It explains why it is abridging the people’s right to information: it is to prevent the citizenry from demanding that government truly address the roots of poverty by, among other means, curbing the dishonesty in public office that contributes to the hopelessness, hunger and despair that has led many Filipinos to take up the gun. His own regime is in that sense at cross-purposes with Mr. Duterte’s oft repeated promise to end corruption.
Both reactions provoke further criticism and even outrage not only from ordinary citizens but even from their fellow officials themselves. No one can blame those who, as a result, end up concluding that regime bureaucrats focus on non-essentials because the administration they’re serving can’t even articulate its own policies and actions.
The results of the September 2020 Ulat ng Bayan (literally, the People’s Report) survey of Pulse Asia released on Oct. 8 surprised — and, said one of their fellow political observers, even “appalled” — some of the polling firm’s own executives. Indeed, in response to the skepticism of those citizens aware of, and deeply concerned…
It doesn’t take much imagination to picture some of President Rodrigo Duterte’s officials shaking their heads or slapping their foreheads and muttering “why on earth did he say that?” when their boss of bosses blurts out something patently absurd, incoherent, or completely off during one of his late night television appearances. After all, not every…
Could Senator Leila de Lima be right? Was President Rodrigo Duterte’s speech as “plastic and (as) fake as the dolomite beach”? Did he not really mean what he said? Senator De Lima was primarily alluding to Mr. Duterte’s pre-recorded speech before the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), which she compared to the P389.8-million “white sand”…
The Duterte regime’s denying the public access to government information prevents the populace’s meaningful involvement in the politics and governance of this country as the essential condition to bringing about the social, economic and political changes needed to bring it to the 21st century — changes Mr. Duterte was promising during his 2016 campaign for the Presidency, and in anticipation of which he was elected by 33% of the electorate
The Philippines’ “loss” is US hate-mongers’ gain. But that shouldn’t be the reason for anyone to think the Duterte pardon of Pemberton is a calculated jeer at US society.
HB 7137 is not just another attempt by Marcos idolaters to market an imagined past for mass consumption. Forgetting what really happened in history is the surest road to its repetition.
The lawyers are right to be alarmed. As outlandish and as deceptive as it may be, like Marcos’ martial law, a so-called “revolutionary government” can devastate this country as well unless everyone takes it seriously enough to oppose it for what it is: a plot against the Republic, the Constitution, and the entire Filipino nation.
The state of health of any candidate for President is not just a matter of idle curiosity. Because whoever wins that post will have power enough to lead the country to either fortune or perdition, his or her physical and mental capacity to govern is a valid public issue.
Planning for future contingencies has never been any administration’s strong suit, despite the constant threat of natural and man-made disasters against the people of this country. It is not uniquely characteristic of the Duterte regime.