Category: senate

Marcoleta falls for 9-dash line fiction

About Senators Kiko Pangilinan’s and Rodante Marcoleta’s heated debate over the legitimacy of the West Philippine Sea. 

MARCOLETA FLUNKS ELEMENTARY CARTOGRAPHY
Marlen V. Ronquillo

…  The West Philippine Sea is for real. Philippine laws have codified a specific area called by that name, and maps have been drawn to reflect. In 2012, then-president Benigno Aquino III issued Administrative Order 29 that demarcated the West Philippine Sea as “the Luzon Sea, as well as the waters around, within and adjacent to the Kalayaan Island Group and Bajo de Masinloc, also known as the Scarborough Shoal.”

A law signed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in November 2024 — Republic Act 12064, or the Philippine Maritime Zones Act — defined anew the portions covered by the West Philippine Sea. That law also asked the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority to prepare the corresponding map covered by that sea, then circulate that map in the country and beyond.

In her many warnings about China’s territorial ambitions in Southeast Asia, former United States secretary of state Hillary Clinton spoke about real threats faced by an area she called “the West Philippine Sea.”

The West Philippine Sea is a fact of nationhood, its existence amplified by the 2016 arbitral ruling that essentially said areas officially demarcated by the Philippine government under AO 29 and RA 12064 are, indeed, Philippine territory.

What accounts for Marcoleta’s refusal to recognize a basic fact of law, international ruling and cartography, the lay of the land in a nation of which he is a citizen and senator? That’s between Marcoleta and China. But to obviously take the side of China’s fictional nine-dash line over our historic and United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea-validated West Philippine Sea is beyond the pale. In nations and polities protective of their territories, a stand like Marcoleta’s will be grounds for a form of censure. In China, Marcoleta’s stand may fall under the category of treason and may end up like Lin Biao.

Some dear and basic lessons in geography and territory raise additional and troubling questions on why Marcoleta is seemingly on China’s side on the West Philippine Sea issue. With all the land, seas, and vast dominion in its possession, China’s territorial aggression looks like overkill.

China’s map occupies 9.6 million square kilometers — approximately the size of Europe. In terms of land area, it is the third largest in the world, after Russia and Canada, and much of Canada is uninhabitable tundra. The Philippines is a land-short country the size of the US state of Arizona. China, according to basic geographical data, shares boundaries with 14 other countries, and territorial disputes often arise, especially with India, due to boundary issues.

It cannot be that Marcoleta is cutting China some slack because it needs more territory, and the Philippines should play the role of a generous neighbor.

Speaking of basic generosity, has China been a generous and economically supportive neighbor, an economic superpower with zero predatory practices in economic dealings with the Philippines?

No. On the contrary — and this can be validated by the loan terms during the term of former president Rodrigo Duterte — China has imposed high interest rates on loans to the Philippine government, about 2 percent or more higher than those from, say, Japan and the European Union. Former Bayan Muna party-list representative Neri Colmenares has a compilation of China’s harsh loan terms, including provisions that allow China to seize national treasures, such as Rizal Park, in case of loan defaults.

China overall has been imposing onerous terms on foreign borrowers. After a loan default, one Latin American country found out that China demanded 80 percent of its total oil output.

So while we trade heavily with China — the only countries that do not trade with it are the imaginary trading posts Donald Trump slapped with tariffs in his April 2, 2025, “Liberation Day” tariff order — we should not forget one thing: trade is one thing, territorial aggression is another. Areas like Bajo de Masinloc — Masinloc is a town in Zambales — have been ours since time immemorial. And for Marcoleta’s information, China’s nine-dash line is a late 20th-century concoction.

Facts and cartography and history and empiricism all say there is a West Philippine Sea. Marcoleta’s West Philippine Sea distractions, at the very least, are on the wrong side of history.

Blue Ribbon blues

Inaamin ko, nakatulog ako in some parts of Monday’s hearing — buti na lang may YouTube, twas easy to fill in the blanks — I guess because it was mostly disappointing. Nothing new except denials galore, no new whistleblowers to confirm previous allegations involving sitting senators, and meron ngang attempt to link Discaya with Romualdez, but using masked unidentified witnesses? Come on, guys, that was pathetic, try harder.

And while interesante naman talaga ang isyung Leviste files — the way he seems to have obtained some of them allegedly without a distressed Cabral‘s express permission, and the way he seems to be indulging the DDS who keep cheering him on, and the way Media can’t seem to have enough of his pabida pabayani script, na may paiyak-iyak pa, fearing for his life daw at kung ano-anong drama — mas interesado ako sa isyung Solar Corp franchise na allegedly in-award sa kanya ng Congress in a sweetheart wink of an eye, na hindi naman daw na-produce ang ipinangakong solar power, pero naibenta nga ba niya? at napagkitaan nang bonggang bongga? which deserves a separate hearing all his own.

And dahil inungkat ni Senator Ping ang kuwento ni whistleblower Bernardo tungkol kay Gen. Nick Torre, ngunit hindi ipinatawag si Torre, medyo nagulumihanan ako.  Dahil naipaliwanag na ni Torre sa ABS-CBN News three days ago what that was all about. Siya pala ang nilapitan nung priest friend na nilapitan ni Bernardo, nakisama lang si Torre, nagbigay ng options at advice. Tila walang comms group si Lacson na nagmomonitor ng media? Tuloy, nagbigay ng impression na nakialam si Torre, that he wanted to take custody of Bernardo, for sinister reasons, na quite unfair. https://www.youtube.com

Ang datíng sa akin, nangángapâ ang Blue Ribbon committee, what to uncover next that will not involve any of the senators already implicated by Bernardo. In aid of legislation lang daw kasi? Pero in aid of legislation kung mapupuntirya at matatanggal ang corrupt colleagues, di ba (unless nagtatago na o itinatago). Saka na muna yung masterminds, may araw din sila.

Let Supremes decide Villanueva dismissal

​In 2013 pork barrel-fixer Janet Lim Napoles named Joel Villanueva among her 100 congressmen-accomplices. In 2016 then-Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales ordered him, then a newly-elected senator, dismissed from public office. 

Karen Davila: In 2016 when you ordered his dismissal, the Senate refused. Should the Senate have followed…?

Conchita Carpio-Morales: They should have. Otherwise everyone wants to be a senator… because any infraction of the law that you commit, you will still remain a senator.

Davila: The Ombudsman ordered a senator’s dismissal, hindi sumunod ang Senado, as a body. They all cooperated as an institution. Anong nagging epekto  nito sa atin?

Carpio-Morales: We are the laughingstock of other countries because we don’t know how to  enforce our law, we don’t know how to implement the decisions that are spawned from legal  proceedings. https://www.facebook.com/

The interview happened October 5. Two days later, Oct 7, DOJ Sec Boying Remulla was appointed Ombudsman. He took his oath of office Oct 9. Two weeks later, Oct 23, he announced that he would write to Senate President Vicente Sotto III and ask him to enforce Villanueva’s dismissal from public office. But before he could do so, ex-Ombudsman Samuel Martires announced that he had reversed the order, clearing the senator of all charges back in July 2019. But why did he not make it public then?

Jarius Bondoc: Martires’ claim is queer. He never publicized his exculpation of Villanueva supposedly to “protect a person’s dignity.” Duh! Doesn’t absolution from a crime restore a person’s dignity? So why hide it? Baligtad na ba ang mundo?

Queerer is Villanueva’s silence all these years. His graft buster image was tarnished 17 years ago in 2008 when as Citizen’s Battle Against Corruption party rep he was linked to P10-million sleaze. https://www.philstar.com/

Queer, and lame. It was more likely because, after 17 years, parang nakalimutan na ng madlang pipol ang kaso, so why even remind us. News of such a dismissal would certainly have scandalized, and triggered debates anew. The question now is: valid ba ang Martires dismissal of the Carpio-Morales dismissal? Former solicitor general Florin Hilbay doesn’t think so:

The order of former ombudsman Carpio-Morales dismissing Senator Villanueva for the PDAF scam was a public act. Former ombudsman Martires had no authority to reverse that decision in secret, thereby depriving the public or any interested party from questioning his decision before the Supreme Court. Therefore, Ombudsman Remulla can treat the secret memo as having had no effect and can proceed with his intention to request the Senate to enforce the original order of dismissal. https://www.facebook.com/AttyHilbay/

Pero huwag nang ibalik sa Senado. Ayon kay Senator Ping Lacson:

“The jurisdiction of the Senate committee on ethics does not cover offenses allegedly committed by the members of the Senate before being elected as senators,” Lacson explained in a Viber message on Tuesday. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/

Derecho na dapat sa Supreme Court ang appeal. Here’s hoping the Supremes don’t fail us yet again. But if they do — puro mga DDS nga pala ang nakaupong mahistrado, except for one, okay, maybe two — huwag tayo magugulat. Matinik ang mag-amang Villanueva; they knew exactly how to play Digong 2016-18, which led to that dismissal. This time, I wouldn’t put it past them to make it a DDS issue vs BBM. I hear Mocha is already on defend-Joel mode. Who’s next, that meowing Rep?

Guilty Until Proven Innocent

I Dare Say, Now More Than Ever In Our History, Politicians Are Suspects!
People have lost trust in government and government officials.
Honestly, who can blame them?
So here’s a thought: WHAT IF we all just resign and allow a Snap Election.
From The President, Vice President, Senate, and Congress. With One Important Addition – No Incumbent From The Above Can Run For 1 Election Cycle.

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano‘s call for a snap election, while unconstitutional and politically fraught, is quite noteworthy in that he “honestly” concedes that they all deserve our distrust — an indirect implicit tacit admission of Guilt.

Of course walang nag-second the motion sa mga pinaparinggan niyang opisyales. Because why nga naman should they resign, lalo na yung mga newly-elected, and what about the truly innocent (if when where) any?

As for the guilty, why nga naman would they admit Guilt, when the Law says “innocent until proven guilty”, and experts as they apparently are at corruption, they were are uber careful not to leave behind any signatures or footprints, literal or digital, that would tie them to the crime in any way. No receipts signed, no photos/video showing them personally in the act of receiving bags and bags of cash, because, you know, they have trusted staff for that, who know exactly what to do, as does everyone positioned and greased along the bureaucratic hierarchy of corruption, all the way up to the “proponent” | sponsor | “funder” ng project who-must-not-be-named, who secretly gets anywhere from 20 to 40 percent of those funds, who is are the Most Guilty for not caring about the substandard and the ghost, which means not caring about the well-being of the people they’re supposed to be serving, whose taxes and loans they steal from in the millions, billions, trillions of pesos. Cunning and unscrupulous and greedy, yes. But innocent? In what world?

Believe it or not, the legal maxim “innocent until proven guilty” is based on the long-impugned premise that humans are inherently good, therefore one accused of wrongdoing is more likely innocent and less likely guilty, and so it is the burden of the accuser to prove the guilt of the accused. Pero hindi ba kabaligtaran iyan ng Catholic premise of “original sin” na ating kinagisnan kinlakhan pinaniniwalaan, the basic premise being that humans are inherently evil, as demonstrated by Adam and Eve when they ate of the “forbidden fruit”, which is why mayroong Baptism, Confession, and Communion, even Extreme Unction, ang simbahan as cleansing sacraments?

Whether humans are born good or evil has been debated by philosophers for centuries. Aristotle argued that morality is learned, and that we’re born as “amoral creatures” while Sigmund Freud considered new-borns a moral blank slate. Anyone who has read “Lord of the Flies” will expect children to be fully-fledged sociopaths just waiting to be freed from their adult-imposed shackles to (spoiler alert) start a cult and brutally attempt to kill each other.

Maybe the two most famous opposing views on this debate are those of Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Hobbes describes humans as ‘nasty’ and ‘brutish’, needing society and rules to reign in their instincts in order to thrive; later Rousseau openly criticised him, arguing instead that man would be gentle and pure without the corruption of greed and inequality caused by the class system imposed by our society. https://www.bbcearth.com/

In this light, and given the incontrovertible Evidence : of miserable killer floods that we are all witness to, and victims of, the ruling elite of senators and congressmen so far named cannot blame us for judging them as Hobbes would, i.e., Guilty Until Proven Innocent,

Thanks to Senator Ping Lacson‘s investigations and Blue Ribbon Committee hearings, the systemic corruption in government ay pinatunayan ng isang Usec at dalawang engineer ng DPWH at ng mag-asawang contractor — corruption that goes all the way up to the proponent senators and congress reps, na halos mangalahati ang kabig na kickback o komisyon sa bawat proyekto, kung kaya’t kinakapos ang pondo, kung kaya’t mumurahin at kulang-kulang ang materyales na ginagamit, at di matibay o maayos ang disenyo, kaya’t lalo pang grumabe ang problema: konting ulan, lubog agad!

These are eye-opening consciousness-raising times when the Law is not held in high esteem, not when there are ways around it for the rich and powerful in Congress and everywhere else in government. These are mind-boggling times, an occasion to change mindset, from innocent-until-proven-guilty to Guilty Until Proven Innocent.

Let the burden be on the accused senators and congressmen — first come first served — to prove that they’re innocent, and if they cannot, likely because their SALNs and bank accounts and maybe new whistleblowers say otherwise, then ipagkukulong sila. No ifs or buts, no house or hospital arrests, No Mercy.

I’m not saying the buck stops with the Senate Prez and the Speaker, but I’m giving whistleblower PBBM the benefit of the doubt vis a vis flood-control corruption. Besides, he has immunity from suit while he is president. But here’s hoping he submits to the people’s clamor that some of the ICI hearings be livestreamed.

PROF. ANTONIO CONTRERAS: The ICI must avoid ,,, extremes: the opacity that breeds suspicion and the spectacle that breeds distortion. A hybrid model offers the best path forward. Under this approach, the committee would conduct closed-door technical sessions to examine sensitive documents, hear confidential testimonies, and cross-check data free from external pressure. These sessions would prioritize accuracy, witness protection, and legal integrity. Once the committee has verified facts and established findings, it should then hold public hearings focused on questioning top officials, presenting major evidence, and explaining conclusions in plain language. These open sessions would allow the public to witness justice in action without jeopardizing the investigation’s integrity. https://www.manilatimes.net/

Above all, we want to see heads roll.

JAKE MADERAZO: The scandal does not end with DPWH officials and contractors. The accusations leveled by  (Roberto) Bernardo, (Henry) Alcantara and (Brice) Hernandez against Senators Joel Villanueva, Jinggoy Estrada, Chiz Escudero, former House Appropriations Chair Zaldy Co and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez must be held to the same standard.

The Filipino people are tired of watching the powerful walk free after orchestrating grand heists against the nation. The law must be enforced without fear or favor. There can be no bail, no backdoor deals, no escapes through technicalities. Those implicated—whether DPWH officials, bagmen, contractors, or lawmakers—must be prosecuted to the fullest extent and  jailed during the trial without bail. https://opinion.inquirer.net/

Guilty until proven innocent! Whistleblowers welcome!