Journalism Review Archives | Page 101 of 159

Conscientious in Cebu, Bloodless in Bogo: Oplan Pokemon, Tight Cooperation Bring Desirable Results

IS IT possible to wage a bloodless war against illegal drugs? Cebu and Bogo City show the way. A year into President Rodrigo Duterte’s term, the grim scene of dead bodies night after night has created a new norm in crime reporting: the killing of alleged suspects is an...

A Game of Musical Chairs: Drug War Back to PDEA

FROM PNP to PDEA – once more. President Rodrigo Duterte passed the responsibility for all anti-illegal drug operations to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) with a memorandum order on October 10. The announcement came on October 11, hours after the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) filed a...

Barking Up The Wrong Tree: Misguided Tirade

IRKED BY what he thought was a threat by the European Union (EU) to delist the country from the United Nations (UN), President Rodrigo Duterte unleashed yet another expletive-laden statement on October 12, demanding EU envoys to leave the country in 24 hours. “And they threatened us, I...

Senate Hearing on “Fake News:” Getting Back at Trolls and Other Trivia

THE SENATE hearing on “fake news” on October 4 contributed little to the public’s understanding of the term and its meaning. It has become a buzz word, used to mean different things to different people. In holding such a hearing, the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass...

And Then There Were None? Questioning the Existence of EJKs

“TO ALLAY or remove their fear, let it be known that under the present administration, there is only one case of extrajudicial killing or EJK for the period July 1, 2016 to September 30, 2017,” PNP Spokesperson Dionardo Carlos told the media on October 6, downplaying the Social...

Duterte Favors Fighting Troops but Forgets Evacuees

CAMPAIGNING FOR the presidency, then candidate Rodrigo Duterte said, “I’m ready to be your father… I promise you a comfortable life.” His avid followers have taken to call the president “Tatay Digong.” But the paternal figure he is as chief executive has shown undue favoritism for some of...

Exposing Redacted SALNs: Perverting a Tool of Transparency

IN BUILDING up a case to establish a government’s ill-gotten wealth, investigators inevitably turn to the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) because it is designed to establish the wealth of a public official at the start of a term; and from year to year, reveal...

Press on Impeachment: Helping the Public Understand

THE 1987 Philippine Constitution vests Congress with the power of impeachment to hold accountable certain officials of government. These include the president, vice president, the ombudsman, members of Constitutional Commissions and members of the Supreme Court. Barely over a year in office, the Duterte administration has seen its fair...

Squabble in the Senate

Screengrab from CNNPhilippines.com. Squabbling senators led the hearing into a sorry display of disorderly conduct, derailing the attention of the public as well as the media from relevant and salient points in the ongoing probe of a PHP6.4 billion drug shipment from China. These hearings demonstrated opposing positions of senators...

Understanding the Commission on Human Rights

Photo from the Commission on Human Rights official Facebook page ONE HUNDRED nineteen votes was what it took for the House of Representatives to downsize the budget of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to a piddling PHP1,000 for 2018. Congressmen, who acted on a motion by SAGIP Representative...