Government, International, Language, Politics

Obama: When I Step Down, I Want To Be Like Duterte

September 23, 2016 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

WASHINGTON, D.C. (The Adobo Chronicles, Washington Bureau) – Doris Kearns Goodwin has a great new interview with President Obama in Vanity Fair. In the wide-ranging interview, Obama hinted that once he steps down, he will start speaking out more like an activist than a president. Like Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, he will stop being “polite.”

This explains why the U.S. President said he was not offended when Duterte allegedly called him a “Son of a whore” prior to their meeting at the recent ASEAN summit in Laos.

Make way for the real Obama!

International, Technology, The Media

Time Magazine, New York Times Hacked!

September 22, 2016 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

NEW YORK, New York (The Adobo Chronicles, Washington Bureau) – Now it can be told: two of America’s vanguards of truth and fairness — TIME magazine and The New York Times — were hacked by still unknown elements.

This revelation came days after both media outlets ran pieces on the alleged extra-judicial killings under the Philippines’ Duterte administration. Both were critical of President Duterte’s war on drugs and painted an entire nation reeling from widespread lawlessness and fear.

TIME’s cover story depicted armageddon in the Philippines when nightfall arrives. The NYT piece was a video interview of a Senate hearing witness who claimed to be a member of the so-called Davao Death Squad under then Mayor Duterte. (The witness’ testimony has in recent days been crumbling under cross-examination by Philippine senators.)

The news organizations claimed that their “stories” were not written or produced by them. Rather, they said that someone somewhere hacked their computer systems and published/posted the embarrassingly one-sided and factless pieces.

“If it truly came from us, we would have presented both sides of the story in accordance with our commitment to objectivity, truth and fairness.

“This is so not like TIME or New York Times,” they said.

International, Politics, The Media

(Biased) Philippine Media React To Pope Francis’ Statement On Journalism

September 22, 2016 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chroncles, Manila Bureau) – Journalism based on gossip or rumors is a form of “terrorism,” Pope Francis told an Italian guild of national journalists Thursday.

The pope said that spreading rumors is an example of “terrorism, of how you can kill a person with your tongue”, he said. “This is even more true for journalists because their voice can reach everyone and this is a very powerful weapon.”

Reacting to the pope’s statement, a coalition of biased Philippine media issued a joint statement criticizing the head of the Roman Catholic Church. The coalition members include ABS-CBN, GMA-7, Rappler and the Philippines Daily Inquirer.

In its statement, the coalition admonished Pope Francis, saying that “The Vatican should not be meddling in internal affairs of the Philippines and its media. Does the Holy Father know about separation of church and state?”

The concerned media organizations denied they were “terrorists.” “We only report what we see with our own yellow eyes,” they said.

In addition to the news media, some netizens signed the statement, including Raissa Robles, Jim Paredes, Leah Navarro, Carlos Celdran and Cynthia Patag.