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PATULOY ang mga kalasan at lipatan ng iba’t ibang pwersa na tumatangkilik sa mga kandidato sa halalan pampanguluhan ng Mayo 9. Hindi nakakagulat kung galing sa kampo ni BBM at Isko Domagozo ang mga kumakalas at sumama sa kampo ni Leni Robredo. Mas nakakagulat na nanatiling buo ang kampo ni Leni. Hindi natitinag at hindi sangkot sa mga kalasan at lipatan. Hindi na namin babanggitin ang mga detalye dahil sisikat lang sila.
Nakagawian sa pulitika ng bansa ang nasangkot ang ilang celebrity sa pulitika. Kamakailan, nagdeklara ang artista na si Piolo Pascual na sinusuportahan niya si Leni. Nagpahayag rin ng suporta ang dating child actress Camille Prats, Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach, at Miss International 2016 Kylie Verzosa na suporta kay Leni. Hanggang ngayon, walang matinong organisasyon at paaralan ang negdedeklara ng suporta kay BBM at Isko.
Mas titindi ang natitirang tatlong linggo ng kampanya. Maraming nagaganap na kalasan at lipatan. Gayunpaman, mangingibaw ang pwersa ni Leni. Sa aming tantiya, mananalo si Leni at lalamang siya mula lima hanggang anim at kalahating milyon sa pinakamalapit na kalaban. Maaaring maungusan ni Isko si BBM.
Malakas si Leni sa Region 5 (Bicolandia), Region 6 (Western Visayas) at Muslim Mindanao at maaaring lumamang siya ng tatlong milyon diyan. Hindi namin nakikitang iboboto ng mga Muslim si BBM, ang anak ng diktador na pumuksa sa mga Muslim bilang isang lipi noong panahon ng diktadura. Malaking sorpresa si Leni sa mga battleground province tulad ng Cebu, dalawang Misamis, tatlong Davao, Batangas. May pagkakataon na mananalo si BBM ngunit hindi malaki at madaling mahahabol ni Leni sa ibang lalawigan.
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HINDI nagklik ang pinakalat na sex video laban sa anak na dalaga ni Leni. Ang pinakamasakit ay bumalandra ito sa mukha ni BBM na napagbintangan na nasa likod ng malaswang video. Walang nagawa ang kampo ni BBM ngunit baligtarin ang isyu. Pinagtawanan si Atty. Rodriguez na tinawag na “Mrs. Rodriguez” ni Rowena Guanzon. Sa pahayag ni Mrs. Rodriguez, kasalanan ni Leni ang nangyari. Ipinahiwatig niya na si Leni ang gumawa ng video.
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LABIS na nasaktan ang kampo ni BBM at GMA sa napakalaking rali ng tambalang Leni-Kiko sa San Fernando City. May rali sila sa ika 29 ng Abril sa pinagdausan ng rali ni Leni. Target nila ang makahakot ng 400,000 kung hindi binubulsa ng kanilang mga coordinator ang budget. As usual, sistamang hakot ang kanilang plano. Hindi na sila nagbago.
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MGA PILING SALITA: “Hindi ko alam ang ibig sabihin ng Leni Lutang, pero maliwanag sa akin ang salitang Marcos Magnanakaw.” – Roly Eclevia
“Maling ikalat ang mali ng iba para lang masabi na tama ka.” – Susan Villegas, netizen
“For every huge Leni rally they see, the Marcos Jr camp gets rattled that forces them to employ dirty tricks against Leni and her family that backfire against them very adversely.” – Sahid Sinsuat Glang, retiradong sugo
“Kung matino si Alan Peter Cayetano, bakit niya sinisiraan ang Filipinas at sasabihin may pitong milyong adik kahit walang patunay?” – PL, netizen
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HALAW ang mga sumusunod sa aming aklat “KILL KILL KILL: EJKs in the Philippines; Crimes Against Humanity vs. Duterte Et. Al. At the ICC.” Nasa huling bahagi na ako na pagsusulat.
BY the last quarter of 2016, the Magdalo Party List of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and Rep. Gary Alejano, and their legislative staffs worked overtime to find legal ways to stop Rodrigo Duterte from his deadly track to kill Filipino people with impunity and impose his despicable brand of authoritarianism to the people. The Magdalo Party List went into full mobilization. On the one hand, Trillanes took charge of the buildup of crimes against humanity charges against Duterte. It was to be submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC). On the other hand, Alejano worked doubly hard on the impeachment complaint against Duterte. Against all odds, the Magdalo group perceived the twin moves – ICC charges and impeachment complaint – as complementary to each other. While the Trillanes’s crimes against humanity charges could be long-term, Alejano’s impeachment complaint was short-term. Alejano filed it first before Congress but it did not take off to become a victim of vicious political play by the coalition of political forces supporting Duterte. The coalition in power killed it outright.1
Trillanes’s colleagues and legislative staff took a punishing grind to solidify the crimes against humanity charges against Duterte and his cohorts. They did extensive research – topic by topic, provision by provision, and page by page – to examine available literature on the planned crimes against humanity charges against Duterte and his ilk. They focused their efforts on the provisions of the Rome Statute, the multilateral treaty creating the ICC in 2003. They had to determine the requirements for legal compliance on the planned charges, particularly the issues of jurisdiction, admissibility, and complementarity. This move sought to ensure the ICC would welcome the charges. Their efforts paid off as his group, showing devotion, professionalism, and esprit de corps, had built up a case against Duterte and ilk. They burned the proverbial midnight oil to come out for the first time with charges of international dimension against an incumbent president. Trillanes and his group knew they were facing an unpredictable opponent in Duterte, whom they believed has a criminal mind. Besides, they felt that any charges against Duterte before the ICC could prosper because Duterte’s influence could not reach the ICC.
It was not true that somebody else did the case buildup for the intrepid lawmaker. Credit goes to his legislative staff and the Magdalo Party. The truth was they built the case with tacit encouragement from the democratic political opposition. The case buildup was carried secretly and it did not leak to the Palace. The arrival of lawyer Jude Josue Sabio in Manila on October 5, 2016 from Cagayan de Oro City completed the cast, which worked feverishly on the crimes against humanity charges for submission to the ICC. But Sabio had to first represent Edgar Matobato, the self-confessed assassin of the dreaded Davao Death Squad (DDS) before the right forum. Matobato appeared at the Senate, which conducted, albeit half-heartedly, a probe “in aid of legislation” of the reported extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in the country. Sen. Richard Gordon, who was allied with Duterte, chaired the proceedings of the Senate inquiry on the EJKs.
The inquiry, initiated first by Sen. Leila de Lima in her capacity as chair of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, went to determine the EJKs’ extent since Duterte took his oath. Sensing that the inquiry would put not just Duterte but his entire government in the bad light, the fawning Gordon, with help from defeated vice presidential candidate Alan Peter Cayetano, who retained his Senate seat though, high jacked the inquiry by kicking de Lima out as the committee chair. The inquiry in Gordon’s hand zigged and zagged off its mandate to exonerate Duterte of any complicity and responsibility. Gordon also besmirched the reputation of the guilt-ridden Matobato, who chose to turn his back on the DDS and reveal everything he knew about the group, his former handlers, and Duterte. He called him a “damaged goods.”