President Duterte probably thinks all Filipinos are simpletons. He oversimplifies his defense of his policy of appeasement with China and thinks Filipinos are so gullible they would accept it hook, line and sinker. He says he did not want to confront China on its transgressions on Philippine territory and sovereignty because he didn’t want to antagonize our powerful… Read More »
“God bless our beloved country.” Thus said Senate President Koko Pimentel, the head of the ruling party and son of the illustrious democratic icon former Senate President Nene Pimentel, as he called on the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision to oust Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno based on a quo warranto petition filed by Solicitor General Jose… Read More »
“I need China.” This was how President Rodrigo Duterte explained his third visit to Beijing in less than two years in a pre-departure press conference early this month in Davao City, apparently the country’s new seat of power. “If you do not have money, you are not my friend. I go to China, plenty of money. That’s the truth.… Read More »
The recent appointment of a former Customs official, who was accused by a self-confessed fixer as among those taking bribes, to deputy commissioner of the Bureau of Customs puts an anti-climactic conclusion to the P6.4-billion shabu smuggling scandal, which started as a scorching drama that threatened to expose the underbelly of the supposedly corruption-free family of President Rodrigo… Read More »
FOR all its claims of a resolute war against drugs and corruption, the Duterte administration seems to be showing the opposite with two recent questionable legal moves – the dropping of charges against several prominent suspected drug lords and the decision to put alleged pork scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles under the Witness Protection Program with the end… Read More »
Just six years after the Supreme Court was rocked by an inglorious impeachment trial that removed a sitting Chief Justice and by the contentious appointment of the court’s youngest member to replace him, the country’s high tribunal has again found itself saddled by controversy, division and disarray. As the people marked the start of the year 2012,… Read More »
While President Duterte’s decision to immediately repatriate abused overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Kuwait and to ban further deployment of workers to the Middle East country was at first look commendable, it still leaves questions that previous administrations have also largely ignored. The President made the twin moves following the discovery of the body of 29-year-old… Read More »
It’s funny how top officials of the Duterte administration are tripping all over themselves to make Filipinos believe there is nothing wrong with China making a travesty of our sovereignty. Instead of loudly protesting the territorial intrusions being carried out rampantly by the country’s giant neighbor, the national leaders are displaying an unusual eagerness to defend China’s aggressive… Read More »
One gets the feeling of déjà vu as students of the state-owned University of the Philippines prepare to hold massive protests against the country’s continued slide to dictatorship under the repressive regime of President Rodrigo Duterte. The day after several UP students walked out of their classes to join the National Day of Walkout Against Tyranny and… Read More »
What happened to you, Harry? University of the Philippines professor Danny Arao asked this question recently as he questioned presidential spokesperson Harry Roque’s 180-degree turn on issues pertaining to press freedom and human rights. Arao reminded Roque, his friend and colleague, that he championed press freedom and human rights before he accepted the position defending President… Read More »