Digong a ladies’ man
President Duterte’s apology to Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno for his use of harsh words to a lady is vintage Digong.
The President has always been a gentleman, especially in dealing with women; he’s a ladies’ man in every sense of the word.
He said he was just carried away by his strong feelings about the drug problem.
Mano Digong’s apology to Sereno, however, will not diminish the campaign against traffickers and pushers.
* * *
Public Attorney’s Office chief Persida Acosta has been sent by President Digong to Saudi Arabia to attend to the needs of 10,000 stranded Filipino workers.
The President assigned to the feisty government lawyer the task apparently because of her reputation in helping the poor and oppressed.
It had to take Mano Digong for the hapless OFWs to be given attention.
Why then President Noynoy didn’t act on the plight of the workers is anybody’s guess.
Acosta, who was in Riyadh, told me over the phone she was going to seek the help of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) for funds to repatriate the workers.
My simple suggestion: Acosta could ask money from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. to repatriate the 10,000 stranded workers if money from the DSWD and Owwa is not enough.
* * *
Judge Yvonne Cabaron Artiaga of the Municipal Trial Court in Cities in Cebu City has banned “Pokémon Go” players from her courtroom while court proceedings are going on.
This judge is OA (overacting).
Of course, activities inside the courtroom that distract a trial or hearing are prohibited.
Anybody who disturbs a court proceeding is promptly punished by the judge with a fine or short jail term.
* * *
An 18-year-old tourism student undergoing on-the-job training (OJT) at a big hotel in Tagaytay City was raped inside one of its toilets, but the hotel management detained her for two days so she could not go to the police.
As a result of the detention, the rape suspect, Edison Siapno, 21, was able to escape.
The Lake Hotel on Nasugbu Highway must be very influential because it was absolved by the Tagaytay City Prosecutor’s Office of charges of illegal detention and obstruction of justice filed by the girl’s father.
The case against Siapno, however, was filed in court.
The victim told “Isumbong mo kay Tulfo,” my public service program, she reported the rape to the hotel management.
The management, she said, prevented her from going to the police for two days on the pretext that she should rest because she was suffering from trauma.
A lawyer of the hotel would come to help her, she was told.
No lawyer came, she said.
When I called The Lake Hotel yesterday to ask for an explanation, one of the managers, who did not identify herself, said I should talk to the lawyer of the hotel.
You know why the victim was raped inside the toilet?
She said she was cleaning the toilet which was a task given to her by management.
Was that what her OJT was for—cleaning toilets?
