Category: rodrigo duterte

for the record: duterte dilly-dallied #veerus

RIGHTEOUS RAGE
Antonio Contreras

…  the timeline of events is a clear indictment of government’s culpability. As early as February 1, the Philippines saw the first death because of Covid-19, which was also the very first death recorded outside mainland China. Calls were made for a travel ban to and from the Chinese mainland, but President Rodrigo Duterte belittled the threat and his hesitation was mainly due to the belief that such a move might anger Beijing. It is on record that the Chinese Embassy here was at the time busy protesting against any form of travel ban.

It was only on February 14, two weeks after the first death was recorded, that the President reluctantly declared a travel ban. There is evidence, however, that that directive was not enforced completely, as flights from mainland China continued. On February 21, the Department of Health recommended the declaration of a public health emergency. It is, however, notable that the recommendation was dated February 16. Such declaration was only publicly promulgated and entered into force on March 6, 19 days after it was recommended. And it was only on March 12, a full month and 12 days after the first death, that President Duterte declared the total lockdown of Metro Manila, effective March 15.

In short, we practically wasted at least a full month to adequately and meaningfully respond. Some defenders of the government take pride in the fact that we are the first developing country to have issued a total lockdown, as if that should be a source of comfort. But clearly sidelined is the glaring fact that much time had been wasted in not being able to prepare a comprehensive plan. What we heard were the constant warnings that our medical system was not ready without taking the necessary steps to make it ready, procure the testing kits and personal protective equipment, and ready a deployment plan of medical personnel, both active and volunteers. It is unconscionable that it is only now that sports arenas and convention halls are being readied to become mass quarantine areas.

Apologists of the government deflect criticisms by arguing that even other countries like the United States were caught flat-footed. It is ironic that these people fail to cite the experience of South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore that showed adequate preparedness, while they cite the US, a country that they love to trash. These are the people who cheered wildly as our President wasted much precious time attacking oligarchs and ABS-CBN Corp., and gave priority to the cancellation of the Visiting Forces Agreement simply because the US canceled the visa of a political ally.

No, this is not the time to forget this dereliction of duty, the sheer myopic blunders. We need to constantly remind those in government of their failures to make them aware of the enormous debt they owe the people. They ask us for sacrifices. Our convenience and comforts are put on hold. Some of us have even lost our livelihoods. They cannot ask us to just move on and heal as one without making them suffer the constant reminders of what their foot dragging, lack of foresight and subservience to China have caused.

And if there is one thing that we should never forget, it should be the culpability of the government of the People’s Republic of China, particularly its leader Xi Jinping and the propaganda machinery of the Chinese Communist Party. We should not allow them to get away with what has become a passive kind of unintended genocide. They may not have planned it, but their sheer fixation on their party’s interest above anything else is now poised to kill hundreds of thousands if not millions. We should not allow them to inflict on us what they inflicted on their own citizens. We should not allow them to distort, massage and manipulate information and the truth. We should not allow them to buy their redemption and our silence through their donations and help. We should seek for reparations, not aid.

SONA 2019 message: he ain’t no lame duck, not yet anyway

Ambition’s back, big-time
Manolo Quezon

Alan Peter Cayetano’s zombie speakership began, not with a bang, but with a whimper. The breakfast he threw for legislators didn’t seem to be well attended based on a tweeted photo. But his smooth election accomplished demonstrating that the President is well and truly back in the saddle. It marks the end of two years of his public standing having to claw its way back to where it stood during his first and second State of the Nation Address (Sona).  Read on….

China, Duterte, and Philippine democracy

Katrina S.S.

No, I don’t think Duterte is scared of China.

I think that he and his men entered into agreements with China, they signed on for projects and the Belt and Road Initiative, and now cannot even take a stand against whatever aggression our fishermen experience from the Chinese in West Philippines Sea. Government (i.e., the Philippines) is so deep in China deals that it has become difficult to even speak. Utang na loob is one of the more effective forms of silencing for Filipinos after all, and China — cunning as it is — doesn’t even need to invoke it; they just know someone like Duterte would feel so indebted there would be no way he would be able to take a stand.

Government propagandists call it “diplomacy.” But let’s assess this situation for what it is: Duterte put all his eggs in the China basket, and now he can’t even find his balls.

Here’s the ironic part though: China has realized that it doesn’t matter that they hold Duterte by the balls. It doesn’t matter because it doesn’t mean they can do all that they want with and in the Philippines. What it’s up against is the rest of us. And Philippine democracy — no matter how it’s been discredited and put into question by the success of Duterte propaganda — still has its balls intact.

Read on…

the 18th congress

it’s too soon to be  arguing over the senate presidency, or the speakership for that matter, is what i gathered from outgoing senator chiz escudero on headstart.   but why aren’t we surprised.  these are different times.  and pundits are keeping track.  will add to list, newest op-ed first.

A society in decay? Pinoy vs Pinoy? by Rene Saguisag
Rumble in the house Inquirer editorial
Cayetano’s zombie victory by Manolo Quezon
Isumbong mo kay Inday Sara by Manolo Quezon
Unsettled by Alex Magno
Business and politics make strange bedfellows by Ernesto Hilario
Arroyo’s successor; Sotto to succeed himself by Yen Makabenta
Passing the baton by Gary Olivar
Lightweights for Speaker by Oscar P. Lagman, Jr.
Fond send off for 6 outgoing senators by Federico Pascual
Cuckoos in Duterte’s nest by Segundo Eclar Romero
Termed-out senators threaten to form Senate majority by Yen Makabenta
In search of leaders for 18th Congress by Malou Tiquia
Disaggregating the incoming Senate by Rudy Romero