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FIRING LINE: ‘Unbecoming’ of a press secretary

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By Robert B. Roque, Jr.


First-term Senator Robinhood Padilla might have basked in the “hoorays!” and “hurrahs!” of the LGBTQIA+ community by pushing for a bill institutionalizing same-sex unions in the Philippines, but there’s a backlash from Islamic leaders at the Marawi Grand Mosque in Mindanao.

Being a “balik-Islam,” Padilla knows very well that such a position is forbidden in his faith and being a proponent of such a measure undermines the religious community he represents.

Was your Islamic conversion for political capital or convenience only?

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’Hood, you should have renounced your Muslim faith, just as I would encourage Catholics/Christians to leave their Church for supporting extrajudicial killings in the bloody war on drugs. Stop being hypocrites.

Buti pa mga doctor: They practice “first, do no harm,” which is a core value of the original Hippocratic oath.

There’s the difference between Hippocratic and hypocritical.

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For those who may not know it, Malacanang and the accredited press that covers it have a love-hate relationship, which is natural and inherent in their coexistence.

Given that Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles is a lawyer, she can very well cite laws hardly ever heard (or used) like the Safe Spaces Act to discredit a reporter that acts like a thorn in the neck – perhaps, even one like Hataw’s reporter Rose Novenario, who has covered presidents at the Palace since 2002.

But Madam Trixie, were you hired by the President as a lawyer or a press secretary? If you say the latter, clearly, your move to deny Ms. Novenario access to this Chief Executive is, I must say, “unbecoming of a press secretary.”

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After his Agriculture Undersecretary had to resign for supposed usurpation of authority in signing off for the importation of 300,000 metric tons of sugar, President Marcos is now likely to authorize the importation of 100,000 M/T of sugar.

 It turns out THERE IS a sugar production shortfall seen in October.

If he’d been a good Agriculture Secretary as he had intended, the President could have spared us all from the drama and ordered so in the first place; and Usec. Leocadio Sebastian would not have to lose his job for being 200 M/T wrong.

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I guess “Bonget” – the crying character in fatigues that is the President in his late 20s in the film “Maid in Malacañang” – has realized that he has not proven his worth yet as head of the Department of Agriculture.

 He doesn’t need to admit it.

 Recruiting Domingo Panganiban – who served as Agriculture chief in both the Estrada and Arroyo administrations – as his new DA Undersecretary speaks volumes of BBM’s play here.

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I do expect Panganiban to do a great job as second fiddle to fix the problems in the DA.

Let’s all expect BBM, though, to take the credit for it.

This calls to mind the mantra of a line in the “MIM” movie posed as a question to the younger Bongbong: “Anong alam mo?”

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Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda wants a review of local government units’ entering into public-private partnership (PPP) in implementing the already controversial no-contact apprehension program/policy or NCAP.

What’s clear is that police powers, in this case – the apprehension of violators, cannot be delegated to any private entity.

Remember: No cop, except one authorized to issue traffic violation tickets, can sanction a motorist who violated a traffic regulation.

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SHORTBURSTS. For comments or reactions, email firingline@ymail.com or tweet @Side_View. Read current and past issues of this column at /http://www.thephilbiznews.com

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