"Why are we allowing the Chinese to take jobs away from Filipinos?"
An insider privy to the discussions between the producers of Ang Probinsyano and Philippine National Police Chief Oscar Albayalde said that the police chief’s threat to disallow the network from using the uniforms of the police in the show was key to the agreement between the two parties. This was in exchange for the positive portrayal of cops in the popular primetime show.
Santa Banana, this may be seen as a precedent to curbing freedom of expression. ABS-CBN surrendered, in effect, to the police and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
This is subservience to the police, my gulay!
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In an earlier column I expressed the legality and workability of Memorandum 32 issued by President Duterte for two reasons:
First, it’s in compliance with Article VII, Section 18 that in the case of lawless violence, invasion or rebellion, the President as commander in chief and as top cop of the Philippine National Police could call on the military and the police to suppress the violence.
This is contrary to the hallucination of the communists, the leftist groups, the opposition and other critics of the President that it’s a prelude to martial law.
My second argument is that military and police presence would prevent the New People’s Army from inflicting harm further.
Local police can no longer be trusted because they are always outgunned and outnumbered by the NPA.
The memorandum is both practical and timely with the upcoming midterm elections. I would even say that the President should put troops in election hot spots if only to deter guns for hire, private armies of politicians and proliferation of loose firearms during elections.
I don’t think the move will scare the masses and lead to abuses.
We know only too well what can happen during elections. Rivalries are so intense that they sometimes mean the difference between life and death. I say to the President—don’t mind your critics.
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I have always admired and respected the ponencia of Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio. He exhibits erudition and independence in his decisions.
Carpio’s probity and integrity also show when he makes his opinion known on the issue of the memorandum of understanding between China and the Philippines on the exploration and exploitation of oil, gas and other minerals.
I like the stand of Carpio since it is within the right of the Philippines to exclude any country from a partnership within our territory. That would be an incursion into our sovereignty.
The problem, as Carpio so very well put it, is that the 1.3-billion Chinese believe that they own 87.5 percent of the South China Sea. This is also the reason why China has rejected the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration on the issue.
It’s actually a difficult situation for President Duterte. He cannot make President Xi Jinping understand this. All he could do is open up our country to China for loans, grants and investments.
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The reported entry of some 119,000 Chinese from the mainland as tourists is alarming. The Bureau of Immigration has given them employment permits!
We know only too well that this bureau is graft-ridden. I remember when I was with the Philippines Herald, many Chinese at Immigration detention centers were allowed to leave their cells during weekends upon payment of a “fee.”
I am glad that the Senate will be looking into this problem. There is a need to amend labor laws. Chinese tourists have been found in online gambling activities and also in the hospitality business.
One tenth of our population is jobless. Why do we allow the Chinese to take these jobs away from us? Something is terribly wrong here.
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I cannot understand why the government has not yet given the go signal to Ramon Ang to pursue a planned aerotropolis on 250 hectares of flatland in Bulacan. This will have six runways —it will solve our current congestion problems at NAIA.
The government is also dragging its feet in the final approval of the consortium of taipans to improve NAIA.
The consortium even partnered with Changi Airport in Singapore.
Meanwhile, Ang has partnered with Incheon Airport through an MoU with the second biggest airport in the world.
Why the delay?
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