AS THIS column was being written, President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte was making his first State of the Nation Address (Sona).
He alluded to a photo of a woman hugging the body of her partner, a suspected drug pusher, who was killed by unidentified gunmen.
The photo seems to have evoked pity for the dead man and his partner.
The photo came out on the front page of the Inquirer on Sunday.
Digong was implying that criminals should not be pitied, an apparent dig at human rights groups and bleeding hearts.
In the war against crime, terrorists and criminals should be given no quarter.
The general welfare should be the utmost consideration.
As the great Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, the father of Singapore, said:
“In criminal law legislation, our priority is the well-being of law-abiding citizens rather than the rights of the criminal to be protected from incriminating evidence.”
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This will get me in trouble again with the womenfolk, especially progressive women’s groups.
When a married woman has a drinking spree with a male stranger, she’s inviting trouble.
The same goes for single women who go drinking with men their age.
When people drink, they lose their inhibitions.
I’m saying this because many women have come up to me and my staff at “Isumbong mo kay Tulfo” to complain that they were raped after drinking with men whom they were not related to.
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The Philippines will return before the end of this month $15 million out of the $81 million in foreign reserves stolen from the Bangladesh central bank by hackers.
President Digong has vowed to do all he can to return the entire amount, according to Bangladesh Ambassador to Philippines John Gomes.
The President could persuade remittance firm Philrem to return $17 million more of the missing funds reportedly in its possession. The firm, however, has denied this despite the insistence of a reliable source.
Another option: Mano Digong can call on the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) to return to the Bangladesh government the rest of the stolen money.
He should insist that the bank return the rest of the money since it was the RCBC where the $81 million was deposited by hackers.
Invoking national integrity, the President can force RCBC to return the stolen amount to Bangladesh, a country poorer than the Philippines.
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Mano Digong should, however, first thank junket operator Kim Wong for returning $15 million, the money paid to him by his clients who were high-stakes players at local casinos.
The Bangladesh government hasn’t thanked Wong for his honesty.