Archive - Commentary

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.

Former Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, who failed in his bid to return to the Senate in the just- concluded elections, called me up yesterday complaining of my description of him as “corruption-tainted.”

The recent midterm elections brought a lot of surprises. For me, the biggest surprise was the fall of the “House of Erap.”

A report by ABS-CBN’s Christian Esguerra said former President and former Manila mayor Joseph Estrada cannot understand why he lost the mayoralty race to Isko Moreno, whom he once promised to hand over the reins of the city after one term but later reneged.

Trust is supposed to be an essential element in an election.

Bluntly put, Filipino politicians tend to have very bad reputations. Greedy, thieving, dishonest, opportunistic, corrupt, callous, and self-interested are the adjectives that immediately come to mind.

Panelo should ask whoever gave him information which he used in his briefing last Wednesday to look for my column in Malaya on April 15 titled “Duterte regains upper hand in the battle of Narco lists.”

Nag-iba ng diskarte ang mga galamay ng Malacañang nang hindi kumagat ang kanilang palpak na “Oust Duterte plot”na may kasama pang katawa-tawa na matrix. Ang pinagdidiskitahan nila ngayon ay ang tulong na bigay ng mga mayayamang bansa o pribadong institusyon sa mga organisasyun sa mga bansa na hindi masyadong mayaman katulad ng Pilipinas.

As long as we have journalists like Felipe Salvosa II, the likes of Bobi Tiglao don’t matter.

A Filipino Consortium on Democracy and Information is holding its second national conference on April 22-23 at the University of the Philippines, BGC with the theme Disinformation and Democratic Decay:Why Deceptive Information Erodes Democratic Institutions.

After Bong Go, President Duterte’s former special assistant who is now one of the frontrunners in the senatorial race, did the humiliating act of undressing in front of the media and under the glare of TV cameras, to show his tattoo-less back, the question of those who were initially impressed with the first three episodes of “Ang totoong Narco list” is, what’s Bikoy going to say about this?

This is a classic case of Duterte getting a dose of his own medicine.

The Philippines has effectively occupied Pag-asa Island (international name:Thitu) since 1978 and has incorporated it as a municipality that is part of the Province of Palawan. There have been elections for the municipal officials of Pag-asa, and there will be elections there in May 2019 like in the rest of the archipelago. There are 400 voters in Pag-asa. Pag-asa has a land area of 37.2 hectares.