Sharing with media the Pastor’s hurt feeling, Quiboloy’s spokesperson, Mike Abe, said the last face-to-face meeting of the two was at 3 a.m. of May 10, several hours after it became certain that Duterte had won the May 9 election. Duterte was interviewed at Quiboloy’s Sunshine Media Network International.
Abe said the two even shared a hug, before the winning presidential candidate left.
After that, Abe said Duterte has become inaccessible to the Pastor anymore.
By all means, Duterte should order a probe.
The term “lost Scarborough shoal” is debatable. Security officials deny that. Foreign affairs officials will not say that because that would be detrimental to the claim of the Philippines on the shoal which is included in the case filed by the Philippines against China before the Arbitral Court.
The reality, however, is that Filipino fishermen are denied access to the area around the shoal by three Chinese ships stationed there since June 2012.
How that situation came to be started on April 10, 2012 when BRP Gregorio del Pilar arrested eight Chinese boats with sizable quantities of endangered marine species, corals, live sharks and giant clams.
Chinese fishermen caught in Philippine waters is not an unusual happening – be it in Scarborough shoal in the northwestern side of the country or in the Spratlys, in the southwestern part of the country. When that happens, the fishermen are charged in court and the Chinese Embassy works for their release. The case is usually handled in the provincial and regional level.
The use of BRP Gregorio del Pilar, a warship, to arrest Chinese fishing vessels changed the atmosphere in the maritime row.
It’s only 45 days away when Rodrigo Duterte becomes the 16th president of the Republic of the Philippines.
If Duterte makes good his election promise, Gloria Arroyo, who has won another term as representative of the second district of Pampanga, can look forward to days of freedom very soon. She has been confined at the Veterans Memorial Hospital since 2011.
When he campaigned in Pampanga last Feb. 7, Duterte said, “If I am elected President, I will release her. Why? Because the evidence [against her] is weak. I know that. I am a lawyer.”
Duterte’s assessment of cases against Arroyo as “weak” is supported by the dismissal by the Ombudsman of the P200 million fertilizer scam case and the alleged illegal transfer of funds of Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to Philhealth.
In an interview before the May 9 election, the source said Teodoro has not yet responded to the invitation to join the Duterte cabinet.
Teodoro ran for president in 2010 but lost to his cousin, Benigno Aquino III.
The job of foreign secretary would be doubly challenging in a Duterte presidency considering the incoming head of state’s irreverent nature, lack of patience for formalities and protocol and penchant for profanity.
The most important foreign relations issue for the incoming administration is China. The decision of the Arbitral Tribunal of the United Nations Commission on the Law of the Sea on the case filed by the Philippines to declare illegal China’s all encompassing nine-dash-line map is expected to be handed down in the next few weeks.
By ELLEN TORDESILLAS, VERA Files
CHINA is hopeful that relations with the Philippines will be better under the government of Rodrigo Duterte, who will succeed President Benigno Aquino III on July 1.
In a regular press conference in Beijing Wednesday, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang was asked about statements by Duterte that he is willing to talk with China and go into joint exploration in disputed areas in the South China Sea.
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is the clear choice of the majority of the Filipino people and whatever kind of leader he turns out to be, we deserve him.
The Filipino people who trooped to the polls last Monday (highest voter turnout – 81 percent of 54.3 million) showed the vibrancy of Philippine democracy. It was the most vicious election campaign which was made more acrimonious by the mis-use of social media.
The atmosphere became toxic that caused many to be concerned whether we would ever be whole again after being torn apart by partisan politics.
By Ellen T. Tordesillas, Maria Feona Imperial, Verlie Retulin
VERA Files
With almost 65 per cent of the results of the voting for the 2016 Elections, Sen. Grace Poe of Partido Galing at Puso conceded the election to Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte of PDP-Laban.
Poe concedes in a televised past midnight press conference.
Poe concedes in a televised past midnight press conference.
In a statement which Poe read in her past- midnight press conference, she said:
It would be slap in the face of President Aquino who refuses to see that the Filipino people’s attraction to the putang-ina talking Duterte is an expression of their disgust for his government.
On the 30th anniversary of People Power revolution last Feb. 22, Aquino warned against electing the late dictator’s son. But Sen. Marcos popularity continued to surge even as the administration’s candidate, Leni Robredo, tries to catch up close.
Take a glimpse of the miting de avance of the five presidential candidates plus that of Bongbong Marcos in the following links to VERA Files’…
PRESIDENTIAL race frontrunner Rodrigo Duterte, already facing a plunder case filed by Sen. Antonio Trillanes, has been slapped with yet another complaint, this time by disabillity groups and advocates.
Disability advocates Ranilo Sorongon and Liza Martinez charged the Davao City mayor before the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Friday of violating the law when he ridiculed persons with disabilities (PWDs) and senior citizens during a now infamous campaign sortie in the Visayas weeks ago.
“As PWDs advocating for respect of the rights of all PWDs, including older persons with disabilities (and) our inherent dignity, diversity and humanity, we are outraged and vehemently and unequivocably condemn, the disparaging comments of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte during his campaign sortie in Kalibo, Aklan,” the complainants said in a statement.