Duterte was leading the surveys in the contest that he eventually won convincingly.
With the powers of the presidency, Duterte has been effective in crushing most of political his enemies. His devoted mob has been successful in spreading chaos in cyberspace.
But as one sage said, “Truth is always like oil in water; no matter how much of water you add, it always floats on top.”
Cielito “Honeylet” Salvador Avanceña has weighed in on the more serious issues of her partner’s presidency.
And we are stunned by her logic.
In her talk with the members of the Philippine National Police Monday, Avanceña commented on the allegations that Duterte is a killer, a reputation that the President has cultivated by his boasts of having killed some persons.
Avanceña said, “You’ve seen it, Trillanes has been hitting us since a week before election. Eh bakit buhay pa siya? ‘Di ba? Wala naman nangyayari eh.”
Behind President Duterte’s curse-laden talks is a man in panic.
And the one subject that drives him up the wall is his alleged huge bank deposits that Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV first exposed last week of April 2016, weeks before the election that he won.
The latest development is the receipt by the Office of the Ombudsman of his and his family bank records from the Anti-Money Laundering Council in connection with the plunder and graft complaints filed by Trillanes.
President Duterte never ceases to stun us.
Yesterday, he admitted that his story about the offshore accounts of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV was a product of his imagination.
“Wala ito. Produkto ng isip ko ito. Tinanggalan ko talaga. Ginamit mo. Nag-issue ka ng waiver… Iba ang account number, iba ang totoo. Sinadya ko iyan,” he said after Trillanes went to Singapore and proved that the two bank accounts supposedly based in Singapore in the list Duterte read to the public were non-existent.
His admission made him a manufacturer of fake news.
If that was not jarring enough, he bragged that he has fooled Trillanes.”Kita mo siya ngayon. He’s desperate. Pumunta ng Singapore, mag-gastos lang para propaganda lang,” he further said.
We thought only a fool would do that.
The saying “A fish is caught by its mouth” applies to President Duterte on the issue of the alleged involvement of his son, Davao City Mayor Paolo Duterte, and his son-in-law, Atty. Manases Carpio in the release without inspection by the Bureau of Customs of a shipment containing 604 kilos of shabu worth P6.2 billion last May.
Duterte told reporters Sunday, “Ang advice ko kay Pulong? Punta ka doon. And then pagdating mo, dun sa questions, sabihin mo, ‘I will not answer you.’ I’m invoking my right of silence kasi noong eleksyon pa, hindi pa Presidente tatay ko, binibira mo na kami. So if you want evidence, do not get it from the mouth of other people. Go somewhere else.”
Pulong is the nickname of Paolo.
However Malacanang tries to discredit SPO3 Arturo Lascañas explosive exposé about President Duterte’s direct role in the Davao Death Squad, it’s obvious that the President and his men are shaken.
Take a look how they have acted silly trying to counter it.
The grand bungle was committed by Press Secretary Martin Andanar when he floated the rumor that reporters were paid $1,000 each to cover the press conference of Lascañas held at the Senate last Feb. 20.
The allegation was so incredible, it was hilarious.
The confrontation between Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Miguel Zubiri at the Senate floor last week refreshed the public’s mind of relevant issues which have been relegated to the sidelines by more horrifying reports like the murder of Korean businessman Ick-joo Jee by police officers inside Camp Crame just a few meters away from the office of Police Chief Ronald de la Rosa.
This is not the first time that Trillanes and Zubiri clashed. Way back in 2007, when Zubiri edged out Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III from the winning circle of senatorial candidates with manufactured votes from Maguindanao, Trillanes, who won while in detention, said “I believe Congressman Zubiri knows deep in his heart that he benefited from cheating. If he is decent enough, he wouldn’t accept victory in the Senate race because that is not something you want your kids to emulate.”
Zubiri called Trillanes “a loose cannon” and “immature” and threatened to sue the Navy officer -turned rebel-turned- senator.
Zubiri occupied the Senate seat that was not his for four years before he gave it up after Pimentel’s election protest prospered.
The government has failed him. The country’s justice system turned against him. Many “friends” have abandoned him after they have used him for their agenda.
After his conviction to six to ten years in prison by the Sandiganbayan last week in the case involving the lease of idle lands when he was president of the Philippine Foreign Corporation, a teary-eyed Lozada said the decision was difficult to take but he is holding on to faith in God: “I once said before, eight years ago, one of the lessons I learned is that the opposite of fear is courage. In reality, the opposite of fear is faith. So I’m holding on to faith in God.”
Sister Mary John Mananzan, one of those who have consistently helped Lozada and his family all throughout Jun’s eight- year ordeal deal, said the case would not have materialized if he did not testify in the aborted corruption-tainted $329.5 million national broadband project with the Chinese firm, ZTE Corp.
“I’m sure of it. All the cases against him came out after he became witness. If it was really his crime, why wasn’t he charged when he was with PFC?” she asked.
By all means, Duterte should order a probe.
The term “lost Scarborough shoal” is debatable. Security officials deny that. Foreign affairs officials will not say that because that would be detrimental to the claim of the Philippines on the shoal which is included in the case filed by the Philippines against China before the Arbitral Court.
The reality, however, is that Filipino fishermen are denied access to the area around the shoal by three Chinese ships stationed there since June 2012.
How that situation came to be started on April 10, 2012 when BRP Gregorio del Pilar arrested eight Chinese boats with sizable quantities of endangered marine species, corals, live sharks and giant clams.
Chinese fishermen caught in Philippine waters is not an unusual happening – be it in Scarborough shoal in the northwestern side of the country or in the Spratlys, in the southwestern part of the country. When that happens, the fishermen are charged in court and the Chinese Embassy works for their release. The case is usually handled in the provincial and regional level.
The use of BRP Gregorio del Pilar, a warship, to arrest Chinese fishing vessels changed the atmosphere in the maritime row.
Update: Video of the BPI Faceoff by Luis Liwanag:
If you have to resort to lies in a conflict, it only indicates that you are not on the side of truth.
Although I seriously doubt if this latest controversy would bring him down from number one in the race, the issue would hound him even if he wins the presidency.
So far, his actions are that of a person twisting and digging himself in a quicksand.
When Trillanes IV first made his expose alleging that Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is not the poor and honest public servant that he presents himself to the public because he had more than P200 million in his BPI Julia Vargas branch account in 2014 which he did not include in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Networth (SALN), Duterte called the senator a “liar” and dismissed the bank account as a “fabrication.”