The 14-hour ordeal that the 79-year old President Rodrigo R. Duterte who was invited by the House of Representatives QuadCom as a resource person reflects the savagery of and character of the incumbent House leadership.
They acted as investigators and jurors at the same time. They did not come to the hearing to find out the truth. The came and individually render in grand oratory their prepared report which they read with aplomb and bravado.
QuadCom has set of rules which only the members knew. Only the chairpersons of the four House investigating committees can deliver their opening statements. The also allowed those who lost their love ones in alleged extrajudicial killings carried out by a death squad which they attributed to then Mayor and later President Duterte. They even have the same numbers of EJK victims- 30,000 up from police records of 6-thousand plus.
Duterte was allowed only to talk to answer questions. By sheer humbug or perhaps driven by vainglorious boast, Partylist Representative Arlene Brosas demanded a “yes” or “no” answer from Duterte whom she addressed as “Mister Duterte”.
When it was the turn of an ACT Rep. France Castro of Makabayan Group which is identified with the Communist Party of the Philippines, she lectured on Duterte:
“Hindi po solusyon ang pagpatay, kung mga walang hanap buhay, bigyan ng hanapbuhay”. Her popish lecture on Duterte elicited a remark from Arian Jane Ramos, former Secretary of CPP/NPA Guerrilla Front 55 who posted on social media her take on Castro’s statement. Says Ramos, Representative Castro lecture “is strikingly ironic when viewed against her ties to the Communist Party of the Philippines-NPA”.
Arian Jane Ramos is only one of the thousands who aired their sentiments online against the conduct of QuadCom. Duterte may have lost the trial in the HoR kangaroo court but definitely have won the people’s heart.
