rodrigo duterte – Page 5 – ellen tordesillas

Is Duterte unraveling?

Published by Ellen on September 19, 2017

President Duterte admits alleged Trillanes offshore accounts were products of his imaginaion. Screengrab from PTV4.

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 trade off: multi-billion dollar projects in exchange for Chinese exploration in PH EEZ

Published by Ellen on July 29, 2017

Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi July 25,2017. DFA photo.

From the fragmented information about the resumption of talks on joint exploration with China in the disputed parts of the Spratlys, what is emerging is a repeat of jumbo loans that the administration of Gloria Arroyo obtained from the Chinese government in 2004 in exchange for agreeing to allow China to explore within the country’s economic exclusive zone.

In his State-of-the Nation address last Monday, the issue about West Philippine Sea was mentioned sort of in passing. “The West Philippine Sea issue and federalism are matters that we have to tackle sooner or later,” Duterte said.

Reporters followed it up in his post-SONA press conference. Duterte added more information:

“When they start to excavate the gas and all. I tell you, it’s going to be just like a joint venture. Para pareho. (So it’s equal). “

Trump has a lot to learn from Duterte on taming media

Published by Ellen on July 24, 2017

Oftentimes, when we read or watch on TV news about what’s happening in Donald Trump’s United States of America, you can easily find similarities in the Philippines.

It’s because Trump and the Philippine’s Rodrigo Duterte have many things in common: their contempt for the rule of law, their low regard of women, and their antagonism towards media.

The other day, Trump’s press, Secretary Sean Spicer resigned. This inspired social media wit, Bernard Ong, to pen a letter to Trump with very exciting recommendations.

Explaining Duterte

Published by Ellen on July 22, 2017

The president of the Philippines is the country’s chief executive, head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
His powers are awesome, so his words carry the weight of his powerful position.

In his one year in office, President Duterte has shocked, stunned, and bewildered not only Filipinos but also the international community with his pronouncements.

A political observer said that to keep his sanity, he usually waits a day or two before deciding whether to take seriously or dismissing Duterte’s statements.

President Duterte is alive!

Published by Ellen on June 28, 2017

After a six-day absence, President Duterte re-appeared at the Eid-al-ftir celebration in Malacañang Tuesday evening.
That ended grim speculations that prompted Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella to assure the public earlier in the days that the President is “alive and well.”

In a press briefing, Abella allayed concerns about the Duterte’s prolonged absence from public activities saying, “First and foremost, he is alive and well. He is very well. He is just busy doing what he really needs to do. The President, you know, as you‘ve seen, he’s been very much in the public eye; but being out of the public eye, that is when he is able to really do all his work – he signs papers, he reads, he consults, he’s actually very busy.”

One of the issues raised about Duterte’s mysterious absence is that there is an ongoing war in Marawi City which prompted him to declare Martial Law in Mindanao, one of the extreme measures reserved for a president to deal with emergency situation. And he disappears from the national scene!

Duterte tells how the government misread Maute threat

Published by Ellen on June 18, 2017

Pres. Duterte’s first public appearance after five-day absence at the 4th Infantry Division in Bancasi, Butuan City. Malacañang photo.

In his re-appearance speech five days after he was not seen in public, President Duterte gave an explanation for the military’s “mis-appreciation” of intelligence report that has been blamed for the difficulty being encountered by government forces in the ongoing war against the Islamist militants in Marawi city.

It will be recalled that Solicitor General Jose Calida said that the military had received intel reports about possible Maute- Abu Sayyaf attack in Marawi five days before May 23, when the fighting started sparked by the serving of warrant of arrest to ASG leader Isnilon Hapilon. The fierce fighting was the basis of the declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao by Duterte on May 23 .

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who was in Moscow with the President together with other high-ranking security officials said there was no lapse in intelligence monitoring. “It’s just appreciation of the intelligence that was lacking there,” he said.

Video of Pres. Duterte June 15 departure for Davao

Published by Ellen on June 16, 2017

Malacañang releases photo to prove Pres. Duterte is not sick and is working

Published by Ellen on June 15, 2017

Malacanang press statement:

PRRD at the Villamor Air Base and Bahay ng Pagbabago

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is welcomed by Philippine Air Forces officials during his visit at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City on June 15, 2017. Moreover, to quell rumors that the President is sick, Special Assistant to the President Bong Go shared photos of the President working in Bahay ng Pagbabago.

Pres. Duterte arrives at Villamor Airbase Thursday, June 15. Malacanang photo.

Duterte: Maute Group committed act of rebellion in Marawi City

Published by Ellen on May 27, 2017

This story first came out in VERA Files. Please click here to see complete Martial Law declaration Report.

For more VERA Files report about Martial Law in Mindanao please click to links below:
Martial Law in Mindanao: A timeline

VERA Files Fact Sheet: Explaining Martial Law

Duterte allies in Congress support Martial Law; opposition calls for vigilance

Pres.Rodrigo Roa Duterte signs the report he submitted to Congress for declaring martial law and suspending the writ of habeas corpus in Mindanao on the sidelines of the special Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Guest House in Davao City on May 25, 2017. Malacañang photo.

President Rodrigo Duterte has called the clashes in Marawi City between the Maute group and government forces an act of rebellion, which is one of the justifications for the imposition of Martial Law and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus under the Constitution.

The other justification is “invasion.”

In a seven -page report he submitted Thursday to Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and House Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez, following his declaration of Martial Law in Mindanao May 23 while he was on a working visit to Russia , Duterte said, “While the government is presently conducting legitimate operations to address the on-going rebellion, if not the seeds of invasion, public safety necessitates the continued implementation of martial law and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the whole of Mindanao until such time that the rebellion is completely quelled.”

Foreign secretary, envoy belie Duterte account of alleged Xi Jinping’s threat of war

Published by Ellen on May 23, 2017

Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano during President Duterte’s Moscow visit. Malacañang photo.

Newly-installed Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said he has been in all the bilateral meetings between President Duterte and China’s President Xi Jinping and he has not witnessed any threat of war uttered by the Chinese President.

Philippine Ambassador to China Chito Sta. Romana, who has worked and lived in China as a journalist before he was recruited to the foreign service, said in a TV interview, “The whole idea…therefore that China was bullying us and threatening us just doesn’t pass.”

What does that make of President Duterte, a liar?

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