We’ve had justice secretaries before who politicized their departments, but no one has weaponized the Department of Justice like Aguirre has.
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At the Senate public order committee hearing on Sept. 5, visitors and VIPs alike took pictures of the scene — as always happens in a hearing open to the public. To Aguirre’s eternal regret, one of those photos, when enlarged, shows him conspiring via text message to file a case against another opposition senator, Risa Hontiveros. His message read, in damning part: “Kaya expedite natin ang cases ninyo vs her” (So let’s expedite your cases against her).”
This does not strike me as a mastermind telling his underlings to do what needs to be done, but a willing tool telling a user: Use me. “All of this wouldn’t have happened,” if only Aguirre cared more about justice rather than power.
The willing abuse of this power is most evident in the manufactured cases against De Lima. What happened to the man who told me he would first track down the paper trail? I believe a decent man has lost his way.
Here, then, is the tragedy of a Filipino like Aguirre:
Where once he represented the ordinary citizen, at the mercy of the elite, now he is a mere instrument, his department a potent weapon, of that ruling class. This is — truly, simply — unfortunate.