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April 20, 2007

D.O.M., M.C.P.

What do you do with someone like Raul Gonzales?

Even as filipinos reeled from the realization that an American, who had come to love the country more than its own citizens, had been killed brutally and senselessly, this Raul Gonzales, desperate for a sound bite, blames Julia Campbell for allowing herself to get into a tight situation. He comes out in media saying that it was her fault for going to Batad alone; that's like saying that a woman who is raped asked for it--that's how bad his statement is, and coming from the Justice Secretary, it becomes much much worse.

Much as I believe in a God who is the perfect creator, the Raul Gonzaleses of this world make you want to ask God, "did you somehow miss a step here?"

But, there really is a rhyme to God's reason. The Raul Gonzaleses of this world are placed here to make us realize that we can--and should--be better persons than he; he is placed here to remind us that there are many other good people, in contrast to him; the likes of him are placed on this earth to remind us of that most difficult of commands, "love one another as I have loved you."

Indeed, if one can love a Raul Gonzales, then you would have taken on the Face of God already.

In the meantime, answering my question at the start of this post--first, make him apologize to Julia Campbells' family, all those poor people she worked with and for, all the women whom Raul Gonzales insulted by his callously chauvinistic remark, all the senior citizens of which he is one of the worst poster boys, all the filipinos, of which he is certainly among the worst examples; and then, after all these, FIRE HIM, now na!

11 comments:

the amateur ear said...

Something I've always wanted to know but were afraid to ask: is he from UP Law?

Anonymous said...

Fire him?

But why? I mean, here's a guy who has somehow managed to strip his conscience and rub it constantly against the walls of his publicly-funded mansion until it grew calluses and made it immune to any form of guilt whatsoever.

Just think about it.

What would the justice department be without one Raul Gonzales?

It would be deprived of someone who is publicity-hungry down to his very core, someone we can laugh at derisively whenever we need to give in to our sarcastic urges. The justice department without Raul Gonzalez would be Neverland without Hook.

How many times has this guy blurted out careless statements that end up adding insult to the injured—or in the case of his latest soundbyte flak, the dead—or turning him into a laughingstock stand-up comedians would sell their souls to the devil to be?

Once too many (Remember how he publicly fretted about how we may have offended the United States when one of theirs was accused of raping one of ours? And how he referred to UP as a breeding ground for destablizers and men who run naked?).

Fire him?

Where then shall we derive our regular dose of hate if the guy sitting at the helm of the government arm THAT SEEKS TO DISPENSE JUSTICE FOR ALL is no longer the rude, cocky talk-silly-first-apologize-later secretary who is the perfect argument for the legalization of abortion?

So why fire him?

All he did was blame Julia Campbell for ending up buried under a mound of mud in some Benguet trail. The thing is, he was just saving the face of the country’s police force. Knowing very well the inability of our cops to solve crimes through modern forensic means and the police’s over-reliance on squeezing out a confession from some electrocuted, beaten-up chap’s nuts,

Gonzales gave our rogue cops a way out by blaming Julia, who has shown more compassion and concern for this country and its people than Gonzalez can ever muster, for her own death.

Fire him for that?

I say don’t. At least not now.

Why don’t we just string him up by his balls and hang him in an open courtyard in high noon, Gillette-strip his flesh and shoot at the flies that his open wounds will attract with a squirt gun loaded with concentrated calamansi juice.

Then we fire him.

Ted said...

No. He is from another law school. I think, though I'm not sure, he is from UST.

Anonymous said...

@francis

why not bury him in the ground with only his head showing and feed him to fire ants under the noon sun while he watches us watch him from under the nice cool shade of our beach umbrellas beside the beach sipping our pina coladas?

but we won't fire him :)

Unknown said...

Thank God for that.

incarnadine29 said...

Oh my, I didn't know he made that statement, Sir. Been buried in Bar review for the past few days that I have not been able to watch the news.

All I can say for how is that, that is a statement which can only come from a person like Raul Gonzales.

His statements are so unbelievable that sometimes I wonder, is he really for real of is he deliberately saying those things to earn everyone's ire?

I can always "waste" my energy by lashing out and saying nasty things about this guy, but at this point it's just not worth it, not anymore. Ang mga taong ganyan, pinapasa-Diyos nalang.

Anonymous said...

@seiji

...and then when it's time to pull him out, we jab a giant fish hook through the roof of his mouth, fasten a rope to it and eight-knot the other end of the rope to the bumper of a vehicle comandeered by a drunk carjacker who had just overdosed on E.

Yeah, you're right. It'd be more fun NOT to fire him.

Anonymous said...

It's as Pinoy as we, the people for whom Raul Gonzales is supposed to work, can get. At first, we found his comments irritating. But we "forgave" him, or more accurately, let it pass, thinking that maybe, everyone's entitled to make a mistake. Then it got to the point where it appeared that his statements were not mistakes, but actually, well, normal (for him). So what do we do? We laugh at him, laugh at ourselves. Next gonzalesesque statement comes, we just laugh, roll our eyes, and shrug it off. And effectively, "forgive" him.

Of course there's the genuine opposition who's genuinely happy with all the silly statements the secretary's been making. It makes the administration look like it's on the brink of collapse, they say, and it makes the opposition look really good.

But it's not funny anymore. Serioiusly. I agree, it's time for this guy to go. If he can make such mind-numbing statements in public, think about the statements, issuances, resolutions that we, the general public, don't get to know about. He gets away with being brazenly idiotic in front of the cameras and the microphones. What about all those Petitions for Review which he, as Secretary of Justice, is tasked to resolve?

Fire him? asa pa tayo.

Unfortunately, he sits at the pleasure of the appointing authority. An alter ego of the chief executive even. It appears that his regular stupid statements aren't enough basis for him to be taken off his post.

Maybe until this Barangay Bribe Brouhaha. Just maybe.

Somebody please take advantage of this. It appears that the Honorable Secretary has finally made a statement which can be the basis of some action. Promising money to induce Barangay Officials to ensure a 12-0 victory in their areas? Hmmm. Maybe, just maybe, the filing of a criminal case against him for violation of the omnibus election code (261 in relation to 264) would force madame president to finally kick him out.

incarnadine29 said...

As I was reading the Constitution Primer by Fr. Bernas, I came across an interesting piece of info -- once upon a time, during the Marcos regime, Raul Gonzales was the appointed Tanodbayan. During that time (there was no Ombudsman yet), the Tanodbayan was considered the "champion of the people" who battled graft and corruption.

Looking at him now, I can't help but shake my head in disbelief.

valerie silva said...

Yes, Secretary Gonzales is from UST Faculty of Civil Law.

wernicke said...

Much as I believe in a God who is the perfect creator, the Raul Gonzaleses of this world make you want to ask God, "did you somehow miss a step here?"

Hahaha!

But seriously, Sir, God's wisdom is infinite and for sure he has a purpose why Raul Gonzales is Raul Gonzales. For sure, one would ask, if God knows - and he surely knows, each word that comes out of his mouth even before the thought comes to him, why does God doesn't stop him? I think it is because he is the challenge that we need to test if we know what is right from what is wrong. Without him, we would not know that we are capable of being patient, tolerant and forgiving.

Hi Incarnadine29 - Raul Gonzales was the Tanodbayan BUT he also was once indefinitely suspended from the practice of law by the Supreme Court. Zaldivar vs. Gonzales, 1988.

If there could be a way to quantify GMA's dark secrets and sins, Raul Gonzalez can be that measure. One could only wonder why he is still at the DOJ inspite of everything he has done (Campbell, P10,000 for Iloilo barangay captains, will not allow Team Unity to campaign in Iloilo... the list goes on and on and on).