Upon President Duterte’s behest, the Senate and the House in joint session last Wednesday voted to again extend martial law and suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the whole of Mindanao. This third extension will remain until December 31, 2019. The vote was 235 yes, 28 no, 1 abstention. No doubting…
In the last 20 years (1998-2018), public support for populist parties in Europe has risen three times over. This has enabled their leaders to win key government positions in 11 countries and challenge the established political order across the continent. Whereas in 1998 the populist parties accounted for only 7% of the electoral votes across…
When he returns from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting in Papua New Guinea (Nov. 17-18), President Duterte said he would announce if he would meet with Fidel V. Agcaoili and Luis Jalandoni, head and former head now adviser, respectively, of the negotiating panel for the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDF) in…
Last Tuesday night, human rights lawyer Benjamin Ramos, who assisted the families of the nine farm workers massacred in a Sagay City hacienda on Oct. 20, was gunned down by a tandem of motorcycle-riding men near his home in Kabangkalan City. He was a founding member of the National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) and…
Convening the National Security Council’s executive committee last Tuesday at the Ebuen military airbase in Cebu, President Duterte issued orders to push harder state actions against the Left revolutionary movement. Specifically he ordered the Department of Justice to pursue its petition for proscription, filed in February at the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 19, urging…
Too bad, that even before the massacre of nine farm workers in Sagay, Negros Occidental has been thoroughly investigated, President Duterte is already echoing the military and police line. Landless farmers, he said, were seizing agricultural lands from the “original tenants after the [sugar] harvest…using violence and intimidation, backed up by the New People’s Army…
After being roundly criticized, two high-profile officials were recently shoved out of Malacañang – presidential spokesman Harry Roque and assistant presidential communication secretary Mocha Uson – and they are now seeking election to Congress: Roque to the Senate, Uson to the House of Representatives. Their antics in opting to use the partylist system in the…
Gut issues, topped by fast-rising inflation led by spikes in the price of rice and other foods, hit the people hard in September. Beleaguered, the Duterte regime cooked up the “Red October ouster plot” hoping to distract us, but it looks like the problem will persist (like a pesky esophagus?) for the rest of its…
As the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) recklessly and irresponsibly continued to drum up its canard of a “Red October” plot to oust President Duterte (which he first disclosed after returning from official visits to Israel and Jordan last month), he took to visiting three military camps to further woo the support of the…
Over the past week, President Duterte and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, with puerile collaboration by the Philippine National Police, have tried to drum up as “real” their conjured plot to oust him next month, which they tagged as “Red October.” However, they haven’t presented to the public any credible evidence to back up…
Evidently scared of getting physically harmed, he was brought to court handcuffed, wearing a combat helmet while closely secured by Philippine Army soldiers he once commanded. A few hours later he was taken out of the court, his head bowed in gloom. The court convicted him for kidnapping with serious illegal detention and sentenced him…