Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Thursday denied claims made by a voice recording being spread on social media that the government would impose martial law by January 10 to stop the surge in coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases in the country.
“Not true. Fake news. Definitely, out of the picture,” he said in a message to reporters.
In the voice recording, a woman is urging the public to stock up on food good for until January 30 on the possibility that President Rodrigo Duterte will declare martial law or total lockdown by next week.
In the scenario, no one will be allowed to go out, hence the need to stock up on supplies, the woman claimed.
“There is no compelling reason to declare martial law,” Lorenzana said in a report in the government news agency PNA
Malacañang on Saturday took a swipe at President Rodrigo Duterte’s “unthinking” critics, who peddled “bogus” news about the supposed order of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn for the Chief Executive to “behave” while attending ASEAN summits in Thailand.
An edited October 31 edition of Thailand-based newspaper Bangkok Post that carried the headline, “King orders PH Duterte, behave during Asean summit”, went viral on social media.
“The Palace condemns the latest black propaganda waged by the President’s fierce and unthinking critics and detractors by peddling a bogus news story allegedly published by the Bangkok Post with the header, ‘King orders PH Duterte, behave during ASEAN summit,’” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a stateme
“Evidently, the release is deliberate and malicious as it went viral on the day President Duterte arrived in Thailand to participate in the 35th Asean Summit and Related Summits,” he added.
Duterte flew to Thailand on Friday night for the 35th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Bangkok on November 2 to 4.
Panelo lamented that the opposition has once again resorted to “black propaganda” to humiliate the President.
“The political enemies of the President appear to have thrown decency to the garbage bin even as they parade themselves as a rambunctious minority in our country,” he said.
“The Office of the President expresses its indignation over this cheap political stunt aimed at embarrassing PRRD (President Rodrigo Roa Duterte), thereby humiliating our country which he represents, before the global audience,” he added.
In a media interview in Thailand on Friday, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar presented an original copy of the October 31 edition of the Bangkok Post.
He said the “fake” headline against the President in the edited newspaper replaced the original title, “Suvit calls for Thailand to embrace 5G fast, or lag behind rival”.
To avoid a repeat of the spread of false news, Andanar sought the help of the National Bureau of Investigation to trace the person behind the edited headline of the Bangkok Post.
Panelo cautioned Duterte’s critics that Thailand has one of the “strictest” lèse-majesté laws in the world, which punishes anyone who taints the reputation of the King.
“Harming Philippine -Thai bilateral relations by defaming the monarchy through lies and falsehoods is punishable by a prison term, and those behind this recent insolence must face such a grim but deserving consequence,” he added.
Under Article 112 of Thailand’s Lèse-majesté law or criminal code states, a person who “defames, insults or threatens the king, the queen, the heir-apparent or the regent” would be punished with a jail term up to 15 years.
Instead of spreading hate, the opposition should observe a “moratorium” on embarrassing, not only the President but also the entire country, Panelo said.
“These raucous anti-Duterte forces should be educated that when the Head of State and the Chief Executive of the Government of the Philippines is on an official trip overseas, we set aside politics — even the bitterest one amongst foes,” he said.
“If this group cannot rally behind a nation’s mandated leader, as he represents not only his office but the image of the nation as a whole, it should at least observe (a) moratorium on their campaign on hate,” he added. (PNA)
House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez blew his top as an official of the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) spurned his order to re-open to public use farm roads inside the Tagum Agricultural Development Company (Tadeco) farms in Davao del Norte, on Tuesday, March 20.
At the joint hearing by the House committee on justice and the committee on good governance and public accountability, Alvarez ordered Davao Penal Colony (Dapecol) Superintendent Gerardo Padilla to “re-open” the roads to public use.
Saying that he could not follow the Speaker’s order, Padilla told Alvarez that only the Davao del Norte provincial government and the Department of Agriculture can order the re-opening.
Angered by the response, Alvarez accused Padilla of “ gross ignorance.”
“You know Mr. Padilla, you are displaying your gross ignorance. Paano ka ba naging director diyan? Ito simple lang ito, isipin mo ganyan yung takbo ng utak mo,” Alvarez snapped at the chief of Dapecol, a line agency of BuCor.
Not content with his insulting verbal attack, Alvarez also recommended to the House committees the transfer of Padilla for “gross ignorance of his duties and responsibilities.”
The hearing is the fifth on a House resolution initiated by Alvarez on the Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) between Tadeco and BuCor involving about 5,300 hectares of the Dapecol reservation area.
Alvarez is a former friend and political ally of Floirendo. The Speaker’s move to question the JVA is widely criticizedin Davao del Norte.
Alvarez alleged the JVA is “unconstitutional and disadvantageous to the government.”
The JVA was first signed in 1969 with its renewal approved by the President and Congress.
The JVA allowed Tadeco to develop the Dapecol reservation area into a banana plantation, with BuCor earning shares from the production of exportable Cavendish bananas.
Tadeco has also hired as farm hands prisoners serving term in the penal colony, as part of rehabilitation program for the inmates.
On top of the inquiry into the JVA, Alvarez has also sought the “re-opening” of the farm roads alleging that Tadeco barred public passage.
Tadeco denied Alvarez’s claim saying that the public enjoys free passage through the farm roads.
Tadeco President Alexander Valoria told the hearing that bio-security measures have been adopted in the farm to protect bananas against diseases.
Tadeco has installed checkpoints and foot baths and tire dips at the entrance to the farm as ordered by the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI).
In 2012, BPI, an agency of the Department of Agriculture, issued Department Order No. 1, ordering banana plantations to install checkpoints and anti-pest measures to protect against spread of Panama Disease (Fusarium Wilt), which then was attacking bananas. The order remains to this day with the deadly root-disease continuing to be a major threat to the banana industry.
The BPI order was backed by the Davao del Norte capitol with a resolution of support.
The BPI order and the capitol resolution were the legal instruments invoked by PPadilla in shooting down Alvarez’s order to “re-open” the roads inside the Tadeco farm.
Critics and political foes have impregnated their media machine with a horde of swindlers and racketeers in broadcast media, particularly the so-called “Last Two” broadcasters, who have been hurling mud and fake news without let-up against Davao del Norte Second District Congressman Antonio “Tonyboy” Floirendo Jr. and the Floirendo-owned Tagum Agricultural Development Company (Tadeco).
“Last Two” broadcasters, fake mediamen who are not licensed by the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkasters ng Pilipinas (KBP), sell “winning numbers” to listeners, especially from the provinces, in a massive swindling operation that has victimized thousands of gullible lottery bettors.
Carrying fake names and selling alleged winning numbers for as low as P300 to as high as P20,000, the fake broadcasters brag of connections to “insiders” in the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes (PCSO), which runs Philippine lotteries including the Small Time Lottery (STL).
The broadcasting racket is heard in AM and FM radio stations in Davao City like DXKT, DXOW, DXGO, DXRR, Radyo Ukay and others, and the provincial FM stations of Radyo Natin.
Alongside selling fake winning numbers to lottery addicts, the broadcasters spice up their airtime with black propaganda against Floirendo and Tadeco.
Apparently paid hefty sums, the ‘Last Two’ racketeers, who broadcast their programs in paid “blocktime” radio hours (up to P20,000 per month for one hour of airtime), go on air with their swindling racket and black propaganda from early morning up to midnight.
The massive smear attacks in the broadcast media comes as House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, a former friend and political ally of Floirendo, is poised to run for reelection in Davao del Norte’s First District in the 2019 election.
Alvarez’s politics was practically dead after an earlier short-lived term in Congress and since he bowed out of the political scene after serving as transport secretary during the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. His stint in the Arroyo regime was marred by allegations of his link to a controversial multi-million rehabilitation project at the Manila airport.
He hitched a ride on the Duterte-for-President bandwagon in the 2016 election and backed by Floirendo and Tadeco run anew, after more than a decade of political hiatus, and won in the Davao del Norte First District congressional race.
Alvarez has broken relations with Floirendo, an unpopular and widely criticized move in the province aware that Floirendo and Tadeco were long-time political backers of Alvarez.
Reports had it that the Alvarez-Floirendo split was sparked by a public quarrel between their girlfriends.
Soon after he became the Speaker, Alvarez hounded Floirendo with a graft case at the Ombudsman and initiated a congressional inquiry into the legality of Tadeco’s decades-old Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) with the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) over about 5,300 hectares of the Dapecol reservation area that the company developed into a banana plantation.
Except that the fake “Last Two” broadcasters are known for their broadcasting pattern of praising Alvarez and attacking Floirendo and Tadeco, there is however no proof to link them to Alvarez or to speculations that the Speaker is awash with money to fund an expensive black propaganda campaign in media.
However, Davao del Norte Governor Anthony del Rosario, a cousin of Congressman Floirendo, has questioned where the Speaker got P55 million to spend for his birthday bash in Tagum City in January.
Del Rosario raised his query in his speech at a recent Davao del Norte Liga ng mga Barangay event in Davao City.
Short of saying that Alvarez was penniless before he became Speaker, Del Rosario said Alvarez had “begged” from Floirendo for funds to run his election campaign in the 2016 election.
Alvarez’s lavish three-day birthday bash was attended by senators and congressmen, high government officials, movie stars and VIPs, among others.
Reportedly, three planes were allegedly chartered to fly to Davao City, while hundreds of cars were hired for trips to Davao del Norte’s capital city of Tagum. The report, however, did not tie them to the birthday bash.
In the meantime, just about a year to the 2019 polls, Alvarez’s political future appears doomed after presidential daughter Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte vowed to campaign against his reelection.
This developed as the Speaker, the secretary general of President Rodrigo Duterte’s ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), described as an “opposition,” and without the blessing of President Duterte, the regional party, Hugpong ng Pagbabago (HNP), recently formed by Mayor Duterte with Davao Region political leaders.
Going ballistic, Mayor Duterte called Alvarez an “asshole” and urged congressmen to oust the Speaker.
She said Alvarez has become a liability to the nation and the administration of President Duterte.
Following the Sara Duterte-Alvarez spat, governors of the Davao Region’s five provinces led other local officials in resigning en masse from the PDP-Laban to join HNP, which was expected to put up a complete line-up in the 2019 regional elections against Alvarez and his slate under the PDP-Laban banner.
BUSINESS, POLITICS, TOURISM, NEWS, DAVAO CITY, MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES
DIA & FAKE NEWS
TOPNEWSNOW 