FILE PHOTO: President Rodrigo Duterte

MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte skipped Monday’s barangay elections primarily “to erase suspicions.” He added that his reason was “purely political.”

“Purely political. Lahat iyong tumakbo kaibigan ko (I’m friends with all the candidates). Almost all were my supporters during the last election, and they would never believe na nagboto ako o hindi sa kanila (whether I voted for them or not ). So tingin ko (I thought) the better option is just skip the voting. Ayokong magduda sila (I don’t want them to have any doubts),” the President said in his speech Monday night, May 14, at  the wake of former Senator Edgardo Angara.

President Duterte did not show up to vote at his polling precinct at Daniel R. Aguinaldo High School where a presidential chair was prepared. Monday’s barangay elections, the first in five years after several postponements, was also the first under the Duterte administration. – Rosalie Coz | UNTV News & Rescue

Tags: 2018 barangay election, duterte

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has laid down seven conditions before the government revives peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said that among the conditions are the enforcement of a bilateral ceasefire, the non-creation of a coalition government, no attacks on government forces and civilians, no extortion, no destruction of properties, no recruitment of members and no carrying of firearms.

However, Malacañang is still waiting for the response of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) to the conditions set by the president.

Presidential Spokesman  Harry Roque said the government could withdraw its petition to declare the CPP-NPA as a terrorist group if the peace talks push through.

This is also the concern of Bayan Muna partylist Rep. Carlos Zarate.

“We hope that the resumption of the negotiation will be not dependent on pre-condition set by either party but we urge the parties to observe and respect fast binding agreements that we already mutually agreed by both parties and panels,” Zarate said.

On the other hand, Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano, considered the president’s move a welcome development, noting the military alone cannot not resolve the country’s pursuit of long-term peace.

Alejano said that the root cause of the problem should be addressed.

The lawmaker added that there is no other way to achieve peace but through peace talks. — Grace Casin | UNTV News & Rescue

Tags: Carlos Zarate, Delfin Lorenzana, duterte, NFA, NFA Rice

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein 

MANILA, Philippines —The statement made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein against President Rodrigo Duterte was an insult to the Philippines.

This was the response of the Malacañang to  Al-Hussein’s suggestion that President Duterte needs to have a psychiatric evaluation because of his attacks against the UN special rapporteurs.

The UN human rights chief particularly pointed out the inclusion of UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples Victoria Corpuz in the petition of the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) to declare her as a terrorist for her alleged connection with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA) along with 600 other names.

“This is absolutely disgraceful that the president of a country could speak in this way using the foulness of language against a rapporteur that is highly respected and really makes one believe that the president of the Philippines needs to submit himself to some sort of psychiatric evaluation,” said the UN high commissioner.

According to Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, this statement of the UN official is a disrespect to all countries whose leaders were appointed due to the vote of the people.

“And so my message to the high commissioner is, we respect our president in this country because we gave him a democratic mandate to lead. I would hope that although you do not have the same democratic system in your home country of Jordan, you will respect the kind of democracy that we have in the Philippines. Your language was not just an insult to the Philippines and the Filipino people, it is an insult to all countries who have democratically-elected their heads of state,” said the presidential spokesperson.

Meanwhile, according to Roque, Corpuz should be the one to prove to the court that she is not involved with so-called terrorists not just in the Philippines but even in other countries.

“I will assure you that this has nothing to do with her mandate. The CPP-NPA, I reiterate, has already been declared a terrorist organization in the US and in Europe. So the declaration that the CPP-NPA is such, is only a reiteration of prior clarifications and the issue now is: is the special rapporteur in any way identified with the CPP-NPA? Let her adduce evidence that she’s not,” said Roque.

According to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, Al-Hussein went overboard with his statement and it is an insult to the leaders of member-state without giving them due process.

The UN human rights chief should have first gathered evidence on why Corpuz is included in the DOJ’s petition. In the end, Cayetano said that it is possible that Al-Hussein does not know that he is being used by parties who wish to destroy the Duterte administration. — Rosalie Coz | UNTV News & Rescue

Tags: duterte, Human Rights, UN, Victoria Corpuz, Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein