MANILA, Philippines – Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo always begins his Malacañang press briefings with a smile.

No matter the outrage of the day, Panelo exudes amiability and ease, a buoyancy, missing in the two Duterte spokesmen before him.

“Hello MPC! I’m ready for your questions,” he says with a Cheshire Cat grin.  

The lightness in Panelo’s manner is compounded by his now well-known sense of style, described by President Rodrigo Duterte with a chuckle as “sartorial elegance.” 

The showman in Panelo razzles and dazzles with his wardrobe of scarves, fuschia suits, fedoras, ripped designer jeans, and leather jackets. A Twitter account @whatsalwore is dedicated to documenting his eclectic fashion choices.  

He likes to literally put on a show, like when he belted out "Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang" at a Social Security System event in 2017 and again recently at a business forum. (WATCH: Panelo serenades real estate executives)

But in the one year that Panelo has been Duterte’s chief mouthpiece, controversies have ruffled those peacock feathers and disturbed his carefree demeanor.

He’s come under intense public scrutiny for his dealings with the family of rape-slay convict Antonio Sanchez and his callous remarks on the Metro Manila traffic crisis. 

He’s had to rise up to the challenges every Duterte spokesman has faced, proferring his own interpretations of controversial Duterte pronouncements, explaining away the President’s frequent no-shows, and launching attacks on the latest smoldering government critic.

In the year that has passed, Panelo showed us what kind of spokesman he is – the showbiz spokesman, through thick and thin.

The original spokesman

Comparing himself to his predecessors, it’s evident Panelo has carved his own niche.

He shares some traits with former spokesman Harry Roque, but also differs in crucial ways. (READ: The unravelling of Harry Roque)

Roque was aggressive, always ready for battle with a snide remark and an occasional eyeroll. He was primed to spew legal jargon in the face of criticism or pointed questions from the media. 

He was good with soundbites and was appreciated by reporters for doing his homework. Roque would proactively take notes during Cabinet meetings or meetings of Duterte with foreign dignitaries. A few times, he even recorded himself giving a verbal report on what transpired during a meeting and sent the audio file to reporters. Roque enjoyed a level of access to Duterte and could occasionally confirm personally with the President on his stance on various issues.

Abella, Roque’s predecessor, was meek in comparison, keeping his statements brief and devoid of character. Only an undersecretary, he lacked the access to Duterte that would give his statements authority. Not a lawyer, he could not tango with reporters questioning the legality of Duterte’s policies and frequently resorted to answers like “No comment” or “I’ll get back to you on that.” (READ: Ernesto Abella, the man who speaks for President Duterte)

Panelo is a whole new animal. A lawyer like Roque, in fact concurrently Chief Presidential Legal Counsel, he can call forth and spin legal concepts to defend Duterte, which is how Duterte himself likes to be defended.

He enjoys even greater access to the President, being in his inner circle and even accompanying him to private events.

But what makes Panelo different from Roque is he has absolutely no qualms about how he defends Duterte. Roque had very basic differences with Duterte on issues like the death penalty and press freedom and sought to make a distinction from his personal views and his spokesman’s role. 

He tried hard to temper any spin of legal principles (though there were those), no doubt his history in the law academe and human rights legal circles casting a constant shadow. Because he had always been an outsider, he was always conscious of how Duterte supporters would view his public statements. (READ: Harry Roque pirouettes for Duterte)

Roque had something to prove and was constantly walking a tightrope between two sides.

Panelo has no such pretenses and carries no such burden. He is willing to do all sorts of logical gymnastics, go through any number of legal loopholes to put Duterte under a flattering light.

His years as Duterte’s lawyer and friend gives him the security that he understands the man well enough and even if he messes up, the President will keep an open line. 

In fact, though we talk of Panelo’s predecessors in the formal title of presidential spokesman, Panelo can also be accurately called Duterte’s first spokesman. 

During Duterte’s 2016 presidential campaign, it was Panelo whom the then-mayor tapped to fend off accusations by then-senator Antonio Trillanes IV about his hidden wealth.

Cooking under an afternoon sun in a magenta suit and striped tie, Panelo appeared at the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Julia Vargas branch on May 2, 2016 to ask for proof that Duterte had P211 million in that particular bank.

For many of the media that covered the event, it was their first encounter with the man Duterte would name weeks later as his presidential spokesman.

After announcing Panelo as his spokesman on May 16, however, Duterte changed his mind, giving the role to ex-pastor Ernesto Abella instead.

No explanation was given for the alteration but, in between, Duterte had been told of Panelo’s awkward remarks to a female reporter. 

Yet even with Abella officially taking on the job, and later on Roque, Panelo would relish speaking for the President and giving his take on the hottest issues of the day.

Many a time would reporters be told Panelo was going to the press working area in Malacañang so they could interview him, though no reporter made such a request. He would also often tell reporters to troop upstairs to his office because he wanted to give a statement.

There were even times he would hang out at the press working, while reporters, busy writing articles on the just-concluded Palace press briefing or presidential event, would be pressured to mind him.

The ultimate affirmation came when Panelo, not even formally spokesman at the time, did a one-on-one interview (or téte-a-téte as the Palace put it) with Duterte at the height of the President’s attempt to invalidate Trillanes’ amnesty. 

The one-and-a-half-hour interview, full of pandering questions as expected, nevertheless showed how much the President trusted Panelo when it came to getting his side across. 

This love for the limelight was unusual for a chief presidential legal counsel, whose main job is to write legal advisory opinions on policies and issues relevant to the presidency.

Logical cartwheels

But finally, with Roque’s messy departure from Malacañang, Panelo got the post he was destined for. 

Since then, the public has been on the frontrow seat of a brand of spokesmanship never before seen, featuring logical cartwheels and amazing feats of overstretch.

“When he (Duterte) says, ‘I will kill you,’ he means, ‘I will pursue you ’til the ends of the earth until you are behind bars,’” said Panelo on September 26.

When critics railed against Duterte’s promise to form his own “death squads” to target criminals, Panelo said citizens should be relieved and appreciative of the gesture. Never mind that the formation of death squads is illegal as he, a lawyer, should know.

“Kung ako yung civilian, matutuwa ako (If I were the civilian, I’d be happy),” he said on November 29.

“We should be relieved that we have a President who is doing everything in his power to stop all acts of criminality, all acts of terrorism against civilians,” he blithely added.

In their September 2018 interview, Panelo joined Duterte in spinning false claims on legal issues hounding his bid to void Trillanes' amnesty in order to imbue it with legitimacy.

Panelo was among the few Palace officials who agreed to and even encouraged Duterte’s argument that he can withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) because, since the treaty the Philippines signed to join the court was allegedly not published in the Official Gazette, then the Philippines was never a member of the court.

While lawyers inside Malacañang puzzled at the authorship of Duterte’s 15-page “position paper”  and distanced themselves from it, Panelo embraced it in ultra-long official statements and media interviews.

And back when Duterte elicited outrage for calling God “stupid,” Panelo’s tact was to first deny the President said such a thing, then argue that the President had made a mere “opinion” and not an “insult” (though the two are not mutually-exclusive). He eventually concluded that Duterte was, in fact, exhibiting the highest form of “spirituality” by dissecting religious doctrine like an “academician.” 

Panelo has denied Duterte has ever been “bastos” (rude) to women and advised that if the President’s statement sounds illogical, then he is only joking. 

Such all-out defenses of Duterte are classic Panelo. No matter how puzzling, contradictory, even illogical an argument will sound, Panelo offers it to put the President in a flattering light. 

Panelo denied his defenses of the President strike some as incredulous and forced.

“Only the detractors like you and Rappler say that. The Duterte supporters and objective people praise me for my explanation,” he told Rappler.

This is what makes Panelo an effective spokesman for Duterte. His years knowing the man have given him insight into the President’s leadership manner and speaking style. But more crucially, Panelo has the flexibility to go along and defend even the seemingly indefensible remarks and decisions of the Chief Executive.

Like his principal, Panelo knows how to put on a show to keep the supporters happy and appeased, no matter the weight of the controversy the government is facing. 

Panelo-isms

But spectacles are flimsy. 

Another characteristic of Panelo’s time as spokesman is his tendency to make remarks without a solid and rigorous understanding of the issues at hand.

Perhaps the biggest such controversy to blow up in his face was his denial that a Metro Manila transportation crisis exists.  

The remark struck many as insensitive and out-of-touch with reality. Any adept PR person would know how touchy an issue traffic is and would be aware of the class divide that energizes it. 

Faced with public outrage, all Panelo could do was say he defined “crisis” differently (the mega city’s transportation infrastructure must be in “paralysis” for a crisis situation to exist, he said) and complain he was taken out of context. 

He then tried to commute “incognito” to Malacañang, a move panned by many as a diversion.

He was also apparently unaware that Duterte’s suspension of all talks on aid from countries that supported Iceland’s resolution against the drug war included countries that supported it but did not vote for it, like France, Canada, and Germany.

His lack of knowledge led him to agree with a reporter that French and German aid being negotiated would be exempt from the ban, contradicting the statement of Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez.

He also erroneously identified a United Kingdom grant as among those affected by the Duterte order.

This was messy messaging from the Philippine government on a policy affecting potentially billions worth of future financial assistance.

One of the biggest Palace spectacles was Panelo’s and Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar’s presentation of an“ouster matrix” naming journalists, lawyers, and opposition figures as conniving to overthrow the President.

Duterte had asked Panelo to explain the “plot” to the public. It is "totally unnecessary" for Duterte to provide more proof of the plot, aside from the diagram, said Panelo, after getting besieged by questions. The matrix turned out to be riddled with errors and inaccuracies.

Other times, Panelo is fond of using assumptions in statements, often qualifying them with the phrase "as far as I know."

“As far as I know, the President still trusts him,” he said about Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, then battling accusations about government contracts bagged by a firm owned by his family.

“As far as I know, no one is providing us wiretapped information,” he said after Duterte claimed foreign governments were providing information on drug spects.

“As far as I know, there’s none,” he said when asked if there was an impending Cabinet revamp. 

There have been many other mishaps under Panelo’s watch, like denying that Duterte vetoed the anti-endo bill only to take it back the next day or denying that Duterte ever ordered the ban on future foreign aid.

But often, these faux pas were because of the greater deficiencies in the communication strategy of Duterte’s Malacañang, one that hounded every spokesman. 

Chief of these was Duterte’s own tendency to speak before having a good grasp of the issue, necessitating clarificatory remarks and backtracking from his spokesmen.

There’s also no central vein for announcing many of Duterte’s biggest decisions, like when he fires officials. Often, Panelo or the spokesmen before him are the last to know because Duterte, without informing Panelo, had spoken of his decisions to other people who would leak the information to media.

Hence Palace reporters’ eternal frustration over spokesmen’s responses of “no info on that” or “can’t confirm” or late-to-the-party statements.

But what makes Panelo unique is his complete lack of hesitation to share his personal views on the Palace podium.

He’s given his personal take on the evidence against resigned police chief Oscar Albayalde (drawing the ire of Senator Richard Gordon) and the punishment for Philippine Military Academy officials over the deadly hazing of a cadet. 

He’s given his own suggestions on helping emergency patients get to the hospital despite urban traffic (use of military choppers) and even advocated for the proposal of tycoon Ramon Ang to build certain infrastructure.

Ang, whom Panelo called “Don Ramon Ang” had “texted” him his suggestion. Ang heads San Miguel Corporation, a firm vying for big-ticket government transportation projects. 

Palace reporters have adjusted, now usually clarifying with Panelo if he was airing his personal opinion or speaking for Malacañang.

Panelo denied he had such a habit. “I do not give my personal opinion. It’s the reporter who insists on [me] giving my opinion. Most of the time, I decline and I tell MPC (Malacañang Press Corps) my opinion on the matter of inquiry is irrelevant,” he told Rappler.

His tendency to overshare has put the Palace in tight spots.

Panelo’s other textmate? Apparently, Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua. So often has Panelo cited his text conversations with Zhao that Senator Panfilo Lacson slammed him for sounding like the “Chinese embassy spokesman” and “lawyering” for China.

This fueled the already rife criticism that Duterte’s Malacañang is subservient to the Asian power which has ignored Philippine sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea.

Panelo said Lacson’s jab was an “absurd and silly opinion.” He said he had shared Zhao’s texts to uphold Filipinos’ “constitutional right to information.”

Panelo’s blithe lack of delicadeza has seen him use Palace press conferences as an opportunity to thank a family for hosting him in their Taal heritage mansion and promoting the congressional bid of one of his former staffers, Fidel Nograles, whom he introduced to media.

“By the way, I just saw the future Congressman of Antipolo, Attorney Fidel Nograles. May I acknowledge his presence. Kandidato ito (he’s a candidate). He used to be with the Office of the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel,” he said on January 15, a month before the start of the 2019 campaign period.

Dilemma of delicadeza

Panelo loves to keep things lighthearted, which have led to awkward moments unbecoming of his office, either as presidential spokesman or chief presidential legal counsel.

Back in July, he awkwardly described international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney as “pretty” and “sexy” and a “match” for him. It was recently announced then that Clooney would be joining the legal defense team of Rappler CEO Maria Ressa and reporters sought his reaction. 

“Maybe when we meet, to use the word of the President, I can ‘educate’ her,” said Panelo in a July 9 press conference.

Panelo is the same Malacañang official who, in October 2017, told female journalists interviewing him that he “fucks like an 18-year-old” and is “better in bed.” He later on defended his behavior by saying it was just a play on the similarity of the words “fuck” and “pack.”

But Panelo’s behavior with women does not sit well with all Duterte officials. When he brought a group of women to a gathering of Cabinet members, Executive Secretary (ES) Salvador Medialdea would not have it, according to a well-placed source. He told Panelo the women had to leave the event.

Panelo explained that this incident might have been a meeting of Cabinet members and other government officials in a building owned by tycoon Manny Villar on Shaw Boulevard. He denied “bringing” the women.

He said the women involved were “two wealthy female campaign supporters” of Duterte who asked him if they could go inside for a photo opportunity with the President, newly elected only a week ago. Panelo told them they could enter. When they got inside, he offered them some food.

“After a few minutes, ES approached me and asked if I knew the two ladies…ES told me that the informal get-together was only for the new appointees so I told the ES that I’d inform the two ladies,” said the spokesman.

Medialdea has not responded to Rappler's request for comment.

Panelo likes to bring women to formal events he is invited to. At one event earlier this year hosted by an embassy, he had 3 women with him. One said she worked for a mining company. At one point in the night, another woman kept lightly touching Panelo’s collar.

Panelo’s biggest controversy would be one about delicadeza. On September 3, Bureau of Pardons and Parole officials revealed that Panelo had acted on an application for executive clemency for rape-slay convict Antonio Sanchez, his former client.

Though the BPP eventually denied the Sanchez application, many, including lawmakers, said Panelo’s referral of the matter to the bureau reeked of conflict of interest.

Panelo would later on admit that another of his controversial ex-clients, the Ampatuan family, had reached out to him for help as presidential spokesman and chief presidential legal counsel.

The Sanchez controversy that cost Nicanor Faeldon and other Bureau of Corrections officials their posts did not dent Panelo in Duterte’s eyes. The President even praised Panelo for doing the “right thing.” 

A year as Duterte’s spokesman, Panelo is going strong. While the President has toyed with the idea of tapping someone else so Panelo can focus on his role as chief presidential legal counsel, such talk has not been revived. Abella lasted a year and 3 months, Roque one year. Will Panelo outlast them in one of the toughest jobs in the Palace?

With controversy after controversy landing on Malacañang's doorstep, the spokesman's show must go on.– Rappler.com

Claim:Filipino actress Claudine Barretto was found “dead on the spot” after the car she was riding was shot multiple times at Mindanao Avenue corner Tandang Sora, Quezon City, on Friday, October 18.

The claim came from a video, which looked like a news report from ABS-CBN’s TV Patrol, on the website manila.tv-patrol.com. The headline read, “Ambush: Claudine Barretto, patay matapos pagbabarilin habang sakay ng kotse (Claudine Barretto dead after being shot multiple times while inside the car).” At the upper left of the video was a photo of Barretto in a hospital bed.

When shared on Facebook, the title of the article shows "DEAD ON THE SPOT."

Facebook Claim Check, the social media network’s tool that identifies suspicious posts shared across the platform, flagged at least 19 different links that spread this claim on Facebook.

The video on manila.tv-patrol.com plays the video for 5 seconds, but then requires the viewer to log in to Facebook and share the video on their timelines before the rest of the 26-second clip can be played.

Rating: FALSE

The facts: Claudine Barretto is still alive. No news reports from any reliable media organizations have announced her death as of writing. The actress still posts on her verified Instagram account and is still being quoted by local media as of October 23.

Barretto's latest Instagram post as of writing was shared on October 23, which was a photo of her father who recently died. She also was still able to give an interview with DZMM, ABS-CBN's AM radio station, on October 22 to air her side amid controversies surrounding her family. (READ: TIMELINE: The Barretto family feud)

Meanwhile, the image used in the video was a real photo of Barretto, but was taken on October 17 after the tension between her sisters Gretchen and Marjorie during their father's wake. (READ: Here’s a summary of Marjorie Barretto’s ‘tell-all’ interview)

The actress was rushed to the hospital after feeling dizzy, but was still able to post to Instagram after, according to an ABS-CBN report.

The rest of the video clip from manila.tv-patrol.com does not complete the news report even after the viewer shares it on Facebook. Rather, it only shows an irrelevant photo and plays it for the remaining 21 seconds. – Pauline Macaraeg/Rappler.com

Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.

Conclusion

READ Part 1: Is the drug war undermining the gains of government's anti-poverty programs?

MANILA, Philippines – Three years ago, Lourdes, a 58-year-old-grandmother in Mandaluyong, became the sole caregiver and provider for 3 grandchildren after her son, “Kulit,” 34, was killed by gunmen wearing bonnets and helmets.

Kulit had been in trouble with the law before. He had spent nearly 15 years in jail for a homicide his mother said he didn’t commit but took the fall for. After his release, he could barely make ends meet from the money he made from repairing electronics and so he went into the drug trade, his mother said.

Lourdes is one of many grandmothers who have been forced to care for the families of their sons who perished in the war on drugs. She did not want her real name published for fear of her grandchildren’s safety.

Our research on nearly 2,000 drug war casualties shows that the typical victim is male, aged 30-35 years old, and the family’s main breadwinner. With their deaths, the burden of providing for their families falls on widows and, more often than not, the paternal grandmothers.

Our research focused on families that have been getting cash assistance as part of the government’s centerpiece antipoverty program known as 4Ps, available to the poorest 20% of Filipinos. We found that many drug-war families are in danger of dropping out of 4Ps if they are unable to meet the requirements of keeping school-age children in school.

Lourdes has accepted that she will have to provide for her orphaned grandchildren, but like many grandparents forced to deal with the consequences of their sons’ deaths, she was not prepared to take on this additional burden. While he was in jail, Kulit had provided for his children from the money he made selling food to the other prisoners. Without Kulit, Lourdes’s 60-year-old husband, a mason, is now the only wage-earner in their extended family. Three other jobless children already live with Lourdes as do 7 other grandchildren.

Lourdes’ family is among the 4.4 million Filipino families who get assistance from the 4Ps conditional cash transfer program. Like similar programs in Brazil and Mexico, this money is intended to make sure poor children are fed, cared for, and stay in school. 

To receive the full amount of the cash grant – P300 monthly for elementary and P500 for each high school student – children must attend 85% of their classes. Some 12 million children are in school today thanks to 4Ps. Many of them will be the first in their families to complete secondary education and as a result have better chances of finding employment or getting a college education.

President Duterte supports the 4Ps program. In 2017, staying true to his campaign promise, he provided each 4Ps family an additional P600 as rice subsidy. In addition, in 2018, the government increased cash transfers for each 4Ps family by P200 in order to mitigate the impact of higher prices brought about by the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law.

Despite these increases, the benefits provided by 4Ps to poor families that have fallen victim to the war on drugs have been outweighed by fear, insecurity, and the loss of their breadwinners. 

Even before the drug war, these families lived in communities that were already vulnerable to multiple economic shocks such as illnesses, flooding, fires, and demolitions. The death of their loved ones becomes one more blow that lessens their odds of escaping from an intergenerational cycle of poverty.

No one came to the wake

No one came to Kulit’s wake, even if in life, Kulit was well-liked. He was no saint, but he looked out for his friends and family. He was ready to help friends in dire straits when he had money. When the drug war began, Kulit surrendered to the police headquarters in Camp Crame and admitted he was a drug user. He was pushed into the drug trade, his mother said, because the family house had been gutted by a fire and needed to be rebuilt. He also wanted to raise money so Lourdes could get an operation to remove her cataracts.

Lourdes recalled that just weeks before he died, Kulit pointed to the concrete houses on their street. “Iisa lang ang dahilan kung bakit nabuo mga bahay nila (There’s only one reason why all those houses have been built),” he said.

It was an open secret in their community: drugs are an easy way to make money. By risking possible death to be part of the illegal trade, Kulit hoped to better his and his family’s life. “Wala tayong tutulugan kung hindi ako kikilos, (We will have no home to sleep in if I don’t do this),” he told Lourdes. It was dangerous, but the alternative was to continue toiling with no hope of a better life. Grudgingly, Lourdes gave her blessing.

With just P500 capital, Kulit soon earned several thousand pesos more. He gave the money to Lourdes and told her to buy cement to begin construction on their house. A week later, Kulit slept at a friend’s home and woke up early to eat breakfast at a nearby goto stall. His friend had been restless the whole night, checking if Kulit was really asleep. Not long after Kulit left to get breakfast, he was shot and killed by unknown gunmen at the goto stall. His neighbors and family believe the friend had tipped him off to the authorities.

Lourdes was just streets away when a kumare told her that her son had been gunned down. She hurried to where he was, and even crossed paths with the friend whom they suspected of informing on Kulit. By the time Lourdes arrived at the crime scene, her son’s body was already being taken away by Scene of the Crime Operatives. 

Lourdes still remembers being told by the Scene of the Crime Operatives that she needed to pay P45,000 so she can bury her son. “Binaril n’yo na nga, kailangan ko pang tubusin? Di po kayo nahiya? (You killed him and now I have to beg for money so I can claim his body? Have you no shame)?”

Picking up the pieces

After Kulit’s death, Lourdes took care of his 3 boys, aged 18, 15, and 16, adding to the other grandchildren who were already living with her. With 10 grandchildren under her roof, buying enough food or medicine is a constant challenge. The only wage earner in their household is her husband, who earns P500 a day when there is work available. When her husband has no work, Lourdes relies on what she can still get from the 4Ps.

Even with money from 4Ps, Lourdes cannot afford to send all 3 of Kulit’s children to school. While 4Ps covers most educational needs, it is not enough to pay for transportation, food, school supplies, uniforms, and other expenses.

So Lourdes had to make a choice. Kulit’s two youngest children would drop out, even if that meant not being able to claim more money from 4Ps. No matter how she added up the numbers, there was simply no way to send everyone to school, even with 4Ps aid.

Instead, Lourdes decided to invest the family’s remaining resources in Eugene, Kulit’s eldest. At 18 years old, he is in Grade 8, 4 years shy of a high school degree. She hopes he would finish his schooling, find a good job, and help lighten the family’s load. Depending on whether Eugene is meeting the conditionalities of school attendance and if Lourdes meets the conditionalities of the health grants, the family receives between P1,300 to P1,800 per month. They get P500 for a child attending high school, P500 more in health grants if Lourdes attends the Family Development Sessions, a P600-rice subsidy, and P200 in an unconditional cash transfer.

The 4Ps health grants require that mothers attend the Family Development Sessions (FDS) where they cover topics such as financial literacy and responsible parenthood. Families with infants and children younger than two years old are required to attend monthly check ups and be up to date with immunizations. The FDS is means to monitor the progress of 4Ps recipients while also fostering friendship and a sense of community.

While accepting her new role as her grandchildren’s primary caregiver, Lourdes can barely make ends meet. “Ang lalakas pa naman kumain ng mga ‘yon. Tatlong lalaki kasi. Dalawang kilo [ng bigas], kulang sa ’min sa isang saingan. Minsan nga sinasabi ko, dahan-dahan naman kayo kumain! Wala na tayong pambili ng bigas! (My grandchildren eat a lot because they’re growing boys. Two kilos of rice per meal is not enough. Sometimes I tell them not to eat too much! We can’t afford to buy more rice!)”

Giving up dreams

Eugene used to dream of becoming a policeman.

But after his father was killed, Eugene lost faith in the police and the justice system. He is angry about what was done to Kulit but feels powerless to do anything.

As the eldest and closest to graduation, the family’s survival rests on Eugene’s shoulders. The teenager juggles his family’s hopes and his schooling with a constant fear that what happened to Kulit can happen to any of them. Instead of focusing on his studies, Eugene is constantly preoccupied with trying to keep his family safe.

Lourdes describes a recent exchange with her grandson: “Eh yung panganay, ang pangarap n'ya, mag-pulis. Sabi ko, mag-aral kang mabuti para maging pulis ka. Nay, malaki na ko, Nay. Sabi n'ya. Puwede ko na 'yan tapatan. Sabi nga n'ya, Ma, saan ba tayo makakabili ng baril. 'Yun ang inaano n'ya, ma'am eh. Ano, mag-iipon ako ng pera ko, baon ko. Konti-konti lang. Y'un ang sabi n'ya, ma'am. Para meron din tayong panlaban."

(The eldest, that’s what he wants, to be a policeman when he grows up. I told him he should study hard so he can achieve his dream. He says he’s a big boy now, that he can go head-to-head [with his father’s killers]. That he’s saving up his school money, bit by bit, so he can buy a gun. That’s what he said, ma’am. So we can have something to fight back with.)”

The 4Ps program was supposed to provide youths like Eugene the opportunity to fulfill their dreams and help lift their families from poverty. But another government program, the antidrug campaign, has dimmed those hopes.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development has so far not responded to our questions about the drug war’s impact on 4Ps families, including how the government intends to address the effects of the killings on children and families left behind.

“The 4Ps is designed to provide long term stable support for poor families to ensure that their children are educated and healthy,” the World Bank, a donor to the 4Ps program, said in response to the findings of our research. “The needs of families with heightened vulnerability, including death of a family member, can be addressed by programs specifically designed for this purpose.” – Rappler.com

This series is funded by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism Story Project.

TOP PHOTO: The street artist collective Gerilya painted this mural illustrating the story of Lourdes and her husband, who had to take care of their grandchildren after their son, Kulit, was killed. The mural is on a wall in Muntinlupa and was painted with the help of local residents.

MANILA, Philippines – After an explosive controversy that forced out the 22nd Philippine National Police chief, the decision to choose the country's new police head now rests with President Rodrigo Duterte.

Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año has submitted 3 names to the President. He named the police’s current top 3 officials, respecting seniority in the police force:

1. Lieutenant General Archie Francisco Gamboa
2. Lieutenant General Camilo Cascolan
3. Major General Guillermo Eleazar

All 3 of them hold a 3-star general rank and covet the one and only 4-star rank among the men and women in blue. Two of them have been identified as “Davao boys,” while one of them is considered a standout outsider.

We obtained the personal data sheet of all the 3, looking through their rich service histories that span decades, enough to establish links with the President’s closest aides and the President himself. Who’s the best among them?

Gamboa: The Davao admin man

When it comes to paperwork, Lieutenant General Archie Gamboa knows what to do.

Most of his leadership positions in his 3-decade career in the PNP have been in offices crucial to ensuring that the police force functions every day: working at logistics and comptrollership.

Both aspects of administrative work in the police concerns allotting budget and facilities for police field operations and the day-to-day paper-pushing inside offices.

“Magaling ako sa opisina (I am skilled when it comes to the office),” Gamboa said in an interview with Rappler on October 15.

The Davao connection. Gamboa took his office work further in 1998 when he went to law school at the Ateneo de Davao University. He transferred to the Camp Crame-based Jose Rizal University and passed the bar in 2004.

It was during his law school days that Bukidnon-born Gamboa turned into a “Davao cop.” From December 1997 to September 2002, he was the spokesman of the Davao Region Police Office.

In holding the spokesman post, he met and found a friend, a key confidant of then-Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte – his most trusted aide, now senator Bong Go. Through Go and the PNP, he met Duterte.

Gamboa proudly said that Duterte does not address him formally as General Gamboa, but simply as “Chie.”

When Duterte won as president in July 2016, Gamboa was the Deputy Director of the Directorate for Logistics. He was then reassigned to head the Directorate for Comptrollership – the role that got him the most exposure early on as he faced senators and congressmen during budget hearings.

The forever candidate. In March 2017, Gamboa became the Chief of the Directorial Staff, the PNP’s top 4 post. He got the top 3 post, the deputy chief for operations, in September 2018; and got the 2nd highest post, the deputy chief for administration, on October 12, 2019.

He has been the officer in charge of the PNP ever since General Oscar Albayalde resigned from being the chief of the PNP.

Gamboa is a member of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Sinagtala Class of 1986, the same class as Albayalde and Cascolan, but one of his closest classmates is another trusted Duterte aide – the former police chief and also recently elected senator, Ronald dela Rosa.

Gamboa does not deny that he aspires to be the next PNP chief. After all, he was also part of the short list to replace Dela Rosa. When Dela Rosa was about to retire in April 2018, he was the only one among the current contenders to hold a 3-star rank as the Chief of the Directorial Staff.

“I have been a candidate for so long. By reason of my rank, I am an automatic candidate, but of course it spells out the difference, of course, I am the number two,” Gamboa said in a Camp Crame press briefing after Albayalde resigned.

Cascolan: The Davao operations man

If Gamboa’s specialty is the office, Lieutenant General Camilo Cascolan’s specialty is the field.

Most of Cascolan’s career was spent leading police stations: Barotac, Iloilo from May 1992 to August 1994; Ajuy, Iloilo from March to August 1998; Balasan, Iloilo from April 1998 to July 1998; Taguig City from October 2008 to November 2010; and, Compostela Valley province from July 2012 to April 2014.

“If there’s anything I’m proud of, it’s my service record,” Cascolan has repeatedly said in interviews.

The Davao connection. Cascolan met President Duterte when he was the chief of the Davao Region Police Office Finance Service. He then brushed shoulders with them as the provincial police chief of the Compostela Valley Police Provincial Office.

The closest post Cascolan held to Davao City was being the top 4 official of the Davao Region Police Office as its chief of the directorial staff.

He also belongs to PMA Class of 1986, and like Gamboa, he considers former top cop Dela Rosa as one of his closest friends. Dela Rosa trusted Cascolan enough with his knowledge of operations that he was appointed PNP’s Director for Operations when Duterte won in 2016.

With the post, Cascolan co-authored the bible of the popular but bloody anti-drug campaign: Oplan Double Barrel.

Baggage with the past chief. Cascolan found himself at odds with resigned police chief Albayalde.

Before Dela Rosa retired in April 2018, he asked that the ruling police officials – many of them his classmates too – get Cascolan as the Metro Manila police chief to replace then recently-appointed police chief Albayalde.

But Cascolan didn't last long. After just 6 weeks, he was fired by Albayalde, demoted to a paperwork-heavy position as the chief of the police Civil Security Group.

Albayalde apparently disliked how Cascolan reversed policies he put in place when he was the Metro Manila top cop, especially Cascolan’s order that cops spend only 8 hours on duty instead of Albayalde’s preferred 12 hours.

He has since then risen to become the police’s top 3 official as the deputy chief for operations since October 12, after being the Chief of the Directorial Staff from September 2018.

Eleazar: The dark horse under the spotlight

Everybody knows Major General Guillermo Eleazar.

He has made a name for himself as the Metro Manila police chief who collared and hit a cop who allegedly extorted from the family of a drug suspect. The entire encounter was filmed by a phalanx of television cameras. It went viral on social media.

But his career, so far, has been a fine balance of office and fieldwork, working early on in his career as a liaison officer of the United Nations to Cambodia from 1993 to 1994 and as chief of police of San Pedro Laguna from 1998 to 2000.

Later on between 2007 and 2009, he also served as egional chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit of the Central Luzon and the Central Visayas regional police offices.

Like Gamboa, Eleazar spent years – from 2009 to 2015 – in logistics and comptrollership, holding key posts like the chief of logistics resource management and chief of the fiscal division.

Noticed by Duterte. Eleazar was never assigned in Davao Region. He is also not part of the PNP-ruling PMA Class of 1986. He belongs to the PMA Hinirang Class of 1987.

But he is the only one among the candidates who has been publicly praised by Duterte for his aggressive and media-coverage-heavy policing in Metro Manila.

When Eleazar went viral for his outburst on the extortion-accused cop, Duterte approved of it, saying, “Tell him I've got his back.”

Eleazar's strategy to policing is not new. Shaming cops in front of a camera crew under the Duterte administration had previously happened with resigned police chief Oscar Albayalde when he was Metro Manila police chief.

Being strict – It was with the same strategy of policing that Albayalde ended up being appointed police chief.

Albayalde’s ‘kiss of death’? A burden that Eleazar carries as he joins the race for being Duterte’s third police chief is Albayalde’s support. With Albayalde’s ungraceful exit, it has now turned into a liability more than an asset.

Eleazar had directly worked with Albayalde during most of the Duterte administration, first as the chief of the Quezon City Police District from July 2016 to April 2018, when Albayalde was Metro Manila police chief, and then when Eleazar was Metro Manila police chief, when Albayalde rose to become PNP chief.

Before Albayalde resigned on October 14, he did last-minute reshuffling in the PNP, which involved Eleazar being promoted from Metro Manila police chief to the PNP’s Chief of the Directorial Staff. This saved Eleazar from the massive reshuffle Gamboa executed a week later, which uprooted one to two-star generals from their posts.

When asked whether his relations with Albayalde could compromise his run as police chief, Eleazar told Rappler that he only did what any policeman would do as a subordinate to a boss: “Work well and work hard.” – Rappler.com

Bookmark this page to watch and join the discussion live on Thursday, October 24, at 4 pm!

MANILA, Philippines – October was filled with updates on the electoral protest filed by losing candidate Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr against Vice President Leni Robredo. 

Just last October 15, the Supreme Court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, released its report on how it dealt with Marcos' second cause of action in the protest. The report shows that Robredo increased her lead over her rival in the recount of votes in 3 pilot provinces. (DOCUMENT: SC asks Robredo, Marcos to comment on recount of votes in VP protest)

On Thursday, October 24, the Newsbreak team sits down to discuss this latest development in the electoral protest, where it is headed, and what we can expect in the coming months. 

What does the latest action of PET mean to both the Robredo and Marcos camps? 

Watch the discussion live on Thursday, October 24, at 4 pm! – Rappler.com

MORE ON 'NEWSBREAK CHATS' IN 2019

• Newsbreak Chats September 2019: How gov't is handling the GCTA, BuCor mess
• Newsbreak Chats August 2019: The GCTA law, Cardema, Bikoy, and how laws can be twisted
• Newsbreak Chats July 2019: After Duterte's SONA and Gem-Ver, what now?
• Newsbreak Chats June 2019: The highs and lows of the Duterte presidency
• Newsbreak Chats May 2019: Cebu killings, election-related violence
• Newsbreak Chats February 2019: Disinformation, elections, and Rappler cyber libel case
• Newsbreak Chats January 2019: Bangsamoro plebiscite, lowering age of criminal liability

MORE ON 'NEWSBREAK CHATS' IN 2018

• Newsbreak Chats December 2018: Top stories in 2018, what to expect in 2019
• Newsbreak Chats: Xi Jinping's state visit, Rappler's Fact Check Project
  
• Newsbreak Chats: Election fever, Cebu as 'crime city'
  
• Newsbreak Chats: Trillanes' amnesty revocation and arrest
  
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• Newsbreak Chats: Anti-tambay campaign, Duterte vs the Church
  
• Newsbreak Chats: Calida contracts, Cesar Montano, and PhilHealth
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• Newsbreak Chats: Malacañang ban, quo warranto vs Sereno
• Newsbreak Chats: Navy frigates, Russian propaganda

MANILA, Philippines – Diosdado Peralta is the new Supreme Court chief justice. 

His appointment by President Rodrigo Duterte was announced on Wednesday, October 23, as confirmed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea. Peralta replaces Lucas Bersamin who retired on October 18. 

He is set to serve as chief justice until March 27, 2022. 

What else do we need to know about the new SC chief justice? 

'I deserve to be chief justice'

Peralta has been working for the government for more than 3 decades, starting as fiscal in 1987 in his hometown of Laoag, Ilocos Norte, then as prosecutor in Manila in 1988.

He then became the assistant chief of the investigation division of the Office of the City Prosecutor in the first months of 1994.

Later in the year, Peralta was appointed judge to the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 95, the designated special criminal court on heinous crimes and eventually drug cases. As trial judge, he was recognized in 1999 by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines' Quezon City chapter for "his speedy and scholarly disposition of criminal cases."

Peralta became a Sandiganbayan associate justice in 2002, even a member of the Sandiganbayan Special Division that convicted former president Joseph Estrada of plunder. He became presiding justice in 2008.

On January 13, 2009, he was appointed SC justice by then-president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

He has served as justice in the SC for more than 10 years before his appointment as chief justice. 

During the interviews conducted by the Judicial and Bar Council in October, Peralta shared his dreams of leading the SC.

"If I remember what I have experienced since I started working, mahirap eh (it's hard), I think I deserve to be chief justice because I worked very hard all these years," he told the JBC panel. 

Turning emotional, Peralta ended the interview by saying that he's not "a topnotcher, I'm not an honor student, because that's what they say...but I think I was able to compensate with the work that I had done...I think they are more than enough to compensate with what they say that I do not deserve [to be chief justice]."

Peralta was appointed SC chief justice after applying 3 times. The two times he applied, the position was given to retired chief justice Teresita Leonardo de Castro and retiring chief justice Lucas Bersamin, respectively. 

Peralta obtained his law degree from the University of Santo Tomas in 1979 and his undergraduate degree from Colegio de San Juan de Letran in 1974. He joined the Bar in 1980.

His wife, Fernanda Lampas Peralta, is a Court of Appeals Associate Justice. 

In 2002, Peralta was given the Judicial Excellence Awards or the Chief Justice Ramon Avanceña Award for Outstanding Regional Trial Court Judge.

Peralta also taught criminal law and remedial law, among others, in several universities, including the UST Faculty of Civil Law, the Ateneo Law School, San Beda College of Law, the University of the East, and the University of the Philippines Law Center, to name a few. 

Before joining the government, Peralta worked as production analyst of Cosmos Bottling Corporation (CBC) in 1974 and as operating supervisor in Widsom  Management Inc in 1975. He also worked as general manager for Ace Agro Development Corporation and vice president of Cypress Agricultural Development Corporation. 

Never against Duterte

Peralta has never voted against the President in cases that directly involved the current administration. These include the constitutionality of the martial law declaration in Mindanao and its extensions and the ouster of Maria Lourdes Sereno. (READ: How they voted: Meet the chief justice aspirants for 2019)

He was also the ponente of the controversial SC decision allowing a hero's burial for the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Peralta also wrote the decision that allowed plea bargaining in small time drug cases. Defending his work before the JBC, he said that most of the cases involve small amounts of illegal drugs. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte has just given the coveted position of chief justice to Diosdado Peralta.

Peralta is the third chief justice to be appointed by Duterte. The first, Teresita de Castro, was chosen as replacement of Benigno Aquino III-appointee, Maria Lourdes Sereno, who was removed via a quo warranto petition.

De Castro served for only two months after her retirement in October 2018. After De Castro, Duterte chose then-associate justice Lucas Bersamin as his chief justice in November 2018. Bersamin retired last October 18, 2019.

The position of chief justice was first created in 1901 along with the establishment of the Philippine Supreme Court (SC). It was only in 1935 that the power to appoint a chief justice was transferred from the US president to the Philippine president.

The president now appoints the chief justice, along with the rest of the Supreme Court justices, who don't need the nod of the bicameral Commission on Appointments. Before Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law in 1972, Congress had veto powers over the presidential appointment of chief justice.

When Martial Law was declared and the 1973 Constitution was ratified, this veto power of Congress was removed, granting sole appointment powers to the president. No chief justice appointment is known to have been vetoed by Congress.

University of the Philippines history professor Lou de Leon told Rappler, "I don't think it was ever exercised by Congress, but only because all SC nominees before Martial Law were already the very best and had qualities beyond reproach even before they were recommended. Marcos obviously would not have those during his term."

Post-Marcos, how is a chief justice appointed and what powers does he or she hold?

JBC short list

The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) prepares a short list of at least 3 nominees for the president to choose a chief justice from.

Prior to 1986, the JBC did not exist. The JBC’s selection process is intended to limit the appointing power of the president. According to the Supreme Court, this "de-politicizes" the courts, ensures the choice of competent judges, and fills vacancies without undue delay. (EXPLAINER: How the Judicial and Bar Council works)

In 2009, then-president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo returned the JBC short list and requested for more nominees for the two SC positions left vacant by the retirement of then-associate justices Dante Tinga and Alicia Austria Martinez.

The JBC rejected her request and sent the same list back to her. Arroyo had no choice but to choose from it.

While it is not specified in any document, the chief justice traditionally administers the oath of the Philippine president. However, the Aquino mother and son took their oaths under associate justices. Duterte also took his oath before then-associate justice Bienvenido Reyes, his schoolmate in San Beda University.

The Constitution does not specify the chief justice as being in the line of succession of the president in case of incapacity – unlike the vice president, Senate president, and House speaker.

Duties

The chief justice has the following duties:

• Serves as head of the judicial branch, runs the judiciary administratively 
• Serves as ex officio chairman of the Judicial and Bar Council
• Certifies all conclusions of the Supreme Court in any case submitted for decision
• Designates 3 SC justices for membership in each of the electoral tribunals of the House of Representatives and the Senate

The chief justice is regarded as primus inter pares (first among equals) vis-a-vis the other justices. He or she holds only one vote in a Bench of 15. 

Coveted post?

According to former Supreme Court spokesman Theodore Te, the post of chief justice is still but an ordinary government post that comes with powers inherent to running the offices under it. Influence lies in the decisions of the High Court.

"The difference only (from other government posts) is that the courts have no real power except through their decisions. That’s where the courts have influence. Other than that, the courts don’t really have power to do much," he said.

"I don’t think anyone who really understands how hard the work is would covet it (chief justice post)," he added. Yet the position understandably carries much prestige.

A 2015 study by Asian academics found that "if a justice knows the chief justice personally through university or work affiliation and the chief justice votes for the president, the probability that the justice votes with the chief justice increases by 20-30 percentage points." (READ: First among equals: How influential is a chief justice on the Court?)

Te, however, does not believe there is such a pattern. "Any perceived influence a chief justice has comes from relationships he has with the others, but this also holds for the other justices," he said. 

Like an associate justice, a chief justice may also be outvoted.

Fiscal autonomy

The judiciary enjoys fiscal autonomy.

Under the 1987 Constitution, the chief justice has the authority to "augment any item in the general appropriations law for the Judiciary from savings in other items of said appropriation as authorized by law."

Te said the only area prone to abuse is finance, since the chief justice is the one who authorizes the disbursement of funds.

For 2020, the Department of Budget and Management approved a P38.71-billion budget, despite the judiciary wanting P55.66 billion.

As head of office, the chief justice oversees the budget, but Congress still appropriates control of specific items to various offices under the judiciary, like the lower courts, JBC, and the Philippine Judicial Academy.

Realistically, it is only the SC budget that the chief justice has direct power over. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – After dictator and former president Ferdinand Marcos was ousted in the 1986 People Power Revolution, he and his family faced multiple charges for anomalies during his 20-year regime.

His wife, then-first lady Imelda Marcos, faced a lot of these cases. What followed were decades-long efforts to hold the Marcoses accountable, especially when it came to their ill-gotten wealth.

It has been a mix of victories and losses for all camps involved, including Marcos cronies. For instance, in some cases, the government has come up short in terms of evidence and evidence-handling against the Marcoses, which led to recent acquittals in 2019.

On the other hand, the government recently won a criminal conviction against Imelda Marcos. However, she has yet to spend time in jail due to a highly unusual legal tactic: employing the remedy of post-conviction bail during the appeal of the judgment.

Below is a list of cases the Marcos family faced in various courts, and the status of each one, based on available information from the Sandiganbayan and various news sources.

The data for the Sandiganbayan cases is as of November 2018, except for recently-decided civil cases from August to October 2019. (READ: No more criminal case vs Imelda at Sandiganbayan; 1 civil case near decision) 

At the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan, a total of 28 criminal cases and 43 civil and forfeiture cases were filed against Imelda Marcos from 1986 to 1995. (READ: What are the Sandiganbayan's oldest pending cases)

Criminal cases 

In November 2018, she was dealt her biggest punishment yet, when the Sandiganbayan decided on the last batch of criminal cases against her after nearly 3 decades.

Marcos was found guilty of 7 counts of graft, out of the 10 charges involving Swiss-based private organizations she set up while in office. The prosecution said she earned around $200 million out of these foundations in a scheme for their own "private benefit." (READ: Imee, Bongbong Marcos were beneficiaries of illegal Swiss foundations) 

She was acquitted of the other 3 charges involving Philippine-based corporations. All the 10 cases were filed from 1991 to 1995.

The Sandiganbayan sentenced her to 6 years and 1 month to 11 years for each case and ordered her arrest. But she has yet to serve time in prison. She enjoys provisional liberty while her post-conviction bail is not yet decided with finality.

In 1993, the Sandiganbayan convicted Marcos of two counts of graft for anomalous contracts for a lease involving the Light Rail Transit Authority and the Philippine General Hospital Foundation.

Granting Mrs Marcos' appeal, the Supreme Court overturned the verdict 5 years later.

Imelda was also acquitted in 5 other criminal cases at the Sandiganbayan, while the remaining 11 cases were dismissed. Imelda faced the criminal cases following the Marcoses' return from exile in Hawaii in 1991. Ferdinand Marcos died while in exile in 1989.

Civil cases 

Except for one forfeiture case, all civil cases were filed by the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG). The Office of the Ombudsman filed the case for forfeiture for the Philippine government. 

A total of 22 civil and forfeiture cases against Imelda have so far been dismissed, while at least 20 remain pending with one archived at the anti-graft court. Thirteen of these pending or archived cases date back to July 1987.

The last 3 acquittals in 2019 were 1987 cases:

• Civil Case No. 0034, which acquitted Marcos and other defendants in August 2019 due to insufficient evidence. The Sandiganbayan 2nd Division pinned the blame on the PCGG. 
• Civil Case No. 0008, which acquitted Marcos, the Tantocos, and other defendants in September 2019 due to insufficient evidence.
• Civil Case No. 0007, which acquitted Marcos and the Gimenezes in October 2019 due to "defects" in the prosecution's evidence. The Sandiganbayan had dismissed the case in 2006, but the Supreme Court remanded it to the anti-graft court in 2016.

At least two other cases filed in 1987 have recently been submitted for decision:

• Civil Case No. 0009, as of March 2017
• Civil Case No. 0002, as of November 2018– Imelda's children, Senator Imee Marcos, former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr, and Irene Marcos are also respondents

Among the pending cases, 12 had been reraffled in recent years, some of which were due to the inhibition of some Sandiganbayan justices.  

Civil Case No. 141 – which covers multiple Marcos assets – remains pending, and has resulted in partial summary judgments on the Swiss funds, a set of Marcos jewelry, and the Arelma assets. 

Forfeiture of Swiss funds, assets 

The Marcoses also faced a slew of cases here and abroad. 

Foremost among them is the one handled by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court. Shortly after President Marcos' ouster in 1986, Switzerland's Federal Council froze all of Marcos' bank accounts in Swiss banks.

In December 1990, the Swiss Federal Supreme Court ruled in favor of the transfer of these assets worth around $356 million to the Philippines. In 1997, the court also agreed that the funds in the Swiss accounts were of "criminal provenance."

At first, the funds were held in escrow at the Philippine National Bank (PNB) until their disposition is settled by Philippine courts and measures are in place to compensate human rights victims using these funds. 

The Philippine Supreme Court in 2003 awarded to the government the Swiss funds– which at the time grew to $658 million due to interest – and set aside the Sandiganbayan's 2002 resolution that favored the Marcoses who appealed the anti-graft court's 2000 decision against them. The PCGG then remitted the funds worth P35 billion to the National Treasury in 2004.

A portion of the Swiss funds deposited by PNB in Singapore – around $23 million in all – was the subject of a court case in that country. In 2012, Singapore's High Court decided that PNB was the rightful owner of those funds.

Then, in 2013, President Benigno Aquino III signed Republic Act 10368 or the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act, which allocated P10 billion from the Swiss funds for the claimants and set up a claims board to facilitate distribution.

Hawaii class suit

The United States District Court in Hawaii in February 1995 ruled in favor of 9,539 Martial Law victims in a class suit where damage or reparations were sought from the Marcoses for human rights violations. The court awarded $1.96 billion to the claimants. The US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals backed the Hawaii court's decision in 1996.

However, back home, the Hawaii ruling had yet to be enforced. In 1998, a Makati trial court initially dismissed the ruling for the petitioners' failure to pay the correct filing fee. However, the SC in 2005 set aside this order and reinstated the case. The Makati court dismissed the case a second time in 2013, saying that the Hawaii court "had no jurisdiction over the claim."

The claimants raised their case to the Court of Appeals (CA), but they also lost there in July 2017 when the CA affirmed the Makati court's decision. The CA said the Hawaii court's ruling is "not binding" to the Philippines, and did not meet Philippine standards of a valid judgment.

The CA reiterated its ruling in January 2018. (READ: Martial Law victims to seek enforcement of Hawaii ruling through SC)

Other Marcos cases

Among the government's early victories were those in 1986, when courts in the US awarded to the country or froze multiple properties and assets of ex-president Marcos in New York and New Jersey. (READ: Recovering Marcos’ ill-gotten wealth: After 30 years, what?)

In 1991, Imee Marcos was found liable by a US district court in Hawaii in a civil case for the wrongful death of Archimedes Trajano, a 21-year-old student who posed a question to her in a 1977 forum about her role then as a youth representative.

Imee was ordered to pay Trajano's family $4.16 million in damages. However, in 2006, the Philippine Supreme Court blocked the payment due to a technicality in the service of the ruling in the Philippines. (READ: How Imee Marcos got away from paying $4M in damages for Trajano death)

An SC decision in 2012 affirmed the Sandiganbayan's 2009 ruling that forfeited in favor of the government Marcos' assets from Arelma S.A., a Panama-registered entity that opened a deposit account with Merrill Lynch in New York. The assets were estimated to be worth $40 million.

In addition, the government in January 2017 wrapped up a legal battle concerning the forfeiture of the Malacañang Collection, one of the 3 sets of seized Marcos jewelry. The Sandiganbayan in January 2014 ruled that the Malacañang set belonged to the Philippine government. Three years later, the SC affirmed the anti-graft court's decision.

Two other jewelry sets had already been awarded back to the Philippines: the Hawaii Collection seized by the US Bureau of Customs as the Marcoses landed in Hawaii, and the Roumeliotes collection intercepted at the Manila airport when a Greek national attempted to smuggle it out of the country in 1986. 

In June 2019, President Rodrigo Duterte approved the PCGG's plan to auction off the Hawaii Collection, estimated to be worth around P700 million. 

Meanwhile, in a class suit, the US Federal Court in New York ordered in April 2019 the distribution of the proceeds of the sale of a sequestered art work to the Martial Law human rights victims. 

Acquittals

On the other hand, the Marcoses also scored some legal victories outside of their Sandiganbayan cases.

For instance, in July 1990, a US District Court jury in New York acquitted Imelda Marcos and co-defendant Saudi businessman Adnan Khashoggi of racketeering and fraud charges. They were accused of siphoning off over $200 million from the Philippine treasury for her personal gain, buying jewelry, artworks, and properties in Manhattan.

Back home, a Manila trial court in 2008 cleared the former first lady of 32 counts of dollar-salting, or the act of stashing foreign currency money abroad without the authority of the Central Bank. The SC affirmed this decision in June 2018. – Rappler.com

If you have more information to contribute about cases against the Marcoses, you may send it to investigative@rappler.com.

Claim: The website netizensalert.sk claimed in the headline of its article dated October 3 that the Bicol Express was "reopened" by the Philippine National Railways (PNR).

Below is a screenshot of the claim.

The claim was spotted through Facebook’s fact checking tool. The post was shared through Facebook group Get Real Philippines Community, which has over 16,000 members.

Rating: FALSE HEADLINE

Facts: The Bicol Express, a passenger train service that plies the Manila-Bicol route, remains suspended as of October 2019. The PNR has not made any official statement announcing the resumption of operations for the route.

In a text message to Rappler, PNR General Manager Junn Magno said, “Bicol Express is still under study if we can operate it while South Long Haul is under construction.” 

PNR, according to Magno, is targeting to launch its partial operations by 2021.

South Long Haul Railway is one of the 6 new railway projects under the Build, Build, Build program.

At present, only the Bicol commuter train for the Naga City-Sipocot route in Camarines Sur is available to the public.

The Bicol Express was suspended to rebuild its old line, according to Magno. They also aim to improve the travel speed from 40 to 60 kilometers per hour (kph) to 160 kph. He expects that, after rehabilitation, travel time will be shortened for the Manila-Naga trip by 3 hours and Manila-Legazpi by 4 hours (READ: Train of thought).

While the article's headline is inaccurate, the body of the article is essentially correct as it only translates to Filipino a post by the Facebook page of the Department of Transportation (DOTr).

The DOTr post talked about the Main Line South (MLS), which was opened for the "transfer of rolling stock material from Manila to Bicol, and vice-versa."

It also mentions an inspection trip done by the PNR from Tutuban in Manila to Camarines Sur in September 2019. The inspection was done to prepare for the opening of the Sipocot-Naga-Legazpi commuter service.

The DOTr post, however, never mentioned Bicol Express, the Manila to Bicol commuter train service. 

 – Glenda Marie Castro/Rappler.com.  

Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.

Claim: Filipino actress Shaina Magdayao was rushed to the hospital due to hypothyroidism, but was declared dead on arrival.

Facebook Claim Check, the social network’s monitoring tool that identifies potentially dubious content shared across the platform, flagged at least 51 different links related to this.

These links belong to 7 unique domains: balitang247.pepetv.info, cnnworld.patrol-news.com, gmanews.balitng247tv.info, gmanewsnetwork.pepetv.info, manila.tv-patrol.com, phbalita.hetongbago.com, and thetrue.i-witnesstv.com.

When clicked, these links redirect to these websites’ pages that show a video of what looks like a clip from a news report. The video plays for a few seconds, then requires the viewer to share the post on their own Facebook accounts to “uncover” the rest of the clip.

The claim was first shared on Facebook on October 19, based on Claim Check data. Readers also emailed Rappler for verification.

Rating: FALSE

The facts: Shaina Magdayao is alive. No legitimate news organization has announced her passing as of writing, and the actress is still very much active on her official and verified social networking account.

On October 23, the actress was seen in a photoshoot for a local fashion brand. Her makeup artist that day also posted a behind-the-scenes photo on Instagram, to which the actress commented using her verified account: “Thank you for today.”

Moreover, although the links that posted the false claims look confusingly similar to the official websites of legitimate news organizations, the videos on their websites are not authentic clips of news reports. When fully played, the videos only show a montage of Magdayao’s photos captioned with texts that say she’s dead, without providing proof or any other basis.

In 2017, Magdayao first disclosed that she was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and said she’d been taking maintenance medicines. In June 2019, she confidently said in an Instagram post: “For the first time in years – I FEEL HEALTHY.” – Pauline Macaraeg/Rappler.com

Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.

(Subscribe to Rappler podcasts on iTunes and Spotify)

MANILA, Philippines – Makaraan ng 3 taon, naglabas ng update ang Supreme Court ukol sa electoral protest ni Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr laban kay Vice President Leni Robredo.

Ayon sa report na inilabas noong October 15, lumaki pa ang lamang ni Robredo laban kay Marcos pagkatapos ng recount sa 3 pilot provinces. Ngunit hindi pa dito nagtatapos ang kaso at kontrobersiya. (DOCUMENT: SC asks Robredo, Marcos to comment on recount of votes in VP protest)

Sa podcast na ito, pag-uusapan nila researcher-writer Jodesz Gavilan, justice reporter Lian Buan, election reporter Sofia Tomacruz, at House reporter Mara Cepeda ang status ng protesta, ano ang laman ng report, at ano ang dapat abangan sa mga susunod na buwan o taon. 

Ang Newsbreak: Beyond the Stories ay isang podcast series ng Rappler tungkol sa mahahalaga at malalaking isyu sa Pilipinas. – Rappler.com

Pakinggan ang iba pang episodes ng Newsbreak: Beyond the Stories:

• Bakit kailangang magpabakuna? 
• Ninja cops: Ang isyung nagpabagsak sa hepe ng PNP
• Dapat bang gawing ilegal ang pagiging komunista?
• Inciting to sedition sa ilalim ni Duterte
• May silbi ba ang diplomatic protest laban sa China?
• Ang batas na puwedeng magpalaya sa rapist-murderer na si Antonio Sanchez
• Makakalusot ba si Ronald Cardema ng Duterte Youth sa Kongreso?
• Impunity in the West Philippine Sea
• Sino si Bikoy at dapat ba siyang paniwalaan?
• Bakit mahalagang mailabas ang Tokhang documents?
• Ang doble-plaka law bilang panakip butas sa mga patayan
• Ang alas ni Eduardo Acierto laban kay Michael Yang
• Ano ang dapat mong malaman tungkol sa Metro Manila water crisis?
• Ang pagkalas ni Duterte at Pilipinas sa Int'l Criminal Court

MANILA, Philippines – The Safe Spaces Act enacted earlier this year now has implementing rules and regulations in force.

It is closely related to the first Anti-Sexual Harassment Act (RA 7877) of 1995.

This “Bawal Bastos” law penalizes catcalling, wolf-whistling, misogynistic and homophobic slurs, unwanted sexual advances, and other forms of sexual harassment in public places, workplaces, schools, as well as in online spaces.

According to Sentro ng Alternatibong Lingap Panligal (Saligan) lawyer JC Tejano, safe spaces only used to mean private property. When the 1995 law came out, safe spaces were expanded to the public domain – legally described to be in work, educational, and training facilities. 

The new Safe Spaces Act expands them even further, to public spaces like streets and malls, and even in cyberspace.

How is it different from the old law?

The original law has a limited definition of sexual harassment and who can be considered the offender.

The first definition of sexual harassment is as follows: “…committed by an employer, employee, manager, supervisor, agent of the employer, teacher, instructor, professor, coach, trainor, or any other person who, having authority, influence or moral ascendancy over another in a work or training or education environment, demands, requests or otherwise requires any sexual favor from the other, regardless of whether the demand, request or requirement for submission is accepted by the object of said Act.”

Only persons in authority could be charged as offenders. There are no provisions for harassment by subordinates or peers.

Now anyone can be an offender.

The Safe Spaces Act covers even sexist, homophobic, and transphobic remarks. That means you can file a case against someone who says something like, "Ang mga bakla, pang-parlor lang dapat 'yan eh. (Gay men belong to hair salons.)"

The new law does not supersede the original Anti-Sexual Harassment Act. If someone’s offense qualifies under both the Safe Spaces and Anti-Sexual Harassment acts, they can be charged for counts under both laws. Offenses can also intersect other laws like the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act.

Sexual harassment in streets and public spaces

Before the law was enacted, an offense could be committed only in a workplace, educational, or training environment. 

Now there are more physical spaces that are under the protection of the law. Gender-based sexual harassment in streets and public spaces is committed "through any unwanted and uninvited sexual actions or remarks against any person regardless of the motive for committing such action or remarks."

The law protects you if you are harassed in any of the following public spaces:

• Streets and alleys, public parks
• Schools, buildings, malls, bars, restaurants
• Transportation terminals, public markets
• Spaces used as evacuation centers
• Government offices
• Public utility vehicles as well as private vehicles covered by app-based transport network services
• Other recreational spaces such as, but not limited to, cinema halls, theaters, and spas

Despite these physical spaces specified under the law, Tejano said safe spaces “follow persons.” Whether you are in a private or public place, you have a safe, inviolable, space around your body that can only be entered with your consent, online, or offline.

Online sexual harassment

The law pushes for safer cyber spaces as well. Gender-based online sexual harassment includes acts that use information and communications technology to frighten victims through:

• Physical, psychological, and emotional threats
• Unwanted sexual misogynistic, transphobic, homophobic, and sexist remarks and comments online whether on public posts or through private messages
• Invasion of the victim’s privacy through cyber stalking and incessant messaging
• Recording or sharing any of the victim’s photos, videos, or information without permission
• Impersonating victims’ identities
• Posting lies about victims to harm their reputation, and filing false abuse reports to online platforms to silence victims

Who can file the complaint?

It is a given that the person harassed can file a complaint. However, even persons apart from the victim can file one, since some victims may not want to live through their trauma again, given the processes of filing a case. 

However, “unwanted and uninvited” sexual harassment must be proven, going by the definition of the crime. The victim would also still need to testify to make a stronger case. (READ: Women subjected to shaming, harassment the most under Duterte gov't – expert)

Who has the responsibility to protect you?

In the new law, privately-owned public places, employers, schools, local government units (LGUs), and national government agencies (NGAs) are responsible for ensuring protection.

Privately-owned places open to the public, like restaurants and retail stores, must adopt a zero-tolerance policy against gender-based sexual harassment in streets and public places. They are obliged to provide assistance to victims by coordinating with the police, making CCTV footage available, and encouraging victims to report harassment at the first instance.

Workplaces and educational institutions are mandated to create an independent internal mechanism or a committee on decorum and investigation (CODI) to investigate and address complaints.

Even without formal complaints, schools are obliged to investigate possible abusers and resolve the situation. Educational institutions are compelled to deal with hostile environments, made known by just “reasonable knowledge” of someone committing gender-based sexual harassment or sexual violence.

They are compelled to investigate even if a victim does not want to file a complaint or does not request the school to take any action.

Educational institutions have the right to strip a guilty perpetrator of his or her diploma, or issue an expulsion order. 

Among other responsibilities, LGUs are obliged to pass an ordinance localizing the law, and to create an anti-sexual harassment hotline.

The DILG, Philippine Commission on Women, and the Department of Communications and Technology are the national bodies responsible for overseeing the implementation of the law. – Rappler.com

AT A GLANCE

• The sachet economy continued to drive up wastes, with a recent brand audit showing multinational companies as contributors to plastic pollution
• Advocates are pushing for a more stringent application of Republic Act No. 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act, but they say that the problem needs to be attacked "at the source"
• As there are no such laws regulating plastic use in the country at the national level, lawmakers have filed several measures in the 18th Congress banning single-use plastics

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines has one of the richest marine ecosystems in the world and yet it is among the top sources of plastic trash leaking into oceans.

Who's the culprit? Advocates point to the booming sachet economy and the lack of policies in place to regulate single-use plastics, let alone ban it.

In a September 21 brand audit by the Break Free from Plastic (BFFP) movement, over 3,700 volunteers in 20 locations across the country picked up over 37,000 pieces of plastic trash for the World Clean-up Day.

In a single day's worth of collection, they picked up about half (47.28%) of the total trash or 17,502 pieces of unbranded plastic trash. (READ: #2030Now: Refilling stations emerge as best solution to plastic pollution)

The other half were from multinational companies, with Coca-Cola (7.58%), Nestlé (4.74%), and Universal Robina Corporation (4.34%) topping the list.

According to the BFFP report, top plastic materials collected were Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET). Some examples of LDPE are squeezable bottles, food wraps, and bags, while PET are usually in the form of softdrink and water bottles.

Earlier this March, the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) Asia Pacific found that Filipinos use more than 163 million plastic sachet packets daily, or nearly 60 billion sachets a year.

Affordability and convenience are among the reasons why Filipinos continue to patronize single-use packaging.

This can easily be addressed by bringing non-single-use packaging such as tumblers or tupperwares at stores, advocates said, just like how it was done before the boom of the sachet economy. But old habits die hard.

With the "tingi" (retail) economy now deeply ingrained in Filipino culture, what can be done to reduce plastic pollution? 

Recycling not enough

Republic Act (RA) No. 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000 served as a landmark legislation for managing wastes in the country. It tasked LGUs or local government units to have solid waste management plans for the government to oversee.

While there is a law on waste management, LGUs are struggling to implement it. 

These plans should have guidelines for reusing, recycling, and composting wastes generated in their areas. Fast forward to 2019, or nearly two decades after the law was passed, less than half (41.96%) of the LGUs in the Philippines have approved 10-year plans. 

Under RA 9003 and its implementing rules and regulations, plastics are categorized as "recyclable materials." Thus, LGUs should include plastics in their recycling programs. (READ: The challenges of going zero waste in the Philippines)

Apart from RA 9003, there are no other laws that specifically regulate plastic use.

The problem with recycling as the lone policy for plastics is that sachets, as small plastic packets, are often lined with aluminium or contain other materials that make them nonrecyclable. This leads to a high volume of residual waste, or waste that cannot be recycled or composted.

Environmental groups said that recycling is far from enough to deal with what they called a "plastic pollution emergency."

"Plastic recycling is not enough. We have to turn off the tap of single-use plastic," Monica Wilson of GAIA USA said at the International Zero Waste conference in Penang, Malaysia.

"We need to have systems," Wilson added.

Among Philippine local governments, San Fernando City in Pampanga leads the way in eliminating residual waste, in a bid to reduce plastic pollution and bring down government expenses on trash.

San Fernando City has brought residual waste to just 20% in 2018 – the first city to do so – from 85% when they first started establishing material recovery facilities (MRFs) in 2013. 

San Fernando City Mayor Edwin Santiago made sure that barangays, establishments, and schools have their own MRFs. Now, the city has a total of 103 MRFs that conduct segregation-at-source.

"We have to put our money in education and health care. That's why we are spending about P12 million – and not P70 million – for solid waste," Santiago said. (READ: Philippine city shows zero waste is achievable)

Santiago acknowledged that the national government has been very helpful in their initiative, but he said that a single local government cannot do everything to totally remove plastics in the consciousness of Filipinos.

"We cannot avoid using plastic, but we have to manage," Santiago said. 

Sachet away

Multinational corporations like Nestlé, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, and Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines have already issued commitments to find more sustainable solutions to their packaging.

But since the law stated that plastics are treated as recyclables, these commitments are geared towards just that. (READ: Despite gov't push, private sector group sees 'big gap' in solving trash problem)

The United Nations Environment Assembly, of which the Philippines is part, has adopted resolutions stressing the importance of long-term elimination of trash in the oceans and addressing single-use plastic pollution.

Globally, at least 127 of 192 countries have policies ranging from a partial ban to a progressive phase-out of plastics products. But no country has so far instituted a "total ban" on plastics, as some still allow its "biodegradable" counterparts.

In its March report, the UN recommended the passage of specific legislation regulating plastic – particularly requiring manufacturers to reduce waste or for them to have policies on extended producers' responsibility. This means recognizing their responsibility beyond the sale of their product and providing, for example, for in-store recycling and upcycling.

The world body also recommended adopting recycling targets and charge enough to discourage  the purchase of plastic products.

"As knowledge and understanding of the scale of the problem of plastic pollution grows, more concerted action will be required at the national level to address the scale of the marine pollution problem caused by plastics," the UN said.

Several lawmakers at the Senate and the House of Representatives have filed bills with an end goal of banning single-use plastics. But all of these progressive measures have yet to be taken up by their respective committees.

Senate

Total phase-out

At the Senate, at least 3 senators have filed bills pushing for the total phaseout of single-use plastics – Senator Francis Pangilinan (SB 40), Senator Cynthia Villar (SB 333), and Senator Manny Pacquiao (SB 557).

These bills were a version of the proposed measure, filed by then-senator and now House Deputy Speaker Loren Legarda during the 17th Congress, which she has also filed at the House this Congress. Under their bills, Villar and Pangilinan want a ban on plastic importation.

The proposed penalties for violation range from P5,000 to P100,000 and revocation of license for small businesses. Big enterprises and plastic manufacturers may be slapped P50,000 to P1 million and may not be eligible for a renewal of business license for a period of 5 years.

Straws

Senator Risa Hontiveros and Senator Sonny Angara, meanwhile, are pushing for regulation of plastic straws.

While Hontiveros wants a ban on straws in food service establishments, Angara wants a mandatory P2-fee per requested plastic straw.

Both bills exempt senior citizens and persons with medical conditions from the coverage of the proposed measure.

Use of biodegradable plastics

Senator Lito Lapid and Senator Nancy Binay are both pushing for a measure that would require establishments to provide biodegradable plastic bags or other alternatives, instead of the usual single-use ones.

House of Representatives

At the House of Representatives, 23 bills were filed by congressmen geared towards either imposing more taxes on plastic bags or a nationwide ban on single-use plastics and straws:

Ban

Several congressmen have filed their own versions similar to Legarda's bill too. The main contention among these versions lies in the phaseout time – whether just a year or 3 years – to carry out the ambitious banning of plastics.

Meanwhile, Bataan Representative Geraldine Roman had filed House Bill No. 3537 banning single-use plastics in commercial establishments, while Bohol Representative Joy Tambunting wants a ban in tourism sites as provided in HB 4724.

Iloilo 3rd District Representative Lorenz Defensor wants to ban plastics in advertising, including election paraphernalia.

Straws

When it comes to food and beverages, Quezon City Representative Precious Castelo filed HB 3537 banning straws in restaurants, while Tambunting's HB 3725 seeks to ban the use of nonrecyclable materials as food containers.

In-store recovery

Tambunting and Agusan del Norte congressman Lawrence Lemuel Fortun, in separate bills, seek to require in-store recovery programs for plastics.

Taxation

Sultan Kudarat 2nd District Representative Horacio Suansing Jr and Nueva Ecija 1st District Representative Estrellita Suansing wanted to approach regulation of plastics through taxation. They're proposing a P10 levy on every plastic bag.

In 2011, Legarda and the late senator Miriam Defensor Santiago had been pushing for a total plastic bag ban since the 15th Congress. These bills never moved past the committee level. 

With the opening of a new Congress last July, lawmakers still have plenty of time to pass their proposed measures until 2022.

Will we see these bills finally moving in the coming months? Or will we see a repeat of the past Congresses where discussions were stalled? – with a report from Jaia Yap/Rappler.com

Rappler is building a network of climate advocates, LGUs, corporations, NGOs, youth groups, and individuals for the #ManyWaysToZeroWaste campaign, a movement pushing for responsible ways to use and reduce plastic. Go here to know how you can help.

Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano is hoping he and his wife, Taguig City 2nd District Representative Lani Cayetano, would soon be blessed with kids of their own. 

The Speaker shared this in a chance interview with reporters as he celebrated his 49th birthday in the House of Representatives on Monday, October 28. 

“And then kaming mag-asawa, of course, we have wishes para sa aming pamilya,” said the Taguig City-Pateros congressman. (And then my wife and I, of course, we have wishes for our family.)

Pressed further if he meant he was wishing for children, Cayetano replied in the affirmative.  

“Yes. Praying for twins, soon. Lahat naman siguro ng mag-asawa, ’yon ang hope, ’di ba, na magkapamilya at saka maalagaan ’yong pamilya?” said the Speaker. (Yes. Praying for twins, soon. All married couples perhaps have the same hope, right, that they would have their own family to take care of?)

WATCH: Cayetano blows the candles on the birthday cake prepared for him by the House employees. pic.twitter.com/9tP2ULmwgq

— Mara Cepeda (@maracepeda) October 28, 2019

Cayetano proposed to his wife Lani in Baguio City, the same city where they were later married in March 2004. He is 11 years older than his wife.

On Monday, the Speaker said his term-sharing deal with Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco may as well be the perfect set-up for the Cayetano couple who are hoping to become parents.  

“That’s why, if will ni Lord ’yong 15 months, baka nga ’yon ’yong opportunity na masolo ko siya at masolo niya ko,” said the Speaker. (That’s why, if the Lord wills the 15 months to push through, maybe that would be the opportunity for me and my wife to devote time to each other.)

Under the term-sharing deal, Cayetano will lead the 18th Congress for the first 15 months, while Velasco would become Speaker in the remaining 21 months after that.  

But talks abound about the possibility of this arrangement not happening. Cayetano already said he is open to leading the House until the end of the 18th Congress, but only if Velasco agrees to drop their term-sharing agreement. – Rappler.com

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Mayor David Navarro of Clarin, Misamis Occidental, was practically unknown in this city before he figured in an alleged assault of a massage therapist in a hotel on October 24. A day later, he was shot dead. (READ: Misamis Occidental town mayor arrested for alleged assault in Cebu)

On Friday, October 25, Navarro was brutally killed on a busy street in broad daylight, right outside the Office of the Ombudsman. (READ: Misamis Occidental town mayor shot dead in Cebu City)

Who was David Navarro? 



Navarro began his 3rd term as mayor of Clarin town last May.

In the last midterm election, Navarro, a member of the Nacionalista Party got twice as many votes as his opponent Marissa Villa, who ran under PDP-Laban.


He previously served 3 terms as mayor from 2001 to 2010 and was a provincial board member of Misamis Occidental’s 2nd District until he could run again for mayor in 2013. 



The Navarros are originally from Pagadian City, Zamboanga Del Sur, and only solidified their place as a political dynasty through David’s efforts, after he won as mayor of Clarin for the first time in 2001. His wife and siblings were then able to win various political positions in Misamis Occidental.

The Navarros are known allies of the Oaminals, another powerful political clan in Misamis Occidental.


In early October, Navarro’s brother Dan was appointed regional director of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) of Region IX (the Zamboanga Peninsula).

Clarin, a 4th class municipality, is about 30 minutes away from Ozamiz City, where several members of the Parojinog dynasty – another drug-linked political clan – were killed during a police raid in 2017.

Then mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr and 14 others, including family members, were killed in that operation  

Drug links?



Navarro was among the alleged narco-politicians in the March 2019 list that President Rodrigo Duterte released to the public ahead of the May elections as a way to dissuade voters from reelecting those on the list. At least 27 of 36 bets on the same list won in the polls. (READ: Ineffective? 27 of 36 bets in Duterte drug list win in 2019 polls)

He was also part of a longer earlier list released in 2016 by the President. 

Following the inclusion of his name in the initial narcolist, Navarro surrendered at least 4 firearms to the Philippine National Police, according to a report in SunStar.



In 2017, the National Police Commission (Napolcom) stripped Navarro’s supervisory powers over his police force for his alleged links to the drug trade.


Navarro told local media in Mindanao in October that he had already spoken to the President in person over accusations linking him to the illegal drug trade.

“If the President had doubts on our family, there's no reason why the administration would hire one of our own,” Navarro was quoted in state-run Philippine News Agency. He was referring to Duterte confirming the appointment of his brother Dan to TESDA.

When Rappler asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) for a list of pending cases against Navarro, the only cases provided by DOJ Undersecretary Markk Perete were those related to the spa incident on October 24.

Those charges include acts of lasciviousness for allegedly sexually abusing a female masseuse; physical injury charges for allegedly assaulting a male masseuse; and usurpation of authority for introducing himself as a police officer.

Why was he in Cebu City?


According to Cebu City Police Office Director Gemma Cruz Vinluan, Navarro was in Cebu City for a meeting on economic development plans at the Rajah Park Hotel with leaders from Misamis Occidental.

The police director noted that local police were not informed by Navarro, nor his police escort, that a meeting was taking place with Misamis Occidental political and economic leaders in this city.


The spa where the alleged assault took place is also located at the Rajah Park Hotel. Police officials said they would also ask the hotel management for CCTV footage and names of others who were in Cebu for the meeting.


Why was he killed?

Vinluan told reporters over the weekend that associates of Navarro told investigators that he had already been receiving death threats, specifically from groups from "Misamis." (READ: Slain Misamis Occidental town mayor got death threats – Cebu police)

She did not elaborate if those threats were related to drugs or politics.

Although police declined to give a definite motive for the slaying, Vinluan said that it was “definitely” not related to the spa incident. They also would not automatically conclude that the killings were linked to Navarro’s alleged ties to the drug trade.

"Let's not directly relate the killing to that, we're looking at all angles, including business and political rivalry," Vinluan said.



Navarro’s sister Princess, who was with the mayor when he was killed, mentioned in an interview with reporters that Navarro had political rivals in Clarin who could have been behind the killing. – with a report from Lian Buan/Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Mariam* sat outside the national prison on Wednesday, October 16, twelve days since she was last allowed to visit her husband who has been in Bilibid for 19 years. Suddenly, an ambulance blared putting her on edge.

She kept asking and asking the guard on duty. She was told an inmate had died. The woman beside Mariam was even more nervous; her husband has asthma and had fever the last time she saw him.

They couldn't visit, and they're not being told anything. They watched their husbands' appliances from the demolished shanties taken outside; they also saw their sacks of rice, eggs, and packs of noodles brought out.

"What are they eating then?" Mariam, desperate for information, pressed the guard. She was told: "May rasyon, bakit sila magpapakasarap sa pagkain?" (They have rationed food, why should they be offered good food?)

A Senate investigation had revealed that prisoners were eating basically just broth, and were only getting only P39 per day for their meals out of their P60 supposed daily budget.

This has been a fact of life for Mariam, or at least for the last 19 years – that her husband, and the other inmates, cannot depend only on rationed food and water. For the last 19 years, she lived the prison life, and she sensed something was wrong.

"Until now nakatulala kami sa bahay, kabado pa rin kami kasi ang gusto namin talaga makita na sila, madalhan ng pagkain, madalhan ng gamot, para makita lang namin kahit saglit," said Mariam, whose husband was convicted for terrorism (she claims it was a mistaken identity). 

(Until now I'm staring blankly in my house, nervous because I really want to see them, to bring them food, medicine, to see them for even just a while.)

Bilibid is just coming off the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) scandal that exposed all sorts of corrupt practices that put not only the Bureau of Corrections, but also the Department of Justice (DOJ) and even the Philippine National Police (PNP), in hot water.

The situation has been tense ever since, aggravated by the demolition of shanties as ordered by new BuCor chief Director General Gerald Bantag.

"Ano'ng mangyayari sa loob? Hindi natin nakikita, kasi nandito tayo sa labas. Maawa naman si General Bantag. Iyong rasyon, parang pagkain ng aso," she added.

(What's happening inside? We can't see because we're here outside. General Bantag, please have mercy. Their rationed food is like dog food.)

Water issue

But no one is talking to them.

The best assurance they've gotten so far was an announcement via Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra last Friday, October 25, that the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) will restore visitation privileges as "soon" as they ensure the safety of the situation.

On Monday morning, October 28, reporters accompanying Major General Guillermo Eleazar saw gallons of water inside prison, with long queues of inmates.

This is not a good sight for the wives, worried sick, on the 3rd week of blocked access to Bilibid.

BuCor chief Director General Gerald Bantag, generally elusive to media, denied that there is a crisis inside the national prison.

"Merong tubig, kung may crisis man, eh manageable 'yun. Kakapirma ko nga lang nang nakaraan ng 10 units na worth 1.7 million. Meron 'yan, huwag kayong mag-alala," said Bantag.

(There is water, if there is a crisis, it is manageable. I have just signed off on 10 units worth P1.7 million. There is water, don't worry.)

BuCor Spokesperson Wena Dalagan said the deliveries are regular. "There is no water shortage, we have continued supply, regularly po 'yan na ginagawa po (that is being done regularly)," Dalagan told Rappler in a text message Monday.

Mariam still worries.

"Hindi natin sure kung talagang malinis na tubig 'yun," she told Rappler in a phone interview on Monday, adding that prisoners buy mineral water from inside the penitentiary.

(We're not sure if that's really clean water.) 

Sick prisoners

Families and rights group KAPATID said that as many as 7 prisoners have died since October 15 due to dehydration and lack of medication, which Dalagan denied.

"The causes of death are tuberculosis, pneumonia, and cardiac arrest," Dalagan said, without confirming the number of reported deaths.

"Useless ang magpa-ospital sa loob ng Bilibid, expired yung gamot (It is useless to go to the hospital inside Bilibid, the medicines are expired)," Mariam said.

Bantag also dismissed the deaths, saying it should not be a cause of alarm.

"Alam ninyo, even before demolition, marami nang namamatay diyan eh, di ba? Kung may namatay man, eh dahil may medical issues na talagang mamatay 'yung tao…kahit nga tayo eh healthy ka na mamamatay ka," Bantag said.

 (You know, even before demolition, many people had died there, right? If they died, it's because they had medical issues that they would really die. Even healthy people die.)

Mariam, and the other relatives, want to take medicines to the inmates, but that is not a simple process – if and when they are allowed to finally visit.

"Ang policy natin dito ay ibigay sa doctors natin. Kasi baka 'di nila alam, paulit-ulit 'yung pag-inom, hindi naman pupuwede 'yun. Icocontrol pa rin ng medical teams natin 'yun. Pero 'di puwedeng ibigay kaagad-agad, ichecheck muna ng doctors natin," Bantag said.

(Our policy is to give the medicines to our doctors. Inmates may take the medicines more than they should, and they shouldn't do that. Medical teams should be able to control that. So we can give the medicines to inmates directly, our doctors have to check first.)

Mariam has heard so many horror stories about the prison hospital.

"Iyong mga may sakit, dadalhin sa ospital sa loob, iinjectan ng kung ano, doon nagsisimula ng malalang sakit ang detainees. Ngayon, sasabihin may sakit na ganito, complicated," said Mariam.

(Those who are sick are admitted to the hospital inside, they are injected with these things, and then they start to get sick. Then they'll say now the inmate is sick and has some complication.)

BuCor under Bantag

The last time Mariam saw her husband was on October 4, for a conjugal visit.

The visit was cut abruptly, and she watched Muslim prisoners ordered out of their prayer room.

"'Yung Quran pinagpupunit, 'yung Quran inaapak-apakan, inaapakan ng pulis, kitang-kita din namin, nung sinabing labas dalaw na, marami nang tao, pinapalabas, first time ko 'yun sa buong 19 years," said Mariam.

(They tore the pages of the Quran, they stepped on it, cops stepped on it, we saw it, when they ordered us to leave, there were so many people, that was the first time in 19 years that I experienced that.) 

"Parang (it's like) harassment," said Mariam.

Dolores Pangilinan, whose husband is also detained at the Maximum Security Compound and is the head of the Samahan ng mga Pamilya ng Nasa Death Row, said policies vary per BuCor chief.

"Sobrang dapang-dapa na po ang aming dignidad (our dignity has been trampled on repeatedly)," Pangilinan said, and added that she has experienced what she called an overly invasive body inspection during previous visits.

"Parang nakakalimutan niyo na ba na may pamilya na naghihirap sa tabi?" asked Pangilinan. (Have you forgotten about the families who are suffering on the side?)

Statistics do nothing to appease the worried wives.

Bilibid's own hospital chief, Ernesto Tamayo, admitted to the Senate that about 20% of maximum security inmates at the national prison die every year mostly due to overcrowding inside the jail.

In an earlier statement, Guevarra said they will closely monitor developments in BuCor. The BuCor law limits the power of the DOJ over prison operations, even though BuCor is a DOJ-attached agency.

"Supervision includes calling attention to actions which are improper, unlawful, or way out of bounds. It also includes instituting disciplinary action whenever warranted," said Guevarra.

In the short term, Mariam just wants restored visitation rights.

"General Bantag, sana kahit bukas pansinin mo lahat ng dalaw. Makita ang kanilang mga asawa na malakas. Huwag mong patagalin," she said. (General Bantag, please pay attention to the families. Let us see our husbands in good condition. Don't prolong this.) – with reports from Jodesz Gavilan/Rappler.com

*Upon her own request, Rappler has changed Mariam's real name to afford her protection.

MANILA, Philippines – Death hoaxes have been around for a long time, but they've been given a faster, more far reaching life in the age of social media.

Death hoaxes often crop up when the celebrity in question is in the news for true events, as was the case with the late Eddie Garcia, Jessy Mendiola, and Claudine Barretto.

These are easy enough to fact check – most celebrities will still be posting on their social media accounts despite their "deaths" and will even deny the claims outright if things get out of hand.

Still, thousands of people share these blog posts or click on them, which is often what these blogs are after – visits to their site for ad revenue. As such, it's actually best not to share, like, or comment on these posts so as not to give them any traction.

You can also send these hoaxes over to factcheck@rappler.com so we can let you know whether the rumor is true, misleading, or outright false.

Here are the celebrity deaths we've proven wrong in the past.

Jet Li

A blog post claimed on May 26, 2018 that Chinese actor Jet Li died after being “in and out” of Matilda International Hospital in Hong Kong since August 2007 and confined for more than two months.

However, the 55-year-old Chinese actor is still alive and even denied this rumor when it broke. He told his fans on Facebook on May 23, 2018: "I would like to thank all my fans who expressed concerns about my health. I'm doing great and feeling great! I'm excited to share with you all a few projects I am working on in the near future. For now, thank you all for your concerns!”

Rumors about Li's health have circulated in the past as well, including that his hyperthyroidism was worsening and that he needed a wheelchair.

John Lloyd Cruz

Actor John Lloyd Cruz supposedly died around June 9 or 10, 2018. The websites that spread this rumor did not include date stamps and provided different reasons for Cruz's "death." One said he died in a carjacking incident, while another site said the actor jumped from atop a condominium building.

Cruz was taking a break from the showbiz industry at the time, but he was clearly still alive. He even appeared on behalf of his partner, Ellen Adarna, on June 11 at the Pasig City Prosecutor's Office for preliminary investigation proceedings, in relation to charges filed against the actress.

Gary Valenciano 

Rumors that singer Gary Valenciano died circulated around July 13, 2018. The blogs that spread this rumor said that he died of diabetes and even recorded a video for his fans prior to his death.

This claim spread days after a teaser for Valenciano's interview with Korina Sanchez was released wherein he spoke about finding out he had kidney cancer. In the same interview though, he also said that he had already been cleared of cancer.

Joshua Aquino

Blog sites reported that Kris Aquino's son, Josh, died due to cancer around July 21, 2018.

However, Josh was very much alive in his mother's Instagram posts on July 23, 2018, where he was joined by TV host Willie Revillame.

Rumors of his death spread days after he was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with "erosive esophagitis due to severe acid reflux and ulcers."

His mother posted the videos that were being spread by the blogs on her Instagram account, but she said they were videos of Josh being treated by doctors, not of his "final moments" as the posts said.

Jessy Mendiola

Actress Jessy Mendiola supposedly died in a car crash around July 24, according to a number of blog sites.

The actress was alive and well, however, as proven by her Instagram posts and comments at the time.

While Mendiola did figure in a road accident on May 16, 2018, she said on Instagram that she had come out unscathed.

Eddie Garcia

Right after the late actor Eddie Garcia collapsed on set on June 8 during the taping of a TV show, false claims that he died due to a heart attack spread.

After the incident, Garcia was in critical condition and initial reports said that he suffered a heart attack.

Garcia did not die until more than a week after collapsing on June 20 because he sustained a fracture on his cervical spine.

Bamboo Mañalac

In early October, an image of singer Bamboo with the words “RIP Bamboo Manalac 1976 – 2019” circulated online.

The blog posts that carried the image and the corresponding video was titled, "BAMBOO MANALAC Patay matapos madamay sa karambola ng mga sasakyan sa Quezon" (Bamboo Manalac dies after being involved in a car crash in Quezon).

Bamboo's social media activity, however, proved that he was very much alive.

He had upcoming concerts in Australia on October 11 to 13 and he promoted these on September 30 on his Instagram account.

Claudine Barretto

Rumors that Claudine Barretto had died began to spread online in the midst of another Barretto family feud.

On October 18, Claudine supposedly "died on the spot" after multiple gunshots were fired at her car in Quezon City. This was 3 days after her father Miguel Alvir Barretto died.

The Barrettos were a hot topic around that time, because of an altercation between Claudine's sisters Gretchen and Marjorie at their father's wake.

Claudine was reported hospitalized on October 17 after allegedly getting into a fight with Marjorie, but she wasn't dead.

Claudine was interviewed on DZMM on October 22, and she posted on Instagram the following day.

Shaina Magdayao

Actress Shaina Magdayao died of hypothyroidism, according to blog posts that circulated around October 19. 

However, Star Magic posted a video of her at a photoshoot on October 23 and her makeup artist that day also posted a photo of her at the shoot. Shaina's official Instagram account even commented on the photo.

Magdayao really does have hypothyroidism, which she first spoke about in 2017. In June 2019, she spoke at length about her health in an Instagram post, saying, “For the first time in years – I FEEL HEALTHY.” – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – After being fed up with criticism, President Rodrigo Duterte decided to “surrender” his powers to enforce his landmark anti-drug campaign to opposition leader and Vice President Leni Robredo.

“I will surrender my powers to enforce the law, ibigay ko sa Vice President, ibigay ko sa kanya nang 6 months (I will give it to the Vice President, I'll give it to her for 6 months),” Duterte said on Monday, October 28.

The pronouncement shocked listeners, catching law enforcers themselves by surprise as the unrelenting anti-drug campaign has been a centerpiece of the Duterte administration. Duterte even ran his 2016 campaign on a promise to end drug and crime.

Asked by reporters to clarify, he later said he would surrender powers over the anti-drug campaign if ever Robredo was up to the challenge. The President is known to make grand statements he would later brush off as a joke.

Even after his clarification, however, Duterte’s pronouncements could be interpreted as advocating an unconstitutional policy. The statement adds to a litany of incidents where he issues an order in a fit without consulting his top lawyers and Cabinet secretaries, leaving lawyers confused.

Speaking to Rappler in a phone interview on Tuesday, October 29, National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) president Edre Olalia said that if it does push through, Duterte’s sudden bequeathal of his powers to Robredo is “legally, politically, and constitutionally anomalous.”

Former Supreme Court spokesman Theodore Te also told Rappler Duterte may delegate duties to the Vice President, but the Chief Executive should not leave any room for doubt when the pronouncement is turned into a written order – when it becomes official and open to legal challenges.

Why is Duterte allowed?

The President, as chief executive, Te and Olalia explained, has the power to delegate duties to the Vice President.

“He’s the chief executive, so he can create an office, he can create a working group and designate anyone to work,” Te said.

He cited an example: in 1998, then-president Joseph Estrada decided to create a team to target crime syndicates in the country by issuing Executive Order No. 8, which created the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force.

The members of the team consisted of members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and were empowered to mount operations separate from the agencies the members came from.

According to Olalia and Te, this same delegated power applies to the Vice President.

“The President can always delegate certain powers, especially to his alter egos, the Cabinet secretaries,” Olalia said.

With this, Duterte can also appoint Robredo to oversee agencies enforcing the anti-drug campaign. So far, the PNP has been the biggest agency implementing his anti-drug policy. The PNP is under the administrative supervision of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG).

But even the DILG's head has not been given clear and written instructions on how to go about the President's order. In a text message to Rappler, DILG Secretary Eduardo Año said he has not received any order from the President. Año was in an official overseas trip when Duterte issued the statement.

“I am ready on whatever arrangement the President wanted to implement. After all, the objective remains the same, to eliminate the illegal drug problem of the country,” he said.

What can’t Duterte do?

Delegating is one thing, abdicating is another.

According to Olalia, the President cannot simply hand over “all” his powers to Robredo because it means he is also passing on the accountability that comes with it. And he was elected on the promise that he would take over all these duties and responsibilities as chief executive, and be held accountable if ever he fails.

Olalia pointed out that part of the oath Duterte recited before assuming office was to “faithfully and conscientiously” execute all laws. The full oath reads:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully and conscientiously fulfill my duties as President (or Vice-President or Acting President) of the Philippines, preserve and defend its Constitution, execute its laws, do justice to every man, and consecrate myself to the service of the Nation. So help me God.”

Olalia said, “With abdicating, you no longer move, because you are abdicating a duty, which is tantamount, but not equivalent to, temporary incapacity. Because he is saying that another person should do it.”

Aside from possibly violating the Constitution, Olalia said it was “unrealistic” for the President to use the anti-illegal drugs campaign for a political game.

“Governance is not a game. Governance is a constitutional duty, especially of elected people in the highest position. It’s like a game to him, making someone else ‘it’ in a game of tag,” Olalia added in a mix of English and Filipino.

For Te, Duterte’s statement was, just like his previous ones, sarcastic.

The President’s statement has taken many by surprise that even senators allied with him are challenging his proposition. For example, Senator Aquilino Pimentel III on Tuesday, October 29, said the task of running the ongoing drug war "cannot be delegated except to his alter egos."

Te said, “Officially, is he saying she will be commander-in-chief? I don’t think so. This is for additional assignment. The VP can get any portfolio of the President. If the Vice President accepts it then that’s it. The question only there is, what is the context?” Te said.

He added: “If he is serious with this, he should put it down in writing.”– Rappler.com

Claim: The website sasafeed.com published a report on October 11 headlined: "Russia, Nangangailangan ng Domestic Helpers at Nag-Offer ng Sahod na P50k Hanggang P75k (Russia needs domestic helpers and offers a salary of P50,000 to P75,000)."

Aside from household service workers, the post also claimed that Russia needs musicians and other professionals. The information supposedly came from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). 

Data from the social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle showed that the claim has been shared on Facebook for over 1,000 times and has accumulated 5,000 reactions and 1,100 comments. The pages that have shared the claim include Raffy Tulfo Supporters Group, Katotohanan, and Bible Time. 

Rating: MISLEADING

The facts: As of writing, the DOLE has made no official announcement about the deployment of Filipino workers to Russia for jobs with a salary range of P50,000 to P75,000. The Philippine and Russian governments have yet to sign a bilateral agreement that addresses the legal status of Filipinos in Russia. (READ: PH eyes labor agreement with Russia as Duterte makes second visit) 

DOLE Information and Public Service Director Rolly Francia confirmed to Rappler in a text message that the claim is "not true" and that there is "no such announcement." 

"The Secretary of Labor even said that DOLE has yet to send a [Technical Working Group] to thresh out provisions of a proposed bilateral agreement that will govern the deployment of Filipino workers to Russia," he said.

The official website of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has issued no press release either on recruitment for possible employment in Russia. 

The salary range mentioned in the claim is based on a radio interview with Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III in DZMM's TeleRadyo program, "Failon Ngayon sa DZMM" on October 7. Broadcast journalist Ted Failon asked Bello about the extent of demand for household workers in Russia.

“Kailangan din nila nghousehold service workers eh. Eh ang dami n'yan, ang dami sigurong pupunta d’yan.Ang sahod do’n para sa mgahousehold workers,angminimum P50,000. Ang minimum wage para sa household workers ay P50,000. Minimum ‘yun, umaabot ng P75,000,” Bello said. 

([Russia] also needs household workers. Because that is a lot, many would likely want to go there. The salary there for household workers is minimum P50,000. The minimum wage for household workers is P50,000. That is minimum, up to P75,000.)

Bello only said that the salary for domestic helpers in Russia is between P50,000 to P75,000. He did not specifically say that should Filipinos work there, they would automatically receive the exact salary range.

There are no provisions under the bilateral agreement that specify the wages for Filipino workers in Russia. Even Philippine Ambassador to Russia Carlos Sorreta said in a media interview on October 2 that Filipinos should avoid recruiting others to work in Russia while they are working on the labor agreement. (READ: Duterte returns to Russia in October) – Glenda Marie Castro/Rappler.com.  

Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.

Claim: Following the magnitude 6.3 earthquake that struck Tulunan, North Cotabato, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake will soon follow, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

A post by Facebook page Ozamiz Spy posted this claim on October 29, warning Mindanao residents to “prepare for the worst” and keep their mobile phones and first aid kits at hand.

“Mati, Davao, Tulunan, Sarangani, and Zamboanga fault lines can generate up to 8 magnitude earthquakes and thousands of aftershocks. Please be ready at all costs, it was been (sic) proven by Digos veteran seismologists,” the post read, which was attributed to the NDRRMC.

The post got over 1,000 shares as of writing. It was flagged by Claim Check, Facebook’s dashboard tool that identifies potentially dubious posts spread on the platform.

Rating: FALSE

The facts:The NDRRMC did not announce such warning. Rather, they published on their official website and social media accounts that these messages are hoaxes and should not be believed.

“The NDRRMC does not send messages of that sort. Currently, there is no technology that allows the prediction of earthquakes. Your NDRRMC will NEVER send baseless messages that will only spread fear among our people,” the NDRRMC said.

The council added that the emergency alert and warning messages they send to the public come from surveillance or warning agencies such as the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) and Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

“The NDRRM Operations Center did not receive such advisory from Phivolcs nor did the Council request transmission of the same by the telcos to their subscribers,” the NDRRMC added.

On October 16, a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck the area of Tulunan, North Cotabato. Nearly two weeks after, another magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit the same area and affected other parts of Mindanao, killing at least 6 and injuring around 50 people. – Pauline Macaraeg/Rappler.com

Keep us aware of suspicious Facebook pages, groups, accounts, websites, articles, or photos in your network by contacting us at factcheck@rappler.com. Let us battle disinformation one Fact Check at a time.