Boracay island, the country’s No. 1 tourist destination, was crawling with intelligence agents and uniformed soldiers and policemen Saturday night.
Also on the island were members of the US Navy Seals and their counterparts in the Philippine Navy.
The reason: US Ambassador Harry Thomas, Ambassador Luca Fornari (Italy), Ambassador Josef Rychtar (Czech Republic), Ambassador Vu Tu Nguyen (Vietnam), Ambassador Wadee Al-Batti (Iraq), Ambassador Valeriu Georghe (Romania) and Ambassador Constantin Koliou (Greece) were having dinner at the District Hotel on the island.
Their host was Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson who owns the hotel, the dinner’s venue.
Other guests were the envoys’ wives, the staff of some of the ambassadors and retired police Supt. Wally Sombero, now serving as Singson’s chief of staff.
Kudos to Singson for bringing together these VIPs in one place, which is quite a feat.
It may not have crossed Singson’s mind, but he was acting as the de facto tourism secretary while hosting that dinner.
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One of the ambassadors brought along his Filipino fiancée to romantic Boracay.
The envoy divorced his wife so he could marry the Cebu-born lady.
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Other religions will be respected in the proposed Bangsamoro state, according to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
But if it’s going to be a fundamentalist Islamic region, there is no assurance the religious freedom of Christians and other non-Muslim Filipinos living in the region will be respected, despite the assurance made by its leaders.
Fundamentalist Islam is intolerant of other religions.
It even looks down on conservative Muslim sects.
In some parts of the Middle East, people who attend Christian religious services are arrested and jailed.
Religious freedom should be written into the provisions creating the Bangsamoro.
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Chief Insp. Angelo Germinal, charged with killing a 13-year-old scavenger, has been freed on a P200,000 bail.
Murder is a non-bailable offense.
Makati Judge Cristina Javalera-Sulit granted Germinal’s petition to post bail.
Why Sulit allowed Germinal to post bail, only the good judge knows.
Witnesses said Germinal shot and killed Christian Serrano while he and other young scavengers were gathering scrap in an abandoned building on Bagtikan Street, corner Kamagong Street in Makati City’s San Antonio Village.
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Germinal, according to one witness, used a .22-caliber rifle when he shot the boy.
A .22-caliber rifle is not a government-issued weapon, so the gun obviously belonged to the policeman.
Why would Germinal, an officer, carry a .22-caliber rifle while on patrol duty?
And why would he shoot an unarmed boy when he could just have driven the scavengers away from the abandoned building?