WHETHER or not Senator Manny Pacquiao personally drafted and prepared his script, it doesn’t matter. For him, as long as he delivered it in exact punctuation, that’s all that completed a discourse favoring the reinstatement of death penalty.
The third rematch between Senators Manny Pacquiao and Franklin Drilon happened recently in the plenary; when the former presented a challenge in a form of a privilege speech, urging the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights to revive death penalty. He said illegal drugs are destroying the lives of our people and it is high time to gear up, to punish the criminals. May I call it “judicial killing?”
During the interpellation, veteran Senator Drilon, lobbed a belligerent inquiry if the judges and justices as humans are infallible to render decisions.
The blitzed Pacquiao who used to agree the verdict of judges no matter how erroneous it was, affirmed. It may be true, speaking of boxing bout that he mastered, even if it also deals life; because he relied and trusted the authorities.
Pacquiao must have forgotten that he was in the hall of Congress to discuss policy and not to agree without discussing the details of his argument. He also forgot that interpellation is a battle of reasoning, that when you agree with the first two punches, you have no choice but to accept losing your stand on the third. Unlike in the four-corner ring, a boxer may endure up to three consecutive punches to gauge maybe the strength of the opponent and throw a solid punch once and for all, after the assessment, to knock the opponent out during his weakest stance.
The same principle of trust and reliance was applied, that Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross. But he submitted himself to the authorities to fulfill the redemption plan that was instituted by the Father who sent Him to this miserable world. As a Christian nation, invoking Jesus Christ at the plenary is inevitable. But we need to draw a clearer picture of fallibility in imposing judicial killing versus His “willful” restitution.
Drilon cited that out of 1,493 decided cases from 1993 to 2004, there were 907 elevated to the Supreme Court for review and 230 were affirmed. A huge percentage of the convicts were wrongfully put to irrevocable deaths.
Fewer than few brilliant mammals like Drilon left in the senate, willing to fight fang and claws if only to preserve the sanctity of life.
The interpellation ended and Pacquiao made no other choice but to bring back the half-baked dough to the oven with the five other senators including the senate president who was identified singing the same song of different pitch favoring the revival of death penalty.
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