Monthly Archives: June 2018

Law Enforcement, Media, News Satire, Politics, Social Media

Adobo Chronicles To Sue Rappler For Cyber Libel

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Rappler’s Ressa

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – Now that the Pasay City Prosecutor’s Office has given the go signal to indict “Thinking Pinoy” blogger Rey Joseph “RJ” Nieto for calling opposition Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV a “narco” in one of his posts on social media, yet another lawsuit is brewing.

The Adobo Chronicles will file tomorrow, a complaint against online news source, Rappler and its CEO, Maria Ressa, for “false and baseless defamatory imputation” against the popular satire news site.

The complaint stemmed from an opinion piece previously published by Rappler and re-tweeted by Ressa, accusing The Adobo Chronicles of not knowing the difference beween ‘fake news’ and ‘satire.’

”In effect,” the complaint stated, “accusing The Adobo Chronicles of being ‘fake news’ as opposed to satire is tantamount to cyber bullying and spreading inaccurate information.”

This lawsuit just adds to Rappler’s legal issues — from the revocation of its media license by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to tax evasion charges slapped against it by the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Ressa could not be contacted for comment because she blocked The Adobo Chronicles from her Twitter account.

 

Government, Travel

Office Of Vice President Leni Robredo Issues Statement On Delayed Travel Funds Liquidation

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181672E6-FA82-40FE-B915-B33E0C011371QUEZON CITY, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Quezon City Bureau) –  The Commission on Audit (COA) says the Office of the Vice President (OVP) has failed to liquidate the travel expenses of its staff last year within the prescribed 30-day period. 

The 2017 COA report said OVP personnel spent ₱26.4 million on local trips and ₱953,550.75 for foreign trips. Refund of unused travel money was also delayed.

Today, Leni Robredo — through spokesperson Georgina Hernandez — justified the delay, sayng that the bulk of the travel expenses was spent on providing free merienda (snacks) to   news reporters as well as local supporters who were hauled in buses to be part of the VP’s photo ops.

”Because the merienda consisting of lugaw and boiled saging na saba (banana) were purchased mostly from local vendors and farmers, we were not able to get official receipts.  But we have already assigned our OVP personnel to travel back to the towns and cities we visited in order to obtain the receipts required by COA,” Hernandez told The Adobo Chronicles.

As far as the foreign trips were concerned, the OVP says liquidation of funds was delayed because “we were waiting for the dollar-peso exchange rate to improve. Otherwise, mag-aabono kami (fork out money).”

 

Gender, International, Religion

Pope Francis Issues New Encyclical On Marriage

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A23AC9E1-B738-40C2-A4B5-4C6A2E922EAATHE VATICAN (The Adobo Chronicles, Rome Bureau) – Saying that heterosexuality is simply a lifestyle, Pope Francis today released a new encyclical that redefines the Catholic Church’s dogma on marriage.

A papal encyclical is one of the highest forms of communication by the Pope and usually deals with some aspect of Catholic teaching — clarifying, amplifying, condemning or promoting one or a number of issues.

The Pope’s new message strikes down centuries-old Church teaching that marriage is only between a man and a woman.   In the Philippines, the issue is being challenged in the Supreme Court. 

Many who are opposed to same-sex marriage say that homosexuality is a lifestyle that could not be made the basis for the Church union between two men or two women.

But with Pope Francis’ declaration that heterosexuality is also just a lifestyle, the impediment to same-sex marriage will no longer exist.