Commission on Human Rights (CHR) Region 7 reminded the authorities and the public that the suspects behind the slaying of the grade 9 student Christine Silawan could still invoke their rights once they caught.

Lawyer Arvin Odron, director of CHR-7 said that he understands the reaction of the public especially after they saw what happened to the face of Christine Silawan who allegedly victimized by shabu users.

Odron pointed out that the three suspects who were still being hunted by the members of Philippine National Police (PNP) cannot face capital punishment.

“We don’t want to annoy the people. We’re sorry, but we cannot let them face capital punishment because it already been outlawed since 2006,” Odron said.

According to him, the only possible punishments for the suspects is reclusion perpetua or lifetime incarceration.

CHR-7 said that they’re willing to help the authorities to find the suspects quickly, however, they would also monitor the PNP and NBI to protect the human rights of the accused.

They also reminded the authorities to capture the right person and avoid picking the innocent once just to close the case quickly.

Meanwhile, Gabriela Women’s Party was worried that the government might use the case of Silawan to bring back capital punishment in the country.

“We strongly condemn this monstrous act as we join calls for a thorough investigation so that justice may be attained. We are however wary that this death is now being used to push for the reimposition of the capital punishment,” the party said.

The case of Silawan who’s a church-server revived the calls of the people to revive the capital punishment in the country.

According to the authorities, the suspects might be possible shabu users.

Source: [1] [2]

Amid the controversy being faced by the senatorial candidate Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos after critics questioned the legitimacy of her educational background, one netizen stood up and tried to defend the former presidential daughter.

Netizen Evangeline Matunog Lapore posted some photos that could prove that Gov. Imee Marcos really graduated from UP College of Law in 1983.

In the photos, Lapore shared her album which shows the graduation of her brother in UP College of Law held at the Meralco Theater.

Lapore claimed that her brother is a seatmate of Imee Marcos and they graduated at the same time as the photo shows.

Former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and former First Lady Imelda Marcos also showed in the photo as guests of honor.

“Graduation sa College of Law sa UP 1983! Paanong walang diploma na kasama sila ng kapatid ko.Seatmate pa classroom?” Lapore said.

You can see the photos below:

Three weeks ago, Imee Marcos also posted photos taken during the same event, saying that her father and mother supposedly pinned her cum laude medal.

However, University of the Philippines Diliman Registrar insisted that they have no records that Imee Marcos graduated from the school.

“There is no record of her graduation from UPD nor any honors or academic distinctions received with the University Registrar’s office.” the University said in the statement.

Aside from UP, Imee’s Princeton degree legitimacy was also questioned.

As of writing, the post already reached 2,000 shares on social media giving another hope for the Marcos supporters that Imee is not lying on her educational background.

Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP) Chairman and Davao City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte has a fierce response on Vice President Leni Robredo’s comment on ‘honesty is a non-issue’ remark made by the presidential daughter.

In her statement, Inday Sara said that Robredo should avoid talking about “honesty and integrity” because she’s also being questioned and facing controversies that she’s not yet clarifying since she became the Vice President.

According to Inday, Leni Robredo tried to copy her late husband former Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo who’s hailed as an honest government official. The presidential daughter also mentioned the alleged romantic relationship of Robredo with a lawmaker.

“Leni Robredo should avoid commenting about honesty and integrity. Her honesty has been questioned since day one of her term as Vice President,” Inday Sara said.

“She is not called fake VP for no reason. She has tried to copy her late husband but has failed at every turn. She is facing an electoral protest for massive fraud during the 2016 elections. She has refused to answer allegations of her relationship with a married man. She may or may not get away with these, but we all know she is not forthcoming in everything,” she added.

“The reason why a good moral character is not a requirement to run for Vice President is because we have so many Leni Robredos in this world,”

Inday Sara said that if Robredo insisted that honesty should be a requirement in running as a government official, she should stop dreaming for a higher position in the government.

“If she insists in saying that you have to be honest to run for public office, then she must say goodbye to her dreams of becoming President.”

Yesterday, Robredo said that honesty is a “huge” factor for candidates.

“Iyong honesty, napakalaking factor sa integrity ng isang tao. Kung wala kang ganoon, dapat hindi mo nga iniisip maglingkod kasi papaano ka makakapaglingkod kung may problema ka sa sarili mo?” Robredo said.

“Ang nakakalungkot na kailangan pa pagdebatehan kung kailangan honest o hindi. ‘Di ba dapat given na yon? Nakakagulat,” Robredo she added.

This is the first time that Inday Sara Duterte made a fierce statement against Robredo who’s one of the possible candidates of the opposition in the 2022 presidential elections.

Meanwhile, Inday Sara is also being eyed as the successor of President Rodrigo Duterte.

A netizen wrote his thoughts on social media after President Rodrigo Duterte signed the Universal Health Bill (UHB) that made all Filipinos a member of Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth).

Netizen Noel Sarifa in his post on Facebook, questioning why the past administrations cannot spend so much money for the people like the Duterte administration.

According to him, the past administrations are always saying that they don’t have the budget to implement laws that can help the Filipino people like the UHB which signed by the President yesterday.

He mentioned some of the critics of the administration, saying that they’re turning a blind eye on the efforts of President Rodrigo Duterte to give a good life for the Filipinos.

Sarifa also listed some of the achievements of the current administration and how much is the budget allocated to implement it.

You can read his whole post below:

“Akala ko ba walang pera ang Pilipinas kasi laging Bukambibig ng mga dating Presidente, walang pondo, kulang sa pondo. E nang naupo si Duterte

– Nagbigay ng additional 1000 Pension sa SSS pensioner at sa mga veterans ng 300% increase sa pension nila.
– nag allocate ng 47Billion sa Manila Bay Rehabilitation
– Nag approve ng Universal Health Bill, ibig sabihin sagot na ng pamahalaan ang basic hospitalization ng lahat ng Pilipino
– 9 Trillion Pesos Allocation sa Build Build Build Program
-1.36Billion Pesos for Boracay Rehabilitation
– 15Billion for Marawi Rehabilitation
– 2019 budget for education, infrastructure, and the interior government departments increased from 30% to almost 70% from 2018
– 100 Million Pesos a Month sa PGH
– P100-M monthly subsidy for soldiers’ medicines
– P500M for soldiers’ new hospital
– namigay ng Lupain sa mga libo-libong DAR Benificiaries sa buong bansa
– nag raise ng OFW assistance budget to P1B
– nag allocate ng P2 billion for Drug rehabilitation

Wala pa to sa kalahati sa mga nagawa ni Duterte.

Malula ka na lang sa dami ng Perang inaallocate ng gobyerno sa taumbayan. Pwede naman pala, bakit hindi ginawa noon? So sa mga bumabatikos kay Duterte na walang pagbabago, magnilaynilay din minsan. Ano sabi ni Risa di nagtatrabaho? si Diokno walang nakikitang maganda sa mga yan kasi nauubos ata ung mga ibubulsa sana, lahat ng mga LP bitter kasi inuubos ni Duterte Funds nila. Kaya kung gusto nyong tuloy tuloy lang na mapunta sa bayan ang pera ng mamamayan alam nyo na kung sino ang di dapat bumalik sa pwesto at wag ilagay sa gobyerno. 30 years kayong pinahirapan di pa ba kayo nadala nyan?

Salamat sa 16 million voters (alam ko talaga 21 million e may hocus pcos lang) na bumoto at isa ako dun 
🙂. Proud Dutertard.”

As of writing, the post already reached 10,000 shares and thousands of positive reactions from the netizens.

British ‘Filipino-at-heart’ Malcolm Conlan writes a lengthy open letter addressed to the militants who protested on the alleged lack of press freedom under the Duterte administration.

Several days ago, some student activist showed their support to Rappler CEO Maria Ressa who got detained for a cyber libel case. They even made a placard which includes a warrant against President Rodrigo Duterte.

“You are hereby commanded to arr*st the person of Rodrigo Roa Duterte who is charged with the crime of committing treason, attacks on press freedom, and other human rights violation and bring him before the People’s Court as soon as possible,” the placard reads.

The photo was reposted by Conlan who also criticized them from thinking that they’re representing the majority of the Filipinos.

According to him, the activists should also look at the problems being solved by the President including the people who are victimized by the shabu users.

He also said that press freedom still exists under the Duterte administration, saying that the media can still be critical with the current administration without facing any consequences.

Conlan pointed out that while the Duterte administration is doing everything to solve the problem, the current administration cannot evade having some casualties.
“Whoever the st*pid people are in the picture and their supporters. 

Mga B*b*!!!

1. You and your cohorts seem to think you are representing ‘The Filipino people’. I’m confused, over 80% and more besides of the Filipino people (80 Million Filipino people, support the efforts of President Duterte and his administration in cleaning up the country and improving Filipinos lives. 

2. Talking about ‘Human rights’ what about the human rights of victims of crime, families of those who were addicted to Shabu who had their lives destroyed by this nasty dr*g?

3. ‘Press Freedom’ President Duterte is Open to dialogue with critics, the MPC regularly question President Duterte and of course Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo on all matters of government, whether positive or negative and none are silenced.

The reason why Pia Ranada and Rappler was banned from the press core was that Rappler sought to seek financial support from foreign investors, this is against the constitution as this means Rappler are not 100% Filipino owned.

The reason why Maria Ressa was also arrested stemmed from a complaint in 2012, by a private individual businessman who was libeled by her. I hope you appreciate, it’s his democratic right to seek justice from the courts, why is this anything to do with President Duterte or any kind of Press silencing? This businessman is fully entitled to seek justice.

3. To the ‘People’s court’ how dare you to accuse President Duterte of m*rder and treason!!!

President Rodrigo Duterte has given up so much to become a public servant. At his age, he should be enjoying a happy retirement and spending time with his family, children, and grandchildren.

Instead, he works night and day, 365 days a year for the betterment of the Filipino people. His work is not easy. He has to clear up the catastrophic mess made by previous administrations, underinvestment in infrastructure, a dr*gs pandemic, massive corruption, and rising poverty.

Sadly, there have been cases where innocent victims have lost their lives in the war on dr*gs, I accept that. Cases of mistaken identity, wayward police, rival gangs, corruption, and vigilantes.

This is regrettable, but sadly in any war, there will be innocent casualties. When mistakes are made, like in the tragic case of Kian De Los Santos, those responsible are prosecuted and imprisoned.

However, before President Duterte took office, there were over four million Filipinos addicted to illegal dr*gs. This meant people were not eating and children were going hungry and not even going to school as they were out begging whilst their parents forced them to beg to pay for their next hit of Shabu.

Filipinos now feel safer on the streets, crime is down by nearly 50% in many areas. President Duterte is a lawyer and as such is fully law abiding. He even instructs the PNP in allowing maximum tolerance, so that you and your friends are allowed to protest.

When you hold up bogus orders like this and in effect insult and undermine the democratically elected President of the Republic of the Philippines, please remember that under President Duterte, Filipinos lives have improved and therefore your protest is entirely irrelevant.

Thank you.”

National Youth Commission (NYC) Chairperson Ronald Cardema suggested that scholarship should be removed from students who are joining demonstrations against the government.

Cardema, who’s also the leader of ‘Duterte Youth’ said that ‘militants’ don’t deserve to receive a scholarship from the government.

According to him, President Rodrigo Duterte has the right to replace the militant students by people who are more ‘patriotic’ to receive a free education.

The Youth group leader also pointed out that student activists are only wasting the scholarship they received by joining rallies against the government.

You can read the whole post below:

“Pagtanggal sa scholarship program ng mga estudyante na sumasama sa mga rally laban sa gobyerno, kinatigan ng Youth Sector.

Mas gugustuhin ng Duterte Youth Movement na hindi na isama sa scholarship program ang mga kabataang sumasama sa kilos protesta at nananawagang ibagsak ang Duterte administration.

Ayon kay Ronald Cardema, Chairman ng Duterte Youth, dapat alisin sa listahan ang mga militanteng estudyate na hindi naman pumapasok sa klase at madalas nakikita sa rally.

Tama lang si Pangulong Duterte na palitan sila ng mga kabataang may interes sa pag-aaral at walang kakayahang pinansyal.

Una nang nanawagan ang youth sector sa law enforcement agencies na arestuhin ang ilang kabataan na nananawagan na ibagsak ang kasalukuyang administrasyon.

Apela ito ni Cardema kaugnay sa ikinakasa ng mga youth leaders na sumusuporta kay CPP-NDF Chairman Joma Sison na kilos protesta.”

In another statement, Cardema also said that some activists who are active in joining rallies against the government might be connected with the rebel group New People’s Army.

“Every week, you have the capacity to rally against our government troops but for the longest time wala namang naririnig ang Philippine society na nag-rally kayo against armed rebels of our country,” he said.

He also urged the other youths to avoid joining the rebel group.

“Being Presidential Supporters or Presidential Critics is part of a healthy democracy, no problem with that. But being consistently Anti-Government, being Anti-Government Troops, and being the youth recruitment base of rebels…the newly-elected government youth leaders of today must make a stand,” he said.

Senatorial candidate Doctor Willie Ong criticized Commission on Elections (COMELEC) for allegedly being too strict among candidates who are only relying on social media and other ways to campaign for free.

In his statement, Ong who’s known as a famous personality on Facebook was wondering why COMELEC is strict with the new ways to campaign like advertising on social media.

He said that COMELEC should focus on regulating the traditional campaign materials used by rich candidates like tarpaulins instead of trying to control the senatoriables who wants to use Facebook to advertise themselves.

Ong who got 9.4M fans on Facebook also slammed COMELEC for saying that surveys on social media are not reliable, unlike the private survey firms like SWS and Pulse Asia.

According to him, the plans of COMELEC might discourage the new senatorial candidates because they cannot afford to campaign like the other politicians who spent billions of pesos.

You can read his whole post below:

“Comelec Press Releases: 
Hindi ko talaga maintindihan ang nais ninyo?

Maraming payo ang Comelec sa kandidato ang hindi ko maintindihan talaga. Tulad ng:

1. Bawal daw mag-salita sa mga graduations. Pati ba conventions, meetings at flag ceremony ay bawal din? Eh iyan lang ang LIBRE sa mga bagong kandidato eh?
2. Ang poster dapat maliit lang at limitado din. Eh yan lang ang mura at kaya ng kandidato dahil 25 pesos ang isang poster.
3. Sa Facebook, babantayan daw nila ang sponsored posts. Eh 40 pesos lang ang isang sponsored post.
4. Sa Facebook, babantayan daw ng Comelec ang lahat ng pages ng Influencers at artista. I-Register daw lahat ng FB pages. Wala naman akong Influencer na ginagamit ah. Ako lang.
5. Sabi pa ng Comelec, huwag daw maniwala sa Facebook surveys dahil peke ito at ang nangunguna daw sa FB surveys ay isang “relatively unknown”. Dapat daw ay sa private surveys lang maniwala. 
Haay, grabe na talaga? Paano mo naman dadayain ang Facebook computer. Sige nga…

Kawawa talaga ang bagong kandidato sa patakaran ngayon ng Comelec.
Ang tanong ay ISA lang:

Bakit hindi Bantayan ng Comelec ang DAAN-DAANG MILLION na ginagastos sa TV Ads.
At pinag-iinitan pa ang maliliit na ginagawa ng mga bagong kandidato?

Ano LABAN ng isang POSTER sa 100 Million na halaga ng TV Ads. Hindi ba ang GOAL dapat ng Comelec ay maging mas PATAS ang labanan?? Kahit may pera o wala.

Nasa Philippine Constitution na dapat tulungan ng gobyerno ang mga kandidatong kulang sa pera para may tsansa silang mag-silbi sa bayan.

Hindi ko talaga maintindihan po.
Para maayos pa po natin. Para balang araw, may MATINONG bagong kandidato pa ang susubok.
God bless po.
– doc willie ong

Note: Nagtatanong lang po tayo kasi sobra na kami dehado. Ayoko nga sana ipost ito baka lalo pa tayo pag-initan eh.
Pero parang unfair po talaga. Pasensya na.”

Ong vowed to campaign without spending millions of pesos for campaign materials, unlike the other senatorial candidates by using social media to promote himself.

However, COMELEC was suspicious of using social media to campaign saying that they’re going to monitor bloggers and influencers on the internet.

“Number one, we have to look at the overall pattern of activity. It’s not that when you posted something, we will go after you already. We are going to check over time what you have been doing,” COMELEC Spokesperson James Jimenez said.

Jimenez also shared his disbelief on surveys conducted on social media in another statement.

“While it is heartening to see that many people are giving relative unknowns a second look – and even preferring them over more well known politicians, I would caution that surveys conducted on social media are not reliable,” Jimenez said.

Source:

Senatorial candidate Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa criticized the bet of the opposition for the 2019 elections for trying to duplicate the style of ‘Oplan Tokhang’ in their campaign style.

Dela Rosa shared an article wrote by ABS-CBN about the eight candidates of the opposition, also called as ‘Otso Diretso’ knocking the doors of the voters personally to introduce themselves and their platforms.

The former retired General said that the style of ‘Otso Diretso’ is the same as the controversial ‘Oplan Tokhang’ which means approach and talk with alleged users and pushers.

Oplan Tokhang has been criticized several times by the opposition, saying that the cops used it in a wrong way.

“Akala ko ayaw ninyo ng oplan tokhang yun pala ay gagayahin rin ninyo.” Dela Rosa said in his Facebook post.

According to the article, Otso Diretso said that they started the campaign with “knocking on doors and shaking the hands of bystanders’ in the place where they’re visiting.

Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan said that they’re excited on doing door-to-door campaigning because it will be used for the national campaign for the first time.

“This campaign strategy of going house-to-house is a game-changer. It has not been done on a national scale,” Pangilinan said.

Dela Rosa started the ‘Oplan Tokhang’ during the time when President Rodrigo Duterte was still the Mayor of Davao City.

When President Duterte was elected as chief executive, Dela Rosa who got appointed as PNP Chief brought Tokhang on a national scale and started to knock the doors of alleged pushers and users.

However, it was criticized by the opposition saying that Oplan Tokhang was against human rights.