President Duterte (Malacañang Photo)
The hashtag #DuterteDuwag (Duterte is a coward) trended on Twitter on Friday afternoon immediately after Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque announced that the Chief Executive will no longer engage in a debate with Carpio on issues related to the disputed waters.
#DuterteDuwag got 27.8 thousand tweets as of 6 p.m. on May 7 while Carpio got 23.5 thousand tweets.
The tweets that contained the hashtag #DuterteDuwag poked fun at the President with most tweets pointing out that he was the one who initiated the debate challenge with the retired magistrate.
#DuterteDuwag trends on Twitter after President Duterte backed out from his debate challenge to Retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on issues surrounding the West Philippine Sea.
endIndex:
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 7) The Philippine Bar Association is eyeing a virtual debate for President Rodrigo Duterte and retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on the West Philippine Sea.
PBA President Rico Domingo told CNN Philippines
The Source on Friday that they want to hold a debate in a format where they could raise the discourse on the sea dispute and not let it go down to the level of the gutters. We are sure that there would be a very circumspect discussion, a sedate discussion and not really something that would involve cuss words, or any of these insinuations or innuendos. We want a hard, high-level type of discussion, Domingo said.
Locsin supports probe on Philippines loss of Scarborough Shoal By HANA BORDEY, GMA News
Published May 7, 2021 9:13am Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. has backed President Rodrigo Duterte’s suggestion to investigate former top diplomat Albert del Rosario over the withdrawal of Philippine forces during the 2012 Scarborough Shoal standoff. “We’re all old on both sides of the argument about the loss of Scarborough Shoal; it is time that those ones who were in charge of protecting our territory come clean on what exactly happened when we walked rather sailed away from a confrontation. Could anyone make them do that?” Locsin said in a tweet Thursday.
Rodrigo Duterte has come under additional criticism from just about every major human rights organization on Earth. The UN Human Rights Commission has been nearly apoplectic over mass murders in the Philippines. So too has the International Criminal Court. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and numerous other Ivy League human rights groups have been hammering the Duterte government for numerous crimes against humanity.
There is no upside. While the members of Duterte’s junta have benefitted in power and wealth, the country has tanked. It is estimated that starvation will be taking a huge toll in the Philippines by the end of 2021. An estimate of COVID-19 excess deaths puts the Philippines around 77,000, a more realistic number that matches the anxiety of the population and the massive numbers of at-home funerals. Most Filipinos suffer COVID-19 at home and that is where they die. The cost of going to a hospital is beyond the vast majority of the population. Hence, deaths in
Senator Panfilo Lacson (Senate of the Philippines/MANILA BULLETIN File photo)
“Ang irony nito at nakakalungkot, sa halip na magtulong-tulong tayong mga Pilipino, especially mga leaders, tayo pa nag-aaway-away sa usaping West Philippine Sea (The sad irony is that instead of coming up with a united front on the WPS issue, Filipinos especially our leaders are bickering on the issue),” Lacson, who chairs the Senate committee on national defense, said in an interview over DZXL radio.
“Dapat iisa ang position natin. ‘Yan ang nagpapakita ng weakness natin sa China (What we need is a united position. Otherwise, we are just showing our weakness, one that China could exploit),” he pointed out.