Author: Ellen

Duterte’s next ‘solution’: Will it make life for Filipinos worse or better?

Published by Ellen on June 14, 2020

Our lives have been drastically altered by the rigid measures the government has imposed to stop the spread of Covid-19 the last four months.

The new quarantine classifications that President Duterte is going to announce Monday, June 15 will further affect our lives. Will it make life worse or better?

The study done by a group of professors from the University of the Philippines on the situation in Metro Manila and Cebu related to Covid-19 released last June 8 would help us deal with whatever Duterte will decide.

The UP professors said based on the trends that they have observed since March 1 to June 8, 2020, they forecast that “the number of Covid-19 cases, assuming a continuation of current trends, is a total of 40,000 Covid-19 cases by June 30, and 1,850 total deaths due to Covid-19.”

Beware of spoof/fake Facebook accounts

Published by Ellen on June 7, 2020

Malevolent forces are busy at work in Facebook.

I was informed by my niece yesterday about a fake “Ellen Tordesillas” Facebook account.

I checked it out and there it was: just my name. No photo, no post.

ASEAN unlikely to conclude ‘meaningful’ COC in South China Sea – Vietnamese academic

Published by Ellen on January 11, 2020

A slide from the presentation by Dr. Vo Xuan Vinh in a New Delhi conference on South China Sea.

A Vietnamese academic pierced whatever illusion about the Code of Conduct in the South China Sea being worked out between ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and China and being coordinated by the Philippines.

Speaking in aconference on South China Sea in New Delhi, India November 29, 2019, Dr. Vo Xuan Vinh of the Institute for Southeast Asian Studies at the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences said, “It is unlikely that ASEAN and China could conclude a COC as scheduled (2021).”

“If they do, “ Vo said, “the COC is not meaningful.”

There’s more to the U.S. visa ban that Duterte and allies are afraid of

Published by Ellen on January 6, 2020

Senator Leila de Lima waves to supporters on her way to a court hearing, June 7, 2019. Photo from Senator de Lima’s office.

Why is Malacañang panicking over the U.S. visa ban on officials involved in the “wrongful imprisonment” of Senator Leila de Lima that has yet to be implemented?

The panic was obvious in the President’s order at the beginning of the New Year that aside from banning the three American senators – Richard Durbin of Illinois, Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Edward Markey of Massachusetts from entering the country – he had wanted “to require all Americans intending to come to the Philippines to apply and secure a visa.”

The order would trash the current policy of a 30-day visa free privilege for U.S. citizens.

Filipina human rights worker, one of the 15 recipients of the Franco-German Human Rights Award

Published by Ellen on December 17, 2019

Human Rights advocate Aileen Bacalso accepts the 2019 Franco-German Prize for Human Rights award from French Ambassador Nicolas Galey (left) and German Ambassador Anke Reiffenstuel (right).

It could not have been given to a more deserving person.

Last Dec. 12, two days after the universal observance of International Human Rights Day, human rights advocates gathered at the Novotel in Quezon City to applaud the awarding to Aileen Bacalso, the Franco-German Ministerial Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law.

Bacalso was one of the 15 in the world who were honored this year for the work they are doing in protecting human rights. The others were: Ales Bialiatski (Belarus), Li Wenzu (China), the Nadim Center (Egypt), Ameha Mekonnen Asfaw (Ethiopia), Robin Chaurasiya (India), Nasrin Sotoudeh (Iran), Amina Hanga (Nigeria), Miluska Del Carmen Luzquinos Tafur (Peru), Irina Biryukova (Russia), Delphine Kemneloum Djiraïbe (Chad), Asena Günal (Turkey), Luz Mely Reyes (Venezuela), and Vu Quoc Ngu (Vietnam).

The countries where the other recipients come from is a commentary on the notorious company that the Philippines keeps, despite the fact that the preamble in its Constitution speak of building “a just and humane society.”

More on Bato visa ban and ARIA

Published by Ellen on December 15, 2019

Senate President Vicente Sotto and Sen. Ronald Bato de la Rosa watch the Pacquiao-Thurman fight in a movie house in Makati in July 2019. Permission granted by Inquirer.net for the use of this photo by Neil Arwin Mercado.

Remember this photo of Senate President Tito Sotto and Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa watching the Las Vegas fight between Senate colleague Manny Pacquiao and American boxer Keith Thurman fight at a theater in Rockwell last July?

We wondered then why de la Rosa, who was investigated by the Ombudsman for accepting an all-expenses paid trip to watch the Pacquiao-Jesse Vargas fight in Las Vegas in November 2016 when he was police chief, opted to stay in Manila when President Duterte cleared him of any wrongdoing. (In fairness to the former police chief, he also skipped the Pacquiao -Jeff Horn fight in Brisbane, Australia in July 2017.)

A source told us that De la Rosa actually wanted to watch the Pacquiao-Thurman fight but his United States visa was cancelled in connection with The Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA).

Song suggestions for the SEAG closing ceremonies

Published by Ellen on December 6, 2019

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo was wrong when he said that there is no song that embodies the whole Philippines.

“Tama si Mayor Sara. We need to have a song that will reflect not only Manila but the entire Philippines. Wala pa eh,” he told reporters when asked about complaint of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio of the use of the song, “Manila, Manila” by the Hotdog band in the opening ceremonies of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games last Saturday.

For the information of Panelo there is a long list of Original Pilipino Music that embraces the Filipino people. Right off, there’s Yoyoy Villame’s playful “Philippine Geography”.

Enjoy the games, don’t forget issues that matter

Published by Ellen on December 1, 2019

Tribute to the Filipino people. Opening ceremonies. from SEAG2019 Facebook page.

I enjoyed watching the opening ceremonies of the 30th Southeast Asian Games. Salute to director Floy Quintos. Just enough dazzle to showcase the beauty of Philippine culture.

I liked the use of the iconic song, “Manila, Manila” by the 70’s band, Hotdog, as the athletes entered the arena. It set a happy and bouncy mood for the event.

Presidential daughter Sara Duterte Carpio exposed her parochial mind when she complained through her Instagram account, “Di po ba Philippine flag ang dala? Why would you play the song Manila? Did Lapu-Lapu die for Manila? Wag po natin gawing excuse ang upbeat danceable song. Kami nag-imbento ng budots. Kaloko man oi.'”

Dennis Garcia, the other half of the brothers who formed the band, explained in his Facebook post, “
Rene & I created ‘Manila’, not thinking of ourselves as Tagalogs, Bisayans or Ilokanos but as Filipinos missing the Philippines.”

Leni’s questions – a statement on the government’s drug war

Published by Ellen on November 29, 2019

Vice President Leni Robredo: comforting the afflicted, afflicting the comfortable, especially those with a lot of rot to hide.

Ngayon ang tanong ko: Ano bang kinatatakutan ninyo?
Ano ba ang kinatatakutan ninyong malaman ko?
Ano ba ang kinatatakutan ninyong malaman ng taumbayan?

Now my question: what are you afraid of?
What are you afraid of me to know?
What are you afraid of knowing the people?

With those questions, Vice President Leni Robredo painted to the public the real problem in the Duterte government’s battle against illegal drugs which has not shown signs of decreasing despite the loss of more than 20,000 lives (government will admit to only about 6,000).

Robredo asked the question after he was fired by Duterte as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs late evening of Sunday for reasons that Malacañang has muddled in its nine-page statement.
In one paragraph, the statement said, it was “in response to the suggestion of Liberal Party President, Senator Francis Pangilinan, to just fire the Vice President from her post” and to the “taunt and dare of VP Robredo for the President to just tell her that he wants her out.”

That’s childish.

Go’s statements betray reservations about Robredo’s drug czar role

Published by Ellen on November 11, 2019

If Vice President Leni Robredo succeeds in dismantling the illegal drugs network and reducing the menace without the killings that have characterized President Duterte’s failed drug war, it would be a slap on Duterte’s much vaunted iron hand strategy.

Vice President Leni Robredo holds press conference with ICAD co-chair PDEA chief Aaron Aquino

Sen. Bong Go’s statements betray this concern even as he expressed “full support”for her as c-chair of the Inter-Agency Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs (ICAD) together with the head of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

In his press release after his visit to Leyte to witness the groundbreaking ceremony of housing projects for typhoon Yolanda victims in Tanauan and to give aid to fire victims in Tacloban Nov 8, Go took exception to Robredo’s statement about no killing of innocent lives in the drug war.