By MARIA FEONA IMPERIAL, VERA Files The Commission on Elections Campaign Finance Office (CFO) has started looking into campaign finance records of President Rodrigo Duterte…
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By CHARMAINE DEOGRACIAS
VERA Files
IF the South China Sea took a backseat in President Rodrigo Duterte’s visit to China, it will be high in the agenda in his bilateral talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday.
A diplomatic source said, Duterte will look to Japan for its maritime security needs in the South China Sea.
“On the South China Sea issue, it will be a conscious effort for us to use or message it that we are strengthened strategic partner, it’s not just any partnership, it’s a strengthened strategic partnership. Center to this is maritime security and when he talks of maritime security, it’s not just the civilian maritime law enforcement side, that will necessarily involve defense,” a source at the Department of Foreign Affairs said.
President Duterte’s sharing of his experience with “American idiotic arrogance” has lifted part of the veil of mystery about the reason for his intense hostility towards the United States that many are concerned is adversely affecting long-standing Philippine-US relations.
In his speech before Philippines-China Trade and Investment Forum in Beijing during his three day visit to China (it was there where he announced the Philippines will “separate” with the United States militarily and economically) he related his encounter with immigration officials in Los Angeles Airport.
His story: “I was going to Brazil with some of the Congressmen and when we came back – because our entry, port of entry was L.A going there was Miami. You know when I was cleared by Customs, I was going out at the LA LAX airport. Here comes this black guy in uniform also black, with the pistol also black and his shoes was black and I thought that he was somebody – no slur intended that is his original color. And he accosted me and said “May I see your passport.” So I gave him, it was a diplomatic passport because we were travelling most of the Congressman in my entourage were travelling with passport diplomatic. And he said, “Where is your letter of authority to travel?” And so that was the first time that I say it was missing. And I said with probably because that letter was addressed to the port of entry in South American, which is Brazil and it was not clipped and so probably it was not re-inserted in the passport and it was lost this way. “
By CHARMAINE DEOGRACIAS, VERA Files
President Rodrigo Duterte will not initiate and will instead let Chinese President Xi Jinping to take the lead on whether the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration will be discussed in their meeting today.
In a press conference in Wednesday night with Beijing-based media, on the eve of his meeting with Xi, Duterte said, “As a friend, and I would say this now, if he (Xi) mentions it in passing I will just say, Mr. President I don’t want to make hardline position. I don’t want to ask you to do it now because there will be a time that we shall be doing it. But I have to wait for your President to mention it in passing for me to respond.”
Duterte said the talking points will be broad enough to accommodate all issues but out of courtesy, the “oriental way” he would wait for the right time. He said the general outline of the agenda was reached in the preliminary talks between Philippines Foreign Secretary and his Chinese counterpart.
By CHARMAINE DEOGRACIAS
VERA Files
WHETHER Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping talk about Scarborough Shoal in their first meeting in Beijing, the specter of the triangular-shaped coral reef 124 nautical miles west of Zambales looms large in this landmark visit that signals the rekindling of relations between the two Asian countries severely strained with the filing of the suit before the Hague tribunal by the previous administration of Benigno Aquino III.
A Malacañang source said Duterte will take up the South China Sea issue, “if raised” in his four-eyes meeting with Xi on Oct. 20. He will not initiate to raise the issue of the arbitral ruling but will respond if mentioned. However, his key message on the matter of Scraborough shoal will be asserting the fishing rights of Filipinos there, but while this is his wish “he will listen and will not make any imposition on the Chinese side.”
An upbeat Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua told members of media last Friday that they expect President Duterte’s four-day state visit to China to be “fruitful.”
He said at least a dozen Memoranda of Understanding are being worked out to be signed during the Oct. 18 to 21 visit and one of them will be on increased importation of bananas, pineapples and dragon fruits.
In a press conference at Kamuning Bakery in Quezon City,four days before Duterte’s much-awaited state visit to China, Zhao said, “President Duterte has told me repeatedly that he is concerned about Filipino farmers particularly those farmers who are growing bananas or other tropical fruits. In response to this concern, the Chinese side has decided to increase the imports of tropical fruits, such as bananas, pineapples. As a matter of fact, among all ASEAN countries PH banana and pineapple have already constituted a very large percentage in the Chinese market. If I recall correctly, bananas constitute about 82 percent and pineapples constitute over 70 percent but still we would like to import more. “
The critique of former President Fidel V. Ramos of President Duterte’s first 100 days should be a warning to the latter that he cannot go on with his “Kill, Kill” mantra with five years and nine months more to go in his presidency.
FVR burst the bubble of Malacañang’s euphoria over the President’s 76 percent satisfaction rating (Social Weather Stations September 24-27, 2016 survey) with a commentary in the Oct. 9 issue of the Manila Bulletin that “..we find our team Philippines losing in the first 100 days of DU30’s administration – and losing badly. This is a huge disappointment and let-down to many of us.
“Team Philippines” refers to the 101 million Filipinos.
Her Facebook post last Friday – the 100th day of the Duterte presidency- made me admire her more.
This post by Agot has gone viral liked by 24,000 and shared by 7,836:
“ Unang-una, walang umaaway sa iyo. As a matter of fact, ikaw ang nang-aaway.
“Pangalawa, yung bansa Kung saan ka inuluklok ng 16 million out of 100+ million people ay Third World. Kung makapagsalita ka parang superpower and pilipinas eh. At excuse me, ayaw namin magutom. Mag-isa ka na Lang. wag kang mandamay. Hindi na nga nakakain ang nakararami, gugutumin mo pa lalo.
“ Pangatlo, may kilala akong psychiatrist. Patingin ka. Hindi ka bipolar. You are a psychopath. “
Once again, warped thinking was on full display when a Yolly Reyes Junto posted on Facebook her rant against Reuters reporters Manny Mogato and Karen Lerma over the story of President Duterte comparing himself with Adolf Hitler.
Junto’s Oct. 1 post started with a purported disclaimer: “I am no Duterte fanatic. I criticize him more scathingly than anyone when his mouth is out of line. But this time, Duterte really didn’t say anything wrong. ‘
Get yourself a copy of Rigoberto Tiglao’s book, “Colossal Deception- How foreigners control our telecoms sector.”
The book, as its front cover states, is “a case study of corruption, cronyism and regulatory capture in the Philippines.”
The book benefits from Tiglao’s experience as journalist (Business Day and Far Eastern Economic Review) as he pierced through the corporate layers to see who is really behind what we think is Manuel V. Pangilinan’s expanding empire.
Tiglao said, his book, “ tells how an Indonesian magnate built up a new business empire outside his country in just 18 years – dwarfing others owned by Filipino magnates – and why a foreigner has been allowed to do so by Philippine authorities despite the clear constitutional restrictions on foreign control.”
The Indonesian is Anthoni Salim – a name that most Filipinos have not heard of.
Tiglao said Salim “ has never been seen in public here, if ever he had stepped on Philippine soil.”
“ Yet his conglomerate in the country consists of public utility enterprises in which the Constitution bars foreigners from controlling,” the author said.