ellen tordesillas – Page 27 – Making life worth living.

Former Solgen proposes an Institute for the Integrity of Information

Published by Ellen on October 7, 2017

Former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay at the hearing of the Senate Committee
on Public Information and Mass Media.

I came out of the hearing by the Committee on Public Information and Mass Media on Fake News chaired by Sen. Grace Poe Wednesday stunned by the arrogance of persons hired by the government to handle social media.

The hearing could have been moderate3d much better but the best thing from that proceedings was the statement by former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay calling our attention to another form of impunity that we are witnessing aside from the thousands of killings on our streets – the death of truth.

Hilbay narrowed down on the real problem of the toxic environment: government dishonesty. He proposed the creation by Congress of the Institute for the Integrity of Information, “a sort of Ombudsman for public information provided by government, or an information police for government officials. “

Here’s the full text of Hilbay’s statement:

Not for lack of Duterte’s desire that Trillanes is alive

Published by Ellen on October 3, 2017

Honeylet Avanceña fixes the President’s barong before deplaning in Cambodia. May 2017. Looking on is their daughter, Veronica. Malacañang photo.

Cielito “Honeylet” Salvador Avanceña has weighed in on the more serious issues of her partner’s presidency.
And we are stunned by her logic.

In her talk with the members of the Philippine National Police Monday, Avanceña commented on the allegations that Duterte is a killer, a reputation that the President has cultivated by his boasts of having killed some persons.

Avanceña said, “You’ve seen it, Trillanes has been hitting us since a week before election. Eh bakit buhay pa siya? ‘Di ba? Wala naman nangyayari eh.”

Duterte’s threats betray panic

Published by Ellen on October 1, 2017

Behind President Duterte’s curse-laden talks is a man in panic.

And the one subject that drives him up the wall is his alleged huge bank deposits that Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV first exposed last week of April 2016, weeks before the election that he won.

The latest development is the receipt by the Office of the Ombudsman of his and his family bank records from the Anti-Money Laundering Council in connection with the plunder and graft complaints filed by Trillanes.

Pres. Duterte lambasts Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno, and Overall Deputy Ombudsman Arthur Carandang before members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Davao City Chapter. Malacañang photo by Joey Dalumpines.

Probe finds PH Navy at fault in death of two Vietnamese fishermen

Published by Ellen on October 1, 2017

By Arianne Christian Tapao and Ellen T. Tordesillas
VERA Files

The Philippine Navy is at fault in the death of two fishermen during a sea chase in the waters of Pangasinan on Sept. 22, a source privy to the investigation of the incident said.

Investigators, the source said, cited a 1999 ruling of the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) that states: “In the conduct of arrest, use of excessive and unreasonable force in stopping and arresting a vessel such as firing with live ammunition using shots from large–caliber automatic guns must be avoided, and where force is unavoidable, it must not go beyond what is reasonable and necessary in the circumstances”.

The Philippine Coast Guard, which is investigating the incident, took note that the incident happened 39 nautical miles off Bolinao in Pangasinan, which was within the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the Philippines, the source further said.

Vietnamese fishing boat involved in the Sept. 22 incident in Pangasinan

Who interfered with Salalima?

Published by Ellen on September 25, 2017

Now, I pity Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella.

I used to admire him for his manner of speaking that is in sharp contrast with the language of his principal. I used to be amused by his creativeness in dodging issues about President Duterte like telling media to use their “creative imagination” when Duterte contradicts himself or spews out outrageous claims and justifying the President’s lying about the bank deposits of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV as as matter of “style.”

But as reports of corruption and incompetence persist in the 15-month old Duterte presidency, it’s not amusing anymore to listen to Abella talking about “Good governance being the North Star of the Duterte administration” as he urged just-resigned secretary of Information and Communications Technology Secretary, Rodolfo Salalima to shed light on his allegations of corruption in the agency.

Abella’s statement shows that he is not within the power circle in Malacañang. He is far from the snake pit that Salalima found himself in and decided to be out of it.

In his farewell talk with employees of the Department of Information and Communications Technology) last week, Salalima, who was a schoolmate of Duterte, said that his deal with the President when he accepted the position of the new agency was “no interference, no corruption.”

Resigned DICT Secretary Rodolfo Salalima. Screengrab from ANC.

Is Duterte unraveling?

Published by Ellen on September 19, 2017

President Duterte admits alleged Trillanes offshore accounts were products of his imaginaion. Screengrab from PTV4.

President Duterte never ceases to stun us.

Yesterday, he admitted that his story about the offshore accounts of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV was a product of his imagination.
“Wala ito. Produkto ng isip ko ito. Tinanggalan ko talaga. Ginamit mo. Nag-issue ka ng waiver… Iba ang account number, iba ang totoo. Sinadya ko iyan,” he said after Trillanes went to Singapore and proved that the two bank accounts supposedly based in Singapore in the list Duterte read to the public were non-existent.

His admission made him a manufacturer of fake news.

If that was not jarring enough, he bragged that he has fooled Trillanes.”Kita mo siya ngayon. He’s desperate. Pumunta ng Singapore, mag-gastos lang para propaganda lang,” he further said.

We thought only a fool would do that.

‘Me Pulis sa ilalim ng tulay ‘ in times of EJK

Published by Ellen on September 17, 2017

When things are difficult, you laugh and you sing.

Those are coping mechanisms that Filipinos have developed into art.

There’s a song going around social media that is so much fun. It’s a new version of an old game song “May Pulis sa Ilalim ng Tulay.”

The song is usually sang in a party where each one adds a line to the original sentence about a policeman under the bridge. Often, as each one adds a sentence depending on his or her views and wit, the song becomes a sharp commentary.

CHR explained

Published by Ellen on September 14, 2017

When the House of Representatives voted 119 against 32 last Tuesday to give only P1, 000 budget for the Commission on Human Rights for 2018, it showed that stupidity is not the monopoly of its speaker.

Lambasted in social media, some of the congressmen who voted “Yes” have started explaining their vote and they all showed their ignorance of the mandate of the CHR just like Alvarez.

Alvarez lambasted the CHR for not running after those who killed the policemen, military and government officials.
“Kailangan nilang protektahan at pangalagaan ang karapatang pantao ng sinuman, di lang isang sektor, di lang sa karapatang pantao ng mga kriminal, pati ang innocent victims. Kumikibo lang sila kapag against the military, against the police, against government officials. Hindi naman ganun ang mandato nila. Ang mandato nila ay lahat ng karapatang pantao ay protektahan nila at pangalagaan,” he said.

Actually, Alvarez and the 119 congressmen who voted to strangle CHR by withholding funding , are not the only ones who are misinformed of the role of the Human Rights Commission. They are actually only echoing the ignorance that President Duterte has been articulating in many of his speeches.

Duterte clutches at fake news to get back at Trillanes

Published by Ellen on September 12, 2017

In his desperation to get back at Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, President Duterte resorts to fake news.

In last Thursday’s Senate investigation of the Senate Blue Ribbon committee of the 604 kilos of shabu that slipped through the Bureau of Customs, Trillanes presented bank accounts of presidential son Paolo Duterte, vice mayor of Davao City (totaling P104,2812.165 made in 2011 to 2015) and presidential son-in-law Atty. Manases Carpio (totaling 211,109,236 made in 2003 to 2012). The two neither confirmed nor denied the deposits invoking “right to privacy.”

Last Saturday, in a speech at the closing ceremony of the Mindanao Business Conference, Saturday said Duterte said he will also expose Trillanes’ bank accounts abroad.

Pres. Rodrigo Duterte addresses 26th Mindanao Business Conference in Cagayan de Oro City on September 9, 2017. Malacanang photo by Ace Morandante.

Grief and rage

Published by Ellen on September 8, 2017

14-year old Reynato De Guzman, found dead with 30 stab wounds.

Reynaldo de Guzman, 14 years old. Kian Delos Santos, 17 years old.

They are children under the definition of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Carl Angelo Arnaiz and Raymart Siapo, both 19 years old, just passed their childhood.

They are all dead. Killed brutally by persons who have lost their humanity.

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