Solicitor General Jose Calida’s braggadocio in his soliloquy when he delivered his opening statement during the resumption of the oral argument in the anti-terrorism petitions before the Supreme Court is deflated by his demurrer to answer interpellations from the Justices by suffering his associates themselves to reply to the Justices’ probing questions.

The defeatist demeanor of the Solicitor General appears to indicate the weakness of the government’s case.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN