Bloody Tuesday

JOHN H. POPE, a 66-year-old retired Canadian journalist who has been living in Cebu for 15 years, shot and killed Dr. Rene Rafols and his lawyer Jubian Achas at past 8 a.m. Tuesday inside a courtroom at the Marcelo Fernan Hall of Justice.

Eddie O. Barrita

Small bites

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Pope also shot and seriously wounded Prosecutor Maria Theresa Casiño before he was “neutralized” by responding policemen.

That happens when a man takes the law into his own hand, especially if the hand is holding a gun.

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Supreme Court Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno immediately ordered the suspension of work Tuesday in all courts inside the Marcelo Fernan Hall of Justice and dispatched to Cebu Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez.

Let’s hope the knee-jerk reaction wouldn’t be to arm judges, prosecutors and lawyers.
Lawyers argue in court. If they’re all armed, who would the courts listen to, the one with the better argument or the one with the bigger gun?

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Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile fired broadsides against his enemies and critics who want to portray him, he said, as a “liar” and “traitor” and cast the Senate “under a dark cloud of suspicion as a house of thieves.”

Having done that, he offered to step aside for his staunch critics to take over his post.

But eleven senators rejected Enrile’s motion to declare his post vacant. By offering to quit, he won the support of his colleagues and had his post secured.

Who says a quitter never wins?

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Suspended Cebu Gov. Gwen Garcia was cheered by the crowd at the Cebu City Sports Center when she danced in the Sinulog Sunday with Liloan’s Rosquillos Festival contingent.

She was also able to return to her office after her ninth and last time to dance in the Sinulog as governor. Acting Gov. Agnes Magpale didn’t lock her out of her office where she has been staying since Dec. 19.

Here’s someone who never quits.