The recent French presidential polls showed France is not ready for a woman head of state. Emmanuel Macron defeated far-right rival Marine Le Pen. The perennial presidential candidate took it all in stride and danced the night away at a popular Paris nightclub. Marine showed that while she cannot swing enough French voters her way, she can sway and shake in a sexy number on the dance floor.
Vive le France!
I can’t understand the Duterte administration’s strong reaction to United Nations human rights rapporteur Agnes Callamard’s visit to Manila to look into the alleged extrajudicial killings.
So what if Callamard didn’t coordinate with Malacañang officials? She was invited by the government’s Human Rights Commission and that would make her visit official, no matter what the Palace says.
Why not just let her do her thing and afterwards dismiss it as preconceived and biased?
Besides, she would only be given the government side had she coordinated with Duterte officials. Senator Alan Peter Cayetano is already doing that at the UN Council on Human Rights where he heads a Philippine delegation. Cayetano, obviously, is looking for a job as foreign secretary. That he, and CHR chair Etta Rosales head the Philippine delegation is a giveaway that the CHR itself is against the extrajudicial killings in the government’s war on illegal drugs.
The one-year ban on defeated candidates’ appointment to a Cabinet post ends on May 30. Cayetano ran and lost as vice presidential candidate of Duterte.
Ranting and raving
Others have written about her, including this columnist. But former Environment Secretary Gina Lopez who was rejected by the Commission on Appointments is still ranting and raving on her family-owned ABS-CBN television network. She should be told to move on and make a graceful exit.
We are quite sure even ABS-CBN anchor Karen Davila was uncomfortable interviewing Gina and hearing the same accusations about the mining companies lobby money in the CA decision rejecting her as DENR secretary.
Of course the mining companies have to protect their interest. All is fair in love and war. Since the mining firms have no love lost for Lopez, we can only expect them to spend money against her.
No free bath
Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada warned city resident not to take a bath in public fountains . He reminded them of jail and fines if they do. So why not provide city residents sweltering in the intense summer heat with public toilets cum bathrooms? Manila has enough money from collected taxes which must be why Erap wants to seek a third term
The city’s coffers are brimming with funds from proceeds of the sale of public markets. We heard that even the historic and landmark Rizal Memorial Coliseum/Stadium complex is up for sale to make way for a condominium tower cum shopping mall.
Where does that put the country’s sports development program? Right now, our aspiring athletes use the Rizal stadium complex as training site and living quarters.
We have yet to hear the moribund Philippine Olympic Committee under Peping Cojuangco oppose the planned sale of the Rizal stadium. No wonder the country has yet to win a gold medal in the Olympiads. The nearest we came to were silver medals won by Anthony Villanueva and Mansueto Velasco in boxing and Hidilyn Diaz in women’s weightlifting
The Rizal sports complex will soon be demolished but the only thing permanent it seems is the presidency of Peping Cojuangco as POC president. Is he president for life without any serious challenger? All the other sports associations heads tried to run against Cojuangco but failed.
No end to ‘endo’
President Duterte asked the country’s workers to give it a few more years before they can completely dismantle “endo,” the onerous practice of contractualization.
A few more years could mean at the end of Duterte’s six-year term. So much for campaign promises in the last presidential elections.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello, for a while, looked like the workers’ last hope to end “endo.” In the end, after negotiations with employers, Bebot Bello realized whom he was working for.
Alas, like the true politician that he is, he knows that political campaign funds come from companies and employers. Why kill the goose that lays the golden egg?