The people should not be fooled by a dubious proposal to repeal the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 (ATA).
The repeal of the ATA as suggested by Senate President Vicente Sotto III, one of the law’s principal authors, will not fly even if abuses in its implementation occur.
Rep. Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte, Jr. may have the best of intentions in proposing under House Resolution No. 1044 the temporary use by the government of ABS-CBN’s television and radio frequencies for distance learning.
President Rodrigo Duterte has to confront and subdue the religious oligarchies which unduly pressure the faithful or their adherents to follow their electoral and policy choices and decisions.
The pulpit or the altar should be used to propagate the word of God, not to demonize policymakers or encroach on the sanctity of the ballot.
Oligarchy has many variations and manifestations, the most dangerous of which is the military oligarchy which is backed up by the arsenal of firepower.
While President Rodrigo Duterte has targeted the so-called “economic oligarchs”, he has shielded and built up military oligarchs with inordinate patronage.
If the campaign against the oligarchy is to be sincere, all forms of oligarchy must be dismantled including the favored military oligarchy.
The claim of President Rodrigo Duterte that he has dismantled the “bedrock of oligarchy” in the Philippines is a farce because the fact is he has barely scraped the surface of what he believes is “oligarchy”.
Duterte erroneously appears to automatically equate “big business” with “oligarchy” when there are essential differences between the two.
