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.
Bilateral meeting between Philippine and Chinese officials led by President Duterte and President Xi Jinping at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on August 29, 2019. Malacanang photo by Robinson Ninal.
The most important documents that were exchanged between the Philippines and China during last week’s visit of President Duterte to China were not included in the list of agreements signed that was released by Malacañang to media.
The documents were the list of names that will constitute the Inter-governmental steering committee that would supervise the joint exploration between the Philippines and China in the West Philippine Sea.
CNN Philippines was able to get the document submitted by China. CNN PH said “A highly-placed source gave CNN Philippines a document showing seven members from the Chinese side, to be led by Vice Foreign Minister Luo Zhaohui as co-chair and Vice Minister Li Fanrong of the National Energy Administration as co-vice chair. The other members are:
President Duterte welcomes China’s President Xi Jinping in Malacanang in November 2018.
The PH-China Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation on Oil and Gas Development, considered a breakthrough in the jagged relationship of the Philippines and China, is expected to move forward when the two governments submit the names who will compose the Working Group during the bilateral meeting of President Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping in China on Thursday.
The exchange of names of members of the Working Group is provided for in the Terms of Reference (TOR) on Inter-Governmental Joint Steering Committee and Inter-Entrepreneurial Working Group between the Philippines and China which was signed by Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi three weeks ago.
The Working group will negotiate and agree on” inter-entrepreneurial commercial and technical arrangements” that will be conducted in the area of the joint exploration that will be undertaken jointly by the Philippines and China in Philippine waters.
Chinese ships passing through Philippine waters first week of August 2019. Photo by The Armed Forces of the Philippines Western Mindanao Command.
Following reports by the military two weeks ago about five Chinese warships passing through Philippine waters, President Duterte last Tuesday issued a statement requiring all foreign vessels to notify Philippine authorities and to get clearance ahead of their passage.
Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo’s statement:
“To avoid misunderstanding in the future, the President is putting on notice that beginning today, all foreign vessels passing our territorial waters must notify and get clearance from the proper government authority well in advance of the actual passage. Either we get a compliance in a friendly manner or we enforce it in an unfriendly manner.”
This is another example of Duterte’s idiotic way of handling foreign relations especially concerning the conflict with China in the West Philippine Sea.
Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo. Malacañang photo.
Had Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo read my column last Monday on President Duterte receiving cash gifts in millions of pesos on the 69th birthday, he should not have denied what the President has admitted a long time ago.
In his press briefing Aug. 19, ABS-CBN’s Pia Gutierrez asked for his comment on my column titled “Duterte gets gifts in multi-million pesos.”
I wrote that “On his 69th birthday, on March 28, 2014, seven deposits totalling P193,705,615.88 were credited to the joint account of then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his daughter Sara Z. Duterte in BPI, Julia Vargas branch in Ortigas Center. The first was in the amount of P55,131,747.32, followed by P41,721,035.62. Then four deposits in the amount of P20,000,000.00 each came in. The last deposit for the day was in the amount of P16,852,832.94.”
Malacañang photo by Richard Madelo.
When President Duterte told members of the police force that it’s okay to accept gifts, he was just preaching what he has been doing. And his harvest has been bountiful, by his own account.
On his 69th birthday, on March 28, 2014, seven deposits totaling P193,705,615.88 were credited to the joint account of then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte and his daughter Sara Z. Duterte in BPI, Julia Vargas branch in Ortigas Center. The first was in the amount of P55,131,747.32, followed by P41,721,035.62. Then four deposits in the amount of P20,000,000.00 each came in. The last deposit for the day was in the amount of P16,852,832.94.
VERA Files obtained the bank records from the Senate Record where former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV submitted the documents. These are the same documents that were submitted to the Office of the Ombudsman when Trillanes filed a plunder case against Duterte.
China’s President Xi Jinping welcomes President Duterte during the latter’s state visit in October 2016.
China is unfazed by President Duterte’s announcement that he will be raising the 2016 ruling of the Arbitral Court nullifying China’s all-encompassing nine dash line that encroaches on the economic exclusive zone of other countries in South East Asia including the Philippines with Chinese President Xi Jinping when they meet in Beijing end of this month before he proceeds to Foshan, Guandong to attend the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).
In an interview with reporters Friday, Zhao underscored China’s consistent position before and after the decision of the Arbitral Court that favoured the Philippine position.” We expressed that we will not accept it and we will not recognize it. And that position has not changed, and will not be changed.”
Last week Duterte announced before members of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry that he was going to China. “Did I not tell you before, that before my term ends, I will be talking about the [South] China Sea?”
The announcement is a marked departure from the position of not displeasing China he articulated when the decision came out in July 2016. He justified it as part of his policy to improve relations with China, which was severely damaged during the administration of President Benigno Aquino III.
To combat new forms of disinformation and election propaganda seen to have circulated on social media during the May midterm polls, a study by three academics who studied the 2019 midterm Philippine elections suggest transparency in various aspects including finance to lessen disinformation in 2022 elections.
In a study titled “Tracking Digital Disinformation in the 2019 Philippine Midterm Elections” released Friday, Aug. 9, media experts Jonathan Ong from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Ross Tapsell of Australia National University and Nicole Curato from the University of Canberra, proposed that the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) require candidates to “sign off” on online advertisements about them, and come up with more specific guidelines on campaign expenditure disclosures, specifically for online materials.
Their report, which monitored the digital disinformation that flourished from January 2019 leading up to the May 13, 2019 senatorial polls, saw the rise of underground campaigns – both positive and negative – that fly under the radar of the poll body. This, in the face of larger amounts of campaign funds being funneled into online material.
“The digital campaigners we interviewed declared that they now get a more significant chunk of the campaign war chest, with some campaigns allocating up to fifty percent of their ‘air’ budget to social media,” they said. Ross Tapsell, senior lecturer at Australia National University, one of the authors of the study “Tracking Digital Disinformationin the 2019 Philippine Midterm Elections” explains their research during the launch Aug.9 at Bay Leaf Hotel in Intramuros, Manila. Beside him is his co-author Jonathan Ong. Photo by Celine Samson.
Movie director Arden Rod Condez with Meryll Soriano, Jansen Magpusao ,Glenn Sevilla Mas and the production team of “John Denver trending.”
I love “John Denver Trending” and I recommend you take time to watch it at the nearest venue it is showing. Aug. 9, Friday,it is showing at 6:15 at the CCP’s main theater, Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo where Cinemalaya 2019 festival is ongoing.
It is also showing in commercial theaters : at 4:30 p.m. at Trinoma; Market, Market; and Glorietta. It will also be showing at the Abreeza Mall in Davao.
Given the interest and enthusiasm the film has generated, there’s a good chance that there will be more scheduled screenings in commercial movie houses. Watch out for it.
Peter Joemel Advicula at IBP, May 6, 2019. From ABS-CBN NewsThe problem when one concocts a story and put details to impress is that, when he repeats it, there’s the chance that he will mix up or forget some of the details he related. That is what is happening to Peter Joemel Advincula alias Bikoy.
There are four affidavits of Advincula that have been made public including the December 2016 document that he allegedly gave to Senate President Tito Sotto implicating detained Sen. Leila de Lima in the drug syndicate.
The three affidavits – May 6, 2016 executed at the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, the May 29, 2019 done at the Philippine National Police – Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, and the July 17 which he submitted to the Department of Justice – are related to what he alleged as the plot to oust Duterte by the opposition. These affidavits are the basis for the sedition case filed by the PNP-CIDG against 38 persons led by Vice President Leni Robredo, former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, Sen. Risa Hontiveros, , seven members of the Religious Community, seven of the eight (Mar Roxas is not included) senatorial candidates of the opposition in the last May elections.
Advincula, who will be the PNP’s star witness, is included among those charged. So is dismissed police officer Senior Superintendent Eduardo Acierto, who was allegedly involved in the 2018 drug smuggling through magnetic filters in 2018.
