"The jockeying is heating up."
This early, the jockeying for the top Philippine National Police post is heating up.
Outgoing PNP Director Oscar Albayalde though could not understand why detractors are maligning him when he’s all set to retire next month in November. The allegation against Albayalde have to do with his reported role in the Pampanga drug raid, wherein police officials supposedly recycled confiscated shabu to sell it back on the streets. Albayalde denied the allegations, claiming he inhibited himself from the Pampanga police operation.
“I guess the aspirants want to make sure that my endorsed successor is not given credence by President Duterte,” said Albayalde who was given a vote of confidence by the President upon the latter’s arrival from an official visit to Russia. Duterte met with President Vladimir Putin.
Malacañang hailed the visit as successful with several business deals signed, including the grant of weapons for self-defense and counter terrorism. The military weapons accord might not sit well with China which has been militarizing the various man-made islands in the South China Sea. In a way, Duterte, it seems, knows how to play his Russian card well as Moscow would not want a rising China to dominate the region.
There was an off-the-cuff aside from Duterte when he told a small group of overseas Filipinos workers not to create trouble in Russia. Filipinos even in the current and massive protest in Hong Kong have always stayed indoors during the disturbance in order not to get caught in the streets protests which has gone violent with the police and the protesters fighting with tear gas and Molotov cocktails. This, despite Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam already conceding that the controversial extraditon proposal that triggered the unrest is dead.
We will see the denouement of the Hong Kong people’s protests when China unleashes its People Liberation’s Army against the demonstrators.
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In Washington, it looks the impeachment noose is tightening on President Donald Trump. A second whistleblower has emerged. This whistleblower who has knowledge about Trump’s telephone calls to the Ukrainian president, asking him to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son for alleged anomalous dealings in Ukraine.
It’s possible that some of Trump’s fellow Republicans may cross party lines and join the Democrats for the impeachment inquiry. There is an overpowering “enough is enough” feeling from both sides of the political aisle.
But the bigger news was Trump’s sudden move to pull out 10,000 US troops out of Syria, leaving Kurdish forces vulnerable to the onslaught of loyal Syrian soldiers. Recalled the US asked the Kurds to join a coalition force against the ruthless Hafez al Saddad regime.
This is a disturbing sign to US treaty allies—Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the Philippines. We for instance have a Mutual Defense Treaty with Washington. They are probably asking themselves now whether the US can be depended upon when the going gets rough.
The situation in the South China Sea, however, is quite different. There are bigger stakes involved with oil gas and minerals that can fuel China’s dominance of the region and its agenda to overtake the US as the No.1 military power.
Already, the US is putting the squeeze on China by imposing higher tariffs on its export products. While a military face-off has not happened yet, a trade war has started between the two countries.
We can expect the US to be more aggressive in protecting international sea lanes in the South China Sea. Their commercial goods and those of Europe cannot be left to China’s control of the South China Sea. This is quite plain to students of geo-politics.