Marcos

[OnMyWay]

Saw this poster.  Apparently Marcos is playing for the other side now.

[Guy F.]

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Is he pitching or catching?

Edited September 14 by Guy F.

[Old55]

The Filipino people deserve better than corrupt rulers.

[scott h]

6 minutes ago, Old55 said:

The Filipino people deserve better than corrupt rulers.

People get what they vote for 

[craftbeerlover]

Was golfing yesterday and "BRIEFLY" touched on politics/corruption with my caddie, and my caddies reply was, 'nothing they can do about it'.  Which I believe pretty much sums up the attitude of the general populous.  It has become a part of their DNA.

[hk blues]

2 hours ago, Old55 said:

The Filipino people deserve better than corrupt rulers.

 

2 hours ago, scott h said:

People get what they vote for 

 

1 hour ago, craftbeerlover said:

Was golfing yesterday and "BRIEFLY" touched on politics/corruption with my caddie, and my caddies reply was, 'nothing they can do about it'.  Which I believe pretty much sums up the attitude of the general populous.  It has become a part of their DNA.

As they say, "You get the government you deserve" and it's as true here as anywhere.

Of course,  it's not as simple as it looks but in a democracy there is a way to change but folk here are too busy with their own challenge getting by to give much thought to how to better their country. And, as many of us have said many times, that's by design not accident.

Too often we hear that ALL politicians are corrupt that may or may not be so but some must be less corrupt than others. That would be a starting point.

Just for balance, looking over to our highly developed nations and leaders present and recent past - may (note - may) not be corrupt but sure as hell qualify as inept. 

Edited September 14 by hk blues

[OnMyWay]

I'm not sure what all these comments have do with Marcos looking like a bading?

[Possum]

21 hours ago, craftbeerlover said:

Was golfing yesterday and "BRIEFLY" touched on politics/corruption with my caddie, and my caddies reply was, 'nothing they can do about it'.  Which I believe pretty much sums up the attitude of the general populous.  It has become a part of their DNA.

Everyone knows the corruption is endemic from the barangay to the executive branch and all agencies inbetween. Who's going to stop it? Ombudsmen ? Police? Ha..

https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/philippine/in-testimony-senior-philippine-police-officer-calls-national-force-biggest-crime-group-08282024141559.html

A senior Philippine police officer who played a central role in ex-President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody drug war, during congressional testimony on Wednesday, accused the national police of corruption and said several high-ranking officers were protecting major drug cartels. 

Lt. Col. Jovie Espenido alleged that both Ronald dela Rosa, his former boss as the national police chief and now a senator, and Duterte had ordered him to kill suspected drug figures as part of the administration’s war on illegal drugs.

“From my experience, I can say that the PNP [Philippine National Police] is the biggest crime group in the country,” Espenido told a House of Representatives’ panel conducting a probe into the drug war.

The crackdown during the Duterte administration (2016-22) was notorious and heavily criticized by human rights groups because thousands of drug suspects were killed in officer-involved shootings. 

Espenido, however, did not identify the police officials allegedly involved in protecting big-time drug lords.

He also alleged that Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go – a Duterte ally – had funneled money from various sources, including the government’s intelligence funds and Philippine offshore gaming operators, to reward police officers behind the killing of suspected drug lords.

Duterte’s camp, dela Rosa and Go quickly denied Espenido’s accusations. 

It was not clear why Espenido, a 28-year veteran of the force, was turning on his superiors, but he said they had set him up to take the fall for police officials allegedly involved in drug operations.

‘That’s included, your honors’

Espenido, who described himself as a political outsider about to retire from active duty, also told lawmakers he had not been promoted due to suspicions that he had links to criminal activities.

Espenido claimed that in July 2016, Duterte and dela Rosa – then the head of the PNP – told him to “eliminate” known drug lords in his new assignment as police chief of Albuera town in the central Philippine province of Leyte.

Asked by lawmakers whether the word “eliminate” in police parlance meant killing suspects, Espenido said: “That’s included, your honors.” 

Human rights activists light candles for the victims of extra-judicial killings around the country in the wake of the war on drugs campaign by President Rodrigo Duterte, in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Aug. 15, 2016. [Bullit Marquez/AP]

President Duterte had accused Rolando Espinosa, then the town mayor, of being among local politicians involved in the drug trade. 

The mayor surrendered to authorities in August 2016 but later died in prison three months later due to an alleged gunfight with police officers. The Philippine Senate and the National Bureau of Investigation later concluded that his death was a case of extrajudicial killing.

During Wednesday’s congressional hearing, Espinosa cast doubt on the police account of Espinosa’s death, noting that before the former mayor died, he had given a sworn statement that allegedly contained the names of senior police officers who had received payments from him.

Espenido also accused dela Rosa of involvement in the dismissal of cases against Espinosa’s son, a confessed drug lord, while other police officers were supposedly protecting the former mayor’s family. 

A month after Espinosa’s death, the PNP reassigned Espenido to Ozamiz City in the southern province of Misamis Occidental.

In July 2017, city mayor Reynaldo Parojinog of southern Ozamiz city, and 14 other suspects – including his wife and brother – were killed in an operation led by Espenido. 

Like Espinosa, Parojinog was also identified by Duterte as a politician allegedly involved in drug operations.

However, a month later, Espenido said he was summoned to the general police headquarters in Manila and accused of having links to a Malaysian drug network, although that case never prospered.

Espenido told lawmakers that the national police leadership had decided to send him to Ozamiz believing he would be killed by the Parojinogs. 

Dela Rosa, Duterte’s camp, Go respond

Dela Rosa, the former Philippine police chief, denied having ordered Espenido to kill drug suspects, saying he had only instructed him to use “legal means to eradicate” the problem.

“I did not say he should kill people,” dela Rosa told reporters. “I did not order him to kill all drug addicts.” 

Mayor Parojinog Burial 12.jpg
Hundreds of loyal supporters of alleged drug lord Reynaldo Parojinog visit his wake to pay their last respects to his flag-draped coffin in the southern Philippine city of Ozamiz, Aug. 12, 2017. [Mark Navales/ BenarNews]

Meanwhile, former Duterte presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo told local news outlet GMA News that the ex-leader had not issued “kill” orders.

“Espenido is saying that the former president told him to clean the Albuera of drugs, which means to dismantle the drug syndicate,” Panelo said.

Go, for his part, accused Espenido of inventing lies against him. The senator told news outlet ABS-CBN News that he had never been involved in POGO operations or the war on drugs. 

The national police have placed the number of suspected drug dealers and addicts killed during Duterte’s drug war to 8,000, although rights groups said it could be thrice as many. 

Duterte is accused of mass murder at the International Criminal Court and a political feud with his once benefactor and successor President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has placed his fate in a precarious situation, observers have said.

Carlos Conde, the Manila-based senior researcher for the Human Rights Watch in Asia, welcomed Espenido’s statements on Wednesday even as he said they needed to be followed through.

“It’s about time the biggest human catastrophe they unleashed is exposed,” he told BenarNews. “That the ones doing it are those who helped carry it out is particularly important, because, as veritable insiders, they won’t be so easily dismissed.”

Edited September 14 by Mike J
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[Possum]

Marcos's family history probably shaped his view of the world. His grandfather was accused of collaborating with the Japanese during WW II and killed by his own troops by tying his feet and hands to two carabao and having them driven in opposite directions. His limbs were put in trees as a warning to others. Ferdinand Marcos made himself a war hero, eventually a dictator and was driven out by his own people. It remains to be seen how far the apple falls from the tree. But at the very least Marcos is very politically astute and knows how things work here.

[craftbeerlover]

20 minutes ago, Possum said:

Everyone knows the corruption is endemic from the barangay to the executive branch and all agencies inbetween. Who's going to stop it? Ombudsmen ? Police? Ha..

https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/philippine/in-testimony-senior-philippine-police-officer-calls-national-force-biggest-crime-group-08282024141559.html

Just fn wow