Seares: Bombs in Davao, taco trucks in the US

DOMINATING just about the same news cycle at weekend were two separate stories, both about warnings that shook their respective countries.

In the United States, after GOP candidate Donald Trump spoke about his moves against illegal aliens once he’d be president, Marco Gutierrez, co-founder of Latinos for Trump, warned that if Americans wouldn’t elect Trump to outlaw undocumented immigrants, there would be “taco trucks at every corner” in the US selling the Mexican snacks.

The “taco” bit gave a dash of humor to an issue dividing American voters, the threat of “criminals, illegal drugs and job-stealers” crossing US borders.

Here, a bomb explosion in Davao City that killed Friday night at least 14 people led to President Duterte declaring “a state of lawlessness.”

The Constitution allows the President to “call out” armed forces to prevent or suppress lawless violence: “I am declaring the entire country on alert.”

While the warning in the US tickled ribs, mostly by the taco reference, the alert in PH drew advise--and questions.

Does the state of lawlessness not apply only to Davao where several bombings had occurred before? The entire country, said one spokesman, because of the war on drugs.

Will it pave the way for martial law? A former law dean said martial law is in the “platter of remedies” available to Duterte but it must be used as last recourse.

Slope

An “on-alert” mode among the army and police forces is prudent. Legal luminaries advise, though, about the “slippery slope” that use of emergency powers might lead to: authoritarian rule.

Those who wield power might think the President’s landslide win last May and his 91% approval rating legitimize anything he’d do.

Taco trucks are safer to deal with than bombs, unless the trucks aren’t just loaded with taco but rigged with explosives as well.

[paseares@gmail.com]

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