Twice last week, President Duterte complained about China’s activities in the South China Sea- a stark departure from his pandering stand since the start of his presidency.
Always, he was all praises for China’s President Xi Jinping, who will be coming here for a state visit in November, for the military equipment that he said was used in the war against Muslim extremists in Marawi and for the multi-billion infrastructure projects that it is undertaking in the country.
It’s easy to believe that President Duterte is tired and weary.He is 73 years old and not the healthiest person on earth. The two years as chief executive of the country showed that he does not have what it takes to be a national leader.
But he will not resign. For the simple reason that he has to make sure that he doesn’t end up in jail for all the crimes that he would be charged with once he is out of power.
That’s why he wants to make sure that his successor is someone who will protect him. And that’s former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos or Sen. Francis Escudero for him.
I don’t know what is more galling: the grossly anomalous contract between the Department of Tourism and PTV4 with the Tulfo Brothers’ Bitag Media Unlimited Inc. or the insolence of the Tulfo brothers. Especially Erwin Tulfo smirking when Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV was speaking.
At yesterday’s Senate hearing conducted by the Sen. Richard Gordon’s Blue Ribbon Committee, the multi-million transaction between the allegedly cash-strapped PTV and Ben Tulfo’s BMUI defies logic and common sense. It’s impunity of another kind.
The Filipino language has the perfect word for it: garapal.
In his latest blast against his perceived enemies (“kayong mayaman”), President Duterte singled out ABS-CBN and mentioned a subject that continues to disturb him and causes him to commit one blunder after another in his desire to kill the issue.
That’s his undeclared wealth exposed by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV less than two weeks before the May 9, 2016 presidential elections that Duterte won.
In his usual expletive-filled speech during the inauguration of the Northern Mindanao Wellness and Reintegration center in Malaybalay, Bukidnon last Aug. 3, Duterte said, “I’m, I am challenging ABS-CBN. Magpunta kami sa Central bank and I will ask the governor to open my account. Pindot lang ‘yan computer. I will not give it to a son of a b**** na kalaban ko. Why should I oblige you with… “
He was apparently referring to Trillanes who has challenged him to sign a waiver to open his BPI accounts which he said contained more that P2OO million during the years 2006 to 2014 which he did not declare in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth when he was Davao City Mayor as required by the law of all government officials.
All these efforts and pronouncements about joint exploration with China in Philippine territory is in connection with the state visit of China’s President Xi Jinping in November.
Xi is expected to proceed here after the summit of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders in Papua New Guinea on Nov. 12 to 18.
This was confirmed by Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque in his briefing yesterday. Asked how soon the PH-China joint exploration agreement would be signed, Roque said: “No time frame. But of course because of the impending visit of President Xi, I would say that it is anytime between now and the visit of President Xi. But it was not expressly stated as such.”
I have received three gifts from two persons I truly admire which have become even more meaningful now.
One is a black cashmere blouse and another is a pair of black leather gloves which came from Mrs. Carmen Guerrero Nakpil.
The third item is a silver rosary blessed by the Pope from Ambassador Jun Lozada.
We were in Portland, Seattle on Nov. 4, 1993 to cover the first summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation at the Tillicum Village in Blake Island, Washington State the next day. I was part of the Malacañang Press Corps and the president then was Fidel V. Ramos.
If truth is not on your side, suppress it.
That is what Malacañang is doing in the case of the undeclared wealth of President Duterte which was exposed by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV way back in April 2016, less than two weeks before the May 9 elections.
Last Monday, July 30, Malacañang released the order signed by Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea dismissing Overall Deputy Ombudsman Melchor Arthur Carandang from service after Palace investigation found the latter “liable for graft and corruption and betrayal of public trust.”
Related article:
https://ph.news.yahoo.com/blogs/the-inbox/magdalo-10-years-oakwood-224739924.html
When Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, Rep. Gary Alejano and some 100 officers and soldiers were preparing to mark the 15th year of the life-changing decision they made when they went out to denounce the corruption in the dubious presidency of Gloria Arroyo, little did they know that she would be installed as Speaker of the House, third in the line of succession to the presidency.
The irony was not lost on the officers and soldiers who spent seven years of their lives in detention for what they did on July 27, 2003.
“Critics of the Magdalo point to the fact that we once broke the military chain of command, and in the process found ourselves in the crosshairs of the State. We faced the consequences of the stand we made fifteen years ago, and we accepted the fate that the Arroyo regime imposed upon us”, said Ashley Acedillo, who was then a 26-year old first lieutenant in the Philippine Air Force.
By Ellen T. Tordesillas, VERA Files
In the seven years that Conchita Carpio-Morales was Ombudsman – investigating and prosecuting corruption cases against government officials – the ones that gave her the biggest headaches were those involving former president Gloria Arroyo, who was elected speaker of the House of Representatives last Monday.
In an interview by VERA Files days before she retired on July 26, Carpio-Morales described the cases involving Arroyo as “very, very complicated.”
Among those cases are the misuse of the intelligence funds of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office amounting to more than P300 million; the questionable transfer of P530,382,445 from the OWWA Medicare Fund to the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation; the P728 million Fertilizer Fund that was allegedly used in the 2004 elections; and the P16.4 billion ($329 million) NBN/ZTE deal.
Gloria Arroyo – in a red- orange dress taking control of the situation at the Batasan Session Hall last Monday- was a personification of what German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche said,“That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.”
It is shuddering to imagine what a re-invigorated GMA can and will do.
She stayed in Malacañang for ten years with a dubious mandate. A vice president in 2001, she grabbed power from then President Joseph Estrada by installing herself to the presidency that was not declared vacant. She cheated, using the Commission on Elections and the military, in the 2004 elections.
In the unforgettable words of Susan Roces, the widow of her victim, Fernando Poe, Jr: “… you have stolen the presidency, not once, but twice.”