By José Abeto Zaide
Honoring the national flag is governed by Republic Act No. 8491 or the Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines. But I don’t believe that either DFA protocol or
José Abeto Zaide
Malacañang have codified the role of the President. Every President is entitled to his own protocol. Notably, President Ferdinand Marcos rendered the salute to the flag.
Perhaps because President Rodrigo Roa Duterte chose a quieter role for himself at Kawit, Cavite (after he had skipped the previous year’s celebrations at the last-minute because he was unwell), his VP Leni Robredo’s salute to the flag at the June 12th ceremony at Luneta raised a furor. Netizens compared Duterte and Robredo, the VP was a regular attendee of the official event. Last June 12th, Robredo stood her ground despite the light showers out of respect to the Philippine flag. Was this an attempt at usurpation of the role of the President? Because we live in divisive times of DDS vs “Dilawan,” even such rites became another battleground.
Strict protocol would hold that the Commander-in-Chief (the President) salutes. We do not have a Deputy Commander-in-Chief. Does she think of herself as someone else?
US President Ronald Reagan was the first known to have taken the role to return the salute of the US military.
Former Ambassador Alberto Encomienda points out that the former four-star General Dwight Eisenhower did not render a salute after he assumed as US President: He reverted to the civilian protocol of placing right hand over left breast to honor the US flag.
There is a long narrative on the salute, even for a President who is Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. Strictly speaking, a civilian does NOT salute. A civilian places his or her right hand on the chest.
Malacañang dares critics to challenge its anti-tambay drive in court. – News item. The administration’s Anti-Vagrancy drive is negated by Republic Act 10158 which decriminalized vagrancy. This law was passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives and signed by President Benigno S. Aquino 3rd on March 27, 2012.
PDu30’s directive to the police to apprehend minors loitering in the streets is the basis for the crackdown against persons violating local ordinances. PDu30 cites “parens patriae” as the rationale for his directive, saying it is the government’s duty to protect the youth. Law enforcement agents round up teenagers found loitering in the streets to keep them from harm’s way.
The pundit Yen Makabenta says that “the law punished the poor simply because they are poor. The profound irony is that the current campaign of the Duterte administration may be turning us backward into the past, instead of moving us forward into the future. People are again arguing basically the same issues and quoting the old points. No one sounds wiser.”
I remember a Pilosopong Tasio say that if he could earn the minimum wage just as a tambay he would have it for a profession. When we were teenagers, there was a poplar ditty (sang to the tune of ‘Red River Valley’) which went: “Istambay, istambay na sa kanto/Humingi ng awa kay Kristo/Upang magkaroon ng trbaho/Pambili ng marka demonyo.”
The tambay is a long honored passtime for the idle youth. Keeping the youth off the street during curfew hours should not be a distraction from or be a substitute to the administration’s professed declaration to put an end to drugs.
PDu30 raised eyebrows when he questioned the logic behind the original sin and called God “stupid,” while questioning the Biblical story of Adam and Eve fall from grace. Many groups condemned the President’s remarks, but the Palace defended that the President was expressing personal beliefs.
I do not believe that the vast majority of the Filipino electorate voted for its Head of State someone with an entirely novel concept of religion or a new-fangled interpretation of catechism; nor are we readily disposed to its conversion.
The Bible according to PDu30 is descended upon us because we have a President who does not read from his script but shoots from the hip (lip). We sometimes do not know how serious he is… or if we should be serious that he is?
Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr., Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque, and Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Erneto Abella were readily pressed into service to form the peace committee to dialogue with Church leaders defuse the issue.
I take solace in recalling that when the President took his oath of office at Malacanang Palace on June 30, 2016 as the 16th President of the Philippines he had his hand on the Bible held up by his daughter Veronica Duterte.
I would also like to believe the reassurance of his daughter Sarah Duterte, the Mayor of Davao City, not to take literally some of PDu30’s off-the cuff remarks. Unless, if the off-the-cuff remarks are not challenged, they were to gather traction.
FEEDBACK: [email protected]