Oftentimes, many people including government officials blame media for the many problems that they face in their governance.
Media-bashing was a standard fare in many of the speeches of former President Aquino. President Duterte has followed the same line.
Although the media-bashing reflects a warped appreciation of the role of media, it is also a recognition of the power of media- in its role as a vehicle of information to the public.
By CHARMAINE DEOGRACIAS
VERA Files
IF newly elected US President Donald Trump makes good his campaign threat to pull the United States out of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), he might also pull the plug on the its Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) with the Philippines.
Trump has called the international security alliance “obsolete,” saying it “is costing US a fortune.” He said as much about America’s other alliances in Asia.
These observations were contained in a pre-election research by the East West Center in Washington, D.C. that examined Trump’s pronouncements before the Nov. 8 election, focusing on key Asian issues as part of the “Asia Matters for America and America Matters for Asia” project.
Two things came to our mind when we read about President Duterte’s threat of suspending the writ of habeas corpus if lawlessness in Mindanao worsens.
Number one, his “Kill, Kill” strategy in eradicating the illegal drug problem is not solving the problem despite 4,000 killed.
Number two, the public has been desensitized by all these killings. Duterte knows the public won’t might if he takes his violation of human rights a notch higher.
In a speech at the launching of the Pilipinong May Puso Foundation in Davao City on Friday, he made his usual narration of the gravity of the illegal drug problem in the country. This time, he added the “rebellion” in Mindanao (“Grabe ang bakbakan…”).
“At kung magkalat itong still lawlessness, I might be forced to..” he paused saying it is not something he likes; “Ayaw ko, ayaw ko. Warning ko lang sa kanila ‘yan, ayaw ko kasi hindi maganda.”
Is the voting in the Supreme Court decision allowing the burial of Ferdinand E. Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani reflective of the sentiments of the justices towards the Marcoses?
Will that be the same alignment in the election protest of former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr against the election of Vice President Leni Robredo?
That is what Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV expects.
In his statement, Trillanes said: “The Supreme Court effectively rewrote history. In their purely legalistic eyes, the EDSA People Power which was emulated globally and which we celebrate yearly, never happened. We should now expect Bongbong Marcos to be the Vice President of the country soon.”
One cannot expect the active foreign service officers to come out about their misgivings with the way things are in foreign service so their “elders”, the retired ambassadors are taking up the cudgels for them because they are all “committed to promoting and upholding the professionalization of the (foreign) service for the effective pursuit of the interests of the country and its people. “
Yambao said, “The board therefore deplores the appointment of non-career ambassadors on the basis of contributions the prospective appointee made to the election campaign kitty of the appointing power or powers, or upon the recommendation of campaign contributors and supporters.
“One such appointment that has not escaped the notice of the PAFI board involves yanking a career ambassador, a former undersecretary of foreign affairs for policy no less and a topnotcher of the Foreign Service Officers examination, from a post at which he is newly arrived and has just presented his credentials. This is almost unheard of, even in the Philippines. Political appointments have always been to vacant or about-to-be-vacant posts.”
It has nothing to do with the uncertain state of PH-US relations.
Duterte feels that Paynor is needed here for the preparations of the 2017 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) meeting which will be hosted by the Philippines. There will be two summits, one for the 10 ASEAN leaders that will be held mid- 2017 and what is called ASEAN plus –plus meeting involving leaders of other dialogue countries namely Australia, China, Japan, India, New Zealand, Russia, South Korea, and United States sometime in the later part of next year.
Paynor confirmed this: “I’m making sure that all the preparations for our hosting of ASEAN 2017 from January to November next year are on stream. I serve at the pleasure of the President and wherever he thinks I can be of help, that’s where I’ll be. “
Paynor said, “That I’m not going to DC till the end of the year is sure, but, that I’ll not be going anymore remains to be seen. “
With the confirmation by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana that the three Chinese Coast Guard ships are still in Scarborough shoal, the statement of China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying last Monday underscored that Filipino fishermen are back in Scarborough Shoal on the benevolence of China.
Asked to confirm reports that China “okayed Philippine fishermen’s fishing near Huangyan Dao, ” Hua asserted China’s ownership and control of the area: “The Chinese side has always been exercising normal jurisdiction over Huangyan Dao. The situation there is and will remain unchanged.”
She mentioned “arrangements” made after the meeting of Duterte and Xi last Oct. 20 in Beijing.
“We have seen all-round improvement of China-Philippines relations following President Duterte’s visit to China. Under such circumstances, the Chinese side makes proper arrangements based on the friendship between China and the Philippines in response to the issue of President Duterte’s concern,”
Every Undas or All Souls Day (Nov. 2) when Filipinos troop to cemeteries to remember departed loved ones, I always think of the families of desaparecidos.
Where do they go to offer flowers and light the candles for their dead whom they didn’t bury? I think of Edith Burgos, whose son Jonas was last seen on April 28, 2007 at the Ever Gotesco Mall. I think of University of the Philippines students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno who were last seen on June 26, 2006 in Hagonoy, Bulacan.
There are many more: Father Rudy Romano, a Redemptorist priest who served landless peasants and displaced settlers and the six workers of Paper Industries Corporation of the Philippines namely Joseph Belar, Jovencio Lagare, Romualdo Orcullo, Diosdado Oliver, Artemio Ayala Jr. and Arnold Dangkiasan.
The list is long according to Asian Federation against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD) and Families of Victims of Involuntary Disappearance (FIND).
VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Is President Duterte a Foreign Service graduate? October 29, 2016 IN his state visit to China, President Rodrigo Duterte said he…
Do you know that President Rodrigo Duterte is a Foreign Service graduate?
That what he said in his press conference with the foreign correspondents in China last Oct. 19.
He boasted: “Now that I am the President, by the grace of God, I read a lot; I’m a lawyer and I studied geopolitics and all, and also I am a graduate of the Foreign Service so I get to know how to balance this contending (forces).”
Being a “foreign service graduate” is quite a big leap from just having taken up foreign service which was what he said last Aug. 21, in a press conference in Davao City.