Duterte and De Lima in TIME list of most influential people

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has topped the online poll for TIME list of most influential people, however the Magazine has decided to undermine Duterte's popularity by including the president staunches critic Senator Leila de Lima even-though no one voted for her.

The accompanying article for Duterte is done by former Colombian president César Gaviria, while the one for De Lima was written by former United States ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power.

Gaviria was also the one who wrote a New York Times opinion piece titled "President Duterte is repeating my mistakes", based on his own experiences in fighting Colombia's drug problem. Duterte called Gaviria an idiot for "lecturing" him on the war on drugs.

Duterte's "most vocal critic" De Lima, wrote former ambassador Power, has taken on "a role her friends call suicidal." Last year, Duterte himself had accused De Lima of facilitating the drug trade inside the national penitentiary.

Duterte Say Lucio Tan, Prieto's and other Oligarchs Should Pay Taxes

During President Rodrigo Duterte speech in front of 8,000 OFWs in Qatar on Saturday, April 15 (Doha time) he said "Ang Pilipinas, para ito sa mga taong naghirap...Ang mayayaman, kalaban ko 'yan" and
challenged business tycoon Lucio Tan and other oligarchs to pay their unpaid taxes.

"Lucio Tan has almost billion, 30 billion. He has to pay. He has to pay. Lahat (All of them), they have to pay," Duterte said during his meeting with the Filipino community in Qatar at around 6 pm in Doha, or 11 pm in Manila.

The President also said Dunkin Donuts, which he said is owned by the Prietos of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, has its own tax deficiencies.

In his speech, Duterte repeated as well his usual tirades against human rights groups, the European Union, and critics such as Senator Antonio Trillanes IV.


Full Speech

VP Robredo SWS Satisfaction Rating Drops Significantly

The people are no longer satisfied with the Vice President Leni Robredo performance as her SWS satisfaction rating drops. It went down by 11 points in the first quarter of the year, according to a new Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey that also showed a slight drop amid still steady ratings for other top officials of government.

Robredo obtained a net satisfaction rating of +26 in the Social Weather Stations' survey of 1,200 respondents from March 25 to 28. Her score qualifies as "moderate," and is 11 percentage points down from her "good" +37 rating last December.

The March 25 to 28 survey was conducted days after Robredo revealed alleged irregularities in President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs via a video message to the United Nations.

The video message had prompted House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez to mull an an impeachment complaint against Robredo, whom he accused of betrayal of public trust.

The same survey showed Alvarez enjoying a 2 percentage point increase in his net satisfaction rating to a "moderate" +12 from a "moderate" +10.

Meanwhile, Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III and Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno also saw drops in their satisfaction marks, SWS noted.

Pimentel's rating dropped one grade to a "moderate" +37 from December’s "good" +49. Sereno's rating stayed "moderate", but dropped 2 points to +14 from +16.

Source

5.4 magnitude Earthquake Hits Metro Manila, other parts of Luzon

Earthquake Information No. 1:
Date and Time: 19 Oct 2015 09:50 PM
Magnitude = 5.4
Depth = 101 kilometers
Location... http://t.co/Bx9tw3EP3L

— PHIVOLCS-DOST (@phivolcs_dost) October 19, 2015

Metro Manila and some parts of Southern Tagalog has been hit by a 5.4 magnitude earthquake accordint to seismologists. The offshore quake, with a shallow depth of three kilometers, centered seven kilometers northwest of Tingloy, Batangas.

The earthquake was detected at 8:58 p.m., the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said. The  tremor was felt at Intensity IV in Makati City and in Obando, Bulacan. Intensity III was felt in Mandaluyong City,  Quezon City, Sta. Ana, Manila, in Lucena City in Quezon province and the Cavite towns of General Trias and Dasmariñas.

Intensity II was felt in Pasig City and Talisay, Batangas. The Philippines sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where continental plates collide causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.

Duterte Asks The Media to Look Into Abad, PNoy DAP Corruption

Duterte on DAP: Kayong mga media, bakit gobyerno lang? bakit 'di niyo kalkalin si Abad, PNoy?