The White Ribbon March on June 28, 2026 aimed to highlight the curse of corruption and it cannot, by any means, coddle the principal defenders of graft and embezzlement who want to hijack the protest and use it to demand freedom for the incarcerated ex-president Rodrigo Duterte or scuttle the looming trial of Sara Zimmerman Duterte Carpio before the Senate impeachment court.
Simply put, this is standard military phrase that means “take no prisoners,” akin to Gen. Joseph Smith’s order for US troops to turn Samar into a “howling wilderness” after a raid by Filipino freedom fighters annihilated American soldiers in Balangiga.
Alan Peter Cayetano has to contend with the fact that in less than a month, he became a champion only to be abandoned by his supporters, a hero that became a villain in record time. In chasing his rainbow, Alan fell off the abyss of his own making.
As many banana republics found out, Henry Kissinger was damn right. “To be an enemy of the US is dangerous. To be a friend of the US is fatal.” The same quip applies to China as well.
Ateneo is a Jesuit institution that proudly embraces cura personalis—care for the whole person—a principle meant to place human dignity at the center of education. In moments of crisis, values are not measured by mission statements or campus banners. They are measured by how it responds timely, rightfully.
Now that the Senate is poised to formally kick out Cayetano as Senate President, he reiterated his worn-out scheme for “power sharing” with Senate President Pro tempore Sherwin Gatchalian. Of course, Gatchalian junked the idea. Cayetanism ‘til the very end, and it will never secure the victory the beleaguered Alan Peter thinks he deserves.
Marcoleta, despite his grandiose claim of being super-intelligent, couldn’t cut the mustard. His Senate hearing was a disaster and he, former Rep. Mike Defensor, the counsel Levito Baligod and the sponsors of the witnesses should be disciplined for the pulp fiction they dished out.
Coverage is coverage and it is the editorial discretion of newspapers how stories are written, edited and put to bed. Walang pakialam si Marcoleta kung ano ang isusulat ng mga pahayagan.
Even Cayetano and presiding officer Senator Loren Legarda had to concede that the determination of a quorum takes precedence over any motion on the floor. “I thought he (Marcoleta) said he is good with rules?” non-lawyer and Wanbol University alum Sotto taunted.
Will Bob Dylan visit us for a gig? Why not? Let’s bring him here to work on “Sara’s Impeachment Blues,” “The Seas They Are A-Takin’” about China’s expansionism and uncouth behavior, and “Murder No More” about extrajudicial killings. That would be the day.
