Flouting the rules, flaunting connections in high places

We remember the immortal, though awkwardly phrased words of the late Manila Mayor Fred Lim as the lawyer Larry Gadon flouts the rules on mask-wearing. Mr. Gadon said he would not wear a mask in public because he thinks little of the virus and the effectiveness of mask-wearing, a global mandate against the virus. Masks of all kinds and types, outside of the N95 gold standard used by doctors and health workers fighting the virus, offer differing levels of protection.

Knowing Mr. Gadon and his hardline stand on issues, he probably does what he says, going mask-less in public ala Trump and the right-wing crazies devoted to Mr. Trump. That is a brazen violation of a rule on wearing masks, which in our local context now requires the additional face shield. On streets, across the country, in all urban and rural settings, people obey — masks plus the face shields for added protection. In the farms, where the farmer toils in total isolation, he is rarely seen without a mask, for no reason other than following the rules.  I do work in the farm in total isolation but still have, on standby, that ever-ready mask. The Filipino is the most compliant race on earth on mask-wearing, bar none.

Ordinary people, the outliers who violate the mask-wearing edict and quarantine rules imposed by the government and monitored by the local government units, get penalized when caught violating the rules. Some are shamed, a few are beaten and others are placed in improvised cages. Some are charged in court. The very important persons (VIPs) get away with transgressions. But these VIPs all show remorse after getting public criticism.

There is no news of Mr. Gadon being summoned for his violation of mask-wearing rules. Or shamed in public. Or being beaten by overzealous barangay (village) enforcers.  The reaction from Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd on Gadon’s brazenness was a lame one — that what Mr. Gadon advocates is not science. He should have confronted the offender, reminded him that he is a lawyer and should be a paragon of virtue by following the rules.
Either Mr. Duque lost his nerve to do his solemn duty or is terribly afraid of the fiery Gadon.

The lame reaction from Duque, the sudden flameout of the righteous anger possessed by the Duterte supporters on transgressors, and the lack of reprimand from  law enforcers and keepers of rules reminded ordinary citizens of the immortal words  of the late Mayor Lim:  The law should apply to all or none at all. Simply, it means that no one should be above rules and law. If exceptions are made, then forget about the law and the rules.

Mr. Gadon is flouting the rules and even flaunting his disregard for them. It smacks of taunting the government to “come and get me if you can.” No one will get him, of course; he is a certified ally of people in power. He was part of that cabal that plotted and executed the ouster of former chief justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno. For that, he is now beyond the rules of the government — even during a pandemic.

Journalists who covered the Western Police District in Manila more or less have an idea of how Mr. Lim, if he were president today, would deal with Mr. Gadon. Put simply, it would be ugly, or very ugly.

Mayor Lim, all through his long years in law enforcement and his political life, stood by this dictum: the law should apply to all or none at all. If he were now boss of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, of which he once was, ibibitin niya si Gadon ng patiwarik.

The proponents of the revolutionary government (RevGov) are also treading on dangerous legal grounds. There is no power vacuum.  The country is governed by popularly elected leaders and the incumbent president won by over 6 million votes. Based on the last survey, done before the Covid-19 outbreak, Mr. Duterte had high trust and approval ratings. There is no legal challenge to his fitness to govern the duly constituted government.

When  a group is  seeking the establishment of a RevGov in a context of unquestioned political stability  and holds public rallies to press the issue, it is the mandate of the government to, at the very least, summon the leaders of the “ movement “ for questioning. If quarantine violators are routinely put in improvised cages for benign acts of transgression, then there is every reason to question the group, and then charge them for putting up such patently illegal and questionable acts.

A RevGov vests all powers on the President. The other institutions are deprived of their co-equal status, making Congress a vassal and rendering courts at the beck and call of the President. Or else…

When asked for his reaction on the RevGov advocates, the equally lame and obviously disinterested answer of the Malacañang spokesman, Harry Roque Jr., was that the advocates “have the right to free speech.” We are not talking about free speech here. We are talking about a direct assault on the duly constituted authority and the incumbent government, which Mr. Roque represents.

The advocates wanting “Mayor Duterte“ to lead the dismantling of the current government, then again lead the  wished-for and imagined revolutionary government  (which was probably music to the spokesman) does not wash away the legal transgressions of the RevGov proponents.

The  leaders are scot-free, probably relishing every minute of their 15 minutes of fame, at the expense of the Constitution that they want abrogated — while  flaunting  the names of their friends in high places who nod and wink at their dangerous adventurism. In high places in the government, they have their enablers and coddlers.

The public spectacles of Mr. Gadon and the RevGov posse are a sad testament to a country where the law is applied selectively and whimsically.

Source: TheManila Times