komentaryo

Rein Them In

I used to love being able to say that President Duterte’s followers, at least the ones that I deal with on social media, have been better than Liberal Party loyalists. Those from the latter group who I’ve had the good fortune of engaging with tend to be rabid and angry, and absolutely defensive to the point of blindness. They think when you say “Daang Matuwid peeps” you mean them all, even when you’re obviously pertaining specifically to those who served with the previous government. They take offense at anything you say at all against VP Leni Robredo even when, truth to tell, you have yet to see her doing anything substantial.

A friend told me once: the yellow supporters getting angry and trolling you, that’s a badge of honor.

I don’t know about that, but it sure felt like an achievement surviving President Duterte devotees. (more…)

komentaryo

#EveryONE: A call to protect human rights and uphold democratic principles

Imagined speech against Sen. Leila M. de Lima hypothetically delivered by VP Jojo Binay in a place and time in the past when it was the de Lima who was in power.

Sa panahon kung kelan lantaran akong pinagtutulungan at tila ba kinukuyog ng mga lalaki at babaeng kapwa ko nagtatrabaho sa gobyerno, kanino pa nga ba ako kukuha ng lakas kundi sa mga kapwa ko tao? I am still here. Huwag po kayong mag-alala. Siguro yung iba nagtataka: Bakit nandiyan pa siya? Bakit nakatayo pa siya? Bakit buhay pa siya? Nandito pa po ako, at habang nakatayo ako, lalaban po ako.

(more…)

komentaryo

Stop right there, congressmen!

It was in the early morning of Wednesday, September 28, when I read that House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez had declared that the world that the purported sex video of Senator Leila de Lima would be shown in the inquiry on the National Bilibid Prisons’ (NBP) drug crisis.

I thought the news would just die a natural death, because it is not only illegal, it is uncalled for, and if anything, it proves that government has absolutely nothing on Senator Leila de Lima and her role in the drug trade. Because if you have enough evidence against her, why would a sex video even matter? (more…)

komentaryo

Killings, resignation, out of context (pa rin!)

I had woken up on Monday to President Duterte’s speeches: two, in fact, both of which I went back to and took notes on. That’s where most of my Monday went. I have found it important to take stock with this President, to take time understanding what he’s saying, and where he comes from, as well as where he’s going, because social and mainstream media are noisy and competing for online hits, with a tendency towards sensationalism and the superficial and easy either-or kind of discourse and analysis.

Two months into this new government, one would think we’ve all learned our lesson from the President himself and what he’s revealed about local and global media. But some might take longer with the learning curve.

Take the case of The Manila Standard. (more…)

komentaryo

A Senate coup #Sept19

Anyare?

It was an otherwise expected Monday at the Senate, televised live for all of the world to see, with Senator Alan Peter Cayetano again being given the “privilege” to speak about things he had already spoken about at last week’s Committee on Justice Hearing with witness Matobato.

It was Senator Leila De Lima who had brought this witness to the Senate, who really only reminded us all of the Davao Death Squad and how (1) it does exist, and (2) it had connections with then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in Davao. That this witness was in an inquiry on the PRESENT extrajudicial killings, with Senator De Lima not even really drawing clear connections between then and now, Davao and Manila, Mayor Duterte and President Duterte, might have been her own undoing.  (more…)