Justice Carpio’s road to Damascus

“The halls of Congress and the Senate reek of betrayal. This is no longer just a circus — it is a grand heist, a vicious mockery of the Filipino people’s sacrifices. While we break our backs, bleed, and sacrifice for this nation, our so-called leaders are busy looting not just our wealth but our very dignity. Their spectacle of greed and indifference has condemned 119 million Filipinos to despair. They are no leaders — they are traitors. Blind to the needs of the nation, leading us to a chasm of hopelessness.”

That is an excerpt from a post by ex-Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio, the chief convenor of the failed 1Sambayan political coalition of rabid critics of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

1Sambayan was to challenge Duterte’s anointed candidates in the 2022 national elections. None of the coalition bets made it, however. Moreover, they continued to pursue their agenda to expunge the Duterte brand of leadership as emotionally expounded by Sen. Risa Hontiveros who exclaimed that “…while Vice President Sara Duterte is in power, the full-blown Duterte comeback is still a very real and present danger.”

The same political characters in and out of Congress hounded VP Sara in particular, this time in coalition with known members of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) who made it to the legislative branch through party-list representation.

The House of Representatives, under the leadership of Speaker Martin Romualdez, created the QuadComm which was cloaked in power from on high. The QuadComm was composed of legislators of varied ideological persuasions who acted as complainants, prosecutors and judges who connived to eliminate VP Sara. Sara, as Senator Hontiveros succinctly described her, is a “very real and present danger” to their political ambitions.

On a personal note, never did I expect that convicts and long-wanted members of the CPP-NPA who had sown terror for decades all over the country, particularly in Davao City and its environs, would be among the members of the QuadComm.

It is worrisome too that they now are at the forefront of the move to impeach VP Sara Duterte, the second highest official of the country, with nary a perceptible hint of antagonism from President Marcos or Speaker Romualdez who, indubitably, she installed in their incumbent positions. On the other hand, it is obviously apparent that the duo are part of the plot.

The former Supreme Court Justice Carpio must have had his own road to Damascus. He must have been stunned by the conduct of some of his chosen political personalities who now have become traitors and “blind to the needs of the nation, leading us to a chasm of hopelessness.”

It is a sublime irony. I distinctly recall how Justice Carpio without hesitation responded to a question of whether then City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio could be part of 1Sambayan. “She is not qualified,” was his curt reply. Today Justice Carpio has joined VP Sara in her fight against those he calls “thieves and traitors.”

On 13 January, when the nation will finally wake up from its stupor and apathy, Duterte-Carpio and Carpio will no longer be alone.