By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
When President Rodrigo Duterte gets criticized for doing nothing in the face of information China has installed missiles in the disputed West Philippine Sea, he points out that the Chinese threat has been there for a long time but past presidents had done nothing to defend our territorial integrity.
He is consciously committing the failure he is faulting past presidents for.
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By contrast, Vietnam had asked China to remove its military equipment from the South China Sea after the U.S. news network CNBC reported that China had installed missiles in three of its outposts in the area.
We should not only import rice but also grit from Vietnam. Our president needs a sack of it.
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Duterte ranks 69th in Forbes ‘Most Powerful People’ list – CNN
And he is a puppy towards China at that. If he just develops the balls of his Vietnamese counterpart , he will surely shoot up in the Forbes rankings.
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There’s now a compilation of videos on social media chronicling how President Duterte’s position on China went 180 degrees from his threat during the campaign about jet skiing to and planting the Philippine flag in one of China’s airports in the area to when he suggested China just make the Philippines a province up to when he asked how come President Benigno Aquino III did not act on the victory of the country in the arbitration case against China when he was still in power when the decision was handed down.
I would not be surprised if his next statement on the dispute will be made in Chinese.
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According to Rappler, 16 of the officials fired by Duterte for corruption have not yet been charged, two are back in government and two are in jail facing charges.
Let’s hope former Tourism Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo will not be the third sacked official to be recycled.
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A barangay councilor from Tanauan, Batangas who died last year was included in the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency list of drug-linked barangay officials – news item. This is not the first time this happened. If I am not mistaken, a drug list announced by President Duterte himself was also marred by the inclusion of a dead person in it.
In their cases, it is a necro list, not narco list.
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Palace respects Ombudsman recommendation to file case vs Faeldon –news item regarding the P6.4M shabu smuggling. The same news story stated that presidential son and former Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte was cleared in the same case.
Palace respects even more the Ombudsman decision to clear Paolo.
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Con-com bans political turncoats under draft federal Charter – Inquirer
Let’s hope President Duterte will not brand the proposal as a curtailment of freedom. I remember he had commented the anti-political dynasty proposal is anti-democracy.
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LOOK: Robredo’s youngest daughter passes UPCAT, NYU admissions exam – Inquirer
Of more interest to me is how Robredo is faring as vice president. My beef is she cannot even get her facts straight and of late, according to the DDS, she had borrowed a rousing sentence in her speech from a movie.**
