Photo courtesy: CIO
Davaowenyos celebrate the Kadayawan festival despite the absence of our most esteemed leader, the former City Mayor and President Rodrigo R. Duterte. He who brought stable peace that served as the springboard of development and prosperity to the city was forcibly shanghaied to The Hague in the Netherlands and incarcerated by the International Criminal Court. I still cannot believe why the so-called dispenser of justice would incarcerate the a leader whose approval and trust rating is unprecedented before, during and after his presidency. I distinctly remember that when he was brought into the court, the charge was read before him. He was accused for crime against humanity for the killing of 43 victims in his war against drugs during his six-year term as president.The charge was simply preposterous and the court itself as well as the prosecutors could be held liable for injustice. True there were unfortunate victims who were caught in the crossfire during the raid but the law enforcers involved had been charged and convicted. Why? Because we have a functioning judicial system which those who had Duterte arrested conveniently ignored to get rid of him. Still fresh in our mind is how in just a few snappy minutes the cabal flew him to Netherlands in a chartered executive jet courtesy of Malacanang. Presidential sister and Senator Imee accused the participants in the broad daylight kidnapping before the Ombudsman but nary have we heard of the status of the criminal and administrative charges since then. For now they are as free as a crow and even got promotions in the process.
Yes, we observe Kadayawan for knowing the Mayor-President he will not come in the way for his constituents to enjoy this once-a-year event to celebrate in thanksgiving for the bonanza of harvests and peace that we Davawenyos are gifted with by the Almighty.
But there will always be a day of reckoning and retribution. The symptom of discontent is all over. People are getting hungry and queue under rain or scorching sun to buy subsidized ₱20 per kilo rice. Even the rice farmers themselves have joined the line – hungry and angry. They survived the series of devastating floods and were advised that it is the new normal by the top leadership. The people are aware that the trillions of money intended for flood control had gone to the wrong pockets of Congressmen who, based on initial estimates, had increased their worth from 500% to 1,000%!
The hungry detergents in the present crop of politicians have creatively transferred billions of pesos to the Department of Public Works and Highways which have become a veritable tool to award multi-million-peso contracts to themselves. No wonder infrastructure projects are delayed, substandard and the worst of it all had vanished into thin air.
The treasury must be running out of cash even after the illicit transfer of funds from government banks and financial institutions to include PhilHealth and the Philippines Deposit and Insurance Corporation. Last week we learned that the government borrowed billions of dollars from Asian Development Bank and other international lending institutions.
Oblivious of, or maybe immobilized of what to do next, President Ferdinand Marcos tells the Armed Forces of the Philippines to be ready for war the moment China will invade to retake what it considers the renegade Taiwan. Is he that confident he will have a Chinaman’s chance of winning in a nuclear war even with the nine EDCA military bases spread all over the country? Are we going to be part of the war that we have absolutely no stake at all or are we given that crap as an excuse for the Philippines becoming a failed state.
That is why we celebrate Kadayawan Festival for in any event the war breaks out, God forbid, we are far away from the holocaust. There is no EDCA base here or anyway near Davao.
