September 2024

There is something in the 1987 Constitution that does not like Speakers of the House to become president, so much so that all three who aspired for the highest post in the land failed miserably.

The first to fall was Speaker Ramon Mitra Jr. of the second district of Palawan, who presided over the 8th Congress from June 23, 1987, to June 30, 1992. Mitra defeated then-Defense Secretary Fidel Ramos during the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) party convention in 1991, which merely set the stage for the one that mattered most.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR 

Reports have surfaced that Speaker Martin Romualdez and NCIP (National Commission on Indigenous Peoples) Chairperson Jennifer Sibug-Las met, during which the alarming news was revealed that the House leadership is considering abolishing the NCIP and amending the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act (IPRA).

This development not only threatens the future of indigenous peoples' rights in the Philippines but also raises serious concerns about the motivations behind this drastic move.

Former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Tuesday that the disbarment case filed against him by lawyer Melvin Matibag before the Supreme Court for the “polvoronic” video posted on the former’s social media page was a desperate act of attention.  

“We have to understand that the posting of the video in social media is protected by free speech under the privileged doctrine,” Atty Roque said. “It involves a serious disease of a President that deserves an admission or denial. PBBM has not done either.”

VICE-President Sara Duterte was supposed to be at the receiving end of the demolition job unleashed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. In just three public appearances that were supposed to tear her to pieces, she has mounted a counter-offensive that has sent her tormentors backpedaling in retreat.

The budget hearings, first before the Senate and twice before the House of Representatives, looked, every inch, like ambush territory. With less than a handful of allies in both chambers and even less willing to stand up and be identified with her, it seemed like all was lost.

By Omar Fernando

DAVAO CITY – Deliberately missing the crucial budget hearing for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) at the House of Representatives last week, Vice President Sara “Inday” Duterte not only cited the technical reasons for her absence but also unleashed a contentious issue that the public must scrutinize.

By Omar Fernando

DAVAO CITY – Netizens who read an article published by the state-run Philippine News Agency (PNA) expressed disgust with the narrations made by Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III, director of the Police Regional Office-Davao (PRO-11), in a press briefing on Sept. 9.

The story, headlined “PNP: Quiboloy cornered, forced to surrender,” was posted on the PNA's Facebook page the same day.

As of 11:26 p.m. on Sept. 9, the article gained 373 reactions, 92 comments, and 11 shares.

Has the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) pronounced a curse on Philippine Presidents whose administrations, inaugurated in its confines, ended prematurely?

According to Wikipedia, the neoclassical building was built in 1921 and was the home of the bicameral Congress from 1926 to 1972, hence its name as the Old Legislative Building.

There is one intriguing detail about the NMP that many Filipinos may find interesting: four Philippine Presidents took their oaths in it and the first three failed to finish their terms.