Month: April 2016

The evolution of Duterte’s BPI account

Published by Ellen on April 28, 2016

March 14, 2016 – Presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte and his running mate Alan Peter Cayetano signed a manifesto waiving their rights under the Bank Secrecy law.

Manifesto, not a legal bank secrecy waiver

In the manifesto, printed on a large piece of cardboard, they pledged “to open all our bank accounts in local and foreign currencies both here and abroad in the interest of transparency and accountability.”

April 27, Wednesday- The Philippine Daily Inquirer carried the expose of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, who is running for vice president as an independent candidate and is carrying Grace Poe as his vice president, that Duterte, who is now the frontrunner in the presidential race, has at least P211 million in the bank in 2014 which he did not declare when he filed his Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Networth (SALN) in 2014.

Marcos is INC’s choice for VP, undecided yet for president

Published by Ellen on April 27, 2016

Bongbong Marcos with LP Cagayan De Oro Rep. Klarex Uy in a Marcos campaign caravan Friday last week. Photo from Marcos media

A member of the influential Iglesia ni Cristo said the church leadership has called vice presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr, to tell him that he is their choice for the number two position for the May 9 elections.

“Pinatawag siya (he was asked to come),” the source said.

That is not surprising because the Marcos family has close ties with the Manalo family (The late Felix Manalo founded the INC) since the powerful days of the Marcoses in the 1960’s. In all the elections where Ferdinand Marcos was a candidate, the INC supported him.

In fact in the 1986 snap election, when the INC membership was deeply divided between the beleaguered Marcos and the popular Corazon Aquino, Eraño Manalo, then the executive minister of the church, stuck with Marcos.

The decision to go for Bongbong Marcos was not difficult for the INC leadership because aside from the family friendship, Marcos is leading the vice presidential race. Winnability is a major factor in the decision of the INC who to endorse.

In a close contest, which is what the May 9 elections is turning out to be, the INC vote is crucial.

Duterte violates law prohibiting ridicule of PWDs

Published by Ellen on April 25, 2016

For the information of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte who laughed at Persons with Disabilities while regaling his supporters in Aklan last week, there’s a law that prohibits ridicule, vilification, both verbal and non-verbal, against PWDs which can make them lose their self- esteem.

Public ridicule is “making fun or contemptuous imitating or making mockery – in writing or in words, or in action” of PWDs because of their impairment.

The law is Republic Act 9422, an act amending the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons.

The law identifies two forms of vilifying PWDs: One, uttering slanderous and abusive statements against them. Two, an activity in public which incites hatred toward serious contempt for, or severe ridicule of PWDs.

Duterte’s cinematic solution to South China Sea conflict

Published by Ellen on April 24, 2016

Duterte's Jetski diplomacy. Photo from Mary Anne Tejada's FB — Duterte’s Jetski diplomacy. Photo from Mary Anne Tejada’s FB

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s proposed solution to the South China territorial conflict would make a thrilling action-packed movie scene.

In a speech before travel executives at the MOA-SMX last Friday (and in all his rally speches) Duterte said, “I will ask the Navy to bring me to the nearest point in South China Sea that is tolerable to them and I will ride a jet ski. I’ll carry a flag and when I reach Spratlys, I will erect the Filipino flag. I will tell them, suntukan o barilan.”

Mommy Dionisia at Mayor Pre Salic

Published by Ellen on April 23, 2016

Lumabas itong kolum sa Abante

Enjoy ako mag-cover ng kampanya sa eleksyun. Maliban sa marami kang lugar mapupuntahan, marami kang makakatagpo na iba-ibang personalidad.

Katulad ng rally ni Bise-Presidente Jejomar Binay sa Saranggani at General Santos noong Martes. Si boxing champ, Manny Pacquiao, ang kinatawan ng Saranggani sa kongreso, ang host. Tumatakbong senador si Pacquiao sa ilalim ng tiket ng United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) na pinangungunahan ni Binay. Siyempre maraming tao.

Sa Alabel, ang pangunahing bayan ng Saranggani, dumalo si Mommy Dionisia, ang ina ni Pacquiao.

Dear next president: How will you make the country’s roads safe?

Published by Ellen on April 23, 2016

Photo by Ace Esmeralda of Security Matters

By Dinna Louise C. Dayao

They were all in their teens. John Russel Garcia, John Paul Tena, Kirby Bokingo, Jaymee Gubaton, Bren Loren Calabines, and Rodalyn Bautista were graduating Grade 10 students.

They had their whole lives ahead of them: graduations, college, careers. But everything ended in a fiery crash on a road in Tagaytay in the wee hours of January 17, 2016.

It started as a joyride. According to news reports, the youngsters were in a car driven by Calabines, who had a student license. It was his father’s car; the boy reportedly took it without his parent’s permission. The car hit a concrete barrier and several trees before bursting into flames. All six teens died in the horrific crash.

Fears about a Duterte presidency

Published by Ellen on April 22, 2016

Presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte in a rally.

The statement of United States Ambassador Philip Goldberg supporting the concern of Australian Ambassador Amanda Gorely of the trivialization of rape by presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte, reflects the concern of the international community about the strong possibility of a Duterte presidency.

The childish and reckless retort of Duterte, who is leading in the presidential race, daring the U.S and Australia to sever ties with the Philippines if he becomes president strengthened concerns that a Duterte presidency would be a disaster for the country.

The Pacific Strategies and Assessments, an international risk management and strategy development consulting firm, conveyed that concern in its April 18 assessment of the Philippine situation.

PSA noted Duterte’s bizarre ideas like retaking Chinese occupied features in the disputed Spratlys and reviving the steel industry “when demand for steel globally is at its lowest in decades. “

Road safety journalism award launched

Published by Ellen on April 21, 2016

By Jake Soriano, VERA Files

Journalist and VERA Files trustee Ellen Tordesillas announced on April 12 the launch of a new award to honor the best student work on road safety issues.

The Chit Estella Road Safety Journalism Award, named in honor of journalist Lourdes “Chit” Estella-Simbulan, will be given next year as a special category in the Philippine Journalism Research Conference (PJRC).

PJRC is an annual event organized by the Journalism Department of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Mass Communication.

The new special award expands the current Chit Estella Memorial Awards for Journalism Research, given at the PJRC, for the best student work in journalism research, special projects, and investigative journalism.

“It will be given to the most outstanding research paper or in-depth report, multiple formats allowed, on road safety by journalism or communication students,” said Tordesillas, during the closing program of the 2016 PJRC.

“VERA Files is offering to cover the cash prize and the trophy for this award. This is in addition to the yearly support it extends to the [PJRC],” she added.

The pits of Duterte’s vulgarity

Published by Ellen on April 17, 2016

The ghost of Jaqueline Hamill must have come back to haunt Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte for disrespecting her even when she was dead after having been gang raped twenty-seven years ago.

Duterte refused to apologize over his statement captured in a 1989 video where he was regaling the audience about the hostage-taking incident in Davao prison. “Si Mayor dapat nauna (the Mayor should have been first [to rape her],” he said to the laughter of the audience.

Told that the video has gone viral, he said, “I am even willing to lose the presidency. Do not make me apologize for something which I did,” he said in an interview with reporters Sunday. He added that he said it “in the heat of anger” justifying it as macho talk: “Ganon ang mga lalaki magsalita. O putang ina naunahan mo pa ako, (That’s how a man speaks. Son of a bitch. You beat me to her. [Expletive.}That’s a cliche” he said.

He said, “”I am sorry in general…I am sorry to the Filipino people” while clarifying that he is not apologizing to a particular entity or person.

Duterte backtracking on 3-6 months promise to stop crime?

Published by Ellen on April 15, 2016

Now that more and more persons with credibility (among them Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV during the vice-presidential debate and much earlier former senator and now senatorial candidate Panfilo “Ping” Lacson) are questioning the sanity of his claim that he can rid the country of criminals, drug dealers and corrupt officials in three to six months, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is backtracking.

A Rappler report said in his rally in Taguig last Monday, Duterte’s line was, “Hindi ko talaga ma i-stop as in stop. For as long as there is society, and there are men and women and children in a society, there will always be crime.”

In his rally in Cainta the next day, he used another term: “Synonym ng suppression is stopping. Hindi ko talaga mai-stop as in stop.For as long as there is society, and there are men and women and children in a society there will always be crime. When I say ‘suppression,’ it’s really ‘stopping’.”

But he immediately reverted to the line that appealed to a deeply frustrated public.