Human rights untrendy?

The silent senators did not object to Davao Mayor Rudy Duterte’s remarkable pronunciamentos last Feb. 3, and are now dismissive of their implications. But:

• Way to go, probably said the youth watching and listening.

• The cruelest lies are often told in silence.—Stevenson.

• Saadi said two mistakes are irrevocable—speaking when the times require silence, and being silent when it is time to speak.

• Fuller, writing on Hitler’s era, said we should never forget the powerful effect of rhetoric on

human conduct.

• The commandment “Thou shalt not kill” should be taken more seriously by the senators who start every session with a prayer. Is it still the practice? It was in our time, when we had numerous human rights advocates. Today, not a single one?

Are human rights no longer in fashion, unlike in our Jurassic era?

—RENE A.V. SAGUISAG,

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