A certain Itty Gaerlan posted on Facebook on August 29 her story about the brother-in-law, Rene, of her friend Sally, who was arrested by the police in one of their Oplan TokHang operations in the shanties. It showed the police draining the last money from the wallets of the guy’s family. “Sally had P400 in […] More
It has been widely observed lately how the anti-drug campaign of the government seems to hit hard only on the urban poor. President Rodrigo Duterte once rationalized that rich and big drug lords operated their drug businesses outside the country. So, how could government run after them without having to invade the country where they […] More
They say that merely almost two months in office, President Rodrigo Duterte has already accomplished a lot for the country, especially in his fight against crime and illegal drugs nationwide. Now he wants to rename Malacanang and aims to do it before his term ends. He prefers calling it “People’s Palace” and reminded reporters gathered […] More
Consider us your brothers, not enemies. This was how President Rodrigo Duterte recently put it when he asked Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua to allow Pinoy fishermen in the disputed areas of the West Philippine Sea. “I hope the Chinese may find a place in their hearts for the Filipinos. I hope you […] More
President Rodrigo Duterte signed his second executive order (EO) on July 23 to implement the freedom of information (FOI) mechanism in the executive branch of the government. However, it also came with a provision denying access to information that “falls under any of the exception enshrined in the constitution existing law or jurisprudence,” according to […] More
Litigation lawyer Raymond Fortun said the dispute over how the term “extrajudicial killing” or EJK is being used is meant to divert the public’s attention from the real problem of people being killed without getting a fair trial. In his Facebook post on August 23, Fortun tried to define and answer the questions from netizens […] More
President Rodrigo Duterte has numbered the days of Senator Leila De Lima’s political career, hinting that his upcoming exposes against the senator would surely spell the doom of her career. “Tapos ka na. Sunod [na] eleksyon?” (You’re finished. Next election?),” Duterte pronounced, sounding like he estimated how De Lima would lose next election because of […] More
Recent statements of President Rodrigo Duterte on the firing of government employees en masse—particularly appointees from the previous administrations—sent shivers down the spine of the bureaucracy. He said this was an anti-corruption measure to clean up the government. Others fear gross violation of a constitutional provision protecting the tenure of civil service employees from unreasonable […] More
President Rodrigo Duterte said on Tuesday, August 23, that he was urging Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno to double the salary of soldiers by December. Duterte said this in front of newly promoted generals and flag officers in Malacañang. “Before I start, I’ve been egging Secretary Ben Diokno to really see to it that by December, […] More
President Rodrigo Duterte defended his threat to take the Philippines out of its membership in the United Nations, saying that he was just joking then. However, he said he was serious about telling the international agency that it should not meddle with the affairs in the country, especially in the government’s war against illegal drugs. […] More
“The momentum the police has gained over a short period through life-risking work of fighting illegal drugs must not be deterred by legislative inquiries like what we are conducting right now.” This was among the points raised by Senator Panfilo Lacson in his opening remarks on the first day of the Senate hearings on the […] More
Earlier, the Duterte administration was considering the removal of the Value-Added Tax (VAT) exemption granted to senior citizens and persons with disabilities to make up for revenue losses from bringing down personal and corporate tax rates to 25 percent over a three-year period. But after several reports speculating on whether the government will pursue this […] More