EDITORIAL: Good news, bad news

TWO big turns of event took place this week like a whiff of fresh air. Both are good news but the other is also turning out to be a bad one. But, well, any good news in this pile of rot and garbage and all things that ooze with nausea, murder, disease and corrupt practices within this administration will always be a welcome development. The first good news is that Mocha Uson, whom we refuse to address as undersecretary, has resigned, finally, from her post as one of this administration’s foul-mouthed spokespersons. While that was “too little, too late,” according to opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros, Mocha’s formal severance from Malacanang will be a sigh of relief for many of us. The woman senator had said it perfectly right that Uson’s belated resignation as blabbermouth “is an extremely belated gesture rendered insignificant in the face of gross incompetence, state-sponsored vulgarity and the proliferation of fake news. It has come very late in response to the public’s demand for accountability.” Explaining her statement on the matter, the good lady senator continued: “The damage has already been done. Uson is leaving the PCOO with a badly tarnished reputation. She has not only successfully planted the seeds of untruth inside the government, she has made sure they bore fruit to sow confusion and poison the public’s mind. I’m afraid that the damage done by Uson and her ilk to our institution tasked to inform and educate the people and enrich the quality of public discourse runs deep. It will take more than a forced tokenistic resignation to rebuild the ruin.” The other good news, and this one is real, is that Chief Justice Teresita Leonardo-De Castro will soon be retiring on October 8 and that there is no more reason for Associate Justice Antonio Carpio to decline his automatic nomination to the position of Chief Justice. Carpio, 68, had previously declined his nomination for the top justice post, which was declared vacant following the ouster of Maria Lourdes Sereno as chief magistrate through a quo warranto petition in May. In declining the nomination, Carpio explained he did not want to “benefit” from a decision he had voted against. Now, we have this chance to have a gentleman, a Filipino of great sense of patriotism and unsullied reputation to be installed as the top dispenser of justice in this forlorn country. Although his final appointment is yet to come despite his being senior amongst the other members of the Supreme Court (on which basis De Castro was appointed), Carpio’s inclusion in the search is, as of now, a great sigh of relief, given the large doses of bad, awful, horrible news that this incompetent administration has been churning out. And the bad news? Ironically, it is Mocha Uson herself. With her resignation, many fear that she was actually preparing to run as senator in next year’s election and that in the meantime she will be holding another post. With 16 million idiots waiting out there after having just voted to office an incompetent president, Uson’s hurdling the Senate race will be a no-boner. Lest we forget, the last (12th) winning senator in the last election, in the person of Senator Lilia De Lima -- who is, of course, far more qualified than most of those lining up for next year’s race -- only needed 14.1 million votes to win a Senate seat. The Bicolana’s misfortune was that this administration got mad at her and put her in jail because she was speaking her mind out for truth and justice. In that case, future Sen. Uson will feel safe because, like Sen. Manny Pacquiao, she has no brain to speak out in the Senate.