‘GO AHEAD’ FOR MARY JANE. Indonesian President Joko Widodo told media what resulted from their talk with President Duterte about drug convict Mary Jane Veloso, the Filipina who has been languishing in the Indonesian death row for almost seven years already. Joko said Duterte said, “go ahead” (execute Mary Jane).
Here in the country, upon his return, Duterte wouldn’t talk about how Joko reacted to his appeal for Mary Jane’s life, which the prez promised before he left for the Asean summit.
He might not have made any appeal at all. Here’s how a Bzzzzz source looks at it: Had Mary Jane been involved with 2.6 kilos of illegal drugs in the Philippines, would she not have been among the casualties in the drug war already? Indonesia would be doing Duterte a favor if it would get rid of our drug courier.
Assuming she did commit the crime. But that’s a process – and this drug war hardly bothers with legal processes.
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‘Pro-Marcos’ post
A FORMER Bongbong Marcos staffer was responsible for a “pro-Marcos,” celebratory post on the government’s Facebook account of the Official Gazette on the 99th death anniversary of former president Ferdinand Marcos.
His chief’s defense: (1) The staffer’s past ties with Bongbong were known by his superiors and (2) the content was “agnostic,” not political.
Knowledge by the employer doesn’t remove the conflict of interest. It takes away the reason for firing him but doesn’t excuse his being assigned to do that particular job. And indeed, he seems to have abused the assignment by writing that pro-Marcos piece.
Whatever he meant by “agnostic” (skeptic? unbeliever?), content that left out facts of history about Marcos is plain untruthful by omission. That they later on pulled out the material showed admission of its defect.
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PCO’s ‘kuryente’
THE Presidential Communication Office (PCO) admits it committed a boo-boo when it issued a press release, attributed to its chief, that Duterte would be seated between U.S. President Barack Obama and the United Nations head. He was not: Duterte was “sandwiched” between the Russian representative and Indonesia’s Joko Widodo.
The reason: Unauthorized press release. The PCO chief admits the “kuryente” but doesn’t say who’ll be electrocuted out of a job.
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Bomb scare
ANOTHER mall shopper was arrested under PD 1727 and this time apparently the suspect was not joking as he intended his false information about a bomb to create panic.
The man’s case may be distinguished from the case of a woman who clearly said she was joking.
[bzzzzz@sunstar.com.ph or paseares@gmail.com]