Ellen – Page 22 – ellen tordesillas

Duterte’s threat helps ICC build case against him

Published by Ellen on April 17, 2018

Pres. Duterte threatens to arrest ICC prosecutor Bensouda in his speech at the Davao International Airport upon his arrival from China April 16. Malacañang photo by Arman Baylon.

President Duterte’s incessant rants against Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda of the International Criminal Court betray how deeply the communication submitted by lawyer Jude Sabio, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Rep. Gary Alejano (Magdalo Partylist) has stung him.

He has reasons to worry about the ICC examination which Bensouda announced last February.

His situation now is like a person having stepped on a quicksand. He is panicking. The more he moves to get out, the deeper he gets stuck.

Last Friday, upon his arrival from Hongkong and Boao, China, he resumed his tirade against Bensouda without being asked about her nor about the ICC. The question was about Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

VERA Files to help fight spread of fake news in Facebook

Published by Ellen on April 13, 2018

Facebook Thursday announced the launch its third-party fact-checking program in the Philippines with VERA Files and Rappler.

(Disclosure: I’m a trustee and writer of VERA Files, a group that takes a a deeper look into current Philippine issues.)

As the Facebook announcement stated, the third-party fact-checking program is aimed at helping combat false news from spreading on Facebook.

“These partners have been certified through a non-partisan International Fact-Checking Network and will review news stories on Facebook, check their facts, and rate their accuracy.

Duterte’s answer to questions on Boracay

Published by Ellen on April 13, 2018

Boracay in 2011. Photo by Ellen Tordesillas

The resort owners and workers and residents of Boracay are angry and confused.

The President last week made official his rantings about Boracay and ordered it’s closure for rehabilitation for six months.

In his conference April 9 at the Davao International Airport before he took off for Boao, China, Duterte was asked by Philippine Star’s Edith Regalado what’s his masterplan for the island, with a beach considered one of the best in the world.

His answer: “In the meantime, there is no plan. My order was to clean it up. So mag-clean, sarado, there is one way in and one way out….

Mother of tokhang victim petitions Netflix not to show ‘Amo’

Published by Ellen on April 8, 2018

There’s a petition going around online addressed to Netflix to stop the April 9 showing of the TV series “Amo” about the brutal war against illegal drugs being waged by President Rodrigo Duterte.

The Netflix TV series is directed by the multi-awarded Brillante Mendoza and stars Derek Ramsay.

OFW Luzviminda Siapno,mother of Tokhang victim, petitions Netflix not o show Amo. Photo from change.org

The petition is by Luzviminda Siapo, mother of 19-year old Raymart, a person with disability, who was killed by policemen April last year in its indiscrimate operation against illegal drugs.

Here’s Siapo’s letter in Filipino. There’s an English version in the Change.org website: https://www.change.org/p/netflix-netflix-don-t-air-pro-duterte-drugwar-series

The most deafening six- minute silence

Published by Ellen on March 27, 2018

I imagine many of us have watched and have been moved by the powerful speech by Emma Gonzalez, a survivor of the Feb. 14 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, during the “March for our Lives” gun control protest rally in Washington D.C. last March 24.

Gonzalez’ speech was a heart-rending in its simplicity. Three hundred thirty-four words and silence.

Matobato and the firefly

Published by Ellen on March 25, 2018

Edgar Matobato in the Senate. Photo by Senate PRIB Albert Calvelo

The message of Holy Week, Fr. Fidel Fabile – our parish priest in Moonwalk in Las Piñas, said is hope.

After Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem marked yesterday with our waving of the palms, suffering and grief followed culminating in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Then comes the Resurrection which is celebrated on Easter Sunday.

Fr. Fidel said Holy Week re-assures us that amidst all suffering in life, something beautiful awaits us. That there is something to hope for.

Fr. Fidel’s sermon reminded me of the self-confessed member of the Davao Death Squad Edgar Matobato and the incident with a firefly.

In disarray

Published by Ellen on March 22, 2018

It was Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo the President listened to in the ICC withdrawal decision. Malacanang photo by King Rodriguez.

The statements of Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque and the tweets of Philippine ambassador to the United Nations Teodoro Locsin, Jr related to President Duterte’s decision to withdraw Philippine membership in the International Criminal Court gave the public insights about the disarray in the Malacañang team.

The oblique remarks of the two officials give credence to “don’t-quote-me” info from Malacañang insiders that it was Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo that the President talked with before the 15-page statement that he didn’t even sign was released to the media.

Training how to teach fact-checking

Published by Ellen on March 21, 2018

VERA Files has been doing fact-checking training all over the country sharing the knowledge and skills we have learned to sift what is true from the falsehoods that abound in social media.

Our campus tours have been educational for us as we have seen young people, social media savvy yet so vulnerable to the evils of the phenomenal medium. We are invigorated to see that many of them value truthfulness and we are encouraged by their enthusiasm to learn how to fight lies which now come under the banner of “fake news.”

Future teachers at the University of Antique. Photo by Allyssa Marie C. Villeza.

Two weeks ago we were at the University of Antique in the town of Sibalom with 300 education students. Since the participants were future teachers we tweaked our training from “How to fact-check” to “How to teach fact-checking.”

We divided the participants into ten groups and gave the each group suggested statements to fact check. We told them that they can also choose their own subject to fact check. After a 30- minute mini-conference among themselves, they each made their presentation.

The result was fantastic. Using various teaching tools, they made fact-checking fun.

What the best and the worst place in the world for a Muslim woman?

Published by Ellen on March 19, 2018

I asked this question to Dr. Aziza al Hibri in a round-table discussion together with former Sen. Edgardo Angara, Philippine Star columnist and Carol P. Araullo who writes for Businessworld.

“Home”, was Dr. Al Hibri’s answer.

“Your home can be a paradise or hell depending on how the husband understands your dignity, your rights, and your value,” she said.

She said there are communities who believes that the man is the head of the family and they can strike the wife.

Al Hibri, the first Muslim woman to become a law professor in the United States and is professor emeritus of law at the University of Richmond, is the founder of Karamah, a Washington-DC based organization of American Muslim lawyers and law faculty focused on human rights and gender issues in the Muslim world.

Duterte is mistaken if he thinks he has escaped from ICC by withdrawing PH membership

Published by Ellen on March 16, 2018

Pres. Rodrigo Duterte, the first president in Southeast Asia to be the subject of an examination by the International Criminal Court. Malacañang photo.

If Pres. Duterte thinks he is now out of the reach of the International Criminal Court because he directed the Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea to withdraw the ratification of the Philippines of the Rome Statute which established the ICC, he is mistaken.

Former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay said Duterte has no unilateral constitutional authority to withdraw from the Rome Statute of the ICC. The Rome Statute was ratified by the Senate, which shares the Treaty Power with the President. Withdrawal, as a constitutional matter, requires a similar concurrence.”

Hilbay also said, the withdrawal cannot be made “immediately”.

Author: Ellen