Coronavirus Lockdown: COVID Allowances, Straining Room Supply, and More!

More news about how the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines is being handled by the public and the government. 

The DOH Visayas region says delayed COVID allowances are now being paid out. 

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/doh-delayed-covid-allowances-underway

THE Department of Health Central Visayas (DOH 7) has called for continued patience amid the concerns of health workers about their long delayed Covid-19 allowances.

In a statement, the DOH 7 said an additional P2 billion has been allocated for the delayed Health Emergency Allowance (HEA) of eligible public and private healthcare workers in Central Visayas.

“We urge all stakeholders to await updates from their respective focal persons, adhering to our communication protocol, to allow our processing team time to address other crucial tasks,” a portion of the statement read.

It further said the DOH central office has allocated P2,015,896,062.50 to cover the period July 1, 2021, to July 20, 2023.

The DOH said the disbursement process for this latest fund sub-allotment will be underway after identifying the first 154 facilities that have submitted complete documentary requirements as recipients. 

The DOH 7 said these facilities have been notified of the processing of their claims, with funds expected to be transferred by the end of May.

Despite the progress made, the DOH 7 called for patience and understanding particularly among healthcare workers awaiting payment.

It added that with the agency’s meticulous validation process, including the examination of Covid-19 Risk Exposure Classification reports, stakeholders must adhere to the communication protocol to facilitate efficient processing.

Misamis Occidental has also finally released health care worker's emergency allowance. 

https://newsline.ph/health-and-science/2024/05/05/misamis-occidental-releases-health-workers-emergency-allowance/

Misamis Occidental Governor Henry S. Oaminal spearheaded the release of health workers’ emergency allowance during the consultative meeting on May 5, at the Asenso Misamis Occidental Sports and Cultural Center.

Health workers of Misamis Occidental received the Health Emergency Allowance (HEA) covering eight (8) months from October to December 2021; June to July 2022; and September to November 2022.

The health workers did not expect that the consultative meeting would turn out to be a very happy moment for them and their families back home-their allowances were released.

“The release of your health allowances reflects the provincial government’s commitment to support your plight, you worked at the frontline, you put our people’s lives first and waded through the risky job, and your dedication and love in serving our people during the pandemic. It is our way of saying thank you for taking care of our people,” Oaminal said.

Some workers received over P40,000 while the lowest was P20,000,00. The allowance was based on their position.

“What you receive now is our commitment to giving what you deserve. The provincial government is always here for you as you always stand to serve our people. Your dedication, your love, and valuable service did not go unnoticed,” the Governor emphasized.

The Governor who personally facilitated the immediate release at the national government said he is happy that health workers from his province get what they deserve.

All in all President Marcos says 78.92% of the COVID emergency allowance has been paid out. 

https://mb.com.ph/2024/5/8/p59-8-b-covid-emergency-allowance-released-to-medical-frontliners-pbbm

President Marcos said that P59.8 billion or 78.92 percent of the Covid health emergency allowance (HEA) was already distributed to the country's health workers.

Marcos said this as the Philippines celebrates National Health Workers' Day on Tuesday, May 7.

In a Facebook post, the President said the government would continue to honor the sacrifices of medical workers who are renowned worldwide.

"As promised, this administration has distributed the P59.8 billion or 78.92 percent of the Covid health emergency allowance to our heroic frontliners!" he wrote.

"This Health Workers' Day, we appreciate more the sacrifices of our frontliners who continue to serve wholeheartedly and show the world the skills and care of Filipinos," he added.

The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said it had released P91.2 billion to cover the benefits of healthcare workers since 2021.

It called on the Department of Health (DOH) to finalize the computation of pending HEA claims to determine if additional funding is required.

After 4 years it's about time the money is finally being released. 

Tourism is booming but there are not enough rooms to accommodate everyone. 

https://business.inquirer.net/457095/surge-in-tourist-arrivals-straining-room-supply

The hotel industry may have some trouble meeting high demand this year as foreign tourist arrivals continue to outpace hotel developments, according to Leechiu Property Consultants Inc.

In its latest Property Market report, the real estate brokerage firm said tourist arrivals in the first quarter of the year reached 1.66 million, up by 18 percent year-on-year. This marked the highest single-quarter arrivals in the postpandemic stage, it added.

“The introduction of additional direct international flights and the easing of visa restrictions for certain source markets, a strategy employed by other countries to attract more foreign tourists, contributed to the increase in arrivals,” Leechiu said.

It pointed out, however, that there may be a potential shortage in hotel supply due to construction delays and high costs of funding exacerbated by the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To recall, the Department of Tourism aims for 7.7 million tourist arrivals this year. This is expected to grow by up to 10 percent annually until 2028.

However, Alfred Lay, Leechiu head of hotels, tourism and leisure, said the projected growth in hotel keys from 2025 to 2028 was less than 1 percent.

The shortage may pull up room rates, and “it will become a more expensive pastime for us to travel locally and for foreigners to come here,” Lay explained.

Last year, the local hotel industry had an occupancy rate of 65.2 percent, still lower than the prepandemic average by 8 percentage points.

While upscale hotels in central business districts have yet to regain their prepandemic performance, upscale hotels have already shown resilience, according to Leechiu.

The company expects a “complete rebound” in overall hotel performance by next year.

In the meantime, Leechiu recorded a total of 24,267 keys in the pipeline across 87 hotel projects throughout the country.

The pandemic caused delays in construction which caused prices to skyrocket. However one hotel company says they expect a complete rebound by 2025. 

During the pandemic Filipinos found new ways to showcase their talent by uploading videos of original songs as well as covers. Many of these singers were able to capitalize on their new followings but they also remain unaware of their rights. 

https://law.asia/philippines-performers-rights/

The Philippines is famously a land of singers, and the 2020 pandemic spurred the emergence of a new medium for performing – through interactive livestreams and on-demand webcasts. Within this corner of the digital space, artists and performers come up with original compositions and entertaining covers. Many have gained sizeable followings on social media, all without the machinery of music labels and recording contracts we are used to.

Beneath this thriving scene, however, lies the lack of awareness of rights, especially among singer-performers, and hence the inability to fully capitalise on the economic benefits of their works. Although familiarity with copyright and associated breaches has increased through the aggressive campaigns of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) and corrective actions due to copyright strikes, there is still a lack of sufficient understanding when it comes to performers’ rights.

For instance, if singer Gigi performs a Cayabyab musical composition, she has the exclusive right, among others, to authorise the fixation of her performance, and to authorise the TV broadcast of her live performance or the performance as fixed in the sound recording. The composer retains the copyright to the musical composition, while Gigi has performer’s rights and is entitled to remuneration when these are made available to the public, as per section 203 of the IP Code.

Noticeably absent in the IP Code are provisions pertaining to performers in the audiovisual field. This gap was addressed in 2021, when the Philippines acceded to the Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances (BTAP). This treaty seeks to enhance the protection for singers, musicians, actors and other performers in audiovisual performances, adapting to the demands of the Netflix/Youtube/Tiktok age.

Infringements may arise, such as in the case of FILSCAP v Anrey Inc. (9 August 2022), where the Supreme Court tackled the issue of whether the playing of radio broadcasts as background music using loudspeakers in an establishment for profit violates copyright.

The court held that under the doctrine of multiple performances, a radio or television transmission can create multiple performances at once, and that a radio reception creates a performance separate from the broadcast. The patrons of the commercial establishment are deemed “new public”.

Applying the Anrey case, if an establishment plays radio broadcasts of Gigi’s sound recordings without acquiring the necessary licence, it may be liable for infringement even if the radio station’s broadcast is itself covered by a licence. The reception of the broadcast is a new public performance and is thus entitled to protection. Meanwhile, if Gigi’s audiovisual performances are distributed, or re-streamed, or made available to a “new public” in a foreign jurisdiction without a licence, she can go after those establishments, pursuant to the BTAP.

The IP Code further provides that the limitations to copyright in section 184 and the fair use provision in section 185 apply mutatis mutandis (with the necessary changes) to performers’ rights. For there to be a finding of infringement of a performer’s rights, the subject acts should not fall under these sections.

For now, the new breed of creatives and performers are rather more focused on making content and building their fan base than going after violators of their intellectual property rights. They operate independently and generally lack the resources to prosecute. Joining organisations would empower them to better protect their rights.

But this lawyer's opinion is that these performers are not interested in going after "violators of their intellectual property rights" because they lack the resources to do so. 

It seems not everyone in the Philippines believes the mainstream narrative about the pandemic.

https://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/mother-mary-gives-details-on-another-plague-other-chastisements

The prophesied autocratic one-world government is a threat, definitely in our times. Otherwise, 49 Republican senators in the US would not have urged Pres. Biden to withdraw his support in expanding the World Health Organization’s (WHO) pandemic authority.

The senators are referring to a treaty involving many nations that would grant WHO sovereign powers in case of another pandemic threat or occurrence. The idea for such treaty was born in December 2021 in a WHO special session with the participation of other United Nations system bodies, non-state actors, other relevant stakeholders and the public.

While the basic concept would include significant WHO control over nations in case of a pandemic threat or an actual pandemic, more details are being worked out through ints Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB).

The US senators warned that such a treaty could threaten U.S. sovereignty and constitutional rights. The senators aired their position ahead of the 77th World Health Assembly scheduled from May 27 to June 1, 2024, in Geneva, Switzerland.

I have yet to familiarize myself more with developments on the pending full-term treaty which Philippine media have already hailed with a series of hossanah’s, but it seems clear that the treaty which covers so many WHO member-nations could readily pave the way for a one-world government.

The Philippines, alas, is sold out to the WHO pandemic shebang. In Geneva last April 5, no less than WHO Director General Tedros cited the Philippines’ “leading role” in the ongoing negotiations on a “WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.”

Remember that the same WHO pushed the mRNA vaccines that is now being blamed for unusual death rates in highly-inoculated countries, as well as in such cases as booster cancers and failed pregnancies. Keep in mind, too, that WHO is heavily funded by Bill Gates who has openly supported depopulation issues.

Meanwhile, I ask the readers to again say a short prayer to the Holy Spirit for guidance, wisdom and strength before reading the following serious message given by our Blessed Mother to third-degree Augustinian stigmatist Luz de Maria de Bonilla on April 23, 2024. In the message, Our Blessed Mother gives details on a new plague, as well as on a deadly instrument of war that would affect many people. Here is the message:

“Beloved children, disease is coming closer to you: it will spread until it infects as many human beings as possible. The disease is highly and rapidly contagious, so air travel and all types of public transport will be affected because of contagion.

“I HAVE CALLED YOU TO USE THE OIL OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN AND CALENDULA TO PREVENT THE PROPAGATION OF THIS DISEASE, WHICH WILL SPREAD TO SO MANY OF MY CHILDREN. It will begin with fever and bodily discomfort; there will be a strong cough and then small wounds will appear on the skin until these become larger wounds, this being the indicator of this disease.

“IT IS A VARIANT OF LEPROSY THAT WILL AFFECT MY CHILDREN, and it will continue to develop in this way until the body is affected in its entirety if you do not do hurry to take the appropriate measures.

“Children of My Heart, war is going to occur and at this moment preparations for it are happening on a large scale behind the backs of the majority of My children. Humanity will taste the bitterness of this tragedy, precipitating famine and greater violence among human beings."

Yes, this guy thinks the pandemic is going to bring about the New World Order. He even asks his readers to give credence to a prophecy from Mary.

The God Culture: 100 Lies About the Philippines: Lie #17: Filipinos Are Described as Big, Bearded White Men

Welcome back to 100 lies The God Culture teaches about the Philippines. Once more the subject is the Lequios Islands. Timothy Jay Schwab claims that the Lequios Islands is the Philippines and that in an old Spanish document they are described as big, bearded white men. As we shall see it is another lie.

In Solomon's gold Part 6 Tim says:

Solomon's Gold Series - Part 6: Little Known History of Ophir. Philippines History

9:12 According to Colleccion General de Documentos Relativos Islas Filipinas, you might need to correct our Spanish there, document number 98 the Lucoes were big, bearded, and white men. They were only interested in gold and silver when trading at Ophir. General Legazpi wrote, "the ships of the Lucoes were always laden with gold and silver," thus targets of the Spanish. 

These are big, bearded white men the Phoenicians. In other words Hiram King of Tyre which was part of Phoenicia whom King Solomon hired to sail to Ophir to get gold and other resources. So if these distinctive looking men came to your land, might you remember them? Yep? Might you name an island after them and their trade? Perhaps. They are the Lucoes in which Luzon is named because that was the capital of Ophir where the Lucoes lived and traded. Yet another tie to the story of Solomon, the Queen of Sheba, Ophir, and Tarshish. .Imagine that.

In his book The Search for King Solomon's Treasure Tim says the same thing.

Solomon's Treasure, pg. 163

Collecion General de Documentos Relativos a las Islas Filipinas, Document #98 mentions the Lequios were “big, bearded, and white men.” They traded “gold and silver.” 

This appears to throw a wrench into this entire narrative in history perhaps. How could Filipinos be big, bearded, white men? That is not a description of the Japanese either. This is an ancient residual reference to Solomon’s navy of which the Spanish have all but wiped so much history that would likely confirm this even further. However, we have enough to prove this thoroughly and that will suffice.

The problem is that such a description is never given in the document to which Tim is referring. Here is a translation of that section which is at the end of the document. 

In front of this said China and its lands are many islands to the sea and beyond these islands is a very large land that They say that it is terra firme, other islands where three or four junks of white people, who are very large and very rich, came to Malac every year. They bring a lot of gold in rods and silver and silk and a lot of very good wheat and very beautiful porcelain and other merchandise and they carry a lot of pepper and all the other things that the Chinese sayings carry to those who are called lequios, those from Malac say that they are better people than older merchants and richer and more dressed and honored than the Chinese whose people until now We have no news because they never came to Malac after the Portuguese went there.

Collecion Documento 98 pg. 137-138

Not a word about beards. The Spanish word "barba" does not show up in the text. Why is that? According to Chinese sources it's because the Lequios plucked out their beards. They also are described as having deep eyes and long noses. Filipinos do not have long noses. They are also said to observe no hierarchy which is unlike Philippine society which is ruled by elders.

"The country of Liuqiu is situated amidst islands in the sea, in a location that should be east of Jian'an County, to which one may arrive with five days' travel by water. The land has many caves. Its king's clan name is Huansi, and his given name is Keladou; it is not known how many generations have passed since he and his have come to possess the country. The people of that land call him Kelaoyang, and for his wife, [they] say Duobatu. His place of residence they call Boluotan Grotto, with threefold moats and fences; the perimeter has flowing water, trees and briars as barriers. As for the domicile of the king, it is sixteen rooms large, and engraved with carvings of birds and beasts. There are many Doulou trees, which resemble the orange but with foliage that is dense. The country has four or five chiefs, who unite several villages under their rule; the villages have [their own] little kings."

"The people have deep eyes and long noses, seeming to be rather akin to the Hu, and also having petty cleverness. There is no observance of hierarchy of ruler and minister nor the rite of prostrating oneself with one's palms pressed together. Fathers and children sleep together in the same bed. The men pluck out their whiskers and beards, and any place on their bodies where they happen to have hair, they will also remove it. The adult women use ink to tattoo their hands in the design of insects and serpents. As for marriage, they use wine, delicacies, pearls and shells to arrange a betrothal; if a man and a woman have found pleasure in each other, then they get married."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liuqiu_(medieval)

This designation of the country of Liuqiu is where the word Lequios originates. It is a place amidst islands to the east of China. The description here is of the Ryukyu Islands and Formosa not the Philippines. The Philippines is not even in front of China it is to the southeast of China. 

The fact is Tim did not even bother to read this document. His source for this false information is ancientphilippines.blogspot.com.

http://ancientphilippines.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-lost-tribe-of-israel-is-found.html

According to Documents 98, the Lequios were big, bearded, and white men. They were only interested in gold and silver when trading at Ophir. Okinawans, Koreans, and Vietnamese people are not big nor are they white. Their beards are just small goatees and could not satisfy the word "bearded". Therefore they were not the Lequios. So who could the Lequios be but the remnants of Hebrews and Phoenicians who have made some enclaves along the Southeast Asian shores?

If you pay attention to Tim's videos you will see that Tim lifts a huge amount of his so-called research directly from ancientphilippines.blogspot.com He is on record admitting this. 

The Lequios of Luzon: Key to Finding Ophir and Chryse. Clue #52

21:19 For a while now we have used definition for the Hebrew for this word from ancient Philippines blogspot. We, in the beginning in fact, we tried to quote local sources and you'll see in the description box we mentioned those guys. We also mentioned Bob's blog as well. It's all there. It's been there for three years. We've always, you know, given them some credit and those are worth reading because really that's where we started with the history portion. We started reading their stuff and then we started branching out from there. Yes, we verified everything that we could and if there was something that we couldn't verify such as the gold found in first century Egypt as easily we took it from numerous sources so we felt pretty good with it and went with it and turns out it's proving to be fine as a reference. So far our sources by the way check out to be very good.

That admission is absolutely amazing. Tim started his journey by quoting "local sources!?" What does that even mean? A Philippine blog? Why not start with proven academic sources? Because Tim hates academia. Then he says he tried to verify most of what he read online but if he couldn't verify it he went with it anyway because multiple sources said the same thing! That is not a proper method for doing historical research at all and shows what a total fool this man is. All the errors from those sources he never verified have ended up in his book. Errors such as Documento 98 describing the Lequios as big, bearded, white men. 

But let's investigate this Spanish document a little further. Not only are the Lequios people described as being white but so are the Chinese.

The visitors of this land of China are men of good stature and white and well disposed and also the women have very small eyes

pg. 136

Are the Chinese actually Phoenicians? Of course not. Document 98 follows the exact same route as in Duarte Barbosa's book. He describes the Chinese in the same way.

The inhabitants of this land me great merchants they are white men, and well built. Both men and women have small eyes, in their beards they have three or four hairs and no more, as a sign of gentility, and the smaller their eyes are the more repute they have as well-bred men.

Duarte Barbosa, Vol. 2, pg. 213

He also describes the people of Solor, which is the Sulu archipelago as being almost white. 

And passing these Maluquo Islands northwards towards China there is another very large island well furnished with food which they call Solor. Its inhabitants are almost white, Heathen with good figures.

Duarte Barbosa, Vol. 2, pg. 206

He even describes the inhabitants of Celebes as being white. 

Having passed the said Isles of Maluco certain other islands are found towards the west, whence come at times certain white folk, bare from the waist up, yet they have garments woven from something like straw, wherewith they cover their private parts. They speak a tongue of their own. Their boats are badly built, and therein they come to take loads of cloves in these islands, also copper, Cambaya cloths and tin, and they take thither for sale very long and broad one-edged swords and other ironwork, and a good quantity of gold. These folk are eaters of human flesh, and if the King of Maluco wishes to put to death any person condemned by law they beg for him to be delivered to them to eat as if they were asking for a pig. These islands, from which these and suchlike people come, are called Celebe. 

Duarte Barbosa, Vol. 2, pg. 204

Are these people also Phoenicians? Of course not. The point is that the color of these people's skin means absolutely nothing. There are light skinned and dark skinned inhabitants in East Asia and in the Islands of South East Asia. That is no proof they are descendants of King Solomon's navy. 

As for Document #98 Tim is not telling the truth. At no time does it describe the Lequios people as bearded. But he does not know this because he did not even seek to verify the contents of the document. He is on record saying he took ancientPhilippines.blogspot.com and other "local sources" at face value. That is no way to do history. But it is the way to propagate lies.

Insurgency: Haven For Rights Activists

The Anti-Terrorism Council has again affirmed the terrorist designation of the CPP-NPA.

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1932065/atc-on-maintaining-terrorist-designation-of-cpp-npa

The Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) has maintained the terrorist designation of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA), according to the Presidential Communications Office (PCO).

The PCO bared the news in a statement on Sunday, adding that ATC likewise maintained the terrorist designation of the Islamic State East Asia (ISEA) and other Daesh-linked, or associated groups in the Philippines under the council’s seven-page Resolution No. 53.

Under the resolution, ATC also named Elizabeth Pineda Principe, a member of the CPP-NPA, as a terrorist after it “found probable cause to designate Pineda as a terrorist individual based on verified and validated information, sworn statements and pieces of evidence gathered by different Philippine law enforcement agencies and the military.”

ATC said it maintained the terrorist designation of the CPP-NPA, or the “Bagong Hukbong Bayan,” as a terrorist organization “as they continue to target government forces and sow terror and fear among the public” based on the 268 atrocities recorded from December 2020 to August 2023.

It likewise cited the killing of national football athlete Keith Absalon as grounds for maintaining the designation. ATC said Absalon died in a roadside explosion from an improvised explosive device during the attacks in Masbate, among others.

On the other hand, the “continued involvement in terrorist activities” was cited as grounds for retaining the terrorist designation of the ISEA and other Daesh-linked or associated groups in the Philippines, such as the Abu Sayyaf, the groups of Maute, Maguid, Turaifie, Hassan, and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.

The ATC said the ISEA and other Daesh-linked groups violated the Republic Act 11479 or “The Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020.”

The Anti-Terrorism Council also wants everyone to remember that they alone hold the power to declare groups or individuals terrorists.  

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1935208/atc-on-its-authority-to-designate-terrorist-individuals-groups

The Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) has asserted its sole authority to designate individuals, groups, or organizations as terrorists and guaranteed its commitment to safeguarding the rights of Filipino workers, including their “freedom of association and collective bargaining.”

ATC issued its affirmation on Monday following “concerns of some individuals, groups of persons, organizations, or associations, particularly trade unions and labor organizations,” reportedly labeled or linked to terrorists without its designation.

“The ATC, in accordance with Republic Act No. 11479 or the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020 (ATA), affirms that it has the sole and exclusive authority to designate individuals, groups of persons, organizations, or associations as terrorists,” the council said in a statement.

“This authority carries legal effects, such as the freezing of assets, and is exercised with utmost diligence, guided by existing laws, rules, and regulations, ensuring the protection of fundamental rights and due process,” it added.

According to ATC, no other government agency, officer, or even employee “has the authority to label or brand any individual, groups, or unions as terrorists — in a manner that can be construed as a designation under the ATA.

“All this is in line with the Philippines’ commitment, as a member of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and a signatory to ILO Conventions Nos. 87 and 98, to uphold the principles mandated by these conventions, to include the establishment and maintenance of an environment that supports workers’ free exercise of the right to organize and engage in union activities without interference or fear of reprisal,” the council stressed.

This is an important reminder because the AFP and the PNP routinely harass human rights workers by labelling them terrorists. These human rights workers often include labor organizers even though the Philippines is a committed member of the International Labor Organization which mandates that workers be allowed to organize. 

It is more than ironic that the Philippines celebrates Labor Day on May 1st while fighting a Communist rebellion because May 1st has been a Communist holiday for over a century.

Baguio has provided a safe haven for all "human rights defenders" and the military is having none of it. They are opposed to the idea because the ordinance singles out state actors as being human rights offenders. 

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1935566/military-opposes-baguio-haven-for-rights-activists

The military has formally objected to a draft Baguio ordinance on providing a safe haven for all “human rights defenders,” including indigenous Filipino activists who suffer from intimidation or violent threats, discrimination and other malicious attacks like “Red-tagging.”

Proposed Ordinance No. 0026-23, which was filed last year, would shield activists from “defamation and stigmatization” and provide them access to “effective remedy and reparation,” among other civil liberty protections, while they are in the summer capital, said Councilor Peter Fianza, an Ibaloy lawyer and one of its authors.

The draft law also takes action against Red-tagging or the linking of groups to the armed communist rebellion, often by state forces.

Addressing the city council at a public consultation on Monday, Army Col. Virgilio Noora, commander of Joint Task Force Baguio and an officer of the Army’s 5th Infantry Battalion, said the military would not back the draft ordinance unless the council removes a provision that blames the government and its employees for all human rights violations.

The draft law defines human rights violations as actions taken by the state or individuals employed by the government, such as “military affiliates, paramilitary, police or military assets, or any agent of the state acting on its behalf.”

It describes human rights defenders as “any person who, individually or in association with others, acts or seeks to act to protect, promote or strive for the … realization of human rights and the fundamental freedoms and welfare of the people through peaceful means.”

Noora said the measure “singled out state agents for committing human rights violations,” when there were also cases of civil rights offenses committed by “nonstate actors.”

“We, too, are human rights defenders,” he argued, adding that soldiers were duty-bound “to uphold the sanctity of human rights,” so their rights must also be protected.

“We did not lose our rights when we became soldiers,” Noora said, as he noted that the draft law was “too broad” and could be abused by “criminals” pretending to be activists.

Task Force Baguio, which he heads, is a collaborative community-relations movement by the military and police that conducts peace rallies and anticommunist lectures in Baguio schools but it has been accused of spreading disinformation about local activists, including college students.

Section 39 of the ordinance addresses “derogatory and unfounded labeling” by requiring the Baguio government to remove posters, tarpaulins and other materials that “promote false, unfounded and derogatory labeling of human rights defenders.”

Law enforcers or public officials found guilty of political vilification, Red-tagging and other offenses “shall issue a clarification… .”

Their failure to “rectify or expunge any false, unfounded and derogatory labeling of human rights defenders shall be grounds for the filing of appropriate administrative charges, without prejudice to the right of their victim to file criminal charges,” the measure stated.

The AFP claims the law is too broad and can be used by "criminals pretending to be activists" thereby showing their utter disdain for human rights activists. But it seems the real issue here is Red-tagging which is the same as designating a group or individual as a terrorist. Remember, only the ATC has that authority. 

Davao was declared insurgency-free two years ago. Funnily enough 9 NPA rebels operating in Davao have surrendered. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1223753

Nine remnants of three dismantled New People's Army (NPA) units in the Davao region recently surrendered to authorities, bringing along various high-powered firearms and war materiel, the Army said in a statement Tuesday.

Brig. Gen. Ronnie Babac, the Philippine Army's 1001st Infantry Brigade commander, said the surrenderers previously operated in their area of responsibility.

In Monkayo, Davao de Oro, four rebels voluntarily surrendered to the Army's 25th Infantry Battalion (IB) on separate occasions—one on April 15, another on April 22, and one each on April 24 and April 27.

Two surrenderers were members of the NPA Dismantled Regional Headquarters of the Southern Mindanao Regional Committee, while the other two belonged to the Dismantled Guerrilla Front (DGF) 2.

Babac said the surrenderers turned in four improvised explosive devices and other war materiel.

On April 24, four former members of the DGF 33 operating in the borders of Davao de Oro, Davao del Norte, and Agusan del Sur and one former member of the Dismantled Pulang Bagani Command operating in the periphery of Davao de Oro and Davao Oriental surrendered to the 60IB.

The group brought five high-powered firearms consisting of an AR-15 rifle, a Bushmaster rifle, two M16 rifles, and an M14 rifle when they yielded.

"I commend the efforts of the two battalions operationally controlled by the 1001st Infantry Brigade (101Bde) in facilitating the surrender of the remnants of the NPA," Babac said.

He assured that the 1001Bde "remains relentless" in going after NPA remnants despite the declaration of its area of responsibility as insurgency-free.

Never forget insurgency-free NEVER means zero insurgents. It means a negligible number of insurgents who can be easily handled. 

Negros Oriental has been "declared already under a state of Stable Internal Peace and Security" but the troops aren't pulling out just yet.  

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1223754

Government troops deployed to Negros Oriental will not be pulled out despite the province being declared already under a state of Stable Internal Peace and Security (SIPS), a military official said Tuesday.

Brig. Gen. Joey Escanillas, commander of the Army's 302nd Brigade based in Tanjay City, said the transition from the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to the Philippine National Police (PNP) as the lead agency in counter-insurgency operations would be gradual.

"This is not going to be a paradigm shift, but little by little, we will transition our role to supporting the PNP under the SIPS," Escanillas said during a Kapihan sa PIA forum here.

He said the transition, stipulated in the memorandum of agreement between the AFP and PNP, may take up to five years to complete.

This came after the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (Provincial Board) passed a resolution last month for the SIPS declaration, following the recommendation of the Provincial Peace and Order Council.

Escanillas said the declaration meant that all guerilla fronts of the New People's Army – the armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines – on Negros Island have been dismantled, with just a few remnants left.

This means, he said, a shift in focus of the government's anti-insurgency campaign to primarily law enforcement, involving not just the police but the local government units (LGUs) and government agencies in a whole-of-nation approach.

Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Don Richmond Conag, deputy police provincial director for operations, assured in the same forum that they are ready to take over the lead role from the AFP.

If the AFP supports the PNP doesn't that make the PNP just a subsidiary of the AFP? What difference is there between the PNP and the former Constabulary which was under the auspices of the AFP? Whatever the answer being declared to have internal stability does not mean there is no insurgency and no insurgents. 

Despite the NPA weakening the NICA says the insurgency remains a top priority. 

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1223928

Gathering crucial intelligence against communists’ activities remains among the priorities of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) despite the weakening of the terrorist group’s armed wing.

In an interview over Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing on Thursday, NICA Deputy Director General for Special Concerns Abelardo Villacorta said communist recruitment activities persist, targeting students and the youth sector.

He said the agency, as head of the National Task Force to End the Local Communist Armed Conflict’s (NTF-ELCAC) Situational Awareness and Knowledge Management Cluster, focuses on monitoring these attempts to lure the youth to take up arms against the government.

“There are so many of our youth, the students that are being recruited into the CPP-NPA-NDF  their dreams and their ambitions in life are being destroyed because they are being deceived to join the movement and become members of the NPA,” Villacorta said.

He added that many parents are now cooperating with NICA to help foil the communists' recruitment activities.

“They help us in our situational awareness and knowledge management, and they are a big help,” he said.

Previously, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief General Romeo Brawner Jr. said the state forces' relentless operations against communists have been very effective in decimating the active New People’s Army (NPA) guerrilla fronts.

As of the latest information from the military, the number of guerrilla fronts of the terrorist group has declined to 11.

If the NPA is weakening then how are they able to recruit "so many of our youth?" Seems like a contradiction. Remember when the NICA claimed to know the names of party members and supporters of the NPA? Remember in 2021 the NICA said 300,000 to 400,000 communist party members had infiltrated the government? What happened to all those people? 

Last week the AFP clashed with the BIFF killing 12 this week they closed with the DI killing 5. 

https://mb.com.ph/2024/4/30/five-di-maute-group-members-killed-5-soldiers-wounded-in-lanao-del-norte-clash

Five members of local terror group Daulah Islamiyah-Maute Group died while five soldiers were wounded in a fierce gun battle in Munai, Lanao del Norte on Monday, April 29.

Maj. Gen. Gabriel Viray III, commanding general of the 1st Infantry Division, said the operation stemmed from intelligence reports of the presence of the remnants of the DI-Maute Group in Barangay Cadayonan.

Elements of the First Scout Ranger Regiment were then sent to the area which resulted in the clash at around 3:45 a.m. on Monday which lasted for 45 minutes. 

A second clash erupted during the pursuit operations three hours later which lasted for 10 minutes. 

Viray said the gun battle resulted in the death of five DI-Maute Group members under Nasser Daud.

Seized during the clearing operation were an Ma16 and an M14 rifles, a rifle grenade and other personal belongings of the slain DI-Maute Group members.

But five soldiers were wounded during the clash, according to Viray.

He said all the wounded soldiers are now in stable condition.

Soldiers have been scouring the remote areas of Lanao del Norte and nearby provinces for the presence of the DI-Maute Group, all remnants of the group which was involved in the Marawi siege.

But the government has been also persuading them to surrender.

Even though the DI-Maute Group has been greatly reduced they remain a threat.

Some People Need Killing: Book Review

Some People Need Killing is former Rappler reporter Patricia Evangelista's account of Duterte's drug war. 

The story is familiar to everyone. Duterte was elected as president of the Philippines in 2016 on the promise of killing drug users and criminals and cleaning up the country.  As Duterte warned:

“I’m telling the Filipino people, not me,” said the mayor. “It’s going to be bloody, because I will not sit there as president and just like any other regime, say, ‘That’s all I can do.’ If you put me there, do not fuck with me.”

But, Patricia notes, none of Duterte's supporters took his words literally. In fact to believe anything he said was to be meshed in a net of contradictions.

To vote for Rodrigo Duterte, you had to believe in certain things. You had to believe, for example, that he was a righteous man. You had to believe he wasn’t a rapist, and didn’t want to be a rapist. You had to believe he was poor, or was once poor, or had lived with the poor. You had to believe in destiny. You had to believe in God. You had to believe that God had a peculiar preference for deadly autocrats, because the presidency is destiny and Rodrigo Duterte was destined to lead.

To believe in Rodrigo Duterte, you had to believe he was brave. You had to believe he would cut America out of military agreements and that Barack Obama was a son of a bitch. You had to fear China, or you had to love China, or you had to believe, in the face of China’s territorial aggression, that Rodrigo Duterte was willing to ride a Jet Ski out into the open sea to plant a flag on the disputed islands China had seized.

To believe in Rodrigo Duterte, you had to believe he was a killer, or that he was joking when he said he was a killer. You had to believe in the specter of a narco state, or you had to believe that he was only playing to the crowd. You had to believe drug addiction is criminal, that drug addicts are not human, and that their massacre can be considered acceptable public policy. You had to believe he could make crime and corruption and illegal drugs disappear in three to six months. You had to believe that a mayor who kept peace by ordering undesirables out of his city could succeed in a country where undesirables were citizens too. You had to believe the intended dead would be drug lords and rapists, only drug lords and rapists, and not your cousins who go off into Liguasan Marsh to pick up their baggies of meth. You had to believe there would be a warning before the gunshots ring out.

To believe in Rodrigo Duterte, you had to believe he was just. You had to believe he was honest. You had to believe he was untainted by the oligarchy and beholden to no one. You had to believe he was your father. You had to believe he was your savior. You had to believe he loved you, because you love him enough to carry his name.

Months before the election Patricia collaborated on a Rappler series profiling each candidate and imagining how their presidency would play out. Of Duterte Patrica wrote:

In the three months before the presidential election, I collaborated on an opinion series with the sociologist Nicole Curato. The Imagined President was a series of presidential profiles published in Rappler, mapping the narrative arcs of every presidential candidate. We compared myth with reality in an attempt to understand what resonated with the voting public.

The final installment was published on May 2, seven days before the elections. It ended with a warning: “If Rodrigo Duterte wins,” we wrote, “his dictatorship will not be thrust upon us. It will be one we will have chosen for ourselves. Every progressive step society has made has been diminished by his presence. Duterte’s contempt for human rights, due process, and equal protection is legitimized by the applause at the end of every speech. We write this as a warning. The streets will run red if Rodrigo Duterte keeps his promise. Take him at his word—and know you could be next.”

I regretted those sentences within a day of publication. They were sensational, colorful, with none of the restraint expected of working journalists. I would have expunged them if I could.

On June 30, 2016, we became Duterte. The streets ran red.

The rest of the book is mostly a catalogue of how the streets ran red. 

Patricia documents particular killings, the involvement of vigilante groups such as the Confederate Sentinels Group (CSG), the attitude of the PNP, the deception of the PNP and their involvement in the killings, and her own journalistic endeavors. 

It is a matter of record that Duterte promised cops they would not be prosecuted for murder so long as they were doing their duty. 

The president offered every cop a promise. He would believe them if they claimed to have killed in the performance of duty. Every cop charged and convicted who followed his orders would be pardoned. “Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid to kill for as long as it’s those idiots, if they start to fuck with your city.”

So, the killings began. Every night the bodies piled up with each time the cops claiming the dead pulled a gun and the killing was done in self-defense as their duty. Analyzing many individual cases Patricia notes the PNP was getting an unbelievably high and accurate kill ratio:

More than a hundred suspects “who yielded” were arrested. All thirty- two suspects who offered armed resistance were shot and killed. There were no injured cops. There were no wounded suspects. To believe this narrative is to believe that local cops clocked a 100 percent kill rate, higher than the already improbable 97 percent reported by a Reuters investigative team in 2016, higher than the 83 percent of the notorious police shootings in Rio de Janeiro.

“Luckily,” wrote one Bulacan lieutenant colonel, “there were no casualties on the PNP side.”

Were they murders? The cops did not call these deaths murders. If they were not murders, was every Bulacan policeman, including the rawest of recruits, a marksman of such astonishing talent that every random armed encounter was met with such fatal accuracy? If they were not murders, how was it possible that police reported no casualties after twenty-five separate gunfights inside a single twenty-four-hour period? And if they were not murders, did every suspect who shot at the police miss the target?

Luck, said the police.

Good, said the president.

Patricia spends a good deal explaining how language was subverted, not just to describe the drug war, but also in everyday parlance. Take for instance the word "salvage."

There are other terms for this. Extrajudicial killing. Vigilante-style murder. Targeted assassination. In the Philippines, a specific word evolved for this specific sort of death. The word is salvage.

Contronyms are Janus words, two-faced and adversarial. An alarm can turn off, or it can go off. A moon might be out as the lights go out. Contronyms mean the opposite of themselves, occupying an abstract category of the English language. He left; she was left. He ran fast; she held fast. He sanctioned the killings; she sanctioned the killers.

Salvage, in my country, is a contronym. It is a hopeful word everywhere else. To salvage is to rescue, regardless of whether the salvaged is a ship or a soul. Salvage and salvation are rooted in the same word—salvus, “to save.” So sayeth the book of Luke: “And Jesus said to him, this day is salvation come to this house, as much as he also is a son of Abraham, for the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

During the drug war no one was killed, they were neutralized. 

Here is another word for death. The word is neutralized.

Project Double Barrel, laid out in Command Memorandum Circular No. 16-2016, seeks, among other goals, the “neutralization of illegal drug personalities nationwide.” Human rights lawyers argue it is an order to kill.

On the basis of that word, they have challenged the entire drug war apparatus at the high court.

Nowhere in the memorandum, or elsewhere in Philippine law, is the word neutralization defined. “Neutralize means to kill,” wrote the lawyers of the Free Legal Assistance Group.

The government insisted that to neutralize meant only “to overcome resistance.” Whether that meant to disable or to kill depended on the exigencies of the moment. Those moments are many. Twenty-six-year-old Raymond Yumul of Concepcion in Tarlac was neutralized. Jeffrey Cruz of Carcel Street in Quiapo was neutralized. Samar native Wilfredo Chavenia was “neutralized while the other suspect managed to escape.” John Ryan Baluyot of Olongapo City was “completely neutralized.” Two unnamed male suspects, distinguished only by the color of their shirts—one white, one gray—were both neutralized. Fernando Gunio of Quezon City, who “sensed the presence of police operatives,” allegedly pulled out a handgun and fired, forcing the police to “neutralize the said suspect.” Forty-two- year-old Arnel Cruz and fifty-one-year-old Oliver Reganit “were neutralized before they could hide in the middle of the cornfield.” Renato dela Rosa, alias Jay-jay Toyo, after allegedly opening fire, was cornered and “subsequently neutralized by the responding police officers.”

Each of these men is dead, but in the official reports of all these cases, none of them were referred to in the narrative of events as killed. They were neutralized, verb and noun, as was narrated by the Bulacan officers who shot Justine Bucacao and Bernard Lizardo: “Neutralized suspects sustained gunshot wounds on different parts of their bodies.”

Then there is the word "good." Duterte called the drug war killings "maganda 'yun." But as Patricia informs us Duterte did not mean the killings were "good" he meant they were "beautiful."

“Thirty-two died early in Bulacan in a massive raid,” said President Duterte. “Maganda ‘yun.”

In Filipino, maganda means “beautiful.” It can also mean “good.” It was unclear what the president meant that afternoon in August, but there was a reason every English-language local news organization chose to use the word good instead of beautiful. Good, as egregious a judgment as it was, was far less outrageous than beautiful. Beautiful would have offered an element of pleasure, a romanticizing of brutality, the impression that the commander in chief of a democratic republic was not just pleased but delighted by the ruthless killing of his citizens.

Those of us who wrote of the president and his frequent incitements to violence did so in good faith, offering the benefit of the doubt to a man whose rambling threats had come to target members of the free press. We translated his putang ina into “son of a bitch” instead of “son of a whore.”

We repeated his spokespersons’ smiling excuses, their explanations that the president should be taken “seriously, not literally,” that his words required “creative imagination” in their interpretation, and that it was only “heightened bravado” that had him encouraging his soldiers to rape on the battlefield.

I quoted the president’s statement on my own social media page: “ ‘Thirty-two died early in Bulacan in a massive raid,’ said President Duterte. ‘That’s good.’ ”

A reader left a comment. “For the record, he did not say 32 dead was a good thing,” he wrote. “Duterte said it was beautiful. Let not the perversity be lost in translation.”

Here then is what the president said in the late afternoon of August 16, 2017.

“Thirty-two died early in Bulacan in a massive raid. That’s beautiful. If we can kill another thirty-two every day, then maybe we can reduce what ails the country.”

It is rather odd that Patricia speaks of writing "the President and his frequent incitements to violence did so in good faith, offering the benefit of the doubt." After already noting that he threatened to kill and after writing a profile warning "the streets will run red if Rodrigo Duterte keeps his promise. Take him at his word." What benefit of the doubt was there to give except to take him at his word which she says is literal? 

During Duterte's term and even now the argument rages on whether Duterte ever ordered the cops to kill anyone. Yet, that is exactly what happened as soon as he was elected. Why? Because he told the cops to do so. Likewise the killings stopped when Duterte told the cops to stop killing. This came about because of the killing of South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo.

The story made the international news. The South Korean embassy called for an investigation. The Senate held hearings. Two police officers were charged with, one later convicted of, the crime kidnapping with homicide. There were reports the victim’s head had been wrapped in packing tape and his corpse cremated—before a panicked funeral parlor employee flushed the ashes down a toilet.

It was seven months after the declaration of the drug war. More than seven thousand were dead, and only then was Rodrigo Duterte finally willing to concede his cops had done wrong. “I apologize for the death of your compatriot,” he told the South Korean government in a public address. “We are very sorry that it had to happen.”

The chief of the Philippine National Police, Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, stood before the media and said the police would “focus on internal cleansing.” He said he would have preferred to kill the cops involved, if only it were legal. He called the crime offensive. He would “melt in shame if I could.”

President Rodrigo Duterte called the incident an embarrassment but refused Dela Rosa’s offer to resign. On January 30, 2017, the president suspended the same police institution he had empowered from participation in the war against drugs. Police antidrug units were dissolved. He called the police “the most corrupt, corrupt to the core.” He called them criminals. The war would continue, but there would be no more police operations against illegal drugs.

On that night, every drug war journalist I knew gathered at the press office of the Manila Police District. We waited. There were no crime scenes that night. No drug addict died; no dealer was shot. Not in Manila, not in Caloocan, not in Cebu or Navotas or the slums of Quezon City. The president had spoken, and for the first time in seven months—with the exception of Christmas Day—no new names were added to the death count. It came as no surprise that the cops kept their guns holstered, but the vigilantes did too. There were no salvagings, no drive-by shootings, no masked gunmen kicking down doors of suspected meth dealers. The uniformed militia stood down, and so did, if the reports were to be believed, the killers they employed. The death toll stopped at 7,080.

The war, or what had been called the war, ended with the flush of a toilet.

How can anyone read that and come away with any other conclusion than the PNP was working off the orders of Duterte?

The book ends with a discussion of how many were killed during the drug war and profiles the regret of several former Duterte supporters. Needless to say the exact number of the dead will never be known.

I cannot, with any certainty, report the true toll of Rodrigo Duterte’s war against drugs. Numbers cannot describe the human cost of this war, or adequately measure what happens when individual liberty gives way to state brutality. Even the highest estimate—over 30,000 dead—is likely insufficient to the task.

When the intention is to lie, numbers can make extraordinary liars. Even government agencies fail to agree on how many the police killed in alleged antidrug operations. The PNP’s Directorate for Operations put those deaths at 7,884 in August 2020. The government’s communications office, two years later, lowered the total to 6,252 in May 2022. The last of the DUI numbers was released in 2019, but the number is meaningless in determining drug-related deaths, conflated as it is with every possible variation of homicide.

The truth is almost certainly much higher. A study by Columbia University’s Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism estimated that government figures were “a gross underestimation of the extent of drug- related killings in the Philippines.” The Supreme Court demanded all documents on the “total of 20,322 deaths during the Duterte administration’s anti-drug war.” The Commission on Human Rights chairperson Chito Gascon said the number of drug-related deaths could go “as high as 27,000.” International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said that “between 12,000 and at least 20,000 killings” were committed in relation to the drug war.

Of course all these numbers are called baseless propaganda by the government. 

While Patricia writes a compelling narrative about the facts of the drug war one thing she does not do is offer a reason as to why it happened. She gives a "what" but not a mechanism of "why." Perhaps one quote from the book offers insight. At the funeral of one drug war victim several people dressed like PNP officers showed up. But they were not cops. They were "force multipliers" going by the name of Philippines Hotline Movement Incorporated (PHMI). One observer commented:

“They look like idiots,” Vincent Go said, when I caught a ride with him to the cemetery. “That’s the thing with Filipinos. They put on a uniform, and suddenly they think they’re kings. Even during the pandemic, even in the villages, even if they’re just security guards. They’re so proud of their outfits, their vests, something changes inside of them. Clueless morons thinking they’re enforcing the law, but really they have no goddamn clue what they’re doing.”

Why did the drug war happen as it did? Why did the PNP kill with impunity and why do they continue to be a corrupt organization? Because of those uniforms which imbue them with a sense of superiority and bestows upon them their power. They are cops, a brotherhood, who can do whatever they want without consequence because they stand above the crowd. As Gaspar de San Augustin wrote in 1720:

43. They act tyrannically one toward another. Consequently, the Indian who has some power from the Spaniard is insolent and intolerable among, them—so much so that, in the midst of their ingratitude, some of them recognize it, although very few of them. Yet it is a fact that, if the Spaniards had not come to these islands, the Indians would have been destroyed; for, like fish, the greater would have swallowed the lesser, in accordance with the tyranny which they exercised in their paganism.

http://www.philippinehistory.net/views/1720sanagustinb.htm

During the Referendum of 1599 Filipinos thanked the Spanish from saving them from the tyranny of their chiefs. 

The bishop of Nueva Segovia, Don Fray Pedro de Soria, collected those Indians together, by order of his Majesty, and told them of the advantages of the Spanish monarchy, and how beneficial it would be for them to have Don Felipe, the king of the Spaniards, as their king, who would protect them peacefully and with justice. The chiefs answered not a word to this. Thereupon, the bishop spoke again and asked them whether they had understood the words he had spoken to them, and if they would answer. Thereupon a clownish Indian arose and said: “We answer that we wish the king of España to be our king and sovereign, for he has sent Castilians to us, who are freeing us from the tyranny and domination of our chiefs, as well as fathers who aid us against the same Castilians and protect us from them.”

https://philippinefails.blogspot.com/2021/11/the-philippine-referendum-of-1599.html

In the Philippines it has always been the way of the ruling class to oppress the masses even before the Spanish arrived. The tendency towards tyrannical rule is in the blood of Filipinos.

But rare, non-existent really, is the journalist, the writer, the researcher who will investigate the Philippines by noting racial characteristics unique to Filipinos and extrapolating from those traits a reason for Filipino society being the way it is. Thankfully Gaspar de San Augustin was not afraid to do so.