Respect and Unity in PNOY's Eyes

Whoever watched or heard the President's speech yesterday at the First National Criminal Justice Summit could either be shaking their heads in disbelief or applauding him for lambasting Chief Justice Corona "in his face". Some people have admired PNOY for being very straight-forward and brutally frank. As a President, he has the prerogative to say anything, they said.

But before we take side and let our emotions rule us, let us ask some vital questions whose answers are worth reflecting.

1> Does the President feel he has turned into a Mega Chief Justice who knows better than the collective wisdom of the Supreme Court? Let us remember the Supreme Court renders its decision on the basis of jurisprudence and the constitution - and not on the basis of political pressure.

2> Would not that kind of speech have placed an undue amount of pressure on the SC, which should always exercise independence and not dictated upon by any person - not even by the Chief Executive?

3> Can a person effectively persuade another to change his beliefs and philosophies by way of humiliation? Or would it produce exactly the opposite?

4> Is the President setting a brand new definition for the word "respect"? Is he teaching our people, including our children, to be insensitive, that a person has a right to speak his mind out no matter what the occasion is?

5> What happened to a popular saying, "Praise in public, Rebuke in private?" Would a parent humiliate his child due to some tolerable foolish behavior while a mass is on-going inside a church? Would a school principal tongue-lash at his teachers for their miscues and shortcomings in the school's founding anniversary? Or would anyone appreciate a guest speaker-foreign diplomat harshly criticizing the Philippines in an otherwise momentous occasion organized supposedly to celebrate the efforts of Philippine OFWs?

6> Did that public castigation of the highest magistrates of the land helped fostering UNITY and sobriety amongst the people? Or did it only add to the widening gap between his believers (some of them have already turned blind) and those thinking population who cannot be swayed simply by his charisma and popularity?

The late president Cory Aquino's famous battle cry is "MAGKAISA". After more than a year in office, Is PNOY truly living up to that billing and fulfilling her mother's legacy?

The answers are yours.