Tag: rodrigo duterte

Why reporters are persistent in press conferences

Published by Ellen on June 5, 2016

President -elect Rodrigo Duterte May 29 presscon. Lower photo shows GMA7's Mariz Umali asking a question. — President -elect Rodrigo Duterte May 29 presscon. Lower photo shows GMA7’s Mariz Umali asking a question.

In press conferences, there are times when reporters are persistent with their questioning, annoying the official especially if it’s on a topic that he dislikes.

A reporter’s persistence is not for persistence’s sake. It is not caprice.

A reporter pursues a subject to clarify so that he or she can give the public the information correctly and clearly. Reporters always ask for categorical answers to avoid misinterpretation. Because it is the duty of the journalist to make sure that his or her reports are accurate- a basic in journalism.

Reporters covering President-elect Rodrigo Duterte have been criticized for being soft on him. Some, yes. Even fawning. But not all.
Watching his late night to mid-morning press conferences that are one or two hour monologues, I sympathize with reporters covering him. One needs not only an ample reserve of stamina but nerves of steel not to get intimidated by his manners which border rudeness.
Take the case of GMA-7 Mariz Umali, the subject of the president-elect’s wolf-whistling.

Duterte spokesmen’s damage control statements add insult to injury

Published by Ellen on June 2, 2016

To control the damage wrought by President-elect Rodrigo Duterte’s verbal assault on media during his press conference Tuesday justifying the extra-judicial killing of journalists, Peter Laviña, spokesman for Duterte’s transition team said media, his principal’s remarks were “taken out of context, misinterpreted, and misunderstood.”

That is adding insult to injury. That is like saying media did not report accurately Duterte’s statements.

Same thing with Duterte’s spokesman and press secretary Salvador Panelo’s statement that GMA-7 reporter Mariz Umali “should be complimented” for the president-elect wolf-whistling or cat-calling at her when she asked a question.

Cayetano’s Leni remark shows he is not “in” in Duterte’s power group

Published by Ellen on May 31, 2016

Signing of NP-PDP Laban alliance. Photo by Mindanews.

After Congress, acting as National Board of Canvassers, declared last Friday Rodrigo Duterte of PDP-Laban as winner in the presidential contest and Leni Robredo of the Liberal Party for the vice-presidential race in the May 9 elections, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, Duterte’s running mate, told media that a cabinet position awaits Robredo.

“Mayor Duterte is reviewing every day names and positions [in the Cabinet], and I think from Day 1 he has been thinking about what job can be given the Vice President-elect,” Cayenato said adding that the position to be given to Robredo would be “tailored to what we heard from her during the campaign that she would like to handle.”

Robredo had said during the campaign that she would be interested in a cabinet position that involved lifting the people from poverty.

The following day, in a press conference with Cayetano beside him (also in attendance was Peace Process Secretary Jesus Dureza and senator-elect Manny Pacquiao), Duterte said Robredo “never entered my mind,” in the forming of his cabinet.

Beware the Parade of Little Digongs

Published by Ellen on May 27, 2016

Another brilliant editorial by InterAksyon.com

News reports tagged him the alleged “Number 1” pusher of illegal drugs in Central Luzon, and he was said to have been seized by four men shortly after attending a court hearing on Tuesday. At dawn last Wednesday, his body was found on a grassy field.

The bullets were faster than the judge. But it is the public’s – and incoming leadership’s – reaction, or lack of it, that has so far been more chilling than the sight of a hogtied dead man, packing tape covering the corpse’s face, fatal gunshot wounds forming the exclamation point to a grisly end. Which is to say: there are those who are aghast, and there are those who merely shrug, but the loudest camp has decidedly been that of the cheerleaders.

In Tanauan, Batangas, Mayor Antonio Halili organized a parade through town of suspected drug dealers, including a handful of minors. No amount of expressed concern from rights activists and the Commission on Human Rights would make the re-elected Halili reconsider the legality or ethics of a perp walk. Indeed, to Halili, at least the suspects are still alive to be escorted back to jail and then to court, where they may yet prove their innocence, save for the misfortune of having been already shamed as guilty.

‘Tampuhan’ hints friendship so deep between Duterte and Quiboloy

Published by Ellen on May 22, 2016

May 9, 2019 post in Quiboloy's FB page — May 9, 2016 Quiboloy’s FB page

Only ten days that Pastor Apollo Quiboloy and incoming President Rodrigo Duterte haven’t talked with each other and the “Son of God” is already hurting.

Sharing with media the Pastor’s hurt feeling, Quiboloy’s spokesperson, Mike Abe, said the last face-to-face meeting of the two was at 3 a.m. of May 10, several hours after it became certain that Duterte had won the May 9 election. Duterte was interviewed at Quiboloy’s Sunshine Media Network International.

Abe said the two even shared a hug, before the winning presidential candidate left.

After that, Abe said Duterte has become inaccessible to the Pastor anymore.

PNoy, Del Rosario responsible for PH losing control of Scarborough shoal

Published by Ellen on May 19, 2016

Presumptive President-elect Rodrigo Duterte said early this week he wants to know why the Philippines lost Scarborough Shoal.

When he said this, he was apparently under the impression that Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who exposed his BPI bank deposits amounting to no less than P200 million despite before the May 9 elections, was responsible for the Philippines losing control over the coral reef formation 124 nautical miles off Zambales.

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.

Happy days are here again for Gloria Arroyo and associates

Published by Ellen on May 15, 2016

It’s only 45 days away when Rodrigo Duterte becomes the 16th president of the Republic of the Philippines.

If Duterte makes good his election promise, Gloria Arroyo, who has won another term as representative of the second district of Pampanga, can look forward to days of freedom very soon. She has been confined at the Veterans Memorial Hospital since 2011.

Duterte lawyer Salvador Panelo took a selfie when he attended Gloria Arroyo's birthday party in La Vista last April 5. — Duterte lawyer Salvador Panelo took a selfie when he attended Gloria Arroyo’s birthday party in La Vista last April 5.

When he campaigned in Pampanga last Feb. 7, Duterte said, “If I am elected President, I will release her. Why? Because the evidence [against her] is weak. I know that. I am a lawyer.”

Duterte’s assessment of cases against Arroyo as “weak” is supported by the dismissal by the Ombudsman of the P200 million fertilizer scam case and the alleged illegal transfer of funds of Overseas Workers Welfare Administration to Philhealth.

PWDs slap Duterte with a suit for insensitive joke

Published by Ellen on May 7, 2016

PWDs file complaint vs Rodrigo Duterte at the Commission on Human Rights
By MARIA FEONA IMPERIAL, VERA Files

PRESIDENTIAL race frontrunner Rodrigo Duterte, already facing a plunder case filed by Sen. Antonio Trillanes, has been slapped with yet another complaint, this time by disabillity groups and advocates.

Disability advocates Ranilo Sorongon and Liza Martinez charged the Davao City mayor before the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Friday of violating the law when he ridiculed persons with disabilities (PWDs) and senior citizens during a now infamous campaign sortie in the Visayas weeks ago.

“As PWDs advocating for respect of the rights of all PWDs, including older persons with disabilities (and) our inherent dignity, diversity and humanity, we are outraged and vehemently and unequivocably condemn, the disparaging comments of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte during his campaign sortie in Kalibo, Aklan,” the complainants said in a statement.

Duterte’s tactics show truth is not on his side in conflict with Trillanes

Published by Ellen on May 2, 2016

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.

Vice presidential candidate Antonio Trillanes IV

It’s becoming obvious that the expose of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV of Davao City Mayor Duterte’s bank transactions that can go up to as much as P2.4 billion has hit hard the frontrunner in the May 9 presidential elections, more than his infamous rape comment.

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.”

The evolution of Duterte’s BPI account

Published by Ellen on April 28, 2016

March 14, 2016 – Presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte and his running mate Alan Peter Cayetano signed a manifesto waiving their rights under the Bank Secrecy law.

Manifesto, not a legal bank secrecy waiver

In the manifesto, printed on a large piece of cardboard, they pledged “to open all our bank accounts in local and foreign currencies both here and abroad in the interest of transparency and accountability.”

April 27, Wednesday- The Philippine Daily Inquirer carried the expose of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, who is running for vice president as an independent candidate and is carrying Grace Poe as his vice president, that Duterte, who is now the frontrunner in the presidential race, has at least P211 million in the bank in 2014 which he did not declare when he filed his Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Networth (SALN) in 2014.