Calida’s agenda at Duterte’s expense

Whether or not Solicitor General Jose Calida succeeds in jailing Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, his sick initiative has already reaped consequences unwelcome to President Duterte: 1) He helped refresh public consciousness about the issues Senator Trillanes had hurled against the President, the most besetting of which threatens his family’s political future, concerning the waiver the President has refused to sign to disclose his bank holdings; 2) He catapulted the senator to political star status. The name Trillanes has screamed from the headlines for consecutive days, eclipsing the President’s “fruitful” trip to Israel; 3) He burnished the senator’s standing in the international press as a stalwart defender of democracy.

Instead of protecting the President from a monumental folly, he unwittingly advanced his own agenda at the latter’s expense.

FERNANDO P. GARCIA [email protected]