U.S. Defense Secretary Wants To Rescind Mutual Defense Treaty With The Philippines

July 13, 2019 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

WASHINGTON. D.C. (The Adobo Chronicles, Washington Bureau) – The United States was caught offguard when Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte challenged Uncle Sam to fire the first shot and to deploy the Seventh Fleet in the West Philippine Sea as way to resolve the terrotorial dispute involving China.

Duterte said his country will be behind the U.S. , citing a decades-old Mutual Defense Treaty. Signed in 1951, the treaty contains eight articles and dictates that both nations would support each other if either the Philippines or the United States were to be attacked by an external party.

But now, U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Michael Shanahan has found a way out of Duterte’s challenge: he wants to rescind the treaty altogether!

Speaking with The Adobo Chronicles, Shanahan said the Philippines did not keep its part of the bargain when America was attacked on 9-11. “So why would we keep ours in the ongoing conflict between the Philippines and China? It did nothing to help the U.S. when we were attacked,” he added.

We tried to reach Philippine Senator Panfilo Lacson for comment but his mobile phone was on low batt.

Lacson earlier made a statement that the Philippines should not wait for an armed aggression by China before invoking its Mutual Defense agreement with the U.S.

This is a developing story.

International, Politics, Social Media

Maria Ressa Incriminates Herself At U.K. Media Freedom Conference

July 12, 2019 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

LONDON, United Kingdom (The Adobo Chronicles, Paris Bureau) – Rappler CEO Maria Ressa is reportedly trying to seek asylum in the United Kingdom after she openly admitted violating the Philippine Constitution which prohibits foreign ownership of Philippine media.

In a Media Freedom Conference in the U.K., Ressa admitted that Omidyar Network (ON) owns “less than 5%” of Rappler investments. ON, of course, is a foreign company, and the Constitution mandates that Philippine media must be 100% Filipino-owned. She was responding to a question from Canadian media personality Ezra Levant — a question that wasn’t even addressed to her.

For the longest time, since the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decided to revoke Rappler’s media license, Ressa has denied that ON was part owner of her online news source outfit, using sugar-coated terms like Philippine Depository Receipts (PDR) to mask Omidyar’s investment.

After Rappler lost its court appeal challenging the license revocation, the decision is back in the hands of SEC — whether to let its earlier ruling against Rappler stand.

Now that Ressa herself has admitted to ON’s investment, the SEC needs no further basis to shut down Rappler’s media operations.

As for Ressa’s asylum application, that would be a decision left solely to the United Kingdom.

Moral of the story: don’t respond to any question not directed at you, no matter how eager you are to hijack the answer.

Government, International, Law Enforcement, Politics

Malacañang Clarifies Duterte’s Statement About Iceland

July 12, 2019 Pol Pinoy Leave a comment

“Ice” is to Iceland, left, and rice is to the Philippines, right

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) –The Washington Post is reporting that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte mocked the country of Iceland in a rambling speech Friday, suggesting that people in the small Nordic island nation “go about eating ice” and that they have “no policemen.”

The comments were made during remarks to corrections department officials one day after Iceland led a United Nations resolution that called for an investigation of Duterte’s war on drugs. The resolution was adopted, 18 to 14, in the U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday.

The Philippine leader suggested in response that Iceland did not understand the issues that the Philippines has with drugs, as its only problem is “ice.”

Today, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo clarified that the “ice” Duterte was alluding to was not the solidified form of water, but ice, the purest and most potent version of methampethamine. Also known as crystal meth, ice usually comes in the form of crystalline rocks. This version can also be injected, as the “ice” turns to liquid once heated.”Iceland is criticizing Duterte’s war on shabu, but can’t deal with its own drug problem on ice. Filipinos eat rice, but Iceland’s people eat ice,” Panelo said.

All’s fair that’s square!