For the INC to spend time and effort, as well as for its members to waste their money in defense of Marcoleta amounts to defending the senator’s negative pregnant defense on accepting P75-million from three donors — all of whom would join him in jail – since the “private” donation was given to Marcoleta while he was still a Sagip party-list congressman.
When the state sees that what purports to be a church is abusing its prerogatives and forcing the state to follow its will, the state must eventually act. Morons and clowns must not exercise political power.
Marcoleta admitted he received the money as a “gift.” Will the INC absolve him for doing this? This is akin to putting a halo on Marcolerta’s toupee. For throwing Defensor, Espiritu and Viray under the bus in the Comelec case and claiming the money he received was a “gift,” Marcoleta forgot that the German word “Gift” means “poison” in English.
Is this behavior cultic? It could only be described as such if it were driven by a defense of deeply held religious doctrines perceived to be under threat. But pray tell, which INC doctrine is being violated by the impending arrest of Senator Marcoleta on charges of plunder?
The facts alleged by the prosecution will still have to be proven in court, and Senator Marcoleta remains entitled to the constitutional presumption of innocence. Yet the legal questions presented are too important to dismiss as mere political theater. They deserve careful judicial scrutiny.
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.
