• Businessman and Philippine Star columnist Jose Manuel “Babes” Romualdez will be the Philippine ambassador to the United States.
Good rapport.Pres. Duterte and Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay, Jr.These are impending movements in the Duterte administration being talked about which on the surface seem far removed from President Duterte’s brutal and bloody anti-illegal drug campaign. They are actually related especially the plan to put Yasay as BSP governor.
There’s a hitch, however. The charter of the BSP allows only two terms for the governor. Congress has to amend the charter for Tetangco to serve another term.
Pres. Duterte talks to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump through a phone call at Legaspi Suites in Davao City on Dec. 3. Malacanang photo by Toto Lozano.
President Duterte must be euphoric after the seven-minute phone conversation with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump Friday night, he thought the latter invited him to visit the United States.
The Presidential Communication Office released the following notes by the President of his conversation with Trump:
“The President-elect Trump wishes the, to extend his warmest regards to the Filipino people. And in just a few minutes, we were talking a lot of things.
“He was quite sensitive also to our worry about drugs. And he wishes me well to, in my campaign and he said that… well we are doing it as a sovereign nation, the right way.
If Police Supt. Marvin Marcos has long been identified as a protector of drug lords, why is somebody high up in Malacañang protecting him?
What does this make of President Duterte’s bloody campaign to eliminate illegal drugs in the country which has claimed the lives of some 3,000 and still counting?
Marcos has been under protective custody at the Philippine National Police in Camp Crame in Metro Manila together with his team involved in the killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa, Sr in the wee hours of Nov 5 while imprisoned in Baybay Provincial Jail in Leyte.
We are glad that Facebook has restored the account of journalist Inday Espina-Varona after it was erroneously blocked last Monday morning.
What happened to Inday’s FB account shows how things have gotten out- of -control with Facebook, the social media phenomenon with over 1.79 billion users, almost a fourth of the world’s population.
Monday evening, when I visited Inday’s vibrant FB page, I got this advisory: “Sorry, this content isn’t available right now.
Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales. Photo from Ombudsman’s Facebook.The statement of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales that the plunder and graft case filed by Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV against then presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte is being investigated reassures those who are worried that the issue would be buried with the election of Duterte to the presidency.
Many were afraid that the Ombudsman ‘s office would just sit on the case because of Morales’ relations with the President.
Morales is the sister of lawyer Lucas Carpio Jr, the father-in-law of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, daughter of the President.
In a talk with reporters after she delivered a stirring speech at the UP Alumni Homecoming Friday, Morales said although she has inhibited herself from the case, “ it is undergoing investigation.”
Press Undersecretary Enrique Tandan delivers his message at the MOM launch. By VERA Files
President Duterte welcomes media’s role as watchdog even as he considers it a partner in informing the people about what the government is doing for them, a Palace official said.
In a message he delivered in behalf of Press Secretary Martin Andanar at the launching of the Media Ownership Monitor (MOM) website ((http://philippines.mom-rsf.org/ ), Thursday last week, Press Undersecretary Enrique Tandan said, “President Duterte believes that, as partners for change, the members of the media have a huge responsibility in keeping the government institutions in check. Change happens when there is a constant voice that keeps the government up on its feet, making sure that no detail will go unknown from the public eye.”
But the President also wants media to be a partner in delivering the government’s messages to the people. ‘’For the President, this is how the media works as the government’s sidekick, so to speak,” Tandan said.
Pres. Duterte is welcomed by AFP Vice Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Glorioso Miranda upon his arrival at the Francisco Bangoy International Airport in Davao City from Peru. Nov. 23, 2016. Malacanang photo by King Rodriguez.
So it was not jet lag that was the reason why President Duterte was absent in the gala dinner heads of state attending the 2017 Leaders Meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in Lima, Peru last Saturday as he earlier told reporters. It’s stomach upset.
In his interview at the Wireless Catholic Cemetery in Davao City Wednesday, he was asked for his reaction to the criticism of former President Fidel Ramos about his absence in two APEC events in Peru: one was the dinner Saturday and the other was the traditional group photo on Sunday.
Ramos said the gala night could have been an opportunity for Duterte to exchange ideas with world leaders and sickness is an unacceptable alibi to skip such an important gathering. Besides, a doctor is always part of the presidential delegation if the President was not feeling well.
CNN’s Christiane AmanpourCNN’s chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour has been awarded the Committee to Project Journalists’ Burton Benjamin Memorial Award for “extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom.” In her acceptance speech Tuesday night, she urged media to hold firm to the basic values of journalism: “As a profession, let’s fight for what is right. Let’s fight for our values. Bad things do happen when good people do nothing.”
Here are some more of the gems from her speech which Filipino journalists can identify with:
Stop banalizing the Truth
“I believe in being truthful, not neutral. And I believe we must stop banalizing the truth.
And we have to be prepared to fight especially hard for the truth in a world where the Oxford English Dictionary just announced its word of 2016: “post-truth.”
Pres. Duterte boards the plane at Jorge Chavez International Airport, in Lima Peru at the end of the 2016 APEC Leaders meeting. Malacanang photo by Simeon Celi, Jr.
President Duterte’s absence in two traditional events in the 2017 summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation or APEC once again raises the need for Malacañang to inform the public of the health of the 71-year old chief executive.
We know it’s a sensitive subject for Duterte but the public’s concern is valid and recognized by the Constitutional provision of “the right of the people to information on matters of public concern.”
Section 12 of Art. VII states that, “In case of serious illness of the President, the public shall be informed of the state of his health. “
Panelists in the forum on Media Ownership in the Philippines. (L-R) Prof. Clarissa David of the Philippine Competition Commission and University of the Philippines; Maria Regina Reyes, head of Integrated News and Current Affairs, ABS-CBN; John Nery, editor in chief, Inquirer.net and Rigoberto Tiglao, Manila Times columnist and author of the book,”Colossal Deception.”
First things first: I’d like to thank each and every one who took time to attend the whole day launch and conference of the Media Ownership Monitor Philippines (http://philippines.mom-rsf.org/ ) last Thursday.
My special thanks to Press Undersecretary Enrique Tandan who delivered the keynote address in behalf of Press Secretary Martin Andanar, who was in Lima, Peru with President Duterte for the APEC summit; Atty Romel Bagares, who did the legal assessment of media ownership in the Philippines; and the four panelists – Ging Reyes, head of Integrated News and Current Affairs, ABS-CBN Corporation; John Nery, editor in chief, Inquirer.net and opinion columnist, Philippine Daily Inquirer; Prof. Clarissa David of the Philippine Competition Commission and the Graduate Studies Department, College of Mass Communication, University of the Philippines; and Bobi Tiglao, Manila Times columnist and author of the book, Colossal Deception- How Foreigners Control our Telecoms Sector.
The participants enjoyed the lively exchanges among the panelists –especially between Tiglao and Nery- which happens only in a gathering of learned and strong- minded personalities.
MOM is a joint project of Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) Germany and VERA Files (disclosure: I’m a trustee of VERA Files) which both believe that media ownership matters in the quality and credibility of the news that the public gets.
