Disciplining Inday Sarah

By this time, out of chaos things might have begun to sink in for Davao City Mayor Sarah Duterte who is a lawyer. The punches she threw at Sheriff Abe Andres was felt by an entire nation. While sheriffs are not the kind of figures the man in the street can identify with, it is not lost that Andres is just an ordinary guy doing his job.

The elder Duterte's reaction was telling. He saw her daughter punching a sheriff rather charming than reprehensible. But the moment deluge of criticisms come in, Rodrigo Duterte's stance changed from calm to belligerent - sometimes punctuating statements with dirty finger gestures that were also immitated by his son. The message is clear: the Dutertes are above criticisms in their turf.

Instead of filing charges against the mayor, Andres chose to apologize to her for violating "thy wish is my command." He might have been well advised: in Davao City nobody stands up against the Dutertes.

The pit Inday Sarah dug for herself would test her real toughness - a disbarment case filed by lawyer Fernando Perito and an Ombudsman case filed by the Sheriff’s Confederation of the Philippines Inc. now pending. And the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Justice, the Supreme Court and the Office of the President have yet to decide what to do with her.

The Dutertes are in campaign mood. Petitions from local organizations are being filed and rallies of support are being held.

It is not clear what this popular movements are up to. Hopefully, these are not efforts to pressure the national government to bend the letters of the law to let Inday Sarah go scot-free. For what would happen to our sense of national sensibility?