Friday, March 30, 2018

Retards in the Government Part 42

It's part 42 of Retards in the Government. Been contemplating on doing a series about all the corrupt politicians in the House and Senate who are currently under investigation. Can you believe it? How many years will the country have to wait to see justice in the PDAF pork barrel scam?


AN INCUMBENT village chief was arrested while another barangay chairman escaped after the authorities implemented a lawful search that resulted to the confiscation of around P70,000 worth of suspected illegal drugs, guns and explosives, in Tangub City, Misamis Occidental, early Thursday, March 22.
That is a lot of drugs and explosives. And two barangay officials are the culprits!
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/647589/boc-more-than-100-containers-vanishes-search-ongoing/story/
A total of 105 containers of ceramic tiles from China and other imported products mysteriously vanished at the Bureau of Customs (BOC) despite an “alert order” preventing the release of the items.
"Mysteriously vanished." Definitely an inside job. The BOC is rife with corruption and could use a thorough cleansing.

Andanar, in a text message, said the breach of protocol is based on four grounds: 
“1. Staff did not show the backflip of the ID to me; 2. IPC did not return the final design for my approval; 3. IPC used an e-signature without my permission; 4. IPC used the wrong e-signature.” 
Something so ridiculous now must be probed like it's Watergate! If the media thinks this card is "grammatically challenged" then they have should take a look at some of the PNP reports I have seen.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/business/2018/02/06/duterte-insists-having-3rd-telco-player-march-587574
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/977339/palace-no-more-deadline-for-entry-of-3rd-telco-player-palace-duterte-dict-telco-third-player
Reality has set in for Duterte. He can't win the drug war in six months and he can't set up a third telecom in only 3 months time. What else can't he do?

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/977566/doj-fiscals-scold-vacc-lawyers-for-incomplete-dengvaxia-complaint
What a double standard here.  The DOJ said NOTHING about the weak complaint filed against drug dealers Kim and Espinosa but tossed the thing out. But now that the VACC is looking to charge the former administration with homicide over the Dengevaxia debacle the DOJ scolds them and tells them to fill out the rest of the information in their complaint rather than simply throw it out!
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/977598/duterte-orders-arrest-of-dimple-star-bus-operator-duterte-bus-crash-colorum-ltfrb-dimple-star-mindoro-mishap
Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go announced Duterte’s decision, adding that the President has also ordered a crackdown on all colorum vehicles.
Duterte, without a warrant, orders the arrest of the owner of Dimple Star Buses in order to make him accountable. But is he alone accountable? Colorum vehicles have been allowed to operate across the Philippines for years. Who has allowed this to happen? The LTFRB, the PNP, local officials. The usual corrupt crowd who will turn a blind eye for a little bit of money. It's an entrenched corrupt system and will not be easily eradicated.

The cases stemmed from Argosino and Robles’ alleged receipt of a P50-million bribe from Lam in exchange for the release of 1,316 Chinese employees of Lam’s Fontana Leisure Parks and Casino in Clark, Pampanga.
This happened in 2016 and charges are just now being filed. How many years to a final outcome?

Law enforcers were serving a search warrant against Barangay Kalanganan Mother councilor Sadat Ayunan for drugs and drug possession but the village official pulled out a hand grenade, Senior Inspector Tirso Pascual, chief of the city police’s Station 2, said.
How did he procure a hand grenade?
https://news.mb.com.ph/2018/03/24/biazon-seeks-sandiganbayan-nod-for-singapore-maldives-trips/
Since Biazon is the principal author of the proposed House Bill to promote and develop the sport of scuba diving in the Philippines, he hopes to attend and acquire knowledge so that they will be able ensure safety to those partaking in the sport as well as promote the Philippines as one of the best diving countries in the world. 
Meanwhile, Biazon did not mention the purpose of his Maldives trip, but he did say that he will be on board MV Maldives Princess from April 3 to 7, while he will be staying at Pan Pacific Singapore to attend the expo. 
Biazon is facing graft, malversation, and direct bribery charges in relation to the alleged misuse of his P3 million Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) back in 2007. He reportedly took home P1.9 million worth of public funds after he collaborated with pork barrel queen Janet Lim Napoles to support her bogus foundation called the Philippine Social Development Foundation (PSDFI).
This politician is charged with stealing millions of pesos and he wants to be allowed to travel to Singapore to attend a diving expo because he authored a bill to promote scuba diving in the Philippines and he believes it will help him gain knowledge of the subject. Does that mean he authored a bill  about a subject of which he knows nothing about? The whole thing is ridiculous and I fully expect him to be granted permission to travel.

https://news.mb.com.ph/2018/03/29/sandiganbayan-okays-biazons-singapore-maldives-travel/
HAHA! Told ya so!

As the investigation on the crash is underway, Poe called on concerned agencies to look into “the bigger picture” on the cause of such deadly road accidents. 
In particular, the senator wants how the LTO, the agency in charge of vehicle registration, conducts its inspections prior to approving vehicles to traverse the country’s roads. 
Poe, chair of the Senate Committee on Public Services, cited the “rampant” practice of “no-show” or “non-appearance” of vehicles seeking new or renewal of their registration or franchise, or during emission test. The complete inspection of vehicle, including emission test, is a requisite to annual registration. 
“Information that reached us said that on paper, motor vehicles undergo and pass the test, but the reality is a number of them were never tested,” she said in a statement. 
Poe said “concerned citizens” tipped her that “some LTO employees” allegedly receive bribe from vehicle owners during the stage of vehicle inspection in exchange for approval even without the physical inspection of vehicles. 
Following the accident, Poe renewed her call for the passage of her proposed measure that would create the National Transportation Safety Board which shall be mandated to investigate transportation-related accidents.
While Grace Poe is out to reveal the "bigger picture" of corruption within the LTO Duterte is giving away money and cell phones and ordering the warrantless arrest of Dimple Star's operator in order to "make someone responsible" according to Bong Go. It's always too little too late in the Philippines. An investigation won't bring back the dead and it likely won't root out corruption either. Worth a try a though.
Foreign Secretary Alan Cayetano claimed that some nongovernment organizations (NGOs) were being unwittingly used by drug lords to discredit the Duterte administration’s bloody war on drugs. 
Without naming the groups, Cayetano said advocates who accused the administration of being behind summary killings and rights abuses were only helping frustrate President Duterte’s desire to rid the country of illegal drugs.
Baseless, sweeping accusations. Note that Cayetano does not even have the decency to name the NGOs. Has he personally warned them that they are unwitting pawns being used by dug lords? And which drug lords is he talking about? This is the modus operandi of Filipino politicians; if something is not going your way it's black propaganda, a dark conspiracy meant to bring you down.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/977869/after-boracay-drive-more-resorts-clean-up
As a result, owners of 300 beach resorts, members of civic groups and local officials in four provinces in Ilocos region agreed late this week to clean up their waterfronts and rectify environmental code violations.
People have been saying it for years, and these revelations only confirm the truth, Filipinos DO NOT CARE about the environment. That's why the entire nation is polluted. Wouldn't it be nice if out of all this comes a national anti-pollution campaign and the country begins the healing process?
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/978033/5-laguna-cops-sacked-over-tokhang-for-ransom-case
“We do not tolerate cases such as this one,” said Aplasca in a statement on Saturday. 
“We are very serious in cleansing our ranks of rogue members,” Aplasca added. 
According to the complaint, the policemen accosted the Dela Cruz couple in a Sta. Rosa mall on Aug. 4, 2017. 
They were taken to a slaughterhouse where the policemen threatened to kill the couple and to make it appear that they were drug suspects who resisted arrest violently if they refused to dish out P1 million.
Dismissal is good but without an arrest and prosecution for kidnapping and extortion this is an empty gesture at being "very serious in cleansing our ranks of rogue members." It's not serious at all.
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/03/25/1800119/no-one-can-stop-me-closing-boracay
NO ONE CAN STOP ME!!!  This is a familiar tune Duterte has sung before.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/595808/no-one-can-stop-me-from-declaring-martial-law-duterte/story/
And yes the tune is exactly the same. It's all for the people

Closing Boracay: “Basta ako, determinado na ako gyud nang undangon tungod sa mga tao (I am determined to do this for the people),” he said. 

Martial law: "I have to protect the Filipino people. It's my duty. And I tell you now, if I have to declare martial law, I will declare it. Not about invasion, insurrection, not about danger," the president threatened. "I will declare martial law to preserve my nation, period. Wala akong pakialam diyan sa Supreme Court. Because the right to preserve one's life, and my nation, my country, transcends everything else, even the limitations."
“People are being informed through the media that we have intensified our operation against smuggling. We expect an upsurge in smuggling because of the TRAIN Law,” Lapeña said at a press conference held at the Department of Justice (DOJ). 
Lapeña said the spike in smuggling would be due to higher taxes under the TRAIN Law. 
Even before the TRAIN Law, smuggling is already something that is profitable to people engaged in shortchanging the government of its rightful revenue. Lalo na ngayon [especially now],” Lapeña said.
Unintended consequences? Note how he admits smuggling was already profitable. So much for  Duterte rooting out corruption!

The Philippines receives at least 3,000 reports per month from other countries of possible cases of its children being sexually exploited online, said the Department of Justice. 
Legarda said the Southeast Asian nation must better enforce its anti-trafficking law, which carries the threat of life imprisonment, but there must be global action to stop cybersex trafficking where victims are sold for sex online. 
Developed countries, from which the demand for online sexual exploitation of children usually originates, must do their part,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation days after delivering a speech on cybersex child trafficking to the Senate. 
She cited a recent case in Queensland, Australia, where a man was spared jail and fined $500 after being convicted of receiving explicit images of two girls from a Filipina mother. 
“This calls for amending the lenient sentences that their laws mete upon those who prey on Filipino children … raise the penalties to lower the demand,” added the three-time senator and first woman to be elected head of the Philippines’ upper house. 
The Philippines is considered a regional hotspot for trafficking – from domestic workers who are exploited and enslaved overseas to forced prostitution in the nation’s booming sex industry and now to cybersex trafficking. 
We get a lot of help from the likes of Australia, Britain, Germany, Norway and the United States when it comes to tackling the online sexual exploitation of children … but we need more,” said Juvy Manwong, assistant secretary at the department.
More, more, more! How about stop passing the blame? How about creating a country where people aren't so poor they think they have to sell their children? Pretty ridiculous to think "developed countries, from which the demand for online sexual exploitation of children usual originates" have not "done their part." Note how Legarda slyly places the blame squarely on other nations by saying the demand for webcam shows comes from them. So the stop the supply!
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/978187/sandigan-oks-jinggoys-motion-to-travel-to-us-for-1-month
The Sandiganbayan has approved former Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s request for a month-long trip to the United States with his family. 
The anti-graft court’s Fifth Division in open court hearing on Monday approved Estrada’s motion to travel from April 30 to May 31 during the resumption of his plunder trial over his alleged involvement in the P10-billion pork barrel scam. 
Estrada earlier asked the court to allow him to attend a good governance conference, undergo a medical consultation, and go on vacation with his family. 
In his motion to travel, Estrada said he had accepted the invitation as speaker for the May 20 meeting of US Pinoys for Good Governance (USP4GG), an organization headed by Filipino-American philanthropist Loida Nicolas-Lewis.
Jinggoy Estrada is accused of stealing millions in the PDAF scam but last year he was released from prison because Duterte is friends with his father and he pulled some strings. Suddenly Jinggoy was granted bail for the non-bailable offence of plunder. Now he has been given permission to travel to the USA at the behest of a group headed by....LOIDA LEWIS!!! This is the lady whom Duterte claims is trying to undermine and destabilise the government and oust him by conniving with the ICC. The corruption runs deep in this case.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/pinoyabroad/news/648183/fil-am-group-denies-inviting-jinggoy-estrada-to-michigan/story/
"USPGG Willie Dechavez did not invite Jinggoy Estrada to speak in Michigan under USPGG nor is any program being planned by USPGG Michigan since Willie Dechavez is on vacation in the Philippines," the statement read. 
The statement said a certain Tony Antonio pushed for the invitation of Estrada to Dechavez, who responded that he can only invite the former lawmaker in his personal capacity. 
"Tony Antonio asked him to invite Jinggoy and Willie said it could only be done in his personal capacity, not as chair of USPGG Michigan, because he needs consultation with his group in Michigan," the group said. 
Dechavez, however, still used the USPGG letterhead and his official position in the letter-invitation.
Uh-oh!  Looks like there has been a misunderstanding. Estrada was invited but not by the USPGG. Even overseas Filipino groups cannot get their act together.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/978149/news-vitaliano-aguirre-kerwin-espinosa-peter-lim-peter-co-drugs-nbi-michael-john-m-humarang-aristotle-m-reyes
Aguirre said he told the prosecutors that “it is not correct for me to do that [order an investigation].” 
However, he said, “because of the seriousness, uproar, outrage by the ignorant ay napalaki ito… I apologize to the prosecutors for causing the investigation because extraordinary times or extraordinary incidents call for extraordinary solutions.” 
He said the investigation was for the protection, not only of the Office of the Secretary of Justice but also of the prosecutors. 
“Para lang maipakita natin sa kinauukulan, sa ating mga kababayan na wala tayong tinatago dito [To show the authorities, to our countrymen that we are not hiding anything …] and that you, the prosecutors [have] decided this case in accordance with the rules, in accordance with our proceedings,” Aguirre said.
The Sec. of Justice actually called the people who were outraged over the dismissal of drug charges against Espinosa and Kim "ignorant!" Duterte allegedly punched a wall because he was so outraged! Is he also ignorant? Then he apologises for having to investigate the men who dismissed the case! Outrageous!
https://www.philstar.com/nation/2018/03/26/1800539/five-suspected-drug-dealers-killed-cotabato-city-raids
Chief Inspector Aldrin Gonzalez, information officer of the Police Regional Office-12, said Monday the first to fall was Sadat Gampong, who was killed by police agents in a brief shootout. 
Gampong, a barangay councilor, was a high-value target of the Cotabato City police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.
Cimatu said he has tasked the DENR ecosystems research and development bureau to determine Boracay’s carrying capacity, or the maximum number of people that could fit in the island. 
“The first research was 10 years ago and at the time they said that it’s already about to reach the end of its carrying capacity. That was 10 years ago,’’ said Cimatu. 
Cimatu said the new study will be “the biggest factor’’ in the environmental assessment the DENR will make when it decides whether to grant the casino an environmental compliance certificate (ECC). 
It will be science-based and it will be on this carrying capacity,’’ said the environment secretary.
For 10 years they have known that Boracay is near capacity. 10 YEARS!! And yet they just approved building a casino. I am sure this new study truly will be science-based if by science you mean economics.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/978372/osmena-in-payroll-of-drug-lords-says-aguirre
He said Reynaldo “Jumbo” Diaz executed an affidavit on Nov. 23, 2016, claiming Osmeña got P2 million in 2013 and P5 million in 2016 from suspected drug lord Jeffrey “Jaguar” Diaz.
If true it means for two years the DOJ has been sitting on evidence that the Mayor of Cebu is involved in drugs and has done nothing about it.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/977820/gisel-boniel-nino-rey-boniel-parricide
According to the DOJ, the courts in Bohol have jurisdiction over the case, not the courts in Cebu, since the crime happened in the province.
A murder case dropped over a technicality.  Why didn't the DOJ just transfer the case to Bohol? Oh wait the Supreme Court ordered the transfer from Bohol to Cebu AT THE REQUEST OF THE DOJ!!!
http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/11/24/17/sc-commits-suspects-in-bohol-town-mayors-slay-to-cebu-jail
Justice? Just mess! A mess of which DOJ Sec Aguirre claims to be ignorant.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/978366/aguirre-unaware-bohol-murder-suspects-indictment-voided
Aguirre said Justice Undersecretary Reynante Orceo did not inform him that he had approved Boniel’s petition for review which challenged the resolution issued by a special panel of Department of Justice prosecutors that Aguirre himself had tasked to handle the case. 
“I hope he (Orceo) will be able to explain to me what happened and whether (his decision) is correct or not,” Aguirre said. 
Orceo ruled that the Lapu-Lapu City Prosecutor’s Office did not have jurisdiction to tackle the criminal complaint against Boniel and two of his coaccused, Willy Hoylar and Restituto Magoncia Jr., for the crime of kidnapping with murder that allegedly took place in June 2017. 
Gisela’s body was said to have been dumped into the sea. Orceo was seemingly unaware that the Supreme Court had allowed the transfer of venue of the case from Bohol based on the request of Aguirre himself. 
Does anyone in the Department of Justice know anything??
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/978626/parricide-case-vs-bohol-provincial-board-member-to-proceed-aguirre
The case is back on! Imaging being played like a yo-yo. One minute your case is tossed out, the next it's reinstated. Circle of Justice?
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/648028/law-enforcement-agencies-to-probe-links-of-rights-groups-to-drug-syndicates/story/
PDEA Director Derrick Carreon said the probe will check on the link between personalities behind the human rights organizations and drug operators. 
This has been a recent finding. So we will coordinate with our counterparts from PNP [Philippine National Police], NBI [National Bureau of Investigation] and all other agencies including intelligence agencies kung kailangan,” Carreon said at a press briefing in Malacañang. 
Carreon said that the information put forth by presidential spokesperson Secretary Harry Roque and Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano was still subject to verification. 
That is still subject of further investigation by all law enforcement agencies,” Carreon said.
The world eagerly awaits the results of this investigation into these unfounded and unproven allegations made by Cayetano and Roque.
http://news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/27/18/iloilo-town-mayor-treasurer-fined-for-late-gsis-pag-ibig-fund-remittances
Mayor Rosario Mediatrix Fernandez and municipal treasurer Imelda Celebrar were sentenced after pleading guilty to 16 counts of violation of the Government Service Insurance Act of 1997 and 11 counts of violation of the Home Development Mutual Fund Law of 2009. 
Based on the charge sheet of the Office of the Ombudsman, Fernandez and Celebrar were late in remitting P5.34 million to the GSIS and P620,000 to Pag-IBIG.
There is no mention of why they were late in making the payments. Negligence perhaps? At least it's not a case of plunder.

https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/03/28/1801171/ex-nbi-director-tagged-catanduanes-mega-shabu-lab-surrenders-nbi
The former director of the NBI charged in connection with a drug lab!
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/local-news/2018/03/28/mayor-chr-partly-blame-spate-killings-595953
“It’s not so safe. It could be safer, but what I see is that criminals are not afraid anymore because they have human rights and the victims have no human rights. So what happened? There will be more victims. They’re (the CHR) a big part of this,” he said.
In the Philippines criminals are not wholly to blame for their actions. The responsibility lies with the Commission on Human Rights. 

DOLE Regional Director Cyril Ticao said the move was prompted by the incident in Cebu earlier this month at the construction project of JE Abraham C. Lee Construction and Development Incorporated where its bunkhouse collapsed killing five and wounding 55 other workers. 
According to Ticao, the incident showed a glaring negligence of safety standards, adding that the structure, as a sleeping quarter, did not pass the prescribed safety requirements.
How many more people have to die before government agencies start doing their jobs? DOLE, LTFRB, DENR!! The people and the environment is dying because no one enforces the law.

Remember that school shooting in Florida?
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/164228/dfa-no-reported-filipino-casualty-florida-school-shooting
It seems this announcement was a bit premature.

http://usa.inquirer.net/11197/fil-girl-among-17-killed-parkland-florida-massacre
We all know how Filipinos love to play up the success of anyone who has the slightest bit of Filipino blood in their veins but here we have a young girl with Philippine ties murdered at school and she is forgotten or overlooked by the DFA. Maybe the DFA should wait before making such announcements or even better they should stop making them altogether.

Thursday, March 29, 2018

Holy Week Special

Holy Week Special!

Get your Holy Week Specials!

Great deals for you this Holy Week!

Need wine and bread for your communion feast but your pocket is feeling a bit holey?

No problem!  7-11 has you covered!


Why spend hundreds of pesos on wine and bread when you can save money by buying water and chips?

Be a heretic and substitute water for wine like the Mormons of today or the Encratites of old. 

Who needs a tasteless round wafer when you can enjoy the great taste of Pittaos? Flat and unleavened just like the host but with the extra taste of sour cream and onion. Can you say, "Hoc est enim Corpus meum delectamenti?"

You'll say it with a smile this Holy Week. The Body of Christ never tasted so good!

So come on by and get your Holy Week Special!

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Scenes From the Hospital

At a recent visit to the hospital I saw some crazy stuff.  

The guy I was waiting on either had appendicitis or a UTI or just a cramp. The doctors weren't sure. So they ran a few tests.  Blood work and urinalysis. All this had to be prepaid in cash of course so we paid but they forgot to give us a urine cup when we paid so that messed everything up. He had already peed without collecting a sample. So we had to get a cup and wait.  Here is the cup:


Looks familiar doesn't it?


I asked the doctor why they did not provide a sterile urine cup sealed shut and he said that is just what the hospital provides. What an answer! Maybe the hospital and Shakey's both get their plastic cups from the same supplier. I did not ask him why we had to provide the cup and why it was not the nurses' responsibility to provide it instead.

The doctor asked how my friend felt and he said the pain had subsided. The doctor said that when the appendix bursts the pain will subside so that means his appendix has likely burst but they have to wait for the urinalysis results to be sure. I wonder where he got his medical degree.

I saw a bathroom with no toilet paper, no soap to wash your hands, and no paper towels to dry your wet hands.


Very sanitary.  Not even a bucket of water and a ladle. How many nurses and doctors and visitors are walking around the hospital spreading faecal matter and crotch germs?


I saw one of the Stations of the Cross.


Every Friday during Lent the Catholics parade around the city from station to station praying and singing very loudly. Do they do the same in the hospital? Do they have a procession of prayers and music so loud it could wake the dead?

Outside the hospital I saw a rotted wooden electric pole.


Why not just get rid of the wooden pole?  Why leave it attached to the concrete pole? The whole area smelled like urine because it also functions as a toilet. So after doing your business in the hospital toilet you walk out with your unwashed, filthy hands to catch a tricycle in an area that is basically a urinal. Disgusting.

I did not get a picture of the most interesting thing I saw. I hope you can imagine it well enough.

A cop truck pulled up, one of the cops jumped out, and with his machine gun dangling at his side, finger on the trigger, he waddled over to the information desk and, I think, he asked if the guard on duty and seen someone matching a description. I didn't hear the conversation but I'd imagine they were looking for a perp who had been shot and come to the hospital for help.

Really wish I'd been able to get a picture of that little scene.

And if you are wondering about my friend, well it seems he only had a cramp. 

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Marital Law: The Serpent and the Sparrow

"It's been 10 months since the war broke out in Marawi. Every building was destroyed. Every wall riddled with bullets. Many lives were altered. Many fled to safety. There was relentless fighting. I was pregnant then. I was so afraid of the gunfire. We kept moving from place to place not knowing where we would end up."

So begins the harrowing true story of a young pregnant woman who evacuated Marawi during the siege last year. Eventually her baby was born, inspiring her with hope for the future. Hope that in the midst of death and destruction life will carrie on. Hope that maybe her child will live a better life than she ever did. Hope that in just a few months McDonald's will film her for a commercial promoting National Breakfast Day and give her a free sandwich.

https://www.rappler.com/brandrap/announcements/198439-mcdonalds-national-breakfast-day-marawi
Recently, McDonald’s and veteran journalist Atom Araullo visited an evacuation shelter in Marawi, where Atom conversed with evacuee mothers and listened to their everyday struggles—stories that echoed their hopes for their children. They shared how despite their pains, they drew inspiration from their “baby bakwits”, the collective term for the babies born and raised in the evacuation (bakwit in the vernacular) centers. 
These mothers, along with thousands of evacuees living in the tents of Bakwit Village, Marawi, woke up to the gift of a McDonald’s breakfast, as the famous chain distributed free Longgadesal breakfast sandwiches in celebration of National Breakfast Day.
What could be more condescending, heartless, and cynical than using war to promote your fast food restaurant? General Smedley Butler famously said "War is a Racket" and now with McDonald's in on the scheme who can but nod in agreement with him?

What's a bit strange about all this is not that the government didn't know how footage filmed in Marawi would be used.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/977691/govt-not-told-mcdonalds-will-use-marawi-video-in-advert
The government can't be expected to know everything. They still don't know how the Marawi siege happened or how so many foreign terrorists gained entry to the country. What is a bit strange is that permits were given to film in Marawi when the clearing operations are not yet finished.
Ok maybe that's not so strange. The area is almost clear and it's not unusual to film in a war zone. Even if it is to promote an international fast food chain restaurant. But here is something that really, truly is strange.
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2018/03/21/duterte-ph-wont-join-us-any-wars-unless-filipinos-under-threat-594814
"We will never beg for any help. Sometimes, it could mean really the dignity of the people," he said. 
Well maybe this isn't strange either. It's just hypocritical. Perhaps the Philippines didn't literally get on its knees and beg for help during the Marawi siege or in the ensuing aftermath of the war against ISIS-Philippines. Maybe Duterte or Lorenzana politely asked or accepted an offer of assistance from the USA. And Australia. And China. And Russia.
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/05/24/1703174/duterte-asks-putin-loan-purchase-firearms
There is no other country with military operations in the Philippines on the scale of the USA. It seems the public is still very much in the dark about Operation Pacific Eagle.

While China and Russia donated military hardware, neither played a direct role in supporting the Philippine government’s counterterrorism mission. 
DoD officials stated that as with all U.S. military operations in the Philippines, OPE-P is conducted at the request of the Philippine government. 
https://media.defense.gov/2018/Feb/02/2001872555/-1/-1/1/FY2018_LIG_OCO_OIR_Q1_12222017_2.PDF
Duterte has not merely allowed an open-ended USA military campaign on Philippine soil to assist the AFP against ISIS, he has REQUESTED it! How's that for anti-American rhetoric?

At the beginning of the year Duterte warned that the NPA's assassin unit, SPARU or Sparrow, had been revived.  This week Bato says the kill count from SPARU is on the up and up.
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/647501/bato-npa-s-sparu-unit-stepped-up-offensives-vs-gov-t-forces/story/
The country's top cop said that the NPA stepped up the operation of its Sparu unit to prove that they are a "force to reckon with." 
The unit, according to Dela Rosa, mostly operates in Mindanao particularly in Region X (Northern Mindanao), Region XI (Davao Region), Region XII (Soccsksargen) and Region XIII (Caraga). Its primary task is to "liquidate" its enemies, which include policemen and soldiers.
Here is an official scorecard for anyone keeping score:


In response to this rising threat the PNP has directed retired officers to train active duty officers to hunt down the SPARU.

PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa said that the primary lesson that the group of former police officials will impart to the younger set of police personnel is how to protect and defend themselves against the SPARU or the NPA’s special partisan armed regional unit. 
At a press briefing on Thursday, Dela Rosa said that the PNP has an ongoing reorientation of policemen on the field as part of, “anti-SPARU operations so we would not end up victims of SPARU operations.”
Correction. These retired officers have been commissioned to teach active duty officers how to protect and defend themselves from, not hunt down and kill, these assassins. The NPA is none too pleased with this news and thinks it's the beginning of a new scenario to be played out.
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/nation/647755/duterte-building-scenario-with-claim-of-npa-sparu-unit-s-resurgence-cpp/story/
"The PNP's plan to have a group of 'seasoned retired police officers' to train PNP field personnel on 'anti-sparrow' operations sound shady, to say the least," it said. 
The CPP recalled that in the late 1980s, the PNP and Armed Forces of the Philippines used the "anti-sparrow" operations to set up so-called "secret marshalls," which were used to attack activists, especially among the urban poor groups, allegedly resulting in numerous cases of summary executions.
Perhaps the CPP did not pay attention to the fact that the anti-SPARU training will be defensive. With the revival of the SPARU will the country also see a revival of the DDS?
https://www.rappler.com/nation/163524-duterte-davao-death-squad-fight-npa-sparrow-units
Journalist Jun Ledesma has claimed that Duterte is right and wrong about the DDS. They were formed to fight the NPA SPARU units but they did not actually exist.
Four days after, Jun Pala showed up at the coffee shop of Maguindanao Hotel, a watering hole of media men in Davao. In whisper, he told me that Colonel Tan-Gatue requested him to announce that a “Davao Death Squad” had been organized to counter the vicious NPA liquidation squads called Sparrows. 
I was curious what it was all about so I again accompanied Pala to the INP headquarters. It was there where I learned that DDS was nothing but a phantom force. DDS were ghosts as well as other phantom forces conceptualized by Tan-Gatue to match the many front organizations of the NPAs. It was to scare the NPA sparrows and their mass base as well, he explained. A week later, I heard Pala announcing in is program about another group called “Christian Soldiers for Democracy”. 
The third phalanx was the more visible “Contra Force”, this time with Pala himself as the head. His headquarters was located in one of the abandoned stalls at Maderazo Fruit stand. In this venue, Pala received cash donations from various quarters, mostly grateful Chinese businessmen. In retrospect, DDS was actually a successful ghost force. Since its inception, the NPA hit squads had slowed down.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1028628
How a non-existent ghost squad was able to stop a real life assassin squad is something you would have to ask God because it is He who deals in miracles. But if you aren't the type to believe in God or ghosts then I recommend the following report which offers a completely different scenario on the DDS:
Local activists say death squad killings of alleged drug dealers, petty criminals, and street children in Davao City started sometime in the mid-1990s, during Duterte’s second term as mayor. The group that claimed to be responsible for the killings was called Suluguon sa Katawhan or “Servants of the People,” among other names, but soon the media in Davao City began referring to it the Davao Death Squad (DDS).
https://www.hrw.org/report/2009/04/06/you-can-die-any-time/death-squad-killings-mindanao#page
Amidst the news that thousands of NPA soldiers have been surrendering and feted by Duterte the NPA has insisted that it's all a sham.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/977565/cpp-to-afp-stop-deceiving-and-forcing-people-to-pose-as-npa
“Deceiving and forcing people to pose as NPA surrenderees. To come up with big numbers, the AFP employs deception, threats and violence to force people pose as surrenderees,” the CPP said in a statement issued on Thursday. 
The CPP made the remark in response to the military’s claim that more than 4,000 armed members and supporters of the NPA have surrendered to authorities since January. 
They must end this practice of Red-tagging and making people pose as NPA members in violation of their rights. Such practice endangers the lives of people by deliberately blurring the lines between armed combatants and civilians,” it also said. 
NPA members and supporters who turned themselves in to the government last year had been divided into groups to join President Rodrigo Duterte for dinner, and tour around Manila in recent months. 
“Over the past few months, Duterte himself and the entire military and defense establishment have spent hundreds of millions of pesos to stage Malacañang dinners with the President, tours around Luneta and other cheap gimmickry,” the CPP said. 
The communist group also accused the AFP that some of the funds for the surrenderees went to the pockets of military officers on the field. 
“According to our sources, funds from Duterte’s discretionary and intelligence funds are automatically downloaded to the ATM accounts of brigade and battalion commanders depending on the number of ‘NPA surrenderees’ they report. Thus, military field units are in a frenzy of conducting psywar operations to hold ‘surrender activities’,” the CPP said.
If there really are thousands of NPA surrenderees then of course the CPP would be upset and do whatever it took to refute or debunk these actions. Accusing the AFP of engaging in a psywar by faking surrenderees is not unfounded. Just a few paragraphs ago we found out the DDS and other organisations were alleged psywars against the SPARU. With the AFP receiving American assistance it would not be unlikely that they have been advised to engage in psywar by faking NPA surrenders since the Pentagon engages in such practices.
http://www.defenseone.com/technology/2016/11/how-special-operators-trained-Psychological-warfare-mosul-fight/133166/
The charge becomes even more meritorious in light of the case of six young people accused of being NPA members
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/978037/up-graduate-5-others-tagged-as-npas-negative-for-gunpowder
The University of the Philippines masscom graduate and her five supposed comrades in the New People’s Army (NPA), who had been detained after what the military said was a gunfight in Negros Oriental on March 3, had tested negative for gunpowder burns
Results of paraffin tests made by the Negros Oriental Provincial Crime Laboratory cast doubt on the military’s claim that Myles Albasin and her five companions were captured after a clash in the town of Mabinay between soldiers and an NPA group.
Whatever the case, real srurrednerees or not but especially if real, it would be highly ridiculous for the government to allow former NPA terrorists to join the AFP or the PNP.
http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1024349
He added that the request of the above-mentioned rebels, who are qualified to join the military, are being considered and evaluated by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/03/26/1800386/pnp-willing-take-rebels-cops
Accepting former rebels is not new in the PNP. 
“In fact, we have a lot of former New People’s Army members who joined the police force after their surrender,” Dela Rosa said in a briefing over the weekend.
Literal terrorists in the AFP and the PNP! Letting snakes into the henhouse!
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/978081/duterte-likens-communist-rebels-to-biblical-serpent
Voices are being raised calling Duterte back to the table with the CPP.
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/03/25/1800220/house-resolution-urges-return-peace-talks-cpp-npa-ndf
The Defense chief also pointed out that he did not think that peace negotiations under the Duterte administration would work right from the start. 
“No I did not think, a lot of us, the defense community did not think it would work and also lot of civilians did not think it would work,” Lorenzana said.
Lorenzana rightly didn't think releasing prisoners to negotiate with the CPP would work but Duterte did it anyway because no one can stop him from doing what he pleases. And now it's war. Or is it?  Is it a war against terrorism when you fete the terrorists, give them free trips to Hong Kong, and allow them entry into the police and military? Is it a war against communism when the political party that runs the country is drinking deeply from the wells of communist China? Is Joseph Heller writing this script?