The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should have given online news outfit Rappler enough time to correct its “unconstitutional” lapse of not being 100-percent Filipino-owned, before closing it down.
It was a capricious decision on the part of the SEC without an obvious go-signal from Malacañang.
Now the entire press in the democratic world is blaming President Duterte for Rappler’s shutdown, calling it repression of press freedom.
Mr. Duterte, ever the macho man, had to defend the SEC decision since the agency is under the executive department.
If I knew the President, he wouldn’t order the closure of any news outfit no matter how critical it is of his administration.
Apparently, most of the SEC commissioners, who are Noynoy Kuyakoy appointees (only one is a Duterte appointee), wanted to please the President so they would be reappointed.
In street lingo, such a gesture is called “sipsip.”
The issue of Special Assistant to the President Bong Go being dragged into the Navy mess is not of his own making but that of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
Lorenzana has since apologized for his mistake since Go only forwarded to him a letter from an obvious sour grapes who criticized the frigate purchase deal.
But the damage has already been done.
Lorenzana tends to shoot his mouth off. Take the case of the report about China driving away a US Navy warship from Panatag Shoal, where he defended the intrusion, but Malacañang adopted a “hands-off” policy.
He could have first consulted with the President before making that comment that the US warship had the right to pass through the controversial shoal.
Lorenzana should remember that Manila and Beijing were reaching out to each other.
PO1 Arnisah Sarip Acmad of the Pasay City police shot and wounded Dindo dela Cruz Jr., a 16-year-old student from Barangay Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, last week.
She claimed that Dela Cruz tried to rob her using a pen gun, but that she was able to draw her gun and fire at the boy.
Oh, yeah? At the time of the “holdup” Acmad was in full uniform and even the greatest fool would stay away from a uniformed cop.
Dela Cruz was shot in the back, bolstering his claim that he was hit by a stray bullet fired from Acmad’s gun which was meant for a bag snatcher.
To rub salt into the boy’s wound (no pun intended), he’s now facing charges of robbery, direct assault and attempted homicide.
Trivia: President Duterte was honored on Sunday by his high school classmates from Ateneo de Davao’s Class of 1962 during a reunion at Marco Polo Hotel in Davao City. There was no mention or banter about the President being expelled from Ateneo for being a “bad boy.”
Erstwhile “copra king” Douglas Lu Ym of Cebu, an avid Duterte supporter, has raised more than P7 million for the families of the fallen heroes of Marawi City through his Ludo-30 Golf Tournament.