President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday admitted that he ordered the ambush of former Daanbantayan, Cebu Mayor Vicente Loot who’s one of the alleged narcogenerals.

During his speech at the Rizal Hall in Malacanang Palace, Duterte expressed his frustration on the failure of the ambush he planned for Loot.

According to the President, the politicians conducting illegal activities are surviving because of having big amount of money in their pocket.

Duterte is criticizing Loot in his speeches since 2016 because of the alleged illegal activities conducted by the latter during his time as a Philippine National Police (PNP) General.

“Pumasok na talaga ang narco state. Mga mayor. Mayor Mabilog ng… General Loot. P**** i** mo nanalo pa ng barangay — mayor. Inambush kita animal ka, buhay pa rin. General-general mo. P*****,” the President said

“Pag-aral mo sa PMA gastos ng gobyerno. Tapos kayong mga unggoy kayo sinisira ninyo ang bayan. That’s why I said I am — if I was up against government. And so I had to say ang kalaban ko talaga — little did I realize that I was up against my own government,” he added.

In 2018, it was reported that Loot survived an ambush in his town.

Loot denied the accusations of the President several times, saying that they got their wealth from their legal businesses and not from doing illegal activities.

The State of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALN) of Loot showed that the former Mayor has a total net worth of P70-M pesos.

He has 10 vehicles, 12 houses, 4 agricultural lots, and a cockpit.

Journalist Erwin Tulfo criticized Senator Grace Poe for not helping the government in solving the traffic problem in EDSA.

In his radio show, Tulfo said that Grace Poe is criticizing the government, especially the Department of Transportation (DOTr) Secretary Art Tugade while she cannot even give a single solution on how to solve the problem in EDSA.

Tulfo defended Tugade, saying that the latter did his job and firing him as what Poe suggested is not the solution to end the problem in one of the busiest roads in the Philippines.

“Kung gusto mong sibakin si Tugade, ayaw mo ng bigyan ng special powers si Duterte, dapat mayroon kang suhestiyon, dapat meron kang mga alternatibo,” Tulfo said.

“Mahirap yung yakyak ka ng yakyak Senadora, kung wala ka namang alternative, you do not have a solution to the problem, ang mas mahirap ay if you are the problem,” he added.

The journalist also believes that the Duterte administration is serious in trying to solve the traffic problem in EDSA that’s why Poe should give a chance to the government to attain the emergency powers they asking.

According to Tulfo, even if the government hired millions of traffic enforcers, the problem in EDSA cannot be solved because it already reached its maximum vehicle capacity.

He believes that the cause of problem in EDSA is the lack of alternative roads, that’s why he’s supporting the proposed emergency powers for the Duterte administration.

Instead of blaming Tugade, Tulfo said that the people should blame the administration of former President Cory Aquino for the bad public transport system in the Philippines.

“Wag ninyong isisi kay Tugade kung masama ang ating public transport, isisi mo doon sa panahon ni Cory [Aquino], doon ninyo isisi dahil masama ang public transport natin,” he said.

“Kita mo naman yan gumawa ng MRT, bulok pa, laging sira… iilang tao lang ang kasya,” he added.

A group of private school owners expressed their opposition on the SOGIE equality bill and even told its supporters to build their own school that would meet their demands instead of asking educational institutions to adjust for them.

In a statement, the Federation of Associations of Private Schools & Administrators (FAPSA), said that the SOGIE bill supporters already “have gone overboard with their demands”.

“They need to put up a school of their own,” FAPSA President Eleazardo Kasilag said.

Members of FAPSA during their meeting on SOGIE bill (Reynaldo Jr Chua Facebook page)

According to Kasilag, some of them doesn’t like the idea of accepting students on the basis of SOGIE.

“We do not even know how to call them? SOGIE creature? Heaven sent?  Normal alien or just SOGIE kid? How do we answer toddlers, ‘where they came from if they are not he or she’,” he said.

“We accommodate Muslims and other faiths, being non-sectarian schools, most of us, but to accept new enrollees who shall demand our schools’ vision, mission and objectives radically changed just to welcome them, they better put up a school of their own,” he added.

“We do not want to change our school vision, our objectives or adjust our understanding, our morals,”

Kasilag also bared that all schools under their group are not planning to build a gender-neutral toilet because of lack of budget.

He also expressed concern on public schools on how they would get a budget to build a comfort room for their LGBTQIA+ students once that the SOGIE bill becomes a law.

The President of FAPSA said that some public schools are still lack of toilets and SOGIE may add another problem to the government.

SOGIE bill became a hot topic after trans woman Gretchen Diez was blocked by a janitress from using a comfort room for women.

Senator Cynthia Villar explained the reason why farmers are still suffering from poverty despite having a big piece of land.

In her book titled “Seeds of Life,” Villar explained that some farmers are still relying on old methods of farming, even though there are already modern ways to make their plant grow faster.

“Many of our farmers do things the hard way. They do things on their own, not knowing that there are easier and faster-mechanized ways of getting things done,” Villar said.

The billionaire senator believes that the farmers don’t know how to handle their farm properly to make it profitable.

According to Villar, the suffering of the farmers are also increasing because they’re lending money to the wrong people.

#TWITTERSCOOP Children's book of Cynthia Villar entitled "Seed of Life" goes viral

Cynthia Villar has published "Seeds of Life", an easy-to-read booklet to educate farmers or inform the public about her advocacies.

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“Many of our farmers do not earn money because they do not have the proper business sense. They do not understand how to run the farm efficiently to make it profitable,” the Senator explained.

“Many of our farmers go into debt because they borrow from illegal money lenders, bad people who do what is called 5-6, that is, lend farmers 5 pesos and expect them to pay 6 pesos back, or 20 percent interest a day or 7,200% a year. No businesses will earn this much,” she added.

“Many of our farmers do all these things because they do not know. They do this because they do not have the proper farm education,”

The book of Villar went viral amid the criticisms being received by the Senator over the cheapening price of unhusked rice in several provinces in the Philippines.

Villar also raised the eyebrows of several netizens after she stated that it’s too much to ask to increase the price of palay to 21 pesos.

“Kumikita na sila ng five pesos per kilo, I think 17 is really the regular of the regular price, it’s too much to ask na maging 21, 20,” she said during a senate hearing last week.

A netizen gave his reasons why he opposed the SOGIE equality bill, which became a viral topic after trans woman Gretchen Diez was blocked from using a restroom designated for females.

In a post, Norman Sison Lao clarified that he’s not opposing the said bill because he doesn’t like the LGBTQIA+ community, however, he’s concerned that SOGIE might give unfair treatment to straight people.

Lao said that there are already some laws that could protect the members of the LGBTQIA+ community without pushing for the SOGIE bill.

The anti-SOGIE advocate is also concern that the bible might be banned because it contains some words against homosexuality.

You can read his post below:

1. SOGIE is unfair to STRAIGHT PEOPLE. For example, we will be penalized for “hurting their feelings” with P100,000-500,000 plus 1-6 years detention, while there is no provision of law that LGBTQ+ people will be penalized if they hurt ours.

2. There are provisions in SOGIE that can be used to curtail our exercise of religious freedoms. For example, we cannot speak in public to express what we know is the truth.

3. The Bible, the basis of our faith and practice since the time of Jesus Christ, might be banned because of the provision that all media that “discriminates against” LGBTQ+ will not be allowed for circulation.

4. There is a provision in the SOGIE Bill that will impose LGBTQ+ teaching upon our children since they will be integrated into all educational institutions. 

5. The claim that the SOGIE Bill will empower women is CONFUSING since there is no “W-omen” in L.G.B.T.Q.”

6. There is NO NEED for SOGIE. If the LGBTQ+ community needs a CR for themselves, let them file a Bill that addresses that specific issue such as “LGBTQ+ CR Bill” that will require all establishments to build a CR for them.

7. The SOGIE bill is NOT for Equality, but clearly for Preferential Treatment of members of the LGBTQ+ over the rest of the people. This is quite clear in the recent transgender CR fiasco where the transgender was given more media mileage and government attention compared to the Straight Janitress.

8. The SOGIE bill does not address inequality. It actually differentiates against Straight People. We already feel differentiated even when SOGIE is not yet a law.

9. The SOGIE bill is deceptive. Why remove the “except for marriage” clause in the application for licenses in the Senate version of the Bill?

10. There are substantial provisions in the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and other existing laws that protect the rights of LGBTQ+ people and the rest of the nation.

11. We cannot be forced to accept as normal and natural what we feel is not. To say that a trans-woman is a REAL WOMAN and expect all of us to accept that as “truth” is an imposition of one’s thinking over the majority of the Filipinos. (Even though this does not appear in the SOGIE Bill the fact is that it was commented by one of the strongest proponents of the SOGIE Bill.)

12. We are apprehensive what a SOGIE LAW will do to our nation. One advocate of the SOGIE Bill said that “gender must not be assigned at birth” which, for us, is a revelation of what is at the heart of the SOGIE Bill: the imposition of the LGBTQ+ will on the MAJORITY of the Filipino people.

The post of Lao has been reposted by pages on social media and now receiving thousands of shares and mixed reactions.

President Rodrigo Duterte criticized Vice President Leni Robredo for saying that public officials accepting gifts from the people who helped by them is unconstitutional.

During his speech at the Outstanding Government Workers Awards Rites in Malacanang on Wednesday, President Duterte explained that there are exemptions in the law where a public official may accept gifts if they received it out of gratitude.

He also mentioned Vice President Leni Robredo and Senator Panfilo Lacson, who criticized him for his statements about public official receiving gifts.

According to the President, the country might be in trouble if Robredo becomes the President as she doesn’t understand the law.

Meanwhile, he said that he would forgive Lacson because the latter “is not a lawyer.”

“I quoted the very words (of) anti-graft and corrupt practices. There is an exemption there, nominal, and I used the word nominal and out of gratitude. Alam mo naman ang Pilipino, hindi naman ako basta magbubunganga,” said Duterte.

“Tapos si Leni talaga ‘kasi illegal and unconstitutional’ hay sabi ko ma’am kung ikaw ang mag Presidente ng Pilipinas paktay… you do not even read the book,” he added.

The President even made a joke, offering the Vice Presidential position to the audience.

On August, Duterte told the members of the Philippine National Police to not refuse the gifts being given to them by the people.

“Hindi ko kayo iipitin, basta ‘pag bigayan kayo eh tanggapin ‘nyo. It is not bribery…it cannot be bribery because it is allowed by law. What I mean, if there is generosity in them, sabi ng anti-graft [law] you cannot accept gifts? Kalokohan,” Duterte said.

Mayor Isko Moreno was happy to receive praise from President Rodrigo Duterte who said that the leader of Manila City is more skillful than him when it comes to managing his people.

In a media interview on Tuesday, President Duterte said that he watched how Moreno spoke to his people and find a solution in the problem of his city.

“Bilib ako sa kanya. Kaya nanonood ako ‘pag nagsasalita siya. Mas mahusay siya kaysa sakin, sa totoo lang.” said Duterte.

“May nakita akong mas mahusay ang resolve niya kaysa akin. Plus two ako sa kanya,” he added.

As a response, Moreno made a lengthy statement to thank the President, saying that the latter was the one who inspired him to become a hands-on Mayor.

You can read his whole statement below:

“Thank you for the kind words Mr. President but to be really honest, isa po kayo sa mga naging inspirasyon ko sa kung ano mang klase ng liderato na meron kami.

Naalala ko po nung lage akong nagagawi sa Davao nung araw. Di naman po lingid sa kaalaman ng karamihan, lalong lalo na yung mga taga Maynila na ako po ay naninigarilyo. Pero pag nasa Davao City po ako, takot na takot po akong manigarilyo dahil alam kung huhulihin ako.

In fact there was one time, galing po kami ng Tagum pabalik ng Davao City. Medyo dis oras na ng gabi pero biglang bumagal po ang takbo ng sasakyan namin so tinanong namin yung driver kung bakit. Simple lang yung sagot nya. “Kasi po nasa Davao City na tayo. Kahit gabi ho dito, may pulis man o wala, sumusunod po kami sa batas trapiko.”

So I think kung ano man ang nakikita nating pagpupursige ng mga alkalde sa buong Pilipinas, hindi lang po ako, ay reflection lamang ng klase ng liderato at Pangulo na meron tayo.

As I always say, it’s not the severity of punishment itself but the certainty of getting caught that deters a person from breaking the law.

So we owe it to you, Mr. President, for inspiring us and for becoming a good example to all of us.”

Moreno was appointed by President Duterte as Chairman of the Board of the North Luzon Railways Corporation (NorthRail) in 2017 and Undersecretary of Social Welfare and Development for Luzon Affairs in 2018 before running as Mayor of Manila City.

Many netizens compared Moreno to Duterte because of being strict when it comes to implementing the law of Manila City.