Opinion and Commentary
Balanza: Black as tar
February 7, 2018, 1:55 pm
The opposition Liberal Party (LP) is spicing up its propaganda campaign against President Rodrigo Duterte with a new bent, hurling its criticisms against the administration with a poetic twist. Although Pinoys expect more than poetry from the opposition acting as a critical, balancing political… Read More
Ledesma: Who is Rio of DICT?
February 2, 2018, 1:42 pm
Let us leave the controversial Rappler’s case for now. It is already with the Courts of Appeal. The last time we heard from Rappler is their manifestation in the CA that it is not a mass media outfit but a news site. The Senate spent precious time distinguishing between Fake and Fact news and… Read More
Ledesma: Grand deception
January 30, 2018, 8:48 am
When Rappler, through its president, Maria Ressa, was caught trifling with an important tenet in the Philippine Constitution that mandates that Philippine media should be 100% owned by Filipinos, the Securities and Exchange Commission ordered it closed. Rappler was parading like it is wholly owned… Read More
Ledesma: Much ado about a done deal
January 23, 2018, 6:58 am
I have covered the political career of Pres. Rodrigo R, Duterte since the first day he stepped into the political arena as an appointed Vice Mayor of Davao City. For us community journalists whose beat is City Hall, we get real close to whoever sits as Mayor, his department heads and personal… Read More
Valera: Press freedom entails responsibilities
January 22, 2018, 12:54 pm
The more I listen to Rappler’s CEO Maria Ressa on the news involving her and her major foreign funder Omidya Network, the more I am convinced without any iota of doubt that they have violated in a conspiratorial way Article XVI Section 11(1) of the Philippine Constitution, which mandates that… Read More
Ledesma: Freedom and crime
January 18, 2018, 7:19 pm
I’m not surprised when some quarters are exploiting to the hilt the order of the Securities and Exchange Commission to shut down the operations of Rappler. The bannered story warns of the muzzling of the press. Rappler itself, quoting Spokesman Harry Roque, wrote that if Duterte wants to close… Read More
Ledesma: Duterte and the demise of Aquino myth
January 16, 2018, 12:55 pm
The trust rating of Pres. Rodrigo Duterte is at record high in the level of excellence. This despite the efforts of the opposition and the leftist organizations to discredit and demonize him with issues that range from the banal extra-judicial killings to threats of martial law just to name a few.… Read More
Ledesma: Callamard
January 5, 2018, 11:51 am
It’s 2018 but UN Rapporteur Agnes Callamard has not gotten over her cantankerous attitude against Pres. Rodrigo Duterte and her notion that drugs, crime and terrorism are not that bad in the Philippines and therefore an all-out war against these evils is unnecessary and, in her judgment, a… Read More
Ledesma: It was a good year
December 31, 2017, 10:54 pm
We have seen the litany of achievements of Duterte administration. It dwarfed the entire six years of the Aquino regime. It could have done better except that it has to first fix a lot of damages wrought by an inept regime that has likewise institutionalized corruption and abetted crime the most… Read More
Ledesma: Birds sing after the storm
December 27, 2017, 12:27 am
The tragedy that happened in Davao City on the eve of Christmas was freak. Earlier alarm was raised of Tropical Storm “Vinta” that placed the city along its path. City Mayor Inday Sara Duterte promptly issued advisories alerting those in the coastline, river banks and areas that had been hit… Read More
Balanza: The blame game
December 25, 2017, 5:37 pm
Left-leaning legal fronts are assailing President Rodrigo Duterte for terminating the peace talks and for declaring the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army (CPP/NPA) as a terrorist group. The leftist fronts and their leaders known to have established ties with the CPP accuse… Read More
Ledesma: Tax
December 22, 2017, 2:40 pm
TRAIN is a gift of the Duterte administration to the small income earners which comprise over 99% of our population. Some critics scoff at the new tax measure, but to a wage earner of P250,000 annually the tax exemption of PHP50,000.00 can tell the difference between misery and modest relief.… Read More
Ledesma: Who is afraid of Martial Law?
December 18, 2017, 5:47 pm
We have heard the same refrain from the same faces that comprise the moribund opposition both from the Senate and the House of Representatives and too, the social media. They tried the same scare tactics like how and what they did the first time Pres. Rodrigo R. Duterte placed the entire island of… Read More
Balanza: Life after Joma
December 10, 2017, 2:06 pm
This piece is about two men and a bird that flew away: Jesus “Jess” Dureza and Silvestre “Bebot” Bello III and the scuttled peace talks with the leftist troika — Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army, National Democratic Front (CPP/NPA/NDF). Jess, Presidential… Read More
Ledesma: 'Eh buhay ka pa naman...'
December 6, 2017, 10:43 am
How can one ever forget the horrible scene of death and destruction in Tacloban when typhoon Yolanda slammed that coastal city? How can one just simply dismiss how government officials wantonly allocate among themselves the billions of pesos from foreign aids and emergency funds and leaving the… Read More
Balanza: To kill or not to kill
December 5, 2017, 5:29 pm
Vice President Leni Robredo was swamped with a tsunami of criticisms over her comment regarding President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to the military not to spare New People’s Army (NPA) rebels during armed encounters. President Duterte said communist rebels should be killed, as they would anyway… Read More
Ledesma: Why a RevGov
December 2, 2017, 3:52 pm
The crowd and the numbers tell it all. One survey done prior to November 30, when the pro-revolutionary government came out in hordes to show their support for the revgov, revealed a huge majority of Filipinos favored the radical move to address the ills in the government, crime and the sluggish… Read More
Balanza: The last road to peace
November 29, 2017, 9:05 pm
We write this piece fervently praying that the guns of the communist rebels will remain silent amid rising temperatures following President Rodrigo Duterte’s scuttling of peace negotiations with the Communist Party of the Philippines/New People's Army/National Democratic Front Philippines… Read More
Ledesma: Tightening the noose
November 28, 2017, 11:37 am
The fate of Jose Ma. Sison, better known as Joma, is virtually in the hands of his pet peeve — Pres. Rodrigo R. Duterte. Both the United States and the European Union had declared the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People's Army, (CPP/NPA) as terrorist… Read More
Balanza: NPA Corporation
November 24, 2017, 7:41 pm
President Rodrigo Duterte has delivered a death blow to the peaceful means of putting an end to the communist insurgency by writing finis to peace negotiations between the Government of the Philippines (GRP) and the leftist Communist Party of the Philippines/New People’s Army /National… Read More
