Centrist Democracy Political Institute - Items filtered by date: June 2025
Wednesday, 12 April 2017 12:13
Disrespecting our Catholic faith
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte is now on a state visit to three Middle Eastern Islamic countries—the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Kingdom of Bahrain and the State of Qatar—while majority of the Filipino people and the rest of the Catholic world observe the penitential season known as Holy Week. There is nothing wrong about visiting these Arab countries. But he could not have chosen a more inappropriate date.
Indeed, he could not have done worse had he chosen to spend Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Black Saturday and Easter Sunday with his natural or official family sunning themselves on a sandy shore somewhere off the South China Sea or the Pacific, while most Filipino Catholics meditate on the suffering, death and resurrection of the crucified and risen Christ whom they profess to be the center of their faith.
For reasons far beyond me, the point seems completely lost on PDU30. I cannot imagine any of his hosts—Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud, Bahrain King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa, or Qatari Emir Tanim bin Hamad al Thani—making a pilgrimage to a non-Islamic place during Ramadan while the Muslim world is doing its month-long religious fast. No serious Filipino Catholic therefore can possibly understand the outrageous timing of this Arab junket.
Not the Middle East, please
Some of my friends have suggested that DU30 has decided to spend the Holy Week in a place where the Holy Week is not formally observed, precisely because he does not believe in it. This is excessively cynical, and I refuse to accept it. I am aware of DU30’s casual attacks on the Catholic Church, the Pope, bishops and priests, but whether he means what he says or says things purely for political or mass media effect, the Filipino people, majority of whom are Catholic, have a right to demand that he respect their cultural sensibilities and their faith.
Supping with pagan monarchs during this holiest of Christian seasons, in places where that season is not recognized by the people and their religious leaders, is nothing less than an act of disrespect. DU30 may declare himself a non-believer or pagan who has convinced himself that the Catholic Church would disappear, as he recently said, “in 30 years,” but for as long as he is the President of Filipinos who are mostly Catholic, he cannot be publicly and officially associated with any act hostile to their faith.
The Philippines is one of the last truly Catholic Christian countries, after the tragic dechristianization of the Western world. It would be celebrating the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christianity in the islands in the next four years. This is an irreplaceable treasure to many, if not most, Filipinos. As their President, DU30 has a duty to safeguard that wealth, whatever his religious belief or non-belief. Either he is part of the culture or he is not; he cannot lead the nation if he is not.
What Saudi owes our OFWs
Saudi Arabia employs the most number of Overseas Filipino Workers in the Middle East. While accompanying then-Vice President Jejomar C. Binay as presidential adviser on OFW concerns on some of his trips to the Middle East, I heard some of the King’s ministers say they would take it as an unfriendly act if the Philippine government prevented Filipinos from working in Saudi households. But the Saudi government has done nothing to allow Filipino Catholics working in the kingdom to exercise their right of religious worship. Only in Doha has Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, father of the current Emir, provided the Filipinos and Catholics from other countries a church where they could freely worship.
In spite of DU30’s mistake in spending Holy Week in these three Islamic countries, he could still make amends by asking King Salman in Riyadh to make it possible for Filipino Catholics to practice their faith in their places of work. This could help mitigate his unnecessary offense to Filipino Catholics. He could then come home and call on Filipino Catholics to help him unify the nation behind his government. We could then move as one regardless of our religious differences to confront the monumental problems that have piled up. Many of these problems uniquely belong to the President, but if we stand as one, we could lend him a helping hand wherever he needs it.
The brutal war on drugs has gone south; threats are mounting to drag DU30 to the International Criminal Court at the Hague; he is facing an impeachment complaint in the House of Representatives that could still prove treacherous; two of his closest Congress allies are quarrelling, together with, and on account of, their mistresses; some of his lackeys want to impeach the Ombudsman and the Vice President to give way to various political motives; his Cabinet is rent by bitter and insidious feuds about turf, contracts, loot, and illicit privilege; his personal interventions have resulted in the firing and shaming of a few officials, unfortunately before all the parties could be thoroughly investigated.
Wrong calls?
The wrong people have taken the rap, while the apparently guilty ones have remained more deeply entrenched. These include former National Irrigation Administrator Peter Lavina, former Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno, and former Cabinet Undersecretary Maia Chiara Halmen Valdez, all of whom may have been fed to the lions without a fair process. I do not know any of these individuals, but based on my own inquiry, I have to ask whether they got a fair deal.
Lavina, for one, was accused of trying to benefit from a P5 billion irrigation project that ballooned into P14 billion long before he was appointed to his post. He appeared to be less sinning than sinned against. In fact, the persistent scuttlebutt is that he was trying to stop the alleged corruption, but was outsmarted by better positioned parties. Someone snitched on him, before he could put together the necessary paperwork on his adversaries.
In the case of Sueno, it appears that a member of his family got herself involved in some minor official transactions. These raised a question of propriety, but not enough to constitute corruption. What broke the camel’s back, sources close to the story said, was the P18.5 billion appropriation for “Assistance to Disadvantaged Municipalities” which Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. would like to see transferred from the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) to his communist-oriented quasi-political party, “Kilusang Pagbabago” (KP), for which no official funds are provided in the General Appropriations Act. Of this amount, the Department of Budget and Management has released P3.5 billion for 547 municipalities. But Sueno reportedly bucked the move, and got cooked for it.
With respect to Halmen, whom DU30 fired after she collided with National Food Administrator Jason Aquino on the question of extending the rice importation deadlines, her gravest offense, the same sources said, is that she is not only a native of Maribojoc, Bohol, where Evasco comes from, but above all the Cabinet Secretary’s personal protege. The fact that Evasco has become more powerful than any Cabinet member has made it difficult for other members of the DU30 government to be objective about him on many issues. But it seems wrong to fault a subordinate official just because she is a subordinate and for no other reason.
It is to be regretted that grave allegations of corruption now seem to confront the very government that has vowed to expose and punish the unpunished corruption of others; that supposedly incorruptible communist appointees, who were supposed to be models of honesty, dedication and efficiency, are now being linked to questionable activities involving large sums of money and fat contracts. This is truly tragic, but it is a reality DU30 and the nation must now face.
The best way for us to face it is by calling upon our strongest moral reserves as a people with a strong political resolve and an authentic Christian faith. And this we do not fritter away by doing the silliest things for the silliest reasons in the most important of all seasons in our Christian life.
Indeed, he could not have done worse had he chosen to spend Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Black Saturday and Easter Sunday with his natural or official family sunning themselves on a sandy shore somewhere off the South China Sea or the Pacific, while most Filipino Catholics meditate on the suffering, death and resurrection of the crucified and risen Christ whom they profess to be the center of their faith.
For reasons far beyond me, the point seems completely lost on PDU30. I cannot imagine any of his hosts—Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud, Bahrain King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa, or Qatari Emir Tanim bin Hamad al Thani—making a pilgrimage to a non-Islamic place during Ramadan while the Muslim world is doing its month-long religious fast. No serious Filipino Catholic therefore can possibly understand the outrageous timing of this Arab junket.
Not the Middle East, please
Some of my friends have suggested that DU30 has decided to spend the Holy Week in a place where the Holy Week is not formally observed, precisely because he does not believe in it. This is excessively cynical, and I refuse to accept it. I am aware of DU30’s casual attacks on the Catholic Church, the Pope, bishops and priests, but whether he means what he says or says things purely for political or mass media effect, the Filipino people, majority of whom are Catholic, have a right to demand that he respect their cultural sensibilities and their faith.
Supping with pagan monarchs during this holiest of Christian seasons, in places where that season is not recognized by the people and their religious leaders, is nothing less than an act of disrespect. DU30 may declare himself a non-believer or pagan who has convinced himself that the Catholic Church would disappear, as he recently said, “in 30 years,” but for as long as he is the President of Filipinos who are mostly Catholic, he cannot be publicly and officially associated with any act hostile to their faith.
The Philippines is one of the last truly Catholic Christian countries, after the tragic dechristianization of the Western world. It would be celebrating the 500th anniversary of the arrival of Christianity in the islands in the next four years. This is an irreplaceable treasure to many, if not most, Filipinos. As their President, DU30 has a duty to safeguard that wealth, whatever his religious belief or non-belief. Either he is part of the culture or he is not; he cannot lead the nation if he is not.
What Saudi owes our OFWs
Saudi Arabia employs the most number of Overseas Filipino Workers in the Middle East. While accompanying then-Vice President Jejomar C. Binay as presidential adviser on OFW concerns on some of his trips to the Middle East, I heard some of the King’s ministers say they would take it as an unfriendly act if the Philippine government prevented Filipinos from working in Saudi households. But the Saudi government has done nothing to allow Filipino Catholics working in the kingdom to exercise their right of religious worship. Only in Doha has Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, father of the current Emir, provided the Filipinos and Catholics from other countries a church where they could freely worship.
In spite of DU30’s mistake in spending Holy Week in these three Islamic countries, he could still make amends by asking King Salman in Riyadh to make it possible for Filipino Catholics to practice their faith in their places of work. This could help mitigate his unnecessary offense to Filipino Catholics. He could then come home and call on Filipino Catholics to help him unify the nation behind his government. We could then move as one regardless of our religious differences to confront the monumental problems that have piled up. Many of these problems uniquely belong to the President, but if we stand as one, we could lend him a helping hand wherever he needs it.
The brutal war on drugs has gone south; threats are mounting to drag DU30 to the International Criminal Court at the Hague; he is facing an impeachment complaint in the House of Representatives that could still prove treacherous; two of his closest Congress allies are quarrelling, together with, and on account of, their mistresses; some of his lackeys want to impeach the Ombudsman and the Vice President to give way to various political motives; his Cabinet is rent by bitter and insidious feuds about turf, contracts, loot, and illicit privilege; his personal interventions have resulted in the firing and shaming of a few officials, unfortunately before all the parties could be thoroughly investigated.
Wrong calls?
The wrong people have taken the rap, while the apparently guilty ones have remained more deeply entrenched. These include former National Irrigation Administrator Peter Lavina, former Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno, and former Cabinet Undersecretary Maia Chiara Halmen Valdez, all of whom may have been fed to the lions without a fair process. I do not know any of these individuals, but based on my own inquiry, I have to ask whether they got a fair deal.
Lavina, for one, was accused of trying to benefit from a P5 billion irrigation project that ballooned into P14 billion long before he was appointed to his post. He appeared to be less sinning than sinned against. In fact, the persistent scuttlebutt is that he was trying to stop the alleged corruption, but was outsmarted by better positioned parties. Someone snitched on him, before he could put together the necessary paperwork on his adversaries.
In the case of Sueno, it appears that a member of his family got herself involved in some minor official transactions. These raised a question of propriety, but not enough to constitute corruption. What broke the camel’s back, sources close to the story said, was the P18.5 billion appropriation for “Assistance to Disadvantaged Municipalities” which Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. would like to see transferred from the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) to his communist-oriented quasi-political party, “Kilusang Pagbabago” (KP), for which no official funds are provided in the General Appropriations Act. Of this amount, the Department of Budget and Management has released P3.5 billion for 547 municipalities. But Sueno reportedly bucked the move, and got cooked for it.
With respect to Halmen, whom DU30 fired after she collided with National Food Administrator Jason Aquino on the question of extending the rice importation deadlines, her gravest offense, the same sources said, is that she is not only a native of Maribojoc, Bohol, where Evasco comes from, but above all the Cabinet Secretary’s personal protege. The fact that Evasco has become more powerful than any Cabinet member has made it difficult for other members of the DU30 government to be objective about him on many issues. But it seems wrong to fault a subordinate official just because she is a subordinate and for no other reason.
It is to be regretted that grave allegations of corruption now seem to confront the very government that has vowed to expose and punish the unpunished corruption of others; that supposedly incorruptible communist appointees, who were supposed to be models of honesty, dedication and efficiency, are now being linked to questionable activities involving large sums of money and fat contracts. This is truly tragic, but it is a reality DU30 and the nation must now face.
The best way for us to face it is by calling upon our strongest moral reserves as a people with a strong political resolve and an authentic Christian faith. And this we do not fritter away by doing the silliest things for the silliest reasons in the most important of all seasons in our Christian life.
Published in
Commentaries
Wednesday, 12 April 2017 11:32
What religion robs us of
THIS week, the only time when we think of things beyond, even as rituals of Christianity dominate our days, perhaps is a good time to critique, as modern man has to, what centuries or even just decades ago, we could not question at all religion.
Evolutionary scientists have pointed out that even without religion, homo sapiens through millions of years of its biological and cultural evolution had to develop—or perish—what clerics mystify as God-given values of charity (cooperation) and love. (See for example, Michael Shermer’s The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity Toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom.)
Indeed, there hasn’t been found yet a tribe or society built on the values of selfishness and cruelty. Of course, no such society will ever be found since the members of such a tribe or society would have over the centuries killed each other to extinction. In the long run, as archaeologists have argued quite rigorously, the selfish member of a tribe gets to be exposed as such and either exterminated or banished.
As sociologists using game theory have pointed out, the best game plan is to be sometimes selfish, sometimes selfless—which is after all how most rational people live their lives. Even the most selfish individual in his twilight years gets to be good.
Is it just a coincidence that nearly all religions that flourished in humanity’s history were not just state religions, but religions of empires — Christianity that of the Roman Empire since Emperor (“Saint”) Constantine, and its successor the European states; Islam that of the empires of the caliphates and sultanates up to the modern era’s Ottoman Empire. No wonder Zen Buddhism — whose teachings rulers can’t use to subjugate peoples — never got to be a widespread religion.
Is it coincidental that that kings and their nobles claimed and ruled as God’s representatives on earth which allowed them to live off the blood and sweat of the toiling tenants? Did Spain get to rule over us for three centuries through force of arms and its higher level of culture, or through religion that convinced the people that they were children of God, whom the friars and the Spanish conquistadores represented, and therefore must obey?
Real problem
Humanity’s real problem has been the penchant of a tribe or a nation, because again of human evolutionary history, to exploit and even exterminate the other tribe or nation. The reasons for this run deep, perhaps ingrained in our DNA from the time millennia ago when resources were so scarce that a tribe’s survival required it to take the other’s hunting and foraging lands and get rid of the other. Or because it is etched in our collective mind that strangers bring disease to a tribe, which has not developed the immunities required.
Religions seem powerless to solve this problem, and may even have worsened it. Religions, which most tribes use as one of their distinguishing feature as against other tribes, have been used as justification for the cruelest wars in history.
How many times have we heard in YouTube videos that spine-tingling cry “Allahu Akbar!” while humans are beheaded, or even torched. But wasn’t it Christians and their Crusades in the Middle Ages who invented the notion of a Holy War, in order to expel the Muslims and recapture where Yeshua their founder walked the earth?
It is only religion, and nothing else, that can prod a young man to kill scores of infidels with the bomb that also blows him to smithereens, since he believes that there will be an afterlife for a mujahideen like him where he will enjoy 72 virgins.
The most basic appeal of religion is that it brainwashes one into believing that he is immortal, that he will be merely moving to a different kind of existence when he dies; for Filipinos perhaps, just like migrating to the US or Canada.
That’s certainly an attractive notion for one of the exploited class who has lived a life of misery and pain. Death will mean his moving to a better world.
That’s also great news if you’re with the exploiting class, that your huge donation to build your local church would get you the visa to enter that territory Christians call Heaven.
Recurring belief
It’s a recurring notion in most of the world religions: Muslims call it Jannah, the Hindus Swarga Loka, Romans the Elysian Fields, and the Vikings Valhalla, with its giant beer-drinking hall. But it is no longer a universal belief: ask a Japanese, Chinese, Korean, or a Scandinavian and he’ll reply a bit embarrassingly, “We hardly think of that.”
Still, the notion of a heavenly afterlife is so powerful that modern man is unable to shed it off, even if it goes against his rationality. There has been in fact a resurgence of the fantasy, with the plethora of best-selling books on “heaven” that have made millions of dollars for their clever authors in the US.
This is despite the fact there is nothing in the “heaven” they depict that hasn’t been in Christian depictions of it in art and fiction for centuries. A book written about a mujahideen’s encounter with 72 virgins in the afterlife, I bet, would probably be an instant hit. (The doctor who attended to best-selling “Proof of Heaven” author Dr. Eben Alexander when he claimed that he had died, reported in Esquire that he was in a medically induced coma, and was hallucinating.)
New scientific discoveries understood really only by professional physicists through abstract equations have been hijacked by creative writers to propound a theory that when one dies, he lives “alternate lives” – a la quantum physics’ “multiverses”– as a recent movie, The Discovery, dramatized.
What religion robs us of with its fiction that we are immortal is life itself, the enjoyment of the here and now.
Is it so terrible that in this vast cosmos, this unique creature, because of random events in immense stretches of time we cannot comprehend, has been given the opportunity, even if only for a limited time, to become aware of himself and of the universe, to enjoy life, love, family, friendship and achievements?
Why is that void in the future so fearsome when we really came from a void we don’t even remember?
“Be here now” is the mantra not just of mystics through the centuries, like Ramana Maharishi, Osho, and now Eckhart Tolle, but of a scientist like Sigmund Freud, who wrote:
“A flower that blossoms only for a single night does not seem to us on that account less lovely.”
Evolutionary scientists have pointed out that even without religion, homo sapiens through millions of years of its biological and cultural evolution had to develop—or perish—what clerics mystify as God-given values of charity (cooperation) and love. (See for example, Michael Shermer’s The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity Toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom.)
Indeed, there hasn’t been found yet a tribe or society built on the values of selfishness and cruelty. Of course, no such society will ever be found since the members of such a tribe or society would have over the centuries killed each other to extinction. In the long run, as archaeologists have argued quite rigorously, the selfish member of a tribe gets to be exposed as such and either exterminated or banished.
As sociologists using game theory have pointed out, the best game plan is to be sometimes selfish, sometimes selfless—which is after all how most rational people live their lives. Even the most selfish individual in his twilight years gets to be good.
Is it just a coincidence that nearly all religions that flourished in humanity’s history were not just state religions, but religions of empires — Christianity that of the Roman Empire since Emperor (“Saint”) Constantine, and its successor the European states; Islam that of the empires of the caliphates and sultanates up to the modern era’s Ottoman Empire. No wonder Zen Buddhism — whose teachings rulers can’t use to subjugate peoples — never got to be a widespread religion.
Is it coincidental that that kings and their nobles claimed and ruled as God’s representatives on earth which allowed them to live off the blood and sweat of the toiling tenants? Did Spain get to rule over us for three centuries through force of arms and its higher level of culture, or through religion that convinced the people that they were children of God, whom the friars and the Spanish conquistadores represented, and therefore must obey?
Real problem
Humanity’s real problem has been the penchant of a tribe or a nation, because again of human evolutionary history, to exploit and even exterminate the other tribe or nation. The reasons for this run deep, perhaps ingrained in our DNA from the time millennia ago when resources were so scarce that a tribe’s survival required it to take the other’s hunting and foraging lands and get rid of the other. Or because it is etched in our collective mind that strangers bring disease to a tribe, which has not developed the immunities required.
Religions seem powerless to solve this problem, and may even have worsened it. Religions, which most tribes use as one of their distinguishing feature as against other tribes, have been used as justification for the cruelest wars in history.
How many times have we heard in YouTube videos that spine-tingling cry “Allahu Akbar!” while humans are beheaded, or even torched. But wasn’t it Christians and their Crusades in the Middle Ages who invented the notion of a Holy War, in order to expel the Muslims and recapture where Yeshua their founder walked the earth?
It is only religion, and nothing else, that can prod a young man to kill scores of infidels with the bomb that also blows him to smithereens, since he believes that there will be an afterlife for a mujahideen like him where he will enjoy 72 virgins.
The most basic appeal of religion is that it brainwashes one into believing that he is immortal, that he will be merely moving to a different kind of existence when he dies; for Filipinos perhaps, just like migrating to the US or Canada.
That’s certainly an attractive notion for one of the exploited class who has lived a life of misery and pain. Death will mean his moving to a better world.
That’s also great news if you’re with the exploiting class, that your huge donation to build your local church would get you the visa to enter that territory Christians call Heaven.
Recurring belief
It’s a recurring notion in most of the world religions: Muslims call it Jannah, the Hindus Swarga Loka, Romans the Elysian Fields, and the Vikings Valhalla, with its giant beer-drinking hall. But it is no longer a universal belief: ask a Japanese, Chinese, Korean, or a Scandinavian and he’ll reply a bit embarrassingly, “We hardly think of that.”
Still, the notion of a heavenly afterlife is so powerful that modern man is unable to shed it off, even if it goes against his rationality. There has been in fact a resurgence of the fantasy, with the plethora of best-selling books on “heaven” that have made millions of dollars for their clever authors in the US.
This is despite the fact there is nothing in the “heaven” they depict that hasn’t been in Christian depictions of it in art and fiction for centuries. A book written about a mujahideen’s encounter with 72 virgins in the afterlife, I bet, would probably be an instant hit. (The doctor who attended to best-selling “Proof of Heaven” author Dr. Eben Alexander when he claimed that he had died, reported in Esquire that he was in a medically induced coma, and was hallucinating.)
New scientific discoveries understood really only by professional physicists through abstract equations have been hijacked by creative writers to propound a theory that when one dies, he lives “alternate lives” – a la quantum physics’ “multiverses”– as a recent movie, The Discovery, dramatized.
What religion robs us of with its fiction that we are immortal is life itself, the enjoyment of the here and now.
Is it so terrible that in this vast cosmos, this unique creature, because of random events in immense stretches of time we cannot comprehend, has been given the opportunity, even if only for a limited time, to become aware of himself and of the universe, to enjoy life, love, family, friendship and achievements?
Why is that void in the future so fearsome when we really came from a void we don’t even remember?
“Be here now” is the mantra not just of mystics through the centuries, like Ramana Maharishi, Osho, and now Eckhart Tolle, but of a scientist like Sigmund Freud, who wrote:
“A flower that blossoms only for a single night does not seem to us on that account less lovely.”
Published in
Commentaries
Wednesday, 12 April 2017 10:00
Duterte visit: PH-Saudi labor deals on agenda
TWO agreements will be signed between the Philippines and Saudi Arabia as President Rodrigo Duterte embarks on the first leg of his three-country swing to Middle East countries this week.
Duterte met with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and other high-ranking Saudi officials Tuesday to discuss the plight of Filipino workers there and to strengthen the cooperation between Manila and Riyadh to combat the drug scourge.
Among the agreements signed are a memorandum of agreement on labor cooperation on general workers and employment between Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Labor and Social Development and the Philippines’ Department of Labor and Employment; and a memorandum of understanding regarding political consultations between Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs.
Saudi Arabia is the first leg of President Duterte’s first foreign trip to the Middle East and is the home and destination of work of the largest number of overseas Filipinos in the region.
In an interview at Riyadh, Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella clarified that Duterte cannot bring home Filipinos on the death row, but he can bring those who sought amnesty before the Saudi government.
“He was asked about the death row matter. We need to clarify that first the process has not yet reached the level of the king, in which case there is no place for us asking for clemency at this stage so let us wait for the process regarding the death row issues,” Abella said.
He said the President could bring with him those who had taken advantage of an immigration amnesty by Saudi Arabia.
Philippine Consul-General to Saudi Arabia Iric C. Arribas urged Filipinos to avail of the amnesty for undocumented foreign workers declared by the Saudi government last March 29 to resolve problems in their papers to come clean with their government work permits.
Philippine Embassy officials said they were expecting around 5,000 undocumented Filipinos here to avail of the amnesty the Saudi government announced for illegal migrants.
“For this amnesty 2017 we are hoping that all of them will avail but we expect around 5,000 to avail, more or less. We are urging undocumented Filipinos here to avail of the amnesty,” Abella said.
The President is also expected to meet members of the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry where Filipino business leaders would meet their Arab counterparts to explore trade and investment opportunities.
Duterte supporter and starlet Margaux “Mocha” Uson is part of Duterte’s entourage as a “morale booster” for Filipinos abroad, the Palace said Tuesday.
Also joining Duterte’s trip abroad is Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos and former Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Francis Tolentino, two of Duterte’s closest allies despite having no connection at all to the President’s trips.
Defending Uson’s inclusion in the official delegation abroad, Abella said that Uson will serve as the Philippine delegation’s “morale-booster.”
“The appointed official of The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board is part of the Philippine delegation. She has a large following among the overseas Filipino communities, especially in the Middle East, and it is in their interest that she has come to help boost morale and well-being,” Abella said.
In an interview at Davao City before leaving for Middle East, the Ilocos Norte governor said she asked the Palace to join Duterte’s trips to check on the condition of Filipino workers in the Middle East.
“I really requested to join because among the overseas migrant laborers in the Middle East, many are Ilocanos and women, so it’s important for me to know if their situation is improving because as far as I know, many of them were left behind, so we have to work on it,” Marcos said.
Marcos joined the President’s trips to China and Singapore last year.
Another official spotted joining the President’s trip was Tolentino, whose sister Analyn is currently the President’s Social Secretary.
In a press briefing at Riyadh, Abella admitted that the government is paying for the accommodation of all officials included in the President’s trip to the Middle East.
He said he could not explain how Tolentino was able to join the official delegation, even though he holds no government position.
Duterte met with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and other high-ranking Saudi officials Tuesday to discuss the plight of Filipino workers there and to strengthen the cooperation between Manila and Riyadh to combat the drug scourge.
Among the agreements signed are a memorandum of agreement on labor cooperation on general workers and employment between Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Labor and Social Development and the Philippines’ Department of Labor and Employment; and a memorandum of understanding regarding political consultations between Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs.
Saudi Arabia is the first leg of President Duterte’s first foreign trip to the Middle East and is the home and destination of work of the largest number of overseas Filipinos in the region.
In an interview at Riyadh, Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella clarified that Duterte cannot bring home Filipinos on the death row, but he can bring those who sought amnesty before the Saudi government.
“He was asked about the death row matter. We need to clarify that first the process has not yet reached the level of the king, in which case there is no place for us asking for clemency at this stage so let us wait for the process regarding the death row issues,” Abella said.
He said the President could bring with him those who had taken advantage of an immigration amnesty by Saudi Arabia.
Philippine Consul-General to Saudi Arabia Iric C. Arribas urged Filipinos to avail of the amnesty for undocumented foreign workers declared by the Saudi government last March 29 to resolve problems in their papers to come clean with their government work permits.
Philippine Embassy officials said they were expecting around 5,000 undocumented Filipinos here to avail of the amnesty the Saudi government announced for illegal migrants.
“For this amnesty 2017 we are hoping that all of them will avail but we expect around 5,000 to avail, more or less. We are urging undocumented Filipinos here to avail of the amnesty,” Abella said.
The President is also expected to meet members of the Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Industry where Filipino business leaders would meet their Arab counterparts to explore trade and investment opportunities.
Duterte supporter and starlet Margaux “Mocha” Uson is part of Duterte’s entourage as a “morale booster” for Filipinos abroad, the Palace said Tuesday.
Also joining Duterte’s trip abroad is Ilocos Norte Gov. Imee Marcos and former Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Francis Tolentino, two of Duterte’s closest allies despite having no connection at all to the President’s trips.
Defending Uson’s inclusion in the official delegation abroad, Abella said that Uson will serve as the Philippine delegation’s “morale-booster.”
“The appointed official of The Movie and Television Review and Classification Board is part of the Philippine delegation. She has a large following among the overseas Filipino communities, especially in the Middle East, and it is in their interest that she has come to help boost morale and well-being,” Abella said.
In an interview at Davao City before leaving for Middle East, the Ilocos Norte governor said she asked the Palace to join Duterte’s trips to check on the condition of Filipino workers in the Middle East.
“I really requested to join because among the overseas migrant laborers in the Middle East, many are Ilocanos and women, so it’s important for me to know if their situation is improving because as far as I know, many of them were left behind, so we have to work on it,” Marcos said.
Marcos joined the President’s trips to China and Singapore last year.
Another official spotted joining the President’s trip was Tolentino, whose sister Analyn is currently the President’s Social Secretary.
In a press briefing at Riyadh, Abella admitted that the government is paying for the accommodation of all officials included in the President’s trip to the Middle East.
He said he could not explain how Tolentino was able to join the official delegation, even though he holds no government position.
Published in
News
Wednesday, 12 April 2017 09:50
Govt troops corner ASG rebels in Bohol
14 dead in fierce clashes
SOLDIERS clashed with heavily armed members of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) spotted in a town in Bohol on Tuesday, a day after security officials confirmed the existence of a terror threat in Central Visayas.
The fierce firefight left 14 people dead, four of them government troops.
At least one policeman was confirmed killed in the fight, national police spokesman Senior Superintendent Dionardo Carlos said in a statement.
Officials said the fighting erupted in the village of Ilaya in Inabanga town where civilians reported to the police the presence of Abu Sayyaf rebels who arrived in several speedboats.
The firefight occurred two days after the United States Embassy in Manila issued a travel advisory warning its citizens against travelling to Cebu and Bohol because of the threat of kidnapping.
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Ronald De la Rosa said the rebel group’s early detection stopped the rebels from carrying out their kidnapping plan.
“We reacted to the information, our operatives checked it and the troops managed to corner them,” he said.
The clashes that started at 7 a.m. continued until late Tuesday afternoon. More troops from the Army, Air Force and the Navy were deployed to reinforce the security forces in Inabanga.
Intelligence reports said that the armed men were led by ASG sub-leader Muammar Askali alias Abu Rami, whose group was initially monitored in Sindangan, Zamboanga Del Norte. The rebels reached Inabanga Monday night.
The incursion would be the first on a major tourist destination in recent years by the Abu Sayyaf, which has long engaged in kidnappings for ransom—often targeting foreigners.
Bohol is a major tourist destination, where foreign tourists swim with whale sharks and marvel at tiny primates called tarsiers, go on cruises aboard boats on crystal-clear rivers and lounge at white-sand beaches.
Five bodies have been recovered at the scene of the fighting, military spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla said in a talevision interview.
Padilla said the army had received information over the past few weeks about “a potential activity on the part of some lawless elements to disturb the peace” in the area.
“The clearing operations are ongoing and we are pouring in more forces to help and assist. We hope to finish this by the end of the day,” the spokesman added.
Armed Forces chief Eduardo Año said that prior to the encounter, members of the Army’s 47th Infantry Battalion and the Bohol Provincial Police Office and the Regional Public Safety Battalion were sent to the area after intelligence information revealed the presence of heavily armed men.
“The security operation was launched in relation to the monitored presence of 10 armed men with three pump boats along the riverside of Sitio Ilaya, Barangay Napo in the area of Inabanga, Bohol. The information came from alert residents and other citizens who were watching over their respective communities,” the AFP chief said.
“Security forces reported that the group was armed with heavy caliber weapons but (is) now cornered in an isolated section of the Sitio,” he added.
The Abu Sayyaf, also blamed for deadly bombings, has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State movement that holds large swathes of Iraq and Syria.
Over the past year, the Abu Sayyaf has been expanding its activities, boarding commercial and fishing vessels off their southern island stronghold of Jolo, near Malaysia, and abducting dozens of foreign crew members.
They beheaded a German tourist earlier this year and two Canadian tourists last year, all three of them having been seized at sea.
In May 2001, Abu Sayyaf fighters raided the posh Dos Palmas resort and seized over a dozen tourists, including American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and California man Guillermo Sobero. They brought the hostages in Basilan, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region, and ransomed off some of their wealthy victims.
Guillermo and Martin were killed separately while Gracia – although shot and wounded during a firefight between troops and jihadists – was rescued in Zamboanga del Norte province.
Heightened security
The presence of Abu Sayyaf rebels prompted the island-province of Camiguin, a popular tourist destination in Northern Mindanao, to heighten its security.
Superintendent Reggie Oñate, Camiguin police deputy provincial director for operations, said the police and the local government units in the island intensified their security as they closely watch the development in Bohol in anticipation of the possible spill over of the gunfight to the island.
Mambajao Mayor Jurdin Jesus Romualdo that the local government was monitoring the situation in Bohol as tourists visiting the White Island and Mantigue Island, two of the popular tourist spots in Camiguin, were not evacuated.
Camiguin island is about 182 nautical (535 kms) southeast of Bohol island. It is four hours away from the southern town of Jagna, Bohol by boat.
Oñate said that the eruption of violence in Bohol will have “no effect” on the religious activities in Camiguin, particularly the yearly “Panaad” (vows) that is part of the observance of the Holy Week in the area. With AFP and
SOLDIERS clashed with heavily armed members of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) spotted in a town in Bohol on Tuesday, a day after security officials confirmed the existence of a terror threat in Central Visayas.
The fierce firefight left 14 people dead, four of them government troops.
At least one policeman was confirmed killed in the fight, national police spokesman Senior Superintendent Dionardo Carlos said in a statement.
Officials said the fighting erupted in the village of Ilaya in Inabanga town where civilians reported to the police the presence of Abu Sayyaf rebels who arrived in several speedboats.
The firefight occurred two days after the United States Embassy in Manila issued a travel advisory warning its citizens against travelling to Cebu and Bohol because of the threat of kidnapping.
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Ronald De la Rosa said the rebel group’s early detection stopped the rebels from carrying out their kidnapping plan.
“We reacted to the information, our operatives checked it and the troops managed to corner them,” he said.
The clashes that started at 7 a.m. continued until late Tuesday afternoon. More troops from the Army, Air Force and the Navy were deployed to reinforce the security forces in Inabanga.
Intelligence reports said that the armed men were led by ASG sub-leader Muammar Askali alias Abu Rami, whose group was initially monitored in Sindangan, Zamboanga Del Norte. The rebels reached Inabanga Monday night.
The incursion would be the first on a major tourist destination in recent years by the Abu Sayyaf, which has long engaged in kidnappings for ransom—often targeting foreigners.
Bohol is a major tourist destination, where foreign tourists swim with whale sharks and marvel at tiny primates called tarsiers, go on cruises aboard boats on crystal-clear rivers and lounge at white-sand beaches.
Five bodies have been recovered at the scene of the fighting, military spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla said in a talevision interview.
Padilla said the army had received information over the past few weeks about “a potential activity on the part of some lawless elements to disturb the peace” in the area.
“The clearing operations are ongoing and we are pouring in more forces to help and assist. We hope to finish this by the end of the day,” the spokesman added.
Armed Forces chief Eduardo Año said that prior to the encounter, members of the Army’s 47th Infantry Battalion and the Bohol Provincial Police Office and the Regional Public Safety Battalion were sent to the area after intelligence information revealed the presence of heavily armed men.
“The security operation was launched in relation to the monitored presence of 10 armed men with three pump boats along the riverside of Sitio Ilaya, Barangay Napo in the area of Inabanga, Bohol. The information came from alert residents and other citizens who were watching over their respective communities,” the AFP chief said.
“Security forces reported that the group was armed with heavy caliber weapons but (is) now cornered in an isolated section of the Sitio,” he added.
The Abu Sayyaf, also blamed for deadly bombings, has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State movement that holds large swathes of Iraq and Syria.
Over the past year, the Abu Sayyaf has been expanding its activities, boarding commercial and fishing vessels off their southern island stronghold of Jolo, near Malaysia, and abducting dozens of foreign crew members.
They beheaded a German tourist earlier this year and two Canadian tourists last year, all three of them having been seized at sea.
In May 2001, Abu Sayyaf fighters raided the posh Dos Palmas resort and seized over a dozen tourists, including American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham and California man Guillermo Sobero. They brought the hostages in Basilan, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region, and ransomed off some of their wealthy victims.
Guillermo and Martin were killed separately while Gracia – although shot and wounded during a firefight between troops and jihadists – was rescued in Zamboanga del Norte province.
Heightened security
The presence of Abu Sayyaf rebels prompted the island-province of Camiguin, a popular tourist destination in Northern Mindanao, to heighten its security.
Superintendent Reggie Oñate, Camiguin police deputy provincial director for operations, said the police and the local government units in the island intensified their security as they closely watch the development in Bohol in anticipation of the possible spill over of the gunfight to the island.
Mambajao Mayor Jurdin Jesus Romualdo that the local government was monitoring the situation in Bohol as tourists visiting the White Island and Mantigue Island, two of the popular tourist spots in Camiguin, were not evacuated.
Camiguin island is about 182 nautical (535 kms) southeast of Bohol island. It is four hours away from the southern town of Jagna, Bohol by boat.
Oñate said that the eruption of violence in Bohol will have “no effect” on the religious activities in Camiguin, particularly the yearly “Panaad” (vows) that is part of the observance of the Holy Week in the area. With AFP and
Published in
News
Thursday, 06 April 2017 07:53
My legitimate wife and girlfriends
Part 1
“Everyone does it, so what’s the problem?”
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Philippine Star, March 31, 2017
I HAVE to come clean too. I am a married man and I have a girlfriend. In fact, I have two girlfriends. I can justify this since I am not an elected official and not even part of the Deegong bureaucracy. So, I don’t use government funds for my ladies.
I am not discreet about my liaisons. In fact, I flaunt them and have their photos with me plastered all over my FB wall. You can “friend” me on my FB if you want a glimpse of these gorgeous girls. The fact that no one has so far “un-friended” me on FB shows that my friends and readers have accepted my lifestyle.
Recently, I had one of them (by the way, she’s an American) accompany me to Davao, for a four-day vacation. Her name is Sylvie. I intend to also bring my other girl, Claudia, to Davao (she too has a Fil-American mother). In fact I plan to bring both to my home in Davao, if my wife, Sylvia, can handle them. The logistics are, however, formidable.
You see, both need their bottles every few hours and there is always the problem of diaper change in the plane which I can’t handle. Sylvie is turning three years old next month and Claudia is practically a toddler at one year and five months. And I can’t afford to pay for the plane fare of their nannies.
Lately, mainstream and social media have been inundated by news stories of married government officials with ladies on the side distracting our political leadership from the all-important task of governance.
What is upsetting is that we have these queridas (a more appropriate description), not congressional wives, accompanying these bureaucrats on official government trips, presumably paid for by public funds.What is even more appalling, is that these mistresses’ statements have been given credence by the mainstream press, invariably picked up by social media and go viral. And apparently, these paramours are relishing their newfound notoriety. Their principals, unable to restrain them, as I assume such women can’t be restrained as they hold their men by the balls (pardon the pun), use them as tools in their political disputes.
We, the ordinary taxpayers, are left wondering to what extent these concubines are exerting influence on the political actions and decisions of their partners, our elected lawmakers. Admittedly, these could also be said of their wives; except that these are not wives, but proverbial “kept women”. The difference is that wives are legally and morally bound by certain legal, cultural and religious precepts. Perhaps, this is a good argument as any to support a divorce law in the country, a law which the Catholic church is still hypocritically opposed to, effectively exacerbating this kind of “arrangements of convenience”.
This brought me to google famous mistresses in history who may have exerted influence on their powerful partners, some even changing the course of history. I hope to at least elevate the discussion of these openly illicit relations from the level of gossip. Here are some types of mistresses and examples of relationships, ancient and contemporary.
Hetaera of Athens, 400 B.C.
These were women who at a young age were brought to the Athenian court to be educated in the arts and letters for the sole purpose of entertaining and keeping company with Greek men—married or unmarried. One such hetaera was Aspasiathe, the “live-in partner” of Pericles. She was known to have been consulted by Pericles on political and military matters. Pericles, considered the greatest Greek of the ancient world, ruled Greece during its Golden Age with Aspasia by his side.
Courtesans in 17th and 18th century France
These women were mostly also the wives of lesser nobility or functionaries ambitious for juicy sinecures in the French courts. Two of the famous courtesans were Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV’s mistress from 1745 to 1751, and Madame du Barry, who occupied the exalted position of “maitresse-en-titre” (chief mistress of the King) from 1768 to 1774.
The former was the perfect mistress as she was reportedly sensitive to the status of Marie Leszczynska, the Queen of France and was even made her lady in waiting. Aside from her being a patroness of the arts, she was known to carry on an intelligent exchange with Voltaire. Louis XV granted her wide latitude in determining France’s foreign relations. Before her usefulness as the King’s lover ended, Madame de Pompadour arranged for other mistresses for the royal bedchamber. She died at the age of 42, leaving the king bereft.
Madame du Barry, the last French official royal mistress became a victim of the French revolution and was beheaded in 1793. In contrast to Madame de Pompadour, she never had a good relationship with the king’s family, carrying out a feud with the future wife of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette. She was not very influential in political and military matters but she was known to persuade the king to pardon friends of her friends from the guillotine. On one such occasion, the monarch declared graciously, “Madame, I am delighted that the first favor you should ask of me should be an act of mercy.”(Wikipedia)
Geishas of Japan
In traditional Japan, Confucian custom permeates cultural relationships between couples and love was not the primary consideration in marriage. The typical wife manages the home and children and the husband seeks sexual delights outside of the marital bed. This gave rise to the saburuko (serving girls) from whence the more educated of this class of women eventually morphed into the geisha. This was more than a thousand years of cultural acceptance. They are not technically mistresses in the contemporary sense of the word. Geishas go through years of rigorous training in the classical arts and the use of musical instruments to entertain men, married or single, and on occasion, women guests.
Powerful men in government and business repair to these houses of leisure for entertainment and intimate relations and when inebriated are wont to spew secrets as men do. One can just surmise the countless business tips and state secrets spilled out by these men to their favorite courtesans.
One famous geisha was Mineko Iwasaki, whose life was depicted in a book, Memoirs of a Geisha. She was an articulate and accomplished woman who became an author, famous throughout Japan. She retired at the age of 29 at the peak of her popularity.
Papal mistresses
There is evidence supporting the notion that men of great power and status are more often prone to having extramarital affairs. A study by Todd Shackelford from the University of Michigan found empirical evidence to support the positive correlation of infidelity and old age with having a higher status in life. Married men who are politically powerful are likely to have extramarital affairs. This does not exempt the papacy. Some of the popes from centuries back were themselves married, like Rodrigo Borgia who became Pope Alexander VI. Borgia was a scion of a prominent Italian family, the nephew of Alfonso Borgia who was later elevated as Pope Calixtus III. The latter created Borgia as Cardinal of the Catholic Church at the age of 25. He had several mistresses but his favorite was Vanozza dei Cattanei (1442-1518), who was married to a minor church functionary. She bore him four children, two of whom were the famous Cesare and the infamous Lucrezia. Pope Alexander VI’s children by Vannoza were lavished with honors and riches. When she died at the age of 76, she was buried with honors in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo.(Part 2: The implications of the open but illicit relationships of elected officials on good governance.)
“Everyone does it, so what’s the problem?”
Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Philippine Star, March 31, 2017
I HAVE to come clean too. I am a married man and I have a girlfriend. In fact, I have two girlfriends. I can justify this since I am not an elected official and not even part of the Deegong bureaucracy. So, I don’t use government funds for my ladies.
I am not discreet about my liaisons. In fact, I flaunt them and have their photos with me plastered all over my FB wall. You can “friend” me on my FB if you want a glimpse of these gorgeous girls. The fact that no one has so far “un-friended” me on FB shows that my friends and readers have accepted my lifestyle.
Recently, I had one of them (by the way, she’s an American) accompany me to Davao, for a four-day vacation. Her name is Sylvie. I intend to also bring my other girl, Claudia, to Davao (she too has a Fil-American mother). In fact I plan to bring both to my home in Davao, if my wife, Sylvia, can handle them. The logistics are, however, formidable.
You see, both need their bottles every few hours and there is always the problem of diaper change in the plane which I can’t handle. Sylvie is turning three years old next month and Claudia is practically a toddler at one year and five months. And I can’t afford to pay for the plane fare of their nannies.
Lately, mainstream and social media have been inundated by news stories of married government officials with ladies on the side distracting our political leadership from the all-important task of governance.
What is upsetting is that we have these queridas (a more appropriate description), not congressional wives, accompanying these bureaucrats on official government trips, presumably paid for by public funds.What is even more appalling, is that these mistresses’ statements have been given credence by the mainstream press, invariably picked up by social media and go viral. And apparently, these paramours are relishing their newfound notoriety. Their principals, unable to restrain them, as I assume such women can’t be restrained as they hold their men by the balls (pardon the pun), use them as tools in their political disputes.
We, the ordinary taxpayers, are left wondering to what extent these concubines are exerting influence on the political actions and decisions of their partners, our elected lawmakers. Admittedly, these could also be said of their wives; except that these are not wives, but proverbial “kept women”. The difference is that wives are legally and morally bound by certain legal, cultural and religious precepts. Perhaps, this is a good argument as any to support a divorce law in the country, a law which the Catholic church is still hypocritically opposed to, effectively exacerbating this kind of “arrangements of convenience”.
This brought me to google famous mistresses in history who may have exerted influence on their powerful partners, some even changing the course of history. I hope to at least elevate the discussion of these openly illicit relations from the level of gossip. Here are some types of mistresses and examples of relationships, ancient and contemporary.
Hetaera of Athens, 400 B.C.
These were women who at a young age were brought to the Athenian court to be educated in the arts and letters for the sole purpose of entertaining and keeping company with Greek men—married or unmarried. One such hetaera was Aspasiathe, the “live-in partner” of Pericles. She was known to have been consulted by Pericles on political and military matters. Pericles, considered the greatest Greek of the ancient world, ruled Greece during its Golden Age with Aspasia by his side.
Courtesans in 17th and 18th century France
These women were mostly also the wives of lesser nobility or functionaries ambitious for juicy sinecures in the French courts. Two of the famous courtesans were Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV’s mistress from 1745 to 1751, and Madame du Barry, who occupied the exalted position of “maitresse-en-titre” (chief mistress of the King) from 1768 to 1774.
The former was the perfect mistress as she was reportedly sensitive to the status of Marie Leszczynska, the Queen of France and was even made her lady in waiting. Aside from her being a patroness of the arts, she was known to carry on an intelligent exchange with Voltaire. Louis XV granted her wide latitude in determining France’s foreign relations. Before her usefulness as the King’s lover ended, Madame de Pompadour arranged for other mistresses for the royal bedchamber. She died at the age of 42, leaving the king bereft.
Madame du Barry, the last French official royal mistress became a victim of the French revolution and was beheaded in 1793. In contrast to Madame de Pompadour, she never had a good relationship with the king’s family, carrying out a feud with the future wife of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette. She was not very influential in political and military matters but she was known to persuade the king to pardon friends of her friends from the guillotine. On one such occasion, the monarch declared graciously, “Madame, I am delighted that the first favor you should ask of me should be an act of mercy.”(Wikipedia)
Geishas of Japan
In traditional Japan, Confucian custom permeates cultural relationships between couples and love was not the primary consideration in marriage. The typical wife manages the home and children and the husband seeks sexual delights outside of the marital bed. This gave rise to the saburuko (serving girls) from whence the more educated of this class of women eventually morphed into the geisha. This was more than a thousand years of cultural acceptance. They are not technically mistresses in the contemporary sense of the word. Geishas go through years of rigorous training in the classical arts and the use of musical instruments to entertain men, married or single, and on occasion, women guests.
Powerful men in government and business repair to these houses of leisure for entertainment and intimate relations and when inebriated are wont to spew secrets as men do. One can just surmise the countless business tips and state secrets spilled out by these men to their favorite courtesans.
One famous geisha was Mineko Iwasaki, whose life was depicted in a book, Memoirs of a Geisha. She was an articulate and accomplished woman who became an author, famous throughout Japan. She retired at the age of 29 at the peak of her popularity.
Papal mistresses
There is evidence supporting the notion that men of great power and status are more often prone to having extramarital affairs. A study by Todd Shackelford from the University of Michigan found empirical evidence to support the positive correlation of infidelity and old age with having a higher status in life. Married men who are politically powerful are likely to have extramarital affairs. This does not exempt the papacy. Some of the popes from centuries back were themselves married, like Rodrigo Borgia who became Pope Alexander VI. Borgia was a scion of a prominent Italian family, the nephew of Alfonso Borgia who was later elevated as Pope Calixtus III. The latter created Borgia as Cardinal of the Catholic Church at the age of 25. He had several mistresses but his favorite was Vanozza dei Cattanei (1442-1518), who was married to a minor church functionary. She bore him four children, two of whom were the famous Cesare and the infamous Lucrezia. Pope Alexander VI’s children by Vannoza were lavished with honors and riches. When she died at the age of 76, she was buried with honors in the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo.(Part 2: The implications of the open but illicit relationships of elected officials on good governance.)
Published in
LML Polettiques
Saturday, 01 April 2017 09:36
Duterte is not Trump
The liberal world order, inaugurated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in his dying days and ended with the sublime leadership of Barack Obama, has given way to a new era of disorder. No one is responsible, but Vladimir Putin’s gaining full dictatorial powers in Russia in 2012 is an easy starting date. Rightwing dictatorships have spread across East and Central Europe, stopping only at—ironically—the well-ruled Germany of Angela Merkel sticking tightly to democratic governance.
It was in this atmosphere that Rodrigo Duterte came to power, just nine months ago. Then, four months ago, and possibly with the help of Russian hackers, Donald Trump managed a near-landslide in what is clearly now ex-America; there is certainly nothing united about the United States anymore.
Given both men’s penchant for foul language, many commentators saw Trump as part of this trend and Mr. Duterte’s election as presaging Trump’s. Mr. Duterte’s awful start, with his seeming encouragement of the extrajudicial killing of thousands of druggies, and Trump’s appalling language with reference to women, not to mention his disdain for any democratic rule that stands in his way, underlined the comparisons.
True, they are both septuagenarians, but I make the case that the two men have nothing relevant in common, and that whereas the Philippines may emerge a far better ruled country and a more coherent one after Mr. Duterte’s six years, ex-America is heading to disaster.
Let’s start with what they say. Mr. Duterte is coherent; no one doubts he is also very smart. One may not like what he has to say but it is clear. He states an objective, then step by step, he lays the groundwork for carrying it out. If he is to be compared with any leader, it would be the late Singapore leader Lee Kwan Yew, who in a generation of tough leadership made his country the richest city in the world.
Now read any pronouncement by Trump that isn’t scripted, and what do you have? You cannot even parse it. It is composed of ramblings on whatever in the immediate context will bring attention or, better yet, adoration. This is narcissism, in pure form.
It gets worse. If you extract what message, if any, is consistent, it is that he has no interest in democratic values. More basically, he has no values. He has no agenda other than enjoying the attention that the presidency is bringing. He enjoys Republican majorities in the House and Senate, so there are no checks on him from the so-called division of powers. It is a psychosis. Not to put too fine a point on it, Trump is a narcissistic psychotic.
Now if by a fluke he was elected 20 years ago, the liberal world order would have checked him. The United Nations is not as such powerful, but it’s important in consolidating a rules-based system; an American president who wished to knock it down would have drawn amused yawns and curiosity on how he ever got elected.
Compare the Duterte agenda: Basically, it’s to make the Philippines a nation, a coherent and at least slightly disciplined state where citizens think of the national interest before their own personal agenda. I’m highly optimistic that the Duterte presidency will get better and better, that the virtuous reforms will cumulate and compound. He cannot do it in six years, but he can put the Philippines on a road that cannot be altered.
On the other hand, I fear the Trump presidency will just get worse and worse. Trump plays with fire. Many national security experts have laid out their fears that a psycho simply can’t be allowed to have his fingers on the nuclear trigger; he might be a Nero enjoying a burning Rome—because it was all about him.
But as for the Philippines itself, I think six years of tough rule will be a good thing, because Mr. Duterte is disciplined but coherent, and genuinely wants a better country, not his own glorification. That is not a small thing to be grateful for.
It was in this atmosphere that Rodrigo Duterte came to power, just nine months ago. Then, four months ago, and possibly with the help of Russian hackers, Donald Trump managed a near-landslide in what is clearly now ex-America; there is certainly nothing united about the United States anymore.
Given both men’s penchant for foul language, many commentators saw Trump as part of this trend and Mr. Duterte’s election as presaging Trump’s. Mr. Duterte’s awful start, with his seeming encouragement of the extrajudicial killing of thousands of druggies, and Trump’s appalling language with reference to women, not to mention his disdain for any democratic rule that stands in his way, underlined the comparisons.
True, they are both septuagenarians, but I make the case that the two men have nothing relevant in common, and that whereas the Philippines may emerge a far better ruled country and a more coherent one after Mr. Duterte’s six years, ex-America is heading to disaster.
Let’s start with what they say. Mr. Duterte is coherent; no one doubts he is also very smart. One may not like what he has to say but it is clear. He states an objective, then step by step, he lays the groundwork for carrying it out. If he is to be compared with any leader, it would be the late Singapore leader Lee Kwan Yew, who in a generation of tough leadership made his country the richest city in the world.
Now read any pronouncement by Trump that isn’t scripted, and what do you have? You cannot even parse it. It is composed of ramblings on whatever in the immediate context will bring attention or, better yet, adoration. This is narcissism, in pure form.
It gets worse. If you extract what message, if any, is consistent, it is that he has no interest in democratic values. More basically, he has no values. He has no agenda other than enjoying the attention that the presidency is bringing. He enjoys Republican majorities in the House and Senate, so there are no checks on him from the so-called division of powers. It is a psychosis. Not to put too fine a point on it, Trump is a narcissistic psychotic.
Now if by a fluke he was elected 20 years ago, the liberal world order would have checked him. The United Nations is not as such powerful, but it’s important in consolidating a rules-based system; an American president who wished to knock it down would have drawn amused yawns and curiosity on how he ever got elected.
Compare the Duterte agenda: Basically, it’s to make the Philippines a nation, a coherent and at least slightly disciplined state where citizens think of the national interest before their own personal agenda. I’m highly optimistic that the Duterte presidency will get better and better, that the virtuous reforms will cumulate and compound. He cannot do it in six years, but he can put the Philippines on a road that cannot be altered.
On the other hand, I fear the Trump presidency will just get worse and worse. Trump plays with fire. Many national security experts have laid out their fears that a psycho simply can’t be allowed to have his fingers on the nuclear trigger; he might be a Nero enjoying a burning Rome—because it was all about him.
But as for the Philippines itself, I think six years of tough rule will be a good thing, because Mr. Duterte is disciplined but coherent, and genuinely wants a better country, not his own glorification. That is not a small thing to be grateful for.
Published in
Commentaries
Thursday, 30 March 2017 09:21
The New York Times vs the Philippines
“President Rodrigo Duterte… a defiant crusader, willing to encourage the slaughter of thousands in the name of saving his nation from the scourge of drugs.“New York Times, March 21, 2017
THIS is how a New York Times feature story last March 21, 2017, opened, as part of a series of articles bashing President Duterte’s war on drugs. The newspaper obviously wanted to start a hurricane of global outrage when it started urging the European Union (EU) and our other trading partners, to “hit” the administration “where it may hurt” and that is in trade incentives – imposing tariffs on Philippine goods.
Richard Paddock’s piece “Becoming Duterte: The Making of a Philippine Strongman” was followed by a teaser of a trailer on Deegong’s drug war, two days later, March 23, for full release of the full documentary on March 26.
The Paddock article was then followed by an editorial entitled “Accountability for Duterte”; and a video documentary, “When A President Says, I’ll Kill You”. The New York Times wrote: “We sent a film crew to the Philippines, where death, grief and fear fill the streets.”
“The fakest story of all” screamed the Manila Times editorial. And I quote: “As an adult in the news business, The Manila Times as a matter of policy does not dignify a piece of fake news or fake story, by commenting on it as if it should be seriously considered by our readers and the Filipino nation”.
And then, The Manila Times proceeded to use 663 words to dignify Paddock’s article.
Malacañang’s Abella came out with his own pitiful response dismissing the NYT article as a “a well-paid hack job for well-heeled clients with shady motives.”
First, let us look at the purveyor of these attacks and the medium used. The New York Times is one of the three or four most prestigious US newspapers (along with the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post). In 1971, it published, “The Pentagon Papers,” a secret US Defense Department history of political/military involvement in the Vietnam War, which was leaked by Daniel Ellsberg, an activist and a US military analyst at the RAND Corporation. The US government filed lawsuits against the paper. The US Supreme Court decision in favor of the paper enshrined “an absolute right to free speech”. It has been awarded 119 prestigious Pulitzer Prizes – more than any other newspaper.
Richard C. Paddock, is not a regular columnist of the NYT but a contributing editor for the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), a Pulitzer Prize winner himself and a 30-year foreign correspondent, reporting from 50 countries.
These are the protagonists that have stirred a political hornet’s nest agitating Philippine social media to take sides: the usual suspects purportedly led by the remnants of the past administration out to “destabilize” the regime versus the red-blue army taking the cudgels for DU30. This time the mainstream media are all over each other defending the “reputation” of the country and by inference the Deegong administration (witness the Manila Times) on one hand and the perceived anti-DU30 PDI and Philippine Star on the other.
But the greater battle raging now is in Facebook, Twitter and the internet media – where everything goes including “ad hominem” arguments by all sides trying to stress their points of view.
But how is the cynosure of all this taking it?
Let me quote what he said last Friday after all of these hit print, the airwaves and the internet: “I’m now the President. The least of my worries is the EU. I have to build a nation…” And then in a speech during the 31st Biennial Convention of the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry “…that’s why I went to China. I went everywhere, because we are really poor and we have to improve the economy…”
I could admire the attitude of the Deegong – chutzpah! While everyone is in frenzy, here is the “cool hand Luke,” trying to do what he is supposed to do, trying to govern! But how can he effectively govern given these conditions. And not everyone shares the President’s impudence.
It is a given that the Deegong has brought these negative vibes upon himself by inviting controversy with his unguided (misguided?) pronouncements interspersed with his colorful language. He is his own worst enemy. He stands defiant from the very start against nations that have criticized his war on drugs. His rhetoric, however, has been mostly accepted by leaders in China, Russia and even the new US President Trump. But this EU initiative could hurt not Deegong but the Filipino masses if the proposed trade “embargo” succeeds.
Highlighted in this NYT article is the impeachment case filed by the former mutineer, party-list lawmaker Gary Alejano, using the perjured testimonies of Matobato and Lascañas, and which has no way of advancing through the Deegong-controlled supermajority. Sure, these can be discredited in any court of law, but the Deegong is not facing such a court but that of international public opinion. He needs similar tools fought in comparable battlefield in international media.
The claims in the international media are gaining traction when not debunked properly. So far, the most that Deegong’s alter egos have been doing is to lamely declare that the NYT publication appears to be part of a well-funded demolition campaign to remove Duterte from office.
The alter egos need to carry the burden of defense of PRRD and the country against the onslaught of the local “destabilizers” and their cohorts abroad. Why not hire an international lobby or PR group that can do a professional job of explaining what the Deegong is doing for this country – and exposing the personalities behind these concerted attacks. I am sure the money will be well spent.
The way things are going, Deegong and his people are simply coping. This is a pathetic defense strategy.
THIS is how a New York Times feature story last March 21, 2017, opened, as part of a series of articles bashing President Duterte’s war on drugs. The newspaper obviously wanted to start a hurricane of global outrage when it started urging the European Union (EU) and our other trading partners, to “hit” the administration “where it may hurt” and that is in trade incentives – imposing tariffs on Philippine goods.
Richard Paddock’s piece “Becoming Duterte: The Making of a Philippine Strongman” was followed by a teaser of a trailer on Deegong’s drug war, two days later, March 23, for full release of the full documentary on March 26.
The Paddock article was then followed by an editorial entitled “Accountability for Duterte”; and a video documentary, “When A President Says, I’ll Kill You”. The New York Times wrote: “We sent a film crew to the Philippines, where death, grief and fear fill the streets.”
“The fakest story of all” screamed the Manila Times editorial. And I quote: “As an adult in the news business, The Manila Times as a matter of policy does not dignify a piece of fake news or fake story, by commenting on it as if it should be seriously considered by our readers and the Filipino nation”.
And then, The Manila Times proceeded to use 663 words to dignify Paddock’s article.
Malacañang’s Abella came out with his own pitiful response dismissing the NYT article as a “a well-paid hack job for well-heeled clients with shady motives.”
First, let us look at the purveyor of these attacks and the medium used. The New York Times is one of the three or four most prestigious US newspapers (along with the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post). In 1971, it published, “The Pentagon Papers,” a secret US Defense Department history of political/military involvement in the Vietnam War, which was leaked by Daniel Ellsberg, an activist and a US military analyst at the RAND Corporation. The US government filed lawsuits against the paper. The US Supreme Court decision in favor of the paper enshrined “an absolute right to free speech”. It has been awarded 119 prestigious Pulitzer Prizes – more than any other newspaper.
Richard C. Paddock, is not a regular columnist of the NYT but a contributing editor for the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), a Pulitzer Prize winner himself and a 30-year foreign correspondent, reporting from 50 countries.
These are the protagonists that have stirred a political hornet’s nest agitating Philippine social media to take sides: the usual suspects purportedly led by the remnants of the past administration out to “destabilize” the regime versus the red-blue army taking the cudgels for DU30. This time the mainstream media are all over each other defending the “reputation” of the country and by inference the Deegong administration (witness the Manila Times) on one hand and the perceived anti-DU30 PDI and Philippine Star on the other.
But the greater battle raging now is in Facebook, Twitter and the internet media – where everything goes including “ad hominem” arguments by all sides trying to stress their points of view.
But how is the cynosure of all this taking it?
Let me quote what he said last Friday after all of these hit print, the airwaves and the internet: “I’m now the President. The least of my worries is the EU. I have to build a nation…” And then in a speech during the 31st Biennial Convention of the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry “…that’s why I went to China. I went everywhere, because we are really poor and we have to improve the economy…”
I could admire the attitude of the Deegong – chutzpah! While everyone is in frenzy, here is the “cool hand Luke,” trying to do what he is supposed to do, trying to govern! But how can he effectively govern given these conditions. And not everyone shares the President’s impudence.
It is a given that the Deegong has brought these negative vibes upon himself by inviting controversy with his unguided (misguided?) pronouncements interspersed with his colorful language. He is his own worst enemy. He stands defiant from the very start against nations that have criticized his war on drugs. His rhetoric, however, has been mostly accepted by leaders in China, Russia and even the new US President Trump. But this EU initiative could hurt not Deegong but the Filipino masses if the proposed trade “embargo” succeeds.
Highlighted in this NYT article is the impeachment case filed by the former mutineer, party-list lawmaker Gary Alejano, using the perjured testimonies of Matobato and Lascañas, and which has no way of advancing through the Deegong-controlled supermajority. Sure, these can be discredited in any court of law, but the Deegong is not facing such a court but that of international public opinion. He needs similar tools fought in comparable battlefield in international media.
The claims in the international media are gaining traction when not debunked properly. So far, the most that Deegong’s alter egos have been doing is to lamely declare that the NYT publication appears to be part of a well-funded demolition campaign to remove Duterte from office.
The alter egos need to carry the burden of defense of PRRD and the country against the onslaught of the local “destabilizers” and their cohorts abroad. Why not hire an international lobby or PR group that can do a professional job of explaining what the Deegong is doing for this country – and exposing the personalities behind these concerted attacks. I am sure the money will be well spent.
The way things are going, Deegong and his people are simply coping. This is a pathetic defense strategy.
Published in
LML Polettiques
Wednesday, 29 March 2017 10:15
Paving the Way to Effective Party Building through Thematic Commissions
The Centrist Democracy Political Institute together with Konrad Adenaur Stiftung (KAS)-Philippines has conducted a Thematic Conference and Workshop on Political Party Management and Development in One Pacific Hotel, Makati City last 17- 18 March 2016.
Mr. Jordan Jay C. Antolin, executive director of CDPI started the workshop by presenting the rationale of the event. As he said, the framework of which the party functions and responds to the pressing national issues is essentially based on the official stand as approved with all the members of the national council, reflective of the party’s platform and principles.
Miss Cristita Marie L. Giangan, MPMD, Program Manager at Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Philippines, presented the Aspects of Political Party and Sector Management. According to Miss Giangan, the national leaders of the party are the also managers with responsibility and control of the party. Effectiveness and efficiency must be its guiding principles.
Mr. Benedikt Seemann, Country Director of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Philippines discussed the creation of commissions in a political party and how to sustain them. He said that a political party essentially aggregates the interest of the people on the ground. The party consults and agrees in democratic process the general representation and priorities of members and chapters.
The next session was facilitated by Mr. Roderico Y. Dumaog, Chairperson of the CDP Iligan City Chapter. He facilitated a discussion and workshop on political party thematic commissions. He presented the function of the four principal commissions: home affairs commission, socio-economic affairs commission, and intervention and security affairs commission, political and constitutional reforms.
The event ended with each commission presenting their action plan and proposed party stand on the issues vis-à-vis the political platform of the party.
Mr. Lorenzana, the CDPI Chairman, reiterated that internal brainstorming and strategic planning is important in any organization, especially in a political party. And because of that, internal affairs and strategies must be settled and become harmonious with the political party’s agenda, else the party will lose its direction.
Mr. Jordan Jay C. Antolin, executive director of CDPI started the workshop by presenting the rationale of the event. As he said, the framework of which the party functions and responds to the pressing national issues is essentially based on the official stand as approved with all the members of the national council, reflective of the party’s platform and principles.
Miss Cristita Marie L. Giangan, MPMD, Program Manager at Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Philippines, presented the Aspects of Political Party and Sector Management. According to Miss Giangan, the national leaders of the party are the also managers with responsibility and control of the party. Effectiveness and efficiency must be its guiding principles.
Mr. Benedikt Seemann, Country Director of Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Philippines discussed the creation of commissions in a political party and how to sustain them. He said that a political party essentially aggregates the interest of the people on the ground. The party consults and agrees in democratic process the general representation and priorities of members and chapters.
The next session was facilitated by Mr. Roderico Y. Dumaog, Chairperson of the CDP Iligan City Chapter. He facilitated a discussion and workshop on political party thematic commissions. He presented the function of the four principal commissions: home affairs commission, socio-economic affairs commission, and intervention and security affairs commission, political and constitutional reforms.
The event ended with each commission presenting their action plan and proposed party stand on the issues vis-à-vis the political platform of the party.
Mr. Lorenzana, the CDPI Chairman, reiterated that internal brainstorming and strategic planning is important in any organization, especially in a political party. And because of that, internal affairs and strategies must be settled and become harmonious with the political party’s agenda, else the party will lose its direction.
Published in
News
Tuesday, 28 March 2017 10:31
SSS eyes mandatory OFW coverage
The Social Security System is eyeing the mandatory coverage of Filipinos working abroad, which is one of the proposed amendments to its charter now pending in Congress.
In a statement, SSS president and chief executive Emmanuel F. Dooc said the agency is seeking to cover all overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in order to provide them security protection.
SSS said only about 500,000 OFWs are SSS members out of the estimated 2.4-3.8 million Filipinos working outside the country.
OFWs’ contributions totaled P4.64 billion in 2016, SSS said.
“The mandatory coverage of OFWs would increase the number of members of the pension fund on the back of SSS’ efforts for universal coverage,” Dooc said.
In 2016, SSS disbursed P779 million in benefits to OFWs, including initial and lump sum benefits for retirement, death, (funeral with grant), disability as well as for sickness and maternity for female workers, it said.
“We are pushing for our OFWs to be covered on a mandatory basis in order to secure their basic safety net in time of contingencies.” Dooc said.
In a statement, SSS president and chief executive Emmanuel F. Dooc said the agency is seeking to cover all overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in order to provide them security protection.
SSS said only about 500,000 OFWs are SSS members out of the estimated 2.4-3.8 million Filipinos working outside the country.
OFWs’ contributions totaled P4.64 billion in 2016, SSS said.
“The mandatory coverage of OFWs would increase the number of members of the pension fund on the back of SSS’ efforts for universal coverage,” Dooc said.
In 2016, SSS disbursed P779 million in benefits to OFWs, including initial and lump sum benefits for retirement, death, (funeral with grant), disability as well as for sickness and maternity for female workers, it said.
“We are pushing for our OFWs to be covered on a mandatory basis in order to secure their basic safety net in time of contingencies.” Dooc said.
Published in
News
Tuesday, 28 March 2017 10:16
The Philippines a target and victim of clickbait journalism?
First Read
IN 1898, at the birth of the Philippine republic, the United States press oppressed the new nation with its newly minted “yellow journalism.”
One hundred nineteen years later, the US press is using on the Philippines today its newfangled weapon of “clickbait journalism.”
The office of the historian of the US Department of State filed this report on the events of 1895-98:
“During the heyday of yellow journalism in the late 19th century, it was one of many factors that helped push the United States and Spain into war in Cuba and the Philippines, leading to the acquisition of overseas territory by the United States…
“The battle between Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal for greater market share gave rise to the term “yellow journalism.”
“Once the term had been coined, it extended to the sensationalist style employed by the two publishers in their profit-driven coverage of world events…
“Yellow journalism is significant to the history of US foreign relations in that its centrality to the history of the Spanish-American War shows that the press had the power to capture the attention of a large readership and to influence public reaction to international events. The dramatic style of yellow journalism contributed to creating public support for the Spanish-American War, a war that would ultimately expand the global reach of the United States.”
Flash forward to the present day. The US press is waving at the Philippines the weapon of “clickbait journalism.” In the age of the Internet, US journalism has the impudence to demand that the Philippine republic bend its policies to its wishes. “Release Sen. Leila de lima,” declared the New York Times.
Most Filipinos are unmoved. They like the thought that DU30 has an unusual vocabulary for rebuff.
Clickbait to stop falling revenues
In contemporary journalism, the term “clickbait journalism” is more recent than “fake news” and “post-truth politics,” which were crowned as words of the year by the Oxford Dictionary in recent years.
Economics was the driver of yellow journalism in the 19th century. Economics is similarly driving clickbait journalism in the 21st century.
Clickbait is the offshoot of the frantic effort of media organizations (particularly print media) to find an availing response to the devastation wrought by the Internet on advertising revenues, readerships, and bottom lines.
According to Wikipedia, “Clickbait is a pejorative term describing web content that is aimed at generating online advertising revenue, especially at the expense of quality or accuracy, relying on sensationalist headlines or eye-catching thumbnail pictures to attract click-throughs and to encourage forwarding of the material over online social networks. Clickbait headlines typically aim to exploit the ‘curiosity gap’, providing just enough information to make readers curious, but not enough to satisfy their curiosity without clicking through to the linked content.”
The practice and methods of clickbait were developed because of the interest of advertisers and media buyers in the volume or number of clicks generated by certain stories and news analyses; it was thought that clicks were the virtual equivalent of readers, though clicks do not necessarily mean that the stories/ opinions are read.
The sensational writing, headlining and angling of stories are designed to induce the reader to click to the story or message.
From here, it’s a short leap of imagination to see that communication strategists and public relations practitioners would develop clickbait strategies in their communication campaigns.
Although clickbait was first started by social media, mainstream media quickly caught on and realized the potential of clickbait journalism to generate more readers and stem falling revenues. Soon every mainstream media had its own digital site and edition. In combination with fake news, clickbait journalism was potent.
Distorted view of the Philippines
Over the past eight months, I have diligently gathered in my files the many reports and analyses of Philippine developments by Western media. I can honestly say that I have read and reviewed them all.
It amazes me that what many Filipinos perceive as a time of hope (a chance) for our country, is casually dismissed without thorough analysis by Western media as a national disaster.
Thus, I have concluded that the Philippines and President Duterte have been both targets and victims of clickbait journalism. As our new government has struggled to cope with the challenge of governing a nation of over 100 million, there has been a counterpart movement—loosely composed of opposition groups, international media and international organizations—that has sought to control the narrative and eventually tried to bring the nation down.
It is not coincidental that the publication of multiple stories on the Philippine drug war and President Duterte’s bold policies, has happened alongside criticisms leveled at our new government by the United Nations, the United States, the European Union, and international human rights organizations. It is not accidental that they all use the same numbers, level the same charge, and make the same demands from the Philippine government.
The entire communications effort is organized, directed and managed. And it’s mostly taking place in and from New York City, where a large international community of journalists, communicators and experts are based, and the whole community of nations can be reached.
Ms Loida Nicolas-Lewis and her group of Filipino propagandists operate from NYC. Together they work on US media and the UN; they have turned the New York Times, the Washington Post, the International Business Times, Time magazine, the New Yorker, the Atlantic and other publications into complaisant channels for critical pieces of what is happening in the Philippines.
From this perspective, the New York Times’ recent analysis, “Becoming Duterte: The making of a Philippine strongman” and Time’s earlier report, “Night falls on the Philippines” have the same DNA.
It seems unbelievable that such prestigious publications would allow themselves to be used for dishonest journalism. They all fell for the line that Duterte has perpetrated over 7,000 extra-judicial killings (EJKs) in his murderous war on drugs.
In a way, Duterte was (is) a dream subject for clickbait journalism. He is outrageous, out-of-control, and uncouth, and the more outrageous he is, the more clicks he will generate.
This is the reason why international media have eagerly given him space. The wonder is why they never bothered to report on Duterte and the Philippines properly through serious fact-finding, investigation and fact-checking. They remain as blind and clueless as the UN and the human rights lobby.
Backlash against clickbait
Not surprisingly, there has lately emerged a backlash against clickbait journalism. The modus operandi of clickbait has been exposed by alert media critics and fact-checkers in the US and UK.
In a revealing critique of clickbait journalism by the International Business Times, Mother Jones magazine reported that IBT journalists are subject to constant demand to produce clickbait; one former employee reportedly complained that management issued “impossible” demands, including a minimum of 10,000 hits per article, and fired those who couldn’t deliver. Of 432 articles published by IBT Japan in a certain time interval, 302 were reportedly created by copying sentences from Japanese media and combining them, “collage-style,” to create stories that seemed new.
Similarly, IBT employees told The Guardian in 2014 that at times they seemed to operate more as “content farms” demanding high-volume output than a source of quality journalism. At least two journalists were allegedly threatened with firing unless traffic to their articles increased sharply.
Katherine Viner, editor in chief at the The Guardian, declared that “chasing down cheap clicks at the expense of accuracy and veracity” undermines the value of journalism and truth.
Others have concluded that clickbait could be the death of journalism.
Alarmed by the trend, Facebook and Google have taken measures to reduce the impact of clickbait on their social network and internet service.
IN 1898, at the birth of the Philippine republic, the United States press oppressed the new nation with its newly minted “yellow journalism.”
One hundred nineteen years later, the US press is using on the Philippines today its newfangled weapon of “clickbait journalism.”
The office of the historian of the US Department of State filed this report on the events of 1895-98:
“During the heyday of yellow journalism in the late 19th century, it was one of many factors that helped push the United States and Spain into war in Cuba and the Philippines, leading to the acquisition of overseas territory by the United States…
“The battle between Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World and Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal for greater market share gave rise to the term “yellow journalism.”
“Once the term had been coined, it extended to the sensationalist style employed by the two publishers in their profit-driven coverage of world events…
“Yellow journalism is significant to the history of US foreign relations in that its centrality to the history of the Spanish-American War shows that the press had the power to capture the attention of a large readership and to influence public reaction to international events. The dramatic style of yellow journalism contributed to creating public support for the Spanish-American War, a war that would ultimately expand the global reach of the United States.”
Flash forward to the present day. The US press is waving at the Philippines the weapon of “clickbait journalism.” In the age of the Internet, US journalism has the impudence to demand that the Philippine republic bend its policies to its wishes. “Release Sen. Leila de lima,” declared the New York Times.
Most Filipinos are unmoved. They like the thought that DU30 has an unusual vocabulary for rebuff.
Clickbait to stop falling revenues
In contemporary journalism, the term “clickbait journalism” is more recent than “fake news” and “post-truth politics,” which were crowned as words of the year by the Oxford Dictionary in recent years.
Economics was the driver of yellow journalism in the 19th century. Economics is similarly driving clickbait journalism in the 21st century.
Clickbait is the offshoot of the frantic effort of media organizations (particularly print media) to find an availing response to the devastation wrought by the Internet on advertising revenues, readerships, and bottom lines.
According to Wikipedia, “Clickbait is a pejorative term describing web content that is aimed at generating online advertising revenue, especially at the expense of quality or accuracy, relying on sensationalist headlines or eye-catching thumbnail pictures to attract click-throughs and to encourage forwarding of the material over online social networks. Clickbait headlines typically aim to exploit the ‘curiosity gap’, providing just enough information to make readers curious, but not enough to satisfy their curiosity without clicking through to the linked content.”
The practice and methods of clickbait were developed because of the interest of advertisers and media buyers in the volume or number of clicks generated by certain stories and news analyses; it was thought that clicks were the virtual equivalent of readers, though clicks do not necessarily mean that the stories/ opinions are read.
The sensational writing, headlining and angling of stories are designed to induce the reader to click to the story or message.
From here, it’s a short leap of imagination to see that communication strategists and public relations practitioners would develop clickbait strategies in their communication campaigns.
Although clickbait was first started by social media, mainstream media quickly caught on and realized the potential of clickbait journalism to generate more readers and stem falling revenues. Soon every mainstream media had its own digital site and edition. In combination with fake news, clickbait journalism was potent.
Distorted view of the Philippines
Over the past eight months, I have diligently gathered in my files the many reports and analyses of Philippine developments by Western media. I can honestly say that I have read and reviewed them all.
It amazes me that what many Filipinos perceive as a time of hope (a chance) for our country, is casually dismissed without thorough analysis by Western media as a national disaster.
Thus, I have concluded that the Philippines and President Duterte have been both targets and victims of clickbait journalism. As our new government has struggled to cope with the challenge of governing a nation of over 100 million, there has been a counterpart movement—loosely composed of opposition groups, international media and international organizations—that has sought to control the narrative and eventually tried to bring the nation down.
It is not coincidental that the publication of multiple stories on the Philippine drug war and President Duterte’s bold policies, has happened alongside criticisms leveled at our new government by the United Nations, the United States, the European Union, and international human rights organizations. It is not accidental that they all use the same numbers, level the same charge, and make the same demands from the Philippine government.
The entire communications effort is organized, directed and managed. And it’s mostly taking place in and from New York City, where a large international community of journalists, communicators and experts are based, and the whole community of nations can be reached.
Ms Loida Nicolas-Lewis and her group of Filipino propagandists operate from NYC. Together they work on US media and the UN; they have turned the New York Times, the Washington Post, the International Business Times, Time magazine, the New Yorker, the Atlantic and other publications into complaisant channels for critical pieces of what is happening in the Philippines.
From this perspective, the New York Times’ recent analysis, “Becoming Duterte: The making of a Philippine strongman” and Time’s earlier report, “Night falls on the Philippines” have the same DNA.
It seems unbelievable that such prestigious publications would allow themselves to be used for dishonest journalism. They all fell for the line that Duterte has perpetrated over 7,000 extra-judicial killings (EJKs) in his murderous war on drugs.
In a way, Duterte was (is) a dream subject for clickbait journalism. He is outrageous, out-of-control, and uncouth, and the more outrageous he is, the more clicks he will generate.
This is the reason why international media have eagerly given him space. The wonder is why they never bothered to report on Duterte and the Philippines properly through serious fact-finding, investigation and fact-checking. They remain as blind and clueless as the UN and the human rights lobby.
Backlash against clickbait
Not surprisingly, there has lately emerged a backlash against clickbait journalism. The modus operandi of clickbait has been exposed by alert media critics and fact-checkers in the US and UK.
In a revealing critique of clickbait journalism by the International Business Times, Mother Jones magazine reported that IBT journalists are subject to constant demand to produce clickbait; one former employee reportedly complained that management issued “impossible” demands, including a minimum of 10,000 hits per article, and fired those who couldn’t deliver. Of 432 articles published by IBT Japan in a certain time interval, 302 were reportedly created by copying sentences from Japanese media and combining them, “collage-style,” to create stories that seemed new.
Similarly, IBT employees told The Guardian in 2014 that at times they seemed to operate more as “content farms” demanding high-volume output than a source of quality journalism. At least two journalists were allegedly threatened with firing unless traffic to their articles increased sharply.
Katherine Viner, editor in chief at the The Guardian, declared that “chasing down cheap clicks at the expense of accuracy and veracity” undermines the value of journalism and truth.
Others have concluded that clickbait could be the death of journalism.
Alarmed by the trend, Facebook and Google have taken measures to reduce the impact of clickbait on their social network and internet service.
Published in
Commentaries
Categories
Archives
Comments
-
This is really interesting, You're a very skilled blogger. I've…
Written by Merrill
on Thursday, 24 March 2016 12:35
Incompetence Kills
(LML Polettiques)
Newsletter Subscription
PARTNERS:
Contact Us
+63 (82)222-2771 Davao
+63 (02) 470-9076 Pasig
+63 (02) 470-9076 Pasig
3rd floor Metro Lifestyle Complex Building,
F. Torres Street Corner Jacinto Extension,
Davao City, 8000 Philippines
F. Torres Street Corner Jacinto Extension,
Davao City, 8000 Philippines
5F 501 Taipan Place Don F. Ortigas
Jr. Road Ortigas Center, Pasig City
Jr. Road Ortigas Center, Pasig City
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
