Jeneda Salcedo’s silence

“You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them.”
--Desmond Tutu

By Alex P. Vidal

NEW YORK CITY -- Iloilo Board Member Jeneda Salcedo-Orendain did not use her position to get back at the police that raided their house and the houses of her relatives in Sara, Iloilo in the Philippines dawn on October 17, 2018.
In that raid, which targeted the board member’s father, former mayor Neptali “Tally” Salcedo, Jeneda’s half brother, Nerio “Ricky”, and nephew Nixon “TJ”, were killed.
Police said they resisted the raid and tried to engage the cops in a shootout, a claim the Salcedo clan had refuted.
As of this writing, Jeneda neither lambasted the police in a privilege speech in the Provincial Board nor asked higher civilian and Philippine National Police (PNP) authorities to “do something” in order for the tormented family to get even.
The use of arm-twisting tactics, prevarication and “waslik poder” is prevalent in the culture of the Philippines’ political hegemony.

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If the bloody incident happened in the residence of other sensitive and outraged political clans, clan members who hold positions in government would’ve took turns in tearing to shreds the raiding team in the rostrums even if they fabricate lies and half-truths.
We know a lot of parents of some politically powerful and influential families to be the ones egging and provoking their children to hit back hard--and even invent stories--using their full might and resources as public officials.
Huffy and ill-tempered political parents who will risk the reputations and credibility of their children by using them to foment their vindictive fulmination and satisfy their egos and penchant for a revenge.
It did not happen in the case of the Salcedo family.

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Mayor Ermelita Salcedo and her husband Neptali probably raised their children to be humble and meek.
The family, which filed a complaint against the raiding team for “robbery” and “illegal search”, among other cases, has opted to allow the legal process to reign supreme in the tumult.
The Salcedos, despite their reputation as “anarchists”, have shown that they are capable of facing a major imbroglio with veritable adherence to the rule of law.
In fairness to the cops led by Senior Supt. Marlon Tayaba, Iloilo provincial police chief, and their big boss, Director John Bulalacao, Western Visayas police chief, they welcome the allegations of robbery, among other charges, saying they are willing to impose a disciplinary action on their men if found guilty.