IN THE 2016 elections, I rooted for one senatorial bet and he was none other than former Congressman Neri Colemenares, but he failed to make it to the Magic 12. I never met in person Colemenares, but he was one of the few officials during the BS Aquino administration who made sense. What I knew of him was what I read in the newspapers and caught him once in a while in some video clips in some interviews with TV reporters. He was very much consistent in his fiscalization then against the Aquino administration.
I remember then how took to task Malacañang spokespersons for promoting the candidacy of the palace anointed Secretary Mar Roxas. Of course all of us remember the surveys and former Vice President Jejomar Binay was leading the pack, and Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of Davao City was ambivalent. And in the last leg of the hustings, Duterte surged to the top and polled more than six million votes, and the rest is history
Fast Forward. More than a year in Malacañang, Duterte and his team have so much in their hands trying to clean up the mess the Aquino administration left. Hogging the headlines of national newspapers and became the main topic of news commentators is the total waste of billions of pesos of taxpayers’ money. The Aquino government bought and inoculated thousands with a useless and dangerous anti-Dengue vaccine. It was learned recently that the World Health Organization (WHO) issued guidelines but not recommended it. There was no trial made even before the Department of Health started injecting the population. Methinks some people made money in the drug transaction.
The Duterte government is getting the flak from the so-called human rights groups and some international agencies for the alleged extra judicial killings (EJK). How could the past governments, specifically the recent six years of the Aquino administration ignored the growing drug problem? Now it’s one hell of a mess. The growth of insurgencies In Mindanao wasn’t given the needed attention. There are more we can point out what the Aquino failed to do. And what he did was also unprecedented. He appointed as Maria Lourdes Sereno as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court equivalent of three terms of Philippine presidents. Is that a design to protect his interests? Maybe. But his actions foreclosed the chances of senior justices.
The below item I got it from my Kumpareng Tony, younger brother of former Department of Transportation and Communications Secretary Ping De Jesus. His Coya abruptly resigned when he turned down the latter’s recommendation to fire the late Virginia Torres, President PNoy's shooting buddy Virginia Torres, as Assistant Secretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications and chief of Land Transportation Commission. Those who followed the news about the controversy would know why De Jesus wanted her to be removed.
Out of delicadeza De Jesus resigned as secretary of DOTC. That was when he was turned down by PNoy when he was trying to dismiss Torres. President Noynoy picked Torres over De Jesus. Ping De Jesus is known in many circles as a man with solid integrity. He was cabinet secretary, headed the Department of Public Works and Highways and his last posting was the DOTC. His career in public service was never tainted. Why BS Aquino picked Torres over De Jesus told us something.
So much mess left behind.