President Rodrigo Duterte may have found a key ally in the nominee for the top diplomatic post of the United States. If President-elect Donald Trump’s opponents in the US Congress don’t deep-six the appointment, that is.
Rex Tillerson, a Texan and former CEO of the giant oil company ExxonMobil, went before the Senate foreign affairs committee deliberating on his confirmation as secretary of state on Wednesday and said what many thought was impossible: He said he didn’t want to rely on reports in American newspapers about alleged human rights violations in the Philippines because he wanted to verify those reports “on the ground.”
Tillerson was grilled hard and long by Democrats on the committee, who included Duterte’s critic on the panel, Maryland Senator Ben Hardin, and at least one Republican who lost the nomination for the presidency to Trump, Marco Rubio of Florida. The Republicans have a one-vote majority on the committee and if it refuses to confirm Tillerson, his nomination could be put to a vote of the entire Senate, where the GOP enjoys a more comfortable majority, according to the rules of the US Congress.
Tillerson was questioned on Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, climate change, the Transpacific Partnership and other issues that pointed to a long and stormy confirmation battle ahead. But his response to Rubio’s interrogation on Duterte’s war on drugs must have been particularly galling to Cardin and the other Democrats, because the US media has largely written off Duterte as a wholesale killer and human rights violator.
Rubio and two other US senators urged the State Department in a letter last month to review its process of giving aid to the Philippines. The Florida lawmaker and Senators Edward Markey and Christopher Coons denounced what they said “appears to be a campaign of mass atrocities thinly disguised as a response to a public health emergency” committed by Duterte.
“I’m not going to rely solely on what I read in the newspapers [about the Philippines],” Tillerson told his interrogators. “I will go to facts on the ground. I’m sure there’s good, credible information available through our various government agencies.”
Tillerson asked the Senate to remember the US’ “long-standing friendship” with the Philippines when dealing with Duterte. “They have been an ally and we need to ensure they stay an ally,” he said.
There’s hope yet for improved US-Philippine relations under a Trump presidency, if Tillerson is confirmed. Trump and the Republicans loyal to him have to beat back the Democrats and the liberal US media outlets opposed to Tillerson’s appointment first, of course.
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Speaking of unlikely news, most Filipinos will probably be forgiven if they choose not to believe this report. But a big American global content delivery network and cloud services provider has announced that the Philippines has one of the fastest growing average internet speeds in the Asia Pacific region.
In its latest State of the Internet Report, Akamai Technologies reported that the country’s average connection speed for mobile internet registered the fastest growth in the Asia Pacific region, marking a significant improvement at an average speed of 13.9 Mbps from the 8.5 Mbps recorded in the second quarter last year. “The Philippines enjoyed the strongest growth in the region, with a 79 percent quarterly gain,” the Akamai report said.
However, despite the rapid growth, the Philippines was still ranked 74th globally in 10 Mbps broadband adoption and 97th in the world in 4 Mbps broadband adoption. The Philippines’ average mobile speed of 13.9 Mbps topped the speeds of Australia (12.8 Mbps), Japan (11.6 Mbps), South Korea (11.2 Mbps), Indonesia (10.9 Mbps), New Zealand (10.8 Mbps), Taiwan (9.4 Mbps), China (8.9 Mbps), Singapore (8.5 Mbps), Hong Kong (6.1 Mbps), Thailand (6.1 Mbps), Sri Lanka (5.4 Mbps), India (3.5 Mbps) and Vietnam (3.4 Mbps), the report added.
The Duterte government has made global competitiveness a priority by announcing the planned roll-out of a National Broadband Plan aimed at making local internet speed even faster and cheaper through the new Department of Information and Communications Technology. The national broadband network was first pitched during the term of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, but the plan was shelved after it was mired in controversy over the awarding of the contract to Chinese hardware providers.
During the Aquino administration that succeeded Arroyo’s government, the framework for the DICT was conceived and the new department was created from the old Department of Transportation and Communications. The creation of a national broadband network, however, was never revived during the six-year term of Noynoy Aquino.
At present, fixed-line internet speeds and penetration still needs a lot of improvement, as well as wider coverage and more stable fourth-generation (LTE) mobile internet. The Duterte government aims to address these issues once the NBP is implemented.
The new DICT should make sure that the creation of a national broadband network is given priority and its implementation is fast-tracked to make sure that our internet speed is at par, with the rest of the world. Then nobody will raise their eyebrows anymore over reports of improving connection speed.
