MARENG Winnie Monsod says the people have a right to know Digong’s state of physical and mental health. At times, Digs sounds as unhinged as I, but I am powerless and, therefore, harmless (but not armless, one sweet young thing told Torpe Me once, I dunno why). I am not charged with looking after the welfare of 104 million rabbits and more than one family.

Now we are told he has a spinal (gulugod) concerns and daily migraine attacks. Yup, Mareng Winnie correctly says his health “is a national problem.” (Philippine Daily Inquirer, December 10, 2016) He is going on 72, I am 77.





Mare says she’s 76 but last we met, she didn’t look a day above 50 (hey, it’s no sin to blarney). We should hear not only from Doctors Duterte, Mart Andanar and Ernie Abella. Baka po mga duktor ng kabayo sila? Independent respected medical doctors should satisfy the people’s right to know.

Pope Francis made Digong cuss. Trump made Saint Digong rearrange his halo. We may be in a deeper hole than we thought.

Last Saturday marked another UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) anniversary. I was surprised that the Palace would say it is for human rights instead of just letting the day pass quietly.

Digs denies Senator Leila de Lima the right to be presumed innocent under Article 11 of the UNDHR, echoed by Section 13 of Article 3 of the Philippine Constitution (Btw, we have formed a new lawyers group named Articulo 3). Her cardinal sin is fighting Digong on human rights, for which he does not seem to care a whit. Had she brown-nosed Digong like clever Manny Pacquiao, the BIR’s Poster Boy, she would not be in a pickle. The BIR has not succeeded in having Manny resolve his tax issues. Payment is the only honorable response. But no movement we see in this case of arrears in the billions. So, more sipsip.

Ordinary cops are barred from receiving gifts as improper and illegal, as stressed in an internal memo. Even snacks. But their head accepted an all-expenses paid trip gifted by shrewd Manny, a lawmaker-lawbreaker from where I sit. The memo was signed by PNP Deputy Director General Ramon Apolinario, not Bato de la Rosa, the Poster Boy on gifts. DDG Apolinario would probably not copy DG Bato, who dares and challenges one and all to sue him. Motu proprio, Ombudsman Chit Carpio-Morales can probe the matter, to jibe with the reminder of the Civil Service Commission and the PNP itself on gifts. Had Bato signed it, there might have been thunder and lightning from an unamused heaven.

The munificent gifts of Pastor Quiboloy to Digong should be probed too, state-of-the-art vehicles, including free use of modern aircraft. PD 46 of Macoy, Digong’s idol, is being violated in the violet time in the vilest possible way, as it were. And the alleged humongous bank accounts the probe into which Sal Panelo EJKed. Why?

On drugs, what Mexico cannot do in a decade, Digong cannot do in six months, as he vowed in the campaign, nor even in six years, when many more poor people will have been EJKed. Last September, he said he would be “happy to slaughter” three million addicts (Inquirer, December 11) in pursuit of his population reduction program. He ignores FVR’s RH reminders, the legal way of population reduction, which the Catholic Church —which I have not left; Digong has?— opposes.

The language of Kill! Kill! Kill Digong and Burn, Baby, Burn Bato does not show innocence but is liable to be misunderstood. If the two are indeed clean, then they should simply try to solve the crimes they utterly cannot prevent. They cannot be incompetent both in not preventing EJKs, now numbering nearly 6,000, nor in solving them, and risk finding their own guilty, if not the vigilantes, in a decaying lawless society. RH may be a preferable civilized way of reducing our population.

In the patented Fire! Aim! Ready! style of the administration, we are told that eight congressmen are into the narcotics trade. Had anyone of them been killed while resisting arrest, let alone the police generals or tycoon earlier named and shamed, the thus far anti-poor image of the bloody relentless campaign may have attracted more believers. Not I, a due process fanatic, particularly for the poor.

The IBP should not question what happens to the lawyer population alone being reduced, but should concern itself with anyone arrested or killed in the course of the insensate war on drugs, again, particularly the poor. The Senate rightly found Operation Tokhang unconstitutional, as I had advised people all over. We have a right not to speak, and even not to be merely “invited” by Pulis Patolas, two of whom asked for selfies with me last Dec. 10 in Mendiola. At the time, the Left was having another rally, just across the finest law school in Mendiola, which Lei, Digs and I attended (but he was probably absent when lo cortes no quita to valiente —courtesy does not detract from valor –was taught, along with respect for human life and dignity).

In a regime which has buried not only courtesy but the rule of law, Tatti Licuanan is being asked to leave as chief by people wanting to please the Palace. Why? Is there a charge of incompetence or corruption? Against a Benitez-Licuanan who was Most Outstanding Student of 1962?

Being barred from Cabinet meets does not prove mediocrity or graft, in the same way it did not, re Veep Leni Robredo. Shall we follow RA 7277, giving Tatti up to 2018? The partisan appointee is the education secretary, not the CHEd head. The Cabinet should not be expected to think as one on the basis of “The Prez Wants This” or “The First Lady Wants This” of the Marcoses. Tatti is a true pro, competent and honest, and should not be part of the “spoils” victors lust after.

Now it is Imee heading the judges who picked the TOFIL (Ten Outstanding Filipinos)! Susmariano! We really seem to be decaying. Ang tumanggap ng TOFIL Award kay Imee maitim ang buto! The pits!

I declined all tries to entice me to apply for TOYM and TOFIL awards. I like Nobel, which searches for the deserving. No need to, “May I apply to be recognized and honored,” without taking away anything from the truly worthy. (I am still waiting to be summoned by Nobel though, ha, ha.)

I also like Time’s picking the Person of the Year; Turumpo did not apply I’m sure to be its 2016 choice.

And we want Sabah to be subjected to our values? I was for taking Sabah by force in the early 1960s but today, I cannot ignore the Sabahans’ right to self-determination. Would they choose to remain as part of Malaysia, or would they really prefer, and even pine for, our kind of governance? Sus.

Now, if Noynoy has any liability for the P3.5 billion government procurement of dengue vaccines, just charge him, no need to be invited to the Senate to be questioned, which Senator Dick Gordon says can wait. Huh? Justice Secretary Vit Aguirre and the NBI should quietly build up a case. Not another circus in the Senate which should not convict without due process but should not clear without due process either (lucky Digs).

Presidents, who remain fallible, answer only to their conscience and history for their calls, absent proof of corruption, in this uncertain, less than perfect world. “History will absolve me (La historia me absolvera),” thundered Fidel Castro, on October 16, 1953.

Digong cannot imperil Loida Nicolas-Lewis who has done a lot of good and comes and goes. I hope next time she comes she will have time again for ballroom dancing. She bar-reviewed in San Beda in 1967 and has been a Woman For Others here and abroad for the longest time. A Fil-Am, she has not broken any law. Her right to vote in our elections, the Supreme Court upheld on August 4, 2006.

She is a particle of Filipino popular sovereignty, who gets her way by the force of reason, not by reason of force. Not unhinged, unlike Digong, National Migraine, Pambansang Sakit ng Ulo, or me, Barangay Sakit ng Ulo lang po naman, if that.