Indeed, as the Inquirer editor laments today; Whom to believe?.
As I mentioned in a previous article, for me, the biggest shocker in the developing story around the arrest of Ronnie Dayan and Kerwin Espinosa is that they will be going straight into yet another “Congressional probe”. The Inquirer editor, therefore, shouldn’t act so baffled as to why it is difficult to ascertain who really is telling the truth; and why “there is no process, there is no clear and nationwide effort, to hold policemen involved in illegal drugs to account.” If Mr. Editor stepped back far enough from the weeds he is trying to pluck, he will find that the very nature of the scene he beholds — a Congressional inquiry for chrissakes — is not conducive to the emergence of any truth.
Since when, exactly, has Congress ever been a reliable source-of-truth?
Mr Inquirer Editor, I think you expect too much of Philippine Congress. In your own words, you fear how any effort to make sense of Kerwin Espinosa’s testimony will likely end up “falling for the bread-and-circus type of entertainment.”
Well, I’ve got news for you. If you want a process where there will likely be that “right balance” you seek, a Congressional inquiry is not where you will find it. There actually is a venue within which a more rigorous and a more structured process to zero in on the truth is applied; and that is a proper court of law.
Anything Congress spews is driven by political agendas. Indeed, you do not even need to be a trained thinker to be a member of Congress. You just need to be popular enough to attract the votes.
An institution of the judiciary, however, is a different matter. A court of law is governed by procedure that more closely aligns with a systematic approachto arriving at the truth via a structured debate where the quality of arguments and counterarguments is competently vetted, the standards of what constitutes evidence are clear, and the representatives of both sides formally trained in the field of logic and its application.
Sadly, in the Philippines’ showbiz culture, Congressional hearings are a lot more entertaining and the agents to whom we have entrusted mass dissemination of important information — corporate mainstream media — make lots of money off the “bread-and-circus type of entertainment” that Congressional inquiries are guaranteed to deliver.
Mr Inquirer Editor, I think you need to do a better job asking the right questions rather than merely joining the chorus of crybabies that dominate the Philippine National “Debate”.
http://www.getrealphilippines.com/blog/2016/11/fools-expect-truth-emerge-philippine-congressional-inquiry/
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