Roque derides Sison over Duterte ouster comment
PRESIDENTIAL SPOKESPERSON Harry L. Roque, Jr. on Monday said exiled communist leader Jose Maria “Joma” Sison is “dreaming” for saying that President Rodrigo R. Duterte “will be ousted.” “Joma Sison, wake up,” Mr. Roque said in Filipino, and challenged the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) who has been living in The Netherlands since 1987 to come home to see for himself the country’s current situation. Speaking at a press briefing in Maasin, Leyte, Mr. Roque pointed out that the CPP and its armed wing New People’s Army have unsuccessfully been trying in the last 70 years to bring the government. “Managinip ka pa rin di mo pa rin mapapatalsik ang gobyerno ng Pilipinas (Even if you keep dreaming, you will never be able to kick out the Philippine government),” Mr. Roque said. Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana, meanwhile, said: “Ito talagang si Sison, he never ceases to amaze me. He begs for a peace talk and a ceasefire and now turns around that they will no longer negotiate with this government and threatens to destabilize the administration. Ano ba ang ginagawa nila (What have they been doing) for the past 49 years?” Mr. Lorenzana accused the CPP, along with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, of using the pursuit of peace talks as a strategy to enforce a ceasefire “so that they can regain lost grounds.” He added, “Let us not be lulled or hoodwinked by Sison’s glib tongue about reforms. They will institute reforms all right, but along communist lines when they have finally won… The government, on the other hand, has been instituting reforms in accordance with our laws, our resources and our people’s most pressing needs, such as land reform, job generation projects, infrastructure development, and other poverty alleviation initiatives.”— Arjay L. Balinbin
Robredo camp slams OSG for causing delay in shading threshold case
VICE-PRESIDENT Maria Leonor “Leni” G. Robredo has called out the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) for attempting to extend for the third time its deadline to comment on the 25% voting threshold petition she filed before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET). In a five-page motion submitted to the PET on June 29 and released to media on Monday, the camp of Ms. Roredo “vehemently” opposed the OSG’s third motion for extension “since it would already total to a whopping 40 days period to file said comment.” Ms. Robredo’s chief legal counsel, Romulo B. macalintal, said in a statement, “the OSG has been given enough time to respond to the order of the Presidential Electoral Tribunal,” which represented the Commission on Election (COMELEC) in the case. According to Ms. Robredo’s camp, the OSG asked for a 15-day extension on May 28 after receiving the PET’s order to comment on May 17, a day past the 10-day deadline issued by the PET. They then asked for a second 15-day extension on June 11 and a third one on June 26, when the OSG failed again to submit a comment. Ms. Robredo’s motion said, “[t]he continued failure of the OSG to submit the Comment for an in behalf of Comelec has resulted to a delay in the disposition of the (petition to uphold the 25% voting threshold) dated April 19, 2018.” In that petition, Ms. Robredo urged the PET to uphold the 25% threshold in her ongoing election recount against losing vice presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos, Jr., as it was the same threshold used in the 2016 national elections. — Dane Angelo M. Enerio
