WHY Representative Ramon "Red" Durano VI believes he won the last election in Cebu's fifth district: he finds unacceptable that:
[1] Red won in nine out of 11 municipalities and, in the entire Camotes islands, his rival's team won only one councilor's seat and yet he lost by 35,609 votes.
[2] Alleged "glaring irregularities" were "recorded and observed" on election day, notably the malfunctioning of several vote-counting machines, causing a four-hour delay, and Durano voters who said their receipts didn't reflect Red's name.
Most interesting of the Durano argument though is that the protest heeds President Rodrigo Duterte's "marching order to substantiate" suspicions of fraud by Smartmatic with an actual case. So far, no election loser who believes he was cheated by the firm's machines has proved mechanical cheating before Comelec, the courts or the electoral tribunal.
What must sting Durano VI most, according to an informant, is that he lost to his opponent, Duke Frasco, Governor Gwen Garcia's son-in-law, in Red's own precinct or polling center. Is that true? Comelec records should confirm or reject the buzz. To the Durano clan, it was "an unbelievable and unacceptable upset," not in "Durano country," one supporter told a broadcaster.
Bishop favors death penalty
Listen to how Manila Representative Bienvenido Abante, a Christian bishop and expected to be the new minority leader in the House, explains why he favors the return of the death penalty:
"I'm pro-life, yet I've been saying that to be pro-life is to be pro-death, apparently to preserve life."
Abante favors the death penalty for heinous crimes such as massacre and murder with rape or plunder.
Meaning of Du30 quote
President Duterte in his 2019 Sona last Monday (July 22) said the "enemy is us."
The original line was "We have met the enemy and they are ours," contained in the report of victory in a naval battle in 1812 from Commodore Oliver Perry. Then it appeared as a parody in a 1970 Fourth of July poster, which cartoonist Walt Kelly later used in a Pogo comic strip, to refer to the turmoil caused by the Vietnam War: "Yep, son, we have met the enemy and he is us."
Fast forward to the present when the most popular variation of the quote, attaining near cliché status, is: "Sometimes, we are our own worst enemies."
Duterte's slight rephrasing of the quote applies to the Philippine scenario in which the villains that cause the widespread corruption and serial killings are also Filipinos, including the leaders who actively or complicitly promote them.
THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW. -- Starting August 1, DFA, or foreign affairs department, will accept postal ID issued by Philippine Postal Corp. as recognized ID for passport application.
-- When Senator Imee Marcos was asked why she wore a yellow dress during last July 22's Sona, she replied, "Move forward, magkaisa ulit." Kris Aquino of the Aquino clan retorted when her comment was sought: "We can move forward but we can do that only by acknowledging the past... Reach out, acknowledge past sins and show remorse." Imee Marcos refused to do that during the election campaign and yet she won. Not likely she'd do it now that she's a full-fledged senator of the land.
-- Juril Patino's wife defends on Facebook her husband, a lawyer and broadcaster, against the charge of rape of a 13-year-old girl, for which he was arrested last Monday (July 22). The case is fabricated, she says, "I know how good he is as a person. I can vouch for him." What the prosecutor and the judge, if the case reaches the court, will rely on will be the evidence against Juril, whether the alleged victim's accusation will hold up under severe scrutiny. The wife's support is at best morale-booster.
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