President Duterte in Japan. He cut short his visit due to “”unbearable pain in his spinal column.” Photo by Sen. Bong Go. From Philippine Star.
Section 12 of Art. VII of the Constitution states, “In case of serious illness of the President, the public shall be informed of the state of his health.“
What is the state of the President Duterte’s health now? How serious is his current illness?
Tuesday, Malacañang announced that the President will be cutting short his trip to Japan where he was supposed to attend the enthronement of Emperor Naruhito. He left Davao City in a private plane Monday evening.
“The Palace announces that the president will cut short his trip to Japan due to unbearable pain in his spinal column near the pelvic bone as a consequence of his fall during his motorcycle ride,” Malacañang said.
President Rodrigo Duterte awards a medal on then Ozamiz City police chief Jovie Espenido during the 116th anniversary of the police service at Camp Crame, Aug. 9, 2017. Photo from the Philippine Star.
Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, in his attempt to explain President Duterte’s alarming order to newly promoted Police Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido to go to Bacolod City in Negros Oriental and “feel free to kill everybody” said it was an exaggeration to emphasize a point.
He also said the President might have just suggested a “shortcut.”
“Shortcut” is most disturbing and that is not assuaged by his assurance that the Philippine National Police still follow the law.
In a speech at the 45th Philippine Business conference and expo at the Manila Hotel Oct. 17, Duterte again talked about his favorite topic- illegal drugs- and repeated his quarrel with human rights groups, who condemn the extra judicial killings.
Then senator Antonio Trillanes IV, flanked by Se. Franklin Drilon and Sen. Risa Hontiveros, when Pres. Duterte tried to nullify the amnesty granted him by President Benigno Aquino III.
If all that President Duterte’s henchmen can come up with against former senator Antonio Trillanes IV is Guillermina Barrido, that means they have scraped the bottom of the barrel and found nothing.
The preliminary hearing resumes Oct. 22 and it is interesting to see what fiction and invention Duterte and his minions have again produced.
Duterte’s con artists tried fake bank accounts and it was Duterte that they conned. Trillanes was able to debunk them by getting a certification from the banks mentioned in the documents.
Duterte tried dragging in Trillanes sick mother in the Napoles helmet scam but records in the Sandiganbayan of the case never mentioned her name.
Trillanes has joined the academe after his stint in the Senate. It’s a quieter life compared to the years after he and a group your military officers decided to make a stand against corruption in the government of Gloria M. Arroyo in what is known as the Oakwood mutiny on July 27, 2003.
Senate hearing on Good Conduct Time Allowance law. Extreme right iin police officers’s uniform is PNP Chief Oscar Albayalde. Extreme left is Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong, former chief of the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.
It is poetic justice that President Duterte’s brutal drug war, on which he built his presidency, is unraveling not because of the efforts of those who oppose it but because of the greed and impunity of the people that he trusted to carry it out.
The hearing of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chaired by Sen. Richard Gordon started with the investigation of the anomalous implementation of the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law which almost set free heinous crime convict Antonio Sanchez, former Calauan mayor who raped and killed a UP Los Baños student and her male friend in June 1993. The initial hearings exposed the incompetence of Bureau of Corrections officials led by former Marines officer Nicanor Faeldon, who is eternally trusted by Duterte.
One of the resource persons called by Gordon was Baguio Mayor Benjamin Magalong, former chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, to share the findings of the investigation his office conducted in 2014 when Sen. Leila de Lima, who is currently in prison on unproven illegal drugs charges , was justice secretary under the administration of Benigno Aquino III. The probe showed that It was discovered that some inmates continued to run their illegal drug operation from inside the prison.
Sen. Bong Go should go ahead and tell President Duterte to ban American legislators who they think are “meddling” in the way they are running the country.
Speaking during the 118th Balangiga Day Commemoration in Balangiga, Eastern Samar September 28, Go said “I will suggest to President Duterte to ban American legislators from entering our country for interfering in our internal affairs. These senators think they know better than us in governing ourselves.”
Go’s tirade against the American legislators was a reaction to the amendment Senators Richard Durbin and Patrick Leahy proposed, and was approved, in the Fiscal Year 2020 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill which is to prohibit entry to the U.S. Philippine government officials involved in the imprisonment of Sen. Leila de Lima which they see as “politically motivated.”
U.S. senators Patrick Leahy and Richard Durbin
The budget amendment followed the fiing of a resolution in the U.S House of Representatives condemning the Philippine government of for its continued detention of De Lima and called for her immediate release.
The anti-fake news bill filed by Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III violates international law and , if passed, will “effectively silence and prohibit any speech” the government does not like, the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law said in its analysis of “Anti-Fake Content Act” filed on July 1, 2019.
In the conclusion of its analysis of the Sotto bill, ICNL said, “This Act enables the Government of the Philippines to effectively silence and prohibit any speech it does not like. In addition to censoring such speech – which is itself an unlawful restriction to the freedom of expression – the Act provides for overly harsh criminal penalties to the creators, authors, producers and publishers of content deemed to be ‘false’ or ‘misleading to the public.’”
“Laws that criminalize ‘fake news’ violate international law protecting the freedom of expression, “ ICNL said.
The sharp decline of the public trust in media based on the findings of 2019 Philippine Trust Index survey is not surprising but something to be concerned of.
Media is essential in a democracy. There is no democracy where and when media is not free.
Media strengthens democracy by informing the people of what is happening as truthfully as it can be ascertained. In doing so, the people can hold accountable the officials for all their actions and decisions. Media plays a vital role in making democracy truly a government of the people, for the people and by the people.
Atty. Jude Sabio files a complaint against Pres. Duterte at the ICC in The Hague.At the second preliminary investigation last Friday by the Department of Justice of the charge of sedition last Friday by the Department of Justice of the charge of sedition filed by the Philippine National Police against Vice President Leni Robredo and 38 others including former Sen. Antonio Trillanes III, Assistant Solicitor General Angelita Miranda tried to submit additional evidence but was rejected by the panel for the simple reason that when they filed the case in July, the evidence should have been complete.
What Miranda wanted to submit was a news clipping of an opinion piece by lawyer Jude Sabio in the Mindanao Goldstar Daily on Sept. 2, 2019 criticizing Trillanes and a column in the Manila Times by Rigoberto Tiglao about Sabio’s article.
When the brave ladies of ICanServe gather at the PICC in Pasay City on Sept. 28 for the 2019 Silver Linings, there is one person who will be sadly missed: Maria Fatima (Pamsy) Teosico.
Pamsy has gone ahead. But I bet, she will be in Silver Linings. Forever solicitous, Pamsy will make sure that every one is attended to in a large gathering like Silver Linings.
Bong Go announcing that Malacañang is going to investigate the aborted release of convicted rapist, former Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez, Sept 2, 2019.
The government of the Philippine is structured in such a way that the three branches of government –, the Legislative, the Executive, and the Judicial – are co-equal and independent from each other.
The independence of the three branches of government from each other is vital under the principle of check and balance in a democracy.
The system of check and balance is instituted to prevent any branch of government or any person in the government from becoming too powerful leading to dictatorship and the destruction of democracy.
