviving victims of crimes against humanity linked to Duterte’s “war on drugs”.

The reason why they sought justice in the far away ICC was because they had lost faith in our country’s judicial system.

And so, Bam Aquino must now fend against the backlash of his boomerang.

Atty. Barry Gutierrez, who called him “detached from reality,” represents a number of families seeking justice they had failed to find in local courts.

The ICC has confirmed its decision to reveal its confirmation of charges against Duterte’s case on Monday, Feb. 23, with subsequent hearings set on Feb. 24, 26, and 27.

According to Atty. Kristina Conti, the ICC-accredited assistant to counsel, several relatives of alleged extrajudicial killing (EJK) victims during the Duterte administration’s controversial war on drugs will personally attend the confirmation of charges on Monday.

Dela Rosa led the Philippine National Police at the outset of Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, which allegedly resulted in thousands of deaths.

Social media today bristles with remarks from victims’ kin expressing dismay over Aquino’s “insensitivity”.

Where else could they turn to?

Not to Bam, definitely.

-oOo-

UPDATE ON THE WIZARD OF MIAG-AO

IN one of our columns in January, this writer lauded the 24-year-old wizard of Miag-ao, Iloilo for breaking into the latest batch of technical personnel at the prestigious Boeing, the world’s largest manufacturer of aircraft based in Everett, Seattle, Washington.

Needless to say, nobody gets hired at Boeing unless he possesses exceptional ability.

It was about Leopoldo “Ajin” Moragas II, son and namesake of our good friend “Doods,” a retired senior assistant vice president of the Philippine National Bank.

Today’s good news is that Ajin has completed his first week on the job on the team of professionals tasked to assemble the latest model of 737-MAX commercial jet planes.

It’s both an earning and learning experience for this promising only son of Doods and the former Haydee Gequinto.

Boeing has offered him a scholarship for further studies leading to a doctoral degree at the University of Washington. He has yet to finish his Aerospace Engineering course.

Let us keep on watching this young man who deserves a space in aerospace.

-oOo-

MORE EMPLOYEE’S FORECAST COMES TRUE

OUR readers will remember that, in a past issue, this corner echoed the prediction of Engr. Justin Lunar — MORE Power’s energy sourcing supervisor — that the distribution utility would reduce rates for this month’s billing period.

True enough, Iloilo City’s distribution utility has cut its residential rate from PHP 12.66 to PHP 11.60 per kilowatt-hour. It’s a decrease of PHP 1.06 per kWh.

It means that households consuming an average of 200 kWh per month can enjoy savings of PHP 212.00 on their electricity bill this month.

This positive adjustment was due to a significant drop in electricity prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) from PHP 6.46 per kWh to PHP 3.40 per kWh.

System loss rate decreased by PHP 0.06 per kWh due to the decrease in the overall cost of power.

Fewer outages at the generation plants also contributed to the decrease, along with record-low demand.