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  • And he has to keep the AFP/PNP happy if he wants to last six years, much less more than that. Two groups at odds with each other.

    =========
    The BPOs generate about as much as the Chinese "loan"...
    Jittery BPOs knock on Duterte’s door
    By: Amy R. Remo / @inquirerdotnet
    Philippine Daily Inquirer / 02:03 AM October 24, 2016

    The IT-Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) is seeking audience with President Rodrigo Duterte after his latest pronouncements on the country’s relations with the United States sent a new wave of jitters among IT and business process management firms.

    Duterte’s latest controversial remark on the country’s “separation” from the US has created uncertainty and apprehension among IT-BPM companies in the Philippines as 77 percent of their business is dependent on American companies and clients.

    “We continue to monitor the developments given President Duterte’s pronouncement regarding our military and economic ties with the US. IBPAP has formally reached out to the Office of the President to secure an audience with him and directly discuss our concerns) with the government,” IBPAP said in a statement on Friday.
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    Investors in and stakeholders of the IT-BPM industry—whose contribution to the economy has already surpassed that of the remittances of the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs)—have also raised concerns about what was perceived to be a growing instability under the Duterte administration.

    Remarks against the US, European Union and the United Nations—historically among the country’s biggest economic and development partners—were feared to have eroded the country’s attractiveness as an investment destination.

    The IBPAP further noted that like what it had been doing in the past, it had “sought clarity on the government’s position on the matter and secured an official statement (on Oct. 21) from the Department of Information and Communications Technology Secretary Rodolfo A. Salalima.”

    Salalima was quoted as saying that “all business investments, contracts and commitments, local and international, in the country will be honored by the Philippine government, consistent with the nonimpairment and due process clauses in the Philippine Constitution and existing laws of the land.”

    The DICT chief further assured the IT-BPM firms that “this pledge that has been made by the President is sincere … and he will be true to his words.”

    The group is likewise pinning its hope on what Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said last week that “in terms of economic [ties], we are not stopping trade, investment with America … The President specifically mentioned his desire to strengthen further the ties with China and the Asean region which we have trading with for centuries. But we definitely won’t stop the trade and investment activities with the West, specifically the US.”

    Just last month, IBPAP sent a letter to its member firms to pacify foreign outsourcing companies, as it stressed that “despite all the noise, there is no real threat to businesses.”

    The IT-BPM expects to generate $25 billion in revenue and employ 1.3 million this year. Over the next six years up to 2022, the industry is looking to double these numbers on the back of sustained government support and strong economic growth, as well as the continued availability of skilled workers to meet the industry’s requirements
    Why Duterte wants PH visa for Americans
    ABS-CBN News

    Posted at Oct 21 2016 04:58 PM
    http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/10/21/1...-for-americans
    For President Rodrigo Duterte, perhaps "it’s about time" Americans too apply for visa when visiting the Philippines, like Filipinos do when they go to the United States.

    Speaking in front of the Filipino community in Beijing on Wednesday, Duterte said he was once denied a visa to visit his girlfriend in the US back when he was in college.

    He recalled, a consul asked him during application: "What if you decide to marry and stay there?"

    "Mr. Consul, even if you offer me free missiles for a lifetime and even if you offer me $10,000, I’ll still return to my country and be a Filipino,” he replied.

    Mayor Agustin Perdices of Dumaguete, Negros Oriental, also experienced "humiliation" after being denied a visa despite an invitation for a month-long study under the auspices of the USAID, added Duterte.

    “Pero sila anytime, they enter the Philippines visa-free. Well, there will always be a time for reckoning. Bakit hindi natin tablahin?," he said, earning applause from the crowd.

    (But they can enter the Philippines anytime, visa-free. Well, there will always be a time for reckoning. Why don't we do the same?)

    In a speech at a business forum on Thursday, Duterte reiterated his point, citing an experience during his last visit to the United States, which he said showed "American idiotic arrogance."

    He said that during a stopover at the Los Angeles airport after a visit with other Philippine congressmen to Brazil, he was questioned by an African-American officer after his letter of authority to travel turned up missing.

    Duterte, who was using a diplomatic passport, said the letter was addressed to the port of entry in Brazil and was probably not reinserted in his passport after he left.

    "You know this guy brought me to a room to interrogate me...I said, if you detain me any further and if there’s a plane available going back to the Philippines now, I’d be happy to ride."

    "That was the last time I went to America," he stated.

    He added: "Maybe sometime soon the Americans come to my country for business and all, including pedophilia. And they come to my country sans a visa, they do not need it, they go there as if they own the place."

    Filipinos who go to America and who have the money, said Duterte, "are not just only berated in the visa control, in the consular office; they are humiliated."

    Asking if there was any American in the crowd, Duterte said, " If you are planning to go to my country, you get a visa from where you come from. Maybe... It’s about time."

    Duterte's statements come on the heels of his apparent shift from the country's ally Washington to its neighbor Beijing.

    He had earlier said, it was "time to say goodbye" to the US, adding he was fed up with Western agenda.

    "Your stay in my country was for your own benefit. So time to say goodbye, my friend," he said.

    Days after, he had also announced his "separation" from the US, following a bilateral meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.
    Last edited by troung; 23 Oct 16,, 23:21.
    To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

    Comment


    • Manages to try to criticize the US but ends up saying it's ok if the cops spray a crowd full-auto in the hopes of hitting a suspect.
      Duterte: ‘If I encourage killings, fine’
      CHILDREN ‘COLLATERAL DAMAGE’ IN DRUG WAR; COPS CAN KILL CIVILIANS SANS LIABILITY—RODY
      By: Yuji Vincent Gonzales / @YGonzalesINQ
      INQUIRER.net / 05:56 PM October 18, 2016
      Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File

      Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte AP Photo/Bullit Marquez, File

      “Collateral damage” was how President Rodrigo Duterte called innocent people, particularly children, killed in the government’s bloody war on drugs.

      “Well, that is bad,” Duterte said in an interview with Al Jazeera, when asked about casualties in the administration’s antinarcotics campaign that had no actual involvement in illegal drugs.

      While saying that such cases will be investigated, Duterte noted in a hypothetical example that the police had no criminal liability over the deaths of innocent civilians during an official antidrug operation, even if they number about a thousand.
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      “Let me tell you. This is the law of my land. Here is a police, here is a gangster. He’s armed with M16, the gangster only a pistol. But when they meet, they exchange fire. With the police with the M16, its one burst, prrrt, and hits one thousand people there and they died. There’s no criminal liability,” Duterte said.

      “It could not be negligence because you have to save a life. It could not be recklessness because you have to defend yourself. Just like when the United States and the rest of the country, when you bomb a village, you intend to kill the militants but you kill in the process the children there,” he added.

      The President drew parallels between the innocents killed in the drug war and civilians killed during airstrikes on militants in US operations in Vietnam and Afghanistan.

      “People judge best when they condemn. So they will always place you in the bad light. But the situation does not go for that. And that explains the reason why until now, I have yet to hear an apology for those who have, in Vietnam, in Afghanistan, never mind about the militants, kill them! We don’t, but then, in the process, two families, hospital, oh its collateral damage. Then why is it, is it a collateral damage to the West and to us, it is murder,” he added.

      Duterte denied allegations that he was encouraging vigilante killings with his controversial pronouncements, but said he was “fine” with it and had no business in criminals getting killed.

      “No, I said I will kill you. If I encourage, fine,” Duterte said when asked if he agreed that he had encouraged summary executions.

      “I do not play by conjectures. I do not make assumptions. I just say what I should be saying as the President and as a mayor. My, if the criminals there are killed by the thousands, it’s not my problem. My problem is how to take care of the law-abiding, God-fearing, young persons of this Republic because they are our resources,” he said.

      As of Oct. 17, the Inquirer’s “Kill List” notes 1,338 drug-related deaths since June 30 or after President Duterte took office./rga
      http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/826600/...-killings-fine
      To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

      Comment


      • And it begins

        Philippines: U.S. Stops Sale of 26,000 Assault Rifles Amid Duterte Drug War Concerns

        By Jack Moore On 11/1/16 at 8:56 AM


        The U.S. has canceled a planned sale of more than 26,000 assault rifles to the Philippines after a top senator said he would oppose the trade because of alleged police human rights violations in the country’s war on drugs, according to Senate aides.

        Senator Ben Cardin, the most senior Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will block the sale because of human rights concerns, the aides told Reuters. Foreign relations committee staff members subsequently informed the U.S. State Department about his planned objection, essentially vetoing the sale.

        The halting of the transfer of 26,000 guns to the Philippine police comes as relations between Washington and Manila continue to deteriorate over President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, with the U.S. critical of his refusal to conduct his campaign according to the rule of law.

        Try Newsweek for only $1.25 per week

        Duterte has responded angrily to the criticism, calling his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama the “son of a whore” and telling foreign businesses who don’t like his policy to “pack up and leave.”

        Washington’s criticism stems from the deaths of more than 3,800 people since Duterte’s campaign began when he rose to power in June. Vigilantes have allegedly killed many people in the bid to root out drug gangs, leading to rights groups and international leaders to condemn extrajudicial murders and such disregard for international law.


        It is unclear whether Duterte will be flustered by the U.S. decision to not send the assault rifles. In October, he told Obama to “go to hell” for not selling weapons to Manila and said he would go to Russia and China instead, whom he said were willing providers that put less obstacles in the way of bilateral dealings.

        “Although it may sound shit to you, it is my sacred duty to keep the integrity of this republic and the people healthy,” Duterte said.

        “If you don’t want to sell arms, I’ll go to Russia. I sent the generals to Russia and Russia said, ‘Do not worry we have everything you need, we’ll give it to you,’” he added.
        “And as for China, they said, ‘Just come over and sign and everything will be delivered
        http://www.newsweek.com/us-cancels-a...rug-war-515624
        To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

        Comment


        • 3char

          A Trump Business Partner Is the Philippines’ New U.S. Envoy


          By RICHARD C. PADDOCKNOV. 9, 2016

          http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/wo...e-antonio.html

          President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines, left, at the main international airport serving Manila on Wednesday. Credit Aaron Favila/Associated Press

          BANGKOK — The timing of President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines couldn’t be better. Before Donald J. Trump’s election victory, the Philippine leader had already named Mr. Trump’s business partner in Manila as a special envoy to the United States.

          Mr. Duterte, whose colorful and unpredictable comments have drawn comparisons to Mr. Trump, late last month named the chairman of Century Properties Group, Jose E. B. Antonio, as an envoy to Washington for trade, investment and economic affairs, Philippine news outlets reported. Word of the appointment became public this week.

          Stock in Century Properties rose 20 percent on Wednesday on the Philippine Stock Exchange on the news that Mr. Trump had been elected.

          The company is building the Trump Tower at Century City, a $150 million, 57-story apartment building in metropolitan Manila. Mr. Trump has no involvement in the project except to provide his brand name.

          “I’ve always loved the Philippines,” Mr. Trump says on the company’s website. “I think it’s just a special place, and Manila is one of Asia’s most spectacular cities.” The website notes that the project is not owned, developed or sold by Mr. Trump or any of his companies.

          Mr. Trump’s assertion during the campaign that “animals” were entering the United States from “terrorist nations” including the Philippines angered many Filipinos. One Philippine congressman proposed barring Mr. Trump from the country.

          Mr. Antonio’s assignment is to enhance business ties between the two countries. A decade ago, he served as a special envoy to China. He could not be reached for comment.

          “His strong business leadership will steer the Philippines’ trade and economic goals in the right direction and help seize opportunities for both public and private-sector Philippine-U.S. businesses while promoting robust relations in the 21st century,” said Perfecto Yasay Jr., the foreign affairs secretary, according to a report in The Philippine Daily Inquirer.

          Mr. Duterte, who has said that President Obama “can go to hell,” is most likely hoping that Mr. Trump will be less interested in human rights and unconcerned by the killing of about 2,000 people in Mr. Duterte’s campaign against drugs.

          In a statement released by Martin Andanar, the communications secretary, Mr. Duterte congratulated Mr. Trump on his victory.

          “President Duterte wishes President-elect Trump success in the next four years as chief executive and commander in chief of the U.S. military, and looks forward to working with the incoming administration for enhanced Philippine-U.S. relations anchored on mutual respect, mutual benefit and shared commitment to democratic ideals and the rule of law,” the statement said.
          To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

          Comment


          • Duterte to suspend writ of habeas corpus if 'forced'

            President Rodrigo Duterte says the law allows him to do this 'to protect the Republic of the Philippines'
            Paterno Esmaquel II
            @paterno_ii
            Published 6:55 PM, November 12, 2016
            Updated 7:30 PM, November 12, 2016

            DUTERTE'S WARNING. President Rodrigo Duterte says he can suspend the writ of habeas corpus if lawlessness persists in the country. File photo by Noel Celis/AFP

            DUTERTE'S WARNING. President Rodrigo Duterte says he can suspend the writ of habeas corpus if lawlessness persists in the country. File photo by Noel Celis/AFP

            MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte warned that he can suspend the writ of habeas corpus, a safeguard against warrantless arrests, if lawlessness – particularly the illegal drugs trade – persists in the country.

            "If you force my hand into it, I will declare the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, not martial law," Duterte said on Friday, November 11, at the launch of the Pilipinong May Puno Foundation in Davao City.

            Duterte, who made the warning as he spoke about the gravity of the drug situation in the country, said he "might be forced" to do this if lawlessness continues. "Warning ko lang sa kanila 'yan. Ayaw ko kasi hindi maganda (That is just my warning to them. I don't want it because it's not good)," Duterte said.

            "Habeas corpus" is a Latin phrase that means "that you have the body."

            Through the writ of habeas corpus, a court can order the state to produce the physical body a person detained. "In general, the purpose of the writ of habeas corpus is to determine whether or not a particular person is legally held," the Supreme Court said in a ruling.

            The suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, then, allows the state to arrest and jail anyone without trial.

            The late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, for example, suspended the writ of habeas corpus when he placed the Philippines under martial law, a time of human rights abuses and forced disappearances.

            The 1987 Constitution, however, allows the President to suspend the writ of habeas corpus "in case of invasion and rebellion, when the public safety requires it."

            Duterte said of the law, "Those are really provisions intended to protect the Republic of the Philippines."

            He added: "I can be ordered by the Supreme Court to stop it but there are things that they cannot, and maybe I will not, stop. E bahala [na], sabihin ko muna tapusin ko ito (Come what may, I'll tell them I have to finish this first) then I can go to jail. File all the charges that you can think of. But this country, in my time, will not deteriorate any further."

            Duterte, who won the presidency because of his anti-crime platform, cited the difficulty of building a case and the huge manpower required to gather enough evidence against crime suspects.

            Senator Richard Gordon earlier pushed for a law to suspend the writ of habeas corpus to help Duterte fight illegal drugs and terrorism. Duterte is waging a war on drugs that has killed at least 4,812 people since July 1, with 3,001 of them having been slain in extrajudicial or vigilante-style killings.

            Before Gordon pushed for this law, Duterte already declared a state of national emergency because of lawless violence after a bombing in Davao City, which he led as mayor for two decades. – Rappler.com
            http://www.rappler.com/nation/152167...corpus-warning
            To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

            Comment


            • Duerte is a reckless leader than is going to create instability in the region. If he wants to leave the alliance with the US behind, he will get used like a dog by Russia, China, or whoever he goes to.

              Comment


              • Duerte is a reckless leader than is going to create instability in the region. If he wants to leave the alliance with the US behind, he will get used like a dog by Russia, China, or whoever he goes to.
                Long term he has little to bargain with. He doesn't have Hugo Chavez style oil money to refit (fit?) a military with new stuff, China tends to eat it's allies, and Russia isn't the USSR. So what we have is a physically small man threatening human rights activists, murdering unarmed people, kissing up to elements of the political elite, doing what China tells him, and blustering like he runs a major power.

                Duterte threat to kill rights defenders alarms groups
                Agence France-Presse

                Posted at Nov 30 2016 08:58 PM | Updated as of Dec 01 2016 04:34 AM
                http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/30/1...-alarms-groups

                MANILA - Human rights campaigners expressed shock and defiance on Wednesday after President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to kill them for hindering his bloody war on drugs.

                Duterte issued his warning on Monday as the death toll from his controversial crackdown climbed above 2,500 since it began five months ago, according to monitoring by the ABS-CBN Investigative and Research Group.

                "The human rights (defenders) say I kill. If I say: 'Okay, I’ll stop’. They (drug users) will multiply," Duterte said.

                "When harvest time comes, there will be more of them who will die. Then I will include you among them because you let them multiply," he added.

                Amnesty International Philippines was among a range of groups to speak out against the comments, saying it was "appalled".

                "This pronouncement is... inciting hate towards anyone who expresses dissent on his war against drugs," it said in a statement.

                The National Alliance against Killings Philippines, a newly formed coalition of rights groups, said it took the threat very seriously and called on Duterte to revoke it.

                "His comment -- that human rights is part of the drug problem and, as such, human rights advocates should be targeted too -- can be interpreted as a declaration of an open season on human rights defenders," it said.

                Father Atilano Fajardo of the archdiocese of Manila, who works with urban poor groups, said those seeking to protect the vulnerable would not be intimidated.

                "This (threat) is a continuation of his effort to create a culture of fear, a culture of violence. We will not let this come to pass," he told AFP.

                Fajardo said the Catholic Church, which counts more than 70 percent of Filipinos as followers and has so far been subdued in its criticism of the drug war, was starting to find its voice on the issue.

                "That is why he is more threatening. He cannot just frighten us. The priests and nuns will speak out," he said.

                Duterte won presidential elections in May after pledging to kill tens of thousands of drug suspects, warning that otherwise the Philippines would turn into a narco-state.

                Since assuming office, he has called on police and even civilians to kill drug users.

                Duterte also said he would be "happy to slaughter" three million drug addicts, and likened his campaign to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's efforts to exterminate Jews in Europe.

                The 71-year-old lawyer later apologized for his Hitler reference, but said he was "emphatic" about wanting to kill drug users.

                Nevertheless, Duterte has also repeatedly insisted that nearly all of the people killed were either resisting arrest or murdered by fellow gangsters.

                Who ordered Bato to return axed police exec to old post?
                By: Jerome Aning - Reporter / @JeromeAningINQ
                Philippine Daily Inquirer / 03:49 AM November 30, 2016
                Bato

                PNP Chief Ronald Dela Rosa. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES

                Philippine National Police Director-General Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa said Tuesday he would divulge to lawmakers in an executive session who ordered him to reinstate Supt. Marvin Marcos as head of the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group Region 8 that was blamed for the death of a mayor in jail for drug trafficking.

                “I’m not going to lie to you, but I can’t tell you who he is [for now],” Dela Rosa said in a press conference at the Quezon City Police District headquarters in Camp Karingal.

                “Please understand, I’m only the chief of PNP, a humble policeman from the province,” he said.
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                “You will be enlightened,” he said, when asked what he would reveal to the lawmakers.

                The PNP chief is expected at the next Senate hearing on Monday.

                Dela Rosa said the unnamed official had ordered him to return Marcos to CIDG Region 8 after the latter was transferred to CIDG Region 9. He declined to identify the official and said he could not recall when the supposed phone conversation took place.

                The PNP chief relieved Marcos shortly after suspected Eastern Visayas drug lord Kerwin Espinosa was arrested in the United Arab Emirates last month. PNP-Anti Illegal Drug Group officials interviewed Espinosa, who then tagged Marcos as among the police officials involved in drug operations in the region and receiving payoffs from him.

                Dela Rosa said he ordered Marcos relieved, but the high official intervened.

                He said he agreed to the recall since Marcos, due to Espinosa’s disclosure, was about to be investigated by the internal affairs division anyway.

                But less than a month later, Marcos and his team were accused of irregularly serving a search warrant at the Leyte subprovincial jail in Baybay City and killed Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa during a fire fight. The slain suspect was the father of the younger Espinosa.

                Kerwin Espinosa later testified before the Senate, and pointed to Marcos and several officials who he claimed received payoffs in exchange for turning a blind eye to his drug operations in the region.

                Marcos and CIDG Region 8 officials led by Supt. Noel Santi Matira and Senior Insp. Leo Laraga have since been relieved from their positions and recalled to the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame, Quezon City. They remain under restrictive custody while an internal affairs investigation is ongoing.

                Meanwhile, Kerwin’s lawyer Leilani Villarino, denied her client was backtracking from his allegation that the Albuera town police head Chief Insp. Jovie Espenido also received payoffs.

                Villarino said her client never named Espenido as a recipient of drug money.

                But Kerwin told the Senate that it was Espenido who introduced him to Ronnie Dayan, the former driver and security aide of Sen. Leila de Lima who is also accused of receiving payoffs from drug lords.
                http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/849239/...ec-to-old-post
                Last edited by troung; 01 Dec 16,, 06:05.
                To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

                Comment


                • Originally posted by troung View Post
                  So what we have is a physically small man threatening human rights activists, murdering unarmed people, kissing up to elements of the political elite, doing what China tells him, and blustering like he runs a major power.
                  I couldn't agree more. Philippines were a strategic ally of the US but he needed us more than we needed him. He'll find out soon enough. He's not as strong as he thinks he is.

                  Comment


                  • Originally posted by troung View Post
                    Long term he has little to bargain with.

                    He has geography.
                    That's nothing to be dismissed lightly.
                    Trust me?
                    I'm an economist!

                    Comment


                    • He also has to keep delivering on his promises to the Filipino electorate. At some point like Chavez, Mugabe and the other egotistical demagogues in recent history he'll reach limits of his ability to deliver on those promises. At which point that same electorate will wake up. He'll resist of course, blaming specific groups within that electorate for betraying him and 'failing his grand vision' after which the whole thing spirals down hill. The only question is how much support the Chinese Government is prepared to lend him up to that point and immediately beyond. The more they give the longer he stays in power and the worse the Philippines will suffer, just like Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
                      If you are emotionally invested in 'believing' something is true you have lost the ability to tell if it is true.

                      Comment


                      • The only question is how much support the Chinese Government is prepared to lend him up to that point and immediately beyond. The more they give the longer he stays in power and the worse the Philippines will suffer, just like Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
                        They need to have a successor lined up (Bong-Bong) or else in five and a half years their effort would have been moot.

                        The invitation to the White House that never was
                        By Ellen Tordesillas
                        December 05, 2016
                        PRESIDENT Duterte was euphoric after his seven-minute phone conversation with US President-elect Donald Trump Friday night, he thought the latter invited him to visit the United States.

                        The Presidential Communication Office released the following notes by the President of his conversation with Trump.

                        “The President-elect Trump wishes the, to extend his warmest regards to the Filipino people. And in just a few minutes, we were talking a lot of things.

                        “He was quite sensitive also to our worry about drugs. And he wishes me well to, in my campaign and he said that… well we are doing it as a sovereign nation, the right way.

                        “And he wishes us well.

                        “And I said that, well, we assured him of our ties with America.

                        “I appreciate the response that I got from President-elect Trump and I would like to wish him success. He will be a good president for the United States of America. I am very sure. And he has invited me to visit New York and Washington DC, he said that if I’m around, he wants to be notified of my presence and maybe--

                        “And I mentioned to him about the Asean Summit next year and he said that he will try his best to be here.

                        “He wants to attend the Summit and that would be great for our country.

                        “I could sense a good rapport, an animated President-elect Trump. And he was wishing me success in my campaign against the drug problem.

                        “He understood the way we are handling it and I said that there’s nothing wrong in protecting a country.

                        “It was a bit very encouraging in the sense that I supposed that what he really wanted to say was that we would be the last to interfere in the affairs of your own country.”

                        In Washington D.C., Trump’s transition team also released a “Read out of Calls with World Leaders” by the President-elect.

                        On that day, the President-elect talked with four heads of government :Afghanistan President Mohammed Ashraf Ghani Admazai, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Long, and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen.

                        On his call with Duterte, the readout said: “President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines offered his congratulatory wishes to President-elect Trump. In their conversation, they noted the long history of friendship and cooperation between the two nations and agreed that the two government would continue to work together closely on matters of shared interest and concern.”

                        That’s all.

                        Presidential spokesperson Ernesto Abella on Saturday clarified reports attributed to Bong Go, the President’s special assistant, that Trump invited Duterte to the White House.

                        Abella said, “According to the transcript po, wala pong specific na sinabi na inimbita ang Presidente. Based on the transcript, ang sinabi po actually ... ni President Donald Trump na kung mangyari man na naandun siya sa New York o sa Washington ay dapat ... na mapaalam kay Donald Trump. (According to the transcript, there was nothing specific that the President was invited. Based on the transcript, what was actually said by President Donal Trump was if you happen to be in New York or Washington D.C. . .to let Donald Trump know.” )

                        What are the occasions that a Philippine president maybe in New York or Washington D.C ? One is the National Prayer Breakfast held every first Thursday of February in Washington, D.C. It’s hosted by the members of the U.S. Congress and attended by the President.

                        In 2009, then President Gloria Arroyo flew to Washington D.C. hoping but failed to shake hands with the new President Barack Obama.

                        Another is the opening of the United Nations General Assembly which usually happens in September. But then didn’t he say, “Fuck you, U.N.?”

                        Also last October he told the Filipino Community in Bejing, “I will not go to America anymore. I’ll just be insulted there.”

                        But Duterte can always say, he was just joking.

                        ***

                        Blog: www.ellentordesillas.com

                        E-mail: ellentordesillas@gmail. com
                        http://malaya.com.ph/business-news/o...ouse-never-was
                        To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

                        Comment


                        • ANC
                          Infighting within Duterte administration getting worse: analyst


                          Trishia Billones, ABS-CBN News


                          Posted at Dec 07 2016 05:02 PM





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                          Infighting within the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte is getting worse as "irreconcilable differences" take shape, a political analyst said Wednesday.

                          "They cannot yet be called cracks but irreconcilable differences are already existing. The Marcos burial is one, but the one that's coming in is worse," Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms Director Ramon Casiple said in an interview with ANC's Dateline Philippines.

                          "This is the feeling of the PDP-Laban that it's not being treated as the ruling party even if some of them are there in the Kilusang Pagbabago (KP), but the whole project is basically contained within those who are closest to the president," he added.

                          The KP was launched early in Duterte's rule with the vision to establish a unit in each of barangay that will be the vehicle in delivering government services to the ground.

                          Casiple noted, however, that there is "growing suspicion" within the PDP-Laban that the KP is actually a "pre-party formation," just waiting in the wing to replace them.

                          "They have appointees who are now under siege," he said.

                          He added that Martin Diño, a prominent PDP-Laban leader and was once the party's presidential candidate before giving way to Durerte, was set to be the chairman of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), "but the post was taken away from him."

                          Casiple said he cannot yet suppose PDP-Laban was taken for a ride, but "it's really a question of the infighting within the Duterte administration...getting worse."

                          He explained, like other presidents, Duterte has around him people who "represent certain vested interests or specific historical alliances."

                          In Duterte's inner circle too are people who were with him from the start of his political career--like Cabinet Secretary Jun Evasco, and National Irrigation Authority (NIA) administrator Peter Laviña--and friends outside the political arena--like former dorm mates Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay.

                          Casiple believes, however, that Duterte makes decisions by himself but these stakeholders battle for a chance to be heard.

                          "With regards his political decisions, I think he's alone by himself and that gives room for all these groups, including PDP-Laban for that matter, to maneuver, fight each other for whatever interest they have," he said.

                          "The snake pit is not in Malacañang, it's a wider [field]," he added.
                          http://news.abs-cbn.com/focus/12/07/...-worse-analyst
                          To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

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                          • in case you want to see Duterte doing his Trump impersonation.

                            https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...h-profanities/
                            There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov

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                            • There is something unmasculine when bragging about abusing prisoners.
                              Duterte: I tossed out kidnapper from helicopter
                              By Christina Mendez (The Philippine Star) | Updated December 28, 2016 - 12:00am
                              President Duterte vowed yesterday that corrupt officials would suffer the same fate as kidnap suspects he claimed to have thrown off a helicopter in mid-flight when he was mayor of Davao City. AP/Aaron Favila, File

                              MANILA, Philippines – Is this another joke or hyperbole?

                              President Duterte vowed yesterday that corrupt officials would suffer the same fate as kidnap suspects he claimed to have thrown off a helicopter in mid-flight when he was mayor of Davao City.

                              Duterte made reference on how he dealt with criminals in the past to drive a point that he is serious about his government’s anti-corruption drive.

                              “If you are corrupt I will fetch you with a helicopter and I will throw you out on the way to Manila,” he said in Filipino yesterday in a speech at the Camarines Sur provincial capitol after he visited disaster-stricken areas affected by Typhoon Nina.

                              “I have done that before, why should I not do it again?” said Duterte after he announced that he was giving between P50 million to P100 million in financial assistance for disaster-stricken areas, in addition to a standby P1-billion calamity fund.

                              Duterte stressed that his anti-corruption drive, like his anti-drug campaign, will remain the main focus of his six-year term.

                              He has already gotten flak from international human rights groups over summary executions and his recent admission that he personally hunted criminals and killed them when he was Davao mayor.

                              Duterte narrated an incident when he had to go after kidnappers of a Chinese who mercilessly abused their victim even after the parents paid ransom.

                              Duterte recalled ordering the pilot to fly at the proper height, indicating the helicopter must be at the right distance from the ground so the body’s splatter won’t cause a commotion.
                              ‘Take it or leave it’

                              Duterte offered no apologies for his harsh language, which had in the past triggered outrage from US President Barack Obama, members of the United Nations and the European Union. He said it is just the way he speaks. “I am that person, take it or leave,” he said.

                              In a previous interview during the campaign, Duterte admitted killing three kidnap suspects during an encounter.

                              He cited also a Chinese kidnap victim was involved in that operation which happened in 1988.

                              There was a report of Duterte killing a drug dealer by dropping him off a helicopter when he was mayor, but it is not clear whether the President was referring to this incident in yesterday’s speech.

                              In the same speech, Duterte even mentioned in passing that he did not spare two of his fraternity brothers for accepting P50-million bribe from a Macau-based online gambling operator of the Fontana Leisure Parks and Casino in Pampanga.

                              After announcing his assistance to the disaster victims, Duterte reiterated anew his seriousness in the anti-drug campaign.

                              This time, Duterte said he is faced with a tough problem on how to deal with four million drug users.

                              “Out of the four million, at a liberal computation, just give me one million who had gone crazy. What will I do with them? Turn them into fertilizer? I can do that in Mindanao, but here you’ll just report it. But that’s our problem,” he said. In criminal lingo, only rotten bodies turn up as fertilizers.

                              Duterte also slammed the Catholic Church for criticizing him over the extrajudicial killings attributed to his brutal campaign against illegal drugs.

                              He said he believes there is a God, he believes in Allah, but that he does not believe in religion, particularly the Catholic Church.

                              “My statement’s full of sarcasm because they (priests) have been criticizing me,” the President told the gathering of Davao City barangay captains and kagawads last night.

                              Duterte said he does not intend to follow any religious practice once he dies. “Cremate me within 24 hours when I die,” he said. – With Edith Regalado
                              An indecisive strongman

                              Improvisation and uncertainty characterise Duterte’s approach to peace in the Southern Philippines

                              Jeroen Adam

                              PHOTO: Presidential Communications Operations Office

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                              Government and governance, National security, Social policy | Asia, Southeast Asia

                              21 December 2016

                              Despite big expectations that his presidency would see a final peace deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, Duterte’s confused policy approach looks set to kick the can further down the road, Jeroen Adam writes.

                              “We will strive to have a permanent and lasting peace before my term ends. That is my goal, that is my dream.” This dream is probably not the sort of thing one would immediately associate with Rodrigo Duterte; yet, this is exactly what the Philippine President proclaimed in his first State of the Union Address in June 2016. While most debates on the Duterte presidency have been preoccupied by his aggressive war on drugs, it tends to be forgotten that the commitment to reach a binding peace agreement with Muslim (and communist) rebels in the restive Southern island of Mindanao has always been one of his central rallying points.

                              This became clear after a visit in late February 2016 to the city of Cotabato and a nearby MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) camp as part of his presidential campaign. With his pledge to address the historical injustices committed against the Muslim minority and his ‘revelation’ that his grandmother was a Muslim, his visit struck a sensitive chord in a region that was known to be a stronghold for the oppositionist Liberal Party.

                              The visit has to be understood against a background of profound disappointment among large parts of the Philippine Muslim community: disappointment that a signed peace agreement between the MILF and the Philippine government had not been transformed into a binding legal framework during the Aquino presidency; and disappointment that throughout the presidential campaign, hardly any substantive debate took place about the future direction of these peace negotiations.

                              The only one seriously wanting to tackle these issues seemed to be Duterte, making him the number one presidential candidate for the majority of Muslims in the region. It is thus no coincidence that his presidential election in May 2016 was met with enthusiasm among the MILF and its leadership. MILF chairman Murad called Duterte “a true son of Mindanao” and stated that the election of Duterte as president of the Philippines would “carry with it hopes and aspirations for peace and justice in Mindanao.”
                              More on this:epa05541492 A handout photo made available by the Presidential Photographers Division (PPD) on 16 September 2016 shows Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte (C) and soldiers gesturing during his visit the Philippine Army Scout Rangers at their headquarters in the town of San Miguel, Philippines, 15 September 2016. The Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights and Public Order headed by Senator Laila De Lima resume its hearing on 15 September on the extra judicial killings in relation to the on-going drug war of President Rodrigo Duterte administration. During the hearing, an alleged hitman tagged President Rodrigo Duterte to be behind the killings of suspected criminals in Davao City, where he served as mayor of 22 years. According to news reports, at least 3,400 were slain since President Duterte campaign against illegal drugs started on 01 July. EPA/KING RODRIGUEZ / PPD / HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES Maverick from Mindanao: Will Duterte’s strongman style help or harm the Philippines?

                              More than half a year after the public proclamation of this dream for permanent and lasting peace, what are the prospects for a more sustainable peace in Muslim Mindanao? The short answer is that the prospects are diminishing fast. A number of explanations need to be mentioned here. The first one concerns the appointment of a range of people from the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (2001-2010) within the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP). Apart from a personal aversion that plays out between some of the key players within the MILF and OPAPP, the perceived lack of continuity with the administration of Benigno Aquino III, who served between Arroyo and Duterte, was of particular concern to the MILF.

                              Apart from these tensions, a much bigger concern is that it became increasingly clear that there is no coherent and strategic policy framework in terms of peace and conflict. The promise of a shift towards federalism, which was always one of the leading mantras of Duterte’s campaign, has been met with considerable scepticism among the MILF. Apart from the fact that it remains very opaque how this federal future will ultimately look, a real fear exists that the drive for federalism will only further delay any implementation of a final peace agreement.

                              This lack of coherent policy can also be witnessed in the position the administration is taking towards the MNLF (Moro National Liberation Front), which was the precursor to the MILF. The government signed a final peace agreement with the MNLF in 1997, however a lot of issues remain unsolved, including the position of their former chairman Nur Misuari, a deeply-divisive figure for his alleged role in an armed attack on the city of Zamboanga in September 2013, resulting in the death of over 200 people. Duterte, who considers Nur Misuari a close friend, always insisted that the MNLF and Misuari would be included in the ongoing peace talks with the MILF.

                              Misuari’s refusal to sit at the same table as the MILF resulted in the establishment of a second and new peace panel in November 2016. How these two processes relate to each other is unclear. The press statement by Jess Dureza, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, that the two different peace tracks “will somehow converge in Congress without converging in the process” bears little confidence in this regard. Quite predictably, this statement opened up a lot of questions among NGOs involved in the peace process. In the meantime, Duterte’s recent threat to start engaging in a full-scale war with some ‘renegade’ MILF commanders only added more anxiety and uncertainty.

                              In contrast to the ‘no-nonsense’ style of communication and strongman image, the policies that the Duterte administration is pursuing in Muslim Mindanao are marked by improvisation and vagueness. As the honeymoon period of the presidency is almost over, more and more people are voicing their doubt about his government’s capacity to deal seriously with the challenges ahead. Once again, any prospect for a more sustainable peace in the region seems only a distant dream.
                              http://www.policyforum.net/an-indecisive-strongman/
                              .....
                              Last edited by troung; 02 Jan 17,, 18:22.
                              To sit down with these men and deal with them as the representatives of an enlightened and civilized people is to deride ones own dignity and to invite the disaster of their treachery - General Matthew Ridgway

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                              • Originally posted by troung View Post
                                They need to have a successor lined up (Bong-Bong) or else in five and a half years their effort would have been moot.

                                http://malaya.com.ph/business-news/o...ouse-never-was
                                I largely agree with what you've said, but I think you don't know what you're asking for with Bongbong Marcos (unhyphenated, TYVM). I used to support him; the guy's brilliant, eloquent, and has paid his dues from the time his family was in exile until he worked his way up the political ladder (of course one could argue he had the Ilocos fan base to build upon, but that's digressing). I also believed that the sins of the father must not be visited on the son. Bongbong was only 29 when his family was unceremoniously kicked out of Malacañan Palace in 1986; he could not have been privy to the goings-on that under his father's dictatorship. What worries me about Bongbong is the chip-on-shoulder outlook he and his family bears to this day. I've had the chance to rub shoulders with Bongbong's son Zandro (sometimes spelled "Sandro") a couple of times, and the kid earnestly believes that the reports of human rights violations during martial law were, in fact, largely fictional accounts made up by leftists who were political opponents of his grandfather Ferdinand. That's clan propaganda for you.

                                But that's not the only thing. The recent controversy stirred up by the Marcos family's ability to get the Philippine Supreme Court to have the ousted president's remains buried at the Heroes' Cemetery in Manila is more emblematic of what kind of worldview this family holds. There are plenty of rumors in Manila that the payoff per judge could be north of a billion pesos (+/-US$20M at today's forex rates) to have the assenting high court judges see through a majority vote (9-5) to get the burial done. What's interesting is few people know (even among Filipinos) that the actual remains of Ferdinand Marcos are long buried in his hometown in Batac, Ilocos Norte (the one in a mausoleum there is just a wax replica). SO why spend so much money to get what is essentially an empty coffin buried at the Heroes' Cemetery? Historical whitewashing, with a purpose. Bongbong is aiming for the presidency. One of his main objectives is to whitewash the historical record so that there would be a certain degree of questionability when someone raises the martial law era. If you think that's laughable, talk to a twenty-something Filipino today—someone born after the Marcoses were deposed—and there's a good chance you'd hear that the martial law years were the golden years of the Philippines, where Singapore-style discipline ruled (that martial discipline part was true—but so was the collusion of the military in systematic plunder of just about every industry, Mugabe style).

                                And that's what the Marcoses have been up to since they came back in the 90s. A quiet but formidable propaganda machinery has been tapping into a vast reservoir of popular disenchantment at the Philippine status quo. They realized that it would be a tantalizing thing to peddle the lie that, somehow, the Philippines was once an economic powerhouse under Marcos, and that another Marcos could reclaim the Philippines' former glory (the country never was a fully developed industrial economy, but it had the 2nd most prosperous economy post-WWII, second only to Japan—but then the elder Marcos wasn't even in Manila during the 1940s. And hey, when much of Asia was in ruins, that's a pretty low bar to go by).

                                How does this all link back to Duterte? As early as mid-2014, there were already rumors floating of a Duterte-Marcos tandem. But then a lot of Duterte's political allies were leftists (people from the ranks of the Communist Party of the Philippines and other affiliated organizations)—the very people Ferdinand Marcos persecuted. They were very against that idea. So with none of the other presidentiables willing to team up with him, Bongbong pairs up with the only option left: a weakling presidential candidate with no chance of winning; in this case it was former senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who was brilliant and eloquent but too out of touch with the masses, with her intelligence and English-speaking ways and brutal frankness. Since the Philippines elects its President and VP separately, the hope was that Duterte would be President and Bongbong, VP. With this unspoken alliance, Bongbong's sister Imee Marcos-Manotoc coursed a ₱100-million (+/-US$2M) campaign donation to Duterte through a Davao billionaire, fruit magnate Antonio Floirendo. Bongbong got enough votes to garner 2nd place, and is now contesting the election results through an electoral protest, hopefully winning the justices over through legal acrobatics and financial power like they did for his father's burial case at that same Supreme Court.

                                Duterte has been presented by some quarters as playing off the US vs China in a delicate geostrategic balancing game. But that is an incredibly fawning description that is ultimately false. Duterte is neither statesman nor strategist; he is no Josef Tito or Lee Kuan-yew. He has neither the intellectual capacity to realize the geopolitical stakes of his actions/words, nor the wile to do strategic jiujitsu with two larger powers. Before the presidency, he was the mayor of a city that is, large as it may be geographically, small in terms of economic prowess and political influence, to say nothing of a backward, banana economy. He has no experience whatsoever in foreign affairs, and no previous experience in governance at the national level.

                                Duterte's (and his foreign secretary's) defense of the pivot to China was that they were pursuing "an independent foreign policy". But discarding one hegemon (US) for another (China) isn't an independent policy; it's putting old wine in a new jar. It's merely hitching your fortunes from one economic patron to a new one. To be sure, it isn't an entirely braindead strategy. Beijing was pleasantly surprised that Duterte would so openly embrace China, and accordingly upgraded his 2-day working visit to a full-fledged state visit, complete with red carpet welcome by Xi Jinping. He signed about US$13 billion dollars of pledges of aid, mostly in infrastructure, with China. New roads, airports, schools, telecom infrastructure, all things that the Philippines' growing economy sorely needs.

                                But by so antagonizing the Americans so willy-nilly before getting any concessions from China, Duterte has in fact played right into the hands of Beijing. With the threat of cozying up to the United States now off the table, Beijing's hand has in fact been strengthened. When Duterte came back and did what to some in China looked like an about-face (by saying that the pivot away from the US is not all-encompassing), Beijing settled down and took a wait-and-see attitude, wary that there would be a repeat of what happened under former Pres. Aquino, where a warm China visit was followed by hard policy choices vs China in the territorial disputes. So now Duterte is getting impatient, and in fact told Chinese ambassador Zhao Jianhua that he wanted to go back to China in November (which, if you're familiar with international politics, you'd find laughable. No leader makes two state visits to the same country within a year. Duterte's inexperience is showing here). What the Chinese now want to clarify is whether his pronouncements were mere rhetoric, as his defenders say, or are clear policy stances. Duterte's call to congratulate Trump and bootlicking praise by presuming that they'd get well together because, as he said, "we both like to curse" is worrisome to Beijing in the same way Shinzo Abe's personal friendship with Duterte is, with the two being friends since the latter's mayor days. (No, Mr Duterte, Trump doesn't like to curse. He likes to make outrageous remarks, but he isn't known to cuss like you).

                                China would be right to sit back and expect more concrete shows of this newfound amity, as previous initiatives like the North Railway Project, conceived under the China-friendly but corruption-riddled administration of Pres. Gloria Arroyo, were derailed by political infighting and exposés about improprieties. Plus Beijing is keenly aware also of the fickle nature of Philippine politics, with infighting now happening between the PDP-Laban party and its leftist allies, a break of which would put any China projects in jeopardy were the wind to blow in a different direction (if Duterte is unseated, the automatic successor is VP-elect Leni Robredo of Aquino's China-antagonistic Liberal Party). And there's now little Duterte can do about it, seeing that he's antagonized not only the US, which has withheld several financial and military aid packages, and Europe, whose ire Duterte also earned for the marauding war on drugs. Philippine representatives, believing in Duterte's spiel that they have won over China's heart, proceeded to give China a long wish list, mostly in the form of grants and concessions, and not long-term aid like what China believed all along. Beijing has balked, and has now required a few rounds of technical negotiations before even getting to the stage where the Philippines can apply for a loan at the AIIB (what, no gifts?). The gift-seekers sent Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, Duterte's running mate for VP and Foreign Secretary-to-be (around July 2017), to Beijing to reiterate the president's requests, but came home with non-committal responses. Duterte now has no aces up his sleeve, because he gave them away before the poker game even started. And now he's the only one at the table believing in his own bluff.

                                Finally, this might be the one thing that most pundits have missed out on, and his legions of fans (collectively derided as "Dutertards") have chosen to ignore: Duterte is many things to many people, but he is not the messianic leader that Filipinos have long needed. Filipinos elected him on promises of cleaning up corruption and crime fighting, and in doing so exposed the electorate as mostly one prone to political theatrics and appeals to populist emotions. What small town mayors do in election after election, Duterte has managed to do on a national level, using guerrilla tactics backed by someone larger, more powerful, and with more ambition than he does. With blind fanaticism in this brash demagogue, we can truly say that Filipinos got what they deserved.

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