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Ex-NEDA head Habito says pursuit of rice self-sufficiency raises prices

STRIVING for rice self-sufficiency is expected to drive prices for the grain even higher, according to economist and Ateneo de Manila University professor Cielito F. Habito.
In an interview with BusinessWorld on the sidelines of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) forum, Mr. Habito said: “It is our insistence of producing 100% which is making rice more expensive because we end up tapping marginal land where it is expensive to produce rice.”
Mr. Habito, a former economic planning secretary, noted that Singapore is the second most food-secure country in the world, yet imports 90% of its food requirements.
“We need to stop chasing 100% self-sufficiency, which drives prices higher. We need to invest in other resources like cacao, coffee, and all these exportable products,” Mr. Habito added.
On Monday, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol announced that the National Food Authority Council approved the importation of 750,000 metric tons (MT) of rice for this year, and standby authority to import 1 million metric tons next year.
The 750,000 MT includes an initially approved 250,000 MT plus an additional 500,000 MT.
According to Mr. Habito, there is nothing wrong with this level of importation as long as the private sector is in charge.
“Why spend public funds to directly import rice? When private firms import they will also pay tariffs, which means the government earns money, which will finance rice competitiveness enhancement,” Mr. Habito said.
He also said that the directive of President Rodrigo R. Duterte to maintain a 60-day buffer stock of rice, which he called a “safe” level, need not all be NFA rice.
In his presentation at the forum, Mr. Habito noted that the Philippines is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, and adding land planted to rice exposes the industry to greater damage.
“The Philippines is agreed to be the most vulnerable to climate change among ASEAN countries. We are only making ourselves more vulnerable to disaster the more rice farmers that we have,” Mr. Habito said.
Philippine Confederation of Grains, Inc. president Herculano C. Co, Jr. said that the recently-approved imports are not enough, adding that the real problem in the rice market is the mistiming of NFA imports.
In his presentation, Mr. Co said that the current rice crisis is similar to the state of the market in 1995.
“We never learned our lesson,” Mr. Co said, noting that in 1995, “imports came late” and that while the shipments did arrive they could not be unloaded because of the rains.
He said the function of the NFA is not to compete with the private sector, but to stabilize the price of rice.
“That is not their mandate. If the price of palay (unmilled rice) drops below P17, that’s where the NFA comes it. When the price of rice goes up, that’s also the time the NFA (releases inventory),” Mr. Co said.
University of the Philippines economics professor Ramon L. Clarete said that the government should address the NFA’s finances. The NFA has said that it was not able to procure palay as it had used its funds to service maturing loans amounting to P5.1 billion.
Mr. Clarete also said that the NFA has an inherent conflict of interest “as a market participant and a regulator.”
He said stabilizing food prices is a prerequisite for industrialization.
“There can be no successful industrialization without bringing the food cost down. Let’s translate the direction of our policy to bringing food costs down,” according to Mr. Clarete. — Reicelene Joy N. Ignacio

With friends like these…

In the evening of Feb. 22, 1986, then Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Vice Chief of Staff Fidel Ramos announced that they were withdrawing their support for the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. It was only a few hours after AFP Chief of Staff Fabian Ver had discovered and foiled their plan to storm Malacañang, oust Marcos, and replace him with a military junta.
Ramos, a second cousin of the dictator, said he could no longer support Marcos because he had put his and his family’s interests above those of the people, and was “no longer the duly constituted authority” in the Philippines.
In agreement with Ramos, Enrile appealed to the rest of the Philippine officialdom to “heed the will of the people expressed in the last elections.” He was referring to the snap elections of Feb. 7 that Marcos had “won” against Corazon Aquino through fraud. In acknowledgement of Aquino’s being the duly-elected President of the Philippines, Enrile revealed that “In my own region, I know that we cheated in the elections to the extent of 350,000 votes.”
The pair had earlier asked Jaime Cardinal Sin to call on the Catholic faithful to support them. The cardinal did, describing the two former, long-time Marcos bureaucrats as “our friends.”
From the AFP’s Camp Aguinaldo headquarters on EDSA, where they had announced their break from Marcos, they appealed directly to the people for protection, uncertain as they were of the extent of their support in the officers’ corps, and as sure as they were that Marcos was moving to arrest them.
But by the evening of Feb. 25, Marcos and his family had left for Hawaii, USA, forced out of Malacañang by the tens of thousands of nuns and priests, professionals, workers, students and teachers who had defied tanks and attack helicopters to protect Enrile, Ramos and their military loyalists who had by then moved to Camp Crame. Sworn in as president in the morning of the same date, Corazon Aquino had earlier appointed Enrile Defense Secretary and Ramos AFP Chief of Staff.
Enrile later attributed the fall of Marcos to the military, and belittled the crucial role of the civilians who had risked life and limb to protect him and Ramos. But that wasn’t the only time he was to take liberties with the facts. Interviewed on Feb. 24, 1986, Enrile revealed that the Marcos regime had staged an assassination attempt on him to help justify the declaration of martial law. But in 2012, and again last Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, he denied ever having said so.
Last week Enrile also denied the truth of a number of well-established and well-documented facts about the Marcos dictatorship which he himself had earlier acknowledged to be true.
His claim that no one was ever killed or arrested for his or her political views is completely false. Volumes of studies as well as those who lost sons, daughters, husbands, wives, brothers and sisters to the Marcos killing machine, and those who survived arrest, detention, beatings, rape and torture in military camps and safe houses have proven over the last four decades how arbitrary, abusive and brutal the regime was.
As the chief implementor of martial law, Enrile knows this only too well. Every order for the arrest of a member of the political opposition, student activist, independent journalist, labor leader and other regime critics carried his signature, for example, and he certainly knew what the military was doing in its camps and safe houses. Before the events of 1986, he was also acknowledged as the number two man of the Marcos regime, responsible as he was for the campaign to silence and rid the country of all opposition.
Despite his services to the dictatorship, in 1987 Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos could hardly conceal their outrage over Enrile’s role in EDSA 1986. Interviewed by two US journalists in Hawaii that year, both had nearly unprintable words to describe him, “traitor” and “betrayer” being among the least flattering.
But there he was last Friday, disparaging the Corazon Aquino administration he had been part of, in an equally amateurish replication of the Duterte-Panelo Sept. 11 chat fest, with no less than his former boss’ son Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr., whose father he had helped overthrow 32 years ago, helping him justify the declaration of martial law.
The Enrile versions of what happened during martial rule were so obviously false it isn’t even necessary to dispute them. Thousands of pages of eyewitness testimonies, documents, photographs and the government’s own records have already done so. That sorry spectacle last Sept. 21 instead invites the question of what Enrile and Marcos, Jr.’s sudden public display of affection reveals about the character of the ruling clique that for over seven decades has monopolized political power in this rumored democracy.
What is equally of interest is the motive behind this latest attempt to paint the Marcos terror regime in glowing rather than its true, bloody colors. The answer is obvious enough. It is to reinvent martial law as the best thing that ever happened to this country and as neither an attempt to halt the democratization of Philippine governance and society nor the worst expression of the bureaucrat capitalist lust for pelf and power.
Martial law stopped the burgeoning movement for the empowerment of the marginalized and dispossessed millions and assured the continuing rule of the wing of the ruling class that had gained ascendancy through government corruption. It also enabled one man and his family to amass billions of dollars in secret bank accounts, jewelry, art work and real estate all over the globe to the detriment of the entire Filipino nation and at the cost of thousands of lives.
And yet the point of the Enrile-Marcos Sept. 21 theatrics was to make strongman rule acceptable as a governance option today. Reimagined as the Golden Age, it would dupe the public, specially the young, into once more electing to the pinnacles of power such of its advocates as the Marcos and Duterte dynasties.
But it was also a demonstration of how handily, despite their seeming differences, the political cliques in this country can unite and forge alliances of convenience whenever it suits their short-term interest, which at this point is that of winning next year’s elections. Beyond that, however, is the long-term one of keeping things the way they are and have always been.
From 1987 onwards, Enrile and his co-conspirators in the military made sure that the changes promised by the EDSA “revolution” they had themselves helped make possible would never happen. They instigated four of the five coup attempts to restore authoritarian rule with which the Aquino administration had to contend throughout its troubled six-year term.
Conservative as the landed Aquino-Cojuangco clan already was, the Corazon Aquino government was driven even farther Right. To preserve itself it sought US help and further tightened the stranglehold on the Philippines of the very same country that supported the declaration of martial law in 1972 and where the Marcoses had found refuge in 1986.
In 1992 Aquino successor Fidel Ramos welcomed the Marcoses back to the Philippines — and back into power. In the years that followed, the supposedly contentious groups that pretend to give the electorate a choice at the polls every three years eventually made peace with each other in behalf of preserving the political and social system that has so benefited them. As the Marcoses, the Enriles, the Arroyos, the Dutertes and the rest of their ilk continue to deny them the changes they want and need, the long-suffering Filipino millions might well ask if, with “ friends” like these, they still need enemies.
 
Luis V. Teodoro is on Facebook and Twitter (@luisteodoro). The views expressed in Vantage Point are his own and do not represent the views of the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility.
www.luisteodoro.com

A series of lives

The Duchess of Windsor once remarked, “A woman’s life can really be a succession of lives, each revolving around some emotionally compelling situation or challenge, and each marked off by some intense experience.”
The story of the Duke of Windsor, former King Edward VIII, who abdicated his throne for the woman he loved, is probably one of the most romantic in the 20th Century.
An individual’s life is more than one continuous story. It is a book with chapters and short episodes. For some, it is a series of experiences, several books with different volumes. A mélange of contrasting and contradictory emotions, actions and reactions with ripple effects that affect other lives as well.
One’s faith, courage and resilience may be tested — repeatedly. It could be a debilitating illness, the loss of one’s home, one’s center of gravity. It could be a job displacement, a sudden change in career, early retirement, financial collapse, a tragedy in the family, or the loss of the beloved.
In traditional society, man has always been considered the adventurer, hunter, provider, head of the family, favored heir, the beloved child of the mother and father. Woman, in contrast, is the nurturer, supportive spouse and sister, mother and caregiver. Her role has been limited to stereotypes that diminish instead of enhance her true capabilities and diverse talents.
For the woman who is a survivor, an ironic twist of fate, a trauma in her succession of “lives” makes her stronger and braver as she passes various tests of fire. Like a diamond that is polished by heat and pressure, her brilliance is seen as a prism of light.

* * *

Ten years ago, a writer-artist had a turning point and began a second life.
A car crash, that could have been fatal happened. Suddenly, there was a jolting impact, a deafening crunch of metal against metal and concrete. Steam and smoke, dust and a loud sizzle. The car hit two parked motorbikes and a brick wall.
Chest pain. Blinding bright light. It was noontime on the last day of the year.
The air bags popped were deflated balloons on the steering wheel and the dashboard. The young boy woke up from his nap. Luckily, he had his seat belt on and was sitting at the back. (There had been a warning for him to put it on just 10 minutes earlier.) Dazed, they stumbled of the crumpled car and cracked windshield and steaming radiator — without any scratches. No visible injuries. No casualties. Nobody else was hurt.
There was pain in the chest from the impact that made breathing, coughing and laughing difficult. A few hours later, after the police report and interminable wait, they found a clinic which happened to be open on a holiday. The X-ray showed no rib fractures.
It was an incredible miracle to have survived that accident. The guardian angel made the car veer right — to the safe shoulder of the road. Instead of going to the left where there could have been a head-on collision with a bus. The crash happened on the national highway (not on the expressway) with heavy moving traffic — at a slow speed of 10 km/hr.
Angels in the form of old and new friends and strangers came to the rescue, arranged for towing, and drove them to their destination by the sea.
That night was New Year’s Eve. A dazzling display of fireworks blazed in the sky. The family watched from a balcony overlooking the bay. Amidst the exploding fireworks, brilliant against the indigo sky, the cool breezes from the sea and the exuberant laughter of kids, they said a profound prayer of gratitude.
It was a dreamlike mystery, a case of Divine protection. The driver was wearing the medallion relic of St. Marie Eugenie Milleret, R.A.
The lingering chest pain was healed on the second Sunday of January, the feast of the baptism of Jesus by St. John the Baptist.
After Mass on the open field, the gifted healing priest blessed and touched the forehead of the writer. The energy from his hand was electrifying. It caused her to fall backwards. In two hours, the pain slowly vanished.
A “head first” fall from a horse happened two years ago. Losing consciousness for a few minutes meant a form of head injury. Again, the guardian angel caught her as she plunged to the ground. The sturdy helmet and a rosary protected her. A pair of riders and a nurse revived her. The ambulance came and angels in the form of doctors surrounded her. A series of neurological tests and x-rays revealed a mild concussion and bruises. It was another small miracle.
She had helped a badly injured rider some 14 years ago. He survived despite the skull fracture and bleeding. And that gesture reaped good karma.
The young boy has grown into a fine gentleman, a graduate who is on the verge of starting his own life.
The past years had been a series of crises, roller coaster ups and downs with agonizing upheavals and excruciating revelations. Fortunately, there always remained a strong faith and the spiritual grace to sustain the inner journey of solitude.
The psychic and physical pains have been transformed into a gift — a new life with new blessings.
There are no coincidences in this world.
Synchronicity and serendipity.
Every day is precious. We should always be grateful.
 
Maria Victoria Rufino is an artist, writer and businesswoman. She is president and executive producer of Maverick Productions.
mavrufino@gmail.com

Perhaps martial law wasn’t as bad as you thought?

Of course, martial law per se cannot be a bad thing. Otherwise, that presidential power would not have been provided for in the 1935, 1973, and then the 1987 Constitutions. Even the draft constitutions being considered today include martial law provisions.
If anything, the negative thing that can be said is that the martial law provisions in the current Constitution have been so emasculated as to make it utterly futile. The president, employing his commander-in-chief powers, could address emergencies a whole lot more and quickly without resorting to martial rule. But that’s another column (“No highs, all lows, with martial law,” June 24, 2017).
When Filipinos speak of martial law, the default referral is to that of Ferdinand Marcos’s 1972 declaration, of which last Friday was its 46th “anniversary.” There are at least five other instances of such declarations in Philippine history but because of today’s political partisanship, despite repeated calls for “never again,” Marcos’s martial law is the one kept continually alive in the public minds.
Almost to the point of ad nauseam.
Yet, despite the persistent droning about the supposed evils of martial law, bizarrely no impartial objective study on that major part of Philippine history has been made.
Academic and fellow political commentator Dr. Antonio Contreras said it best in one Facebook post: “Martial law is a complex period in our history. Different kinds of people had different kinds of experiences. Those who took up arms against the state, or were sympathetic to them, naturally had different narratives compared to those who lived through the period as compliant, obedient citizens. And in between are others who had different stories to tell, some positive, some negative, and many others that are mixed.”
The point here is of the probability that many claiming to be martial law victims were not arrested for their political or religious beliefs but because they were charged with crimes. The question that we should be concerned with is: were the charges valid?
One tried and tested way is through the operation of the rule of law, investigating and trying each individual case, the best being through open court proceedings. Failing that, at least an independent methodical thorough and objective historical research based on direct testimony and documentation.
However, as of today, we don’t know and at the rate we’re going we’ll never know.
Media is content with portraying martial law victims heroically abused for their “struggle.” Which, when you think of it, makes no sense.
barbed wire
Even then, media always fails to consider that the “struggle” (however good the objective) oftentimes involves what is considered in the Revised Penal Code as rebellion, sedition, arson, destruction of property, physical injuries, and murder.
If we condemn EJKs because the ends do not justify the means, then why we condone it here?
This becomes all the more relevant when we realize that only 15% of the 75,730 abuse claims filed were recognized as valid by the Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board to date.
Furthermore, human rights abuses are a different question and should not detract from the reality that crimes against the State (hence, crimes against the Filipino people) may have been committed. Which the state is duty bound to stop and impose accountability.
Were there abuses done to those arrested? Yes, apparently. But that’s a separate question again from whether if their arrests were lawfully done and if those arrested were actually guilty of the crimes mentioned above.
Finally, assuming that abuses were committed, whether it was done as policy or incompetence of higher ups to control soldiers on the ground or breakdown in change of command, in other words “attribution,” is an entirely different question again.
People keep saying “never again” but never again to what? Against defending the country?
Or incompetence? Or corruption while defending the country? Or misusing the law to stifle dissent? How will we know for sure?
It would have been great if a court or research body made a methodical and transparent effort to reveal the truth. But that was never done because of people immediately and emotionally (becoming very personally invested) in either taking the line of Marcos officials or alleged victims of human rights abuses, failing miserably to test both sides for veracity.
News columnist Tito Hermoso pertinently asks (also on Facebook): “With all these victims of Martial Law,…why wasn’t a Commission, vested with Constitutional powers formed? The RevGov of Cory formed the PCGG which was able to do something, but why not for the victims? Oh, its so easy to blame ‘Command Responsibility’ but it does not provide closure to the victims families. xxx This is the question that should be posed to those still living who were part of the RevGov of 1986. Why? Surely its neglect/failure/avoidance of investigation was not simply to perpetuate a ‘Holocaust’ as a perpetual, unfinished, unresolved indictment of the Marcos regime?”
Indeed. Far better questions than merely inanely repeating “never again.”
 
Jemy Gatdula is a senior fellow of the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations and a Philippine Judicial Academy law lecturer for constitutional philosophy and jurisprudence.
jemygatdula@yahoo.com
www.jemygatdula.blogspot.com
facebook.com/jemy.gatdula
Twitter @jemygatdula

Thinking of a replacement

By Tony Samson
IN Ken Auletta’s new book (June 2018) Frenemies, covering the disruption of the media and advertising world, the author touches on succession plans for the entrenched and aging icons of the ad industry. Martin Sorrel, then the still active head of WPP, talked of succession planning at age 72, “I will stay here until they shoot me.” After that statement, the undisclosed details of an investigation on Sorrel resulted in his “resignation.” There were no shots heard.
While monarchies have defined succession protocols for deaths and abdications, reaching down to toddlers that have an assigned number in the succession chain, conglomerates, also ruled by wannabe monarchs, seldom pay attention to who will replace them. Succession is a topic at the bottom of the CEO’s to-do list.
Designating a specific individual or even a set of candidates erodes the myth that senior executives are uniquely irreplaceable or that any of the possible replacements are worthy. (He is beyond genius.) The myth of a vacuum after an exit dismisses De Gaulle’s reminder that “the graveyards are full of irreplaceable men.” Before that, he also said, “After me, the deluge.”
Grooming the hair may be more urgent in the incumbent CEO’s mindset than grooming an heir. An identified CEO-in-waiting tends to be lionized too soon by those investing in the future. He attracts those who want to be part of the new ruling class. Isn’t it then a short step for the successor-in-waiting to push for a timetable for the handover? Even a distant-sounding time horizon like 3 years eventually comes around — is it 3 years already? Oh, my. Tempus fugit!
The delaying tactic of the reluctant evacuee involves an unfinished project — let me just complete this 7-year plan and then we can talk about your new role. The successor is then portrayed as over-eager and still a work in progress. Doesn’t he need to acquire new skills, like the ability to leap over tall buildings and stop a speeding train?
Succession planning seems critical only for the successors. If no heir is apparent, everybody is considered in the running — what’s the rush? In each planning session, the consultant (coached by the second in line) has a last slide on the challenges of the future like disruptive technology, declining demand, eroding market share, and “depth of the management bench.” The last bullet point occupies one whole slide and introduced after a pregnant pause — will somebody give birth to a thought?
Even when a successor is announced, he is not given the top job right away. He will need to hover over the runway, before being asked to land. Maybe he will run out of gas and get tired flying in circles, deciding in frustration to land in another location where he is immediately needed.
Succession plans often disappoint. Two things need to happen for the longed-for event to take place. The incumbent needs to leave or be forced out and the other wannabes need to step aside to give the identified successor a clear path as all the rest cheer him on and pledge undying allegiance. (Wake me when it’s over.)
Perhaps, the search committee should also define a role for a dethroned king. Many use the position of chair for this, or if this is already sat on too firmly, there is the “emeritus” title which in Latin means “having earned” (a position). It should be made clear that he won’t get any reports, only an office with a secretary, plus free coffee. He is provided wi-fi to check the news on his phone.
Succession thoughts are hardest for the non-owner perceived as a hired hand, even if he is getting the highest paycheck on the planet, and kowtowed to wherever he goes.
There’s no succession problem for owners.
In family corporations, the patriarch exits and designates an heir to succeed him, or breaks up the empire, with each fiefdom headed by an equal number of descendants.
Anyway, the old man doesn’t really retire. He just stops going to office, and worries about his blood pressure, and maybe the market cap of the company as of the previous day’s closing price. He earnestly resists the temptation to meddle, patiently waiting to be consulted. Is that a knock on the door?
 
Tony Samson is chairman and CEO, TOUCH xda
ar.samson@yahoo.com

US report cites Philippines’ improved counterterrorism

By Arjay L. Balinbin, Reporter
THE PHILIPPINES’ counterterrorism capabilities have improved amid attacks and threats from terrorist groups affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS), according to the US Department of State’s 2017 Country Reports on Terrorism .
“The Philippines improved its counterterrorism capabilities in the face of an evolving and increasingly robust terrorist threat. The Philippine government consistently acknowledged the dangers from ISIS-affiliated terrorist groups and welcomed assistance from the United States and a range of international partners,” the report said.
In a transcript posted on the US Department of State’s Web site, US Ambassador-at-Large and Coordinator for Counterterrorism Nathan A. Sales said in a special briefing on the release of this report last week, Sept. 19, that “fifty-nine percent of all the attacks took place in five countries [in 2017].
Those are Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Pakistan, and the Philippines.” In his press briefing at Malacañang on Thursday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry L. Roque, Jr. said: “We welcome the favorable review of the US State Department on our ongoing campaign against terrorism and violent extremism.”
The report mentioned the steps undertaken by the Philippine government to fight and prevent terrorism and extremism in the country, especially in Mindanao which is currently under martial law.
“President (Rodrigo R.) Duterte identified amending the Human Security Act of 2007, the country’s principal counterterrorism legislation, as a priority in both of his State of the Nation Addresses. Efforts to revise the legislation, thereby enabling more effective investigation and prosecution of terrorism as a crime, were ongoing at the end of 2017,” the report said.
The US Department of State also said the “interagency information sharing continued to improve among Philippine law enforcement units, despite the country lacking a fully operational 24/7 joint fusion center to monitor and address terrorist threats and activities.”
On the aviation security, the report said the Philippines has increased its capacity “by procuring updated x-ray technology and more widely using explosive trace detection units, but it faced understaffing challenges at security checkpoints and lacked a comprehensive national aviation security strategy.”
“Four Japanese-donated maritime rescue and response vessels allowed the Philippine Coast Guard to extend its maritime security capabilities in key areas of their Exclusive Economic Zone and the Sulu Sea,” it added.
The Philippines, through its participation in the Department of State’s Antiterrorism Assistance (ATA) program, “received training and equipment on crisis response, border security, and investigations — including cyber investigations,” the report also read.

President owns up to EJKs

By Arjay L. Balinbin, Reporter
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte on Thursday owned up to extra judicial killings (EJKs) in the country as he deplored complaints filed against his controversial war on drugs, accusing him of murder and crimes against humanity, at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands.
“Ano kasalanan ko? Nagnakaw ba ako dyan ni piso? Did I prosecute somebody na pinakulong ko? Ang kasalanan ko lang ‘yung mga extrajudicial killing (What is my fault? Did I steal money, even a single peso? Did I prosecute somebody whom I ordered jailed? My only fault is the extra judicial killing),” Mr. Duterte said in his remarks at the Palace on Thursday afternoon, Sept. 27, during the oath-taking of new career executive service officers, conferment ceremony of the 2017 Gawad Career Executive Services, and the 2018 Outstanding Government Workers Awards rites.
“Eh ‘yung mga extra judicial killing naman itong mga ulol, lalo na ‘yung itim, sino ‘yun? (These extra judicial killings are for the mad ones, especially that black [person], who is that?),” he added, perhaps referring to ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.
He also said the “prosecutor” is “actually exercising functions which [she is] not supposed to do,” and she is “committing usurpation of authority.”
“Itong ICC. Mahina talaga yang mga buang na ‘yan (The ICC. These crazy people are really stupid),” the President continued.
Mr. Duterte mentioned as well former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince of Jordan Zeid Raad al-Hussein, a cousin of King Abdullah of Jordan.
“He [was] not even elected democratically. He [was] there as part of the ruling elite,” Mr. Duterte said.
“Now you come to me, sabihin mo (to tell me) I need a psychiatrist? Gag* ka pala (You are stupid),” he added.
The President noted also that King Abdullah recently donated two attack “helicopters” to the Philippines during his official visit to Jordan.
“Binigyan nga tayo ng (He definitely gave us) helicopters, tapos alam mo sabi ng (then you know what the) King of Jordan (said [of his cousin])? ‘Do not mind that brother, he is [crazy]’,” he narrated.
But then Mr. Duterte also said about the 4,000 deaths attributed to the drug war: “4,000 deaths. When? Where? How? What did I use? Wala (nothing).”
An emcee said after Mr. Duterte’s speech, “Thank you very much, Mr. President, for your encouraging words of wisdom.”

OFW shot dead in Saudi Arabia

AN OVERSEAS Filipino Worker (OFW) in Saudi Arabia was shot dead after allegedly stabbing to death his employer and several others last Wednesday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.
In a statement issued Wednesday evening, the initial reports of the Philippine Consulate General in Jeddah indicate that the OFW, whose name is withheld pending notification of his relative, first stabbed his Pakistani co-worker after an argument. The Filipino worker then impaled his Saudi manager and several other co-worker when they tried to intervene.
Security personnel of the company, a subcontractor of the Saudi Electric Company, immediately responded to the incident and shot the OFW dead. The firm is located in Farasan Island, 50 kilometers offshore from the southern city of Jizan, Saudi Arabia.
Consul General Edgar B. Badajos said a team from the Consulate is being dispatched to the area to gather more information about the incident and assist in repatriating the OFW’s remains. — Camille A. Aguinaldo

Sol-Gen threatens libel case vs Trillanes

SOLICITOR-GENERAL Jose C. Calida, in a statement on Thursday, threatened to file a libel case against opposition Sen. Antonio F. Trillanes IV unless the senator apologizes for claiming that Mr. Calida “stole” his amnesty application form at the Armed Forces of the Philippines headquarters.
Mr. Trillanes’s amnesty in 2011 was revoked last month by President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s Proclamation No. 572, which claimed, among others, that Mr. Trillanes did not file an Official Amnesty Application Form and did not acknowledge guilt for the crimes of rebellion and coup d’etat in connection with the 2003 Oakwood Mutiny and 2007 Mania Peninsula Siege.
In his statement, Mr. Calida said “The putschist Mr. Trillanes ranted to the media yesterday that I ‘stole’ his amnesty application document. In effect, Mr. Trillanes maliciously branded me as a thief, which I’m not.”
“Unless Mr. Trillanes expresses his sincere apology for calling me a thief, I shall be constrained to file a criminal case for libel plus damages against him,” Mr. Calida also said.
In a press briefing on Sept. 26, Mr. Trillanes claimed that Mr. Calida either kept or destroyed his amnesty application form.
“Maliwanag dito, kung meron mang nagtago o nagsira ng mga application documents ko, itong si Mr. Calida. Tapos gagamitin nila ‘yan to revoke my amnesty (It is clear, if there is someone who kept or destroyed my application documents, it is Mr. Calida. Then they will use that to revoke my amnesty),” he said.
Mr. Calida, in his statement, said, “I have never entered the offices of the J1 or the Personnel Division of the AFP at Camp Aguinaldo so how could I ‘steal’ documents kept there?”
He was referring to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, whose custodian, Lt. Col. Thea Joan N. Andrade, “issued a Certification that there is no available copy of Trillanes’ application for amnesty,” Mr. Calida said.
Mr. Duterte as well as Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana had earlier cited Mr. Calida for doing “research” on Mr. Trillanes.
Mr. Trillanes, for his part, said Mr. Calida is “in no position to demand anything.”
“Alam niya ang katotohanan (He knows the truth). Alam ng buong Pilipinas, at this point, ang katotohanan. At ganun na lang ‘yun. (The whole Philippines, at this point, knows the truth. That’s it.) Kung ano man ang plano niyang gawin (Whatever he plans to do), I expect the worst out of him. So he can do whatever he wants,” the senator said. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

DFA to shorten passport processing

By Camille A. Aguinaldo, Reporter
THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will shorten the waiting time for passport releases to 12 working days from the original 15 for regular processing and six working days from seven for express processing in Metro Manila, starting Oct. 1.
For DFA Consular offices outside Metro Manila, the waiting time will be reduced to 12 working days from the original 20 for regular processing and to seven working days from 10 for express processing.
In a statement, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano said the DFA is also working to reduce the waiting time for passport applications filed at the Philippine Embassies and Consulates around the world. The processing currently takes as long as two months, according to DFA.
“We made a promise to the President and to our kababayan that we will work hard to give them fast, efficient, and secure passport services,” Mr. Cayetano said in a statement from New York.
The DFA has also shortened the waiting time of passport applicants in securing online appointment slots to two weeks to one month compared to the average of two to three months last year.
“From the 9,500 passports that were being processed daily in May last year, we have increased our capacity to almost 20,000 passports a day. We endeavor to increase to number to 30,000 by the end of the year,” Mr. Cayetano said.

State of calamity declared in Ompong-hit regions

PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte has declared a state of calamity in Regions I, II, III, and the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) due to “widespread destruction, substantial damage and deaths” caused by Typhoon Ompong (Mangkhut).
Mr. Duterte and Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea signed Proclamation No. 593 last Tuesday, Sept. 25, declaring a state of calamity in the said regions.
The President’s proclamation said the declaration of a state of calamity was recommended by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).
“The declaration of a state of calamity will hasten the rescue, recovery, relief and rehabilitation efforts of the government and the private sector, including any international humanitarian assistance,” the Proclamation read.
It added that the “declaration will provide basis for price control measures which can mitigate the economic impact to affected populations, and effectively provide the national government, as well as local government units (LGUs), ample latitude in the utilization of funds for recovery and rehabilitation efforts, on one hand, and delivery of basic needs and services, on the other.”
The Proclamation also directs all departments and other concerned government agencies “to implement and execute rescue, recovery, relief and rehabilitation work in accordance with pertinent operational plans and directives; provide or augment the basic services and facilities of affected LGUs; and undertake all necessary measures to ensure peace and order in the affected areas, as may be necessary.” — Arjay L. Balinbin

Determined

Members of the search, rescue and retrieval operations at the landslide site in Barangay Ucab, Itogon, Benguet, in this photo taken on Sept. 26, day 11 after the calamity, express their determination to locate all the victims. As of 10 a.m. Thursday, 14 are still listed as missing while 84 bodies have been retrieved. The Office of Civil Defense in Cordillera, in a Facebook post, said the 500 responders and volunteers at the site are “physically worn out but still emotionally and mentally strong.” In the whole Cordillera Administrative Region, 111 have been confirmed dead and 22 still missing, including those in Baguio City, provinces of Kalinga and Mt. Province, and other parts of Benguet.

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