Dispatch from Crame No. 848:
Sen. Leila M. de Lima on Speaker Cayetano's Call to "Move Forward" after the House's Rejection of ABS-CBN Franchise

7/15/20

Speaker Alan Cayetano urges us to "move forward" in the aftermath of the infamous House vote on the ABS-CBN franchise issue which he acknowledges as a "divisive decision". He further asks us to respect the committee's decision.

Ano siya, hilo?! Cayetano must be dreaming!

Earlier, he denied that powerful religious and political blocs pressured the lawmakers in casting their votes against ABS-CBN. Conscience votes daw. Baloney!

How can we respect a most odious and arbitrary exercise of a constitutional, institutional prerogative? No wisdom at all, only dishonor or disgrace, in the Sellout-70's exercise of judgment.

Mr. Cayetano, we will not and cannot move on until and unless your boss Duterte and the rest of your ilk in the kakistocracy you foisted on this country are held to account for your humongous sins against the people, the latest being the forced shutdown of ABS-CBN.

You claim that all you have done was to bring down a family that has used public resources to serve its own private interests. But look who's talking. It's not even a case of the pot calling the kettle black, but a case of the giant kaldero calling out someone remotely tarnished with the soot of corruption.

It used to be part of my daily prayers that I be granted patience. Not anymore. With the situation we are in - which goes direr by the day - patience, like silence, is almost a sin. And anger, or even rage, is now a virtue. Someone calls it "sacred rage".

I am very angry, more than angry and enraged. We must all be. The incessant assaults on our dignity as a people and the core values of justice, human rights and democracy have now become intolerable.

So Mr. Cayetano, you should be the one to move on from being such a fraud and just stop being a hypocrite. Enough of your sickening and deceptive ratiocinations!

Why? Because soon you might find yourself in the same boat as all the victims of your double-faced dealings and malevolent schemes. You already have a large bullseye mark painted on your back, a convenient target for the back-stabbing people your sort of scum is always surrounded with. ###

(Access the handwritten copy of Dispatch from Crame No. 848, here: https://issuu.com/senatorleilam.delima/docs/dispatch_no._848)