Deconstructing ‘strong women’

I am a fan of Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom, Indira Gandhi of India and Golda Meir of Israel. When I read Rina Jimenez-David’s column, “We will not be intimidated,” (1/21/18), on “strong women” like Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Sen. Leila de Lima, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, Vice President Leni Robredo and former Commission on Higher Education Chair Patricia Licuanan, I totally disagree because they cannot be at par with Thatcher, Gandhi and Meir in words and actions.

CJ Sereno: Our “honorable” congressmen itching to oust her did some research work and seemingly, there is a law that prohibits more than 3.0-diesel engine displacements to be bought and used by government officials. Go around the Philippines and only the Supreme Court through the initiative of Sereno bought a Land Cruiser with a 5.0 displacement and worse, had it bullet-proofed. Nowhere can you find a red-plate Land Cruiser.

Any governor or city mayor can afford to buy a Land Cruiser if the law and the Commission on Audit allow. Is this not plain incompetence, ignorance and arrogance?

Senator De Lima: Unjust detention? Good that No. 13 senatorial candidate Francis Tolentino was a little “misguided” and did not focus on the source of De Lima’s election funds. Nothing can be kept secret in this era of technology. De Lima should have been disqualified for using “bad money” in the election and Tolentino should have been declared the No. 12 winner. I am an ex-convict and I know how the New Bilibid Prison works firsthand.

Ombudsman Morales: Compare her leadership performance with that of past ombudsman Raul Gonzalez. There were so many decisions made by Morales that were reversed by the Sandiganbayan or Court of Appeals. Inordinate delays? President Duterte is absolutely correct in saying there is corruption at the Office of the Ombudsman. What a shame!

Vice President Robredo: If President Duterte does not respect her, he would order his people to center on her “frailties of a woman.” But the President just let it go.

I admire Licuanan more because she resigned when her ghosts started coming out.

Using common sense, if you criticize the President, be sure you are clean because you reap what you sow. The President is not intimidating, he is just being frank, blunt and truthful.

JUNIPER DOMINGUEZ, [email protected]