MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) has filed criminal cases before the Department of Justice against over 40 personalities linked to the importation of multibillion-peso shabu (methamphetamine) shipments in 2018.

Consisting of former and current law enforcers, Bureau of Customs and importing employees, as well as suspected Chinese personalities, the list of accused was completed by the PDEA based on their investigation and the recently-concluded probes by the Senate blue ribbon committee and the House committee on dangerous drugs and committee on good government.

“This is to inform the public that PDEA is serious to come up with airtight cases against all personalities behind illegal drug transactions,” PDEA chief Director General Aaron Aquino said during the filing of the cases on Thursday, December 13.

The PDEA's list is expected to be the basis of other law enforcement agencies like the Philippine National Police or the Bureau of Customs as the PDEA has been mandated to be the lead anti-drug agency of the country.

The individuals, the PDEA said in a statement, are accused of conspiring to import drugs in violation of Section 5, 26, 30, and 32 of the Dangerous Drugs Act, obstruction of justice, and negligence and tolerance by public officials, or violation of Section 208 of the Revised Penal Code.

Which shabu shipments? The wholesale filing stemmed from two of the biggest shabu shipments uncovered by law enforcement agencies in 2018.

The first case involves the discovery on August 7 of two magnetic lifters at the Manila International Container Port (MICP), which were discovered to have been stuffed with P2.4-billion worth of shabu.

The second case is the P11-billion worth of shabu suspected to have been packed in 4 similar magnetic lifters found in a Cavite warehouse on August 8.

The principal suspects: The PDEA filed cases against principal suspects, or individuals suspected to have participated in both blockbuster cases, namely:

• Eduardo Acierto – The former policeman allegedly on top of orchestrating the shabu shipment
• Ismael Fajardo Jr – The former PDEA deputy chief who allegedly had knowledge of the shipments but did not tell his colleagues
• Jimmy Guban – The former Customs intelligence officer who admitted to his involvement and coverup of the shipments. He has been admitted as a state witness.
• Lito Pirote – The policeman who allegedly received P300,000 from Acierto to give to Guban for the coverup of the bigger shipment
• Joseph Dimayuga

For the MICP magnetic lifters case: The PDEA filed cases against importers and brokers of the MICP case. These are:

• Vedasto Cabral Baraquel Jr - Owner of Vecaba Trading, the importer of the abandoned magnetic lifters found to contain shabu
• Maria Catipan - Wife of Baraquel and co-owner of Vecaba Trading
• Emily Luquingan
• Alex Padlan
• Gorgonio Necessario
• Myra Tan
• Avelino Tendera
• SN Logistics
• Ben Line Agencies Philippines
• Zhauq Quan/Zhang Quan
• Terence Uytingban
• Chan Yee Wah

For the magnetic lifters found in Cavite: Aside from importers and brokers, the PDEA also filed cases against employees of the Bureau of Customs, namely:

• SMYD Trading – with associated persons Marina Signapan, Alexander Dames, Katrina Cuasay, Miguella "Meg" Santos
• Red Day Machinery Parts Corporation – with associated persons Ramon Tuyay, John Leric Olavario, Maribeth Olavario, Minerva Verso, and Chung-Chun Hsu
• He Zhong Consultancy Co. Inc – with associated persons Nonito Estorninos Jr, and Li Jie
• Yida Equipment Crane Limited Company – with associated persons Le Thi Thuy, Luu Thi Thu Huong, and Kan Yi Hong
• All Systems Logistic, Inc – with associated person Roy Baldon
• Dong Trieu Trading and Import/Export Service Trading Company Limited – with associated person Du Quoc Duong
• Zsae Carrie De Guzman – Customs X-ray chief
• Benjamin Cajucom – X-ray operator who cleared magnetic lifters
• Manuel Martinez –  X-ray operator who cleared magnetic lifters
• Dolores Domingo
• Chen Wei Cheng
• Ping Cheung Fung
• Roy Wang
• Chinese No.2 alias Zhou Quan
• Chinese No.3 Chen Wei Cheng
• Chinese No.4 alias Cory Yibos
• Chinese No. 6 alias Francis Doe
• Chinese No. 12 alias Glenn Doe
• John Doe
• John Doe 2
• John Doe 3
• John Doe 4

Most of the suspected Chinese personalities on the list are believed to have already fled the country. Meanwhile, two of the main suspects, Eduardo Acierto and Ismael Fajardo, have already been missing for weeks.

The shabu that was not found inside the magnetic lifters in Cavite is believed to have already penetrated the streets. – Rappler.com

Was the naming of Rappler CEO Maria Ressa as Time magazine's Person of the Year, along with other journalists, on President Rodrigo Duterte’s mind as he gave a speech on Thursday, December 13, in Las Piñas?

Without mentioning Ressa by name, the Philippine President said he couldn’t care less about accolades given to his critics.

"Time of the what, Time of the magazine, Time– ‘Woman of the Century’ and all, inyo na ‘yan (you can have it),” he said during the birthday celebration of former Senate president Manny Villar.

“Ako, simple lang ako (Me, I’m a simple man). I am a worker of goverrnment and I work for the people. The long and short of my oath is, I have to protect the people of the Republic of the Philippines and I have to preserve the nation,” he said, to cheers from his audience.

Immediately after mentioning Time magazine, Duterte gave a protracted defense of his controversial crackdown on illegal drugs.

“Kaya pagka pumasok ka diyan (illegal drugs) and even if I’m the only one trying to answer or justify my actuations I will do it,” he said.

(So if you get into it and even if I’m the only one trying to answer or justify my actuations, I will do it.)

He again questioned the “20,000 deaths” attributed to his campaign against illegal drugs by some groups.

“If I have to go to jail, so be it. 20,000 deaths, okay. Where did it happen? What actually happened?” he said.

Ressa is among the journalists under attack in their countries who have been collectively named Time Person of the Year for 2018. 

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines hailed the recognition as a testament to the “resistance and tenacity of the Philippine press” in fighting for press freedom under the Duterte presidency.

Malacañang, meanwhile, insisted that freedom of expression is “robust” under the Duterte administration. – Rappler.com

Claim: Daniel Russel, a United States diplomat, said the Balangiga Bells were returned from the US to the Philippines because of President Rodrigo Duterte.

The blog insiderph.com posted the claim on their website Tuesday, December 11. Since then, the post has been shared 11 times to different Facebook pages and groups. All of these accounted for a combined total of at least 15,000 interactions. The page and groups used to circulate this claim have a total of two million followers.

The claim was also posted by blog bayangpilipinas.com and Facebook users Peña L. Don and Sicnarf Escolano Latop, which he posted to a public group, “Active Social Media Commentators of the Philippines.”

This claim was sent by a number of readers to Rappler for verification.

Rating: FALSE

The facts: There is no such quote from Russel. Duterte himself said no one should take credit for the return of the bells.

"The return of the bells [was] upon the demand of the Filipino people," Duterte said on December 13. He also said that "nobody but nobody" should take credit for the successful return of the Balangiga Bells.

Earlier, Malacañang Palace said on December 11 that it was President Rodrigo Duterte’s political will that made the return of the bells possible. Former Special Presidential Assistant Christopher “Bong” Go also said it was Duterte’s effort, but “he is not taking credit for it.”

The US embassy also shared the sentiment.

As quoted in a December 10 GMA News report, US embassy spokesperson Molly Koscina said the bells were returned “not due to any particular event or statement.”

“There are a number of presidents, a number of secretaries [of Defense], a number of US and Philippine ambassadors who worked for the return of the Balangiga bells. It was decades worth of work and protest from the veterans, and the legal issues that came with it,” said Koscina.

Rappler contacted Russel's organization, Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI), to confirm if he did say what was attributed to him. ASPI has yet to provide a reply.

Even if true, Russel’s supposed statement would not have official bearing since he is no longer a diplomat or State official, as confirmed by Koscina to Rappler via email.

According to his profile page on the website of ASPI, Russel (not Russell as the blog and Facebook post spelled it) is currently the vice president for international security and diplomacy of ASPI. He was Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in the US Department of State from July 2013 to March 2017.

There have also been no news reports about Russel’s supposed statement.

Meanwhile, the posts on insiderph.com and bayangpilipinas.com (which cites the former blog as its source) copied most of their text content from a December 11 ABS-CBN News report without acknowledgment or citation. The last two paragraphs, which were not in the ABS-CBN News report, read:

Furthermore, US Diplomat Daniel Russell has stated (off-record) that the bells were returned because of Pres. Duterte’s strategy in geopolitics that made the US grant Duterte’s request of returning the Balangiga Bells.

“We returned the Balangiga Bells because of Pres. Duterte”, Russell said.

These two paragraphs were the caption of Sicnarf Escolano Latop's post on Facebook while Peña L. Don’s post’s caption attacked ABS-CBN, liberals, and “leakers of fake news.”

The photo used by the posts come from a different context, far from the return of the Balangiga bells. The first photo is a flipped photo of Russel speaking in the Foreign Press Center in Washington on February 4, 2014. The second one is him in a media interview at the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs on October 24, 2016.

Russel had commented about Duterte in the past. In October 2016, the then top diplomat for East Asia said Duterte’s anti-US remarks were “hurtful and mystifying.” Duterte immediately countered what he said.

Given Duterte's drift towards China, Russel also warned Duterte against choosing between the United States and China.

The Balangiga Bells were 3 bells taken by the United States military from the Church of San Lorenzo de Martir in Balangiga, Eastern Samar in 1901 during the Philippine-American war. After 117 years, the US returned the bells to the Philippines on December 11. (READ: FAST FACTS: Balangiga Massacre)

The blog insiderph.com is similar to other blogs Rappler has checked. It does not declare its editorial board, contact details, company profile, and does not show the full names of authors in bylines. Its content is mostly pro-administration and anti-opposition.

According to a whois lookup on ICANN, the insiderph.com is a fairly new site, created on September 21, 2018. – Miguel Imperial/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.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) attributed this to the “climate of hatred” that has persisted against journalism, openly perpetuated by political leaders.

“More and more democratically-elected leaders no longer see the media as part of democracy’s essential underpinning, but as an adversary to which they openly display their aversion,” the RSF said in its World Press Freedom Index report. (READ: IN NUMBERS: Global threats to press freedom in 2018)

Despite threats and challenges, however, journalists have remained steadfast. Here's a look back at some of the most pressing headlines involving members of the media this year.

Philippines: Piling cases against Rappler, CEO Maria Ressa

The Duterte administration continues to play tough with the Philippine media, calling them out for alleged biased and negative reporting, particularly on its violent campaign against drugs. (READ: The Impunity Series)

In January, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) revoked news site Rappler’s license to operate for allegedly violating the Constitution and the Anti-Dummy Law, and voided its Philippine Depositary Receipts (PDRs) issued to Omidyar Network and Northbase Media.

This came a year after the Office of the Solicitor General asked the SEC to investigate Rappler over its PDRs. Omidyar Network has since donated the PDRs to 14 Filipino Rappler managers. (READ: TIMELINE: The case of Rappler's SEC registration)

The cases filed against Rappler, however, did not end there.

In November, Rappler Holdings Corporation (RHC) and its president Maria Ressa were charged with tax evasion before the Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) for allegedly failing to supply correct information in their Income Tax Return (ITR) for 2015, and Value Added Tax (VAT) returns for the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2015. 

On top of the 4 tax cases before the CTA, a 5th case was filed before the Pasig Regional Trial Court (RTC) against RHC and Ressa.

Ressa posted bail for the Pasig case, and is set to be arraigned on February 6, 2019.

Human rights groups and media watchdogs slammed the cases against Rappler, noting that it was a clear attempt to intimidate those who are critical of the Duterte government.

Myanmar: Reuters journalists' arrest

In September, Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were sentenced to 7 years in jail for allegedly violating the country’s Official Secrets Act in their investigation of the brutal massacre of Rohingya Muslims in a small village in Rakhine.

The two were accused of illegally obtaining classified documents related to the Rakhine case, but the pair claimed they were set up. 

The two are set to face the court on December 24 after filing an appeal. (READ: Myanmar's truth defenders: Who are journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo?)

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo’s investigation into the Rohingya massacre led the United Nations to release an explosive study on abuses in Rakhine. It accused Myanmar’s military chief of heading a campaign of "genocide" and "crimes against humanity" against the Rohingya.

The case sparked an international outcry over withering press freedom in the country. Humanitarian organizations, as well as members of the press, have criticized global rights champion Aung San Suu Kyi for failing to use her moral force to defend the pair.

Saudi Arabia: Jamal Khashoggi’s murder

Reports of Turkish journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s mysterious disappearance after visiting the Istanbul consulate caught the attention of people globally, especially when details of the case finally surfaced.

Almost 3 weeks after Khashoggi was reported missing in October, Saudi Arabia finally admitted that the journalist had indeed been killed inside the embassy. The journalist visited the consulate to arrange marriage papers.

Turkish investigators would later reveal that the gruesome murder may have been meant to silence Khashoggi, a staunch critic of the Saudi government. (READ: Khashoggi strangled and dismembered in consulate – Turkish prosecutor)

Khashoggi used to be a Saudi royal family insider prior to his falling out with Saudi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which prompted him to go into self-imposed exile to the United States in 2017.

Khashoggi’s case thrust Saudi Arabia into one of its worst international crises, with Turkish officials accusing it of carrying out state-sponsored killing and of dismembering his body.

The US Central Intelligence Agency also concluded that Salman was the one who ordered the journalist’s death. However, Mohammed denied any involvement in the case. (READ: Saudi Arabia: Storms and reforms under new crown prince)

Investigation of the case is still ongoing, and Khashoggi's body is still nowhere to be found.

Annapolis, USA: Capital Gazette shooting

On June 28, gunshots erupted in the local newsroom of Capital Gazette in Annapolis. The shooting claimed the lives of journalists Gerald Fischman, Rob Hiaasen, Wendi Winters, and sales assistant Rebecca Smith.

Prior to the incident, the newspaper received threats on social media. Police later identified the suspect as Jarrod Ramos, who allegedly held a long-standing grudge against the paper over a 2011 article about a criminal harassment case. (READ: US reporters fight back with words after colleagues gunned down)

The lawsuit against the Capital Gazette was dismissed in 2015 in favor of the newspaper, but Ramos continued to harass and threaten its employees online.

The shooting came as a shock to the small town of Annapolis, home to only about 40,000 residents. However, community journalists at the Capital Gazette have remained resilient and continue their work until today.

New York, USA: CNN bomb threats, coverage suspension

Much like the Philippines’ Duterte, President Donald Trump does not see eye-to-eye with American journalists too. Major media company CNN, in particular, has been the subject of criticism by Trump, who claims the news company is the lead purveyor of fake news in the US.

CNN’s New York offices faced scares – not once, but twice – after it was subjected to bomb threats. In October, the offices were evacuated when a suspicious package which contained potentially lethal pipe bombs was sent. (READ: Mail bombs to U.S. political figures, media: What we know)

The newsroom was evacuated again early December over a bomb threat, but no explosives were found.

On both occasions, the scares did not hamper operations as the company maintained coverage and remained on air despite ongoing evacuations.

It was also a challenging year for CNN's reporters. The White House in November suspended the press pass of Jim Acosta after a heated exchange with Trump. Acosta persisted in asking questions about the President's views on a caravan of Central American migrants making its way to the US border, which did not sit well with Trump and White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders.

Earlier in July, CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins was also barred from covering an open media White House event for allegedly asking “inappropriate” questions.

Slovakia: Murder of investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and fiancée 

Journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kusnirove, were shot dead inside their home last February, just before the publication of an investigative report on alleged tax evasion and fraud concerning high-ranking officials and tycoons.

Tom Nicholson, a British-born investigative journalist who worked closely with Kuciak, said the journalist was investigating "the fraudulent payment of EU transfer funds to Italian nationals resident in Slovakia with alleged ties to the 'Ndrangheta," an organized crime group from Italy's Calabria region.

The couple’s death sparked anger among the general public, who took to the streets to pay tribute to the murdered journalist and protest against graft. It also sparked a wave of international condemnation amid concerns about media freedom and corruption in Slovakia.

Kuciak was also one of the journalists involved in the global collaborative investigation on the Panama Papers, along with Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was brutally assassinated as well in 2017. – with reports from Agence France-Presse/Rappler.com

Claim: The government of Kenya "erected" a statue of President Rodrigo Duterte during the launch of an anti-drug campaign in the African country.

Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta reportedly said, “Today I am launching this monument, it will be an encouragement to me, I will be looking at it and direct my focus on this drug barons the way Duterte did, I will win this war.”

The Kenyan government reportedly built the monument in recognition of Duterte’s “tough stand against drug trafficking.”

The claim was posted on afrikan-daily.com and kenya-times.com on December 12. The first website has had more engagement on Facebook, as it was shared to a pro-Duterte page and a pro-Marcos group. Combined, the two articles have a total of at least 1,000 interactions and 75,800 followers.

Facebook page “CNN-KENYA Connecting Networks Nationally” also shared the kenya-times.com article on the same date. It has had minimal social media engagement.

This claim was sent by a reader to Rappler for verification.

Rating: FALSE

The facts: Kenyatta did not make a statement that he would have a Duterte monument erected.

There are no other news articles showing that Kenyatta issued such statements.

The photo used in the claim features the statue of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos located in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte. It was grabbed from an article by the Philippine Daily Inquirer in November 2016.

As for the launch of the anti-drug campaign where Kenyatta supposedly made the statement, there are no additional details included in the article about where the said event was held.

An international conference on drug demand reduction organized by the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada) is happening in Kenya from December 10 to 14. However, President Kenyatta is not among the keynote speakers in the event.

Kenyatta recently made a speech during their Jamhuri Day celebration on December 12, but there was no mention of Duterte nor the statue. Also, a search for the term "Duterte" on the Kenya presidency's official website does not yield any result.

In May, Rappler rated as a hoax a related claim involving Kenyatta, where he supposedly praised Duterte as "the strongest man in the world" during a summit. – Gethsemani Cindy Gorospe/Rappler.com

Gethsemani Cindy Gorospe is a Rappler intern.

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.

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MANILA – The screenshot is hazy but in a sea of comments it stands out. In it is a woman wearing nothing but glasses and straddling a naked man. It is as crude as it gets, but it is just one of the weapons used against Philippine Senator Leila de Lima, who is among President Rodrigo Duterte’s harshest critics.

It has never been properly established that it is De Lima in the screenshot or the video from which it was supposedly taken. But this has not mattered in the court of public opinion. As far as Facebook comments are concerned after the image went viral, De Lima is an immoral woman, and therefore has no credibility. So she has been detained; she deserves to be behind bars, and that’s that.

The Philippines placed 10th in the Global Gender Gap report in 2017, making it the most gender-equal country in Asia. It is far ahead its neighbors, with the closest being Lao PDR and Singapore at 64th and 65th place, respectively. But the indices, which measure gaps in educational attainment, political empowerment, and educational attainment, merely look at quantifiable data such as seats in parliament, literacy rates, and participation in the labor force.

Here in the Philippines, they have failed to capture the country’s long history of misogyny, which has now found a new breeding ground: online.

“In the past few years, we’ve found that it’s even more difficult to be a woman – and a woman in power,” said Vice President Leonor "Leni" Robredo.

“Women leaders have always had to prove themselves more than their male counterparts. These days, however, we are more vulnerable to personal attacks on a public sphere, because we have officials who openly, and casually, drop these rumors and allegations against us. These attacks spread like wildfire, given the rise of social media and an organized disinformation drive.”

Like De Lima, Robredo has been the target of such attacks. The widow of the late secretary of the interior and local government Jesse Robredo, she has been subjected to speculations about her private life, including rumors of an affair and, at one point, even pregnancy.

In a country where 64% out of a population of 105 million are active on social media, these speculations have spread fast and wide – and continue to linger even without any apparent basis.

Genderized disinformation

Disinformation is one of many in the arsenal of weapons used by trolls and propaganda networks to attack and discredit opponents. It can take several forms, such as fabricated headlines, misleading captions, or falsified information. Female targets of disinformation, however, often face direct attacks on their identity as women.  

In the Philippines, observers say that these kinds of attacks against women became more noticeable after the election of President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016. The non-governmental organization Foundation for Media Alternatives (FMA), for one, says that after the presidential polls two years ago, harassment, especially of women journalists and politicians, became commonplace.

“Male journalists are also harassed online, they also get cussed out,” said FMA executive director Liza Garcia.

“They also get that, they also get death threats. But when it’s a female journalist, it centers on their being a woman, on their bodies, like, ‘you’re so ugly, but I still hope you get raped.’ So what does that have to do with your being a journalist? It has something to do already with your being a woman. They would say, ‘You’re a whore,’ things like that.”

It’s an unpleasant experience that Al-Jazeera correspondent Jamela Alindogan has gotten used to after years of being a journalist based in Manila. She has ignored a bulk of the harassment, but in late 2016, she felt the need to draw the line.

In August that year, Alindogan had shared on Facebook another network’s report on the deaths of soldiers while fighting the armed group Abu Sayyaf. But her comment that accompanied the video somehow earned the ire of several Duterte supporters. They would become even more upset two months later, when Alindogan interviewed the President on camera and asked him questions regarding his stance on democratic processes and the atrocities of the Marcos regime.

Soon after, Alindogan noticed a strange kind of disinformation campaign aimed at her. This time around, she did not let it pass.

“It was one of the rare times that I spoke out publicly,” recalled Alindogan. “I called it out online, both Facebook and Twitter. Not just because of me but the other woman accused of being me, pre-surgery. She did not deserve that. It was ridiculous and infuriating.”

‘It’ happened to be comments and stories posted online of Alindogan supposedly having undergone plastic surgery. A meme, which circulated on Facebook, had her photo and that of another journalist posted side by side with the caption, “When the looks God gave you simply isn’t (sic) enough. It pays to be Jamela from Al Jazeera,” implying that Alindogan had work done on her face.

Low blows and questionable assumptions

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Alindogan believes that blows to a woman’s personal life and appearance are cheap shots aimed at destroying her credibility. At the same time, they carry questionable premises, such as what matters to women and how they should behave.

Said Alindogan: “If they can’t attack you for the work that you do, they attack how you look because they expect that our looks make up who we are as women.”

She said that these attacks place an unfair burden on women that aren’t placed on men.

“I think women are vulnerable to all sorts of rumors but often they are vilified for their physical appearances and their personal lives,” Alindogan said.

“Men often always get a free pass for being separated or divorced or womanizing. Not women – those who do not live up to society’s unreasonable demands of social norms are vilified as witches. It’s as if not being able to fit the mood makes you ill-equipped to do the work at hand.”

Robredo has observed the same pattern, saying, “The goal in these smear campaigns is to discredit, but often we find that male politicians are attacked less personally than their female colleagues. Women in politics are constant targets of sexual harassment, moral attacks, and criticisms against their families. Their track records, no matter how stellar, are more easily overshadowed by allegations of such kind. If a male official is accused of an affair, would it have as much effect as when the same allegations are made against a female official? We have seen that it does not, and men are even free to flaunt about such.”

“Most of the things that have been said about me are attacks against me as a woman,” said Robredo, who tends to speak in a calm, even tone. “From how my knees look, to being called someone’s mistress, to what I wear. They work on cultivating a perception that I am a ‘weaker’ leader simply because I am not a man – more so a tough-talking one.”

Misogyny from the top?

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<blockquote style="text-align: center;">"In the past few years, we’ve found that it’s even more difficult to be a woman – and a woman in power. Women leaders have always had to prove themselves more than their male counterparts."</blockquote></text-container></wide-image>

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The President has been known to crack sexist jokes and has made light of matters such as rape. He has even made lewd comments about Robredo, who belongs to the opposition party and who he kicked out of the Cabinet sometime ago. While on an official visit to South Korea, he solicited a kiss on the lips from a Filipino female fan.

The President and his supporters have said that all these have been all in good fun, but many Filipino women aren’t laughing. Garcia is among those who say that the President’s careless behavior and use of language may be sending the wrong message to men and even boys.

She argued, “Because you have a president who is a sexist, misogynist, and if you have a president who says rape jokes, who can say those things, when he’s supposed to be a leader, a role model for everyone, especially for boys, young men, and if he says that's okay to shoot women combatants in the vagina or it's okay to rape women – perhaps that is also the attitude that other young men might start emulating.”

To UP sociologist John Andrew Evangelista, it is only right that Duterte be held accountable for his rhetoric against women. But he said that the President is just a symptom of an even bigger problem.

“I wouldn't say that he's the cause of it, but he revealed an already brewing misogyny underneath our culture,” said Evangelista. “He just put it out there. And because he revealed it and that’s how he talks on his platform, the platform of the presidency, I'm not surprised that there are people willing to also take that same language.”

“We can always argue that Duterte is shaped by the misogynist culture,”  he continued. “Let's hold him accountable but let's also keep in mind that there's a culture that allowed for a Duterte to happen. And that’s the bigger struggle: how do we dismantle that culture?”

Disinformation most damning

There is no doubt, however, that the kind of disinformation aimed at the likes of Robredo, Alindogan, and De Lima had a far more serious purpose. It can even be argued that in the case of De Lima, the disinformation campaign against her helped put her in detention.

The senator is currently being held at the police Custodial Center in Quezon City after the Duterte administration filed a case of drug-trafficking – a non-bailable offense – against her. But long before she was arrested, she had already been forced to endure a lynching online. The now-infamous video and its screenshots, supposedly showing the senator and her then driver-lover, were everywhere on Facebook, from the comments to posts on several pages and groups.

In 2014, during De Lima’s congressional confirmation hearing as justice secretary, rumors about such a video were already floating around. But a different president was at Malacanang Palace at the time, and the lawmakers on the Commission on Appointments apparently saw no point in considering it during her hearing, saying it was all still hearsay.

It took two more years and another president before the video and the screenshots became viral online. But it wasn’t just the online comments section that proved vicious. At the House of Representatives, an official probe supposedly on the drug-trafficking charges against De Lima dragged out even the most private details about the senator’s relationship with her driver.

Then-speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, who has admitted to having a mistress, even said that there was no problem with showing the video during the hearing, while President Duterte himself joked about showing the scandalous video to the Pope.

As De Lima sees it, the accusations made against her, especially those speculating about her personal life, were fuel to the fire. She said, “There were accusations against me that were deemed shameful and politically ruinous because I am a woman, but, at the same time, are the very same things that are seen as acceptable – and even impressive – when attributed to a man.”  

“My track record as a straight-shooting, action-oriented public servant, who fears and favors no one, speaks for itself,” said De Lima, who has long been separated from her husband.

“For that reason, I believe that outrightly accusing me of corruption or involvement in illegal-drug trading would not have gained any traction were it not for the tactic of first conditioning the public to condemn me for circumstances that are deemed unacceptable for a woman. Hence, the slut-shaming paved the way for the other false accusations.”

Female foes for the President

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<blockquote style="text-align: center;">“There were accusations against me that were deemed shameful and politically ruinous because I am a woman, but, at the same time, are the very same things that are seen as acceptable – and even impressive – when attributed to a man.”</blockquote>

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De Lima had first encountered Duterte when he was still mayor of Davao City in the country’s south and she was chief of the Commission on Human Rights. She had gone to Davao to investigate allegations that a death squad, at the behest of the mayor, was responsible for a rash of extrajudicial killings there.  

Seven years later, as head of the Senate justice and human rights committee, De Lima would open public hearings on the extrajudicial killings being committed supposedly as part of Duterte’s drug war.

She now believes that a woman speaking up against the President was a blow to his ego, hence the vicious nature of the attacks against her.

“If I were male, Duterte’s ego would not have been so offended by being called out by me,” De Lima said. “He really does not like to be criticized by women. So I think, if I were male, the reaction to my criticism would not have been so violent, malicious, and scandalous.”

She said that feminism in the country has a long way to go, especially in the current political climate.

“Feminism in the Philippines still has a lot of battles to fight,” she added. “And with a President who is anti-women’s and anti-human rights, this is the greatest challenge now facing the Philippine women’s movement. As I have said before, the fight against Duterte’s authoritarian rule will be a battle that will be primarily fought by women, because they are his foremost victims.”

Some women are already fighting back. Zena Bernardo, a development worker and member of #BabaeAko (I Am Woman) movement, said of Duterte: “He keeps picking on women so we just said, ‘I am a woman, what’s your problem?”

The movement, in fact, was born in May 2018, after the President said that the next Ombusdman should not be a woman. It launched a social media campaign series of videos of women vowing, “Lalaban ako (I will fight),” which helped it earn a spot on Time magazine’s ’25 Most Influential People on the Internet’ for 2018.

Women speak up

Bernardo said that social media proved instrumental in the movement gaining traction. She admitted that has also made #BabaeAko an easy target for trolls, but she echoed others in saying that the problem is rooted in something deeper than the medium.

“The culture, the kind of values, the system that we have, the patriarchal system – the double standard has always been there,” she said. “So yes, it has been magnified because of the tool, but nothing has changed. There should have been, we already have the Magna Carta of Women. We have done a lot, but suddenly we woke up one day and we’re sliding back.”

She said that the members of #BabaeAko are speaking up after realizing that far too many women withdraw out of fear on social media.

“You need to push back because you cannot have them monopolize this platform,” Bernardo said, referring to the misogynists online. “You have to think of ways to counter it with the proper guide and principles.”

Alindogan said the same thing. She confessed, “I realized now that you need to speak out strongly against this. You need to fight this head on. I used to just ignore online trolling and hate speech. I still mostly do that now, too, because I do not allow that to distract me from the work that I do. But when the situation calls for it, and when it affects others who do not deserve it and cannot defend themselves, I speak up.”

“Speaking for others is critical,” she said. “Being there and defending not just yourself, but showing solidarity with others is important. You can’t allow them to control that narrative. As women we need to set examples to the younger generations that we should not take these sitting down and that this culture should never be normalized.” – Rappler.com

To be concluded: 'Boys will be boys': Locker room talk and online harassment

This story was produced under the Southeast Asian Press Alliance 2018 Journalism Fellowship Program, supported by a grant from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

MANILA, Philippines – The year 2018 saw President Rodrigo Duterte appointing more and more former military and police men to key government posts.

Ex-military and police generals comprise a third of his Cabinet. Every Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff who has served in his presidency is awarded a civilian government position upon retirement. (READ: In 2018, Duterte turns to military for (almost) everything)

Rappler comes up with a visualized list of his military, police appointees. Twenty of those with the highest posts – Cabinet members and heads of agencies – are pictured below with information about their previous positions and their ties with Duterte or his allies.

Other appointees are listed below the visual list of 20. 

{source}{module 3967}{/source}

21. Executive Director on Security, Justice, and Peace Cluster - Emmanuel Bautista
22. Philippine National Railways (PNR) chairman - Roberto Lastimoso
23. PNR director - Michael Mellijor Tulen
24. Light Rail Transit Authority administrator - Reynaldo Berroya
25. Environment undersecretary - Rodolfo C. Garcia
26. Defense undersecretary for civil, veterans, and retiree affairs - Reynaldo Mapagu
27. Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources national director - Eduardo Gongona
28. Director of the Office of Transportation Security - Gerardo Gambala
29. Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) president and CEO - Reuben Lista
30. PNOC-Exploration Corporation director - Oscar Rabena
31. PNOC director - Benjamin Magalong
32. PNOC director - Adolf Borje
33. Development Bank of the Philippines director - Miguel dela Cruz Abaya 
34. Clark Development Corporation (CDC) director - Francisco Villaroman
35. CDC board of directors vice chairman - Benjamin Defensor
36. Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) director - Ferdinand Golez
37. BCDA director - Romeo Poquiz
38. Philippine Veterans Affair Office administrator - Ernesto Carolina
39. Philippine Sugar Corp director - Raul Urgello
40. National Defense College of the Philippines president - Roberto Estioko
41. Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines director-general - Jim Sydiongco
42. JHMC director - Eduardo Davalan
43. NIA deputy administrator - Abraham Bagasin

– Rappler.com

Header image of former Army chief Rolando Bautista taking his oath as Social Welfare Secretary from Malacañang's Presidential Photographers Division

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READ: PART 1 | Fake news, real women: Disinformation gone macho

MANILA, Philippines – Online spaces have made it easier for us to find friends, form communities, and create ties with other like-minded individuals. Unfortunately, the same goes for dangerous ideas and misogynistic rhetoric.

{source}<blockquote class="border-left">“Tangina kasing mga babae. Salita ng salita. Alam naman ng lahat na kaya lang sila binigyan ni Lord ng bibig ay para meron silang magagamit sa pag chupa.”</blockquote>{/source}

After the viral #MeToo movement in 2017, the Philippines has had its fair share of exposing sexist behavior online in 2018. In April, people became aware of a group called the “PUA Academy” (Pick-up Artists Academy) with their posts on how to seduce women and get them to bed, essentially reducing interactions with women into conquests. 

In November, Upsilon Sigma Phi, a fraternity in the University of the Philippines (UP), was condemned by the community after unverified chat threads supposedly involving members of the fraternity were released to the public. Dubbed #LonsiLeaks, the chat threads contained sexist statements such as “Tangina kasing mga babae. Salita ng salita. Alam naman ng lahat na kaya lang sila binigyan ni Lord ng bibig ay para meron silang magagamit sa pag chupa.” (Son of a bitch, these women. They keep on talking. Everyone knows that the reason why the Lord gave them mouths is so that they could use them for blowjobs.)

These exposés are just a small sample of the kinds of violent sexism brewing online and offline. And these kinds of conversations also bleed into our political discourse as women in power face weaponized, often gendered disinformation and harassment.

Women-unfriendly social media

For all the advances women have made in the Philippines, it remains a patriarchal society where a macho culture persists. But while Filipino women usually do not take insults to their person sitting down, attacks done online are harder to fight, partly because of the anonymity of most posts and largely because accusations, unfounded or not, become viral all too quickly.

UP sociologist John Andrew Evangelista said the Duterte era doesn't mark the first time that women, especially those in power, have faced disinformation that their male counterparts wouldn't typically have to tackle. He recalled that when the late senator Miriam Defensor Santiago first ran for president in 1992, there were rumors of her mental instability that earned her the nickname "Brenda" – short for “brain-damaged.”

Evangelista said that men with ambition wouldn't be tagged as such, and there are plenty of ambitious men who seek power. What is unique to the Duterte era, however, is how quickly these rumors and monickers spread because of social media platforms.

The social media penetration rate in the Philippines is at 63%, which makes it only the 5th highest in Southeast Asia. But the global media company We Are Social says that worldwide, it is Filipinos who spend the most time on social media, a distinction they have held in the last 3 years.

Incidentally, in Southeast Asia, it is only in the Philippines that Facebook users declaring themselves as female (52%) outnumber those who say they are male. Yet that slightly more predominant female presence has apparently failed to make cyberspace safer for Filipino women.

According to the Women and Children Protection Centre of the Philippine National Police’s Anti-Cybercrime Group, cybercrimes against women is among the top 3 of the complaints received by the cybercrime group. And women’s-rights advocates insist that the situation can only get worse with someone like Duterte as the country’s chief executive.

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Normalizing slutshaming, rape jokes, and the objectification of women make them easy targets for online harassment. 

‘Locker-room’ talk

{source}<blockquote class="border-left">“I think there’s pressure, especially in that kind of private online setting, to be just as crude as everyone else. And those guys don’t stop being themselves. It’s just an addition to their character. It’s like a secret society that’s not so secret.”</blockquote>{/source}

Stan (not his real name), for instance, said that raunchy comments about women are nothing new to him and his friends, especially in the online groups that he is part of. He also said that they previously had a more open group that included female members, but that some of the women complained about the kind of jokes the men made.

“Some...green jokes were still being posted and they took offense to that,” said Stan, a 28-year-old brand manager. “So the guys just made a separate group for all the locker-room talk and coincidentally, the group’s name has ‘locker room’ in it.”

A law student also said that comments become more salacious once the conversations are moved into all-male private chat rooms. Take the time, he said, when they were all looking at photographs of women. Said the student: “The comments went from ‘yeah, she’s chicks (pretty)’ to ‘son of a bitch, she looks like she’s good in bed.’”

“I think there’s pressure, especially in that kind of private online setting, to be just as crude as everyone else,” he added. “And those guys don’t stop being themselves. It’s just an addition to their character. It’s like a secret society that’s not so secret.”

{source}<blockquote class="border-left">“Language is political. If you use language in a violent way it perpetuates a certain mode of thought, a kind of discourse that justifies violence against women, misogyny, men's conquest of women's bodies."</blockquote>{/source}

According to Evangelista, the fact that the men consciously move the conversations to more private groups means they are aware of the impact of what they are saying.

“The fact that they used to call it locker-room talk and they talk amongst themselves as boys, I think they know that there's a certain level of disrespect with how they talk about women so they keep it to themselves,” Evangelists said.

“I don't think they don't know…they know to some extent (that) it's disrespectful, the way they talk about women if it's just them. I witness this with my guy friends. When we’re drinking without women, it's appalling how they talk about women. The metaphors are violent, like ‘I de-virginized her.’”

He said that it can be hard to speak up against such language, especially when it's the dominant one. Stan agreed, saying, “It’s hard when all of them are catcallers and are making sexual comments. It’s anything goes in situations like that. And anything you say can be used against you, like you’re a killjoy or you’re a super serious social justice warrior.”

The main excuse for the men in these groups is that this is just harmless “boys will be boys” fun, but Evangelista said that language isn’t benign. 

“Language is political,” he said. “If you use language in a violent way it perpetuates a certain mode of thought, a kind of discourse that justifies violence against women, misogyny, men's conquest of women's bodies. And that's dangerous about language, because there's the excuse that it's just for fun. We don't notice that it shapes how we think as a society. This is the danger of jokes, discourse that it's just having fun.” – Rappler.com

Claim: Former Bureau of Corrections director general and ex-Philippine National Police chief Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa was supposedly held in an airport in the United States because he was "persona non grata" (an unwelcome person) in that country.

Facebook user Santara Danilo on Friday, December 14, posted photos of Dela Rosa sitting in an airport floor, with a caption in all caps: "Sino kaya ang tunggak na ito na hinold muna sa JFK airport[?] Persona non grata ka kasi sa US boy." (Who is this fool held at the John F. Kennedy airport? You are a persona non grata in the US, boy, that's why.)

As of this posting, the Facebook post got at least 118 interactions, 118 comments, and 202 shares.

A reader submitted this claim to Rappler for verification.

Rating: FALSE

The facts:Dela Rosa was not held in a US airport. He was also not declared a persona non grata by the United States.

The Facebook user misused Dela Rosa's photos by supplying an unsubstantiated caption.

Dela Rosa indeed went to the US and posted the photos on his Facebook account on December 7. It carries the caption, apparently in jest: "Homeless @ JFK airport, NY. Laag pa more! (Go ahead, travel more!)"

Succeeding posts on his Facebook account show that he has gone to different places in the US in recent days, like California and Las Vegas.

There are no reports from credible news organizations to support the Facebook user's claims.

Dela Rosa is running for senator in the 2019 midterm elections. – Michael Bueza with Rambo Talabong/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.

A Philippine website ran an article claiming Pope Francis used a recent Vatican conference on drug addiction to bless governments, especially the administration of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, so they could fight "traffickers of death". Transcripts, videos and media reports of the Pope’s official speech at the event show he did not bless the Duterte government.

The Philnetizen website’s report, which has been shared thousands of times on Facebook since it was first posted there December 3, 2018, claims that Pope Francis blessed the Duterte government at a conference held in Vatican City.

Here is a screenshot of the article:

The headline, when translated to English, says: “Pope Francis: Fighting drug lords and drug traffickers is the duty of each government”

Duterte launched a deadly crackdown on drugs in the Philippines in 2016.

The Philnetizen report did not say when the conference was held, but it used this quote from Pope Francis: “All of us are called to combat the production, processing and distribution of drugs worldwide. It is the duty and responsibility of governments courageously to undertake this fight against those who deal in death”.

An online search found this quote came from a speech given by Pope Francis on December 1, 2018 at the “Drugs and addiction” conference at the Vatican.

The Philnetizen website said that Pope Francis blessed governments, especially the Duterte administration, so that they could have more strength to fight “traffickers of death”.

Here is a screenshot of the paragraph in the article that makes this claim:

When translated to English, it says: “At the same time, Pope Francis blessed governments, especially the administration of Duterte, so they can be given more strength to fight what he calls ‘traffickers of death’”.

The speech given by Pope Francis at the December 1 conference did not mention the Duterte administration.

An article on Vatican News, the Holy See’s official information service, did not mention the Pope blessing the Duterte administration.

The Philnetizen website published a video alongside their story.

Pope Francis is seen speaking in Italian from 0:29-0:46. He does not mention the Duterte administration.

He says: “It is the duty, the task of governments to confront this fight against death traffickers with courage. Death traffickers — we must not be afraid of giving them this name.”

A search of the website of the Holy See also made no mention of the purported blessing given to the Duterte administration.

The misleading post has been shared multiple times by pro-Duterte Facebook groups, which have nearly 300,000 followers according to CrowdTangle data.

– Rappler.com

Claim: Opposition senators Francis Pangilinan and Risa Hontiveros supposedly co-sponsored a bill that would abolish 13th month pay beginning next year.

Hontiveros allegedly said the rationale for the bill is to "correct Philippine history and to nullify as many proclamations and executive orders" by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Other opposition senators like Antonio Trillanes IV, Franklin Drilon, Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, and Leila de Lima allegedly said they will support and endorse the new bill.

The claim was posted on the website Adobo Chronicles on December 9, 2018. It has been shared to one Facebook group composed of supporters of President Rodrigo Duterte. That post has reached at least 251 interactions, 186 comments, and 119 shares as of this posting.

Rating: FALSE

The facts: The article is from a "satire" website. Pangilinan and Hontiveros did not file a bill to abolish 13th month pay.

A search on the Philippine Senate website shows there are no bills filed regarding the abolition of 13th month pay. There are also no articles from credible news organizations that support the claim.

Meanwhile, the source of the claim, Adobo Chronicles, claims to be a satire blog. In its About Us page, Adobo Chronicles states that if the font of the text in its articles is in regular font, it means that the text is fiction. If the font is italicized, the sentence or paragraph is based on facts.

Much of the article carrying the headline "Senators Kiko Pangilinan and Risa Hontiveros file bill to abolish 13th month pay" is published in regular font. This should supposedly tell the reader that it is fictional.

The part where it states that the 13th month pay law was the "brainchild" of President Ferdinand Marcos was in italics. A 13th month pay law, Presidential Decree No. 851, was indeed signed by Marcos in December 1975, covering only employees who receive a basic salary of not more than P1,000 per month at the time. An amendment was later introduced in the succeeding administration to expand its coverage.

However, despite Adobo Chronicles' disclaimers as a satire website and the explanation of the meaning of regular and italic fonts in its articles, some readers may have missed these.

They may have also believed that the article is true, just by going with the headline alone, as seen through some comments in the pro-Duterte Facebook group where the article was shared. (READ: SATIRE VS FAKE NEWS: Can you tell the difference?)

This is not the first time Rappler has fact-checked Adobo Chronicles. In May, the blog posted a claim saying Pope Francis has excommunicated Catholic priest Robert Reyes. Reyes is a vocal critic of Duterte. – Jeanne Kathleen dela Cruz, with Miguel Imperial and Michael Bueza/Rappler.com

Jeanne Kathleen dela Cruz is a Rappler intern.

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.

Bookmark this page to watch and join the discussion live on Tuesday, December 18, at 4 pm!

MANILA, Philippines – December marks the end of a roller-coaster year full of controversies and incidents in the Philippines. 

Among others, the year 2018 marks President Rodrigo Duterte's second year in office, the year when a Supreme Court chief justice was ousted, another opposition senator was arrested, the wife of the late dictator was convicted of plunder (but still remains free), and an alleged corrupt politician was acquitted by the anti-graft court.

It is also the year when martial law in Mindanao was extended, press freedom continued to be threatened, and democratic institutions continued to be attacked. 

On Tuesday, December 18, Rappler senior editors will sit down to discuss how these key events in 2018 shaped the nation and Filipinos as a whole. The team will also talk about what to expect in 2019 – an election year. 

How will the next years of the Duterte administration look like? What will the challenges ahead be and what possible controversies could be brewing in the background? 

Join us on Tuesday, December 18, at 4 pm as we make sense of the year about to end and the year about to start! Let us know in the comments below or tag us on Twitter (@newsbreakph) if you have any questions! – Rappler.com

MORE ON 'NEWSBREAK CHATS'

• Newsbreak Chats: Top stories for December
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• Newsbreak Chats: Top stories for August
• Newsbreak Chats: Top stories for July
• Newsbreak Chats: Top stories for June
• Newsbreak Chats: Top stories for May
• Newsbreak Chats: Top stories for April
• Newsbreak Chats: Top stories for March
• Newsbreak Chats: Top stories for February

MANILA, Philippines – It's a little tricky to decide when President Rodrigo Duterte is joking because he has implemented, or tried to implement, some policy pronouncements that were, at best, remarkable, at worst, downright crazy.

In 2018, there was no lack of astounding declarations courtesy of a president with an “announce now, adjust later” attitude.

But new presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo sought to help the public decipher Duterte’s alarming utterances. According to him, if what Duterte is saying does not make sense, it’s probably just a joke.

Yet Duterte has announced policies that at first sounded so over-the-top that many had to think twice if he was serious. In some cases, these declarations ended up becoming real policies, implemented by government agencies. In other instances, Duterte advisers have had to tell the President that what he wanted couldn’t be done and that adjustments had to be made.

Let’s recall the 2018 moments when Duterte made us ask: is this the real world?

1. Boracay shutdown

"I will close Boracay. Boracay is a cesspool,” said Duterte on February 9 in a Davao City forum. At the time, it was hard to fathom if Duterte was merely exaggerating as the only concrete instruction he had given to the environment department was to address the party island’s environmental woes. 

But two months later, Duterte, in a Cabinet meeting, issued an order to close the island for 6 months. In those months, the public had to adjust to regulated entry into the island, scenes of the military practicing terror attack scenarios on its white-sand beach, and the closure of hundreds of business establishments.  

To many, the bold move was a demonstration of Duterte’s political will. Others questioned Duterte’s real motives as reports of Chinese business interests in the island surfaced.

Given what happened to Boracay, what do we make of another statement Duterte has made – that Metro Manila should be “closed” in 10 years?

(Check out Rappler's special coverage: Boracay: Paradise reborn?)

2. Proclamation nullifying Trillanes' amnesty 

Duterte unleashed a firestorm when his Proclamation Number 572  was publicized, showing he was determined to put Senator Antonio Trillanes IV behind bars supposedly for never having properly obtained amnesty for rebellion charges.  

The move struck many lawyers and lawmakers as illogical, especially after defense department officials admitted Trillanes went through the process of getting amnesty and after a Makati court judge said it did not make sense to change a court decision made 7 years ago.

Duterte likely did not expect such fierce backlash. In the end, the Makati court’s decision is stopping the government from implementing the presidential order. (READ: INSIDE STORY: How Duterte handled Trillanes fiasco from Israel, Jordan)

3. Military ‘takeover’ of customs

Duterte shook up an otherwise peaceful October Sunday when he announced he would order a military “takeover”  of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) after back-to-back shabu smuggling controversies. 

But lawyers pointed out that this could be a violation of the 1987 Constitution, which bars soldiers from being given civilian positions “in any capacity.” Duterte then clarified his order, saying he only wanted soldiers to supervise BOC personnel.

4. State-backed ‘Duterte Death Squad’

“I will create my own sparrow, Duterte Death Squad against the sparrow,” announced Duterte on November 27. 

For human rights activists, nightmare had become a reality. Duterte, who denied many times that government was behind drug-related hit squads, was now saying the state would operate its own hit squads, only against communist rebels.

The Commission on Human Rights had to point out that, under international humanitarian law, no government is supposed to fund its own death squads. Eventually, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said no government-backed entity would be named “Davao Death Squad” and that the President’s order would be operationalized by “Anti-Sparrow Units” attached to Army divisions.

5. Withdrawal from the the ICC

Back in August 2016, Duterte said his threat to make the Philippines leave the United Nations was just a joke. Three months later, he threatened Philippine withdrawal from the UN’s International Criminal Court (ICC). Fast forward to 2018 and Duterte has made good on the second threat.

Lawyers raised their eyebrows at Duterte’s arguments for the withdrawal, which include the non-publication of the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty, in the Philippines’ Official Gazette. He also argued that deaths arising from his campaign against illegal drugs can’t be considered crimes against humanity, thus the ICC does not have jurisdiction over him.

Duterte’s unilateral pullout from the international tribunal is being challenged before the Supreme Court. 

He withdrew from the ICC when it began its "preliminary examination" of the complaint over his bloody campaign against illegal drugs.

6. ‘Abolishing’ the NFA Council

With his administration pummelled with criticism for its handling of the rice crisis, Duterte announced in a dinner with rice traders that he wanted to “abolish”  the National Food Authority Council (NFAC).

But abolishing the NFAC, the government's policy-making body when it comes to rice and food security, requires repealing the presidential decree that created it.

Right after his announcement, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol convinced Duterte to change his order. 

“It’s true the President mentioned that (NFA Council abolition), but, after, he was approached by Secretary [Manny] Piñol and Executive Secretary Medialdea, who explained to me that, that it was agreed, he kind of shifted gears and said that the NFA must be put under the Office of the President,” said then-presidential spokesman Harry Roque.

The NFAC was not abolished, but Duterte took away its chairmanship from former Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr and transferred it to Piñol.

7. Reviving barter trade in Mindanao

At a time of soaring inflation, particularly of rice prices, Duterte floated a solution: revive the ancient practice of barter trade. A mode of trade that does not make use of money, barter trade would be relegated by many to the history books. But not Duterte.

A month after voicing his idea, he signed an executive order to do just that.  

His Executive Order Number 64 orders the establishment of 3 “barter ports” in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi. He also created a Mindanao Barter Council. 

8. 'Positive/negative' cancer test results, marijuana use

This last item may not be about policy pronouncements, but these two presidential statements had Filipinos, and even the international community, do a doubletake.

First, after he revealed he had been undergoing medical tests to check for cancer, Duterte told his Cabinet members that the results came back "negative." But he later on joked in public that he took another test which came out positive, following it up with what a Cabinet member described as a "riddle."  The riddle, in which Duterte compared himself to a magnet with positive and negative sides, confused people even more about the real state of his health.

Later on in the year, Duterte said he uses marijuana, illegal in the Philippines, to stay awake. This comes after he had admitted in previous years to using fentanyl patches to ease pains. With Duterte leading a controversial crackdown on illegal drugs like marijuana, many thought the remark jarring. Of course, Malacañang quickly clarified that the President was only joking. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – The threats to democracy in 2018 have been imperceptible, gradually chipping away at institutions designed to strengthen and protect it. The trend has been global: backsliders and emerging democracies have slipped back, showing early indications of authoritarian tendencies.

Besides the Philippines, Thailand, Turkey, Venezuela, and Brazil are just some of the countries that have slipped in terms of democratic gains. 

Thailand – under a military junta since 2014 after the elected government of Yingluck Shinawatra was ousted in a military coup – will hold a general election in February 2019. There are fears the authoritarian government will acquire legitimacy if the junta leader will serve another term, this time as an elected prime minister.

Turkey’s Reccep Tayyip Erdogan has consolidated political power and tremendously weakened independent media, locking up lawmakers and journalists alike on spurious grounds of being alleged threats to national security. In Venezuela, President Nicolás Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, has taken full control of Congress and quelled anti-government protests. Recently, he claimed that the August drone attack against him was ordered and authorized by the White House. This has been denied.

Eyes are on the world’s 4^th largest democracy, Brazil, after the presidential victory of Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right populist who will assume office on January 1, 2019. His homophobic declarations and promises to ease restrictive gun control laws have signaled the worse may yet come. 

The United States under Donald Trump has been no exception. As pointed out in How Democracies Die, Trump himself has shown a “weak public commitment to constitutional rights and democratic norms.” 

Among the indicators, according to authors Steven Levitsy and Daniel Ziblatt:

• Rejection of (or weak commitment to) democratic rules of the game – a willingness to violate the constitution or restricting basic civil or political rights, for example
• Denial of the legitimacy of political opponents – claiming that their rivals constitute an existential threat, either to national security or the prevailing way of life; or baselessly describing partisan rivals as criminals, whose supposed violation of the law (or potential to do so) disqualifies them from full participation in the political arena
• Toleration or encouragement of violence – ties to armed gangs, paramilitary forces, militias, guerrillas or other organizations that engage in illicit violence; or tacit endorsement of violence by supporters by refusing to unambiguously condemn it and punish it
• Readiness to curtail civil liberties of opponents, including media – threats to take legal action or other punitive action against critics in rival parties, civil society, or the media; or praising repressive measures taken by other governments, either in the past or elsewhere in the world 

The striking parallelisms between Trump and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte have not escaped many. Both the tough- and trash-talking presidents have intended to intimidate critics and independent media alike, using social media and a well-financed propaganda machine.

Duterte, the patron

After ousting the dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, the Philippines is gradually inching its way back towards authoritarianism, aided by Duterte himself and his supporters. Democratic institutions have been severely compromised by actions cloaked with specious constitutional legitimacy.

Legal cases have been hurled at lawmakers critical of Duterte – Senator Leila de Lima and more recently Antonio Trillanes IV. He has openly threatened the Office of the Ombudsman and the Commission on Audit, and his Solicitor General had successfully instigated the ouster of former Supreme Court justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, an appointee of former president Benigno Aquino III. He has openly attacked critical media– the Philippine Daily Inquirer, ABS-CBN, and Rappler. 

A barrage of cases have been lobbed at Rappler’s parent company, Rappler Holdings Corporation, and CEO and executive editor Maria Ressa. From revocation of Rappler’s license due to alleged ownership issues (this has been refuted), other cases have included cyber libel for a story published before the cyber libel law was passed, tax evasion for alleged income from the issuance – not sale – of Philippine Depositary Receipts, and alleged violation of the anti-dummy law.

These attacks on the ground have been complemented by attacks online made worse by what appears to be state-sponsored disinformation. 

The extrajudicial killings carried out by vigilante groups contracted by the police have not ceased; the number of dead in the brutal campaign against drugs continues to rise (at least 5,000 in police operations and no less than 20,000 in vigilante killings) even as drugs have continued to penetrate the streets, slipping past the supposed watchful eyes of law enforcers.

Appointments by Duterte of ex-military officials have only served to burnish perceptions of creeping authoritarianism and declining standards in the rule of law. This has not gone past observers worldwide, as reflected in various global rankings of the country. 

For instance, the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index tagged the Philippines as the “biggest mover,” falling 18 positions to 88th out of 113 countries from 2016’s 70th place. The country also ranked 5th among countries where the murders of journalists are left unprosecuted, according to the 2018 Global Impunity Index of the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Newsbreak, Rappler’s research and investigative arm, has pursued stories to track this slow but steady descent to authoritarianism, in a bid to stem it and call attention to this worrisome trend. 

These are the stories of the past year mirroring the painful decline of democracy in the Philippines. – Chay F. Hofileña and Jodesz Gavilan/Rappler.com

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Claim: Pope Francis "agrees" with President Rodrigo Duterte's tirades against Catholic priests, and has told abusive priests that they are "all [a] disgrace to God."

The blog insiderph.com posted the claim on December 10, with the headline, "Pope Francis agrees to Du30 of priest abusers: 'You are all disgrace to God.'" The post has minimal social media engagement.

A reader submitted this claim to Rappler for verification.

Rating: FALSE

The facts: The claim in the headline is not supported by the article text itself.

The blog post only copied the text of an August 20 BBC News report about Pope Francis' letter addressing reports of child sex abuse leveled against abusive priests.

In the letter, also dated August 20, Pope Francis condemned such "atrocities" and attempts to cover up these abusive acts. The pontiff also called for an end to the "culture of death" and asked for forgiveness, reported BBC News.

"With shame and repentance, we acknowledge as an ecclesial community that we were not where we should have been, that we did not act in a timely manner, realizing the magnitude and the gravity of the damage done to so many lives. We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them," wrote Pope Francis.

The supposed quote in the claim, "You are all disgrace to God," is only written in the headline and nowhere in the blog post's body. Duterte wasn't mentioned in the blog post either, except in the headline. In addition, the headline was poorly constructed.

The blog insiderph.com is similar to other blogs Rappler has checked. It does not declare its editorial board, contact details, or company profile. It also has improper bylines. Its content is mostly pro-administration and anti-opposition.

According to a whois lookup on ICANN, the blog was created only on September 21, 2018. – Miguel Imperial and Michael Bueza/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.

MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte's administration was mired in rice problems during his second year in office, pulling it away from his target of 100% rice self-sufficiency by the end of the year. While cause for deep concern, these issues are not entirely new to Filipinos.

Soaring prices, weevil infestations, and the depletion of reserves in several areas worried Filipinos in 2018, causing an uproar and even raising questions on the leadership of National Food Authority (NFA) Administrator Jason Aquino.

The situation hit a low point in April when Aquino revealed that the agency had only less than two days' worth of buffer stock. The NFA is required to maintain a 15-day stock at any given time, and a 30-day stock from July to September to prepare for calamities. 

Filipinos continued to feel the brunt of the impending crisis, as prices in September reached up to P46 for well-milled rice, and P43 for regular milled rice.

It was only in October that the rice situation seemed to have eased, when Duterte finally lifted restrictions on rice imports to reduce inflation. In the previous year, he discouraged rice importation in order to protect local rice farmers. (READ: [OPINION] Solving our 'unli' rice crisis)

The Department of Agriculture also set suggested retail prices for rice to combat inflation. Rice prices have gone down week-per-week from October, and have eased to 8.1% during the first week of December.

For a country teeming with agricultural land, the Philippines continues to suffer from rice crises every few years. Here’s a look at the rice woes that previous administrations had to deal with in the past.

Marcos administration: 1965-1986

President Ferdinand Marcos opened his term with the Green Revolution which pioneered scientific research into high-yielding varieties of rice in the country.

However, things took a turn when Martial Law was declared and as millions of Filipinos faced a dwindling rice supply due to various political and environmental factors.

In the 1970s, the country was visited by strong storms that caused tremendous damage to the agriculture sector. Things worsened in 1972 when Typhoons Edeng and Gloring ravaged Luzon, causing great floods especially in the central plains. The country also suffered from a major drought the months after.

Aside from these, political tensions in Mindanao and a growing incidence of tungro, a rice-infecting pest, contributed to low rice supplies.

Local rice production also dropped to a low 17%. To address this, the government relied on heavy imports with 455,000 tons in 1972 from just 10 tons in 1968. This, however, failed to address the problem.

Rice stocks were almost gone in 1973 that they had to mix in corn grits to continue supply. A New York Times report said that white rice disappeared from the markets and “block-long double lines” of people waiting for rice rations swamped Manila and other provinces.

It took 6 years before the rice supply finally stabilized.

Corazon Aquino administration: 1986-1992

Still recovering from the rice crisis in the 70s and Martial Law, former president Corazon Aquino’s government was not safe from impending rice issues.

Increases in rice prices were also felt during this time, brought about by the looming Asian financial crisis and El Niño. (READ: FAST FACTS: Rice prices in the Philippines)

A sudden spike in rice imports was seen from 1988 to 1990, around the same time El Niño affected agricultural regions such as Cagayan Valley and Southern Mindanao. According to a PAGASA study, the affected rice and corn area from the 1989-1990 drought totaled 283,562 hectares.

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While Aquino failed to dismantle the NFA’s monopoly on the international trade of rice, she launched the Grains Sector Development Program (GDSP) in 1990 which sought to finance agricultural programs and overcome institutional and investment constraints that can hinder food security.

However, agreements with financial companies on the GDSP were only finalized in 2000.

Ramos administration: 1992-1998

Filipinos suffered the brunt of the 1995 rice crisis in the country which stemmed from poor government planning. Rice demand increased by 5.7% in that year, but local output was stagnant due to droughts the year before.

Despite this, Ramos took the advice of then agriculture secretary Roberto Sebastian to import only about 300,000 metric tons (MT) of rice, as compared to the 700,000 MT suggested by the NFA.

Price ceilings imposed by the National Price Coordinating Council, along with panic-buying from consumers, aggravated the shortage problem. Like Marcos, the Ramos administration resorted to heavy rice imports, which reached as much as 722,000 MT in 1997, and 2.17 million MT in 1998.

Millions of Filipinos queued for hours at NFA’s Bigasang Bayan outlets to buy cheaper rice at P10.25 per kilo, as commercial rice prices soared from P21 to P28 per kilo.

Estrada administration: 1998-2001

While there were no huge rice problems during former president Joseph Estrada’s term, his administration was the second largest importer since the Marcos era.

Under Estrada, yearly average rice importation was at 1.02 million MT – nearly double that of the yearly average importation of 520,562 MT during Ramos’ time.

In 1998 alone, rice imports reached 2.2 million MT from 722,756.50 MT in the previous year. The huge increase in imports was influenced by the effects of El Niño on palay production, which prompted the government to seek ways to stabilize rice prices.

Estrada, however, managed to increase average rice production growth to 12.47% and imports returned to lower levels in the next two years at about 800,000 MT.

Arroyo administration: 2001-2010

The Arroyo administration had to face the 2008 global rice supply crisis that drove international rice rates upwards.

According to the World Rice Statistics and Food and Agriculture Organization, the Philippines, despite being the 8th largest rice producer in 2008 (at 16.8 million MT), was also the world’s top rice importer (1.8 million tons) which could mean that the country was directly affected by the crisis.

By March, NFA reserves were down to up to two weeks' worth of supply, and average price for regular milled rice had gone up to about P43 per kilo by June – almost a 50% increase from the usual P25 to P30 per kilo.

The Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) claimed that Arroyo had known about the impending rice crisis as early as February that year. It is also important to note that Arroyo, together with the NFA, signed contracts with other countries like Vietnam in 2007 to import 2.2 million MT – the highest in a decade.

The government, however, was quick to deny the existence of a rice crisis, insisting only on a “price crisis.”

These events fueled panic among Filipinos, who began stockpiling rice in homes and lined up for government-subsidized NFA rice for cheap prices at P18.25. Due to the huge number of people lining up, however, NFA had to decrease the limit of rations from 3 kilos per family to just one.

Arroyo ordered a crackdown on hoarders and rice smugglers – who allegedly bought subsidized rice and sold them at higher prices – to “ensure that cheap government rice ends up on the tables of the intended consumers – the country's poor.”

The rice crisis drove millions of Filipinos to poverty and hunger. In a study by the Asian Development Bank, the number of self-rated poor Filipinos peaked at 59% in the second quarter of 2008.

While prices stabilized a year after, heavy imports continued until the end of Arroyo’s tenure in 2010.

Benigno Aquino III administration: 2010-2016

One of former president Benigno Aquino III’s promises when he started out was to achieve 100% rice self-sufficiency in the country by 2013. However, he failed to fulfill this promise.

As early as April 2011, just a year into Aquino’s term, a confidential report by the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (Nica) that was leaked to the media warned the former president of a looming rice shortage brought by changes in the international food market and weather systems.

Quelling fears, the government managed to increase rice production in the same year and slashed rice imports from 1.3 million MT to 660,000 MT. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization also saw stable production for the next two years.

It was in 2014 when rice prices began to rise, with average retail prices going beyond P40 per kilo, reminiscent of the 2008 rice crisis. Because of this, the government had to resort to more imports, adding 500,000 MT for immediate importation to the original set imports of 800,000 MT for the year. (READ: Rice self-sufficiency: A question of geography?)

Aquino also urged a crackdown against hoarders who allegedly stockpiled NFA rice for selling at higher prices. Rice smugglers were also targeted. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, rice smuggling was more prominent during Aquino’s time at 2.3 million tons from 2011-2014, as compared to 500,000 tons smuggled in 2005 to 2009 under Arroyo.

According to the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, however, price spikes must not be blamed on smugglers, but on reduced imports in 2013 in line with the rice self-sufficiency program.

In 2015, the Philippines was hit by El Niño which drove prices higher again due to low production.

Rice self-sufficiency fell to 88.93% from 96% in 2013, as imports continued to boom. Aquino managed to boost this number to 95% by the end of his term in 2016. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Several events challenged the state of democracy in the Philippines in 2018.

Growing threats against government watchdogs, the Marawi siege, and the unrelenting and brutal campaign against drugs have resulted in cracks in the country’s overall democratic system.

The Philippines, tagged as a “flawed democracy,” ranked 51st out of 167 countries in the latest Democracy Index report released by the Economist Intelligence Unit in 2018.

“The indefinite declaration of martial law in the southern state of Mindanao in the Philippines, and the rule of country’s strongman leader, Rodrigo Duterte, adversely affected the quality of democracy in the Philippines,” the report said.

“Mr. Duterte has led the way among the many Asian countries that are infringing democratic values,” it added.

While the Philippines still enjoys a more open and progressive democracy within Asia, a look at the factors that affect democracy show that the country is on a downward trend compared to other countries around the world.

Still ‘partly-free’

The Philippines is classified as a partly-free country in the recent Freedom in the World report with an aggregate score of 62 over 100.

Independent watchdog organization Freedom House said that while government institutions are “well-developed” in the country, its long history of impunity and insurgency continue to affect freedom enjoyed by citizens.

Among 162 other countries, the Philippines is the 73rd most free according to another report by Fraser Institute. Regionally, the country ranks high with a freedom index score of 6.92 – 3rd among 17 other Asian countries.

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The state of personal freedom improved from the previous year, climbing 4 spots from 104th to 100th, while economic freedom declined.

Most personal freedom indices increased, except for religious freedom at 8.5 and expression and information at 8.2. The Philippines also became more open and accepting of identity and relationships, as the score improved by 2.5 points this year.

Under economic freedom, the size of government, legal system and property rights, and freedom of international trade all dropped slightly.

Deteriorating rule of law

The World Justice Project dubbed the Philippines the “biggest mover” for this year’s Rule of Law Index report after it dropped 18 ranks from the previous year, now ranking 88th out of 113 countries.

The Philippines also ranks 13th out of 15 East Asia and Pacific countries with an overall score of 0.47, just above Myanmar and Cambodia.

There was a significant decrease in half of the factors taken into account in the report. Among 8 factors, the Philippines saw a decline in adherence to fundamental rights (99th), order and security (107th), civil justice (81st), and criminal justice (102nd).

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Among these, order and security dropped the most, falling 30 places from its 2016 rank of 77th. This comes during a year strained by Marawi clashes, a crackdown on members of the political opposition, and the continuing drug war.

There are minor decreases in constraints to government powers (59th), absence of corruption (62nd), and open government (54th). The Philippine ranking in regulatory enforcement remained unchanged at 55th since 2016.

Worsening corruption

Corruption in the country worsened in 2018, moving down 10 spots from last year’s ranking. According to a report by Transparency International, the Philippines ranked 111th out of 180 countries with an index score of 34 out of 100.

This has been the lowest index score since 2012.

In Asia, the Philippines is the 21st least corrupt among 30 countries included in the report.

The low rank is attributed to the increase of threats and violence against journalists, activists, opposition, and other members of watchdog agencies.

“Philippines, India and the Maldives are among the worst regional offenders in this respect. These countries score high for corruption and have fewer press freedoms and higher numbers of journalist deaths,” the report stated.

There were 3 media killings in the country this year, namely the deaths of reporters Edmund Sestoso, Dennis Denora, and Joey Llana from May to July. (READ: When journalists become the story: Attacks against media in 2018)

Filipino journalists also continue to face countless troll attacks and threats on social media daily. (READ: Media groups record 85 attacks on press freedom under Duterte)

Transparency International also found that majority of the countries are making “little to no progress” in combating corruption, with two-thirds of the countries scoring an index below 50 or becoming more corrupt.

Tighter hold on press freedom

The Philippines dropped 6 spots in the 2018 World Press Freedom Index of media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) amid President Duterte’s tirades against the media. The country was ranked 133 out of 180 countries with an index of 42.53.

“The line separating verbal violence from physical violence is dissolving,” the report said. “President Rodrigo Duterte not only constantly insults reporters but has also warned them that they “are not exempted from assassination.””

The country was also tagged as “Asia’s deadliest country for media” after 4 journalists were killed in 2017.

Furthermore, the Philippines ranked 5th out of 14 countries checked by the Committee to Protect Journalists in its most recent Global Impunity Index reports, which “ranks states with the worst records of prosecuting the killers of journalists.”

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While the Philippines saw an improvement in its index score from previous years, it still holds the most number of unsolved media deaths. Currently, there are 40 pending murder cases of journalists in the country.

According to CPJ, 82 journalists and media workers have been killed in the country from 1992 to 2018. (READ: IN NUMBERS: Global threats to press freedom in 2018)

More ‘authoritarian’ online sphere

Freedom House saw a rise in “digital authoritarianism” on the internet in 2018, as disinformation and propaganda filled online discussions and communities.

The Philippines suffered from this, with internet freedom slipping from free to partly-free. The country ranked 31st out of 68 countries around the world in this year's Freedom on the Net report.

It is, however, the 3rd country in Asia with the most freedom online. (READ: A profile of internet users in the Philippines) 

The report noted that the downgrade resulted from “content manipulation and cyberattacks” as well as “harassment of dissenting voices” which contributed to distortion of information.

The Philippines also falls among countries whose governments have enforced regulations against alleged “fake news” to justify the crackdown on online dissent. Earlier this year, the Duterte administration ordered the shutdown of online news site Rappler over alleged foreign funding violations.

The organization also noted key internet controls (KICs) or restrictions on political, social, or religious content enforced by the government or other authorities at an attempt to censor information.

KICs recorded in the country include deliberate disruption of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) networks, manipulation of online discussions by pro-government commentators, and technical att€acks against government critics or human rights organizations.– Rappler.com

Claim: Two Facebook posts by the user Stephanie Salazar, claimed that Senator Risa Hontiveros said the Ateneo student who was caught being violent to his classmate was not bullying, but was merely “practicing taekwondo.”

The first post, published early Friday, December 21, attributed the following quote to Hontiveros and even included a photo of the child with a photo of the senator:

"Wala pong pang-bu-bully kung ginagamit lang naman ni [...]* ang abilidad niya sa Taekwondo! Di po ba pwede na pina-praktise lang ni [...]* ang skills nya sa Taekwondo?

The second post, published around an hour-and-a-half after the first, claimed that Hontiveros said the following:

"Igalang naman po natin ang mga Atenista. Naglalaro lang naman ng sparring ang mga bata! Wala pong pang bu-bully nagaganap sa Ateneo."

The posts have more than 36,000 shares between them as of posting.

Rating: FALSE

Facts: Hontiveros did not issue an official statement or give any interviews about the Ateneo bullying incident when the Facebook posts were uploaded. This was confirmed to Rappler by her team via text.

On Saturday, December 22, Hontiveros denied the first claim on her official Facebook page, calling it “fake news.”

She said: “Kahit Pasko ay hindi palalampasin ng mga fake newsmakers na ito. May hinahabol na quota? (These fake newsmakers will not let go, even during Christmas. Are they trying to reach a quota?)

“‪Bullying is a SERIOUS and SENSITIVE issue that should never be condoned. I hope this shouldn’t distract us from doing what is right: ending the vicious cycle of violence.‬”

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After videos of an Ateneo Junior High School (AJHS) student bullying other students went viral on December 19, AJHS principal Jose Antonio Salvador said in a memo that the school is investigating the incident.

Ateneo de Manila University president Fr Jose Ramon Villarin SJ said in a separate statement that the school is "treating the matter with the highest priority and urgency."

He also said: "Let me be very clear: the school does not condone such behavior. We have our codified standards of conduct and all students are made aware of these and their rights and responsibilities." – Vernise L. Tantuco/Rappler.com

*Name removed to protect the identity of a minor.

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.

MANILA, Philippines – A "vibrant chapter" in ties between Manila and Washington, was how President Rodrigo Duterte described the United States' return of the Balangiga Bells to the Philippines toward the end of 2018.

The Philippines' former colonizer returned the Balangiga Bells 117 years after taking these from Filipinos as spoils of war in 1901.

Duterte's words sounded like a turnaround. The commander in chief had detested the United States for taking the Balangiga Bells and slaughtering Filipinos in the Balangiga Massacre. This is on top of other reasons, such as criticizing his drug war and refusing him a US visa years ago.

Duterte's anger prompted him to turn to new friends: China and Russia, both rivals of America. 

Will the return of the Balangiga Bells stop Duterte's pivot away from Uncle Sam?

But is there a pivot away from the US in the first place? 

On the ground, engagements by the Philippines in 2018 showed it is not moving away from the US despite Duterte's rhetoric. While the Philippines has China and Russia as its new buddies, the Philippines is sticking it out with its old military ally, the US. 

Close ties

A most striking example was a visit by top Philippine officials to Hawaii in May this year.

In May, a Philippine delegation led by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, one of Duterte's most trusted men, met with US Pacific Command chief Admiral Harry Harris Jr in Hawaii. 

Medialdea was accompanied by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel Romualdez, then-Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, then-Interior and Local Government OIC-Secretary Eduardo Año, and then-Permanent Representative to the United Nations Teodoro Locsin Jr.

It was a sign of the importance attached by the Philippines to the US despite Duterte's anti-US tirades.

Months later, in December, the commander of what is now known as the US Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral Philip Davidson, met with Duterte and Lorenzana in Manila.

The US also made key donations to the Philippine military in August this year – 4 OV-10B planes to help in the Philippines' counterterrorism campaign, and an P807-million ($15-million) surveillance and reconnaissance system. 

This is on top of the millions in US aid for conflict-stricken Marawi City in the southern Philippines. 

The Philippines, too, is set to receive the biggest chunk of security assistance from the US in the Indo-Pacific region, said Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Walter Douglas, who visited the Philippines in August. 

'We only have one security alliance' 

Clarita Carlos, a political science professor who specializes in defense and foreign policy, explained why the Philippines and the US maintain such close ties despite the Philippines' new buddies.

"We only have one security alliance, and that is with the United States of America," Carlos said in an interview with Rappler.

Carlos referred to the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty between the Philippines and the United States, where the two countries agreed to defend each other in the case of an armed attack. This is the Philippines' only defense treaty with another country. 

The Philippines' ties with other countries, Carlos pointed out, "are really like just economic relationships, but nothing equals the Mutual Defense Treaty, the Visiting Forces Agreement, and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement."

(Below, watch scenes from this year's Balikatan exercises between Philippine and American troops in Zambales.)

Carlos believes that Duterte changed his mind about America after 2016, when his anti-US rhetoric included a military and economic "separation from the United States." 

"He's learning along the way, and while he might have articulated an anti-American rhetoric at the start, I think he has backpedaled from that," Carlos said. 

"He's learning because he's finding out the realpolitik on the ground. And that's good. It's bad if at the start you already have something in mind and you don't change your mind. It's good that he's changing his mind given the new realization of the security environment," she said. 

No pivot away from Washington

Carlos said the Philippines is not pivoting away from the US.

"No, I don't think we will do that. Independent foreign policy simply means – if Trump has an America First, we also have our Philippines First. Whichever will serve our interests, we will go there," she said.

Referring to Duterte, she added, "You will notice he will go to Latin America, he will go to the Carribean, he will go anywhere so long as they will buy our mangoes, pineapples, et cetera. That's how pragmatic he is."

For Carlos, Duterte "has done quite well because he has gone to other countries which are nontraditional partners."

In this aspect, 2018 was noteworthy because of the historic state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Philippines' heightened engagements with Russia, including the first time a Philippine Navy vessel made a port call to Vladivostok.

Carlos said the Philippines stands to benefit from nontraditional partners as well. One of the possible gains is in responding to disasters.

On the Chinese military, for example, Carlos said, "Like us, they are also confronted with earthquakes, landslides, typhoons. We have the same disasters.  And with them, because they have more advanced technology, they can really help us."

On Russian troops, she added, "Russia now is in the forefront of pivoting into Southeast Asia, and that is good. And they also want to train with us, isn't it? They have a defense attaché from Moscow."

Warnings vs China, Russia

But experts also warned against the Philippines' security arrangements with China and Russia.

Military historian Jose Antonio Custodio noted that China is not an ally but actually a rival in the West Philippine Sea or South China Sea. He said Russia on the other hand is offering military equipment that the Philippines might not be able to maintain.

Custodio also noted the "unauthorized or unmonitored" landing of Chinese planes in Davao City, hometown of Duterte, in June this year.

Custodio told Rappler: "The China relationship is not clearly defined and hence is prone to being taken advantage of by individuals within the Philippines who want to curry favor with China. That's why you have unauthorized or unmonitored Chinese entry into the Philipppines, like in the Port of Davao."

"So it becomes personalized now. It's a dangerous precedent because protocol is not followed and protocol is set up to protect our national interests also," Custodio said. 

He added, We have to input here that China is not an ally. It's actually a country we have a major territorial dispute with."

On Russia, Custodio cautioned the Philippines against buying Russian equipment. A US official also cautioned against this in August, prompting another outburst from Duterte. 

"Do we have the capacity to buy and maintain? That's the big problem. So we will end up in a situation where we can actually purchase Russian equipment, but in the long run they will not be properly maintained so you end up losing money," Custodio said.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines, he said, should be the last word on purchasing weapons. "Hindi dapat manggagaling 'yan from whatever Poncio Pilato (That decision should come from just any Pontius Pilate)." 

Custodio said purchasing "small items" from China and Russia is fine, "but not big-ticket items."

"Don't get it from them because at the same time you have to take into consideration also that their actions are actually aimed to disrupt our own long-standing alliance with the United States, so every decision that we make must be evaluated by the National Security Council," Custodio said.

The Philippines' alliance system with the US, he explained, "is our last card in fending off China's territorial ambitions." 

Carlos also stressed the value of maintaining ties with America. "You are part of the security alliance of the US in Southeast Asia, with Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. Why, would you like to be in the sphere of China and Russia? These are not democracies. Isn't that plain? We are a democracy also."

In an interview with ANC, US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim said, "It is important to remember that we are the only alliance you have, and I don't think your improving relations with other countries, whether it's China or some other country, would replace the alliance you have with the United States." 

Time to review Treaty?

But as 2018 ends, questions still hound the 67-year-old MDT.

On December 20, according to CNN Philippines, Lorenzana said he will push for a review of the MDT "to make it stronger." While the US "is the only country we have an alliance with," Lorenzana pointed out that the US is "very ambivalent" if the MDT covers islands in the West Philippine Sea.

This is one of the Duterte's misgivings about the US – that America is supposedly unwilling to defend the Philippines in case China attacks it.

On the same day that Lorenzana made this statement, Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro "Teddyboy" Locsin Jr met with his American counterpart, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, to discuss a range of issues including the West Philippine Sea dispute.

In this December 20 meeting in Washington DC, Pompeo "reaffirmed the enduring US-Philippines alliance, including commitments under the Mutual Defense Treaty of 1951."

It is worth recalling that Locsin, in one of his first speeches as foreign secretary, had classified countries as "friends," "enemies," and "false friends." 

(Locsin had told the diplomatic corps on November 7: "It is a refinement of the earlier one which stood us in good stead: 'Friends to all, enemies to none.' But we are moving on to a refinement which addresses changing realities. It is now 'Friends to friends, enemies to enemies, and worse enemies to false friends.'") 

With the US or its rivals China and Russia, how secure – or insecure – would the Philippines be in the coming years? – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo claimed in a press briefing that only "one or two" killings of media workers were related to their work as journalists.

"For one, the deaths of the journalists in this country appear not to be connected with their job," he said on Friday, December 21, in a Malacañang news briefing.

"From what I gather from those who have been killed, may kinalaman sa personal na pamumuhay nila (it was related to their personal lives). Nothing to do with journalism. Mayroon din one or two pero hindi as a rule (There are one or two cases but not as a rule)," he added. 

He said this after being asked for Malacañang's reaction to a report that the Philippines is among the worst places for journalists in Southeast Asia.

The report, published by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), gave the Philippines a ranking of 7.7 with the rank of 10 being the worst.

But multiple reports have identified more than two media killings in the Philippines as being work-related.

The IFJ report itself said 12 journalists have been killed in relation to their work since the beginning of the Duterte presidency.

The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) and National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) reported that 9 Filipino journalists were killed in the course of their work, or when “somebody didn’t like the reports they were issuing, they were going after a sensitive area, or some of the powerful people around the location they were working in were displeased.”

They excluded from the list journalists whose deaths involved corruption, gambling debt, and other personal relationships.

This was to disprove the notion that only corrupt journalists are killed, a notion Duterte himself has insisted on. (READ: Duterte on killings: Corrupt journalists asked for it) – Rappler.com