Archive - News

  ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS IS the voting in the Supreme Court decision allowing the burial of Ferdinand E. Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani reflective of the sentiments of the justices towards the Marcoses? Will that be the same alignment in the election protest of former Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr against the election

                                                               By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS RETIRED ambassador Jaime J. Yambao wrote in his column in Manila Times that the  Board of Governors the Philippine Ambassadors Foundation Inc. (PAFI) at its last meeting agreed to “express its alarm and concern over the demoralization in the ranks of career ambassadors caused by the announced and probable

YVONNE T. CHUA DAVAO CITY—Three representatives from the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) are expected to be among the 10 government nominees in the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) the Duterte administration is reconstituting Monday, presidential adviser on the peace process Jesus Dureza said Saturday. He said, however, MNLF founding chairperson Nur Misuari will not be

  By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS PRESIDENT  Duterte has decided that his choice to be ambassador to the United States, Marciano “Jun” Paynor will not go to Washington States this year. It has nothing to do with the uncertain state of PH-US relations. Duterte feels that Paynor is needed here for the preparations of the 2017

WITH the confirmation by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana that the three Chinese Coast Guard ships are still in Scarborough shoal, the statement of China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying last Monday underscored that Filipino fishermen are back in Scarborough Shoal on the benevolence of China.

  By ALBERTO ENCOMIENDA FOREIGN policy has taken center stage at this early point in the Duterte administration. It should be no surprise inasmuch as since shortly before assuming the Presidency, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has loudly made known that sea changes in foreign policy political/geopolitical direction of the country looms in the horizon, the basic premise of which is in regard to pursuing an

                             By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS                   EVERY Undas or All Souls Day (Nov. 2) when Filipinos troop to cemeteries to remember departed loved ones, I always think of the families of desaparecidos. Where do they go to offer flowers and light the candles for their dead whom they didn’t bury? I think of Edith Burgos,

By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS DO you know that President Rodrigo Duterte is a Foreign Service graduate? That what he said in his press conference with the foreign correspondents in China last Oct. 19. He boasted: “Now that I am the President, by the grace of God, I read a lot; I’m a lawyer and I

By MARIA FEONA IMPERIAL  The Commission on Elections on Wednesday said they are validating all statement of contributions and expenditures (SOCE) submission of candidates in the May 2016 elections where PDP-Laban candidate Rodrigo Duterte won in the presidential race. “We are validating all SOCE submissions. We are not singling out the President,” Comelec spokesperson James

  By CHARMAINE DEOGRACIAS 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

By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS 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

By CHARMAINE DEOGRACIAS PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to adopt every textbook approach on the issue of the South China Sea territorial dispute but they were muted on the arbitral tribunal ruling during their bilateral talks. In joint statement released after the bilateral meeting on Thursday, Philippines and China reaffirmed their