Yearly Archives: 2020
Duterte-Trillanes word war reignites over ICC drug war report
By Beting Laygo Dolor, Contributing Editor
President Rodrigo Duterte and former senator Antonio Trillanes IV resumed their long running, off and on word war, after the latter said the former was “trembling in fear” of being arrested by the International Criminal Court (ICC) which released last week its initial findings on the country’s war on drugs.
In its initial report, the ICC said there was “reasonable basis” to believe that crimes against humanity had been committe...
Duque blamed for botched plan to buy vaccine that went to Singapore
By Beting Laygo Dolor, Contributing Editor
After Foreign Affairs Sec. Teodoro Locsin, Jr. told the Senate that a high ranking Heath official “dropped the ball” causing the Philippines to lose out on the early purchase of 10 million doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine last week, an angry public demanded to know the identity of that official.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson said it was actually Health Sec. Francisco Duque III -- whose slow action in ordering the vaccine resulted in...
PH won’t cooperate with ICC probe into drug war killings
By Daniel Llanto
The International Criminal Court (ICC) may conduct its investigation on alleged human rights violations related to President Duterte’s bloody campaign against illegal drugs but is likely to hit a wall because the government would not cooperate.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said this lack of cooperation by the Philippines means that pursuing an investigation would be a waste of the Court’s resources and time. “They can do whatever they want to do...
‘Pandemya’ is Pinoy word of the year
By Daniel Llanto
The Filipinas Institute of Translation (FIT) picked the word “pandemya” as word of the year in the Philippines, much like Merriam-Webster and online Dictionary.com which earlier chose the English equivalent “pandemic” as universal word of the year 2020.
The word “pandemya” bested the other nominees “ayuda,” “contact-tracing,” “blended learning,” “quarantine,” “social distancing,” “testing,” “virus,” “webinar,” and “2020.”
“Social distancing” was cho...
Gov’t moves to block UK’s new coronavirus variant
By Daniel Llanto
The Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) on emerging infectious pandemic is deep in discussion on preventing the entry to the Philippines of the new more contagious variant of coronavirus variant reportedly from the United Kingdom.
Chief in the agenda of IATF, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said, is whether to impose a travel ban to and from UK. In the meantime, Roque said the government hopes that certain health protocols in place to test and quarantine...
StreetTalk – Missing Pasko
By Greg B. Macabenta
My wife and I would have wanted to spend this Christmas in the Philippines, but unfortunate circumstances prevented a trip. First of all, there is COVID-19 and the quarantine protocol being strictly enforced by the government. Secondly, US citizens now need a visa to enter the Philippines - President Rodrigo Duterte’s tit-for-tat response to the visa that Pinoys need to enter the US. And thirdly, my former company driver, when I was CEO of a Manila ad...
PerryScope – America under siege
By Perry Diaz
It was revealed a week ago that Russia was hacking at least eight U.S. government computer networks. It is not known at this time how the Russians were able to penetrate America’s top-secret government networks security secrets including the State Department, Department of Homeland Security, Pentagon, Treasury, Commerce, and National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.
It all began when FireEye, a private c...
Census Bureau Releases 2020 Demographic Analysis Estimates
Figures Estimate the Size of the Nation’s Population Independent of the 2020 Census
DEC. 15, 2020 — The U.S. Census Bureau today released its 2020 Demographic Analysis, which provides a range of estimates — low, middle and high — for the nation’s population as of April 1, 2020. Instead of collecting responses from households like the 2020 Census, Demographic Analysis uses current and historical vital statistics records and other data to estimate the size of the U.S...
As I See It – Is the Republican Party still the Grand Old Party (GOP) we used to k...
By Elpidio R. Estioko
Since Donald Trump became the US president in 2016, the Republican Party, otherwise known as the Grand Old Party (GOP), had gone through many transformations. The party now revolves around Trump since party decisions are done by him and party members must tow the line, so they will not suffer the consequences.
More than a month since the November 3 election, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) recognized President-elect Biden’s victory ...
Changes in Immigration System will not be overnight
By Atty. Chris Caday Lozano
While the executive actions that Trump used to restrict immigration may be reversed in one day by President elect Joe Biden, the Asylum processing at the southern border will take a while. President-elect Joe Biden's incoming administration warned that any transformational changes to the immigration system won't happen overnight, trying to temper expectations that a Democrat in the White House would quickly unravel the Trump administration's ye...