Oftentimes, when we read or watch on TV news about what’s happening in Donald Trump’s United States of America, you can easily find similarities in the Philippines.
It’s because Trump and the Philippine’s Rodrigo Duterte have many things in common: their contempt for the rule of law, their low regard of women, and their antagonism towards media.
The other day, Trump’s press, Secretary Sean Spicer resigned. This inspired social media wit, Bernard Ong, to pen a letter to Trump with very exciting recommendations.
The president of the Philippines is the country’s chief executive, head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
His powers are awesome, so his words carry the weight of his powerful position.
In his one year in office, President Duterte has shocked, stunned, and bewildered not only Filipinos but also the international community with his pronouncements.
A political observer said that to keep his sanity, he usually waits a day or two before deciding whether to take seriously or dismissing Duterte’s statements.
Photo by Rouelle Umali for Xinhua News
After a six-day absence, President Duterte re-appeared at the Eid-al-ftir celebration in Malacañang Tuesday evening.
That ended grim speculations that prompted Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella to assure the public earlier in the days that the President is “alive and well.”
In a press briefing, Abella allayed concerns about the Duterte’s prolonged absence from public activities saying, “First and foremost, he is alive and well. He is very well. He is just busy doing what he really needs to do. The President, you know, as you‘ve seen, he’s been very much in the public eye; but being out of the public eye, that is when he is able to really do all his work – he signs papers, he reads, he consults, he’s actually very busy.”
One of the issues raised about Duterte’s mysterious absence is that there is an ongoing war in Marawi City which prompted him to declare Martial Law in Mindanao, one of the extreme measures reserved for a president to deal with emergency situation. And he disappears from the national scene!
Pres. Duterte’s first public appearance after five-day absence at the 4th Infantry Division in Bancasi, Butuan City. Malacañang photo.
In his re-appearance speech five days after he was not seen in public, President Duterte gave an explanation for the military’s “mis-appreciation” of intelligence report that has been blamed for the difficulty being encountered by government forces in the ongoing war against the Islamist militants in Marawi city.
It will be recalled that Solicitor General Jose Calida said that the military had received intel reports about possible Maute- Abu Sayyaf attack in Marawi five days before May 23, when the fighting started sparked by the serving of warrant of arrest to ASG leader Isnilon Hapilon. The fierce fighting was the basis of the declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao by Duterte on May 23 .
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who was in Moscow with the President together with other high-ranking security officials said there was no lapse in intelligence monitoring. “It’s just appreciation of the intelligence that was lacking there,” he said.
PRRD at the Villamor Air Base and Bahay ng Pagbabago
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is welcomed by Philippine Air Forces officials during his visit at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City on June 15, 2017. Moreover, to quell rumors that the President is sick, Special Assistant to the President Bong Go shared photos of the President working in Bahay ng Pagbabago.
Pres. Duterte arrives at Villamor Airbase Thursday, June 15. Malacanang photo.
Pres.Rodrigo Roa Duterte signs the report he submitted to Congress for declaring martial law and suspending the writ of habeas corpus in Mindanao on the sidelines of the special Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Guest House in Davao City on May 25, 2017. Malacañang photo.
President Rodrigo Duterte has called the clashes in Marawi City between the Maute group and government forces an act of rebellion, which is one of the justifications for the imposition of Martial Law and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus under the Constitution.
The other justification is “invasion.”
In a seven -page report he submitted Thursday to Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and House Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez, following his declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao May 23 while he was on a working visit to Russia , Duterte said, “While the government is presently conducting legitimate operations to address the on-going rebellion, if not the seeds of invasion, public safety necessitates the continued implementation of martial law and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the whole of Mindanao until such time that the rebellion is completely quelled.”
Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano during President Duterte’s Moscow visit. Malacañang photo.
Newly-installed Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said he has been in all the bilateral meetings between President Duterte and China’s President Xi Jinping and he has not witnessed any threat of war uttered by the Chinese President.
Philippine Ambassador to China Chito Sta. Romana, who has worked and lived in China as a journalist before he was recruited to the foreign service, said in a TV interview, “The whole idea…therefore that China was bullying us and threatening us just doesn’t pass.”
Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio said today the Philippines can to bring to the United Nations the matter of China’s President Xi Jinping threatening President Duterte that China would wage war if the Philippines starts drilling oil in disputed areas in the South China Sea.
In a statement, Carpio said: “The threat of China to go to war against the Philippines if the Philippines extracts oil and gas in the Reed Bank, or in any area within Philippine EEZ in the West Philippine Sea, is a gross violation of the United Nations Charter, UNCLOS, and the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia to which China and the Philippines are parties. As a nation that under its Constitution has renounced war as an instrument of national policy, the Philippines’ recourse is to bring China’s threat of war to another UNCLOS arbitral tribunal, to secure an order directing China to comply with the ruling of the UNCLOS arbitral tribunal that declared the Reed Bank part of Philippine EEZ. The Philippines can also ask for damages for every day of delay that the Philippines is prevented by China from exploiting Philippine EEZ. “
Pres. Duterte and Mongolian Prime Minister Jargaltulgyn Erdenebat held bilateral talks in Beijing. Malacañang photo.
On the sidelines of the first One Belt, One Road summit in Beijing last week, President Duterte met with Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Jargaltulgyn Erdenebat, prime minister of Mongolia.
In his press conference upon arrival in Davao City May 16, Duterte said h is sponsoring the application for membership of Turkey and Mongolia into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The Philippines is this year’s chair of the meetings of Asean, which coincides with the golden anniversary of the regional organization.
“Ay oo, kasi nandiyan ka sa ano…By the way, I had a talk with the President Erdoğan and the Prime Minister of—si Erdenebat sa Mongolia. They also want to… Gusto nila na magsali sa ASEAN. And since I was—I am the chair, ang Pilipinas ngayon, they wanted me to sponsor their entry and I said, “Yes, why not?,” he said.
