IN the hit K-drama, Extraordinary Attorney Woo, a prosecutor who was a candidate for the Minister of Justice had a teenage son admitted to hacking an online site while she was being screened as the next Minister of Justice. Just before her confirmation, the prosecutor withdraws her candidacy. Delikadeza, But in the Philippines fact is stranger than fiction and that fiction is delicadeza.
Delicadeza is a sense of knowing what is proper when one is in a position of power, authority, and trust.
Delicadeza is about a teacher who should inhibit oneself from classes of their child, sibling, partner, or close relative. Much more a judge should “inhibit oneself from a case if they have any connection, by friendship or consanguinity, to any of the parties. This way, there can be no question when the decision is handed down.”
This sense of accountability is highly expected among government officials and workers. In Japan and South Korea, it is part of their cultural character. Seppuku or hara kiri was practiced by the samurai to restore honor for themselves and their families. Even Japanese women had their version of seppuku called jigai. Lately, the chief of police in Japan resigned over the fatal shooting of former prime minister Shinzo Abe last July 8 at Nara. Japan. The Nara police chief did the same. For Itaru Nakamura and Tomoaki Onizuka their resignations would provide the organization a ‘fresh start’ for its security plan.
But not in the Philippines.
The 38-year-old son of the DOJ Chief was arrested for P1.25 million worth of kush or high-grade marijuana and yet, the DOJ chief says that resignation has never entered his mind and even talks about the “path to redemption.” Others, like Kian de los Santos, who begged because “may exam pa ako bukas’, have been slaughtered by police officers upon suspicion. Kian was only 17. Juanito Jose Diaz Remulla is 38. Maybe the ticket to walk on that path to redemption is age specific.
The DOJ chief even adds that he will “let the judicial process take its course” yet his son who was arrested on Oct. 11 was only revealed to the public on the 13th. Even then his mug shot was blurred when it was distributed to the media. What went on during those two days?
Remember 72-year-old Elmer Cordero who was arrested for failing to practice physical distancing during a protest and allegedly resisting authorities? It didn’t take 24 hours for the police to display his mug shots in HD, if need be.
While he was still the Senior Deputy Majority Leader, Remulla likened drug criminals to cockroaches and that “you really have to put an end to the way that they malinger and wreak havoc on our society.”
It is only in the Philippines that cockroaches have entitlements to the path of redemption.