Archive - Commentary

The Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law is now in jeopardy.

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.

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.

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.

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).

I love “John Denver Trending” and I recommend you take time to watch it at the nearestvenue 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.

The 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.

One thinks his political allegiances made Sen. Tolentino forget his public international law, which was his major as a graduate student at the University of London. Or perhaps, he simply forgot.

After reading Sen. Ping Lacson’s revelation of the billions of pesos collected by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office that do not go to government coffers and are instead diverted to the pockets of PCSO officials., corrupt politicians, policemen and syndicate operators, I feel my lotto problem is minuscule.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo’s explanation of the President’s declaration of his helplessness about the situation in the West Philippine Sea because China is “in possession” of disputed geographical features in the area has made the mess messier.

Riding on an 85 percent approval rating, President Duterte probably thought he could convince Filipinos about the wisdom of his much-criticized policy towards China in the matter of the country’s territorial claim in the South China Sea. He devoted a lot of time on the issue of West Philippine Sea in his State of the Nation address Monday.

If the objective of the #Real Numbers press conference last Thursday organized by the Presidential Communications Operations Office was to clarify about the conflicting numbers related to President Duterte’s drug war, it left us more confused.

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is correct when he questioned recently whether China can actually claim a huge swath of the ocean – by which he meant the Chinese Nine Dash Line Claim over practically the entire South China Sea (including portions we refer to as the West Philippine Sea).

Writer Floy Quintos wrote this poem after he watched Junel Insigne, captain of the fishing boat Gem-Ver, which was rammed by a Chinese fishing boat midnight of June 9, beside Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol in a press conference June 19.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, speaking on the telephone: Sir, we just got word that a Chinese boat in Recto Bank hit a local fishing boat.

The sinking last week of Filipino-owned wooden fishing boat F/B GimVer 1 by a bigger Chinese ship in Recto Bank presents an expanding dynamic to Chinese expansionist claims over recognized Philippine maritime zones .

President Duterte dismissed what happened in Reed Bank on June 9 where a Chinese fishing boat “Yuemaobinyu 42212” rammed a Philippine fishing boat, F/B Gimver 1 which threw the 22 Filipino fishermen into the waters in the darkness of the night until they were rescued by a Vietnamese fishing boat, as just a “maritime incident.”

Supreme Court Justice Antonio T. Carpio believes that it was not a collision of fishing vessels that happened on June 9 in Reed Bank (Philippine name: Recto Bank; Chinese name: Liyue Tan), 80 nautical miles off Palawan and within the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone.

The arrest of Davao-based journalist Margarita Valle last Sunday which turned out to be a case of mistaken identity puts into a question how intelligent is this so-called intelligence report which is the basis for the actions of government authorities including the country’s chief executive, President Duterte.

The Department of Health is aiming high: By 2040 they want a cervical cancer-free Philippines.

Always look left, right and left again when crossing the street.

A day after the May 13 elections, the “Marcos Centennial” and “Kabataang Barangay Worldwide” accounts in Facebook became inaccessible.

The single most formidable political force in the country today as shown by the results of the May 13 elections is not President Duterte nor his daughter, Sara, who made her debut in the national political scene with her newly-formed party Hugpong ng Pagbabago.

It’s been a long time coming: a Manila Mayor who is considered presidential timber.