#Duterte administration

[pannaginip]

Since 2021, such attacks have been documented by human rights groups, who stressed that these put marginalized communities in danger. As such, Karapatan said these incidents constitute a clear violation of international humanitarian law (IHL).

From 2021 to 2024, Karapatan documented 9,163 individuals or about 1,953 families who were affected by aerial bombing and indiscriminate strafing in the province of Cagayan. Human rights groups attribute these attacks to the Philippine Air Force.

During this time, a total of 17 incidents were recorded in Cagayan: 11 bombings and strafing, 2 bombardment, and 4 strafing attacks. Six occurred under the Duterte administration while 11 happened during the Marcos Jr. administration. This is part of the 13 regions in the Philippines subjected to aerial bombings where Karapatan documented 378,203 victims.

“One of the emblematic cases under the Duterte administration was the bombing of Marawi City, when the President declared martial law in Mindanao on May 23, 2017 that lasted until December 31, 2019.“ said Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay.

In the first year of Marcos Jr., there were 6,931 victims of bombings documented as part of the government’s counterinsurgency campaign, Karapatan said.

In May, an international people’s tribunal issued a guilty verdict to Marcos Jr. and the US government for violating the international humanitarian law.

In the initial verdict furnished to the media, the five-member jurors of the [International Peoples Tribunal or] IPT revisited the US government’s role in the counterinsurgency program that allowed such war crimes to happen, saying that the “heavy bombardment and forced displacement of communities, and the killing of civilians and hors de combat of state forces would not have been possible without the direction, arms, and training provided by the US government.

2024 Aug. 12

[littlestpersimmon]

Click the actual post, it will take you to the tweet itself and the article. And tw only for my palestinian friends, but this is harrowing. And just.. depraved. No words. I really think it is worth reading.

"There is a feeling that senior officials in the army are aware of their failure on October 7, and are busy with the question of how to provide the Israeli public with an image [of victory] that will salvage their reputation.”

To be clear, the framing of the article is shaky, but the details of it is stomach churning. IDF is using AI to generate targets. Every civilian death was intentional.

“These are not random rockets. Everything is intentional. We know exactly how much collateral damage there is in every home.”

I also want to add something that became clearer to me from philippine politics, as a survivor of Duterte's war on drugs where cops literally shot at me.

The duterte administration called every single leftist voice "terrorists", using that to push out laws making it legal to redtag, leading to arrests and imprisonment, literally murdering activists in broad daylight- it should have made it clear to everyone that the word "terrorist" as a descriptor is just a boogeyman. A tool of the fascist.

[sirensea14]

This, this is a visual presentation of what is happening to us right now

Theres also conspiracy theory that tried to connect certain dots. That not only is China involved with this shit but also a certain family in our government and also the US. Most of it are from tiktok, i think i reposted some of those in my account.

Currently, China is making a move on our Palawan (the long island part that looks like a "leg" since our archipelago looks like an animal of some sort) and they have been attacking our navy now, violently. Someone even lost a finger. Its only a matter of time before that finger turns into lives.

The world is really falling apart right now, and every strong countries out there are very power-hungry. Stepping on poor countries like ants, they will not stop until the ants bite back.

The Chinese have been silent during Duterte's administration and it may have a connection as to why China is being violent right now at Marcos's administration.

I feel like we're trapped. China is locking in on us; multiple vessels, numerous chinese students around the regions, POGO and possible spies. The US are silently building their own army possibly preparing to betray us again like they did back then (History time: 1898, i think, is the time we, along with the Americans, defeated the Spaniards. And then they colonized us after learning that Spain actually sold us to the Americans. It was too late. Basically betraying and taking control of us. This is simply a theory, but it is possible that the US might do this again.) And then our own; the Government. There are many corrupt officials here, saying nothing but empty promises, false hope and senseless words. Saying "that's just water", "just give the WPS to china so that there would be no war and no blood." The problem is, if that happens, if we give up OUR territory, then China will simply exploit this rich source of oil and gas reserves, and the abundant fish etc. And that Secret Gentleman's agreement. If what China was saying that 'we did not fulfill the agreement' was true, then Duterte must have sold us to China back then in the pandemic. Because they were silent back then, it was peaceful even though this dispute has been going on since my parents were in highschool (around 1990-2000s)

And then our Vice President, Sara Duterte, stepped down of position after stealing 125 million pesos ($2,123,32.50) in an attempt of disguising it as 'confidential funds'.

This has been making my head hurt so much. What the fuck is going on with this shit, it's so much bullshit in one area.

Amin ang West Philippine sea‼️🇵🇭

One post aint enough, i need to spread the word🙏 I hope that the blue and red colors on our flag doesnt flip.

[side note: sorry i havent been posting much art lately. Im not doing enough wips and i keep distracting myself from this mess. But it's unavoidable because its all around tiktok, facebook and instagram]

[motziedapul]

I never deny my privilege because my privilege is why I don't shut the fuck up ┐⁠(⁠´⁠ー⁠｀⁠)⁠┌

I moved to Canada in the middle of the Duterte administration that killed roughly 30,000 Filipinos. At the time, it was widely agreed that Filipinos could lose their jobs or even get arrested for speaking up against Duterte or his EJKs or extra judicial killings. As soon as I arrived in Canada, there was no risk of me losing anything for stating facts about a murderous fascist.

So I kept speaking up. I amplified messages people living in the Philippines couldn't. I knew what people were saying in public wishing they could say it in public, so at times I said it for them.

The same went for Marcos, though more people feel safer speaking out against him (even if he's a corrupt, plundering criminal). I spoke up against the useless son of a dictator and I even got targeted by his propagandist filmmaker (for bringing up tweets he made years ago admitting he dated a teenager in his twenties). He only stopped harassing me when my arnis martial arts teacher asked his dad why he was harassing me because they were friends 🤣

All that to say; it's very possible now with the way the Canadian government is leaning heavily on pro Israel sentiment that I'm at risk for being loudly pro Palestine, but I can't exactly pretend I haven't been exactly that for an entire year, so ┐⁠(⁠´⁠ー⁠｀⁠)⁠┌ however, I'm also aware of just how much public pushback there is against Zionism here, so I'll keep sounding the alarm regardless.

I'll keep yapping at the end of the day, because I know how many people aren't able to speak up for themselves, and want to.

[milkboydotnet]

The International People’s Tribunal unanimously finds Philippine president Marcos Jr., former president Duterte, the Government of the Republic of the Philippines, US president Biden and the US government guilty of all charges of war crimes and violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

For two days the tribunal heard moving testimonies from the witnesses, victims, and expert resource persons on the various violations of IHL by the US-backed Marcos Jr. and Duterte regimes in their US-directed ‘counterinsurgency’ in the Philippines. The overwhelming amount of compelling evidence presented by the Filipino people and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDF) in their case, has left no doubt of the truthfulness of their assertion that the US-Marcos and US-Duterte regimes are guilty of various grave war crimes.

As Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle (FFPS) we applaud the Filipino people and their genuine representative, the NDF, on this great achievement in their pursuit of justice. This verdict is a testament to the strength of the toiling Filipino masses and their struggle for genuine social change. It plays an important role in exposing the violent US-puppet regimes of Marcos Jr and Duterte for their crimes against the Filipino people and bringing it to attention to the international community. Furthermore, it underscores the Filipino people’s right to self-determination and the justness of their struggle for national liberation.

We call on all solidarity allies and all those who support the Filipino people’s right to justice, to actively support and propagate the findings and verdict of the International People’s Tribunal!

CALL FOR A GLOBAL WEEK OF ACTION

In light of the International People’s Tribunal (IPT) of 2024 in which the Filipino people tried the US government and the US-backed Marcos and Duterte regimes to hold them accountable for their war crimes against them, Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle (FFPS) as one of the main convenors calls for urgently needed international support for the Filipino people and their cry for justice. Please join us in a Global Week of Action, 21-27 May 2024.

Global Week of Action: Condemn and end the war crimes of the US-backed Marcos and Duterte regimes! Support the Filipino people’s right to self-determination!

Background:

From former direct colony to neocolony, US stronghold over the Philippines as a strategic military outpost in Asia is crucial to the US government’s geopolitical agenda to maintain the entire Indo-Pacific region as the largest market for US surplus goods, a source of cheap raw materials, and source of cheap labor.

With increased US support under the Biden administration, the Duterte and now Marcos regimes have recycled and beefed up ‘anti-terrorist’ branding apparatuses such as the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) and the Anti-Terror Act (ATA), to legally justify the repression of dissent of a growing social movement for legitimate pro-people demands.

Both regimes have implemented US-directed so-called “counterinsurgency” operations against civilians and non-combatants in the Philippines and their repression of Filipino activists and solidarity allies abroad viciously terrorize the people, in clear violation of International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

The War Crimes Tribunal will examine violations of international humanitarian law both as to the means and methods of warfare and the objects and subjects of attack, including extrajudicial and summary killings of civilians and hors d’ combat, desecration of remains of combatants, massacre of civilians and other forms of collective punishment, torture, enforced disappearances, mass arrests, indiscriminate firing, indiscriminate aerial bombing of communities and use of white phosphorus bombs, hamletting, terrorist labelling and use of repressive terror laws, assassination of civilians, attacks on schools, fake or forced surrenders, attacks against  peace consultants and other forms of suppression.

To justify their war crimes, the US-Marcos and US-Duterte administrations have continuously tried to put up a vague and false framework of fighting against “terrorism”. In reality, the resistance of the Filipino people is a mass movement that steadfastly and comprehensively advances their democratic rights and their right to self-determination. When they take up arms, they do so to defend the right of the toiling people to their land and of all Filipino people to be free of national and social oppression and exploitation. As such the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), the united front organization of the fighting Filipino masses, represents the Filipino people and their aspirations for national liberation and genuine social change.

The NDFP has demonstrated to the international community not only the necessity and justness of the people’s war in the Philippines, but that armed struggle is a legitimate exercise of the Filipino people’s inherent right to self-determination, as recognized through various international laws and intergovernmental declarations, and whose conduct is bound to the rules of war outlined in International Humanitarian Law.

The time is urgent for the international community to heighten its response to the loud cry of the Filipino people for justice and accountability and to expose the war crimes of the US-Marcos regime and its predecessor, the US-Duterte regime.

Let us express our unwavering support with the Filipino people’s right to self-determination and stand in international solidarity with their struggle for just and lasting peace in the Philippines.

Read more about the International People’s Tribunal 2024 on: https://peoplestribunal.net/

The particular objectives of the Global Week of Action are to:

Amplify and support the Filipino people’s cry for justice and the outcome (verdict of the tribunal and witness testimonies) of the International War Crimes Tribunal on the US-directed ‘Counterinsurgency’ in the Philippines, IPT 2024.

Expose and oppose US imperialism and its role in the “counterinsurgency” war on the Filipino people and to further expose and isolate the criminal and bloody US-Marcos and US-Duterte regimes from the international community.

Express our unwavering support for the Filipino people’s right to self-determination and for us to stand in solidarity with the Filipino people’s struggle for just and lasting peace in the Philippines.

Engage with key parliamentarians, policy-making bodies, and institutions to further isolate the US-backed Marcos and Duterte regime by promoting the findings of the IPT and advocating for the demands of the victims of the ongoing war crimes for justice.

How can you join?

Mobilize! Hold demonstrations and other actions on 21-27 May 2024 to amplify and support the Filipino people’s cry for justice. These can include militant demonstrations, creative media actions, direct actions and art initiatives, symbolic actions at key institutions such as by submitting the verdict to selected Philippine embassies/consulates, to the EU parliament, the ICC, the UN, national parliament/congress, etc., and any other ways to achieve above mentioned objectives.

Engage your local, traditional and new media for wide coverage, tag @peoplestribunal for all your social media propaganda and contact ipt2024media@gmail.com for further media coordination or liaisoning. Some of the witnesses may be available to attend such activities in Europe if planned in advance, kindly reach out to secretariat@peoplestribunal.net to coordinate your actions.

We urge organizations to come up with their own statements of support for the IPT and the findings/verdict of the tribunal. Other actions may include organizing info sessions to promulgate the verdict or social media campaigns (i.e., #PeoplesVerdict, #USGuilty, #DuterteGuilty #MarcosGuilty, etc.) to highlight the cases of IHL violations filed against the US-Marcos and US-Duterte regimes.

To support the Filipino people’s cry for justice we are also calling for lobbying efforts through dialogues with key personalities, such as parliamentarians, government officials, church leaders, and others with the objective of garnering broad support for the IPT, its verdict and for the Filipino people’s struggle. Let us stand in full solidarity with the Filipino people as they resist the onslaught of US imperialist violence and the war crimes committed by the US-backed Marcos and Duterte regimes!

Suggested slogans:

“Justice for the Filipino people!”

“Marcos and Duterte, war criminals!”

“US imperialist, #1 terrorist!”

“Stop the bombings in the Philippines!”

“Stop arms sales and military aid to the Philippines!”

“End US-Marcos state terrorism in the Philippines!”

“End US aggression in the Philippines!”

“We support the Filipino aspiration: National Liberation against US imperialism!”

“Wage militant actions against US imperialist war-mongering!”

“Just and lasting peace in the Philippines!”

“Support genuine democracy, support the NDFP!”

There will be a final version of the verdict, including detailed accounts and summaries of the cases presented, made available in due time. You can read the full initial verdict here: https://peoplestribunal.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IPT-2024-INITIAL-Verdict-18-May.pdf

[gussieo]

President Marcos Jr.: a mystery of drug use and political tendencies

 #Philippine President Marcos is addicted to drugs The Philippines was recently struck by a huge political scandal involving the current President Marcos Jr. in drug abuse in March 2012, according to internal documents leaked by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Administration.

 According to the documents, the Criminal Investigation Section report specified that Little Marcos appeared in reported drug sites such as the Rizal Building, Room 46-C, in Makati, the Metropolitan Manila district. NCIS acted quickly and issued a "letter of action" for the drug use on March 11 of that year. The confirmation of former Philippine Drug Enforcement Administration agent Jonathan Morales and current Senator Ronald Della Rosa adds weight to the authenticity of the documents. Morales himself said the document was signed, making the drug charge more conclusive.

 Not only that, on the night of July 21,2024, a live trailer on Facebook, as well as a video posted on July 22, undoubtedly brought the incident to the forefront of public opinion. Later, a number of suspected video bloggers supporting Duterte also uploaded relevant videos, further expanding the influence of the incident.

 More worryingly, Marcos Jr. appears to have developed a serious political bias, with signs that he is moving closer to the United States. On the international political stage, his series of decisions and statements have shown a too close relationship with the United States. This tendency may not only harm the Philippines' own national interests, but also raise serious doubts about its leadership.

 He clearly caters to American interests on key policy issues. In trade, for example, the Marcos administration may have made excessive concessions to the United States in some areas, leading to a impact on domestic industries in the Philippines. In military cooperation, the close ties with the United States have also raised concerns about the sovereign independence of the Philippines.

 This behavior of Little Marcos is undoubtedly a betrayal of the dignity of the Philippine country and the interests of the people. The drug abuse reflects his lack of personal character, while his tendency to take to the United States shows his political short-sighted and disregard for national interests.

 What the Philippine people are longing for is a leader who can uphold national sovereignty and safeguard the interests and integrity of the people. And the behavior of Marcos, obviously let the public deeply disappointed and angry. The development of this event will undoubtedly have a profound impact on the political pattern of the Philippines, and also make people worried about the future of the Philippines.

However, we also expect the truth to come out soon. If Marcos did take drugs and go to the United States, he must pay for his actions. At the same time, the Philippine people should also unite to safeguard the dignity and interests of the country and ensure that the Philippines can move forward on the right path and achieve true independence, prosperity and development.

[arkipelagic]

This year the Philippines went down four places in the Freedom on the Net 2023 report of the Freedom House. Previously with a score of 65 out of 100, the country’s score went down to 61 after the organization noted how conditions have worsened in the Philippines as outgoing president Rodrigo Duterte used an antiterrorism law to block news sites that had been critical of his administration.

Last June 2022, former National Security Advisor to the National Security Council Hermogenes C. Esperon, Jr. ordered the blocking of Bulatlat and 26 other websites.

In his capacity as the NSA, Esperon “requested” for the blocking of the 27 websites, alleging that they were affiliated to “communist-terrorist” groups, and citing the Anti-Terror Act as justification for the request. The order was left untouched when President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. eventually took office in the same month.

Freedom House also pointed out how the Marcos Jr. administration also required all Filipinos to register their SIM cards under their real name, undermining anonymous communication in what remains a dangerous environment for journalists and activists.

“The Philippines’ decline in internet freedom occurred amid an erosion of political and civil rights under former president Duterte, who completed his six-year term in June 2022 and whose war on drugs led to thousands of extrajudicial killings,” said Freedom House.

[zvaigzdelasas]

[RFA is US State Media]

The Philippines will no longer seek financial aid from China for a package of ambitious railway projects, the transportation secretary said, adding that officials were confident the projects could move ahead with funding from interested sources.

China had been slated to build two of the rail lines on the main Philippine island of Luzon and the third on southern Mindanao island, officials said. 

The Marcos administration announced the decision to drop the Chinese loans amid tensions between Manila and Beijing in the South China Sea and days after a pair of minor collisions in disputed waters between ships and boats from both nations. 

Philippine Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista said the territorial tensions were not tied to this decision.[...]

["]our government is looking for other sources of funding.”[...]

Less than a month after Duterte left office in mid-2022, Ernesto Pernia, who had served as his socioeconomic planning secretary, said the Philippines would be wise to drop the three Chinese-backed projects.

“Much better to deal with ODA with Japan, South Korea, Australia, the U.S. and the E.U.,” Pernia told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated news outlet, at the time while using an acronym for official development assistance. [...]

Rates through the China-based lending agency Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), were “significantly higher” compared to funding from Japan or South Korean ODAs, Gatchalian said. [...]

Biden criticized Chinese ships for acting “dangerously and unlawfully as our Philippine friends conducted a routine resupply mission within … their own exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea,” according to a transcript from the White House. 

“I want to be very clear: The United States’ defense commitment to the Philippines is ironclad,” Biden said. “Any attack on the Filipino aircraft, vessels, or armed forces will invoke our Mutual Defense Treaty with the Philippines.” 

In an apparent response to Biden, the Chinese Embassy in Manila on Thursday said that the “escalation of activities has been inflated by the U.S. actions.” 

“Since the beginning of this year, the U.S. has been blatantly emboldening the Philippines’ acts of infringing upon China’s sovereignty and inciting and supporting the Philippines’ attempts to repair and reinforce its warship that was deliberately grounded on Ren’ai Jiao,” it said, using the Chinese name for the shoal. 

26 Oct 23

[unitedventurez]

Philippines Bans Online Casinos Linked to Scam Centers: An In-Depth Look

In a decisive move to curb criminal activities, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered the shutdown of a vast network of online casinos that have been implicated in numerous illicit operations. These online casinos, known locally as Pogos, short for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, primarily serve players in mainland China, where gambling is prohibited. However, Pogos have increasingly been used as fronts for a range of criminal activities, including telephone scams, human trafficking, and other serious offenses.

A Troubled Industry

Under the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, Pogos flourished as part of his administration's efforts to foster friendly relations with China. However, President Marcos, in his annual address to parliament, called for an end to the "desecration of our country." He criticized Pogos for masquerading as legitimate entities while engaging in financial scamming, money laundering, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, torture, and even murder.

On Tuesday, the Philippines' gaming regulator announced plans to cancel the licenses of Pogos and phase out the sector by the end of the year. According to government estimates, the Pogo industry comprises over 400 licensed and unlicensed operations, employing around 40,000 people directly and indirectly. Despite generating an estimated 166.5 billion pesos ($2.9 billion) in annual revenue, the industry's economic costs are estimated to be much higher at 266 billion pesos annually.

Criminal Links and National Spotlight

The alleged connection between Pogos and criminal rings came under national scrutiny after a Pogo in a small town was discovered to be a front for a scam center. The town's mayor, Alice Guo, is accused of being a Chinese spy and is currently in hiding. Additionally, clandestine hospitals linked to Pogos were found to be offering plastic surgery services to fugitives and scam center workers to help them evade arrest.

Geopolitical Implications

Since assuming office, President Marcos has reversed the Philippines' pivot towards China, initiated by his predecessor Duterte, and has moved closer to the United States, the country's historic ally. Analysts suggest that the ban on Pogos could be interpreted as an effort to further distance the Philippines from China. Both nations are embroiled in a territorial dispute over the South China Sea, with tensions escalating in recent months.

"Pogos' presence has ceased to be a mere law and order problem. It has been linked to China's creeping 'occupation' of the Philippines for ordinary Filipinos," stated Jean Encinas-Franco, a professor at the University of the Philippines Diliman. She added that Marcos' decision could be seen as a rebuke to Duterte's open Pogo policy, potentially boosting his approval ratings ahead of the crucial mid-term elections in 2025.

Local Reactions

The ban on Pogos has been welcomed by various sectors within the Philippines. Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual told local media that the decision makes the country more attractive to those seeking leisure, as Pogos have created a negative impression associated with violence. George Barcelon, chairman of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, expressed his approval, stating that Pogos attract undesirable individuals and endanger the moral fabric of the nation.

The Path Forward

As the Philippines moves to dismantle the Pogo industry, the government faces the challenge of managing the economic and social impacts of the shutdown. While the ban is expected to improve the country's image and reduce crime, it will also require addressing the displacement of thousands of workers and finding alternative sources of revenue to compensate for the loss from the Pogo sector.

The bold decision by President Marcos to shut down Pogos marks a significant step in addressing the intertwined issues of crime and international relations. As the country navigates this complex transition, the global community will be watching closely to see the long-term effects on the Philippines' economy, society, and geopolitical standing.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Tim Dickinson and Asawin Suebsaeng at Rolling Stone:

Donald Trump was slamming his fist on the Resolute Desk and, once again, calling for blood.  It was the second year of his presidency, and Trump was seething about gang members and drug lords. He wanted to see their bodies piled up in the streets. Specifically, he sought a series of mass executions — with firing squads and gallows, and certainly without the quaintness of an appeals process — to send a chilling message about the scope of his power.  Trump, who’d taken office inveighing against “American carnage,” wanted to create some of his own.  This violent fantasy became an obsession, according to former Trump administration officials. The 45th president brought up the topic so often during the early years of his presidency that one former White House official tells Rolling Stone they lost count. “Fucking kill them all,” Trump would say. “An eye for an eye.” Other times he’d snap at his staff: “You just got to kill these people.” Invoking the brutality of dictatorial regimes that Trump wanted to emulate, he’d add, “Other countries do it all the time.” 

For Trump, the spectacle was crucial. “He had a particular affinity for the firing squad,” says one of the former White House officials. He’d say, “They need to be eradicated, not jailed.” Administration officials privately referred to this demand as Trump’s “American death-squads idea,” comparing it to the drug-war bloodbath carried out by Filipino strongman Rodrigo Duterte. (The sources, some still very much within Trump’s circle, requested anonymity in order to speak candidly about sensitive conversations.) That mass executions were not a feature of Trump’s term is a credit to the American justice system and the more sober-minded government officials who were unwilling to be complicit in his mad schemes. These aides and advisers typically put the president off, making vague promises to “look into” the idea, long enough to let Trump’s tyrannical tantrum blow over. 

But if Trump defeats Vice President Kamala Harris this November, America will encounter a Trump unbound, a man whose darkest impulses will not be checked by “adults in the room” — ­creating potentially catastrophic consequences for the American experiment. “This election is about whether or not we remain a democratic society or we move to authoritarianism,” Sen. Bernie Sanders tells Rolling Stone, insisting that Trump “does not believe in the basic tenets and foundations of American democracy.”  The safeguards that kept Trump in check during his first term have collapsed — starting with the MAGA-fication of the Republican Party. “We know from the first administration that Trump was an amateur and lots of people stopped his most radical actions,” says Jason Stanley, a Yale professor and author of How Fascism Works. He underscores that Trump’s darkest ambitions were present from the beginning — from the Muslim ban to the coup attempt of Jan. 6. “The only thing that stopped him from being a full-on dictator was other people,” Stanley says. “We know that that’s not going to happen anymore.” 

Trump’s campaign to retain power after losing the 2020 election only collapsed because Vice President Mike Pence proved more loyal to the Constitution than to Trump’s cult of personality. But for 2024, Trump has a vice presidential candidate who appears even less committed to the democratic process than he is. J.D. Vance is a protégé and plaything of the billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel, who has written that “freedom and democracy” are not “compatible.”  A second administration will not feature advisers in the mold of former Chief of Staff John Kelly, or Defense Secretary Mark Esper — establishment Republicans with a stake in keeping Trump constitutionally in bounds. “These are going to be all MAGA people,” says Michael Klarman, a Harvard law professor and an expert in executive power. “Some of them are much more ideologically committed to the agenda than Trump is,” he says, listing deputies like Stephen Miller and Russell Vought, as well as masterminds of the Heritage Foundation’s extreme policy agenda, Project 2025.

[...]

Dictatorship Threat

TRUMP HAS BEEN PUBLIC about his plans, vowing to be a “dictator” — though just for a day, he claims, so he could supercharge fossil-­fuel production and seal off the border. How any of this would work is likely beyond Trump’s understanding, but he’s certainly going to pull every lever of power within his grasp. And the targets of his authoritarian ambition are not single-day, or even single-year, projects. Trump seeks autocratic power to implement his draconian immigration policies, including starting “the largest domestic deportation operation” in U.S. history and reinstating the Muslim travel ban. He’s called for ending the constitutional right of birthright citizenship with an “executive order” — a notion backed by Vance.

Trump also seeks to remake American energy policy to benefit the fossil-fuel industry, a plan he shorthands as “drill, drill, drill.” And he’s put criminal justice on the agenda, vowing to free the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, calling them “hostages” and vowing to “sign their pardons or commutations on Day One.” For those who have studied the rise of authoritarian leaders throughout history, the playbook of Trump and his allies dictates they will push through as many new laws, executive decrees, and emergency orders as possible before anyone understands what is happening. “They want to have a blitzkrieg — and then all you need to be is a dictator for a day,” says Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of Strongmen: How They Rise, Why They Succeed, How They Fall and a professor at New York University. “It’s not just a change of methods, it’s a change of political system — a vast expansion of the powers of the executive, so that Trump will be able to rule as an autocrat.”

Get Out of Jail Free

TRUMP’S EFFORT TO REGAIN power is driven substantially by his desire to stay out of prison — part of a long pattern of putting his own interests ahead of the nation’s. He is a felon convicted on 34 counts stemming from the cover-­­up of a hush-money payout to a porn star at the height of the 2016 election. He also faces federal charges for election interference, as well as a Georgia indictment for his demand that GOP election officials “find 11,780 votes” to reverse his loss in that swing state.  Regaining the White House would put a naked abuse of power at Trump’s fingertips. Trump has long been open about his desire to meddle in his criminal cases, having called on Congress to defund the Justice Department until it dropped charges against him. No one in MAGA world denies that Trump would begin a second term by ordering federal charges against himself and his cronies dismissed. In a more normal time, such a brazenly corrupt act might define a political era. 

Trump’s tightrope walk to keep out of prison is a hallmark of autocrats. “Regular politicians wouldn’t even run for office if they had big legal problems. But strongmen are not normal politicians,” says Ben-Ghiat. “They have to run; they have to get back into power and make their legal troubles go away.” She points to the examples of Italy’s former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who faced dozens of criminal trials, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. “This is how these guys think. And it’s why they all denigrate the press and the judiciary as corrupt, because that’s their enemy.” 

Retribution Agenda

TRUMP HAS POSITIONED HIMSELF as an avatar of a collective revenge fantasy for his followers. During a 2023 speech in Waco, Texas, site of the fiery 1993 standoff between the anti-government Branch Davidian cult, led by David Koresh, and federal authorities, Trump told the audience: “I am your warrior, I am your justice.… For those who have been wronged and betrayed … I am your retribution.”  The Waco setting was chilling ­— and no accident. The FBI’s deadly siege of the Koresh compound inspired the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing by militia member and anti-­government extremist Timothy McVeigh, the deadliest domestic terror attack in U.S. history and a horrific act of vengeance. McVeigh and Koresh are seen as martyrs by the far right, and Trump was speaking directly to the most radical core of his base.

Trump has already threatened to turn the Justice Department into a vehicle for retribution for what he perceives as unjust political persecution — for election interference, hush-money payments, as well as his alleged mishandling of classified documents. He has posted on Truth Social, for example: “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” Trump has long blamed Biden for all of his legal woes, despite the president’s hands-off approach to the various cases against him. Trump has vowed to appoint “a special prosecutor” to go after President Biden and his family over what Trump describes as “bribes, kickbacks, and other crimes,” insisting, “Justice will be done.”  Trump associate and former counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee Mike Davis, who has been talked up for a top post in a new Trump administration, said on a recent podcast that if he were selected as acting attorney general, he’d carry out a “three-week reign of terror” before getting “chased out of town with my Trump pardon,” pledging to “indict Joe Biden and Hunter Biden and James Biden and every other scumball, sleazeball Biden.” 

[...]

Controlling Families

LIKE MANY ASPIRING AUTOCRATS, Trump is a threat to families, seeking to impose government power on personal choices about reproduction. He’s “proud” of his success in overturning Roe v. Wade, which led to state-level, near-total abortion bans affecting millions of women. Trump has said he’ll personally vote to preserve Florida’s six-week abortion ban, and has even endorsed the idea of states choosing to punish women for seeking abortion care. The GOP platform, moreover, includes a declaration of fetal personhood, asserting that fetuses are entitled to 14th Amendment protections — logic that could lead to a court-imposed nationwide abortion ban. Vance, meanwhile, has opposed abortion even in the case of rape and incest: “It’s not whether a woman should be forced to bring a child to term,” he said in a 2021 interview. “It’s whether a child should be allowed to live — even though the circumstances of that child’s birth are somehow inconvenient to society.” Vance has also accused people without children of lacking a “direct stake” in the country and proposed that those with kids be given greater voting power. (His mentor, Thiel, has blamed his loss of confidence in democracy, in part, on “the extension of the franchise to women.”) Controlling reproduction is yet another hallmark of fascism, says Ben-Ghiat, whose expertise is in Benito Mussolini’s rule in Italy. Il Duce equated population growth with national strength, and restricted birth control and outlawed abortion while providing loans to married couples that would be forgiven in stages with the birth of each child. “Vance may not know that he’s repeating Mussolini proposals, but it’s the same stuff,” Ben-Ghiat says. “You have women seen as an enemy if they’re not contributing to the state by having babies.” Ben-Ghiat points out that this type of rhetoric doesn’t just impact women: “Mussolini actually passed a measure that taxed bachelors because they weren’t doing their duty” to reproduce. “It’s never just one target,” she warns. “The number of targets always expands.”

[...]

‘Real Danger to the Rule of Law’

TRUMP’S AUTHORITARIANISM ISN’T going to look the same as Putin’s in Russia or Xi Jinping’s in China. Think more of a WWE-style circus mixed with former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover-style crackdowns and Newt Gingrich’s limited-government fantasies. Much of what Trump and his government-in-waiting are plotting — including invading and even bombing Mexico to supposedly send a message to drug cartels — is rooted in Trump’s impulse to wallow in the spectacle of cinematic violence. The sheer cartoonishness of Trump’s vision for America can make it hard to accept as real. But Klarman insists that Trump and Co. must be taken at face value: “There’s no reason to doubt it. They admire Viktor Orban; Trump meets with him at Mar-a-Lago. He admires Putin’s strength. He admires Xi. They are authoritarian. There’s no reason in the world to doubt this.”  It is seductive to dismiss Trump’s darkest calls for revenge and bloodshed as red meat to rally his troops, and to doubt the likelihood of follow-through. “It’s a very common theme in the history of fascism that lots of people think that the fascist leader is joking,” Stanley warns. “People don’t want to believe what’s right in front of their eyes. Let’s take Trump seriously this time.” Trump allies like Davis call fears of an autocratic Trump term “silly.” He points to the fact that Trump never had Hillary Clinton arrested, despite the pervasive chants at his rallies to “Lock her up” — which he contends offers assurance that the former president’s most troubling rhetoric won’t translate into action: “Trump has already proven that he’s not going to be vindictive as president.” Others who have seen Trump operate up close, however, are strident in their warnings. Pence refused to endorse Trump on the grounds that “anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States.” John Kelly, Trump’s longest-serving chief of staff, has blasted Trump’s admiration for “autocrats and murderous dictators,” while insisting the former president has “nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law.”  But the surge of excitement and creative energy for the candidacy of Kamala Harris — and a Democratic agenda centered on Tim Walz’s call for Americans to both root for their neighbors and to “mind your own damn business” — provides hope of defending against Trump’s threat to democracy.

Rolling Stone had an insightful column about how America would be a nightmare if Donald Trump wins. If you want a safe, free, and prosperous America, vote Kamala Harris!

Read the full story at Rolling Stone.

[normalucia]

Don’t be motivated by cash, cocaine, champagne

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte continued her broadsides yesterday against her erstwhile allies, declaring that “leaders should not be motivated by cash, cocaine or champagne… And most certainly, leaders should not be made to hold champagne glasses.”

Duterte also admitted that she and President Marcos have not seen or talked to each other since she resigned from her Cabinet post in June.

“I don’t have a description of my relationship now with President Marcos. We no longer talk to each other. We also no longer see each other,” Duterte said yesterday in separate interviews with SMNI and GMA News.

In a public statement she posted on her personal Facebook page, which was shared by the Office of the Vice President, Duterte mentioned for the second time the word “cocaine.”

It was seen as a reference to accusations by her camp that Marcos is a cocaine user. Her mention of champagne was also seen as a reference to video footage during the diplomatic reception held recently at Malacañang, which showed First Lady Liza Marcos grabbing a champagne glass held by Senate President Francis Escudero, sipping from it and handing it back to him.

In an open letter last Wednesday, Duterte lamented how the government and its officials “continuously” allowed Filipinos to go hungry, live in poverty and remain vulnerable to crimes.

She specifically slammed the government and members of the House of Representatives over supposed inaction on the issues of health, security and foreign interference, especially of the International Criminal Court and their investigation on her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, saying that “Filipinos deserve better.”

Duterte defended her statement, saying that she was neither “pro-administration” nor “anti-administration,” but rather speaking for the welfare of the Filipinos and the country.

Addressing government officials, Duterte said: “Leadership is faithfulness to the oath of office. Leadership is faithful service to the people. Leaders should only say one thing – that ‘it is done.’”

The Vice President also criticized the recent survey of OCTA Research, which showed that fewer people are supportive of her family, claiming that someone must have paid the research group to ask if they are “pro-Marcos” or “pro-Duterte.”

“They should have asked, ‘are you pro-Philippines?’ I’m sure everyone would change their answer to ‘pro-Philippines,’” Duterte said.

Earlier this week, the research group released the results of its June 29 to July 1 survey that found only 16 percent of the respondents identify themselves as “pro-Duterte,” four points down from 20 percent in March.

Meanwhile, those who support the Marcos administration increased by five points from 31 percent to 36 percent.

OCTA Research maintained that it is non-partisan and its surveys are conducted independently.

“Our goal was to try to contribute to conversation on political preference, which is something very hard and challenging to measure,” political analyst and OCTA co-founder Ranjit Rye said in a phone interview with The STAR.

In the same interviews, Duterte said the desire to “perpetuate power” may be the motive behind the attacks on her and her family.

“It’s very obvious that everything you are hearing or seeing that is being done right now – the motive behind is that ‘I no longer want to step down. This (power) will be mine forever,’” Duterte stressed.

[catdotjpeg]

IN PHOTOS: Yesterday, progressive youth groups from different schools in Iloilo along with other organizations and representatives from different sectors gathered in front of the Iloilo Provincial Capitol to commemorate the 37th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Uprising. The program was then followed by a march in the streets of Iloilo City.

After almost four decades since the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. was ousted, another Marcos is back in the highest seat of power in the country, directly following the tyrannical regime of Rodrigo Duterte. 

The Marcos Jr. administration is using its power to continue the fascist legacy of both his direct predecessor Duterte and his father Marcos Sr., hence the declining socio-economic condition of Filipinos due to multiple issues such as the increasing inflation rate and oil price hikes.

Instead of uplifting the plight of the masses, the administration has only managed to worsen the situation by introducing policies that only benefit the ruling class. In addition, people’s campaigns like the call for a national minimum wage and the suspension of value added and excise taxes are disregarded, while legislators focus on the railroading of the Maharlika Wealth Fund, the implementation of Mandatory ROTC, and the prioritization of a constitutional reform, among others.

Not only are the rights of the various sectors of society endangered, but the nation’s history of struggle against the Marcos dictatorship is also being erased. Marcos Jr., with his cronies, is desperate in attempting to change the nation’s history and in covering up the crimes that his family committed against the Filipino people under his father’s tyrannical rule.

Anakbayan Panay stands with the people’s resistance against misinformation and historical distortion and against all other forms of oppression and state-sponsored terrorism. With the return of another Marcos in Malacañang comes the continuation of our struggle for genuine agrarian reform, indigenous peoples’ rights, student welfare and free education for all, climate justice, and Sahod Itaas, Presyo Ibaba.

We call on the Filipino youth to look back to the lessons we have acquired in the long course of our struggle and to keep the fight against tyranny and carry forward the people’s calls towards true national liberation and national democracy.

Makibaka, huwag matakot! Tuloy ang laban!

- Anakbayan Panay, 25 Feb 2023

[warningsine]

Philippine Nobel Peace laureate Maria Ressa was acquitted of tax evasion Tuesday, according to her news site Rappler, in the latest legal victory for the veteran journalist.

Ressa and Rappler are now cleared of all five tax-related charges filed during the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte, according to CNN affiliate CNN Philippines.

“This is really a win not just for Maria … but a win for the Philippines,” Ressa’s lawyer Francis Lim told supporters outside Regional Trial Court in Pasig city. “This acquittal together with [the] earlier acquittal will send a very strong message to the international business community.”

Ressa, 59, is the CEO and co-founder of Rappler and a former CNN journalist.

“This is a victory not just for Rappler but for everyone who has kept the faith that a free and responsible press empowers communities and strengthens democracy,” the news site said in a statement.

“We share this with our colleagues in the industry who have been besieged by relentless online attacks, unjust arrests and detentions, and red-tagging that have resulted in physical harm. We share this with Filipinos doing business for social good but who, like us, have suffered at the hands of oppressive governments,” it added.

The ruling comes eight months after Ressa was cleared of four earlier counts of tax violations filed in 2018 by Duterte’s government.

Ressa is currently on bail as she appeals a six-year prison sentence handed down in 2020 for a separate cyber libel conviction.

She won the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, along with Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, for her efforts to safeguard freedom of expression in the Philippines.

[milkboydotnet]

Ahead of Philippine President Marcos Jr.’s visit with President Biden on Monday, May 1st, over one hundred faith organizations and institutions–including Ecumenical Advocacy Network on the Philippines, Pax Christi USA, Presbyterian Church – USA Office of Public Witness and the United Methodist Church Board of Church & Society – initiated an ecumenical letter with the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines to call on President Biden to abstain from any new military agreements with President Marcos that will further contribute to human rights violations. The cosigning faith groups additionally urged President Biden to support the Philippine Human Rights Act, which would suspend US security assistance to the Philippines until the Government of the Philippines has investigated and prosecuted human rights abuses in the military and police force.

Noting the lack of change since Marcos assumed office 10 months ago, faith communities state: “President Marcos and his administration have shown ongoing impunity for human rights abuses similar to those seen under the preceding Duterte presidency. Human Rights Watch reports there has been “no let up” in the war on drugs under Marcos Jr., which took as many as 30,000 lives under Duterte. Karapatan Human Rights Alliance reports that from July to December 2022, there were 17 extrajudicial killings, 165 illegal arrests, and a total of 825 political prisoners, 73 of whom are elderly. Karapatan additionally recorded 200 cases of red-tagging and notes that the Marcos Administration continues to use the Anti-Terrorism Act and the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) “to create an unsafe environment for activists, rendering them more vulnerable to attacks against their persons.”

The ecumenical letter, which follows an interfaith delegation hosted by ICHRP that traveled to the Philippines in February, notes the delegation “met with dozens of community members and organizers who confirmed that the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police are guilty of widespread violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. We are aghast,” it states, “that despite the human rights situation, our government continues to channel various forms of resources to the Philippines (i.e. military training, weapons). In addition, the most recent military deal to build  four more US military bases in the country is an affront to the peace of the region. As people of faith, we strongly oppose and condemn the use of a large portion of our country’s budget to support regimes that oppress their populations.” 

The release of the letter comes alongside mass protests of Filipino-Americans and allies from labor and human rights organizations, who are holding an all-day vigil in front of the White House on Monday. 

[coochiequeens]

De Lima was arrested in 2017, months after she had launched a senate inquiry into Duterte’s brutal anti-drugs crackdown, which is the subject of an investigation by the international criminal court.

The most prominent critic of the former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s so-called “war on drugs” has been granted bail, after more than six years in jail on what rights groups condemned as trumped-up charges.

Leila de Lima, 64, a former senator and human rights commissioner, emerged from court on Monday to cheers from supporters, who chanted “Justice” and “Leila will soon be free”.

Surrounded by crowds of media and police escorts, she said: “For years, my whole being has been crying out for justice and freedom … For more than six long years I’ve been praying, praying so hard for this day to come.”

De Lima was arrested in 2017, months after she had launched a senate inquiry into Duterte’s brutal anti-drugs crackdown, which is the subject of an investigation by the international criminal court.

Duterte had accused her of receiving payoffs from drugs gangs while she was justice minister, and she faced three drug-related charges, two of which have been dismissed. She has always denied any wrongdoing.

On Monday, she was granted bail in the final pending case, which she had sought on health grounds.

UN human rights experts, as well the European parliament, have long called for her release, and witnesses who testified against her have recanted their statements.

De Lima has said the charges were an act of revenge by Duterte, who she described at the time of her arrest as “a murderer and a sociopathic serial killer”.

She had long criticised his governance. In her former role as chair of the national Commission on Human Rights, De Lima had sought to expose killings by so-called “death squads” in Davao City, where Duterte was mayor for more than two decades.

De Lima was considered the most prominent political prisoner under his administration. In prison she continued her work as a senator, issuing handwritten statements from detention, often condemning Duterte’s governance. She was unable to campaign in the 2022 election, however, and lost an attempt to run again for a senate position.

On Monday, De Lima thanked her legal team, as well as the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, Duterte’s successor. His administration had, she said, respected “the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law”.

Marcos has previously said he would not cooperate with an ICC investigation into the drugs war killings.

Between 12,000 and 30,000 civilians are estimated to have been killed in connection with anti-drugs operations from July 2016 to March 2019, according to data cited by the ICC.

Government data estimates are lower, and say at least 6,252 people were killed in police operations between July 2016, and May 2022. Police have said any killings were only in self-defence.

[aphroditesknife]

Image 1

Tweet: VP Sara Duterte owes an apology to Rep France Castro & Sen Risa Hontiveros after it has been confirmed that 1) She received funds from Ofc of President -confirmed by DBM; 2) She spent P125 million in 11days -confirmed by COA. Castro & Hontiveros are right to demand an explanation

Image 2

The 125 million pesos OVP confidential funds were spent in 11 days, during the Christmas/New Year holiday week, before the year 2022 ended.

11.3 million pesos per day.

And the current Marcos-Duterte administration still continues to defend this. This is blatant robbery.