Category: Elections 2016

Trillanes to Duterte: sign waiver of bank secrecy law addressed to BPI

Published by Ellen on February 19, 2017

Pres. Duterte and Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV

The public should be more discerning this time with President Duterte’s bluster when confronted with the issue of his BPI bank accounts which have been recipients of deposits amounting to over P2 billion from 2006 to 2015 from several sources.

News reports Friday quoted President Duterte as ordering the Anti-Money Laundering Council to give information about his “net worth.”

The news item was based on what he said at the dinner with Philippine Military Academy class of 1967, where he is an honorary member, at Baguio City Country Club. This is what he exactly said:

“Kaya ang gusto ko lang sabihin sa inyo, because it’s politics again. It’s a rehash of what they… it is pure garbage. But you know I’m President, I’ve ordered AMLC and everybody to give information sa ano ang… what’s my worth in this… in terms of pesos in this planet. So hindi ko kayo hiyain. Walang anak ko o ako mismo, sa totoo lang. I have not signed any voucher even for myself. I only receive a salary and that’s it. I do not accept my allowances – wala po ako. I avoided it. And it will be so until the end of my term.”

LP SOCE case being eyed for oust-Leni operation?

Published by Ellen on January 13, 2017

When relations were okay. Vice President Leni Robredo pays courtesy call on President Rodrigo R. Duterte at the Malacañan Palace, July 4, 2016. Malacanang photo by King Rodriguez.

Amid the many items in media not favorable to Vice President Leni Robredo- LeniLeaks, banned from cabinet meetings, dis-invited by Malacanang in New Year vin d’honneur, drop in satisfaction ratings – another one came up the other day.

We were told that the Supreme Court is expected very soon to release its decision on the case concerning the extension of the deadline by the Commission on Elections for the filing of statement of contributions and expenditures (SOCE) for the Liberal Party last June.

“If the High Court decided that there was a breach of the rule by the Comelec, the election of all Liberal Party candidates would be invalidated. That would include the election of Robredo,” a friend told me.

David Lapuz: ‘One prodigious fountain spouting forth brilliant ideas’

Published by Ellen on June 16, 2016

Dsvid Lapuz. From the blog of Fr. Joel Tabora, SJ

Aside from Salvador Panelo, spokesperson of President-elect Rodrigo Duterte for a month, aspirant to be ambassador to the Court of St. James and now presidential legal counsel, another appointee of incoming president Rodrigo Duterte who is creating a different kind of buzz is David Lapuz as head of the Commission on Higher Education.

There is still a confusion on the appointment of Lapuz to the government agency that oversees public and private higher education institutions as well as degree-granting programs in all tertiary educational institutions in the country because while others say the position is co-terminus with the appointing authority, there are also those who say that the head of CHED has a fixed term and that of the current chair, Patricia Licuanan, is up to 2018.

The designation of Lapuz as CHED chair was first mentioned by Ateneo de Davao President Fr. Joel Tabora, S.J. In his blog more than a week ago.

According to an Inquirer report, Tabora related: “In fact, last Wednesday, June 8, at 2:30 a.m. in a room filled with people in the Panacan Malacañan of the South, President Duterte had publicly designated Professor Lapuz, long-time professor of political science and of the life and works of Jose Rizal at the Lyceum of the Philippines, CHED Chair. To the professor’s self-deprecating query, ‘Are you really nominating me CHED chair?’ the President replied emphatically, ‘Yes!’”

Cayetano’s Leni remark shows he is not “in” in Duterte’s power group

Published by Ellen on May 31, 2016

Signing of NP-PDP Laban alliance. Photo by Mindanews.

After Congress, acting as National Board of Canvassers, declared last Friday Rodrigo Duterte of PDP-Laban as winner in the presidential contest and Leni Robredo of the Liberal Party for the vice-presidential race in the May 9 elections, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, Duterte’s running mate, told media that a cabinet position awaits Robredo.

“Mayor Duterte is reviewing every day names and positions [in the Cabinet], and I think from Day 1 he has been thinking about what job can be given the Vice President-elect,” Cayenato said adding that the position to be given to Robredo would be “tailored to what we heard from her during the campaign that she would like to handle.”

Robredo had said during the campaign that she would be interested in a cabinet position that involved lifting the people from poverty.

The following day, in a press conference with Cayetano beside him (also in attendance was Peace Process Secretary Jesus Dureza and senator-elect Manny Pacquiao), Duterte said Robredo “never entered my mind,” in the forming of his cabinet.

PNoy, Del Rosario responsible for PH losing control of Scarborough shoal

Published by Ellen on May 19, 2016

Presumptive President-elect Rodrigo Duterte said early this week he wants to know why the Philippines lost Scarborough Shoal.

When he said this, he was apparently under the impression that Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who exposed his BPI bank deposits amounting to no less than P200 million despite before the May 9 elections, was responsible for the Philippines losing control over the coral reef formation 124 nautical miles off Zambales.

By all means, Duterte should order a probe.

The term “lost Scarborough shoal” is debatable. Security officials deny that. Foreign affairs officials will not say that because that would be detrimental to the claim of the Philippines on the shoal which is included in the case filed by the Philippines against China before the Arbitral Court.

The reality, however, is that Filipino fishermen are denied access to the area around the shoal by three Chinese ships stationed there since June 2012.

How that situation came to be started on April 10, 2012 when BRP Gregorio del Pilar arrested eight Chinese boats with sizable quantities of endangered marine species, corals, live sharks and giant clams.

Chinese fishermen caught in Philippine waters is not an unusual happening – be it in Scarborough shoal in the northwestern side of the country or in the Spratlys, in the southwestern part of the country. When that happens, the fishermen are charged in court and the Chinese Embassy works for their release. The case is usually handled in the provincial and regional level.

The use of BRP Gregorio del Pilar, a warship, to arrest Chinese fishing vessels changed the atmosphere in the maritime row.

Erap endorsement expected to get Mindanao for Poe

Published by Ellen on March 30, 2016

Grace Poe and Col. Ariel Querubin (ret), who she said she will appoint crime czar if she wins presidency.

It was almost midnight when Sen. Grace Poe made it to retired Col. Ariel Querubin’s birthday at the Clubhouse at Camp Aguinaldo last Monday. But she looked happy and energized.

She told the remaining few guests that she came from the proclamation rally of former President Joseph Estrada, who is running for re-election as Manila City mayor, at Plaza Miranda.

She related that Estrada called her up the night before to tell her that he had decided to endorse her.

At the Plaza Miranda rally, Estrada told the cheering crowd, “Mga kasama, mga kaibigan, palakpakan po natin ang aking inaanak, ang susunod na pangulo ng Pilipinas, walang iba kundi si Grace Poe.”

Grace Poe took the first presidential debate

Published by Ellen on February 21, 2016

Candidates: Jejomar Binay,Miriam Santiago, Rodrigo Duterte,Grace Poe,Mar Roxas

The winner of the first Comelec-sponsored debates of presidential candidates organized with GMA-7 and Philippine Daily Inquirer based on my monitoring of social media and exchange of notes with friends was Grace Poe.

It’s not a scientific survey, of course.

Political analyst and De La Salle University Professor Richard Heydarian summed up the performance of the candidates as:

Social media raises demand for honesty from candidates

Published by Ellen on February 16, 2016

Two stories that generated passionate exchanges in social media the past days underscore how new media is being used to demand transparency and honesty from candidates and their staff in the campaign for the May elections.

The first story was about the shoes of Brian Llamanzares, son of presidential candidate Grace Poe of the Partido Galing at Puso and the other was the Instagram post of Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo, who is the spokesman of the Aquino administration’s Liberal Party, whose standard bearer is Mar Roxas.

The story about the Llamanzares’ shoes was a scoop by the online media Rappler. Brian posted what seemed at first as a harmless photo until someone with a keen eye on sports shoes at Rappler noticed that the 23-year old, who once worked with CNN Philippines, was wearing a limited edition 2015 Nike Mag10 Back to the Future II Marty McFly.

That shoes sold for $19,999 equivalent to almost P900,000 in Philippine pesos. Nearly a million pesos for a pair of shoes.

Why so expensive?

As explained by a blogger Rod Magaru, “last September of 2011, a total of 1,500 pairs of Nike Mag10 were auctioned on eBay with the intention of donating its proceeds to Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinsons Disease Research. They added 10 more pairs in a deluxe package and they were able to sell everything on that year.”

The Junjun Binay libel case vs Trillanes

Published by Ellen on February 2, 2016

Former Makati Mayor Junjun Binay: "Allegations besmirched my good name." — Former Makati Mayor Junjun Binay: “Allegations besmirched my good name.”

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV. He said he will continue exposing the truth about the Binays.

Telling the truth does not make one immune from libel suits.

Last Monday, Judge Dina Pestano Teves of the Makati Regional Trial Court 142, released the warrant of arrest for Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV after finding probable cause in the suit filed by former Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin “Junjun” Binay Jr.

Trillanes, who is running for vice president as an independent candidate in the coming May election, is in Washington D.C. for the National Prayer Breakfast, an annual event hosted by members of the United States Congress and organized by a Christian Fellowship Foundation attended by some 3,500 guests from all over the world. The U.S. president usually attends the event held every first Thursday of February.

But the senator sent his reaction to the news about the warrant of arrest for him. “If the Binay family believes that I can be intimidated and threatened from exposing them, they are badly mistaken. I will do everything I can to make sure that plunderers will not rule this country again”, he said.

Duterte and Aesop’s fable about the frogs who desired a king

Published by Ellen on November 26, 2015

The frogs desiring a king (Illus by Harrison Weir, John Tenniel, Ernest Griset)

The frustration of the people over the ineptness of the Aquino government has made the “kamay na bakal” brand of leadership that Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte appealing to many.

Former Human Rights Commission Chair Etta Rosales warned about the dangers of a leader who wants to play God.
Rosales said, ““These people who say we need a Duterte, they don’t think of the law. They don’t realize that if you don’t respect the law, it would affect also you and your family.”

She adds: “The moment you take the law in your hands and you think you can get away with it, then you become part of the problem, and that has been the way of all authoritarian rulers.”