Early last week, fellow Malaya columnist JB Baylon posted this shout out in his Facebook wall:
After DU30, Sarah
Accept it.
Sorry na lang for those who sucked up hoping for an endorsement.
She’s the “term extension”
Last week also, as Davao City mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio went around campaigning for her 13-member Hugpong ng Pagbabago senatorial slate, there had been a lot of comments about her being a strong contender for the 2022 presidential election.
Pres. Duterte is not lending his political clout to Jinggoy Estrada and Bong Revilla,both charged with plunder.
It’s not because he hates plunderers despite his public declaration of “I hate corruption.” That is as hollow as his “I hate drugs” mantra.
The reason he gave for not including the two in his chosen 11 was, they asked for his support “too late,” long after he had completed his list.
(By the way, his grandson, Rodrigo “Rigo” Duterte II – son of Paolo – posted an opposition poster on his Facebook wall showing the pictures of Estrada, Revilla and Juan Ponce Enrile with the hashtag “zerovoteplunderers.”)
Lawyer Romel R. Bagares, of Butuyan & Rayel Law Offices, representing more than 30 members of media and media groups, filed Feb. 8 a motion for reconsideration for the Supreme Court First Division to elevate to the En Banc the case against officials of the Arroyo government over the arrest of reporters that covered the protest staged by a group of military officers led by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and retired Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim, who is now Metro Manila Development Authority chairman, eleven years ago.
In a Facebook post, Bagares said the Oct. 1, 2018 decision of the G.R. 210088, “the SC, via (now retired) Justice Noel Tijam, basically gave a blank check for police to truss up journalists and haul them away from a developing news event, on the pretext that they are doing it for their own good.”
Disclosure: I am one of the petitioners together with Charmaine Deogracias, Ashzel Hachero, James Konstantin Galvez, Melinda Quintos de Jesus, Vergel o. Santos, Yvonne Tan Chua, Booma B. Cruz,Ed Lingao, Roby Alampay, Jessica Soho, Maria Judea Pulido, Michael Fajatin;
Monitoring the arrest of Rappler’s chief executive officer Maria Ressa by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation Wednesday late afternoon, I was struck by the crudeness of the operation (serving the warrant of arrest past the court’s office hours).
With all the media attention the arrest was generating, both national and international, I waited for a statement from President Duterte. There was none.
I had several questions: Does the President know what was happening? Is he on top of the operation? Where is he?
What came to mind was August 21, 1983. Former Sen. Benigno Aquino Jr. was shot upon arrival at the Manila International Airport by Rolando Galman, who was also killed.
The public later learned that then President Ferdinand Marcos was very ill and could not have been in a position to order the assassination of Aquino. Who then gave the order to kill Aquino? Thirty five years after, the Filipino people still do not know despite the fact that his widow and son were elected president and could have probed into the murder that drastically changed the country’s political course.
But that was not the situation last Monday. Although he was reported to be “not feeling well”two weeks ago, Duterte was reported to be in Laur, Nueva Ecija inaugurating a drug rehabilitation facility.
Next month, March 17, the withdrawal of the Philippines from the Rome Statute, the founding treaty for the International Criminal Court, will take effect- one year after the Duterte government deposited its official notification with the United Nations Secretary-General in New York.
The ICC, in its statement, said last year that while they regret the Philippine government’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute, “A withdrawal has no impact on on-going proceedings or any matter which was already under consideration by the Court prior to the date on which the withdrawal became effective; nor on the status of any judge already serving at the Court.”
At least three separate communications have been filed with the ICC accusing President Duterte and officials of his government of committing crimes against humanity citing extra judicial killings in the war against drugs as well as killings by the so-called Davao Death Squad when Duterte was Davao City mayor.
Those who filed the cases against Duterte in the ICC that include Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, Repair Alejano, lawyer Jude Sabio and relatives of the victims of the drug war, hope that the case will move up to the investigation stage before March 17. Right now, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda is in the preliminary examination stage, monitoring developments in the country.
Speaking of reports, the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA) that U.S. President Donald Trump signed last Dec. 31 contained several observations damning to the Philippines in the area of human rights.
Just when we thought he was looking better with the dark blotches on his face gone (by Honeylet’s facial cream?), the President’s health condition once again returned to the front page when he didn’t show up in the Barangay Summit on Peace and Order in Palo, Leyte at on Friday, the first day of February.
The first statement on the 73-year old health status came from senatorial candidate, Christopher “Bong “ Go, a former aide who continues to be always with the President.
Go, not a doctor, said the President was “not feeling well.”
Last week, The House of Representatives adopted a Resolution that would make it extremely difficult to get a copy of the members’ Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth.
House Resolution No. 2467, authored by 10 members of the House led by Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo set requirements that makes the use of SALN as an anti-corruption almost impossible.
The motive of the of the authors is obvious: they don’t want the public to know increase in their wealth while in public office.
Take note at how Gloria Arroyo, speaker of the House of Representatives, maneuvered on the controversial bill lowering the minimum age of criminal liability from age 15 which is in the existing law to originally, nine years old and finally 12.
In an interview after the bill, that has elicited outrage from several sectors of society, passed on second reading, Arroyo said she supported the bill even when the minimum age was nine years old “Because the President wants it.”
To stress her supposed support for Duterte she added, “From the beginning I said that my agenda is the President’s agenda.”
Many of us have resigned to our fate of having Duterte as president until June 30, 2022. We will survive, we tell ourselves.
But not many of our children.
The House of Representatives passed on second reading last week a bill that wants the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) in the Philippines from the current 15 to 12 years old.
They changed the word “criminal” to “social”, like coating poison with sugar.
Coming back from an extended vacation, I started the year 2019 with a series of meetings, trying to catch up with the rapid developments as the country prepares for the May elections.
My friend and I agreed to meet at Café Museum, beside the Ayala Museum at the corner of Makati Avenue and De la Rosa streets.
When I got there, the place was closed. Construction work was being done. I asked the Ayala Museum security guard if Café Museum is undergoing renovation. He replied, “No. it is closed. No more.”
I’ll miss Café Museum. Aside from the food- modern Asian ( I love their palabok), I like the ambience– quiet and cozy with just enough space in between tables for some privacy.
