Branding itself "the Bible of Philippine politics" Politiko is one of the most popular news websites in the Philippines. Politiko's Twitter bio describes themselves thusly:
Blocked by PLDT-SMART. Banned by Rappler. News they don’t want you to read.
https://twitter.com/Politiko_Ph
A glance at their website reveals news no different from what everyone else is reporting. There might be a soft spin article or two such as "
Bono a Victim of Fake News, Mocha Uson Says" which is basically a glorified retweet but there are certainly no hard hitting investigative journalistic pieces. No one at Politiko is investigating prior knowledge of the Marawi siege. No one at Politiko is investigating the lies and follies of the AFP in the 50 year war on terror and insurgency. There is no "News they don't want you to read" on their webpage. It's rather ho-hum normie fluff in that respect. And no wonder! Their website's description reveals that Politko is nothing more than Rappler with a different agenda.
Politiko: We are a social news blog where politikos, their kin, friends, and allies are the center of the universe. We write about their words and deeds, likes and dislikes, dreams and fears. We are here to entertain and provoke and hopefully inform you along the way.
https://politics.com.ph/about-us/
Welcome to Rappler, a social news network where stories inspire community engagement and digitally fuelled actions for social change. Rappler comes from the root words "rap" (to discuss) + "ripple" (to make waves). It's a new world of limitless collaboration enabled by new technology and connected by social media.
https://www.rappler.com/about-rappler/about-us/385-about-rappler
Politiko maybe be entertaining their readers but they are not always informing them, which according to their description is quite literally the last thing they want to do, because in the past they have published fake news and despite having been proven to be false this news remains on their website without any retractions.
The United States has reportedly found the perfect replacement for outgoing United States Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim amid the Duterte administration’s continued pivot to China.
US State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary Mina Chang could be the new American envoy to the Philippines, according to insider information from the executive department.
Chang’s academic credentials are impressive. She graduated from Harvard Business School, and attended a national security seminar at the United States Army War College.
Meantime, the US Embassy in Manila clarified that Chang is being eyed as the next Assistant Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development for the Bureau of Asia.
“We’ve seen this claim. It is not true,” the embassy said in a statement about reports Chang might be the next top US envoy in Manila.
Look at the way this article progresses. The headline declares that Mina Chang is the incoming US envoy to the Philippines. The first and second sentences cast doubt on that assertion by using the words "reportedly" and "could be." By the end of the article we get a complete repudiation from the US embassy. Politiko contradicts themselves in the headline and the body of the article and they published it anyway! Why? One also wonders who the insider informant is and from which executive department he works, the PHL or the USA?
This article was published on July 10th, 2019 but a day before that Thinking Pinoy published the following:
Did Politiko get their news story from Thinking Pinoy or did he get the scoop from them and beat them to the punch? Whatever the case both Politiko and TP were duped into believing and publishing this fake news. Just a few months later in November 2019 Mina Chang resigned from the US State Dept. because she lied about her credentials which Politiko calls impressive.
So call me a skeptic when I am slow to believe Politiko's newest and most salacious scoop.
Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa can no longer visit the United States after Washington intensified its crackdown on supposed violators of human rights.
Politiko found that Dela Rosa’s US visa has reportedly been cancelled since May in accordance with the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA).
However, the ARIA also imposes sanctions on individuals or entities which violate human rights.
Politiko’s source said Dela Rosa’s visa was reportedly cancelled over his alleged involvement in the supposed extrajudicial killungs of drug suspects when he was chief of the Philippine National Police.
A source told Politiko that the ARIA states that none of the amount set aside for the PNP’s counternarcotics assistance can be released “unless the Secretary of State determines and reports to the appropriate commttees of Congress that the Government of the Philippines has adopted and is implementing a counternarcotics strategy that is consistent with international human rights standards, including investigating and prosecuting individuals who are credibly alleged to have ordered, coommitted or covered up extrajudicial killngs and other gross violations of human rights in the conduct of counternarcotics operations.”
Again an unnamed source is giving a juicy scoop that no one else has! The dream of every news outlet, right? True or not there is a salacious scoop here and it is not the cancellation of Bato's visa. It is the ARIA. This article should either be much larger or there should be an accompanying article exploring the ARIA in depth which is what I intend to do with the rest of this article. Not in depth of course but just enough to make you see that Politiko is worthless as a news organisation.
You can find a PDF of the ARIA here. In a word the Asia Reassurance
Initiatve Act is intended to distribute billions of dollars over 5 years to various countries in order to advance
US interests
in East Asia.
TITLE I—PROMOTING UNITED STATES SECURITY INTERESTS IN THE INDO-PACIFIC REGION
SEC. 101. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appropriated for the Department of State, the United States Agency for International Development, and, as appropriate, the Department of Defense $1,500,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2019 through 2023, which shall be used—
(1) to advance United States foreign policy interests and objectives in the Indo-Pacific region in recognition of the value of diplomatic initiatives and programs in the furtherance of United States strategy;
(2) to bolster the United States military presence and readiness in the Indo-Pacific region for the purpose of deterring and defending against provocative actions, including by improving the defense infrastructure and critical munitions stockpiles of the United States Armed Forces;
(3) to improve the defense capacity of partner nations to resist coercion and to deter and defend against security threats, including through foreign military financing and international military edu- cation and training programs;
The whole act goes on and on in this vein. The ARIA is a tool to advance US hegemony in East Asia. For our purposes we shall only look at instances where the Philippines is mentioned.
1. (d) PHILIPPINES.—Amounts appropriated pursuant to subsection (a) may not be made available for counter-narcotics assistance (other than maritime programs) for the Philippine National Police unless the Secretary of State certifies and reports to the appropriate committees of Congress that the Government of the Philippines has adopted and is implementing a counternarcotics strategy that complies with international norms of due process.
Subsection (a) is listed above and includes the $1.5 billion appropriation
for this program
. The first thing to notice here is that money is available to Philippine counter-narcotics maritime programs without any investigation as to their compliance with "international norms of due process." The second thing to notice is that money is available to the PNP to fight the war on drugs IF the Secretary of State has certified that the PNP is complying with "international norms of due process." The third thing to notice is that any money would come from the US DoD and USAID!! Why would the PNP want to receive money from the US DoD and the CIA front USAID? And how much has been accepted by Philippine maritime programs? Does the recent turnover of a patrol boat facility to the PNP fall under ARIA?
Representatives from the U.S. Joint Interagency Task Force West (JIATF West), the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s counternarcotics task force in the Indo-Pacific region, and officials from the Philippine National Police – Maritime Group (PNP-MG) presided over a ribbon cutting ceremony for a new PNP-MG patrol boat facility today in Lantawan, Basilan.
The nearly $2 million, PHP 100,000,000, facility includes a boat ramp, pier, armory, offices, barracks, and a lab. In recent years, JIATF West has partnered with the PNP-MG to open several such facilities throughout the southern Philippines.
According to Mr. Earl Hampton, JIATF West Deputy Director, the facility will improve the PNP-MG’s ability to conduct counternarcotics patrols and thwart the activity of transnational criminal organizations in the southwest Mindanao archipelago and Sulu Sea.
Mr. Hampton also noted that U.S. forces have been providing support and assistance to the Philippines for many years, at the request of successive Philippine administrations.
It could very well be that the turnover of this facility and the plan to open more such facilities falls under the auspices of ARIA. That's something a crack investigative reporter with all the resources I do not have should look into. Don't expect Politiko to do it.
2. SEC. 102. TREATY ALLIANCES IN THE INDO-PACIFIC REGION.
(d) UNITED STATES-PHILIPPINES ALLIANCE.—The United States Government is committed to the Mutual Defense Treaty between the Republic of the Philippines and the United States of America, done at Washington August 30, 1951, and subsequent bilateral security agree- ments, including the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, done at Manila April 28, 2014.
Nothing new here. We all know about the Mutual Defense Treaty and the EDCA. Never forget Duterte signed the EDCA treaty. Not very anti-American is he?
3. SEC. 105. UNITED STATES-ASEAN STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP.
(7) urge ASEAN member states to develop a common approach to reaffirm the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration’s ruling with respect to the case between the Republic of the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China.
It's no secret that the USA seeks to hedge in China and limit their influence in the Indo-Pacific region. This is probably the only area in which Duterte is of a different mind than the USA. There will be a lot of damage for the USA to reverse once he leaves office. That's part of ARIA is all about.
4. SEC. 113. COMBATING TERRORISM IN SOUTHEAST ASIA.
(a) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of National Intelligence, in consultation with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and other appropriate officials, shall submit a report to the appropriate committees of Congress that contains an assessment of the current and future capabilities and activities of ISIS-linked, al-Qaeda-linked, and other violent extremist groups in Southeast Asia that pose a significant threat to the United States, its allies, and its citizens interests abroad.
(4) a detailed assessment of the capabilities of ISIS-linked, al-Qaeda-linked, and other violent extremist group-affiliated fighters to operate effectively in countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia;
This would seem to be an assessment different from that of the quarterly reports offered by Indo-Pacific Command through Operation Pacific Eagle.
5. TITLE III—PROMOTING UNITED STATES VALUES IN THE INDO- PACIFIC REGION
SEC. 301. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that—
(1) the promotion of human rights and respect for democratic values in the Indo-Pacific region is in the United States national security interests;
(2) there are serious concerns with the rule of law and civil liberties in Cambodia, China, North Korea, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, which have all been identified by Freedom House as ‘‘Not Free’’;
(3) there have been recent disturbing human rights developments in—
(A) Burma (Myanmar), which has been identified by Freedom House as ‘‘Not Free’’; and
(B) the Philippines, which has been identified by Freedom House as ‘‘Partly Free’’; and
(4) according to the National Security Strategy, the United States—
(A) will ‘‘support, with our words and actions, those who live under oppressive regimes and who seek freedom, individual dignity, and the rule of law’’;
(B) ‘‘may use diplomacy, sanctions, and other tools to isolate states and leaders who threaten our interests and whose actions run contrary to our values’’; and
(C) ‘‘will support efforts to advance women’s equality, protect the rights of women and girls, and promote women and youth empowerment programs.’’.
Here is the freedom score card for the Philippines from Freedom House.
Section 4 (B)'s "other tools" could explain why the US Senate passed a resolution urging the freeing of Sen. DeLima. But does the Philippines really threaten the interests of the USA? Philippine and US relations remain rather tight despite Duterte's anti-American rhetoric which has proved mostly empty as the US continues to give billions in all kinds of aid each year, especially military.
Now to the most pertinent section as it applies to Bato's alleged visa cancellation.
SEC. 304. IMPOSITION OF SANCTIONS AND SUSPENSION OF UNITED STATES ASSISTANCE.
(a) SANCTIONS.—The President is authorized to impose sanctions, in accordance with applicable law, including financial penalties and visa bans, on any individual or entity that—
(1) violates human rights or religious freedoms; or
(2) engages in censorship activities.
(b) SUSPENSION OF FOREIGN ASSISTANCE.—The President is authorized, in accordance with applicable law, to terminate, suspend, or otherwise alter United States economic assistance to any country that has engaged in serious violations of human rights or religious freedoms.
The President is authorised to cancel visas and foreign assistance to any person or entity who violates human rights. That means, according to Politiko, President Trump cancelled Bato's visa for violating human rights via EJKs but has not suspended foreign assistance to the Philippines despite all the many alleged human rights violations by the Duterte government. Does that make sense? That Trump would single out one man and leave the rest of the country be? Trump is not an opponent of Duterte's drug war.
Whether or not Bato's visa has been cancelled, and we will all know the truth of that soon enough, the much larger issue here is the ARIA and how it reveals the USA's long term plans for East Asia. That is the real scoop. A full analysis of the ARIA and the compliance of the Philippine government with those plans is real news they, meaning the Duterte administration and the US DoD, do not want you to read. But Politiko is too normie and blue-pilled to give their readers that kind of information.
