OFFBEAT MAIL

A duck egg's embryo called "balut" MANILA -- As dusk sets in, a limping woman would carefully load up a basket full of egg embryos called “balut” in Tagalog, along with her small stool, on a small wooden cart and slowly descend to the street corner about 200 meters away from where she lived. Wearing her usual black sweater and a bull cap, Aling Inday, a native of Leyte province, would slowly position her cart on the sidewalk, close to the terminal of tricycles and jeepneys, where hungry drivers would usually buy “balut” to energize themselves from a hard day’s drudgery. Not far from her favorite spot is the police substation, where she could always run to file a complaint if anybody bothers her. She eases herself down on a stool to wait for customers; lights her small kerosene lamp to provide a little illumination enough to distinguish the money that changed hands between her and the customers. This activity goes all the way until the egg contents of the baske...

Feisty Philippine President Rody "Digong" Duterte just kept mum Former DDS hitman Edgar Matobato answers questions at the Senate public hearing. on the allegations of a former member of the Davao Death Squad  (DDS) that he ordered the killing of at least 1000 victims while Duterte served as mayor of Davao City. His silence on the accusations of a certain Edgar Matobato, a former DDS hitman who got his wages as part of the ghost employees of the Davao City hall,  can be misconstrued as a kind of recollection if he indeed was involved in such killings?  Unlike in the previous occasions, President Duterte has a habit of cursing and mouthing bad words when confronted in public, a trademark which no longer surprise a lot of his supporters and cabinet officials. "That's his character," one of the cabinet officials said. Or it could be that President Duterte is thinking something else? With Koko Pimentel's denial of providing protective c...

Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Hague. Photo: PCA The Red Dragon has stopped spewing fire, and it seems it’s now behaving in a forthright manner after the Permanent Court of Arbitration handed down its final decision on July 12 which favored the legal complaint filed by the Philippines against China on what it perceived as an illegal intrusion on Philippine sovereignty. As expected, this didn't come as a great surprise to many Filipinos. Even before the decision was handed down, I could already sense of glitter of hope would come as expected, after the Philippines had filed a complaint before the arbitral tribunal on the manner by which China asserts its rights over the disputed territories in the South China Sea, considering that it was clear from the start that China has violated an important provision set forth by the United Nations on the Law of the Seas (UNCLOS), in which China is a signatory. As I was saying before, China may have withdrawn its support of the ...

File photo shows beheaded Canadian Mr. Robert Hall (left).  The body of the late Robert Hall, the Canadian national beheaded by Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) bandits last June 13, has been dug-up and recovered in Sulu Saturday morning. Major Filemon Tan, Western Mindanao Command spokesperson, said Hall's decaying remains were recovered by troops of Joint Task Group (JTG) Sulu around 11:35 a.m. in Upper Kamuntayan, Talipao, Sulu. "The body is currently being brought by the troops to JTG Sulu Headquarters at Barangay Busbus, Jolo , Sulu for documentation before turn over to the PNP SOCO (scene-of-the-crime operatives)," he added. Hall was beheaded by the ASG last June 13. His head was later recovered by civilians in front of the gate of the Jolo Cathedral. Hall, together with John Ridsdel, Kjartan Sikkengstad and Marites Flor, was abducted last Sept. 21 at the Ocean View Resort in Barangay Camudmud, Samal City, Davao Del Norte. Sikkengstad is the only remaining kidna...

What a sad news to read that newly elected Philippines' President Rody Duterte was quoted by The Washington Post to have ordered the killing of "drug addicts", a departure from his earlier statements which ordered civilians and the police to only "kill drug lords and pushers" if they resist arrest or they fight back. President Rody Duterte hands over saber to the newly installed AFP Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Ricardo Visaya. Outgoing Chief of Staff Gen. Glorioso Miranda looks on. Photo: M. Pascua, PCOO, PNA In fact, President Duterte even urged members of the military to help the law enforcers contain the spread of illegal drugs and arrest those drug dealers who are destroying the future of the young generation and the Philippine society in general. Duterte made this call during a turnover rites at the headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City. In the Martial Law years, the late President Ferdinand Marcos had appr...

Who would ever think that Philippines' President-elect Rody Duterte would behave in a manner that appeared to be presidential the day he took his oath as the 16th president of the Republic of the Philippines on June 30 in Malacanang Palace? Oath-taking of President-elect Rody Duterte in the presidential palace in Manila on June 30. Photo: ABS-CBN With his trademark as a foul-mouthed and fond of incendiary statements that could be misinterpreted as out of civility and at times, demeaning to one's rationality, President Duterte just did what he promised a couple of weeks back that he'd change for the better when he sets foot in the presidential palace. Wearing a simple long-sleeve barong tagalog , which was made and designed by local designers in Davao City, and a brown corduroy pair of pants that was matched with a ordinary black pair of shoes, Duterte calmly and confidently walked the red carpeted aisles leading to where the outgoing President Benigno Aquino III wa...

President-elect Atty. Rodrigo Duterte. Courtesy: Ryan Lim, Malacanang Photo Bureau On June 30, 2016, incoming President Rodrigo "Duterte Harry" Duterte will be sworn in as the  16 th president of the Republic of the Philippines, replacing former President Benigno Aquino III, who will step down after serving for six years of his term; leaving a legacy of reviving the country's anemic economic growth into what's considered by economic pundits as one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, if not the world. Latest data showed the Philippines have notched a 6.9% in GDP, against China's only 6.7% last year. And many foreign investors have set their eyes on pouring in their investments into the country, even as the newly-elected President Duterte's  announcement recently that he wouldn't allow factories to be set up in the National Capital Region, otherwise known as Metro Manila, anymore. Understandably, the newly-elected leader has expressed c...

It feels so insulting and demeaning that China continues to ignore the pronouncement of the Permanent Court on Arbitration based in The Hague that it has legal jurisdiction over the territorial row between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea. An island reclaimed by China. After reading the news reports, all that China could utter is that it doesn't recognize the arbitral tribunal's declaration concerning its right to hear the complaint filed by the Philippines against China. However, China hasn't mentioned any valid statement that would give any suggestion as to which international body or court should have the right to hear the case? Over and over again, China keeps on repeating like a broken record that it wouldn't abide by the tribunal's decision to recognize the merits of the case on the territorial disputes because it believes that the tribunal has no jurisdiction to hear such complaint. China, for that matter, didn't even offer a sugge...

High ranking government officials in the Philippines had batted out the idea of sealing an agreement with China to allow a room that will pave the way for an acceptable solution in the form of partnership to further explore oil and gas deposits in the disputed South China Sea territory. A group of disputed islands now being claimed by China. Photo: wikipedia In an informal press briefing hosted by TV5 in Manila, Sen. Gregorio Honasan, now running as one of the six candidates vying for the post of vice president with the opposition's standard bearer Vice President Jejomar Binay, suggested that instead of going into war with China, the Philippines may opt to agree for a 30-70 business partnership in so far as royalties are concerned. China, considered highly equipped with mineral exploration technology, and had already established expansions by building permanent structures which had been misconstrued by political observers as a way to let the world know that it has the legal ...

That's a big question that plays in the minds of most democratic-loving people worldwide. Map shows location of Paracel Islands and Spratly Islands.  According to the China's foreign ministry, the Philippines' filing of a complaint before ITLOS was tantamount to stealing its territories. If China is really the legitimate owner of some, if not all, the islands in the South China Sea, how come it didn't raise a howl when the UNCLOS was created? Wasn't China aware of the consequences as soon as the UNCLOS was created? In fact, it was clear from the beginning that a particular country has the right to own up islands that are within its 250 EEZ limits. Yet, China has kept mum on the issue until the Philippines decided to put a demarcation which eventually created the West Philippine Sea. Even as this article is being written, Chinese Coast Guards had been intimidating smaller Philippine ships that went to Ayungin Shoal to bring food rations to some soldiers who w...

Territorial sea row in the South China Sea China has warned the Philippines that it would suffer the consequences should the latter pursues its plan to file a complaint over a territorial dispute in the South China Sea before the International Tribunal on the Laws of the Seas (ITLOS). According to former ranking government officials in the Philippines, there is a possibility that China could use its technological might to sabotage either the energy projects or introduce virus into the country's sensitive communications data. Former Interior and Local Governments Secretary Raffy Alunan said in a broadcast interview that he received a report that the country's electric grids could be shut down remotely, which could cripple the electricity distribution in the Philippines. Currently, China owns at least 40 percent of the stakes in the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines through the former state grid. But an official of the NGCP said this wouldn't happen consi...

China has again used its naval might to bully Filipino fishermen who were taking shelter due to bad weather 40 yards off the shore of the Bajo de Masinloc, which is inside  the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines. An exclusive economic zone (EEZ) is a seazone prescribed by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea over which a state has special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and wind.[1] It stretches from the baseline out to 200 nautical miles from its coast. In colloquial usage, the term may include the continental shelf. The term does not include either the territorial sea or the continental shelf beyond the 200 n.m.limit. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exclusive_Economic_Zone) The incident took place a few days when the Chinese Coast Guard deliberately bombarded two Filipino fishing vessels with a water cannon as a means to drive them away from the area. Although Philippine Foreign Affairs spo...

Ecstacy pills in the markets. Credit: bar.wikipedia.org Combined police operations have seized more illegal drugs in Metro Manila and the suburbs of Batangas province, where international couriers in cahoots with local Filipinos were apprehended and are now facing criminal charges for illegal drug peddling. This developed after the law enforcers received reliable tips from concerned individuals that led them to their posh condominium hideouts  in Makati City and a ranch in Lipa City, Batangas, owned by the Leviste family, recently. The anti-drug operations were conducted by the PNP, Philippine Drug Enforcement Authority (PDEA) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). According to Atty. Roque Merdegia, chief of the PNP's Anti-Illegal Drug Special Operations Task Force, they had been conducting surveillance operations concerning the movements of a drug dealer in Lipa City, believed to have tie ups with the Mexican-Sinaloa drug cartel, for a long time until they final...

Malampaya natural gas project in Palawan. When the Malampaya offshore gas project in Palawan underwent a maintenance repair, a power rate hike went berserk thus causing millions of Metro Manila consumers to express worry that the latest burden would impact on their household expenses. The question that lingers in my mind is how come the Manila Electric Company (Meralco), which sources out most of its cheap power supply from Malampaya failed to anticipate the disastrous impacts of the shutdown, knowing full well that this could terribly put millions of financially-hard up consumers on the quagmire? Consumer groups, however, have other complaints to make. Some of them even went out of their way to file a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) before the appropriate courts so that the latest spike in power rates could be averted outright. Likewise, they're putting the blame on the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for granting the sinister wishes of Meralco to increase the power...

Containers at the Manila port. Credit: Marnews.net Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has finally came out with the photo of a certain Davidson Tan Bangayan as the man behind the biggest rice smuggling activities which bleed the Philippine government of at least 1.3 trillion pesos in revenue losses. Previous reports claimed that David Tan was based in Davao City, which is the reason why Mayor Duterte rose up to the occasion of investigating the whereabouts of this alleged rice smuggler. Finally, Duterte showed the media the identity of the said smuggler during a press conference so that the public may know his real identity. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said in a media interview that David Tan may have been operating a single rice cartel. This is the reason why the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is digging deeper into the case to find out more details. Rice smuggling has become a hot issue in the Philippines, after groups of farming cooperatives have complained of s...

The streamer speaks for itself.  This is to call the attention of the immediate relatives or beneficiaries of a certain Mr. CAYETANO I. PESIGAN, a Fil-Am WWII veteran who previously lived in Carson, California. The Jackson National Life Insurance Company in Texas has sent a letter to Mr. Richard Ongsotto, Jr. in Carson, California, asking him for some information on the whereabouts of the above-named person, a former housemate of Mr. Ongsotto, concerning a pending insurance claim under his name. In the final request of information dated Dec. 4, 2013, Ms. Debie Brumley of the company's Claims Services said that the insurance firm has requested items necessary to proceed with its review of the pending claim on the above-named person. The required items being requested by the company include: a) the enclosed Claimant Statement completed and signed by the named beneficiary. If the beneficiary has had a change in name, the company requires a copy of the applicable marriage lic...

Onlookers watching a dead journalist. Photo: Inquirer.net The killing of journalists, especially the hard-hitting personalities, has become a habit in the Philippines. In fact, the Union of Journalists of the Philippines has recorded 19 killings since President Benigno Aquino III took over the helm of power. The latest casualty was Rogelio Butalid, 46, a block timer for 107.9 FM Radyo Natin and a host of an hour-long program "Kamatuoran" (The Truth) in Tagum City. Butalid was the third casualty in two weeks time. According to witnesses, he just stepped out from the radio station after his radio program when a man wearing dark glasses approached him and fired several shots at him. The other journalists killed include radioman Michael Milo in Tandag City, Surigao del Sur province; Joas Dignos of Valencia City in Bukidnon province. Another radio reporter, Jonavin "Jhey-R" Villalba, had suffered gunshot wounds when he was fired upon by an unknown assailant i...

Supertyphoon Yolanda as it hits the Philippines. Many US-based Filipinos are calling on the Philippine government to act in the soonest possible time over the US government's impending plan to put the Philippine nationals under the Temporary Protected Status (TPS). But without a letter of request from the Philippine government, the TPS can't be granted by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The TPS will, once and for all, allow many Filipinos in the United States to be covered by the TPS to come out from the shadows and work legally for undetermined number of years. The Philippines is qualified to be covered by the TPS considering that it has been hit by the worst super typhoon in the world history. Currently, at least a million Filipinos are scattered all over the United States. Some of them are working without the necessary permits in order to survive. Once the TPS is approved, many of them will be able to work legally and continue sending remittan...