House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano defended the media in the Philippines, explaining that despite numerous irresponsible reportings being published against the current administration, it’s still better to have a press than nothing.

He said that the freedom of the press is an exercise to practice healthy democracy in the Philippines.

“Yes, maraming problema sa media pero mas malaking problema kung walang media,” Cayetano said.

“So doon na po tayo sa healthy yung ating democracy pero may mga problema na kailangan nating hanapan ng solusyon,” he added.

Cayetano even said that he’s supporting the decriminalization of libel to give more freedom to some reporters who are afraid to expose things because of the possibility of being sued by their subjects.

However, he insisted that the media should be responsible for their report.

“Ako, personally I’m for the decriminalization of libel para hindi mahirapan but I’m also for responsible reporting kasi ang katotohanan din talaga at madalas biktima rin ang House of Representatives,” he said.

Supporters of the Duterte administration criticized the mainstream media for their some of their reports against the President.

Even the President itself said that “he has lost faith in media” in one of his past interviews.

“Hindi na ako nagpapa-interview ha. Choosy ako, choosy… I have completely lost trust in Philippine media,” Duterte told religious leader Apollo Quiboloy

“After all the trash that you have read, all of you. Even your child is accused of doing illegal activities,” he added.

Presidential grandson Omar Duterte reacted on the demise of activist and tour guide Carlos Celdran who’s also a known critic of the President.

In his social media post, Omar Duterte has a short response on Celdran who passed away on October 8 because of heart failure according to news website Mindanation.

“Sweet Karma: Imma about to end this(“man’s”?) whole career,” Omar Duterte said in his post.

What happened to Celdran captured the attention of the netizens because one day before his demise, he posted a message wishing that the President not to go well soon after he revealed that he has a neuromuscular disease.

Celdran stayed in Spain to exile himself following the Supreme Court decision upholding that he committed offending religious feelings during his controversial rally inside Manila Cathedral in 2010.

Omar is the son of Davao City Representative Paolo “Pulong” Duterte and Lovelie Sangkola.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) Secretary-General Renato Reyes failed to cross path with Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo. However, he has still a message to the latter who performed the commute challenged from Marikina to Malacanang.

On his social media posts, Reyes waited at Santolan for the arrival of Panelo, who’s expected to use LRT-2, however, the presidential spokesperson chose to ride a jeepney instead.

When he realized that Panelo was not going to use LRT-2 service, Reyes decided to ride a bus to LRT-2 Cubao station.

“6:AM October 11, 2019. Sec Panelo, ito yung daily commute na pipila from Santolan bago makasakay ng bus. Tapos naisra pa aircon ng bus, jusme! Bababa kami sa LRT2 Cubao. Tapos pipila uli para makasakay papuntang Recto. Ito yung totoong kumplikadong pag-commute, hindi yung one-time na pagsakay ng jeep. Mass transport crisis nga eh,” Reyes said in his post.

After Panelo arrived at Malacanang after four hours of travel, Reyes congratulated Panelo for completing the challenge, saying that he’s already late if they’re going to follow the government time.

He pointed out that there’s a mass transport crisis because Panelo required to ride four different jeepneys to arrive at his destination.

“Congratulations Sec. Panelo for arriving in one piece in Malacanang after nearly 4 hours of commute! Medyo late na kayo kung government time yan. Just the same, we hope this experience underscored the fact that there IS a mass transport crisis and that long term solutions are needed,” Reyes said.

“I don’t think you’d be doing the same commute for the rest of the month, so let’s just call a spade a spade. We have a serious mass transport crisis which we can no longer downplay or ignore. Kailangan po ng matagalang solusyon. Naka 4 na palit kayo ng jeep papunta ng Malacanang, di ba? Yun po ang sinasabi namin mass transport crisis, ang kakulangan ng maaasahan at episyenteng mass transport system,”

Meanwhile, Panelo still insisted that there’s no “mass transport crisis” happening in the Philippines, saying that Filipinos can be creative to face the traffic in Metro Manila.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo committed to doing the challenge of going to ride PUV from Marikina to Malacanang this Friday.

According to the Spokesperson, he started the challenge around 5:15 AM in Marikina.

In several photos posted by netizens, Panelo was spotted alone while waiting for a jeepney at Concepcion Uno in Marikina around 6:53 am and finally ride a PUV after some policemen assisted him.

Some reports also said that he was offered by a taxi driver for a ride but Panelo refused.

To prove that he’s riding a public utility vehicle, Panelo sends some of his selfies to the press.

Despite refusing from media coverage, Panelo was still swarmed by some reporters and cameramen when he arrived in Manila.

At around 8:30 AM Panelo finally reached Malacanang gate and a motorcycle rider offers him a ride inside the Palace.

There’s also no report that Panelo rides an LRT on his way to Malacanang.

Panelo performed the challenge after he claimed that there’s no “transportation crisis” happening around Metro Manila.

“Wala. Kasi nga makakarating pa naman ‘yung mga dapat makarating sa kanilang pupuntahan,” he said in a press conference two days ago.

“If you want to go, arrive early in your destination, then you go there earlier,” he added.

Panelo will do a press briefing today at Malacanang around 11 PM.

Former Senator Rene Saguisag challenged Manila City Mayor Isko Moreno to name the people who tried to bribe him of P5-M a day to prove that the latter is not just making stories to promote himself in public.

In his Manila Times column, Saguisag who’s talking about anonymity mentioned Mayor Isko Moreno who’s according to him, bragging about his achievements like his claims that he turned down a P5-M bribe per day to fight corruption in his city.

According to Saguisag, Moreno should name and prosecute the people who bribed him.

He also described the style of Moreno as “Trapo-ish” because he didn’t name the people who tried to bribe him.

“Mayor Isko brags about turning down a bribe offer of P5 million a day to look the other way instead of cleaning up Divisoria. Yorme’s duty is to denounce and prosecute, not brag,” Saguisag said.

“Yorme, it will be recalled, said he had been offered that rejected bribe. To me, that was so trapo-ish. Kumita na po ‘yan — such exercise of bragging rights is Jurassic. It seems to me what he should have done was to entrap the briber manqué. Or at the least denounce him or her by name and see what happens,” he added.

“For Yorme, it ain’t braggin’ if he can back it up. As of today, it is only his self-serving anecdote we have. Kwentong barbero? Who is he protecting?” he also said.

Saguisag said that he’s hoping that Moreno can help people without any publicity.

In July, Moreno claimed that someone called him and offering P5-M a day in exchange for stopping his cleanup operation along Divisoria.

However, a former worker of the City Government of Manila said that it’s impossible for someone to bribe him P5-M, saying that the call he received might be a prank.

Senator Cynthia Villar captured the attention of the netizens again over her comment on the decision of the Department of Agriculture (DA) to allocate a bigger amount of money on research for the National Corn Program than putting more money for the direct assistance to farmers.

Villar who’s the chairman of Senate committee on agriculture, food and agrarian reform questioned the decision of DA and asked them why they’re obsessed with doing research than helping the farmers directly.

“Parang lahat ng inyong budget puro research? Baliw na baliw kayo sa research. Aanhin niyo ba yung research?” Villar said on Wednesday during a senate hearing.

“Ako matalino akong tao pero hindi ko maintindihan yung research niyo, lalo na yung farmer. Gusto ba ng farmer yung research? Hindi ba gusto nila tulungan niyo sila? Bakit ba lahat ng budget niyo research?” she added.

According to her, farmers need financial assistance, seeds, and more tools that would help them in farming.

“Kung ako farmer, mas gusto ko nang bigyan ako ng seeds, bigyan ako ng machineries kaysa yung mga kung anu anong ‘yan. Kaunting-kaunti lang ang ibinibigay sa farmers kaya ang ating mga farmers continously naghihirap,” she said.

She also questioned why the seed reserve budget is higher than the seed distribution project.

According to the proposed budget, the budget for seed reserve is P218-M while the supply prepared for distribution is only at P31-M.

Seed reserve can only be distributed to the farmers during natural calamities.

Villar said that DA should distribute more money directly to the farmers instead of doing research because the money came from the taxpayers.

“Wala nang nabibigay sa tao. Pera ng tao ‘yan eh. Taxpayers’ money ‘yan,”  she said.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo accepted the challenge of some netizens to commute on his way to Malacanang to experience traffic.

In a text message, Panelo said that he would ride a jeepney and LRT to Malacanang on Friday to prove that there’s no mass transport crisis under the Duterte administration.

“I stand by my statement: there is no mass transport crisis. The crisis is in the sufferance of commuters and motorists; while the other crisis is in the inefficient operation and maintenance of the LRTs – the crisis is in its poor management,” Panelo said in his statement.

“We will not allow it to be constant and permanent. Everyone who commutes or drives suffers every day but solutions to solve it are not insuperable, and this administration is doing its best to provide not just immediate but also long-term solutions,” he added.

Panelo has been criticized by several groups for downplaying the traffic around Metro Manila, suggesting that people should travel early if they want to avoid inconvenience.

“Wala. Kasi nga makakarating pa naman ‘yung mga dapat makarating sa kanilang pupuntahan,” he said in a press conference two days ago.

“If you want to go, arrive early in your destination, then you go there earlier,” he added.

Meanwhile, a youth group said that Panelo should do the challenge without his bodyguards and commute to Malacanang during rush hour.

“First of all, travel during early morning rush hour. Second, no special treatment—no bodyguards to brush off crowd. Third, we are expecting the stint to be mere performance. To prevent this, the spokesperson must commute not only for a single day, but for a whole week,” Anakbayan said in a statement.