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Month: June 2021

Beware of this ‘Bishop Ted Bacani’ impostor

Published by Ellen on June 13, 2021

Last Friday afternoon, June 11, I got a call from an unidentified number while I was attending a VERA Files activity. The caller introduced himself as “Bishop Ted Bacani.”

I had to ask him twice who he was because he was not speaking gently the way I remember Bishop Ted Bacani spoke. Anyway, he said, “Si Bishop Bacani ito.”

He said he had learned that VERA Files is the owner of Facebook Philippines. I immediately corrected him. VERA Files does not own Facebook Philippines. We are just one of the three third-party fact-checkers of Facebook in the country.

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‘Ridiculous,’ SC says on drug war records as ‘national security’

Published by Ellen on June 6, 2021

Several times, President Rodrigo Duterte has proudly taken responsibility for the killings in his bloody campaign against illegal drugs. It goes without saying, therefore, that the prosecution of the drug-related killings would have to reach his level.

If he thinks that citing “national security” will save him and the top officials who implemented his war on drugs, including his first police chief, now Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, from being accountable for all those killings, he is wrong.

The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) already used that line in the 2018 case of Aileen Almora, et al. Vs. Director General Ronald Dela Rosa, et al./Sr. Ma. Juanita R. Daño, et al. Vs. The Philippine National Police, et al. and the Supreme Court vehemently rejected it.
The Supreme Court’s words: “It is simply ridiculous to claim that these information and documents on police operations against drug pushers and users involve national security matter.”

Continue reading‘Ridiculous,’ SC says on drug war records as ‘national security’