Published May 10, 2021, 10:34 PM
After being ridiculed as a coward by Filipinos online, President Duterte said he was not afraid of retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and that he backed out of his debate challenge to him because he forgot that Carpio was not the president.
President Duterte (Malacañang Photo)
Duterte made the statement days after the hashtag #DuterteDuwag (Duterte is a coward) trended on Twitter on Friday after the announcement of the President’s withdrawal from his challenge to the retired magistrate to have a debate about the West Philippine Sea.
In his pre-recorded public address on Monday evening, the President said he forgot that he was the president and not Carpio when he posed his challenge to the latter.
Union Bell in file photo
In a statement, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque, however, said that the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases decided that no spectators will be allowed in the venue of the race.
“The IATF approved the conduct of horse-racing activities in areas under MECQ under a no-audience set up,” he said Friday.
Roque said only online and TeleBet activities in the National Capital Region-plus (NCR-plus) bubbe area may operate.
Off-tracking betting stations, on the other hand, may resume operations during the general community quarantine (GCQ) or modified GCQ (MGCQ).
It took six months before the IATF allowed the resumption of Philippine horse racing in September last year. Horse racing was one of the establishments forced to close down during the lockdown due to the threat of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
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.
Published May 7, 2021, 2:46 PM
The government’s pandemic task force has given the green light to the Samahan Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) to host the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Asia Cup Qualifiers in June 2021 amid the threat of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Members of Gilas Pilipinas sing the national anthem before its 2021 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers match against Indonesia. (File Photo from FIBA)
In a statement, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said the Inter-agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases said the games, however, should be under a “bubble” arrangement.
“The IATF approved the request of the Samahan Basketbol ng Pilipinas to host the [FIBA] Asia Cup Qualifiers in June 2021 under a ‘bubble-type’ setting in Clark, Pampanga, subject to health and safety protocols,” he said.
Many unknowns in Duterte s COVID-19 jab as PH fights vaccine hesitancy
May 4, 2021 7:57 PM PHT
For a leader of a country where vaccine hesitancy threatens pandemic response, President Rodrigo Duterte s own vaccination against COVID-19 was shrouded in mystery.
Duterte s vaccination with his first dose of Sinopharm s vaccine on Monday night, May 3, was sudden, unannounced, and peppered with unknowns.
Compared with leaders of other countries battling significant vaccine hesitancy among their people, Duterte s vaccination was far from transparent. It has also raised concerns affecting Filipinos trust in approved vaccines.
Not least of the roots of these concerns is that the Sinopharm vaccine Duterte received has not even been approved for emergency use in the Philippines.