Sunday, July 17, 2005

Inquirer Editorial

Contemptible

JUSTICE Secretary Raul Gonzalez did not have a single outburst; instead, offensive remarks have dribbled out of him on an almost daily basis.

The last one involved an unfair dig at former President Corazon Aquino, after the widow of the assassinated martyr Ninoy Aquino called on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to resign.

He tried to dismiss the Edsa People Power icon's call by drawing a false equivalence between Aquino's interference in affairs of state and her involvement in her celebrity daughter's affairs of the heart. "She should first take care of her daughter," Gonzalez told reporters. And then again: "I think there is no need to monitor Cory Aquino because she's also busy monitoring her own daughter."

Simple justice doesn't mean you can be unkind to someone today because you were kind to her yesterday. (Gonzalez claims he was responsible for starting Kris Aquino's movie career.)

These remarks are patently unfair. They are demeaning coming from any public servant; coming from the justice secretary, they are downright disqualifying. Maybe, it is time for the President to act on Gonzalez's courtesy resignation.

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