Today is the first day of the so-called “Ber” months that tell Filipinos that we are just less than four months to Christmas. Of course, the Year 2020 has changed the lives of many Filipinos that by Christmas time… hopefully when there is already a cure for Covid-19, people would shop in stores to buy Christmas presents for their loved ones. So it is hopeful that the end of this pandemic would also end our suffering economy so we could restart anew, with the vigor and vitality that we had before the lockdown stopped us.
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Just this Monday, I saw a very dramatic photo in my Facebook page when no less than President Duterte visited Jolo to check out the results of the suicide bombing in that city. What I found remarkable was that the President of the Philippines, in all the dignity of his office, was on his knees, kissing the bloodied ground where the suicide bombers blew themselves up and the soldiers around them. I dare say that no President of the Philippines was ever photographed trying to honor the people who died.
Just think that a week ago, no less than Vice-President Leni Robredo addressed the nation as if she were already getting ready to take over the job as President because the Yellowtards, in so many social media outlets, were spinning the fake news that the President was sick and that the photo he had sent was photo shopped! Well, show the Yellowtards these very recent photos of our very sick President in Jolo on his knees kissing the ground to honor those who perished in that suicide bombing. That photo of the President gives many of his supporters a huge hope that he would last his tenure.
Come now… Pres. Duterte may not be the perfect President… he has many flaws… however not a single President has his compassion and humility to be able to handle such a delicate situation like what happened in Jolo a week ago. As it was Araw ng Kagitingan yesterday, it was appropriate that the President paid his respects to our modern day heroes, Filipino soldiers who in their youth died in order that the Filipino people may live!
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The South China Sea (SCS) or West Philippine Sea (WPS) has been turned into a political or military quagmire due to the bullying of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) claiming territory that has been claimed by many nations like Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines. However, as the International Tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines – in which the PRC has refused to participate simply because its nine-dash line has no historical basis to win its case at the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), we are confident that if China continues to bully Filipino fishermen, then they are only looking for trouble. Filipino fishermen have always fished in SCS waters since the Philippines was under Spain, while there was no record of Chinese fishermen fishing in our waters.
Today the US 7th Fleet has been conducting naval exercises with nations having sovereign claims in the SCS, they have been joined by the Australian Navy to show China that it can no longer bully its neighbors. Mind you, the American military presence in SCS has given confidence that America will assure the Philippines and our neighbors of freedom of navigation in the SCS.
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With his unexpected resignation last Friday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan said that the executives of his conservative political party were finalizing plans for selecting a new leader. Speculation about who that might be was swirling even before he took the podium. Abe has led the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and he holds a firm majority in Parliament.
Whoever the party chooses as its next leader, a process that could be completed in the next week or so, analysts say he will almost certainly be elected prime minister by lawmakers. Mr. Abe has so far declined to name a favorite candidate, saying that the leading ones were all “very promising.”
This is the beauty of a Parliamentary form of government as the ruling party would be able to replace the resigned Prime Minister with one belonging to their own political party. It is unlike the Presidential system that the 49-Coryista’s created in 1987 where the president can be elected with a vice president not belonging to the same party, unlike what they have in the United States of America. On this note along, I dare say that there is a need for a Constitutional change so that Filipinos can elect their president and vice president belonging to the same political party.
This is why Yellowtards are demanding the resignation of Pres. Duterte because if he did so… Vice-President Leni Robredo can take over the reigns of the government and the Yellowtards would once more be in power. On this very issue along… I dare say we need to change our Constitution!
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Email: vsbobita@gmail.com