What is wrong with the national leadership today? I just can’t hold myself in raising the question as the country watches on live television and social media platforms the progress of the two most popular national issues occupying the news stories daily. First was the warrants of arrest against the famous former president Rodrigo Duterte ally and founder of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ Church Pastor Apollo Quiboloy and second the POGO connection of former Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo.
Once the arrest warrants of Quiboloy went out, the Philippine National Police (PNP) trained its eyes on executing the arrest and clearly failed. The former president even touted the PNP that he knew where Quiboloy is hiding. After dispatching a total of 2000 PNP personnel to arrest the famous pastor, nothing has happened.
In the case of former Mayor Alice Guo, after weeks of congressional inquiries that led to the identification of her false citizenship and the discovery of lawyer and former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque’s connection with the operation of illegal POGOs in Tarlac, she slipped past the immigration and the Philippine National Police who placed her under their watchful eyes and went out of the country.
How can they fail in both instances? Maybe corruption is so much entrenched in the government system that even in these very sensitive issues, the perpetrators are always allowed to leave unscathed. Or perhaps there are powerful people calling the shots to ensure that these people are not harmed until their benefactors return to power and allow them to clear their names eventually.
But this is about leadership. How can the sitting President allow this to happen? If the former president was able to murder more than 5000 illegal drug personalities including those whom he perceived his enemies and arrest several thousands of individuals simply because they are suspected of illegal activities and some were considered viable opposition to his administration, why can’t President Bongbong Marcos use the full extent of the law and arrest these two individuals? Maybe he is thinking of the political repercussions or perhaps he is worried that along the way former president Rodrigo Duterte could find a hole and use it to bury him.
Clearly, the President is being made to dance to the tune not of his choice but by the people around him. Yet maybe, the President is just playing safe to avoid more problems. But a crime has been committed and the law must be enforced. He must today start the cleansing within his government. He said that heads will roll. That was two weeks ago and until today, nothing has happened.
