Appalled by Panelo’s statement

We cannot help but be appalled by the words that often come out of the mouth of presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo, an abogado de campanilla kuno.

Never mind the previous ones that made him sound so silly; what takes the cake is the latest nonsense he spewed on how people need not worry over the gargantuan debts that the Duterte administration has been incurring from China.

People are worried that China will eventually foreclose on those loans by seizing more parts of Philippine territory as recompense.

Sri Lanka, struggling with huge indebtedness, had to give up control and possession of a part of its territory to China; Djibouti, a small African country, is now encumbered by Chinese military presence just a few miles away from a US military base. These are just among a few examples.

Mr. Duterte’s foremost legal pundit said: “It will never happen kasi nga we always pay saka ang liit lang naman.”

Did Panelo miss all those UP College of Law classes on obligations and contracts where students were taught to consider worst-case scenarios, such as the most dreaded of all—default?

What kind of a lawyer would let his borrowing client forget about default as if his resources for repayments were inexhaustible? The biggest irony is, that client is borrowing precisely because his resources are inadequate, duh!

CARMELA N. NOBLEJAS, [email protected]