BY THE end of June, it will be the beginning of President Rodrigo Duterte’s third year into office, but the month came in a more uneasy curve for his administration albeit the recent elections that proved to be a domination on his favor.
The fishermen’s tale of the ramming of what to be believed as a Chinese vessel in Reed (Recto) Bank within the West Philippine Sea/South China Sea, against their fishing boat, have caught an awry sentiment in the general public, even some administration supporters showed concerns, and even dismay; while this has also become a good political capital against him by Duterte’s critics and political opposition groups.
The story broke out on the day the country was celebrating Independence Day, stoking more emotional outrage, making it an affront to the nation’s sovereignty.
A week before that, Duterte made it clear that investment schemes like Kapa Ministry have to stop, causing a domino effect with the law enforcement agencies cracking down its offices throughout Mindanao, and other “marketing” firms that do the same. He said what Kapa and others are doing is a form of Ponzi-scheme, a wide-scale estafa, and therefore illegal.
The result caused a divide; most of these “investors” are Duterte supporters. On one hand, some supporters are angry towards pastor Apollo Quiboloy, since it was through his television program Duterte made those announcements. They believed that Quiboloy was influencing Duterte, thus, due to “competition” of ministries. Kapa, is founded by another pastor, Joel Apolinario.
On another hand, some investors are now disgruntled directly against Duterte, to the point of severing its support to the president and his administration. As a result, a group of them, through Rhema International Livelihood Foundation, Inc. went to the Supreme Court and filed a status quo ante petition, with a P3 billion worth of damages, and an impeachment case against Duterte.
It can be recalled, though, that Duterte’s political top critic, outgoing senator Antonio Trillanes IV, in media interviews that Duterte can be impeached on the mere command of closure of Kapa. Now, the problem with the impeachment complaint by Kapa members, is that they filed it at the SC - not the proper venue to file, since impeachment complaints are filed in the House of Representatives, and must be endorsed by its members, before proceeding to a trial by the Senate. The group’s lawyer/s must have known this already.
The month of June is quite turbulent for Duterte, let us see if the future trust and confidence surveys on him and his administration will be affected.
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In our own vicinity, June is remembered how the provincial government of Misamis Oriental handled the evacuees from Sitio Camansi, Lagonglong town. Provincial officials just drove them away from capitol grounds. The evacuees stayed there for a year, before officials found what appears to be an “opportunity” to evict them.
The situation branched out between provincial government and Cagayan de Oro local government issue on jurisdiction, in terms of what department ordered the actual eviction. And then in another aspect, on insinuating that these evacuees are fronts of the communist rebels.
This will not go unnoticed, and this will be remembered. There can be consequences.
(nefluczon@gmail.com)