The Separation of Church and .... Wait, Never Mind

The 2026 political theater season has reached peak entertainment value.

Recently, a pro-Duterte content creator named Yuki Clyde took to social media to drop a warning that sounds like a cross between an old-school mafia threat and a theological press release.

"Gagalawin ninyo si Marcoleta at hindi kayo palalampasin ng INC!" (Touch Rodante Marcoleta, and the Iglesia ni Cristo will not let you pass!)

Naturally, the comment section erupted into a glorious display of digital fireworks.

Netizens immediately fired back with a reality check: "Wow! Untouchable? Above the law? Who’s INC? Very powerful? Try it! May paglalagyan sila!"

They followed it up with a sobering reminder that faith is supposed to inspire truth, justice, and compassion, rather than serving as a get-out-of-jail-free card for politicians who thrive on chaos.

But let’s pause and appreciate the absolute, comedic brilliance of the "Don't Touch My Politician Because of My Church" defense strategy.

For centuries, constitutional scholars have written tedious, boring essays about the "Separation of Church and State." It turns out they could have saved a lot of ink.

In the world of partisan stanning, the line between an administrative legal investigation and an act of religious sacrilege doesn't exist.

[ THE TRADITIONAL LEGAL PROCESS VS. THE BLOCK-VOTING SHIELD ]

* STANDARD LEGAL PROCEDURE: A politician faces accountability, answers a subpoena, submits affidavits, and defends their record in a regular courtroom.

* THE "YUKI CLYDE" DOCTRINE: "If you send a subpoena to my favorite lawmaker, I will summon an entire religious denomination to manifest in your mentions and block-vote you into oblivion."

The implication here is beautiful: Rep. Rodante Marcoleta is apparently no longer just a public servant bound by the laws of the Republic of the Philippines.

He has achieved a legendary status where checking his paperwork is equivalent to declaring a holy war, particularly the mother of all wars.

This whole drama highlights the spectacular, logic-defying mental gymnastics that happen when political fandom collides with religious devotion.

-The Professed Sunday Homily - "Stand for truth, honesty, and compassion for the oppressed."
-The Monday Morning Facebook Comment - "Sige lang, okay lang ang korapsyon at pagmumura basta kakampi natin si Tatay at si Inday!"

-The Professed Sunday Homily - "No man is above God's law." -The Monday Morning Facebook Comment" - Subukan niyo lang hawakan si Marcoleta, ipapahabol namin kayo sa buong pamamahala!"

-The Professed Sunday Homily - "Faith should fight injustice."
-The Monday Morning Facebook Comment""Ipagtanggol ang mga makapangyarihan sa lahat ng gastos!"

It’s an incredible theological innovation. You don’t actually have to follow the moral values of honesty or accountability.

You have to make sure your political loyalty is wrapped tightly in a church banner. If a politician promotes abuse or handles public funds creatively, you don't demand better—you just assume they have a VIP pass to salvation because they show up at the right venue.

-The Accountability Matrix: We have to admire the absolute confidence it takes to look at the judicial system of a sovereign country and say, "My preferred lawmaker doesn't need to comply with standard government oversight because he has a very powerful community backing him." It is the ultimate manifestation of "DDS Be Like" energy.

Despite the terrifying warnings from the internet's premier political theologians, someone needs to whisper a tiny, low-key truth into the air: the Constitution doesn't actually have a clause that says, "This rule applies to everyone except politicians with high-profile endorsements."

Faith is supposed to be a moral compass that guides people to stand up for the truth, not a bodyguard hired to protect politicians from answering basic questions about governance.

When political loyalty overrides actual moral values, you aren't practicing a faith anymore—you're just running a fan club with a choir.

So to the online commentators threatening divine and congregational retribution: good luck with that strategy.

But until the judicial system replaces the Revised Penal Code with a church roster, public officials will still have to face reality like regular citizens.

Try as you might to make them untouchable, a subpoena remains a subpoena.

Harry Roque's Myopic View Of Tacloan Killings

 

The geopolitical space has witnessed many scientific breakthroughs, but former Presidential Spokesperson Atty. Harry Roque is suffering from a severe case of myopia and a brand-new psychological phenomenon: Hyper-Localized Temporal Amnesia.

Following the tragic school shooting in Tacloban, Harry took to social media to mount his favorite high horse and deliver a profoundly bewildered soliloquy:

“Ano ba hong nangyayari sa ating mga eskwelahan? Bakit noong panahon naman ni Tatay Digong wala tayong nabalitaan na ganitong pangyayari na patayan sa loob ng ating mga classrooms?”

It is a beautiful, pristine piece of historical fiction. According to the Gospel of Harry, the years 2016 to 2022 were a pastoral, utopian era where classrooms were sanctuaries of pure peace, birds chirped in harmony, and the concept of violence simply did not exist inside a school zone.

Unfortunately for Harry, the internet retains something he completely lacks: a memory. Netizens were blindingly quick to deploy the receipts, shaking him off his high horse so fast he barely had time to look for his next hiding spot.

Let’s talk about Harry's claim that "wala tayong nabalitaan" (we heard nothing of the sort) during the Duterte administration.

Netizens immediately reminded the former spokesperson of a devastating incident in 2019—the absolute peak of the Duterte era—where a Grade 7 student was shot and killed right inside his classroom in Calamba, Laguna.

[ THE HARRY ROQUE TEMPORAL FILTRATION SYSTEM ]

* REALITY (2019): A Grade 7 student is shot dead inside a classroom in Laguna during the Duterte administration.

* HARRY’S MEMORY ARCHIVE: "Error 404: Incident Not Found. Classrooms were filled with rainbows and discipline until June 30, 2022."

*Philstar.com reported in 2019: Grade 3 student binasag ang ulo ... ginilitan.

*GMA Network also reported on July 18, 2017—Nawawalang Grade 12 student natagpuang patay sa palaisdaan.

To ask "Ano ba hong nangyayari sa ating mga eskwelahan ngayon?" while pretending your own principal's term was entirely bloodless isn't just myopic—it’s a spectacular display of selective amnesia.

Harry also attempted a very delicate, elegant dance around the Juvenile Justice law. He noted that people are blaming the Pangilinan Law for raising the age of criminal responsibility, but coyly added: "Ayokong pumasok sa debateng yan kasi hayaan na natin ang siyensya na magsabi." (I don't want to enter that debate, let science decide).

How convenient. He doesn't want to talk about the "science" of the law, because if we look at the actual background of the Tacloban suspects, the data points in a very awkward direction. As one netizen bluntly pointed out:

"Ang suspek sa barilan sa Tacloban, iniidolo si Digong."

-The Podium (Tatay Digong and VP Sara): "I will cut off his head." "I bragged that I killed someone when I was 16." "Shoot them dead."

-The Classroom: A minor acquires an unsecured police-issued firearm, treats a school like a tactical zone, and acts out the exact language of violence normalized for a decade.

It takes a truly staggering amount of hypocrisy to act deeply shocked by a teenager pulling a trigger in a classroom when your entire political branding spent years applauding a man who proudly boasted from national stages about killing people as a teenager himself.

The netizens did not hold back, turning Harry's comment section into a brutal reality check.

While Harry was busy trying to frame the tragedy as a unique failure of the current calendar year, the public reminded him of the thousands who died during the War on Drugs—including children dismissed as mere collateral damage. Or when SHIT happens.

-The Definitive Diagnosis: Harry Roque isn't actually confused about what is happening to our schools. He knows exactly what happened. He is simply running the classic political playbook: like why he is into hiding now.

If a tragedy happens under his idol, it's an isolated incident or a failure of intelligence; if it happens under anyone else, it's a sign of a decaying society.

The public school system is indeed facing a profound crisis of safety, gun custody, and moral rot.

But we are certainly not going to find the solution from a man who looks at a history book, rips out the pages from 2016 to 2022, and pretends the current culture of impunity didn't have a very prominent, foul-mouthed architect.

Next time you want to ask what is wrong with the youth today, Harry, don't look at the current Department of Education calendar. Look at the language your camp spent six years teaching them.

On DDS Selective Amnesia and DDS Ironies

 

If you have spent any time scrolling through the Philippine digital space recently, you have likely witnessed a level of DDS' cognitive flexibility that puts Olympic gymnasts' brothers Carlos and Karl Eldrew Yulo to shame. 

Or shall we say ... their selective amnesia.

The absolute, breathtaking duality of the die-hard DDS is a work of pure theatrical art. 

The premier example, of course, is the current national conversation surrounding juvenile justice after two minors made that much dreaded school carnage in Tacloban.

To a DDS ... if a fourteen-year-old commits a horrific crime today, the comment sections erupt into a furious, foaming-at-the-mouth demand for absolute blood, retribution, and adult imprisonment. "Throw away the key! The law is too soft! No mercy for criminals!"

And yet, these are the exact same DDS accounts that spent years aggressively cheering for Extrajudicial Killings (EJKs) during the drug war—frequently dismissing actual children caught in the crossfire as "collateral damage" or "potential criminals."

The mental math required to maintain these two positions simultaneously is spectacular. But that is just the tip of the ironic iceberg. Let us look at the other world-class DDS ironies currently dominating the fandom.

1. The Sovereignty and West Philippine Sea

The mental gymnastics regarding who we are allowed to be angry at on the international stage deserves its own medal category.

[ THE GEOPOLITICAL FANDOM RATIO ] 

 * WHEN A WESTERN COUNTRY CRITICIZES THE PHILIPPINE HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD ... the DDS say: "How dare you interfere with our sovereign nation?! We are an independent country! Mind your own business, you imperialist colonizers!"

 * WHEN A FOREIGN POWER MILITARIZES THE WEST PHILIPPINE SEA AND HARASSES FILIPINO FISHERMEN ... the same DDS say: "Well, actually, let us look at this pragmatically. Why provoke them? Maybe we can share the fish? Let's not be too aggressive, bestie."

2. The ICC Subpoena Paradox

The legal philosophy of the DDS fandom changes completely depending on whose name is printed on the official document.

When a Political Opponent is Accused	When the Davao Camp Faces an International Court
"Ang walang tinatago, walang dapat ikatakot! (If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear!) Face the law! Show up to the hearing!"	"The International Criminal Court has no jurisdiction over us! This is a kangaroo court! We will physically block the gates!"
"A subpoena is a sacred order of the state!"	"That paper is just a political weapon made by envious people."

3. On Respect and Discipline

The concept of respect for authority apparently has a very strict expiration date, depending on who is currently occupying the office.

In 2016, the national slogan was "Sumunod na lang kayo dahil ito ang gobyerno!" (Just obey because this is the government!). Anyone who questioned an executive order, protested a policy, or asked to see an audit of public funds was instantly labeled a subversive rebel who lacked basic discipline.

Fast forward to the current political landscape, the DDS, where their favorite officials are openly refusing to attend House budget hearings, tearing up subpoenas, and giving the absolute cold shoulder to state oversight committees. Suddenly, defying the government isn't a "lack of discipline"—it’s a “lowkey savage, standing-business vibe.” Disobeying authority is only a crime if you aren't part of the VIP lounge.

4. On Public Expenditures

Then there is the beautiful, heartwarming defense of public expenditure.

[ THE BUDGETARY AUDIT MATRIX ] 

- The Opponent's Budget: The DDS usually asked "Why do they need millions for a community program? Show us every single official receipt! Corruption!" 

- The Confidential Funds: The same DDS personalities complain: "Why are you asking so many questions about where the hundreds of millions went? It's confidential for a reason! Do you want the country to fall apart? Just trust the process!"

The Definitive Guide to DDS Logic: If a rule makes your political idol look bad, the rule is an outdated roadblock designed by the opposition.

If the same rule can be used to crush an opponent, it is a sacred pillar of justice that must be enforced with maximum brutality.

At the end of the day, you have to admire the DDS's sheer stamina, it takes to navigate life with this much structural irony. 

To be able to scream for the strict enforcement of the law in the morning, celebrate the total bypass of due process in the afternoon, and demand absolute respect for a sovereign constitution at night while defending a foreign maritime invasion—that isn't just politics. That is a full-time psychological commitment.

So, to the online mobs typing furiously to defend the latest contradiction: drink some water, stretch your calves, and keep your balance. 

The mental gymnastics season is far from over, and the bars are only getting higher.

Teach You A Lesson Will Teach Us A Lesson

Move over, Squid Game. Step aside, Crash Landing on You. Netflix has officially dropped its newest, highest-ranking 2026 Korean action-drama, "Teach You A Lesson".

The premise is beautifully simple, highly therapeutic, and deeply terrifying: a fictional government agency called the Educational Rights Protection Bureau (ERPB) is given state-sanctioned immunity to use extreme physical force and psychological warfare to beat up violent bullies, humble toxic parents, and restore the lost authority of teachers.

Following the tragic, real-world school carnage in Tacloban—where the nation spent a week watching Pinoy internet warriors blame a 20-year-old juvenile statute instead of checking their own gun closets—the timing of this release is immaculate.

If the ERPB were to open a regional branch in the Philippines, here is the lesson that teachers, students, and parents would learn the hard way.

In the original K-drama, Inspector Na Hwa-jin (played by Kim Mu-yeol) walks into classrooms and physically neutralizes delinquent school gangs who think they own the hallway.

If Netflix adapted this directly for the local landscape, the opening scene would be a masterpiece of comedic reality checks.

[ SCENE START: TACLOBAN SECONDS BEFORE THE INSPECTOR ARRIVES ]

* Student Bully: "Bro, you can't touch me. I'm 14. A DDS troll on TikTok said I am completely exempt from human liability! I am legally invincible!"

* Inspector Na Hwa-jin: *Smiles in South Korean State-Sanctioned Immunity*

* Student Bully: "Wait, why are you rolling up your sleeves? That's not in the Pangilinan Law—"

* *KRAK!* *BAM!* * Inspector Na Hwa-jin: "The algorithm lied to you, kid. Welcome to the intervention."

-The Lesson: The series teaches students a very valuable piece of curriculum: a smartphone screen is not a bulletproof shield, an internet graphic or reel is not a legal defense, and real life does not have a "reset session" button when your edgy internet delusions collide with the actual consequence of your actions.

In the Netflix series, the ERPB doesn't just discipline the kids; they go after the corrupt, toxic parents who enable them.

In the Philippines, the ultimate villain of the school system is the parent who walks into the principal's office screaming: "Isusumbong ko kayo kay Tulfo! Ipapa-viral ko kayo sa Facebook!"

Imagine Inspector Im Han-rim showing up at a parent-teacher association (PTA) meeting to handle a mother who left her police-issued service firearm in a sock drawer where her child could easily reach it.

-The Toxic Parent's Defense - "It’s not my fault! It's the school's failure! They didn't provide enough moral values in the classroom!"
-ERPB Response: Inspector sets a literal stack of parental neglect affidavits on the desk.

-The Toxic Parent's Defense - "I am a very busy person, I don't have time to check what my child is hiding in his backpack!"
- ERPB Response - Inspector introduces the parent to a high-intensity psychological pressure session regarding basic accountability.

-The Toxic Parent's Defense -"I will post this on Raffy Tulfo in Action!"
-ERPB Response -"Ma'am, this is an international Netflix production. Your local broadcast rights have been denied. Please sit down."

-The Lesson: You cannot outsource 100% of your parenting to an underpaid public school teacher, leave deadly weapons lying around the house like loose change, and then blame a 2006 statute or Senator Pangilinan when your household turns into a tragedy.

The ERPB reminds parents that the primary source of discipline isn't a government agency—it's the adult who looks back at them in the mirror.

For the teachers who have spent years being bullied by students, threatened by parents, and bogged down by a DepEd bureaucracy that cares more about paperwork than classroom safety, "Teach You A Lesson" serves as the ultimate fantasy fulfillment.

But it also carries a stern warning for the administrators who practice the sacred art of the "Long Blink"—the ones who see bullying happening in the corridors, see the warning signs of a rotting school culture, and choose to ignore it because "baka ma-demanda tayo ng magulang" (we might get sued by the parents).

-The Sovereign Law of the ERPB: You cannot cultivate a culture where violence is cheered on social media, laughed at when executioners talk on television, and then act shocked when the children start practicing the same vocabulary in the back row of the classroom.

"Teach You A Lesson" is a commercial success because it gives the audience the one thing the real world rarely delivers: swift, unvarnished, immediate consequences for bad behavior.

While the real Philippines spends the next six months in a Senate impeachment trial debating whether a suitcase was weaponized, who owns 52 guns, or whether Chiz Escudero is on a short leash, this K-drama offers a refreshing alternative universe where accountability isn't a political weapon—it's just a swift kick to the shins of a delinquent.

So, to all the parents, students, and educators out there: queue it up on your Netflix dashboard tonight. Watch it closely. Because if we don't start teaching ourselves the lessons of accountability, parental oversight, and basic human decency... Inspector Na Hwa-jin might show up at your next school assembly with a clipboard and a very heavy hand.

Fake News Kills

We have officially reached the point in the information age where a 15-second vertical video with a looping techno track carries more legal authority than the entire Supreme Court, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) combined.

Following the tragic school shooting in Tacloban, social media has been flooded with a very specific, highly lethal brand of propaganda.

On one side, partisan trolls are screaming that a 20-year-old statute magically allows children to commit heinous crimes and go home to watch cartoons.

But on the ground, a much more terrifying reality has emerged: The minors themselves actually believed it.

Yes, folks. Fake news spread by DDS trolls didn't just misinform angry adults in the comment sections—it successfully convinced actual children that the law gave them a real-life, absolute exemption from any human liability. They thought they had found a glitch in the simulation.

In the alternative educational curriculum broadcast by political vloggers, the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act isn't a complex, multi-tiered rehabilitation framework designed to save children from being hardened in adult prisons. No, they present it as a legal cheat code.

[ THE TROLL-MANUFACTURED LEGAL LITERACY ]

* What the Law Actually Says: "A child 15 and below is exempt from adult criminal prosecution, but will face immediate, involuntary state custody, intense behavioral rehabilitation, institutional consequences, and massive civil liabilities for their parents."

* What the TikTok Algorithm Told the Kids: "Bro, if you're under 16, the law says you're basically Deadpool. Go wild. The police can't even look at you. It's in the Constitution, trust me."

This is where the comedy ends and the horror begins.

Fake news doesn't just distort history or manipulate elections anymore; it literally alters the risk assessment of a 14-year-old child.

When you tell a generation for a decade that laws don't matter, that human rights are a joke, and that children can get away with anything because of a specific senator, the children eventually stop listening to their teachers and start listening to the trolls.

Imagine the profound shock of the suspects when the handcuffs actually clicked, or when the DSWD transport van arrived to take them into a locked-down, high-intensity state intervention facility.

[ THE UNBOXING OF REALITY ]

- Expectation: Going back to Facebook Live to brag about the "clout."

- Reality: Facing years of strict, institutional state supervision, intensive psychological audits, and a completely shattered future.

The trolls spent years weaponizing this law to score cheap political points against the opposition, creating a narrative of "total lawlessness" to justify their own brand of violent discipline.

But in their rush to paint the country as a dystopian wasteland, they accidentally created a self-fulfilling prophecy.

They convinced the very kids they claim to want to discipline that the system was toothless.

We always say "fake news kills," but we usually mean it metaphorically—like killing a reputation or killing a career. In 2026, (take note, everybody) ... it is literal.

-The Content Creator's Goal - Generate maximum engagement, secure ad revenue from clicks, and frame every national issue as a failure of the "Dilawan/Pinklawan" legacy.

-The Real-World Casualty - Four dead children in a classroom, multiple families destroyed, and two minors who ruined their lives because they trusted a fake news graphic over basic human morality.

-The Sovereign Irony: The very people who spent years shouting from the rooftops that the law protects criminals are the ones who broadcast the idea so loudly that the criminals started believing them.

They didn't just report on a loophole; they advertised it, packaged it, and delivered it directly to the algorithms of impressionable youths.

As the investigation into the Tacloban tragedy widens to look at the adults who left their police-issued weapons lying around, we also need an investigation into the digital ecosystem that poisoned the minds of the shooters.

The next time a political troll decides to simplify a complex legal statute into a stupid, inaccurate meme to trigger their followers, they should remember that children are reading their content.

And unlike the keyboard warriors who can simply log off when the comment section gets too hot, those children will actually take those delusions into the real world—with devastating, permanent results.

In the grand theater of Philippine social media, likes are cheap, shares are instant, but the consequences of misinformation are paid for in blood.

Turn off the vlogs, read the actual text of the law, and secure your weapons.

Pageant Result: Mister National Universer 2026

The winners of Mister National Universe 2026 from keft to right: Eduardo Hernandez - Spain - MNU World 2026, Aran Nilanseng Kaiyalath - Laos - MNU Globe 2026, Jose Carlos Paras - Philippines - Mister National Universe 2026 - Winner, John Paulo de la Cruz - Philippines - MNU Earth 2026. Chonrave Sinthuwape - Thailand - MNU Intercontinental 2026, and Do Gia Hung - Vietnam - MNU Global Ambassador 2026.  The pageant was held in Hua Hin, Thailand last June 22, 2026.

Outrage Merchants and Lie Peddlers Atr Visible Again

 
A school in Tacloban becomes a crime scene. Four children are dead, others are wounded, and classmates are left carrying core traumas they will spend lifetimes trying to unpack.

It is a moment for absolute grief, systemic self-reflection, and asking how on earth two minors managed to secure deadly firepower.

Naturally, right on cue, the nation’s premier "outrage merchants" skipped the grief entirely, bypassed the logistical questions, and sprinted straight to their favorite, beautifully lazy political script:

“Kasalanan ito ni Kiko Pangilinan! Because of the juvenile law, these kids will just walk free and go home!”

It is a spectacular display of intellectual gymnastics. Before the police could even finish taping off the perimeter, online commentators had already diagnosed the entire systemic failure of Philippine society as the fault of a single piece of legislation passed in 2006.

Because why look at a complex web of adult negligence when you can just blame a senator?

To hear the social media keyboard warriors tell it, the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act is essentially a real-life "Get Out of Jail Free" card.

They genuinely seem to believe the law states: "If you are under 18, you are legally allowed to commit a heist, commandeer a tank, and go home in time for dinner with zero consequences."

Let’s look at the actual legal framework versus the version currently being screamed by your angry uncle on Facebook.

[ THE TRUTH VS. THE TIMELINE OVER JUVENILE LIABILITY ]

* THE FACEBOOK COMMENT SECTION NARRATIVE: The 14- and 15-year-old suspects will be handed a piece of candy by the DSWD, told "don't do it again, bestie," and immediately sent back to class.

* THE ACTUAL REPUBLIK ACT NO. 9344 REALITY: Exemption from adult criminal liability does NOT mean an exemption from consequences. - The 14-year-old enters intensive, involuntary, locked-down state intervention, rehabilitation, and civil liability. - The 15-year-old faces full criminal prosecution if the state determines they acted with "discernment." They don't just "walk free."

The absolute peak of this satirical tragedy is how desperately the political mobs avoid looking at where the guns actually came from.

According to reports, one firearm was traced directly to a police officer who happens to be an aunt of one of the suspects. Another was registered with a security agency all the way in Cebu.

-The Real World - A police-issued service firearm is left somewhere accessible enough for a child to grab it.
-The Social Media Diagnosis - "Kasalanan ito ni Kiko!"

-The Real World - A security agency's weapon travels across islands into the hands of a minor.
-The Social Media Diagnosis - "Tanggalin ang Juvenile Law!"

-The Real World - School security gates fail to detect multiple firearms entering a classroom.
-The Social Media Diagnosis - "Bitayin si Pangilinan!"

-The Real World - Adults completely fail at gun custody, parental supervision, and basic institutional oversight.
-Te Social Media Diagnosis - "Basta, kasalanan talaga ito ng Dilawan!"

It takes a truly profound level of delusion to look at a police officer’s unsecured service weapon being used in a school shooting and conclude, "Yes, KIKO is wrong ... the problem here is the rehabilitation statute."

That isn’t a juvenile law problem; that is a monumental, catastrophic adult failure.

For years, this country was fed a steady, daily diet of political bloodlust from the highest podiums.

Kill them. Shoot them. If they resist, wipe them out. Human rights are just a luxury for the weak; due process is an annoying roadblock.

This wasn't whispered in dark alleys; it was cheered by millions, turned into funny TikTok templates, and celebrated as "strong leadership." That is Dutertism in its purest, most toxic form.

And yet, after a generation grows up breathing air thoroughly poisoned by the normalization of brutality, the public acts completely blindsided when children actually learn the language.

[ THE POPULAR CURRICULUM OF IMPUNITY ]

* Lesson 1: If someone angers you, eliminating them is proof of strength.

* Lesson 2: Rules are for fools; violence gets immediate results.

* Lesson 3: Laugh at the body count, mock the victims, and move on.

You cannot spend a decade applauding the rhetoric of executioners and then act surprised when a child decides that a classroom can be treated like a battlefield.

Bullying may explain the background, but it does not excuse slaughter.

The victims did not deserve this, the wounded did not deserve this, and the survivors shouldn't have to carry the mental scars of a war zone.

-The Brutal Bottom Line: The online mobs don't actually care about the logistics of the Tacloban shooting. They don't care about police accountability, gun safety, or school security. To them, dead children are simply excellent currency for cheap, partisan propaganda.

The suspects must go through the full, rigorous process of the law. The adults who practically handed them those weapons through sheer negligence must be thoroughly investigated and held accountable.

But until the public stops using national tragedies to score points for their favorite political dynasties, the moral temperature of this country will continue to drop.

When a society teaches its youth that killing is the ultimate expression of power, it shouldn't be surprised when the children finally start believing it.