PDEA Aquino on recall of police escorts

Statement of PDEA Director General Aaron Aquino on the recall of his security escorts by the PNP

Personally, I am wondering why my security detail appears to be singled out? While all other security detail were allowed to report back to their VIP assignments after accounting by PNP.

Mine were given different duty assigments despite appeals to Regional Director of PRO3 due to the high risk of my death threats and that of my family.

Last September 25, I had a meeting with President Duterte where he gave a verbal instruction to Senator Bong Go to return my security detail.

With the verbal instructions from the President, I asked my security detail to report back to my office.

My security request for the reassignments of my security from PRO3 to PSPG was forwarded to the office of CPNP.

Advertisement

TRIBAL SWIMMERS, TRACKSTERS SEE ACTION IN MINSUPALA GAMES

Badjao Sama swimmers, Maguindanao sprinters, Manobo long distance runners and Tausug spikers will be among the indigenous sports talents who will see action in the first ever Mindanao-Sulu-Palawan (MINSUPALA) Games set to be held next year in Davao City.

A brainchild of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), the MINSUPALA Games aim to relive the glorious sports era of the Southern Philippines produced sports stars like Maguindanao sprinter Mona Sulaiman and Sulu and Tawitawi swimmers Jairula Jaitulla and Parsons Nabiula.

Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Chairman William Ramirez has pledged the support of the PSC to the Games which I initiated as MinDA Chairman.

The MINSUPALA Games is expected to discover indigenous sports talents in swimming, track and field, volleyball and other non-contact sports.

I believe that Mindanao has a rich reservoir of sports talents which have largely been undiscovered owing mainly to the bias for indigenous athletes.

For most sports officials who belong to the elite, it is simply unthinkable for a brown-haired Badjao kid who was born and raised in the sea to compete side by side with a fair-skinned International School-educated lad from Forbes Park.

The institutional sports competitions initiated by the Department of Education have not really opened its doors to unschooled youth.

When I was Governor of North Cotabato, I initiated the first Mt. Apo Eco-Challenge, an endurance mountain climbing contest where participants came in pairs – a man and woman – with the objective of reaching the peak of Mt. Apo together at the fast time.

One of the pair was a Manobo girl from Kidapawan City who was paired with a male athlete.

She was so fast that she had to leave behind her male partner and waited for about 30 minutes at the peak before he arrived.

Mindanao sports history is also replete with examples of homegrown talents like Maguindanao sprinter Mona Sulaiman who later became a policewoman and Olympic swimmers Parsons Nabiula and Jairulla Jaitulla.

Jaitulla qualified for the national swimming team with was and competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics and the 1984 Summer Olympics.

Nabiula competed in two swimming events at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia representing the Philippines.

These talents did not have formal training in their fields of discipline and excelled mainly due to their natural talents.

Even with their achievements, they are so underrated that even Google could not produce any file photos of great sports names.

The MINSUPALA Games will be the first step in the institutional sports development program for the Southern Philippines aimed at discovering and developing sports talents.

It will be held in cooperation with the Governors and Mayors of Mindanao and Palawan with each province participating in selected sports disciplines.

With the modern sports facilities established by the PSC in Davao City, the dream of producing sports stars from among the different indigenous tribes of the South is not farfetched.

In a few years, MINSUPALA could see the birth of more Mona Sulaimans, Tokal Mokamads, Parsons Nabiulas and Jairulla Jaitullas. (Originally posted on FB page of MinDa Sec. Manny Piñol)

Sara urges DepEd to finally close Salugpungan schools in the city

STATEMENT BY MAYOR SARA DUTERTE ON THE CLOSURE OF SALUGPUNGAN SCHOOLS IN DAVAO CITY

The City Government of Davao on March 19, 2019, through its City Peace and Order Council, submitted a resolution to the Department of Education requesting that the permit to operate possessed by 11 Salugpungan schools in Davao City be terminated and canceled completely.

The resolution was based on two items:

1. The persistent problem of Salugpungan students not having academic records and individual learner’s reference number. Because of this, the time they spent in Salugpungan could not be properly credited to their academic records with DepEd.

2. The presence of DepEd schools in areas where Salugpungan operates, which overrule the purpose of a Salugpungan school.

In addition to this, Davao City has been provided with a written report containing the revelation made by a former Salugpungan student about the school teaching students how to use firearms, apart from them being indoctrinated with anti-government propaganda. This document DID NOT come from Secretary Hermogenes Esperon.

The City Government conducted due diligence in inquiring into the activities of Salugpungan schools before coming up with a CPOC resolution. The decision was based on facts, not on a whim or rumors as critics and anti-government forces want the public to believe.

Salugpungan clearly failed to give justice to the sacrifices and dreams of the Lumad students who spent their time with their organization, believing the school will help them better their chances in the future. Salugpungan shall never operate in Davao City again because of this failure and unforgivable injustice.

After Salugpungan schools were shut down in Davao, their former students are now being reintegrated and will receive their regular education from DepEd.

Meanwhile, the councilor from Davao City who called on the Sangguniang Panlungsod to inquire into the closure of the Salugpungan schools in our city should first check the facts that form the basis of the request for closure, and not rely on the disinformation fed to her by the Makabayan bloc and its CPP-NPA-NDFP allies.

In another note, we are witnesses to how the Save Our Schools Network continues to shamelessly lick its wound publicly over the closure of Salugpungan schools.

It scampered in obvious panic, but it is relentless in its efforts to sow disinformation about the government and why the closure was enforced.

It even hosted a concert in Manila — a fundraiser for the so-called of “bakwit school” or a “school-on-the-run”.

But students of bakwit schools are lumad children sprung out by SOS Network from their communities and forcibly brought in to the cities, away from their homes to be used as poster boys and girls in their anti-government agenda.

It is clearly another form of abuse and oppression of Lumad children by a group that feigns being its protectors and defenders.

A bakwit school, just like Salugpungan schools, is useless because it is not and it will never be recognized by DepEd.

A bakwit school is yet another ploy to solicit pity and money from the public, while advancing their propaganda against the government.

The general public is warned against supporting the deceptive acts and practices of duplicitous groups such as the SOS Network.

Because the truth is, the money generated from fundraisers supposedly to benefit lumad children does not go to the intended recipients — and instead, it is used to fund anti-government activities that also allow them to continue their oppression of our Lumad communities, especially children.

Panelo slams US senator

Mr. Patrick Leahy of the US Senate, responding to this representation’s reaction to his proposal to bar our government officials who have something to do with Senator De Lima’s incarceration, has been quoted as saying that “when Philippine officials abuse the justice system for the purpose of political retribution, [they] have a responsibility to respond.”

Senator Leahy’s statement assumes he has sufficient knowledge of our substantive and procedural laws that constitute our country’s justice system. It further assumes that he personally examined the record folder of the case and after evaluating it concluded that there was an abuse in the judicial process De Lima underwent.

Both assumptions do not exist as the good US Senator is ignorant of our procedural rules subjecting a person charged with the commission of a crime. Neither has he set foot in the country for the sole purpose of personally examining the case of De Lima that he may have a reasonable basis to buttress his proposal.

Hence in citing abuse of Philippine officials without an iota of proof he was speaking not only of blissful ignorance but unscented abuse.

When Senator Leahy speaks of abuse he must be referring to his abuse of his freedom of expression, as he waxes a false and malicious narrative against our government officials with unparalleled arrogance and without a glint of remorse.

That such totally baseless conclusion comes from a Senator of the United States of America, a country that prides itself as a bulwark of democracy and observer of due process, is bad enough and a continuing disappointment. If the Senator Leahy is a lawyer then that makes it worse and unpardonable. – –

For the enlightenment of Senator Leahy, there would been abuse in the case of Senator De Lima if she was formally charged without the existence of a probable cause and if she was arrested without a warrant of arrest or if a warrant of arrest was issued by a judge without a finding of probable or if during the preliminary investigation she was not afforded the opportunity to submit countervailing evidence in her behalf. The constitutional requirement of due process accorded any accused has been observed. De Lima’s cry of political persecution echoed by her supporters is the convenient refuge of political chameleons who change their beliefs at will to suit their political agenda.

Senator Leahy notes that this representation has “defended the wrongful imprisonment of Senator De Lima.” For his education, there was no wrongful imprisonment. as explained earlier. What I am defending is the independence of the official actions of the institutions of this Republic. What I am defending is the sovereignty of this nation from outside interference. What I am defending is the country’s presidency which commands the occupant to serve and protect the people from the enemies of the state that are bent on destroying

the nation and the republic, which are constantly under assault by the terrorists, drug lords and pushers, communist and muslim rebels. And whose resources have been ripped off by the corrupt bureaucrats and politicians.

Giving aids or grants is not a form of sovereign interference. They are given by a state to another by reason of comity and friendship. The Philippines welcomes them. Grants or aids with attached conditions are anathema to the very purpose of such generosity and we reject them, for they cloth the donor the authority as well as the gumption to meddle into our internal affairs thereby trampling our sovereign rights.

We remind Senator Leahy that the Republic of the Philippines is not a vassal nor a colony of America. It is an independent state that is fiercely protective of its sovereignty and subservient to no other country.

Salvador S. Panelo

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel

& Presidential Spokesperson

Magnitude 6 shakes Davao anew

A magnitude 6 tremor shook most parts of Davao Region and other neighboring provinces Sunday morning September 29.

The quake struck around 10:02 in the morning with its epicenter recorded off the waters of Jose Abad Santos in Davao Occidental.

Kidapawan and Davao City reported to have felt the quake at Intensity III.

Instrumental intensities meanwhile recorded them at Intensty IV for Kiamba and Alabel in Sarangani, General Santos City, Tupi in South Cotabato; Intensity III in Gingoog City and Kidapawan City; Intensity I in Bislig City and Cagayan de Oro City.