Thinking Pinoy

Leni Robredo spokesperson Barry Gutierrez, who called a critic's claim "ridiculous", just made an even more ridiculous claim... and the Inquirer fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

Maastricht University International Relations teacher Sass Sasot [Maastricht] yesterday called everyone's attention to a supposed Fake News article published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer [Sasot].

The article, entitled "Leni’s camp scorns claim Jesse’s brod into drugs" and written by a certain Melvin Gascon, attempted to debunk former Naga City councilor Luis Ortega's claim supporting President Rodrigo Duterte's pronouncement that Naga is a "hotbed for shabu".

An archived copy of the article, saved on 23 August 2018 can be found by clicking here.
Sasot specifically quoted the part of the article where Vice-President Leni Robredo's spokeperson Ibarra "Barry" Guttierez attempted to discredit Ortega by citing the latter's supposedly multiple losses to the late mayor, essentially suggesting that Ortega harbors some bitterness against the late mayor.

The said part reads:

"This was not the first time that Ortega came out with such 'ridiculous' claims, Gutierrez said of the former councilor who lost to six-term Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo in the 2010, 2013 and 2016 elections."

The problem with Gutierrez's claim -- a claim that Inquirer reporter Gascon wittingly or unwittingly failed to verify -- is that Jesse Robredo died in 2012 so he could not have possibly run in 2013 and 2016.

Isn't it ironic that Leni spokesperson Gutierrez, who called Ortega's claims "ridiculous", just made an even more ridiculous claim?

Inquirer "corrects" article

In an attempt to rectify the mistake, the Inquirer edited the article so that it now reads:

"This was not the first time that Ortega came out with such 'ridiculous' claims, Gutierrez said of the former councilor who lost to six-term Naga City Mayor Jesse Robredo in the 2010 elections."

The Inquirer basically deleted 2013 and 2016, leaving 2010 behind, presumably because the Jesse Robredo was still alive then.

An archived copy of the revised article, saved on 24 August 2018, can be found by clicking here.

The problem, however, is that Jesse Robredo DID NOT RUN for Naga City mayor in 2010 because he reached his second three-term limit in 2010 after being mayor since 2001. The three candidates for Naga City's mayoral seat in 2010 were:

John Bongat (LP)
Jun Pelayo (IND), and,
Luis Ortega (IND).

Ano ba yan? Itinama na pero mali pa rin.

A Comedy of Errors

With these said, I see at least two major issues here:

FIRST, Robredo spokesperson and Akbayan lawyer Barry Gutierrez doesn't know what he's talking about. I agree with Sasot’s observation that Gutierrez’s blunder bolstered whistleblower ex-councilor Luis Ortega's credibility.

Surely, if Leni felt seriously insulted by Duterte after the latter called Naga a shabu "hotbed" [RMN], then she should be even more enraged by his spokesperson's ignorance about an issue that hits so close to home.

Oh, wait! IT HITS HER HOME, actually.

SECOND, Gascon and the Inquirer may need to take a refresher course on journalism because they failed miserably in this article. These are the people who love being called "legit journalists", but their work suggests otherwise.

That is, while it’s true that Gutierrez claimed that Ortega lost to Robredo in 2010, 2013, 2016, it’s also true that Gutierrez’s claims are false... and that’s what the Inquirer miserably failed to point out.

In the oft-cited book "The Elements of Journalism," Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel wrote that journalism “is a discipline of verification.” [DailySabah]

Now, where is the verification in the Inquirer article? Can a journalist be called a journalist if the essence of his job, i.e. verifying claims before publishing, is missing?

University of the Philippines College of Mass Communication dean Luis Teodoro once wrote [Teodoro]:

"The media shouldn’t just report everything every idiot, crook and liar says without subjecting it to critical assessment. There’s a name for that. It’s called 'he said, she said reporting'. It’s stenography, not journalism."

Well, I guess this Inquirer reporter Gascon is not a journalist, but a stenographer.

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Will the Philippines ever succeed in breaking the Telco duopoly? There is hope, kinda.

Several days ago, consumer watchdog Infrawatch PH pointed out that the provisional third Philippine Telecommunications provider’s franchise is deemed revoked after the latter allegedly failed to list its stocks in the Philippine Stock Exchange [Star].

Mindanao Islamic Telephone Company Inc (Mislatel), which received its 25-year franchise in 1998 via Republic Act 8627 [CorpusJuris], is required to public offer 30% of its stocks through the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) lest its franchise be deemed revoked.

WOOPS! "QUALIFYING" 3RD TELCO PLAYER'S LICENSE ALREADY REVOKED PRIOR TO AWARD?

The NTC recently declared the...
Posted by Thinking Pinoy on Thursday, November 8, 2018

More than a headache for the Mislatel Consortium, this is a source of much consternation among the Filipino Public desperately in need of better telco services. Thus, in this article, let me attempt to explain the situation so that the reader may gain a better idea of what to expect with respect to the future of Philippine Telecommunications.

AN “ANSWER” TO THE ALLEGATIONS

RA 8627 Sec. 16 states:

"[Mislatel] shall offer at least... 30%... of its... stock... in any securities exchange in the Philippines within... 5... years from the commencement of its operations. Noncompliance... render(s) the franchise ipso facto revoked."

If the allegations that Mislatel may have indeed failed to list its stocks in the PSE, then it appears that the telco’s franchise is indeed revoked.

In a clarificatory statement regarding Mislatel's franchise validity, Chelsea Holdings Corporation responded [PSE]:

"...the NTC published a list of... existing... franchises... (and) Mislatel... was included... In addition, the NTC has accepted the validity of the Mislatel franchise when it vetted Mislatel’s documents..."

Chelsea is part of the provisional third telco consortium, along with China Telecom and Mislatel parent company Udenna Corporation.

The companies comprising the Mislatel Consortium. Udenna is Mislatel's parent company.

A TANGENTIAL RESPONSE, AT BEST

Clearly, Mislatel's franchise requires the it to offer 30% of its stocks to the public via a listing in any local stock exchange. Since the PSE is the only local stock exchange, then those stocks must be listed in the PSE.

Allegations of Mislatel’s failure to enlist in PSE surfaced after NTC declared it as the provisional third telco. If true, this may imply that Mislatel’s franchise – the right to operate – is deemed revoked, preventing it from becoming the country’s third telco provider.
Mislatel supposedly responded to the allegation through a clarificatory statement published by the PSE. In the statement, Mislatel claimed:

that NTC published a list of telcos with active franchises and Mislatel is in that list, and,
that NTC vetted Mislatel's franchise and it was found valid.

Mislatel basically claimed in the statement that its franchise is valid because the NTC said so, but is that really how it works?

TRILLANES AMNESTY AND MISLATEL’S DEFENSE

This issue is quite similar to the Trillanes Amnesty Case.

Mislatel critics are questioning the validity of its franchise based on whether the telco complied with requirements set forth in its franchise terms or not. In response, Mislatel essentially said, “NTC said it’s valid, so it’s valid.”

On the other hand, the Philippine government questioned the validity of Senator Antonio Trillanes’ amnesty in relation to the Oakwood Mutiny and Manila Peninsula Siege based on whether Trillanes complied with the requirements set forth in the pertinent amnesty proclamation. In response, Trillanes showed his amnesty certificate [ABS], essentially saying that “The Aquino Administration said it’s valid, so it’s valid.”

The amnesty document, however, is insufficient to debunk the allegations against Trillanes, as Trillanes even submitted to submit copies of his amnesty application, along with an affidavit of admission. Trillanes even submitted additional evidence to support his claim [ABS].

Using the same argument, Mislatel cannot simply invoke NTC’s approval of its application. Instead, it must directly answer the allegations that it never went public in accordance with its franchise terms.

THE QUINTESSENTIAL QUESTION

In short, Mislatel could have simply said, “Hey, we did offer 30% of our stocks so you’re wrong,” and we would have gotten this whole thing over with. But Mislatel, so far, hasn’t done anything to that effect, as it uses the Trillanes Strategy to address the issue.

Mislatel's response is tangential at best as it does not address the allegations head on, as the clarificatory statement didn’t really answer the very simple, very basic, and very crucial question:

Did Mislatel attempt go public with 30% of its stocks as required in its franchise terms, yes or no?

The central point of contention is whether Mislatel publicly offered, or at least intended to offer, 30% of its stocks through the PSE as required in the franchise terms. The telco has so far been mum about this.

If Mislatel indeed failed to publicly offer 30% of its stocks, then the debate is over: Mislatel’s license is deemed revoked, thereby disqualify the telco from participating in the industry entirely. Hence, let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that it actually did publicly offer stocks.

READING BETWEEN THE LINES OF CHELSEA’S STATEMENT

I would like to direct the reader’s attention to the fact that Chelsea [PSE], and NOT Mislatel, issued the clarificatory statement in the PSE website, the same statement that was widely used in various news reports from major media outlets.

The clarificatory statement, submitted to the PSE and SEC, is meant to assuage Chelsea’s stockholders, who may be worried about the allegations against its partner Mislatel.But then, if 30% of Mislatel’s stocks are publicly held, then why does it appear that Mislatel didn’t bother to assuage its public stockholders? Why didn’t Mislatel submit to the PSE and SEC a clarificatory statement similar to Chelsea’s?

Now, some camps may raise the possibility that Mislatel may just be late in filing the statement, but it has to be pointed out that Mislatel, its parent company Udenna, and Chelsea are either controlled or fully owned by a single person: the Davao-based business tycoon Dennis Uy.

That is, if Chelsea can quickly whip up a statement, I think it’s reasonable to expect the same speed on Mislatel’s part. Moreover, it can also be reasonably expected that Mislatel, a supposedly publicly traded company, can have that statement published on the PSE website.

But neither happened. Thus, surrounding facts suggest that Mislatel is indeed not listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange, thus failing to comply with a requirement in its telco franchise terms.

A LOOK AT MISLATEL’S OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE

I managed to get a copy of Mislatel’s 2015 General Information Sheet (GIS), the SEC filing that describes the company’s ownership structure. But before we go through that, let me explain what exactly we’ll be looking for in the GIS.

Mislatel’s received its franchise in the form of RA 8627 in 1998, and three basic franchise terms were laid out under Section 7. That is, Mislatel’s franchise is deemed revoked if it fails to:

Commence operations within one (1) year from the approval of its permit by the NTC, or
Operate continuously for two (2) years, or
Commence operations within three (3) years from the effectivity of this Act.

Thus, assuming that Mislatel’s franchise is still valid and active to this day and given that the franchise was granted in 1998, then it must have commenced operations no later than 2001.

Now, Section 16 of the same Act requires Mislatel to go public with 30% of its stocks within five years from the commencement of its operations, so that Mislatel should have done so no later than 5 years after 2001, i.e. 2006.

Let me state this clearly: if Mislatel’s franchise is valid and active in 2018, then it must have gone public with 30% of its shares no later than 2006.

However, a look at Mislatel’s 2015 GIS shows that 99.98% of its stocks are owned by just five persons in 2015:

Marte Lascano, with 3.75 million shares, owns owns 25.00%
Romeo Sabillo, with 3.75 million shares, owns owns 25.00%
Edward Evangelista, with 3.00 million shares, owns owns 19.99%
Winsberg Austria, with 3.00 million shares, owns owns 19.99%
Mariano Pamintuan, with 1.50 million shares, owns owns 10.00%

A photo of the relevant page in the GIS is shown below.

Thus, Mislatel HAS NOT GONE PUBLIC as of 2015, which is almost a decade past the deadline. In short, judging by the Mislatel’s franchise terms, Mislatel’s license to operate is deemed revoked.

[Note that its highly likely Dennis Uy may have acquired Mislatel after 2015, which will explain why his name is not on the list. The date of Uy's acquisition, however, is irrelevant to the issues at hand.]

DEFENSES: IS MISLATEL’S FRANCHISE REALLY DEEMED REVOKED?

Well, that’s a bit tricky. I have consulted several lawyer-friends who are well-versed in corporate law and they told me that at first glance, Mislatel’s apparent failure to go public may have indeed resulted in the revocation of its franchise.

They said, however, that Mislatel may have several possible ways to get out of this PR and legal mess.

[NOTE: I have decided against naming who these lawyer-friends are because some of them belong to high-profile law firms who may be hired by one or more of the parties mentioned in this article, and I do not want to jeopardize their prospective cases.]

DEFENSE 1: STOCKS PUBLICLY OFFERED BUT ZERO TAKERS

The franchise terms used the term “shall offer”, meaning that it requires Mislatel to publicly offer stocks but not necessarily succeed in selling them. If Mislatel indeed publicly offered its stocks within the required timeframe but there were no takers, then Mislatel may still be deemed compliant with the franchise terms.

In short, Mislatel can argue Substantial Compliance, defined as compliance with the substantial or essential requirements of a statute that satisfies its purpose or objective even though its formal requirements are not complied with [FindLaw].

In this respect, we must verify if Mislatel continuously attempted to offer its stocks and there have always been zero buyers. If Mislatel manages to do that then it’s all ok. Otherwise, this alibi won’t fly.

DEFENSE 2: PSE’S REFUSAL TO LIST MISLATEL’S STOCKS

Listing a new company’s stocks in the Philippine Stock Exchange is fraught with myriad challenges, so many that it’s possible that PSE rejected Mislatel’s attempt to list its stocks in the bourse. This can happen if, among other reasons, PSE deemed Mislatel stocks to be not valuable enough, making trading of its stocks a waste of time and resources.

Thus, Mislatel may be deemed compliant with franchise terms if Mislatel spent a reasonable amount of effort to list its stocks but the PSE refused to cooperate. That is, if Mislatel did everything in its power to comply but the PSE didn’t budge, then Mislatel can argue in the courts that it can still be deemed compliant.

Mislatel can again argue Substantial Compliance.

DEFENSE 3: THE NOT-REALLY-A-DEFENSE DEFENSE

The first two potential defenses described above apply to arguing the validity of Mislatel’s franchise. This third one, on the other hand, appeals to the more practical side of things.

Let me explain further.

Possession is nine-tenths of the law, or so the saying goes. The fact of the matter is that the NTC has declared Mislatel as the provisional third telco and this declaration enjoys the presumption of regularity.

Infrawatch PH, the NGO that raised the franchise issue, can sue Mislatel in an attempt to freeze the bidding process. However, my lawyer-friends and I have doubts on whether the NGO has the legal personality to challenge the NTC decision, especially since Infrawatch is not among the losing bidders.

More likely than not, this information will instead be used by the losing bidder, and it appears to be the case. However, while Velarde’s NOW Telecom [GMA] and Singson’s Sear Telecom [ABS] are hell bent on challenging the legality of NTC’s decision, NTC and Mislatel can still choose to proceed with everything.

Yes, everything.

Former Ilocos Sur Governor Chavit Singson owns Sear Telecom, one of the aspiring third telco players.

That means NTC and Mislatel can perform the remaining steps to complete the regulatory processes, then the Mislatel Consortium starts operating and providing telco services, all while NOW and Sear are fighting it out in courts.

Of course, we cannot discount the possibility that NOW or Sear may be able to secure a timely Temporary Restraining Order or Preliminary Injunction from the courts and I have reason to believe they will get it, as the 2015 Mislatel GIS is prima facie evidence that Mislatel failed to go public.

But there’s the option to post a counter-bond.

POST COUNTER-BOND THEN ARGUE PUBLIC BENEFIT

However, considering that this is just a civil case, Mislatel can simply use Rule 58 Section 6 of the Rules of Court [LawPhil], which allows it to post a counter-bond to dissolve the TRO and Injunction.

Let me explain this a little bit.

Suppose NOW or Sear sues Mislatel and the courts grant a TRO against Mislatel, preventing Mislatel from commencing operations, after NOW or Sear argued that enforcing the NTC decision will cause the complainant significant financial damages. Mislatel can then ask the courts if it can just post a counter-bond conditioned that Mislatel will pay NOW or Sear if Mislatel loses the civil case. The courts will set the counter-bond’s amount.

Of course, we are talking about astronomical amounts here, so it all boils down to the question of whether Mislatel, i.e. Davao tycoon Dennis Uy, is wealthy enough to take the hit, and I am pretty confident that he is.

With a counter-bond posted and assuming that all NTC-related processes have been completed, Mislatel can start operating and providing telco services to the public while the civil case is still pending in the courts.

If Mislatel wins the civil case years later, then business as usual. If Mislatel loses the case, it loses the amount posted as a counter-bond but it can still argue that the company is providing substantial benefit to the public so the courts should still allow it to operate.

Imagine this: we currently have a Smart-Globe telco duopoly. If the courts decide years from now against Mislatel and forces the latter to stop operating, the Smart-Globe-Mislatel triopoly reverts to a duopoly as it will take considerable time, possibly years, for Mislatel’s replacement to commence operations, and that can be argued as severely detrimental to Public Interest.

In short, provisional third telco Mislatel may (emphasis on "may") still continue to operate regardless of the outcome of a civil case. That is, if Dennis Uy is willing and able to shoulder the astronomical expenses associated with it.

And I am pretty confident he is. [ThinkingPinoy]

NOTE: My co-hosts and I will discuss this issue even further in the radio show Karambola sa DWIZ on Monday, 12 November 2018. You can listen to it on DWIZ 882 AM, or watch our live feed on Facebook, and YouTube.

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With the financial manager of the former presidential sister gone, who's funding Pinoy Ako Blog's active sponsored posts today?

I think this issue is especially relevant today.

Since Pres. Rody Duterte assumed office in 2016, opposition figures, such as Rappler, have accused administration-aligned blogs such as MOCHA USON BLOG, For the Motherland - Sass Rogando Sasot, Thinking Pinoy, of receiving financial support from administration personalities.

To this day, these accusations are still bereft of any tangible evidence, accusations that the blogs' respective owners categorically deny.

The irony? Evidence shows that at least one opposition blog -- Pinoy Ako Blog -- is guilty of what the opposition accuses the three bloggers listed above.

LAURIO ADMITS FALCIS AS BENEFACTOR

The vehemently anti-administration Pinoy Ako Blog page owner Jover Laurio reportedly admitted to having accepted financial support through Nicko Falcis who, at the time, was Kris Aquino's financial manager.

This is after the release of the controversial 2018 chat screenshots, with one having taken place in April 2018 (see image) and showing that Laurio requested Falcis to boost her posts, i.e. pay for her blog's sponsored posts, to which Falcis agreed.

IS IT REALLY FALCIS... OR HIS EMPLOYER?

As Sass Rogando Sasot pointed out, it would've been illogical for Falcis to have use his personal funds because he has a brother who also has an anti-administration blog with a following, reach, and engagement comparable to Laurio's.

That is, if Falcis were to support an anti-administration blogger, he must've supported his own brother and not Laurio. Moreover, in as far as this writer can recall, his brother's blog never ran sponsored posts.

These circumstances suggest that Kris Aquino herself -- Falcis' employer at the time -- is funding Laurio's sponsored posts, with Falcis as an intermediary.

Unfortunately, Falcis and Aquino parted ways at around June 2018.

BUT THE SPONSORED POSTS DIDN'T STOP

Despite the loss of the supposed intermediary, a quick look at the "Info and Ads" section of Pinoy Ako Blog page shows that it still running sponsored posts as of 11:00 PM GMT+8, 03 January 2019 [http://archive.fo/8Gp0I], or about half a year since Falcis left Aquino.

In an attempt at greater transparency, Facebook recently added the "Info and Ads" section to pages to allow users to check what ads a given page is running.

With that said, who's paying for her sponsored posts today?

There two initial possibilities: [1] Laurio herself, or [2] Somebody else.

CAN LAURIO AFFORD HER SPONSORED POSTS?

Laurio maintains her claims [1] that's she's the sole blogger behind the page and [2] that she's of meager financial standing, so it can't be Laurio herself, i.e. it must be somebody else.

Laurio could not crowdfund her sponsored posts, considering that [1] her blog site has no tip jar (e.g. a PayPal Philippines donation link) and [2] she still has no third-party funding (e.g. Patreon).

She does run Google Ads on her website, but she chose to display only one small 320x100 pixel banner that, from this writer's own experience, likely earns no more than $0.15 per 1000 hits.

Her website has an average of 300,000 monthly hits (and dropping), based on her SimilarWeb stats over the past 6 months [http://bit.ly/2QiBHvj], so that her monthly Google AdSense revenues should be no more than $45 or about Php 2,400. She's currently running 3 sponsored posts and judging from her reportedly suggested Php 3,000 budget per post, this must cost around P9,000.

Laurio blogs about current events so the posts have a very short shelf life, so that P3,000 budget per post cannot be spread over an extended period, i.e. she must burn the amount (P9,000 for 3 posts) in less than 1 month.

In short, Ad revenues are not enough to fund her paid posts.

Suffice it to say, evidence suggests that she must have one or more financiers.

WHO IS/ARE LAURIO'S CURRENT FUNDERS?

I see three possibilities here that can be explored:

[1] Kris Aquino may be supporting the blog, possibly through a new intermediary, i.e. somebody other than Falcis

[2] Cocoy Dayao, the Noynoy Aquino-era Presidential Communications (Government of the Philippines) consultant and the web administrator of a plethora of anti-administration websites today, which includes Laurio's Pinoy Ako Blog (and Kiko Pangilinan's official website) [http://bit.ly/CocoyGate]...

...but Cocoy has no personal motive to do this, i.e. Cocoy Dayao sources funds from an political benefactor.

[3] Other opposition personalities. This doesn't discount the possibility that they may have been supporting Pinoy Ako Blog even before Falcis left Aquino.

All these three possibilities point to one thing: that Laurio receives financial benefits from opposition-aligned political personalities, which is exactly what the opposition has been accusing pro-administration bloggers of receiving.

Laurio reportedly denies having received cash from any political personality. However, the fact that she never took the initiative to disclose sources of her funding (READ: Political Personalities), only to admit one source after she got caught red-handed, casts a significant doubt on her credibility.

Laurio ever so proudly claims that she blogs "para sa bayan (for the nation)", but she appears to be blogging for more than just that.

But here's the more important question:

Aside from Laurio, who among the other opposition-aligned bloggers receive financial support from opposition politicians?

That would be very interesting to know.

Who knew that Kris Aquino's estranged financial manager would reopen a gigantic can of worms?

If there's such a thing as VP Leni Robredo's "well-oiled machinery", this must be it.

International Relations scholar, Maastricht University lecturer, and political blogger Sass Sasot earlier pointed out a blatant contradiction:

If Pinoy Ako Blog's Jover Laurio sued Franco Mabanta simply for calling her ugly, why didn't she sue those who, as she claims, send her round-the-clock death threats?

The anti-administration blogger Laurio has been literally telling the world that she eats death threats for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, yet why hasn’t she sued anyone for it, despite the fact that she has already sued others for far lesser offenses?

I can vividly remember the time when Laurio sued Mabanta for libel just because he called her ugly:

ON "UGLY!" AS LIBEL

Jover Laurio, supposedly a law student and a blogger with nearly 100,000 followers, sues for libel...
Posted by Thinking Pinoy on Saturday, December 9, 2017

Of course, threats against Laurio's life are far worse than threats against her ego, unless she believes her ego is more important than her life, which would necessitate Laurio's tacit admission that she's a moron and that will never happen.

With that said, I see only two remaining possibilities:

[1] Laurio herself believes the death threats are all bark and no bite.

[2] Laurio believes the death threats are serious but she can't sue.

If the none of the deaths threats Laurio’s been bragging about are credible, then Laurio is simply one big fat ugly lying megalomanic ogre. By virtue of the dismissed Laurio v Mabanta libel case, however, Laurio at the least maintains that she's not ugly, so the second possibility must hold, right?

But why didn't she sue?

MEANS, MOTIVE, OPPORTUNITY

Suing someone requires three things: [1] Means, [2] Motive, and [3] Opportunity.

Assuming the existence of significantly grave threats, Motive is already present. Moreover, she can simply approach a state prosecutor to file a case, just like what she did in Laurio v Mabanta, so the Opportunity is there. With Motive and Opportunity present, the question is why she hasn’t sued people for grave threats can be simplified into a question of whether Laurio has the means or not.

More specifically, does Laurio have the financial capacity to pay for the case filing fees, legal costs, and ancillary expenses associated with suing another person for grave threats?

Apparently not, and there lies yet another seeming contradiction.

Where did she get the money to sue Mabanta in the first place? Aside from Mabanta, she also sued bloggers RJ Nieto (Thinking Pinoy blog) and Sass Sasot (For the Motherland blog) for breach of data privacy, a civil case whose filing fee alone costs around Php 60,000 pesos?

Where did she get the money for these two cases, and why can’t she get more money for a new one?

LAURIO’S FINANCIAL STANDING

In “#PABoost: There's another fishy thing about this anti-admin blogger's page financials” where Thinking Pinoy examined Laurio’s finances, TP explained that considering that she [1] claims to be poor, [2] lacks a donation link on her websites, and [3] uses no 3rd-party crowdfunding platform, she cannot possibly afford the costly advertisements she runs on her Facebook page. For one, she had at least 6 sponsored posts for May 2018 alone, and she’s running 3 sponsored posts as of 03 January 2019.

INQUIRER.net 2017 FILIPINO OF THE YEAR GOT REPRIMANDED BY FACEBOOK

...for having political ads that didn't have "Paid...
Posted by For the Motherland - Sass Rogando Sasot on Thursday, January 3, 2019

The same article went on to explain that Jover must have one or more external political financiers, like a former president’s sister (READ: Kris Aquino) as shown in a leaked chat screenshot, to foot the bill for Laurio’s costly social media promotions.

NA-BOOST KAYA NI NICKO FALCIS?

Boost is how Facebook calls paid promotional posts. That is, a page administrator can...
Posted by Thinking Pinoy on Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Is it possible that one or more of the political financiers (e.g. Kris Aquino) who have been funding Laurio’s sponsored posts are also funding the legal battles that Laurio herself initiated and if so, why are they reluctant to finance a case against those who supposedly threaten Laurio’s very life?

The skeptic (I encourage skepticism) may still insist that evidence pointing towards Laurio’s financial links to these politicial financiers is still lacking, given that what has been established to far is just Laurio’s financial links with Kris Aquino and little else.

And that’s what we’ll tackle right next.

MORE THAN SPECULATION: REMEMBER COCOYGATE

Recall the Thinking Pinoy article “#CocoyGate: Senator Sotto, here's the guy you're looking for” that was used as resource material for an October 2017 senate hearing, which eventually led to the Philippine Senate issuing a subpoena against opposition propagandist and Aquino-era Presidential Communications consultant Edward Angelo “Cocoy” Dayao.

The article demonstrated, among other things, that the Pinoy Ako Blog website (PinoyAkoBlog.com) and several other sites controlled by Cocoy Dayao run advertisements from a SINGLE Google Adsense Publisher ID, i.e. a SINGLE Google Adsense Account.

Every Google ad shown on a webpage is linked to a publisher ID owned by the person who receives ad revenues. Thus, several websites whose Google ads use the same publisher ID (i.e. same Google AdSense account) are either owned or controlled by whoever owns that AdSense Account.

In the same article, I explained that in as late as 2017, PinoyAkoBlog.com shared the same AdSense Account (ID: pub-1068157602481996) as several anti-administration pages like ChangeScamming and BackroomPolitics.

Aside from these three, the same Adsense account is used in political sites such as:

anunabes.com - a supposedly hip news site whose associated facebook page didn’t pick up steam and thus was apparently abandoned.
dikukurap.com - a fake news site that calls Duterte supporters “Duterte D*ck Suckers”
dotreport.org - an seemingly abandoned and generally oppositionist opinion blog.
duterteadminnews.com - an apparently pro-Duterte site but its Facebook page got only 92 likes, suggesting that whatever Cocoy’s plans here were abandoned. There are only 4 posts.
fightfortruth.club - supposedly a fact checking site, although it focuses only on fact checking obviously fake news sites using a clear anti-administration bias. Updated once a week.
FixPH.org - another fake news site that called Senator Gordon a “d*ck” as it accused the senator of conniving with Sen. Pimentel in a power grabe against Sen. De Lima.
kolektibo.com - a seemingly abandoned pro-Duterte site.
PilipinongPalaban.com - a staunchly pro-Leni site. No traction though.
politikanginamo.com - another fake news site. According to one of its more recent articles, “Wapakels (si Duterte) kung bata man o matanda, buntis o may kapansanan, inosente man o hindi. Basta sabihin ng mga DDS army na adik ka, patay ka!”
SocialPatrol.ph - an Liberal Party-leaning website where one of the articles even talks about “The Lighter Side of the Senator Trillanes’ AMA on Reddit”

In short, there is ONLY ONE PERSON who receives all the ad revenues from all these sites, and that one person must either be Jover Laurio or Cocoy Dayao.But then, the writer doubts that Laurio owns the AdSense account because on the following grounds:

[1] The websites have different writing styles. Simple content analysis will suggest that they are written by different people.

[2] Laurio manages to write only 20 to 30 short posts weekly on PinoyAkoBlog and judging from the quality and quantity of her blog posts, she cannot possibly handle all these websites.

[3] Laurio never claimed to have managed any of these other sites.

[4] Laurio claims to be a simple blogger, not a web programmer.

[5] Laurio managing so many sites by herself is illogical because it would destroy her supposed image as an independent honest-to-goodness political blogger.

That is, Cocoy Dayao most likely owns the Google AdSense Account with Publisher ID “pub-1068157602481996”.

Now, keep that last sentence in mind as we go to the next section.

LAURIO’S WEBSITE STILL RUNS DAYAO’S ADS

Out of sheer curiosity, the writer visited PinoyAkoBlog.com on 04 January 2019 at 1:00 PM to check if it still serves Google Advertisements… and still does.

A screenshot of PinoyAkoBlog.com taken on 04 January 2019. It features a 320x100 pixel Google Ad (see yellow arrow).

Here's a video recording taken on 04 June 2019 showing that the Pinoy Ako Blog website still serves ads under publisher ID “pub-1068157602481996”:

That is, a quick inspection of the ad served in an 04 January 2019 blog post yields the publisher ID “pub-1068157602481996”, or ads from THE SAME DAYAO-OWNED ADSENSE ACCOUNT mentioned in 2017.

As of 04 January 2019, Cocoy Dayao still receives the ad revenues generated by Jover Laurio’s Pinoy Ako Blog website.

In short, Laurio is still under Dayao as of this article’s writing… and who is Dayao under?

The opposition Liberal Party, on the following grounds:

FIRST, Dayao was a paid consultant of the Presidential Communications Operations Office during the presidency of Noynoy Aquino (Liberal Party), as evidenced by the PCOO payout form shown below:

PAYROLL RECORDS NI COCOY DAYAO

Ilang araw ko na itong narelease pero maang-maangan pa rin ang mainstream media. Alam...
Posted by Thinking Pinoy on Monday, October 16, 2017

SECOND, Dayao manages the official website of Liberal Party president and Philippine Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan. Dayao himself admitted this in [Labrats], one of the websites Dayao owns.

Cocoy Dayao himself admitted in his own website LabRats.me that Pangilinan is a client.

THIRD, Evidence also suggests that Dayao still controlled Pangilinan’s website when in days after the 2017 #CocoyGate senate hearing, Pangilinan’s website, along with other Dayao-controlled websites, simultaneously went down, as shown below:

Senator Kiko Pangilinan's website went down along with Madam Claudia's and Silentnomoreph's. Earlier tonight, nag down...
Posted by Thinking Pinoy on Sunday, October 8, 2017

That is, evidence suggests that Dayao is a Liberal Party lackey.

CONNECTING THE DOTS

Laurio writes in PinoyAkoBlog, PinoyAkoBlog is under Dayao, and Dayao is under the Liberal Party… and this still holds true as of 04 January 2019.

Laurio cannot possibly argue that she knew nothing about Dayao’s superiors because her wedding invitation (shown below) suggests otherwise, as her list of principal sponsors include:

1. Vice-president and Liberal Party chairwoman Leni Robredo
2. LP-aligned Senator Antonio Trillanes
3. LP-aligned Senator Risa Hontiveros
4. LP-aligned Rep. Gary Alejano, Trillanes’ de facto alter-ego in the House of Representatives
5. LP Senator Bam Aquino, who also happens to be benefactor Kris Aquino’s nephew
6. Former President Noynoy Aquino’s sister Kris Aquino herself
7. LP stalwart Imelda Nicolas, one of the central figures in “#LeniLeaks: Inside Leni Robredo's international propaganda machinery” and the sister of another LP stalwart billionaire Loida Nicolas-Lewis.

And most importantly…

8. Senator Kiko Pangilinan himself, Dayao’s client and president of the Liberal Party.

Here's a photo of the wedding invitation:

THE LIST OF THE VAST POLITICAL MACHINERY BEHIND JOVER LAURIO?

This is the list of the sponsors of Jover Laurio's...
Posted by For the Motherland - Sass Rogando Sasot on Wednesday, January 2, 2019

There’s a preponderance of evidence showing that more than just Kris Aquino, the Liberal Party itself has strong financial links to Pinoy Ako Blog’s Jover Laurio up to this day, contrary to Laurio’s claim that she’s just a simple, honest blogger.

Simply put, evidence very strongly suggests that Jover Laurio, the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Person of the Year, is nothing more than a Liberal Party-funded propagandist.

Laurio is just one among many opposition bloggers and Pinoy Ako Blog is just one among many opposition blogs, so just how many opposition blogs receive financial support from the Liberal Party?

When VP Leni Robredo accused the Duterte government of having a “well-oiled machinery” for propaganda, I can only surmise that she based this solely on the fact that her own Liberal Party has one, so that the other side must also have its own.

That's bad logic on Robredo's part... though I am certainly and honestly unsurprised. (RJ Nieto / Thinking Pinoy)

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After the Nagasaki and Hiroshima nuclear attacks, reports came out that cockroaches were the only creatures that survived the two blasts. With that said, I think it can be argued that Kris Aquino is the showbiz equivalent of the Nagasaki and Hiroshima Cockroaches, with her atomic blasts being the many scandals she survived throughout her showbiz career.

And what's the problem? Kris Aquino's #PABoost Scandal, the latest atomic blast, is something that even a cockroach like her may not survive.

[UPDATE: Kris Aquino admitted several hours after this article's publication that she indeed financed opposition bloggers. See embedded image below]

FORMER PRES. AQUINO'S SISTER KRIS AQUINO ADMITS TO FUNDING ANTI-ADMIN BLOGGER

In an 06 January 2019 reply to a comment...
Posted by Thinking Pinoy on Sunday, January 6, 2019

ANALYZING ANALYTICS DATA

Recall the controversial Pep.ph article "Nicko Falcis swears Kris Aquino said: 'PAPAPATAY KA NG PAMILYA KO'", that most likely triggered her latest press conference.

I used an analytics app to find out how the said article went viral on social media and I discovered something really interesting: For the Motherland - Sass Rogando Sasot and Thinking Pinoy appears to have influenced a large chunk -- if not the largest chunk -- of shares that Pep.ph’s article garnered.

Facebook's CrowdTangle comes as a Google Chrome extension app that instantly provides social media analytics data of any given page.

Facebook's CrowdTangle, a service that describes itself as a tool to "measure social performance and identify influencers with tools designed for publishers.", is a great tool to find out how a given article spreads through Social Media, and that's what I used here.

Going back, analytics data shows most of the article's traffic basically came from TP and Sass' followers, people who are very well aware of the #PABoost controversy, where various screenshots released by the camp of her estranged financial manager Nicko Falcis

KRIS WILFULLY IGNORED #PABOOST

If Kris Aquino's massive social media team is worth its salt, it should also be totally aware of the allegations that Aquino's been funding at least one political propagandist [TP: #PABoost]. Thus, Aquino must have also been aware of the issue, unless her social media people are too scared of telling her about it for fear of suffering the same fate as her former financial manager.

Nah! Kris must know about #PABoost: she’s known to be really good at PR work and she’s not totally stupid.

Despite this, Aquino in her live video reply to the Pep article totally ignored the #PABoost Scandal and instead resorted to various appeals to emotion: her kids' welfare, her parents' legacy, her supposedly serious medical issues, and what not.

But then, there are two important details that Aquino mentioned in her live video:

[1] That her endorsement deals are under threat, supposedly because of the health clause in those contracts.

[2] That she will take a 14-day hiatus from social media, supposedly per doctors’ advice

And here’s where it gets interesting.

These two bits of information from Aquino, mentioned in the previous section, should be taken with a grain of salt. However, what’s clear and stipulatable so far are:

[1] That her endorsement deals are under threat, and

[2] That she will take a 14-day break from social media.

Yes, Aquino cited health concerns to justify both, but considering that someone like her who’s concededly more than adept at Public Relations, I cannot help but think that the alibi is all-too-convenient.

POLITICS AND PRODUCT ENDORSERS

Companies who want to sell to as large a chunk of the population want their endorsers to be likable by the largest possible audience. On the other hand, political discourse is inherently divisive. Thus, there’s a widely-held notion in the advertising industry that product endorsers should never delve too deeply in politics because it limits their ability to enhance product sales.

I admit that sans a courtroom trial, we can never definitively prove beyond reasonable doubt that Aquino is funding opposition propagandists. The preponderance of evidence pointing to it, however, appears to be more than enough to convince the Court of Public Opinion.

And there’s the problem: Kris has hundreds of millions worth of endorsement deals from companies who would most likely prefer getting apolitical endorsers. Aquino herself admitted not too long ago that she chose not to run for office in the 2019 midterm elections for fear of losing these contracts.But rumors of a senatorial run pale in comparison to accusations of financing political propaganda.

That is, I have reason to believe that Aquino’s involvement in the #PABoost Scandal may have started to become a hot topic in more than a few company boardrooms, likely resulting to more than a few company directors’ suggestions to ditch Aquino in favor of a new endorser who can reach a larger segment of their target markets.

Vice Ganda, for example, is a suitable alternative endorser for products that cater to socioeconomic classes C, D, E.

Vice Ganda (L) and Kris Aquino (R)

Surely, Vice Ganda endorsing Uni-Pak sardines will most likely result in better sales than a haciendera Kris Aquino doing the same. We all know that Kris is a socialite to the bone and we hardly expect her to buy Uni-Pak. She probably even feeds something more expensive to her dogs.

The relatable Vice Ganda, despite her inclination towards Duterte as shown in what happened during Duterte’s July 2015 Gandang Gabi Vice guesting, remains largely apolitical, unlike Aquino who’s even funding political bloggers.

I believe that the treat to her endorsement deals are less about her medical condition and more about her politics.

And this theory is further reinforced by her supposedly self-imposed 14-day break from Social Media.

WHY 14 DAYS?

Aquino in her live video announced a 14-day hiatus from social media supposedly to avoid stress that her doctors supposedly said could worsen her Lupus.

What I find odd, however, is the seemingly arbitrarily chosen length of her hiatus. Why 14 days? Why not 7? Why not longer? Did her doctors tell her that she’ll be significantly healthier in just 14 days, healthy enough to deal with social media-induced stress?

I doubt it. Aquino herself admitted to being allergic to Lupus-related medicines, and Lupus in itself is incurable. If Aquino indeed decided to take a break from social media due to her medical condition, the break should be for a much longer period of, say, at least a few months or even a year.

But 14 days, just 14 days?

Social media is a fast-paced environment where issues enjoy a very short shelf life. The talk of the town today will most likely be forgotten as soon as another issue comes up. For example, the Tony Labrusca airport scandal along with rumors about his sexuality that erupted earlier this week have been relegated to the sidelines right after Aquino’s press conference.

Chismis time! Ano pang hinihintay n’yo? Pasok! I-tag na ang mga ka-chismosa natin para hindi mahuli.
Posted by Senyora on Friday, January 4, 2019

That is, I cannot help but think that the 14-day hiatus is less about her health and more about preserving what’s left of her showbiz career. That is, it appears that she’s hoping that the #PABoost scandal would have died down by the end of her vacation.

KRIS AQUINO, THE COCKROACH OF SHOWBIZ

Right after the United States dropped atomic bombs in Nagasaki and Hiroshima during the Second World War, reports came out that cockroaches were the only creatures that survived the two blasts. And I think everyone will agree that in this respect, Kris Aquino is the showbiz equivalent of the Nagasaki and Hiroshima Cockroaches, with her atomic bombs being the many scandals she survived throughout her showbiz career.

Do you still remember…

…her affair with the married actor Philip Salvador that produced a baby?
…her (yet another) affair with comedian Joey Marquez where she even claimed to have contracted STDs?
…her much-publicized rift with her erstwhile best buddy and actress Ai-ai de las Alas?
…her seemingly apocalyptic breakup with baller James Yap that includes a protracted custody battle over their child?

These are just some of the many scandals she faced throughout the decades.

Oh, and I forgot Bistek!

Kris Aquino did not only survive all these scandals: she even deftly used the publicity to boost her popularity that, in turn, allowed her to snag multi-million-peso endorsement contracts, catapulting her to top of the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s top individual taxpayers’ list.

But there the abovementioned scandals share one common denominator, a common denominator that the recent Aquino-Falcis #PABoost Scandal doesn’t have.

KEEPING IT PERSONAL

The past scandals enumerated in the previous section have one thing in common: the issues are extremely personal in nature, so that the public has no significant stake in the matter.

Any regular Filipino who watched each of these quite entertaining events unfold knows full well that nothing in his life change whatever happens.

Contrast that to the Aquino-Falcis #PABoost Scandal that, unlike the previous ones, took on a very political dimension. What initially started as a financial squabble slowly metamorphosed into a political issue after Aquino was found out to have been significantly funding anti-government political propagandists.

Her financing an opposition-aligned blogger wouldn’t have mattered much if it happened in the 2000s. But a product endorser doing the same is a terrible idea at an age where every Pedro, Pablo, and Pekto is actively engaged in political discourse, and 74% of every Pedro, Pablo, and Pekto are satisfied with the Duterte Administration.

NA-BOOST KAYA NI NICKO FALCIS?

Boost is how Facebook calls paid promotional posts. That is, a page administrator can...
Posted by Thinking Pinoy on Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Unlike Kris Aquino’s previous scandals, the public now has a stake in her kerfuffle with Falcis. That is, the general public, instead of watching her make a fool of herself as usual just for kicks, feel that any semblance of victory on Kris Aquino’s part is a major blow against general public interest.

After all, if Kris Aquino emerges victorious through-and-through, then she can just continue funding anti-government propagandists, to the detriment of Filipinos who are sick and tired of the brand of governance that her brother and former president Noynoy Aquino’s opposition espouses.

Kris Aquino, as a product endorser, is basically a salesperson. Now, imagine a salesperson who tells you that you made a stupid decision to support your president then, at the same breath, attempt to sell you Uni-Pak sardines, Ariel detergent, UFC ketchup, Marca Piña soy sauce and what not?

That’s ridiculous: I’d rather buy Ligo, Tide, Hunt's Ketchup, and Datu Puti, than help support the livelihood of Kris Aquino, the Kris Aquino who supports the livelihood of propagandists that will bring my country back to the nightmares of Yolanda and Mamasapano.

[UPDATE: Readers pointed out that Tide, like Ariel, is from Procter and Gamble. So I'll just buy Surf, I guess.]

Kris Aquino's many endorsement deals.

The latest developments in the Aquino-Falcis #PABoost brouhaha suggests that Kris is now in a scandal that she, unlike before, cannot possibly take advantage of.

Kris Aquino basically bit off more social media fodder than she can chew.

Will she continue to fund political propagandists after this?

I do not know, but what’s clear is that the Liberal Partygoers, who so fervently paint their social media bloggers as selfless, patriotic, and independent activists, cannot do so anymore.

Why? Because Kris Aquino proved that Liberal Party’s ogrish poster girl for social media – Pinoy Ako Blog’s Jover Laurio that she herself finances – is a paid hack.

As for Vice Ganda's manager, I strongly suggest that you take even greater care of your talent's interests right away. Here's an opportunity. Grab it. *wink*. [RJ Nieto/ThinkingPinoy]

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Secretary Locsin, I can never be "fucking envious" of the things you said.
#####

Dear Sec. Teddy Boy Locsin,

Good day.

In reaction to Kris Aquino's ongoing scandals, you told everybody through your twitter account that:

"People against Kris are just fucking envious of her wealth, her looks, her work ethic—she never stops working, her success and her pedigree. Period."

Let me correct you.

FIRST, I cannot be "fucking envious" of Kris Aquino's wealth: she got most of it through nepotism, influence peddling, and exploiting poor farmers in Tarlac.

Have you given Hacienda Luisita to China, or is it still part of the Philippines? Because if it still is, then I do not know what enviable wealth of Kris Aquino you're talking about.

SECOND, I cannot be "fucking envious" of her looks, because a large part of it comes from her wealth that she got from (see first point).

Besides, the truly wealthy will never sue anyone for just PHP 1 million. Even by your standards, that's pretty cheap.

THIRD, I cannot be "fucking envious" of her work ethic. If she really had a good work ethic, she would not have had the catastrophic falling out with her financial manager that is happening right now.

Work ethic is the set of moral principles a person uses in their job, and Kris Aquino's supposedly enviable work ethic includes blaming her own employees for her own medical condition.

Would you be ok if Pres. Rody Duterte fires you because of the chronic pain in his cheeks?

FOURTH, I cannot be "fucking envious" of her success. Her continued success is from her taking advantage of personal scandals. She'll never be the Filipina Oprah Winfrey, because she has always been the Filipina Kim Kardashian West.

Besides, if she is really as successful as you would like us to think, she won't be so insecure that she even felt the need to fund political black propagandists just to protect her "queendom", whatever that means.

FIFTH, I can never be "fucking envious" of her pedigree because [1] I don't crave for dog food and [2] she comes from a family who made it a business to exploit and murder the poor.

I am very open to an extensive public discussion about Kris Aquino's pedigree, and I will start with a sub-topic on the History of Philippine Land Reform.

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, I can never be "fucking envious" of her period. And at her ripe age of 47, it's about to go away anyway.

I understand your predilection toward defending the Aquino women, especially since you were Pres. Corazon Aquino's speechwriter and Press Secretary... but to simply dismiss as "fucking envy" the public's legitimate criticisms against Kris Aquino's funding of political black propaganda?

Sec. Locsin, please use your own wealth, looks, success, pedigree, and work ethic in coming up with a smarter and less elitist tweet.

But I guess you won't feel the need to listen to me because just like regular Filipino, I do not have wealth, looks, success, and pedigree.

But unlike you, Sec. Locsin, I wish to believe that regular Filipinos like me have loftier ideals than just wealth, looks, and pedigree.

Sincerely,

Thinking Pinoy

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The latest installment of the Kris Aquino vs Nicko Falcis saga reveals PNoy's close relationship with the Indonesian billionaire whose greed brought the Philippines to the brink of war with China.

The conflict between actress Kris Aquino and her estranged manager Nicko Falcis was supposed to be purely personal, until we got the shock of our lives as their exchanges revealed national interest implications, such as when we found out that the showbiz cockroach Aquino was funding opposition-aligned political black propagandists such as Pinoy Ako Blog's Jover Laurio.

Thinking Pinoy certainly thought that that was the end of it, until a recent ABS-CBN article about the Aquino-Falcis tiff resurrected a story bigger than both parties combined.

When PNOY asked Salim for a very special favor

In the 14 January 2019 ABS-CBN article "Nicko Falcis: 'I was so devastated. I thought I was in a Shake, Rattle & Roll chapter. [Archived]'”, it was reported that Kris Aquino, after suffering a severe allergic reaction during one of her promo shoots in Indonesia, was whisked away to Manila for immediate medical treatment with help from her siblings.

Falcis said:

"...[Kris Aquino] sought the help of her siblings in Metro Manila so that she could return to the Philippines and receive proper medical attention. I was told that her brother, former President B. C. Aquino, contacted his Indonesian friend, a certain Mr. Salim, who... graciously allowed the use of his private plane for Aquino’s emergency flight."

Kris Aquino (L) and Nicko Falcis (R), during better times

That is, Falcis, wittingly or unwittingly, revealed that former President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino (PNOY) has a close relationship with "a certain Mr. Salim", close enough for the latter to graciously lend a plane to PNoy at a moment's notice.

And here's the problem: that "certain Mr. Salim" is most likely the guy whose greed brought us to the brink of war with China in the South China Sea.

Yes, I am talking about Indonesia's 4th-richest billionaire Anthoni Salim, head of mammoth firm First Pacific, whose directors include Aquino-era Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and Metro Pacific CEO Manny V. Pangilinan (MVP).

So what about it?

Well, documents show that Salim's First Pacific, through directors Del Rosario and MVP, has been interested in Reed Bank in the Spratly Island Group way before the Aquino-era chapter of the South China Sea began, and they will do all they can – including betraying the Filipino People – just to get it.

And with the revelation in the 2019 ABS-CBN Kris-Nicko article , it appears that PNoy was in on it, and not just the three.

Salim, del Rosario, and Manny Pangilinan

Albert del Rosario was the Philippine Ambassador to the United States from 2001 to 2006. He joined First Pacific as an independent non-executive director while still an ambassadorin in June 2003. He then served as a non-executive director starting 2004.

PNOY made Del Rosario his Foreign Affairs Secretary while the latter was still with First Pacific. Del Rosario resigned from the Salim-owned firm a month later, only to rejoin First Pacific’s board in June 2016 [FP].

(Featured Image, L to R: First Pacific Director and Aquino-era Foreign Sec. Albert del Rosario, First Pacific Chairman Anthoni Salim, and First Pacific CEO Manny V. Pangilinan)

In the 2016 article “The South China Sea Decision and Perfecto Yasay’s Face”, ThinkingPinoy explained how the South China Sea enjoyed an uneasy peace until Foreign Secretary del Rosario in March 2011 allowed Salim-MVP’s Forum Energy to start looking for hydrocarbons beneath Reed Bank in the South China Sea.

Meanwhile, in another 2016 “On Sec. Albert del Rosario, is there anybody worse than Karen Davila”, ThinkingPinoy explained how del Rosario, throughout his term as Foreign Affairs chief, made decisions that favored Salim-MVP’s hydrocarbon interests in the South China Sea, in violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act and the Code of Conduct for Public Officials.

Del Rosario, Salim, and Manny V. Pangilinan (MVP) belong to the top management of First Pacific, the parent company of the Salim-MVP Group, which includes Philex Petroleum and Forum Energy [FP].

That is, Salim owns Forum Energy, the same company that had one of the largest parts in igniting tension between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea.

ThinkingPinoy dug deeper into the issue by examining Forum Energy’s situation prior to the March 2011 Reed Bank Incident. After all a foreign relations debacle of this magnitude should be rooted on something that has been going on for years, and going on for years it actually did.

That is, after I did a little more digging, I discovered documents showing that Del Rosario-Salim-MVP’s First Pacific has been interested in Reed Bank way before 2011.

1: Why the sudden interest in Reed Bank?

Another firm called Sterling Energy first explored Reed Bank in the 1970s and found natural gas. The 1970s 2D Explorationfocused on oil because gas was considered non-commercial at that time.

An exploration well was drilled on South Reed Bank in four different years: 1976, 1978, 1982, and 1984. The 1976 and 1984 exploratory wells (Sampaguita-1 and -3A) yielded natural gas but results are inconclusive [US SEC].

The Sampaguita Gas Discovery is inside Reed Bank, one of the contested areas in the South China Sea.

Nothing happened in Reed Bank for the next two decades, mainly because this area (called the Sampaguita Gas Discovery), aside from being generally non-commercial, was too remote for the technology of those times.

But two things happened afterwards[OGJ]:

[1] natural gas technology advanced throughout the years, making it commercially viable, and,

[2] the exploitation of nearby Malampaya Gas Field in 2001 resulted to the construction of a gas pipeline from Palawan to Batangas.

That is, Sampaguita’s would-be operators can just piggyback on the existing Malampaya pipeline, allowing it to drastically cut down on costs, as I quote [OGJ]:

"While (Sampaguita) was always of note to many explorationists, it was of little commercial value in earlier years. No one was particularly interested in a stranded gas deposit in the South China Sea 500 miles southwest of Manila. This has changed dramatically with the presence of a major gas pipeline to Luzon whose origin point at Malampaya field is only about 100 miles to the northeast.”

In short, everyone knew there was gas in Reed Bank, but gas wasn’t a big thing until recently. Coupled with Reed Bank’s proximity to the 2001 Malampaya Pipeline, the once-ignored area suddenly showed lots of promise.

With these two developments, Sampaguita suddenly became a hot item.

2: Salim-MVP gets Reed Bank

Salim-MVP’s interest in Reed Bank rose in 2005, a year after del Rosario changed his job description from “independent non-executive director” of First Pacific to “non-executive director” of the same company.

In 2005, independent firm PGS said the Sampaguita Gas Discovery can rival the size of the Malampaya Gas Field. PGS, however, noted that “the application of modern technology is required to confirm the size, productibility and commerciality of this discovery”, as available data was over 20 years old [US SEC].

In short, Sampaguita has to be explored again to confirm natural gas deposits.
PGS’s 2005 statement was issued in response to Sterling Energy’s plan to sell 100% of its stake in Reed Bank to newly-incorporated UK-based Forum Energy. Forum Energy is majority-owned by Del-Rosario-Salim-MVP’s First Pacific through its subsidiary Philex Petroleum [TP: Philex].

Forum Energy officially acquired the Reed Bank Contract, called GSEC 101, on 18 May 2005 [US SEC].

On 19 August 2005, Forum Energy announced the completion of its 3D Seismic Survey over the Sampaguita Gas Discovery [FEC]. A year later, the company said the Sampaguita Gas Discovery is “a world class asset” after confirming a minimum of 3 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas reserves. It plans to conduct more tests on the sands in Reed Bank to potentially double this figure [FEC].

At this point, Salim-MVP’s rights over Reed Bank were granted by the Department of Energy’s (DoE) Geophysical Survey and Exploration Contract (GSEC) 101. This GSEC had to be converted into a Service Contract (SC) to add the right to commercially extract gas.The DoE notified Forum Energy that the formal signing of the Service Contract (SC 72) was to be held on August 2008 [FEC]. DoE eventually issued SC 72 in February 2010 [FEC].

2008 was also the year when Philex Petroleum further increased its stake in the Sampaguita Gas Field by buying shares from Canadian FEC Resources, one of the Reed Bank’s stakeholders [FEC].

This enabled Salim to gain a controlling 51% ownership of FEC. Consequently, Philex Mining Chief Operating Officer (COO) Jose Ernesto Villaluna, Jr. [Bloomberg] was named President and CEO of FEC [FEC].

Salim's Forum Energy conducted and completed the controversial Reed seismic survey in March 2011 [FEC], triggering a chain of events that led to the UNCLOS arbitration case [TP: Yasay’s Face].

3: Too much info? Here’s A Quick Recap

It’s time to recap what has been discussed so far.

Reed Bank was first explored during the Marcos Era and gas was indeed found. At that time, however, technological constraints made gas unprofitable, so the Marcos-Era surveys focused instead on finding crude oil.

Nobody cared about Reed Bank until natural gas has finally become useful two decades later. Adding the construction of pipelines for Palawan’s Malampaya Gas Field in 2001, Reed Bank suddenly became a very attractive asset.

The Salim-MVP group started to move in 2005 as it acquired Reed Bank exploration rights. The group successfully conducted Reed Bank seismic surveys on the same year but it will take another year to interpret the data.

The 2005 seismic survey returned very encouraging results in 2006, and Salim-MVP requested the DoE to allow it to extract gas from Reed Bank. DoE issued the permit, called SC 72, in 2008.

During that same period, the Salim-MVP group increased its stake on Reed Bank by buying shares from other stakeholders, finally enabling it to have a controlling stake on the Reed Bank contract by the time it was issued in February 2010. This was about four months before President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo stepped down to be replaced by President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino”.

At first, I had a hunch that Salim may have contributed a significant portion of PNOY's 2010 presidential campaign funds so his company can benefit from a pro-Salim Aquino Government.

And the recently revealed close relationship between PNOY and Salim, as exhibited by the favor Salim extended to PNOY in 2018, does nothing but reinforce that suspicion.

But we're not done yet.

4: PH-China-Vietnam Joint Exploration

As mentioned in a previous section, Salim-MVP acquired rights over Reed Bank in May 2005. About a year before that, however, a three-nation agreement that directly affected Reed Bank was forged.

The respective governments of the Philippines, China, and Vietnam signed a deal to jointly explore the South China Sea for oil and natural gas. This was after China moved to ease South China Sea tensions by proposing the said venture [ASJ].

This was made possible through a joint undertaking of their respective state-owned oil companies Philippine National Oil Corporation (PNOC), China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), and Vietnam Oil and Gas Corporation (PetroVietnam). Called the “Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking (JMSU)”, the project covers a well-defined area that includes Reed Bank [VCCI].

The three-year JMSU, with the option to extend, was signed on 01 September 2004 between Philippines and China [UPD]. Vietnam joined in March 2005 [VCCI].

According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under the agreement, the firms are committed to strictly adhering to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 2002 ASEAN-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea [VCCI].

Again, it’s clear that the South China Sea issue has been in the works even before PNoy assumed office.

5: Pres. Noynoy Aquino’s stance

The PGMA-era JMSU lapsed in July 2008 and was not extended. As to why, here’s a good reason according to the Philippine Star:

“The decision on whether to extend the JMSU is crucial especially for Forum Energy PLC, which is optimistic that it could bag one contract in the Sampaguita prospects in offshore Palawan once the tri-partite agreement expires… The existence of the JMSU apparently affected the application for conversion of Forum Energy [Star] .”

DoE eventually issued the SC 72 Reed Bank Contract to Salim-MVP in in February 2010 [FEC].

And the PNOY entered Malacañang several months later, bringing with him an uncannily antagonistic stance towards PGMA's JMSU.

In January 2011, Pres. Aquino said:

“Yung isa sa mga diniscuss naming ngayon yung joint seismic study na nag-e-encroach din sa ating territorial waters but nag-lapse na. Pero that shouldn't have happened [ABS].

(One of the issues we discussed today was joint seismic study that encroaches our territorial waters. The contract may have lapsed but it shouldn’t have happened in the first place.)

A month later in February 2011, Aquino appointed First Pacific Director Albert del Rosario as Foreign Affairs secretary. Two weeks after the appointment, del Rosario authorized the Salim-MVP company to conduct seismic surveys on Reed Bank, leading to a chain of events that culminated into the South China Sea arbitration case [TP: Yasay’s Face].

And those chain of events include a military confrontation in the South China Sea.

[GMA News] in March 2011 reported:

The Philippine military... sent an aircraft to the disputed Reed Bank near Palawan after receiving a report that Chinese patrol boats were trying to harass some Filipino oil explorers in the area.

The report was referring to Salim's Forum Energy, who was exploring Reed Bank at the time, in violation of the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea [ASEAN], which states:

"The Parties undertake to exercise self-restraint in the conduct of activities that would complicate or escalate disputes and affect peace and stability..."

And what did the PH do? Violate the code in 2011 when it allowed oil exploration in a disputed area, the same code that the Philippines agreed to and signed.

China's reclamation in the South China Sea? It was, at least partly, in retaliation to PNOY's decision to allow Salim and Co. to violate the 2002 Code of Conduct by authorizing oil exploration in disputed territory.

6: Something doesn’t add up

China tried to reach out to the Aquino Administration several times but it was constantly rebuffed by Foreign Affairs Secretary del Rosario, as he insisted that China should not take part in any exploration project. However, given what has been discussed in the previous sections, I believe the Philippine Government has (or had) two options:

OPTION A: PNOC-CNOOC-PetroVietnam

The Chinese and Vietnamese Governments aren’t stupid: they know the 60/40 PH law on foreign ownership. China and Vietnam would not have bothered to talk to us if they were unwilling to acknowledge that, as the PH Supreme Court can simply declare any ensuing contract unconstitutional and all their efforts and resources will be wasted.

In short, what I can see is a 60-40 deal where PNOC holds a 60% stake while CNOOC and PetroVietnam owns 20% each. Now, it can be argude that they are unlikely to accept such a deal.

The problem, however, is we never asked. Remember that the JMSU was just a pre-exploratory undertaking. And before anything productive happened, the JMSU expired and was never renewed.

And by the way, who benefitted from JMSU’s lapse? The Salim-MVP group.

Now, this leads us to…

OPTION B: Salim-MVP

This is what the Aquino administration wanted at the onset as Aquino wanted Salim-MVP to exploit Reed Bank instead of CNOOC-PNOC, and that’s what Ambassador Cuisia and Del Rosario want right now.

Assuming that Forum Energy indeed manages to drill on Reed Bank, who stands to benefit? At best, it will be a 40% Indonesian, 60% Filipino venture. But it doesn’t end there. Manny Pangilinan is a known puppet of Indonesia’s Salim Group, and it is general knowledge that his money is Salim’s money, hidden through corporate layers that make it difficult for the government to detect foreign ownership issues [MT].

7: Which is the Better Deal? Let's do a little math

We know for a fact that whichever option we choose, whatever we do, local companies do not have the technology to drill in the South China Sea or anywhere in the country for that matter. That is, foreign participation is necessary because we need their technology.

If we will give a minimum of 40% of Reed Bank revenues to the Indonesians anyway, why not give a maximum of 40% to the Chinese instead? Wouldn’t that be a better deal?

Besides, the 60% Filipino stake in Option A will be held by PNOC, a government-owned company, so that all PNOC revenues will go directly to the government. That is, the PH government will receive taxes and fees PLUS PNOC’s profits.

Now, compare that to the 60% Filipino stake in Option B where Salim-MVP has the greatest benefit, while the Government will earn only through taxes and fees, but the profits will remain in Salim-MVP hands.

To illustrate, suppose the Sampaguita Gas Field yields Php 120 in profits, and the PH government levies 20 pesos in taxes and fees, leaving 100 pesos to be distributed to shareholders.

In Option A, Php 40 goes to CNOOC and Php 60 goes to PNOC. In short, the PH Government earns Php 80 out of Php 120 profit.

In Option B, Php 40 goes to Salim and other foreign owners, Php 60 goes to Manny Pangilinan. In short, the PH Government earns 20 pesos out of the Php 120.

That is, if we talk to the Chinese, we can get 80 out of every 120. If we insist on Del Rosario’s stance, we get 20 out of every 120.

I think this is a no brainer, but the Aquino Administration insists on the Salim-MVP Option, saying that we have to defend our sovereignty or some other nationalistic bullshit.

NOTE: And just to remind you again: the Aquino-Falcis brouhaha revealed that PNOY has a close friendship with Salim.

But if it were the case, then why did Manny Pangilinan, with Aquino’s and Del Rosario’s blessings, try to strike a deal with China’s CNOOC in 2012 [GMA]?

Worse, MVP even offered the Spratlys to the Chinese at that time and I quote:

“In an aide memoire… dated May 7, 2012, Pangilinan reported on his meeting with CNOOC… and listed his 11-point proposal (to)… the Chinese... The… proposal includes a Framework Agreement between Philex and CNOOC ‘relating to an area of mutual interest which will be defined as the area covered by SC 72’…’Other disputed areas (such as the Spratlys) could be included by agreement’. [ABS]”

Wait a second...

Del Rosario wanted us to choose Option B because "sovereignty", and when push came to shove, he offered our sovereignty just to get Reed Bank?

MVP, Del Rosario’s backdoor negotiator, wanted Reed Bank so badly that he’s willing to surrender the Spratly Islands: MVP is del Rosario’s representative, he wouldn’t have done that without del Rosario’s imprimatur.

And who is the ultimate beneficiary should MVP and Del Rosario's plans push through?

PNOY's friend Mr. Salim.

They are taking the Filipino People for fools.

Why in the hell would the Philippines risk going into war just for the interest of del Rosario and Pangilinan? Despite it all, Karen Davila thinks they’re “patriots” [TP: Dear Karen].

And before I forget: Davila bought shares of Philex Petroleum, in anticipation of "developments".

ThinkingPinoy is willing to go hardline on China, only if Salim-MVP surrenders SC 72 to PNOC.

But surely, it won’t.

8: No Media Coverage? No investigative reports?

But why does local media seem to know little about the apparent Salim-MVP-Del Rosario conspiracy?

Upton Sinclair once said, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it."

Now, consider this:

Salim-MVP owns TV5 [BM]
Salim-MVP owns the Philippine Star [Star]
The Inquirer's President and CEO's husband is the president of Chamber of Mines [Inq, CoM], which is not very happy with the current administration [ABS].
GMA plays it safe, maybe because MVP may want to buy it again [ABS].
ABS-CBN is essentially a Liberal Party ally, it's a no-brainer.

And we are left with only one major news outlet: Rappler.

But Rappler adores del Rosario. To date, Rappler has praised del Rosario like he’s some candidate for beatification by the Pope. To date, not a single Rappler article tackled del Rosario’s conflicts of interest [TP: Worse than Karen].

Rappler is going bankrupt so it desperately needs additional funding. Is Rappler planning to knock on MVP’s doors too?

After all, MVP said before that he wants Ressa's sorority blog [Rap].

9: The Bottom-line

One of the major triggers of the South China Sea conflict of the 2010s is the Salim Group's unfettered desire for Reed Bank, and the events listed above show that it has been machinating for years to get exactly that.

ThinkingPinoy initially suspected this to be a scheme involving only Del Rosario, MVP, and their financier Salim, but the Aquino-Falcis Saga revealed that PNOY himself, through his eerily close relationship with Salim, may be in on it.

But I might be wrong. Teddy Boy Locsin may even tell me that I am "fucking envious" of the Aquinos' wealth, success, looks, work ethic, and pedigree.

Fu** that Sh**.

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Teddy Boy, how does it feel to swallow your own vomit?

Days ago, DFA Sec. Teddy Boy Locsin said there was a data breach in DFA's passporting system after passport printer Oberthur supposedly ran away with the personal information of Filipino passport holders. To further exacerbate the situation, Locsin also said we can't really go after Oberthur because it was pretty much the government's fault why it happened.

A nationwide stir ensued, especially since it seemed that the government learned nothing from the 2016 COMELEC data leak, where hackers released the nation's entire voter database for anyone to see.

After the public found out that Oberthur's contract ended in 2015, i.e. under the Noynoy AquinoAdministration, Locsin was quick to exonerate then Foreign Sec. Albert del Rosario and pinned the blame on Duterte's former Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano.

Locsin, in an eerily Yellow Fashion, was so quick at blaming people even if he didn't even understand what exactly happened. He, at the time, didn't even understand what exactly he's blaming people for.

KNOWLEDGEABLE GOV'T OFFICIALS REBUT THE CLUELESS LOCSIN'S CLAIMS

Clarifications from other government officials who are more familiar with the passport issue showed that there was NO DATA LEAK. Old passport data was simply stored in obsolete hardware, making it unreadable by DFA's new passport printer APO Production Unit, Inc., which uses more modern equipment.

Social Media lambasted Locsin for his utterly irresponsible and ill-informed tweets. Locsin, instead of listening to valid criticism, even went as far as accusing Rody Duterte supporters of being of a "social media campaign" that "crosses partisan lines".

Locsin eventually admitted that there was no leak. But instead of totally owning up to the consequences of his verbal diarrhea, he alleged a supposed coverup of the passport mess, without specifying which parties are involved in the coverup. This led many to believe that even Duterte's own men may have something to do with it.

But it isn't the case either. It's simply an issue of a former contractor who doesn't want to spend more money to make it easier for the replacement contractor to do its job.

There was no data leak. Instead, it's just an issue of an asshole being an asshole to assholes.

TEDDY BOY TRIES TO SAVE HIS OWN ASS FROM HUMILIATION

Not yet content of his already schizophrenic version of the passport problem, Locsin also said that the old contractor made the data "inaccessible", which is also incorrect. Again, new technology can't read the Oberthur's old technology. The problem is not sabotage, but simply obsoletion.

But that more accurate version of the story wouldn't be dramatic enough for Locsin, I guess.

Here's the thing, Sec. Locsin:

Spend less time trying to be a Twitter superstar (which you aren't) defending Kris Aquino and more time actually doing your job... and that job includes FULLY KNOWING issues within your department BEFORE YOU START RUNNING YOUR MOUTH.

Had you done that from the onset, you would not have had to weave fake news upon fake news in your desperate attempt at avoiding humiliation.

Is this what Pres. Duterte appointed you for?

I actually encourage top level government officials to talk about what's going on in their respective agencies, but that is with the understanding that they actually know what they are talking about.

Unfortunately, you DO NOT KNOW what you're talking about. And when it came it a point where you had to fact check your own messed up story, you again ordered your Little Secretary to do your own work.

INCOMPETENT AND EGOTISTIC

Your recent order removing birth certificates as a requirement for e-passport renewals? That's useless because BC's have ceased to become a requirement for such renewals no later than in 2014.

That's just like taking credit for passing a law that already exists in the first place.

Sec. Locsin, you can even claim all day that we are just "fucking envious" of your own success, work ethic, looks, pedigree and wealth, but I surely will never be envious of your bloated ego that's getting in the way of Public Interest.

Remember that I support Duterte, but supporting Duterte does not mean supporting someone as incompetent and as egotistic as you.

You have always given us the impression that you are so convinced that you are so much better than most of us... AND I BELIEVE IT'S NOW THE RIGHT TIME FOR YOU TO LOOK THE PART.

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Losing 2016 presidential contender and 2019 senatorial aspirant Manuel "Mar" Roxas II recently launched an advertisement campaign "Mar Roxas Ekonomista", a clear attempt at branding Roxas as an economist... but is he?

Set in a barber shop, the ad started with various actors asking questions about inflation, taxes, salary deductions, subsidies, transport costs, etc, until the barber interjected with:

"Ekonomista! Ekonomista ang kailangan. Si Mar Roxas, 'yun! Maraming ekonomista diyan pero para sa amin, si Mar, aming ekonomista!

(TRANSLATION: "Economist. We need an economist. Mar Roxas... that guy! There are many economists out there but for us, our economist is Mar!)

Ekonomista
Maraming bagay na natututunan sa simpleng kuwentuhan.
Posted by Mar Roxas on Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Hence, let's ask...

How much of an economist is "Mar Ekonomista"?

I visited his official website, MarRoxas.com. I then navigated to his "about page" and saw this:

The description alongside his graduation photo reads:

1964 - 1979

Background in Economics

Mar graduated from Ateneo de Manila University in 1974 and the Wharton School of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1979

Let's dissect this claim.

Born on 13 May 1957, Roxas was just 7 years old in 1964, 17 years old in 1974, and just 22 years old in 1979.

In short, Mar counted his "Background in Economics" starting at First Grade. Yes, Mar counted his "Background in Economics" from age 7 to age 22.

I don't know about you, but elementary and high school doesn't count as a background in Economics: That's called basic education.

This smells too much like resume padding to me.

Anyway, as for his undergraduate Wharton economics degree...

What is an Economist?

But he has an undergrad economics degree, right?

I checked several websites to check the educational requirements for Economists.

According to CollegeGrad.com:

"A master's degree or Ph.D. is required for most economist jobs."

According to YourFreeCareerTest:

An economist usually needs a master’s degree or Ph.D., but in the case of entry-level jobs, such as in government, a bachelor’s degree is acceptable.

According to MyMajors.com:

"Doctoral Degree usually needed for this career"

Given this, I think it is safe to say that Economists are expected to have at least a master's degree, although entry-level economist jobs may not require it.

Unfortunately, Roxas received no postgraduate education at all, so Roxas is an entry-level economist at best. Surely, any self-respecting senatorial candidate will never boast about being an entry-level economist, right?

Well, not for Mar.

But let's give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, formal education isn't everything, so let's check his employment history for more information.

Mar the Investment Banker

After leaving college and before entering politics, Mar worked as investment banker at Allen & Company on Wall Street, and Mar himself bragged about it in his own website when he said he "rose through the ranks to become an Assistant Vice-president (AVP)”.

A screenshot of Roxas's website taken on 20 Jan 2019.

Note that Allen & Co. is a boutique investment bank, with “boutique” being a fancy term for “small”.

While it can be argued that Allen & Co. of today is a big-time investment bank, we are more concerned about its status when Mar was still working for them. That is, what Allen & Co. was like in the 1980s.

In a 2004 article, Fortune.com described Allen & Co. Company with:

Allen & Co. has no research department and has never had a New York Stock Exchange membership. Statistically, the firm is insignificant; Securities Data rankings show, for example, that in mergers and acquisitions, Allen has not ranked higher than 11th among all securities firms in any of the past 15 years.

The same article states that Allen and Company's as of 2004 had a total 175 employees, paling in comparison to Barclay's 20,500 employees, or Goldman Sach's 34,000. Moreover, if it had only that many at that time, it must have had a lot fewer in 1980s when Mar was over there.

More important, however, is the part where Forbes said Allen & Co. has no research department, implying that Mar Roxas didn't really do significant economic research work during his stint at the firm.

And to top it all off, it appears that Roxas' performance as an investment banker wasn't even stellar at all.

Let me tell you how exactly.

Promoted only once in 14 years

In the world of investment banking, the title of “Assistant Vice-president (AVP) is essentially meaningless. An AVP, also known as an Associate Vice-president, is a classic example of job-title inflation.

In Aleynikov vs Goldman Sachs, the United States Court of Appeals said:

"...title inflation in the financial services industry is prevalent and the title of vice president is not particularly meaningful."

No less than Mar Roxas' own Wharton School's Knowledge Base states:

"...[I]n the investment banking and brokerage industries, just about everyone is a vice president, including 'the guys opening the door and serving you coffee.'"

Note that the US Court of Appeals and Mar Roxas' own alma mater were belittling the job title "vice-president".

Mar Roxas, on the other hand, is an "assistant vice-president", putting him AT LEAST ONE LEVEL BELOW the already meaningless "vice-president".

To make it worse, it appears that he got promoted ONLY ONCE during his 14-year stint at Allen & Co:

According to Investopedia, the standard investment banking career order includes:

Investment Banking Analyst
Investment Banking Associate
Vice President
Senior Vice President
Managing Director

In short, Mar's job title belongs somewhere between "Associate" and "Assistant Vice-president".

However, after checking the job portal GlassDoor, it appears that the titles are synonymous because they are listed under the same salary grade.

A screenshot of GlassDoor showing that top banks consider the title "AVP" and "Associate" are interchangeable and are both under the same salary bracket.

In short, Mar Roxas lasted for FOURTEEN YEARS in Allen & Co. but he got PROMOTED ONLY ONCE.

I do not have sky-high standards for senators, but if Mar wants to claim to be an economist, he should be able to demonstrate it.

It's bad enough that Mar Roxas has no postgraduate education that's expected in most economist just jobs, but adding the fact that his professional economics background is nothing but a woefully mediocre stint in a small investment bank that doesn't even do research makes it much, much worse.

Benefit of the doubt

But anyone can argue that formal education and job promotions aren't the end-all and be-all of brilliance, so let's check the projects that he was involved in.

The about page of Roxas' old website states [Archived Copy]:

“[Mar Roxas] proposed to his company to set up shop in Asia, specifically in the Philippines, and later his superiors agreed. In 1991, he was stationed in the country under North Star Capitals, Inc. which took Jollibee public. In the United States, he participated in the first financing of Discovery Channel and Tri-Star Pictures.”

Let’s analyze the paragraph more carefully because I am taking these statements with a grain of salt, especially since Mar has a penchant for vague wording.

First, the writeup did not provide any specifics about his roles NorthStar Capitals, Inc (NCI). While Mar used the words “proposed”, “stationed”, and “participated”, he never used high-impact words such as “directed”, “led”, or “envisioned.”

For example, any new hire can “propose” something, any security guard can be “stationed” to another place, and any maintenance crew member can "participate" in a company's operations.

But then, Mar would probably say, “My tasks were more complex than just that.”

But given his predilection for resume-padding as shown in the previous sections, wouldn't it be odd if Roxas willfully declined to brag about the complexity of his roles?

Until Mar mentions a specific, concrete, and management-related achievement during his Allen and Company AVP stint, that AVP title will mean nothing.

And no, that investment banking stint doesn't make him an economist.

But how about during his political career?

Well, if one can be economist by being a long-time politician, then pretty much every politician over the age of 50 is an economist.

To cut the long story short, Mar is not an economist.

But then, he may still be an economist... according to that barber. [ThinkingPinoy]

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A child holding a Dengvaxia Card.

It’s been over a year since the Dengvaxia Scandal erupted in November 2017. Since then, the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) with its chief Atty. Persida Acosta has autopsied the bodies of over a hundred vaccinees, a vast majority of whom are school-age children who received the vaccine through the botched 2016 school-based vaccination program of the Department of Health (DOH), led by then Secretary Janette Garin.

PAO has already filed a number of criminal, civil, and administrative cases against the perpetrators of what could possibly be the biggest case of medical practice in Modern History.

Justice, however, remains elusive, as several of the victims’ parents came forward and accused today’s Department of Health of attempting to “buy evidence” from them, which would make it more difficult for the victims’ families to secure convictions against the culprits.

Today’s Health Department is headed by Secretary Francisco Duque, who previously was a DOH consultant reporting directly to Noynoy Aquino-era DOH Sec. Janette Garin.

The Basics of Filing a Dengvaxia Case

President Rodrigo Duterte tasked the Public Attorney’s Office was tasked by to handle Dengvaxia cases of any affected family who requests for assistance.

To initiate a formal complaint, PAO logically asks every complainant to submit medical records that shall be used as supporting evidence, including:

1. Dengvaxia Card– A small card issued by the DOH at the time of vaccination, detailing the who was vaccinated, where the vaccination took place, and when the recipient received Dengvaxia doses. This serves as prima facie evidence that the child indeed received Dengvaxia.

2. Death Certificate– This document states the date and cause of death.

3. Medical Abstract– A concise summary of the Dengvaxia recipient’s condition, usually issued by a qualified medical professional around the time of the recipient’s death.

Without these basic documents, winning a Dengvaxia case will be severely prolonged, if not impossible.

But there’s a problem.

Several Dengvaxia parents recently told PAO that the Department of Health has been attempting to get their original records in exchange for Php 50,0000 medical assistance. While it’s true that President Duterte instructed DOH to extend financial assistance, the President DID NOT order DOH to take away evidence from the victims’ kin.

But that’s what DOH did.

“DoH buys evidence”

Here are excerpts from 17 sworn testimonies of Dengvaxia complainants:

Witness No. 1: Aileen Teves

Victim/Casualty: Jose Balacano
Dengvaxia Case No. 15
[Click here for copy of sworn affidavit.]

“Sabi ng [taga-DOH], ang kailangan daw po nilang makuha ang orihinal na kopya ng Death Certificate ng aking anak at ang Dengvaxia Card kapalit ng halagang Php 50,000 cash.”

TRANSLATION: DOH said they need to get my child’s original Death Certificate and Dengvaxia Card in exchange for Php 50,000 cash.

Witness No. 2: Argelsam Racuya

Victim/Casualty: Kianah Mae Racuya
Dengvaxia Case No. 56
[Click here for copy of sworn affidavit.]

"Ikalawang linggo ng Hunyo 2018, kami ay linapitan ng mga empleyado ng DOH upang kausapin… tinanong ako kung may utang ako sa hospital… (at) inalok [na] kanila itong babayaran… Kung ako ay papayag, hihingan nila ako ng mga document… tulad ng… death certificate, Dengvaxia card, at Medical Abstract… daw… para mabayaran ang hospital bills…"

TRANSLATION: On the second week of June 2018, a DOH employee approached us for a conversation, asked me if I still have debts with the hospital, and offered to pay them off. If I agree, they asked me for documents like death certificate, Dengvaxia card, and Medical Abstract, supposedly as a requirement for them to pay the hospital bills.

Witness No. 3: Corazon Malagom

Victim/Casualty: Rolando Malagom
Dengvaxia Case No. 32
[Click here for copy of sworn affidavit.]

“Bigla akong hinarang ng... nagtratrabaho sa San Rafael Rural Health Center na kung saan ang aking anak ay tinurukan ng Dengvaxia vaccine... Sabi nila, kukunin nila ang… Dengvaxia Card… kapalit ng limampung libong piso (Php 50,000.00)."

TRANSLATION: Workers from San Rafael (town) Rural health center, where my child was vaccinated with Dengvaxia, suddenly approached me. They said they’ll get the Dengvaxia card in exchange for Php 50,000.

Witness No. 4: Florante Ocfemia

Victim/Casualty: Kenchi Ocfemia
Dengvaxia Case No. 80
[Click here for copy of sworn affidavit.]

“Humihingi [ang DOH] ng requirements para makuha yung tulong… Humingi siya ng… Dengvaxia card… pakapalit ng Php 50,000.00 na ‘burial assistance’.”

TRANSLATION: The DOH has requirements before they extend assistance. He asked for the Dengvaxia Card in exchange for Php 50,000.00 burial assistance.

Witness No. 5: Jennie Mae Elipane

Victim/Casualty: Melvin Karl Elipane
Dengvaxia Case No. 21
[Click here for copy of sworn affidavit.]

“Noong lumabas sa telebisyon na ipina-autopsy… ng Public Attorney’s Office ang labi ng aking kapatid ay pumunta sa aming bahay ang mga nagturok ng Dengvaxia vaccine… Sinabi nila… sa aking nanay na magbukas ng bank account dahil may ipapasok daw sila doon na pera basta tumigil lang siya sa pakikipag-ugnayan sa Public Attorney’s office at bigay niya sa kanila ang mga dokumento kaugnay sa pagkaka-ospital at pagkamatay ng aking kapatid. Dinig na dinig ko ito dahil katabi ko ang aking nanay habang sinasabi nila ito sa kanila.”

TRANSLATION: “The persons who vaccinated my brother visited our home after the Public Attorney’s office autopsy of my brother’s remains came out on TV. They told my mother to open a bank account because they will deposit an amount on the condition that she stops communicating with PAO and that she hands over documents related to my brother’s hospitalization and death. I heard this clearly as I was beside my mother when they were talking.”

Witness No. 6: Jennifer delos Santos

Victim/Casualty: Lea delos Santos
Dengvaxia Case no. 22
[Click here for copy of sworn affidavit.]

“Pinuntahan kami ng barangay captain kasama ng mga taga-DOH na hinihimok (kami) na tanggapin ang Php 50,000 kapalit ng pag-urong ng reklamo.”

TRANSLATION: The barangay (village) captain and DOH workers approached us and tried to convince us to accept Php 50,000 in exchange for withdrawing the case.

Witness No. 7: Judelin Apa and Erwin Apa

Victim/Casualty: EJ Christian Apa
Dengvaxia Case no. 30
[Click here for copy of sworn affidavit.]

“…Pumunta (kami) sa Rural Health Unit (Health Center) at pagdating naming doon ay kinausap kami ng isang nars at tinanong kami kung gusto ba raw naming mag-avail ng financial assistance na Php 50,000.00 kapalit ng… Dengvaxia Card.”

TRANSLATION: We went to the health center and upon arrival, a nurse approached us and asked if we want to avail of Php 50,000 assistance in exchange for the Dengvaxia Card.

Witness No. 8: Leonila Sibayan

Victim/Casualty: Ronald Sibayan
Dengvaxia Case no. 85
[Click here for copy of sworn affidavit.]

“Sinabi sa akin [ng mga taga-DOH] na kailangan naming pumunta sa [DOH-Tayuman] at ibigay ang aking Dengvaxia Card upang makuha ko ang pinansyal na tulong na nagkakahalaga ng P50,000.”

TRANSLATION: DOH officials told me that I need to go to DOH-Tayman and surrender my Dengvaxia Card before I can get the Php 50,000 financial assistance.

Witness No. 9: Luzviminda Cortes

Victim/Casualty: Joaniña Cortes
Dengvaxia Case no. 58
[Click here for copy of sworn affidavit.]

“Pagdating ko ng aming bahay ay inabot sa akin ni Jimmy ang listahan ng dokumento na kailangan naming… isumite sa DOH upang makatanggap kami ng financial assistance… na… Php 50,000. Ang listahan ng dokumento na isisumite naming na hinihingi… ay parehong-pareho sa listahan ng dokumento na isinumite naming sa Public Attorney’s Office kaugnay ng kasong isinampa namin. Ilan po sa mga… hinihingi… ay Dengvaxia Card at Death Certificate ng aking anak na si Joaniña.

TRANSLATION: After coming back to our home, Jimmy (witness' son) handed me a list of documents that we need to surrender to the DOH in order for us to receive a financial assistance of Php 50,000. The list of documents to be submitted is totally identical to the list of documents we submitted to the Public Attorney's Office in relation to the case we filed. Among the documents listed is the Dengvaxia Card and Death Certificate of my daughter Joaniña.

Witness No. 10: Lyngin Alcantara and Erwin Alcantara

Victim/Casualty: Clarissa Alcantara
Dengvaxia Case no. 28
[Click here for copy of sworn affidavit.]

Ang nurse na nagturok ng dengvaxia vaccine sa aming anak at isa pang tao na nagpakilalang director ng DOH ay nagtungo sa aming bahay. Inalok po nila kami ng Php 50,000 kapalit ng pag-surrender ng mga original copy… Dengvaxia Card.

TRANSLATION: The nurse who vaccinated my child and another person who claimd to be DOH Director visited my home. They offered Php 50,000 in exchange for the original Dengvaxia Card.

Witness No. 11: Marilyn Casona

Victim/Casualty: Trish Anne Casona
Dengvaxia Case no. 66
[Click here for copy of sworn affidavit.]

“Bilang kapalit ng Php 50,000 na tulong ay kailangan kong isumite ang Dengvaxia Card, Death Certificate… Hindi ko tinanggap ang tulong…”

TRANSLATION: In exchange for the Php 50,000 assistance, I was required to submit the Dengvaxia Card, Death Certificate… I didn’t accept it.

Witness No. 12: Mary Ann Palumbarit

Victim/Casualty: Angelica Palumbarit
Dengvaxia Case no. 16
[Click here for copy of sworn affidavit.]

“Ipinaalam ng [DOH] na may binibigay na tulong ang pamahalaan sa halagang Php 50,000.00 ngunit bago ko matanggap ang nasabing tulong ay kailangan ko na ibigay sa kanila ang orihinal na kopya ng Dengvaxia Card at Death Certificate ng aking anak na si Angelica.”

TRANSLATION: The DOH told us the government is extending assistance in the amount of Php 50,000 but before I receive the said assistance, I would have to surrender the original Dengvaxia Card and Death Certificate of my child Angelica.

Witness No. 13: Rowena Malana Villegas

Victim/Casualty: Michael Villegas Tablate
Dengvaxia Case no. 9
[Click here for copy of sworn affidavit.]

"Sinabi [ng Health Center Nurse] na ‘Naparito po ako para ialok sa inyo ang tulong galing sa gobyerno sa halagang Php 50,000.00… ang kapalit lang po nito ay Dengvaxia Card, Death Certificate, at Clinical Abstract… Pagkalipas ng halos ng isang buwan, bumalik si Nurse Janine sa bahay namin. Sa pagkakataong ito ay kasama niya na ang isang mataas daw na opisyal ng DOH, kagawad ng barangay… at iba pang kasama niyang nurse… Tinanggihan kong muli ang alok. Kahit magdildil ako ng asin ay hindi ko tatanggapin ang pera na iyon. Hustisya ang hinahanap ko para sa pagkamatay ng anak ko.”

TRANSLATION: The health center nurse said, “I am here to offer you assistance from the government in the amount of Php 50,000.00 in exchange for the Dengvaxia Card, Death Certificate, and Clinical Abstract. After a month, Nurse Janine visited me again. This time, she was with a supposedly a high ranking DOH official, a village councilor, and other nurses. I rejected the offer again. I’d rather starve than accept that money. I seek justice for my child’s death.

Witness No. 14: Vilma Hinayon

Victim/Casualty: Aldrin Hinayon
Dengvaxia Case no. 42
[Click here for copy of sworn affidavit.]

“Di naman sila nag-atubili na itanong sa akin kung nasa aking pag-iingat ang dengvaxia card… nang nalaman nila na nasa PAO ang mga dokumento ay kanila namang akong hinimok na kuhanin aito para ibigay sa kanila… upang maging katibayan ng halagang P50,000 na financial assistance…”

TRANSLATION: The didn’t hesitate to ask me if I have the dengvaxia card with me. After they found out that PAO has the documents, they tried to persuade me to retrieve it and hand it to them… as proof of the Php 50,000 financial assistance.

Witness No. 15: Virgie Losanga

Victim/Casualty: Levie Losanga
Dengvaxia Case no. 88
[Click here for copy of sworn affidavit.]

“Ako ay sinabihan ng [DOH Mandaluyong]… na kailangang ipasa ang… Dengvaxia Card… Noong hawak ko na lahat ng orihinal na dokumento ng Dengvaxia vaccine… ay napag-isip-isip ko kung kayang matumbasan ng halagang P50,000 ang buhay ng aking anak. Imbes na pumunta sa DOH Main Office, ako ay lumapit at humngi ng tulong sa Public Attorney’s office para makamit ang hustisya para sa akin anak.”

TRANSLATION: DOH-Mandaluong told me that I need to surrender the Dengvaxia Card (among other requirements). After collecting all the original documents on the Dengvaxia Vaccine, I wondered if my child’s life is just worth Php 50,000. Instead of going to the DOH Main Office, I approached the Public Attorney’s office to ask for help so I can seek justice for my child.

Witness No. 16: Virginia Cariño

Victim/Casualty: Roshine Cariño
Dengvaxia Case no. 23
[Click here for copy of sworn affidavit.]

“Naipalibing naming ang aking anak. Makalipas ang… isang linggo... ay nagsadya sa aming bahay ang mismong tao… ng (health) center… upang alukin kaming mag-asawa ng halagang Php 50,000 na diumano’y tulong… subalit kapalit niyo ay nais nilang ibigay naming sa kanila ang Dengvaxia Card at Death Certificate at pagpirma sa isang kasulatan.”

TRANSLATION: We buried our child. After a week, a health worker visited our home to offer us Php 50,000 as supposed financial assistance but in exchange, they want us to surrender the Dengvaxia Card , surrender the Death Certificate, and sign a certain document.

Witness No. 17: Antonio Castroverde

Victim/Casualty: Adeline Castroverde
Dengvaxia Case no. 34
[Click here for copy of sworn affidavit.]

“Umattend ako ng conference tungkol sa Dengvaxia victims noong Setyembre 2018 sa DOH at doon ko napag-alaman na may Php 50,000 silang ibibigay basta kumpletuhin lang ang mga requirements [tulad ng] certification na na-inject ng Dengvaxia Vaccine (Dengvaxia Card).”

TRANSLATION: I attended a conference about Dengvaxia victims in September 2018 at the DOH and I learned from there that they have Php 50,000 to give out as soon as we complete the requirements like the certification that our child was injected with Dengvaxia.

DOH's efforts? Not only at the grassroots

The statements quoted in the previous section detail the Health Department’s attempts at the grassroots level to sabotage the cases of Dengvaxia victims. To add insult to injury, DOH used President Duterte’s own name to steal evidence away from the victims, even if helping the victims is the only thing President Duterte said.

In November 2018, the Public Attorney’s Office wrote to DOH Region 7, asking the latter for the Dengvaxia Card, death certificate, and other original documents that the latter received from a Cebu City complainant.

In response, DOH Region 7 Director Jaime Bernadas said he can’t provide the documents because they have already been sent to DOH Central in Manila, as shown in the letter below:

In short, Dengvaxia victims who availed of the P50,000 assistance will find it even harder to file a case, let alone secure a conviction, because DOH is holding their evidence hostage… in exchange for a measly sum of Php 50,000.

But the DOH’s efforts do not end there. Several top-ranking government officials and even a very prominent Dengvaxia advocate have been attempting to persuade PAO Chief Acosta to exonerate DOH Sec. Duque.

This is despite their knowledge that such a proposal, aside from being a a ground for disbarment of PAO lawyers, is a shameless betrayal to the Dengvaxia victims who want nothing but justice for their dead children.

Fortunately, PAO has consistently and vehemently objected to these advances.

Thank you, PAO Chief Acosta. [RJ Nieto / ThinkingPinoy]

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I earlier wondered why Maria Ressa and her media allies never mentioned anything about the truthfulness of the report upon which Wilfredo Keng's libel suit was based.

I got the answer a day later, when I got hold of a letter [PDEA] dated 15 August 2016 from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, addressed to what I presume to be Keng's lawyer. The letter stated that Keng, at least as of the letter's writing, had NO DEROGATORY RECORD in PDEA's database.

Rappler never took down the assailed news article, despite knowing full well that all it has is merely an intelligence report while Keng has an official document proving the contrary.

Rappler, in short, published a VERIFIABLE FALSEHOOD.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA DEFENDING FAKE NEWS

Infallibility in reporting is impossible, but when faced with more reliable controverting information post-publication, responsible journalists are supposed to issue errata. The insistence of a publisher on the initial claim, despite more convincing evidence to the contrary, is what can be considered to be FAKE NEWS.

In short, all media men defending Maria Ressa vis-a-vis this libel case are essentially defending not the Right to Free Speech, but the non-existent Right to Publish Verifiably False Information.

I find this utterly hypocritical, as these are the same media men who have been decrying the supposed proliferation of Fake News, as they defend Maria Ressa as she lies through her teeth.

If an article verifiably misinforms, what exactly is the point of defending it in the Court of Public Opinion? Have the members of mainstream media started to look up to Joseph Goebbels?

Philippine Star columnist Carmen Pedrosa hit the nail on the head when she said:

“Maria Ressa's story is not about about "Freedom of the Press" but her Freedom to Lie.”

And Ressa’s mainstream media sympathizers are part of that fight.

DEFENSE BASED ON TECHNICALITIES

Ressa, through various media outlets, raised three defenses:

FIRST,that the act was committed in early 2012, i.e. prior to the cyber libel law’s enactment in late 2012, thereby allowing Ressa to enjoy constitutional protection against ex post facto laws.

However, as the Justice Department correctly pointed out in its resolution on Keng v Ressa [DoJ], that the 2014 update of the Keng-Corona article makes the case fall under the “Multiple Publication” rule, where each and every publication of the same libel constitutes a distinct offense.

SECOND,that there was a Temporary Restraining Order on the Cyber Libel Law when the article was updated in 2014, so that the Cyber Libel Law cannot be invoked.

The Supreme Court indeed issued a TRO pending a decision on the constitutionality of several provisions, including Cyber Libel, of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 [GMANews].

Unfortunately for Ressa, The TRO was lifted on 11 February 2014 when the High Court ruled on Disini v Secretary of Justice [G.R. No. 203335], while the Rappler updated the Keng-Corona article 19 February 2014.

Rappler committed the act EIGHT DAYS after the Cyber Libel Law became fully active.

THIRD, that the prescriptive period for filing a case has lapsed. Ressa argues that Keng can’t sue her anymore because libel can be filed only up to a year after Keng found out about it.

Acts punishable under the Revised Penal Code, which includes libel, have a prescriptive period of one year as explained in People v Gines [G.R. No. 83463].

Some camps argue, however, that Cyber Libel is covered under a special law (Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012), so that the prescriptive period, given that the it’s punishable by a minimum of 4 years imprisonment, should be eight years per CA 3326, which states [ChanRobles]:

“Violations penalized by special acts shall… prescribe… after eight years for those punished by imprisonment for two years or more...”

However, other camps argue that RA 4661 trumps CA 3326 as it states:

“"The crime of libel or other similar offenses shall prescribe in one year.”

The one-year prescription period theory is problematic.RA 4661 Sec. 1 clearly states that it amends only Article 90 of the Revised Penal Code.

RA 4661 says nothing about prescriptive period of criminal complaints arising from special laws, and the case filed against Ressa is based on the Cybercrime Prevention Act, a special law.

Moreover, Keng filed the complaint in 2012 or shortly after the initial publication of the Rappler article, or well within a year after the discovery of the libelous statement.

So no, a defense based on prescriptive period likely won’t hold water.

Moreover, state prosecutors can even explore the Search Engine Optimization angle.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of maximizing the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine like Google.

Whenever Rappler engages in SEO, it promotes ALL CONTENTS of the Rappler website, including the Keng-Corona article. That is, Ressa reiterates the defamatory statement everytime her company does SEO.

And how often does Rappler do SEO? ALL THE TIME.

Defenses relying on prescriptive periods and ex post facto laws should not hold by virtue of the multiple publication rule and Rappler’s continual SEO practices.

Now that we’ve gotten the technicalities out of the way, it’s time to discuss the merits of the case, i.e. whether all the elements constituting online libel are present in Keng’s complaint.

LIBEL CONVICTIONS AND MARIA’S LEGAL DEFENSE

TRUTH IS NOT A DEFENSE in libel cases with private complainants such as the one Keng filed against Ressa et Al. However, the point in my wonderment over Ressa’s reluctance to use truth as a defense is my curiosity as to what defenses Ressa’s legal team will employ.

But before I elaborate on that, let me first explain how a libel conviction can be had.

Like any other criminal case, the prosecution must convince the court of the presence of the elements of the crime of libel.

Here are the elements of libel [BatasNatin]:

[1] The defamatory imputation which, in this case, is tagging Keng as a drug smuggler and human trafficker, as it clearly lowers the respect in which Keng is regarded.

[2] The publication of libelous matter which, in this case, is the 2014 update of the Keng-Corona article. Ressa argues that the article was published in 2012 before the Cyber Libel Law. The article's 2014 update, as the Justice Department correctly argues, was done AFTER the law's enactment.

[3] The complainant was identified and he sure was, as the article clearly stated the name “Wilfredo Keng”.

[4] There must be malice, as is the case. Citing Ateneo’s Dean Tony La Viña in his 2014 [Manila Standard] column, “Philippine libel law creates the presumption that malice is present in every defamatory imputation.”

Since Ressa’s is a cyber libel case, then a fifth element is required:

[5] Online publication, and this is pretty obvious, with Rappler being an online-only media organization.

The first three elements, along with the fifth, are hardly contestable, and any defense counsel worth his salt will focus his energies in debunking the supposed presence of the fourth element: malice.

More specifically, Ressa must show, for starters, that the Presumption of Malice does not hold in this case.

OVERCOMING THE PRESUMPTION OF MALICE

I am a long-time political blogger, a radio commentator, a newspaper columnist and a subject of a pending and relatively high-profile libel case filed by Antonio Trillanes, a sitting senator of the Philippines. I have carefully studied and took to heart libel laws not only because I find them interesting, but because I have to, for my own good.

After all, as the veteran journalist Ninez Cacho-Olivares in her 15 February 2019 [Daily Tribune] column aptly puts, journalists should know that libel “is part of the territory”.

By the way, Cacho-Olivares has successfully defended herself against at least two libel cases: one filed by former Ilocos Sur Governor Chavit Singson in 2001, and another by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s then personal lawyer Pancho Villaraza in 2002.

Going back to topic and after consulting several lawyer-friends, four out of the five elements of libel (imputation, publication, identification, and online nature) are hardly disputable, so that her legal team should focus on debunking the last one, which is Presumption of Malice, as described in Yuchengco v Manila Chronicle [G.R. No. 184315]:

“There is… a presumption of malice in the case of every defamatory imputation, where there is no showing of a good intention or justifiable motive for making such imputation.”

Most journalists debunk this presumption via the oft-used “Public Figure Doctrine”, part of which was expounded in the landmark Guingging v CA [G.R. No. 128959], which states:

“If the statements made against the public figure are essentially true, then no conviction for libel can be had.”

That is, Ressa must show that Keng:

[1] is a public figure, and

[2] that the “drug trafficker” claim is essentially true.

“ESSENTIAL TRUTHFULNESS” OF INTELLIGENCE REPORTS

Unfortunately for Ressa and as shown in previous sections, Rappler’s demonstrably reckless disregard for the veracity of the Keng-Corona article prevents Ressa from taking refuge in this doctrine.

Keng is a private businessman so he may not be considered a public figure at first glance. However, with a few legal acrobatic maneuvers, Ressa’s legal team may argue that he is a limited-purpose public figure, in light of the Rappler Keng-Corona article’s claim that Keng granted then Chief Justice Corona favors.

Supposing that Keng is a public figure for the sake of argument, Ressa then needs to show that it’s essentially true that Keng is a drug trafficker.

Let’s go back to the basics by quoting Rappler’s Keng-Corona article:

“…we got hold of an intelligence report that detailed Keng's past. Prepared in 2002… The report stated that Keng had been under surveillance by the National Security Council for alleged involvement in… ‘human trafficking and drug smuggling.’”

In fairness to Ressa, the drug trafficker tag in Keng-Corona article in 2012 is essentially true as Rappler cited intelligence reports apparently sourced from the National Security Council. The problem, however, is that intelligence reports do not bear the same weight as official documents from law enforcement agencies.

Borrowing the Prussian war general and military theorist Carl von Clausewitz words:

“Many intelligence reports in war are contradictory; even more are false, and most are uncertain. In short, most intelligence is false.[George and Kline 2006]”

While intelligence reports are highly fallible, it can still be argued that, in the absence of weightier evidence to the contrary and considering that the Corona Impeachment Trial is a Public Interest issue, information cited from such documents are essentially true.

In short, if Keng sued Ressa for the 2012 article and that article alone, an acquittal is not unlikely.

But Ressa isn’t out of the woods just yet.

MARIA RESSA'S RECKLESS DISREGARD FOR TRUTH OR FALSITY

Aside from the Rappler’s source being an “intelligence report”, the claim becomes even more problematic as Rappler did not even cite who prepared it. While Rappler mentioned the National Security Council, it didn’t say it was from the same agency. After all, an intelligence report can be based upon another intelligence report.

Regardless, with the assumption that Keng is a public figure, Ressa can argue that the 2012 Rappler article forwarded an essentially truthful claim, so that no libel conviction can be had in as far as the 2012 article is concerned.

In libel cases involving public figures, the complainant has must prove that Actual Malice is present, as explained in Borjal v CA [G.R. No. 126466]:

“The guarantees of freedom of speech and press prohibit a… public figure from recovering damages… unless he proves that the statement was made with actual malice, i.e., with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.”

That is, complainant Keng must prove that there was Actual Malice. That is, he must be able to convince the court that Ressa demonstrated a reckless disregard of whether the “drug trafficker” claim was false or not.

And here’s where it gets SUPER interesting.

PUBLIC FIGURES AND ACTUAL MALICE

The series of events that followed the article’s 2012 publication suggest that there indeed was Actual Malice on Ressa’s part.

In a 14 Feb 2019 official statement, Keng said [MindaNews]:

“I tried to… communicate with Rappler in order to have the said article taken down, clear my name and restore my reputation…”

Keng added:

“In turn, Rappler… repeatedly promised me that they will take down the subject article, but never did. The libelous attacks remain posted on their website until now.”

Assuming that Keng can provide evidence (emails, SMS messages or whatnot) that Rappler indeed promised to take down the article, then Rappler’s continual failure to take the article down (it’s still up as I write this piece) screams Actual Malice.

Moreover, the 2016 PDEA letter reinforces Keng’s case as it stated:

“Record check shows… Keng… has no derogatory record on file.”

It has been over two years since that letter’s writing, and it would safe to assume that Keng has notified Rappler about it.

The 2016 PDEA Letter

Despite all of these, the Rappler's Keng-Corona article is still up.

This bears repeating:

Even with the assumption that Ressa published the 2012 article in good faith, subsequent events showed that Ressa insisted on keeping the article online and for everyone to see even after having been provided weightier controverting evidence, and even after her organization itself acknowledged the gross inaccuracy of the report when it promised Keng to take the article down.

Ressa showed reckless disregard of whether the “drug trafficker” claim was false or not.

Actual Malice is present.

Ressa even hurt her prospects for acquittal when she went on a global media blitz after DOJ served the arrest warrant, as her recent actions just point towards the fact that Ressa doesn't care if she's publishing what is VERIFIABLY FAKE NEWS.

Ressa’s insistence on publishing defamatory statements with reckless disregard for their truthfulness, making a conviction for Cyber Libel highly likely. Hence, it appears that Ressa may be the first person in Philippine History to be convicted for such an offense.

As far as I can see, Ressa will go to jail. [ThinkingPinoy]

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Two Manila Times columnists – former ambassador Rigoberto “Bobi” Tiglao and Maastricht University lecturer Sass Rogando Sasot– have written about this, but I like having all bases covered, so here we go.

In early April 2019, a series of videos with the common title “Ang Totoong Narco List” (Translation: The Real Narco List”, now more popularly known as the “Bikoy Videos” circulated online.

The videos, through an anonymous informant with alias “Bikoy”, allege that members of the Duterte presidential family received massive drug payolas, including President Rodrigo Duterte’s son Paolo “Pulong” Duterte, son-in-law Manases “Mans” Carpio, and 14-year-old daughter Veronica “Kitty” Duterte, a minor.In her ABS-CBN News column, Facebook fact-checker Ellen Tordesillas of Vera Files said the videos were “riveting” and, along with the annotations, “look professionally done.”

It appears, however, that Tordesillas’s standards for professional video creation are skin-deep.

A look at the payola documents featured in the Bikoy videos show that these are just a bad a case of photoshop, as shown below [http://bit.ly/2UHwCig]:

Aside from the excellent lighting and choice of text overlays, the video itself is amateurish at best, as the supposed payola payout lists, which the entire video series relies upon for credibility, are just fake documents.

Potential Court Cases

Libel punishable under Article 353 of the Revised Penal Code is obvious, but given the videos’ online nature, parties can sue for Cyber Libel punishable under Section 4 of the Cybercrime Prevention Act (RA 10175).

Sasot also called for an RPC Article 154 test case in her 25 April 2019 Manila Times column “Who is behind Metro Balita?”.

I believe Sasot is justified as Bikoy Videos attempted to implicate no less the presidential family, whose integrity (or the perception of it) may be considered a national security concern. That is, parties may also sue for unlawful use of means of publication and unlawful utterances punishable under Article 154 of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by RA 10951.

Aside from these, Veronica “Kitty” Duterte, being a minor, may also sue for violence against children punishable under Section 5(i) the Anti-Violence Against Women and Their Children Act of 2004 (RA 9262), which forbids “causing mental or emotional anguish, public ridicule or humiliation to… [a] child.”

I don't know for certain which one of these should be filed: that's a problem for the Duterte's.

I am more interested in who's behind the Bikoy Videos.

Tiglao gives a lead

In his 22 April 2019 Manila Times column ” Vile video vs Duterte the work of Otso Diretso, Trillanes’ writer and US-funded websites”, Amb. Bobi Tiglao wrote:

“…cyber-crime experts found the “Bikoy” video to have been first uploaded to YouTube by a website www.metrobalita.net.”

Metrobalita.net was taken down by its owner as soon as Tiglao’s column came out.

What’s clear, however, is that Tiglao showed that the person/s behind the Bikoy Videos and the one/s behind MetroBalita are the same.

Tracing Google AdSense Publisher IDs

Tracing ownership of Google AdSense accounts, called a “Reverse AdSense Lookup”, is an effective way to unmask people, as was shown in the 29 September 2017 ThinkingPinoy article “#CocoyGate: Senator Sotto, here's the guy you're looking for”. The article revealed the identity of the web administrator of SilentNoMorePH, the site that published libelous statements against several sitting senators.

The process is fairly simple:

1. Extract the unique Google AdSense Publisher ID of a given site.

2. Cross-reference to other websites that run online ads from the same Publisher ID.

3. Check who owns those other websites.

Step 1: extract ID from MetroBalita.net

Through an online third-party utility, Sasot was able to extract MetroBalita.Net’s Publisher ID, which is:

ca-pub-9287075011637877

I did an independent verification using DNSlytics Reverse AdSense Lookup and the results corroborate Sasot’s findings, as shown below:

Step 2: Check for other sites using the same Google Publisher ID

Using the online third-party utility SpyOnWeb [A], I found that Google AdSense Publisher ID on MetroBalita.net is identical to the one used in MetroBalita.com, as shown below:

That is, whoever owns MetroBalita.Net and MetroBalita.Com must be the same person.

Step 3: Check for domain registry information

I did a quick WhoIs lookup on MetroBalita.net and MetroBalita.com. As expected, both use a domain privacy service so the site owner’s real name is undisclosed.

However, a deeper WhoIs history lookup using DomainTools shows that MetroBalita.com’s owner publicly released his personal details when he initially registered MetroBalita.com in 14 May 2017, as shown in the following screenshot:

Transcribed below are some relevant parts of the screenshot:

Domain Name: metrobalita.com
Registry Domain ID: 2124155050_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.1and1.com
Registrar URL: http://1and1.com
Updated Date: 2017-05-14T07:52:08.000Z
Creation Date: 2017-05-14T07:52:01.000Z
Registrant Name: Rodel Jayme
Registrant Street: 24 Moonbeam Street Bricktown Subdivision
Registrant Street: Barangay Moonwalk
Registrant City: ParaÃ±aque
Registrant State/Province: RIZ
Registrant Postal Code: 1709
Registrant Country: PH
Registrant Phone: +63.9434104882
Registrant Email: metrobalita.ph@gmail.com
Admin Name: Rodel Jayme
Admin Street: 24 Moonbeam Street Bricktown Subdivision
Admin Street: Barangay Moonwalk
Admin City: ParaÃ±aque
Admin State/Province: RIZ
Admin Postal Code: 1709
Admin Country: PH
Admin Phone: +63.9434104882
Admin Email: metrobalita.ph@gmail.com

This is further corroborated by another online third-party tool Whoxy:

It is also worthy to note that MetroBalita’s twitter account lists “metrobalita.com” as its official website:

Note that Metro Balita's twitter has been operating with metrobalita.net since the beginning of April 2019, as evidenced by a 21 April 2019 denial tweet:

Note that the same tweet is an admission that MetroBalita uploaded the Bikoy Videos, at least using the online assets that MetroBalita owns or controls.

Yes, all evidence points to a certain Rodel Jayme.

Who is Rodel Jayme?

A quick google search of “Rodel Jayme” leads us to the blog site “jrodel0991.wordpress.com” whose about page states that his twitter account is http://www.twitter.com/jrodel.

According to his Twitter Bio:

Rodel Jayme
@jrodel
Blogger, Gamer, License Amateur Radio Operator (DY1VDA) Discord: JRodel0991#1410 / Steam: jrodel / Twitch: jrodel0991

Judging from his tweets, Jayme is a staunch Liberal Party supporter and a staunch Duterte critic.

Judging from his tweets, Jayme is a staunch LP supporter, as he has attended several Liberal Party events in the past.

A 28 June 2017 tweet shows he was attended Vice-president Leni Robredo’s #IstoryaNgPagAsa social media launch in 28 Jun 2017. An 02 July 2016 tweet shows he’s also a member of the Liberal Party-aligned Democratic Warriors FB Group.

Aside from these, I also archived his tweets featuring other Liberal Party Personalities including one with Aquino Education Sec. Armin Luistro, another with Aquino Social Welfare Sec. Dinky Soliman, and another with Aquino Transportation Secretary Jun Abaya.

In another tweet, he also actively campaigned for Mar Roxas during the latter’s failed 2016 presidential bid:

Interestingly, another tweet suggests that Jayme is also acquainted with a certain Erlo Bornales of Mamamayang Alyansang Reporma (MAR):

MAR was featured in the 08 March 2016 ThinkingPinoy article “Roxas has his own Internet Army?”. In that article, it was shown that the group has been training its members as part of an online social media army:

Jayme, through Metro Balita, has been actively campaigning for VP Leni Robredo legal counsel and Liberal Party senatorial bet Romulo Macalintal. It's funny that Metro Balita tweets mostly about relatively unremarkable Macalintal, suggesting that there may be a link between the two.

Flight as a sign of guilt

Based on publicly available and independently verifiable online data, it’s clear that Rodel Jayme owns MetroBalita.net.

If juxtaposed to Tiglao’s findings, then Rodel Jayme must have uploaded the Bikoy videos to YouTube, though it’s still unclear to me how the said cybercrime experts managed to link MetroBalita with the Ang Totoong Narco List youtube account.

In People v Tecson (G.R. No. 194234):

“Jurisprudence has repeatedly declared that flight is an indication of guilt. The flight of an accused, in the absence of a credible explanation, would be a circumstance from which an inference of guilt may be established ‘for a truly innocent person would normally grasp the first available opportunity to defend himself and to assert his innocence’.”

Well, it appears that Jayme is actively deleting posts related to the Bikoy Videos. He has taken down the MetroBalita website (both .com and .net), Metrobalita’s facebook video uploads, and other related posts.

Jayme may not be running away from authorities right now, but he sure did allow the evidence to fly away first (RJ Nieto/ThinkingPinoy).

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Just how much funding have Vera Files, PCIJ, Rappler, and CMFR received from the US government-funded CIA offshoot National Endowment for Democracy (NED)?

Here's data from none other than NED itself.

But before that, let's get to know NED a little more.

NED as a CIA “Successor and Collaborator”

In his 2008 piece entitled “NED et. al.: The CIA’s Successors and Collaborators” published in both the Canadian Centre for Global Research and Globalization (Global Research) and the French Le Monde Diplomatique, Hernando Calvo Ospina wrote [GlobalResearch]:

“When a scandal in the 1980s revealed the CIA’s 35 years of international manipulations, President Ronald Reagan established the National Endowment for Democracy as a more discreet and less controversial instrument. It had the same purpose – to destabilise unfriendly governments by funding the opposition... Although legally an NGO, the NED was funded from the State Department budget, subject to congressional approval”

Quoting former US Department of State official William Blum, Ospina wrote:

“What was done was to shift many of the awful things [done by the CIA] to a new organisation, with a nice sounding name. The creation of the NED was a masterpiece. Of politics, of public relations, and of cynicism.”

An Admission from NED’s founder

No less than NED's founder -- and NED itself -- admitted the claims in Ospina's article.

Asked about NED in a 1991 interview with the Washington Post, NED founder and theoretical planner Allen Weinstein said [WaPo]:

“A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.”

This is corroborated by no less than NED's official website in the “History” section of its “About” page [NED], part of which states:

“In the aftermath of World War II…. U.S. policy makers resorted to covert means, secretly sending advisers, equipment, and funds to support newspapers and parties under siege in Europe. When it was revealed in the late 1960’s that some American PVO’s were receiving covert funding from the CIA to wage the battle of ideas at international forums, the Johnson Administration concluded that such funding should cease, recommending establishment of ‘a public-private mechanism’ to fund overseas activities openly.”

PVO means “Private Voluntary Organizations”.

NED's Official Awarded Grants Database

NED has a database of grants that it has so far extended to Philippine organizations, and these include grants to four prominent Duterte Administration critics, namely:

Vera Files,
Rappler,
Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), and,
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ).

Vera Files and Rappler are the two fact-checkers of Facebook in the Philippines. Let’s itemize each grant. Note that each dollar-denominated grant is also converted into Philippine pesos using a modest exchange rate of 51 pesos to a dollar.

To see NED's Awarded Grants Search Engine, click here.

A screenshot of NED's Awarded Grants Search Engine, hosted by NED's official website

[29 April 2019 | 09:11 P.M. GMT+8] UPDATE ON PH MEDIA OUTFITS RECEIVING US GOVERNMENT FUNDING VIA CIA OFFSHOOT NED

It appears that National Endowment for Democracy (NED) Awarded Grants Database shows only grants awarded from 2014 onwards. It doesn't provide data for NED grants prior to 2014.

This is in light of another discovery this evening that PCIJ and CMFR have already been receiving NED funding even before 2014, according to USAID's database, which includes NED grants.

I will publish an update in a few hours to reflect the amounts PCIJ and CMFR received prior to 2014.
Rappler and Verafiles, according to the same USAID database, did not receive grants before 2014.

NED funds Vera Files: ($ 197,600 / Php 10.1 million)

NED has been funding Vera Files annually since 2016, a very interesting year since it’s the also the year when Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte entered Malacañang.

The grant database shows Vera Files has so far received US$ 197,600 (Php 10 million) over the past three years, as shown in the consolidated NED database entry on Vera Files below [SOURCE: NED | Archived]:

Project Title: Promoting Accuracy and Transparency in Public Debate

Award Amount: $70,000 (2016); $80,000 (2017); $47,600 (2018)

Description:To promote accuracy and accountability in public debate. The grantee will develop a fact-checking initiative that will monitor, verify, and report on the accuracy of statements made by politicians and government officials. The fact-checking team will publish the non-partisan assessments on its website and promote the articles in traditional and social media to raise public awareness and foster more informed political discourse. It will also invite the public to submit fact-check requests.

NED funds Rappler ($ 142,000 / Php 7.2 million)

NED started funding Rappler in 2018 with $142,000 (Php 7.2 million).

According to NED’s grant database [SOURCE: NED | Archived]:

Project Title: Understanding and Addressing Disinformation's Impact on Democracy

Award Amount: $142,000 (2018)

Description:
To strengthen awareness and understanding of disinformation. The organization will focus on capturing and analyzing data on the disinformation ecosystem to facilitate research on how disinformation spreads online and how this dynamic affects democracy. It will work with other newsgroups and key stakeholders to systematize and expand collaborative fact-checking as well as support awareness and education efforts that seek to broaden knowledge on disinformation.

NED funds PCIJ ($ 242,631 / Php 12.4 million)

NED has been funding PCIJ since 2014. PCIJ has received $242,631 (Php 12.4 million) to date.

According to NED’s grant database [SOURCE: NED | Archived]:

Project Title: Fostering Transparency and Accountability through Investigative ReportingAward Amount: $50,831 (2014); $56,000 (2015)
Description:
To strengthen the media's role in fostering transparency and accountability by building journalists' capacity to analyze and report on governance issues and campaign promises of elected officials. The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism will conduct four investigative journalism workshops for media representing Luzon, Mindanao, Visayas, and Metro Manila and provide fellowships to select participants to write more in-depth investigative reports as follow on to their trainings.

Project Title: Strengthening Investigative Reporting on Democracy and Human Rights

Award Amount: $60,800 (2017)

Description:To strengthen the media's role in fostering transparency and accountability through investigative journalism. The organization will conduct trainings to develop journalists' understanding of policies related to human rights, access to information, and democratic governance as well as sharpen their skills to undertake investigative reporting on these issues. Participants will follow up by producing in-depth stories on a range of democracy-related issues. The organization will also develop its own series of investigative reports on human rights and government policies.

Project Title: Investigative Journalism to Strengthen the Public Discourse on Democracy and Human Rights

Award Amount: $75,000 (2018)

Description:
To bolster the media's ability to promote transparency and accountability and strengthen public discourse on democracy and human rights through investigative journalism. The organization will produce investigative reports on democracy and rights issues; organize public forums to deepen discussions on the topics of the reports; and conduct trainings to develop journalists' understanding of policies related to human rights, democratic governance, and impunity as well as sharpen their skills to undertake investigative reporting on these issues.

NED funds CMFR ($ 349,034 / Php 17.8 million)

NED has been funding CMFR annually since 2014 and it has received $349,034 (Php 17.8 million) to date.

According to NED’s grant database [SOURCE: NED | Archived]:

Project Title: Promoting Responsible Journalism and Press Freedom

Award Amount: $76,000 (2014); $76,000 (2015); $76,000 (2016); $98,517 (2017); $22,517 (2018)

Description:To advance press freedom and promote responsible journalism. The Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility will monitor media practices, raise awareness of media freedom violations, and organize a conference to highlight professional media practices.

NED hikes funding during Duterte Administration

President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office in 2016. A known US critic, Duterte has made it clear from the onset of his term that he wants a independent foreign policy [TheDiplomat], characterized by lesser dependence on the US and greater co-operation with China.

This is a total departure from the historically pro-US stance of all of Duterte's predecessors since 1946, or when the US recognized Philippine independence, as discussed in the 09 September 2016 ThinkingPinoy article "Duterte's Philippines breaking away from the United States?"

And true enough, NED since 2016 hiked funding for Philippine media outfits that strongly criticize the Duterte Administration.

Funding Stats

NED’s database shows only CMFR and PCIJ were funded with a total of $258,831 prior to 2016, broken down as follows:

CMFR: $152,000
PCIJ: $ 106,831

On the other hand, the four organizations – CMFR, PCIJ, Vera Files, and Rappler – received a total of $672,434 of funding since 2016, broken down as follows:

CMFR: $ 197,034
PCIJ: $ 135,800
Rappler: $ 142,000
Vera Files: $ 197,600

Here are some notable observations:

NED funding for PCIJ during Duterte’s term is 29.6% more than all previous years combined.
NED funding for CMFR during Duterte’s term is 27.1% more than all previous years combined.
Total NED funding for these four outfits during Duterte’s term increased by 159.8% compared to all previous years combined.
Rappler received $142,000 in 2018 alone, which is more than NED’s total funding received by PCIJ since its inception.
Vera Files is the biggest recipient of NED funding among the four.

Should you bite the hand the feeds you?

NED has awarded a total of $931,265 (Php 47.5 million) to these four organizations. Moreover, over two-thirds of this amount ($672,434 / Php 34.3 million) was awarded from 2016 to 2018, i.e. during the Duterte Administration.

I have always wondered why Rappler, PCIJ, Vera Files, and CMFR have been very critical of the Duterte Administration since Day One.

In light of the massive funding these four outfits have been receiving from the US Government, however, I finally stopped asking why.

Quoting American writer Upton Sinclair [QI]:

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!”

Will these four outfits ever dare to write anything that’s blatantly against US interests?

Do the math. [ThinkingPinoy/RJ Nieto]

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Why don't we fact-check the fact-checker?

In a Facebook Newsroom post, Facebook product manager Tessa Lyons said [FB]:

“Our partners are independent and certified through the non-partisan International Fact-Checking Network.”

One of the core requirements to become a Facebook fact-checker is membership in the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) of the Florida-based Poynter Institute for Media Studies.

In fairness to Lyons, she also acknowledged allegations of bias among the website’s fact checkers when she, in the same newsroom post, said:

“While we work with the International Fact-Checking Network to approve all our partners and make sure they have high standards of accuracy, fairness and transparency, we continue to face accusations of bias.”

The social network currently has two fact-checkers in the Philippines: Rappler and Vera Files.

In this article, we will examine Vera Files.

IFCN Code of Principles: Nonpartisanship Policy

Poynter-IFCN has a Code of Principles that it describes as “a series of commitments organizations abide by to promote excellence in fact-checking [IFCN].”

Each IFCN member is required to adhere to this Code, determined through yearly assessments.

According to the IFCN website, Vera Files co-founder and UP Journalism professor Yvonne Chua submitted an application of behalf of her organization. This was assessed – and approved – by IFCN external assessor Jeremaiah M. Opiniano, a Journalism assistant professor at the University of Santo Tomas.

A screenshot of Vera Files' application sent to the Poynter Institute's International Fact-checking Network.

Opiniano assessed and approved Vera Files’ applications twice: once in 2017 and another time in 2018.

Part of the IFCN code of ethics is a nonpartisanship policy, which requires applicants to “share evidence of your policy preventing staff from direct involvement in political parties and advocacy organizations.”

In response, Vera Files in its 2017 application said (Criterion 2b):

“We don’t take money from politicians, political parties or partisan groups.”

Vera Files reiterated this claim in its 2018 application (Criterion 2b), where it stated:

“VERA Files prohibits its trustees and staff from taking money from politicians, political parties or partisan groups...”

A screenshot of Vera Files' attestation of nonpartisanship in its 2018 IFCN application

The problem, however, is that a closer look at its finances show that it may have been lying in both 2017 and 2018.

Let’s discuss this in greater detail.

Vera Files Funding Sources

Section 4 of the IFCN Code of Principles application form, entitled “Transparency of Funding & Organization”, requires Vera Files to disclose funding sources.

To address this in its 2017 application, Vera Files submitted its 2016 SCHEDULE OF CONTRIBUTIONS/DONATIONS - PRIVATE ENTITIES that listed five sources of funding.

Vera Files' 2016 funding sources are as follows:

National Endowment for Democracy (NED): Php 2,539,050.00.
World Health Organization (WHO): Php 1,998,879.79
The Asia Foundation (TAF): Php2,101,401.00
Reporters Without Borders Germany (RWB): Php 736,299.58
Others: Php 1,001,891.10

A screenshot of the Funding Source Document Vera Files submitted to IFCN in 2017.

In its 2018 application, Verafiles listed three sources for 2017 funding, namely:

National Endowment for Democracy: Php 4,034,313.00
World Health Organization: Php 1,683,150.00
Others: Php 1,132,892.29

A little arithmetic shows that Vera Files:

derived 54% of its 2016 private funding from NED and TAF
derived 59% of its 2017 private funding from NED alone.

Now, let’s examine these two major funders.

Vera Files Funder #1: National Endowment for Democracy

NED, in its “About” page, describes itself as “a private, nonprofit foundation dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world” [NED].

The description sounds innocuous enough.

However, in his 2008 piece entitled “NED et. al.: The CIA’s Successors and Collaborators”, published in both the Canadian Centre for Global Research and Globalization (Global Research) and the French Le Monde Diplomatique, Hernando Calvo Ospina wrote [GlobalResearch]:

“When a scandal in the 1980s revealed the CIA’s 35 years of international manipulations, President Ronald Reagan established the National Endowment for Democracy as a more discreet and less controversial instrument. It had the same purpose – to destabilise unfriendly governments by funding the opposition... Although legally an NGO, the NED was funded from the State Department budget, subject to congressional approval”

But that’s coming from a NED critics, so let’s cite the statement of NED people themselves. In a 1991 interview with the Washington Post, NED founder and theoretical planner Allen Weinstein said [WaPo]:

“A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.”

Weinstein’s statement basically means NED is an offshoot of the US Central Intelligence Agency.

The NED of today affirms this, as the “History” section of its “About” page states [NED]:

“In the aftermath of World War II…. U.S. policy makers resorted to covert means, secretly sending advisers, equipment, and funds to support newspapers and parties under siege in Europe. When it was revealed in the late 1960’s that some American PVO’s were receiving covert funding from the CIA to wage the battle of ideas at international forums, the Johnson Administration concluded that such funding should cease, recommending establishment of ‘a public-private mechanism’ to fund overseas activities openly.”

That is, NED does today what the CIA did beforehand.

According to NED's Awarded Grants Database, NED's grants to Vera Files are specifically intended for the latter's fact-checking operations [NED | Archived]:

A Screenshot of NED's list of grants to Vera Files.

Vera Files Funder #2: The Asia Foundation

According to its own website, the Asia Foundation “is a nonprofit international development organization committed to improving lives across a dynamic and developing Asia” [AF].

Like NED, the description sounds sufficiently harmless.

A 1977 New York Times article “Worldwide Propaganda Network Built by the C.I.A.” detailing Asia Foundation’s beginnings, however, suggests otherwise, as it states [NYT]:

“The Asia Foundation was headed for years by the late Robert Blum who, several sources said, resigned from the C.I.A. to take it over. The foundation provided cover for at least one C.I.A. operative and carried out a variety of media‐related ventures, including a program, begun in 1955, of selecting and paying the expenses of Asian journalists for a year of study in Harvard's prestigious Neiman Fellowship program.”

Side Note: The managing editor of Rappler (the other Facebook fact-checker in the Philippines), Glenda Gloria, is a 2018 Neiman Fellow [Rappler], and NED also funds Rappler.

A screenshot of the 1977 New York Times article “Worldwide Propaganda Network Built by the C.I.A.” detailing Asia Foundation’s beginnings.

A more informative description can be found in the declassified 2000 CIA document that states [CIA]:

“The Asia Foundation was originally a creation of the Executive Branch intended to promote U.S. Foreign Policy Interests in the region”

A screenshot of the declassified 2000 CIA document describing The Asia Foundation.

The same CIA document states that in 1975:

“… the State Department… appointed a panel of private citizens with Foreign Affairs experience to review the foundation’s record and potential for assisting in the achievement of U.S. objectives in Asia. The panel concluded that the foundation is an effective instrument for furthering of United States interests in Asia…”

A screenshot of the declassified 2000 CIA document describing The Asia Foundation.

In his 2011 paper published in the Journal of Anthropological Research [ResearchGate], Washington-based Saint Martin University Sociology and Anthropology professor Dr. David Price aptly cited Asia foundation as a “CIA funding front”.

Fact-checking the Fact-checker

Recall that Vera Files claimed in its 2018 IFCN application that it “prohibits its trustees and staff from taking money from politicians, political parties or partisan groups”.

Vera Files reiterated this claim in its own FAQ article “What you want to know about ‘VERA FILES FACT CHECK’” as Vera Files' response to the question:

How sure are we that you’re not backed by a politician or political party?

But aren’t the National Endowment for Democracy and the Asia Foundation, both of whom are widely considered as instruments of U.S. Foreign Policy, political parties?

Both sure are parties, and their respective histories shows they are very political.

The Collins Dictionary defines "political party" as "an organization of people who share the same views about the way power should be used in a country or society".

NED and TAF, being US Foreign Policy insturments, squarely fit into that description.

For the last two reporting periods (2016 and 2017), Vera Files has been sourcing over half of its operating expenses from these two organizations.

While Vera Files claims that it generates some income from sales, its 2016 Audited Financial Statement (AFS) shows that of the Php 7.8 million in 2016 revenues Php 7.3 million comes from Grants and Donations?

Moreover, Vera Files’ 2017 Audited Financial Statement shows that its entire Php 6.9 million in 2017 revenues are from Grants and Donations?

A screenshot of Vera Files' 2017 AFS showing revenue sources for 2016 and 2017. Note that virtually all of its revenues come from grants and donations.

And where do over half of these grants and donations come from?

NED and TAF.

A closer look at Vera Files 2016 AFS shows that it generated only Php 2.45 million in revenues in 2015, Php 2.3 million of which is from Donations and Grants.

A screenshot of Vera Files' 2016 AFS showing revenue sources for 2016 and 2015. Note that its revenues TRIPLED as after it received funding from NED and TAF.

That is, NED and TAF tripled Vera Files’ revenues starting in 2016 which, by the way, is the same year President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office.

This is especially relevant in Vera Files context because the Duterte Administration, i.e. the government of the jurisdiction within which Vera Files operates, is currently clashing with US Foreign Policy as Duterte’s independent foreign policy “upends Washington’s Pivot to Asia”.

How in the world can Vera Files claim non-partisanship when it operates in the Philippines, a country whose Foreign Policy interests clash with those of Vera Files’ funders?

Should the Poynter Institute, which manages the International Fact-checking Network, reassess Vera Files’ eligibility as a Fact-checker given that Vera Files receives funding from political parties?

Oh, wait!

NED’s Awarded Grants Database shows Poynter has been receiving NED funding annually since 2015 [NED].

A Screenshot of NED's list of grants to Poynter Institute.

In short, Poynter-IFCN and Vera Files share the same sugar daddy.

The backbone of Facebook’s Fact-checking – Poynter’s International Fact-checking Network – is in itself funded by a US Foreign Policy instrument NED, the same NED that funds Vera Files.

Would you care to fact-check this, Miss Ellen Tordesillas? [ThinkingPinoy/RJ Nieto]

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Hey NBI guys, I heard you're looking for other people, so let me humbly give you a few leads that you may have overlooked.

Note to Mr. Rodel Jayme: for your own sake, better spill the beans ASAP so you can still become a state witness. Your would-be testimony may become unnecessary very soon.

Other websites of interest

According to a Philippine Star article, you noted in the complaint that the libelous and seditious “Ang Totoong Narcolist” video was posted by different social media sites, 'having the front runners to wit:'

Pinoy Ako Blog
Change Scamming
Metro Balita
Madam Claudia
What the FACT blog

Furthermore, you guys said, "Continuous efforts were conducted to uncover personalities behind these accounts. Recently, crucial information on METRO BALITA were gathered. Hence, emphasis and focus were made.”

From what I understand, you dealt with Metro Balita first because information about it was already on your hands, which suggests that you are still digging for information about the others.

A little housekeeping

Because I am a law-abiding citizen who wants to help the government enforce the law, let me give you guys a few leads in case you need them… but let’s deal with the preliminary stuff first.

First, I have no data so far about What the Fact blog so I cannot help you with that yet. Give me a little more time for that.

Second, you already know who's behind MetroBalita: Rodel Jayme, the guy you arrested recently.

Third, two of Pinoy Ako Blog's owners/operators are already known (Jover Laurio and Cocoy Dayao). There are at least two others, but Laurio and Dayao are already a good start.

Fourth, Madam Claudia used to run Google Ads under the AdSense Publisher ID ca-pub-8283971809912134. In my 29 Sept 2017 #CocoyGate article "#CocoyGate: Senator Sotto, here's the guy you're looking for", I was able to connect the dots and show that it's very likely owned by Cocoy Dayao.

If you want to know how I traced these, see the following video:

So you have three names so far: Rodel Jayme, Cocoy Dayao, and Jover Laurio.

Now that we’re done with housekeeping, let’s get to the more interesting part.

Who is behind Change Scamming?

As was shown in the 29 September 2017 ThinkingPinoy article “#CocoyGate: Senator Sotto, here's the guy you're looking for”, Change Scamming used to run Google Ads under the AdSense Publisher ID ca-pub-8283971809912134 (Check the #CocoyGate article in the previous paragraph).

From that same article, I also discovered, using a reverse Google AdSense Lookup, that ads linked to AdSense Publisher ID ca-pub-8283971809912134 were served not only in ChangeScamming’s website, but also in at least ten other websites, namely:

AnuNaBes.com
DiKukurap.com
DotReport.org
DuterteAdminNews.com
FightForTruth.club
FixPH.org
PilipinongPalaban.com
PolitikangInaMo.com
SocialPatrol.ph
Kolektibo.com

Check the following video if you want to know how I did that:

As far as I know, a person can register under his name one AdSense account at the maximum, so Cocoy couldn't possibly own AdSense Publisher ID ca-pub-1068157602481996 if already owns ca-pub-8283971809912134.

Moreover, Cocoy has already admitted in the past that he owns ProPinoy.net, which already served under Google AdSense Publisher ID ca-pub-8283971809912134. That is, Cocoy must own the account with that number, so that somebody else must own the account with Google AdSense Publisher ID ca-pub-1068157602481996.

And that's what this article is about.

Domain Privacy Protection 101

While researching for that 2017 article, I checked the domain registration details of each of these 10 websites, only to discover that they all use a domain privacy protection service. Hence, I hit nothing but dead ends.

The said service is identical to the one I used for ThinkingPinoy.net so that I can avoid spam calls and emails if my contact details are out in the open for everyone to see.

Here, look at the WhoIs Information of ThinkingPinoy.net with active Domain Privacy Protection:

As you can see, the registration details are those of my Domain Privacy Protection Service provider, instead of my own contact information.

Yes, domain privacy protection services mask the real name and contact information of website owners, but they are paid services that need to be renewed as soon as or preferably even before they expire, as neglecting to do so would reveal the true details of the website’s owner.

On 03 May 2019, or two years after writing the article mentioned above, I re-checked if any of the domain privacy protection services of the ten websites linked to Change Scamming have expired.

And as it turns out, one of them did.

Expired Domain Privacy: Kolektibo.com

Domain Privacy Services for the first nine websites (from AnuNaBes.com down to SocialPatrol.Ph) have always been active. However, the one for Kolektibo.com lapsed, at least for a period long enough to reveal the site’s true owner.

Suffice it to say, I checked for the WhoIs history of Kolektibo.com using the third-party online utility DomainTools.com. Here's what I did:

According to its WhoIs History, Kolektibo.com was first registered – with domain privacy protection – on 08 August 2017. Domain privacy protection was in effect for an entire year, until it lapsed on 19 September 2019. On that exact day, Kolektibo.com’s domain registration showed not the placeholder information typical of websites with domain privacy, but the actual name and contact details of the real person who owns the said website.

Let me quote part of the WhoIs record of Kolektibo.com, according to DomainTools:

Domain name: kolektibo.com
Domain name: kolektibo.com

Registrant Name: Sidney Zosa
Registrant Street: 1409 AIC Gold Tower, Ortigas Center
Registrant City: Pasig City
Registrant Phone: +63.9151350194
Registrant Email: sidney.zosa@gmail.com

Admin Name: Sidney Zosa
Admin Street: 1409 AIC Gold Tower, Ortigas Center
Admin City: Pasig City
Admin Phone: +63.9151350194
Admin Email: sidney.zosa@gmail.com

Tech Name: Sidney Zosa
Tech Organization:
Tech Street: 1409 AIC Gold Tower, Ortigas Center
Tech Phone: +63.9151350194
Tech Email: sidney.zosa@gmail.com

What should be done to Sidney Zosa?

According to the website’s WhoIs History as reported by DomainTools, a certain Sidney Zosa owns, administers, and maintains Kolektibo.com, a website that earned money by serving online advertisements under Google AdSense Publisher ID ca-pub-1068157602481996.

Recall that Change Scamming, the website you’re investigating, also served online advertisements using the same Google AdSense Publisher ID.

Now, here’s an important (rhetorical) question:

If I were a website owner, would I let my site’s ad earnings go to somebody else?

Sidney Zosa owns Kolektibo.com, so that money earned via Google AdSense Publisher ID ca-pub-1068157602481996 should go to him, unless he is just an employee or associate of someone higher up the food chain.

Google AdSense Terms of Service corroborate this observation, and agreement to these terms is a prerequisite for owning an AdSense account.

More specifically, part of the Philippine version of the Google AdSense Terms of Service states [AdSense]:

“13. Mga Pagkakatawan; Mga Warantiya; Mga Pagtatanggi

Kinakatawan mo at ginagarantiya na… (ii) ikaw ang may-ari ng, o legal na may pahintulot na kumilos sa ngalan ng may-ari ng ng bawat Ari-arian; (iii) ikaw ang teknikal at pang-editoryal na nagpapasya kaugnay ng bawat Ari-arian kung saan ang Mga Serbisyo ay ipinatupad at mayroon kang kontrol sa paraan ng pagpapatupad ng Mga Serbisyo sa bawat Ari-Arian…”

Translating this to English…

“13. Representations; Warranties; Disclaimers

You represent and warrant that… (ii) you are the owner of, or are legally authorized to act on behalf of the owner of, each Property; (iii) you are the technical and editorial decision maker in relation to each Property on which the Services are implemented and you have control over the way in which the Services are implemented on each Property…”

Based on this document, either:

(1) Sidney Zosa owns the AdSense Account, or
(2) he legally authorized somebody else to administer his AdSense for him.

A little logic

If Zosa owns the AdSense account, then he must also be the editorial decision maker of Change Scamming, as those AdSense Terms and Conditions applies to all properties (websites) in which Google Ads are served (i.e. Change Scamming). That is, if Zosa admits to owning the AdSense account, then he’s the guy behind Change Scamming, the exact guy you’re looking for.

Now, if he legally authorized somebody else to administer his AdSense, then he must tell you who it is if he doesn’t want to be implicated in this scandal.

Now, suppose he gives you another name, then that other person would be the owner of Google AdSense Publisher ID ca-pub-1068157602481996 (pending verification with Google’s officers, of course).

Again, by virtue of the same Google AdSense Terms of Service, that "other person" would be the “technical and editorial decision maker in relation to” Change Scamming.

Ask Zosa about who he has closely worked with in the past, most especially in tech-related projects.

For example, the website Lawhackers.co featured a technological startup called Supra and the writeup reads [Archived]:

Supra is a learning app for law students in the Phillipines, currently covering 38 volumes of the Civil Law Bar. It brings neat aesthetics and great navigation to create an amazing learning experience that is the first of its kind.

Founders: Sidney Zosa and Mars Veloso

Launched: 2014

Made in: Tacloban, Phillipines (sic)

Is the owner of the Google AdSense account behind Change Scamming Sidney Zosa, Mars Veloso, or somebody else?

With that said, I highly recommend that you guys contact Zosa and ask him a few questions.

Available evidence currently points to him, but please accord him due process.

You are not Rappler, after all. (ThinkingPinoy)

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NBI Cybercrime, you may have overlooked a website that could have caused even more damage than any of the five websites you mentioned in your Bikoy report.

And here I am to help.

According to a Philippine Star article, you noted in the complaint that the libelous and seditious “Ang Totoong Narcolist” video was posted by different social media sites, 'having the front runners to wit:'

Pinoy Ako Blog
Change Scamming
Metro Balita
Madam Claudia
What the FACT blog

In the 03 May 2019 Thinking Pinoy article “Hey NBI, here’s a new lead for your Bikoy Video investigation”, a response to the Philippine Star article cited above, I earnestly attempted to help law enforcement by giving leads on some of these websites, with particular attention to the erstwhile totally anonymous “Change Scamming” blog.

The four-part “Ang Totoong Narco List” video series are more commonly known as the “Bikoy Videos”.

I thought it was over, until I stumbled upon another site which, judging from the dates of its posts and the engagement the posts garnered, may also qualify as a “front runner” like the five previously mentioned.

And I am referring to “Now You Know”, with Facebook handle @NowYouKnowPh.

As of 3:42 am of 07 May 2019, NowYouKnow (NYK) has over 667,000 likes and over 674,000 followers [Archived].

NowYouKnow has over THREE TIMES more followers than Pinoy Ako Blog (230,000), over FIVE TIMES more than Change Scamming (115,000), and over TWENTY TIMES more followers than What the Fact Blog (57,000).

That is, in terms of potential propaganda damage caused, Now You Know dwarfs each of the these three websites mentioned in the NBI report.

To hammer the point home, here's the FaceBook page insights data taken at 08:10 AM 07 May 2019 of the pages listed in the PhilStar article (MetroBalita has already been unpublished) plus Now You Know:

Note that my page, Thinking Pinoy, is included by default because I used the Facebook Insights tool on that page. There's no option to remove it from the list.

As you can see, Now You Know's engagement is comparable to that of Pinoy Ako Blog, the strongest page among the five mentioned in the PhilStar article.

What did “Now You know” do?

Now You Know did not simply share the videos from the original youtube source. Instead, the page itself hosted each of the four Bikoy videos, garnering hundreds of thousands of views as of this article’s writing.

Let’s enumerate the instances.

For Ang Totoong Narco List Episode 1

Video Title: The "true" narco list?

Video Description:

A week ago, Now You Know did a story on ex-cop Eduardo Acierto's testimonies exposing the alleged involvement of certain Chinese Nationals in the illegal drug trade in the Philippines. Among them is the controversial former "economic adviser" of President Duterte, Michael Yang. Acierto also floated names of political personalities such as the former Special Assistant to the President Bong Go.

Today, NYK received another video presenting a testimony of a certain "BIKOY" (not his real name) who claims to be a former member of a big drug syndicate that operates in Southern Luzon and Visayas region. Bikoy presented in the video "the true narcolist" along with other documents that lead to big names behind certain illegal drug transactions.

Showing a series of evidences, Bikoy's camp claims that Presidential Son Paolo Duterte is one of the names behind such operations.

Watch this.

#NowYouKnow
#NYK See Less

Upload Date: 02 April 2019, 01:33 PM

Engagement as of 07 May 2019 2:20 AM:

370,000 views;

2,900 reactions;

1,879 comments,

2,517 shares

Link:https://www.facebook.com/nowyouknowph/videos/428970197912289/

Archived Copy:http://archive.fo/KIHJW

For Episode 2 (1st Upload)

Video Title: 2nd part: The "true" narco list?

Video Description:

After exposing the alleged involvement of Presidential son Paolo Duterte in the illegal drug trade in the country as indicated in the TARA--an internal document used by the drug syndicate in their financial transactions--the second part of the exposé reveals another name from the Duterte family.

In this video NYK received today, "BIKOY" (not his real name) reveals that Presidential daughter Kitty Duterte also "gets a part" in the illegal drug trade as she allegedly hides behind the name of Veronica Salvador.

Meanwhile, Paolo Duterte in his social media post on Tuesday responded and lashed out at a certain J.S., whom he tagged as being behind the video detailing his supposed connection to a drug syndicate.

“Wow ha kung makaimbento ka wagas. Galit ka kay Waldo kasi binabara niya lahat ng smuggling mo ng bigas at asukal diba J.S.," wrote Duterte.
Watch this.

#NowYouKnow
#NYK

Upload date: 04 April 2019, 11:21 AM

Engagement as of 07 May 2019 2:00 AM:

49,000 views;
621 reactions;
374 comments;
1,074 shares

Link: https://www.facebook.com/nowyouknowph/videos/2249963005242374

Archived Copy: http://archive.is/ik4ei

For Episode 2 (2nd upload)

Video Title: 2nd part: The "true" narco list?

Video Description:

After exposing the alleged involvement of Presidential son Paolo Duterte in the illegal drug trade in the country as indicated in the TARA--an internal document used by the drug syndicate in their financial transactions--the second part of the exposé reveals another name from the Duterte family.

In this video NYK received today, "BIKOY" (not his real name) reveals that Presidential daughter Kitty Duterte also "gets a part" in the illegal drug trade as she allegedly hides behind the name of Veronica Salvador.

Meanwhile, Paolo Duterte in his social media post on Tuesday responded and lashed out at a certain J.S., whom he tagged as being behind the video detailing his supposed connection to a drug syndicate.

“Wow ha kung makaimbento ka wagas. Galit ka kay Waldo kasi binabara niya lahat ng smuggling mo ng bigas at asukal diba J.S.," wrote Duterte.

Watch this.

#NowYouKnow
#NYK

Upload date: 04 April 2019, 11:27 AM

Engagement as of 07 May 2019 2:02 AM:

247,000 views;

4,100 reactions;

2,400 comments;

1,777 shares

Link:https://www.facebook.com/nowyouknowph/videos/1335941513223695

Archived Copy:http://archive.is/FRi9a

For Episode 3

Video Title: 3rd Part: The "true" narco list?

Video Description:

BIKOY’s camp is out again with another episode of the “true” narco list, now bringing into light another big name in the national politics. This exposé claims Former Special Assistant to the President Bong Go holds a high position in the drug syndicate as one of the “principals”. Go’s alleged involvement to the illegal drug operations can also be testified by the TARA—an internal document used by drug syndicate’s operations.

According to this video received by Now You Know this morning, Go also has a dragon tattoo on his back with an alphanumeric code of COATLIBRA-0018. Like what this camp demanded from presidential son Polong Duterte, they also urge Go to show his back to the public.

Watch this.

#NowYouKnow
#NYK

Upload date: 08 April 2019, 12:31 PM

Engagement as of 07 May 2019 1:49 AM:

223,000 views;
4,700 reactions;
2,300 comments,
2,219 shares

Link: https://www.facebook.com/nowyouknowph/videos/2040357599403206/

Archived Copy: http://archive.is/wmDIo

For Episode 4

Video Title: ANG TOTOONG NARCO LIST: EPISODE 4

Video Description:

“BIKOY,” who claims to formerly be part of the inner circle of a big drug syndicate in the Philippines, is apparently not done with his expose. Here he is once more with Episode 4 of his series, “Ang Totoong Narco List.”

The next drug syndicate major player revealed in this video released to NowYouKnow on April 13, 2019 is yet another member of the Duterte family. Want to know who it is? Watch this.

#NowYouKnow
#NYK

Upload date: 13 April 2019, 12:36 PM

Engagement as of 07 May 2019 1:55 AM:

188,000 views;3,500 reactions;1,700 comments,
1,127 shares

Link:https://www.facebook.com/nowyouknowph/videos/275905503289157

Archived Copy: http://archive.is/lBw30

Who is “Now You Know”?

According to its “About Page”:

“NOW YOU KNOW (NYK) is an online civic media platform managed by volunteers that delivers relevant news and information on the burning issues of the day.”

According to the same page, NYK was founded on 15 November 2018 with the mission:

“To be the among the country's top factual information online hubs that encourage more Filipinos to be involved in important conversations on issues that impact their lives.”

According to the same page, NYK’s email is nowyouknowph@gmail.com and its website is www.nowyouknow.ph.I tried to visit nowyouknow.ph but it’s a dead link. Not content with such a result, I checked its WhoIs data.

The usual ICANN WhoIs search won’t yield any significant data since NowYouKnow.ph uses a Philippine top-level domain (.ph).

Instead, the right way to do it is to go to Dot.Ph, the official domain name registry of the Philippines, and used its Dot.Ph’s internal WhoIs tool, and that’s what I did.

Typing in “nowyouknow.ph” and hitting the search button, I got this:

WHOIS info for nowyouknow.ph
Domain Name: nowyouknow.ph
Creation Date: 2018-11-26T09:52:21 +08:00
Expiration Date: 2019-11-26T09:52:21 +08:00
Updated Date: 2018-11-26T09:52:27 +08:00
Registrar: dotPH Domains, Inc
Registrant Name: Jerry Mae Maghinay
Registrant Organization: NKY
Registrant Street: 2515 the linear Makati T2
Registrant Street 2:
Registrant Street 3:
Registrant City: MAKATI CITY
Registrant State/Province: Zambonga Sibugay
Registrant Postal Code: 7000
Registrant Country: PH
Registrant Email: mae...@...
Name Server: dns1.domains.ph
Name Server: dns2.domains.ph

Background checking the registration details

Though riddled with typographical errors, it’s clear that the registrant’s name is a certain “Jerry Mae Maghinay” from “2515 the linear Makati T2”.

I checked for a social media profile under "Jerry Mae Maghinay" and I found this:

Now, it's possible that she's not the same Maghinay mentioned in the WhoIs records.

However, scrolling down her public timeline shows a 28 March 2019 post [Archived] as shown below:

Either this is the same Maghirang or its just one gigantic coincidence that I sincerely doubt.

Why is this relevant?

Well, a google search for “Jerry Mae Maghinay” [Archived] doesn’t yield any significant results. A search for “2515 the linear Makati T2” [Archived], however, does yield some very interesting information.

More specifically, this writer discovered a volunteer organization database entry [Archived] about a certain project called “YBH BANGKARUNUNGAN & SOLAR LAMPS TUNROVER (SITIO LIPATA CARAMOAN)” with the following contact information:

YELLOW BOAT OF HOPE FOUNDATION
Mae A. Maghinay
09290761859
chief.hopepaddler@yellowboat.orgYellow Boat of Hope Foundation

In short, available data suggests that the Maghinay mentioned in the WhoIs data is the same as the Maghinay I found on Facebook. Here's one of the photos of herself that she shared publicly [Archived]:

The Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation

Next thing I did was to background check “Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation”.

The said foundation described itself in its about page that partly reads:

The Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation, formerly referred to as the The Philippine Funds for Little Kids, started as a national movement to help children who used to swim to school in the mangrove village of Layag-Layag, Brgy. Talon-Talon, Zamboanga City.

Zamboanga? This may partly explain the seeming typographical error in NowYouKnow.PH's WhoIs registry entry.

At the bottom of the page is the foundation’s address and contact information [Archived], and I quote:

Suite 2515, The Linear Makati Tower 2, Yakal cor.
Mayapis St. Makati City, PHILIPPINES, 1607
chief.hopepaddler@yellowboat.org
www.yellowboat.org

A deeper look at Yellow Boat

Here’s what can be gleaned from the foundation’s website:

Yellow Boat is an “Angat Buhay” partner, according to its 13 April 2019 blog post [Archived] where it thanked Vice-president Leni Robredo. Angat Buhay’s flagship project [MB].

Meanwhile, the foundation’s two founders are Anton Mari H. Lim, DVM and Jay Michael O. Jaboneta, according to its “Board and Management” page [Archived].

Yellow Boat co-founders Anton Lim (left) and Jay Jaboneta (right).

Yellow Boat's founders are very interesting.

According to a 16 February 2011 post by The Asia Foundation [Archived], Yellow Boat co-founder Anton Mari H. Lim, DVM is “on the board member of People Power Volunteers for Change – campaign supporters who have organized themselves to help President (Benigno) Aquino’s administration.”

During Pres. Benigno Aquino’s incumbency, Lim was also a commissioner of the EDSA People Power Commission [PhilStar|Archived], a government agency tasked with “institutionalizing the legacy of the EDSA People Power Revolution”[EO 82 s.99]

During the Noynoy Aquino administration, Yellow Boat co-founder Anton Lim was a commissioner of the People Power Commission.

Meanwhile, the other co-founder Jay Michael Jaboneta in his personal website [Archived] describes himself as “the first and former Director for New Media under the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) and started the team that managed Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III’s official website and social networking presence.”

Yellow Boat Foundation co-founder Jay Jaboneta in 2011 receives the "Liberal Project Award" from the Friedrich Nauman Foundation, an affiliate of the Liberal Party of the Philippines. Handing the award is then Senator and LP President Franklin Drilon. Witnessing the event is then Transportation Secretary Emilio "Jun" Abaya.

The Yellow Boat Foundation’s founders are heavily linked with the Aquino Administration as both held appointive positions in pro-Aquino propaganda arms, namely the Aquino-era People Power Commission and the Aquino-era PCOO.

What just happened?

Before you get confused, let’s consolidate what we’ve found out so far.

Judging from the timing of NowYouKnow’s five uploads related to the four-part Ang Totoong Narco List video series, along with the engagement each video received to date, I think the National Bureau of Investigation Cybercrime Division should also take a look at NowYouKnow’s potential complicity.

To help law enforcement with this prospective investigation, I checked for leads by tracing the ownership of NowYouKnow’s official website, NowYouKnow.ph.

The search led me to a registrant named Jerry Mae Maghinay with address at 2515 The Linear Makati T2, Makati City.

Now, publicly available data shows that NowYouKnow shares addresses with The Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation, whose two founders Anton Lim and Jay Michael Jaboneta are not just Aquino supporters, but Aquino appointees.

Aside from the common address, is NowYouKnow totally unrelated to The Yellow Boat of Hope?

Apparently not, as publicly available data cited in the previous sections show that NowYouKnow’s registrant also works for The Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation.

Now, it is interesting to note that “The Linear Makati” is a high-rise residential condominium complex whose biggest unit design is just 49 square meters, according to its developer's website.

Diagrams of units at The Linear Makati. Source: aspirebyfilinvest.com

This 49-sqm area is just 7x7 meters which, in my opinion, is pretty small to house two organizations, unless [1] the two organizations are basically one and the same or [2] they are significantly independent from each other but their respective management teams don’t mind packing all their employees into such a tight space.

With that said, I think the NBI should ask a few questions to the people whose names were mentioned above because based on my years of experience as a social media practitioner, the damage that NowYouKnow caused on the credit of the state is no laughing matter.

We need to find an answer to this question:

Is the LP-linked Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation moonlighting as a black propaganda organization?

That's what I would personally like to know. [ThinkingPinoy | RJ Nieto]

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Are Gretchen Ho and Hidilyn Diaz as innocent as innocent goes?

UPDATE 1: Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo on 10 May 2019 exculpated Hidilyn Diaz and Gretchen Ho from the supposed destabilization plot. Despite this development, the data provided in this article, along with the ensuing analysis, still stand.

UPDATE 2: I wrote this article because my research showed that prior to the first update (see abov), I felt that I may still give Panelo and Andanar the benefit of the doubt. Panelo's latest announcement, however, made that unncessary. Given the colossal incompetence that PCOO and OPS displayed these past few days, I am seriously considering starting an online petition requesting President Duterte to fire key people in his Strategic Communications team.

UPDATE 3: Online change.org petition "PRRD, please fire your Strategic Communications people." has been published. If you want to read or sign the petition, CLICK HERE.

In a Malacañang press briefing held earlier this week, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo showed to media a matrix containing names of personalities allegedly involved in a destabilization plot against the Philippine Government.

Among the names in the matrix were those of ABS-CBN anchor Gretchen Ho and Olympic weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz.

I admit that I was surprised to find their names on the matrices and I cannot help but be frustrated by the fact that the PCOO and OPS released so many names without providing any significant substantiation for the allegations.

But then, we already know that PCOO’s Strategic Communications and Social Media teams have continuously demonstrated mind-numbing incompetence since President Duterte, so that’s not news.

Senator Ping Lacson’s 09 May 2019 tweet perfectly encapsulates my sentiments of that day:

“Weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz has brought honor to the country while journalist Gretchen Ho has carved out a name for herself in her field, both through discipline and hard work. Their inclusion in the matrix either involved excellent intelligence work or Bikoy had infiltrated NSA.”

What’s news, however, is that thing about Diaz and that Ho.

Diaz and that Ho react to Panelo

In response to Panelo’s matrix, Gretchen Ho on 08 May 2019 tweeted:

“So ano ba talaga? 😅 Am I trying to OUST or SUPPORT the government?”

Attached to her tweet were screenshots of the Panelo’s destabilization plot matrix and a photo with the president taken recently in Malacañang.

Miss Ho, let me remind you that the invitation only mentioned "celebrities" and nowhere was it stated that only "pro-Duterte" were invited.

Meanwhile, Hidilyn Diaz in an interview with ABS-CBN News said:

“Sino si Rodel Jayme? Hahaha di ko po kilala. Lol nakakatawa naman”

Given these, it’s safe to say that the overarching theme of their respective responses is that both women have nothing to do about anything even remotely associated with destabilizing the Duterte Administration.

Even I, at first, was inclined to agree, as Spox Panelo himself cannot explain why the two sportswomen were included in the matrix.

With that said, I decided to check if these two are as innocent as innocent goes.

First, let’s check Hidilyn Diaz

Hidilyn Diaz is best known for winning a silver medal in weightlifting during the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As far as I can recall, she rarely talks about politics as she mostly spends her time in training sessions and international competitions.

Earlier today, however, a Thinking Pinoy follower emailed me a photo of Hidilyn wearing a Yellow Boat of Hope Foundation (Yellow Boat) t-shirt which, I admit, roused my curiosity over Hidilyn’s potential involvement in the foundation.

Diaz (middle) wearing a Yellow Boat t-shirt. To her right and wearing jeans is Yellow Boat Founder Anton Lim.

According to a 25 August 2018 Yellow Boat blog post [Archived]:

“Congratulations to our Hope Paddler, weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz for winning the Philippines first gold in the 2018 Asian Games! We are very proud of your feat!”

As it turns out, Hidilyn is part of Yellow Boat.

As extensively discussed in the 07 May 2019 ThinkingPinoy article “NBI Cybercrime, you may have missed this BIGGER Bikoy-linked fake news website”, Yellow Boat is linked to the fake news Facebook page Now You Know (NYK), one of the pages who helped the most in spreading the black propaganda video series “Ang Totoong Narco List”.

n that article, I showed that NYK shares a small office with Yellow Boat Foundation, with NYK’s site administrator Jerry Mae Maghinay – who was also mentioned in Panelos Matrix – also working for Yellow Boat.

In short, Hidilyn is a part of an organization with credible links to alleged destabilizer social media organization NYK.

Hidilyn Diaz may be truthful in her not knowing who Rodel Jayme is, but she sure knows people who enabled the proliferation of a scurrilous libel against the State.

What we see here is that contrary to what is being painted in most media outlets today, Hidilyn is not totally unrelated to personalities who are strongly involved the Bikoy Videos.

However, as to whether she knowingly participated in any destabilization attempt, is still up to Panelo and Andanar to prove.

That's not my problem: that's PCOO's.

Second, let’s check Gretchen Ho

Gretchen Ho rose to fame when she became a member of the Ateneo de Manila University varsity volleyball team and eventually, a host and reporter for ABS-CBN News.

Gretchen Ho is a known critic of the administration, but simply criticizing the Duterte Administration is not enough to show complicity in any significant destabilization attempt. I, for myself, criticize the Administration a lot, especially its incompetent officials in the PCOO.

A little background check on Gretchen, however, reveals a major conflict of interest.

In a 22 November 2018 instagram post, the United States Embassy in Manila announced:
“TV host and #HappiNews Ambassador @gretchenho is traveling to the United States for the #IVLP Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists on Media Responsibility in an Age of Disinformation. #USPHexchanges70”

US Embassy Manila's Instagram 22 November 2018 post announcing the grant awarded to Gretchen Ho.

The Edward R. Murrow Program

Given that the President’s independent foreign policy clashes directly with US interests, the fact that the State Department funds the exchange program is a red flag in itself.

In an August 2018 Philippine Star report, President Duterte reiterated his accusation that the United States, particularly its Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), is monitoring his mobile phone conversations, insinuating that the agency might plot to kill him.

But of course, assassinations are messy, so why not death by a thousand miniature cuts?

And with each cut being an anti-Duterte journalist who regularly spews an anti-Duterte content?

Now, according the United States Department of State website [Archived]:

“Each year, the U.S. Department of State's Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists brings more than 100 emerging international journalists from around the world to examine journalistic practices in the United States. The Murrow program is an innovative public-private partnership between the Department of State, the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, and several leading U.S. schools of journalism. The program usually occurs in October-November of each year.”

What makes matters worse, however, is that the US State Department administers the program in partnership with the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, which receives funding from CIA-linked and State Department-funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

NED’s CIA links have been extensively discussed in the 29 April 2019 ThinkingPinoy article “How much has Vera Files, PCIJ, Rappler, CMFR received from CIA offshoot?”.

Let me state this simply:

Gretchen Ho benefitted from the same CIA-linked organization that funds Vera Files, PCIJ, Rappler and CMFR.

To hammer the point home, let me quote the State Department’s official description of the application process for the Edward Murrow Program:

"There is no application for the Edward R. Murrow Program. Participants are nominated and selected annually by the staff at U.S. Embassies around the world based on their journalistic accomplishments and potential to advance relationships between their country and the United States.”

Judging from this, the United States sees Gretchen Ho as someone who can “potentially advance relationships between [the Philippines] and the United States”, which, as many would likely agree, is a more diplomatic way of saying Ho can advance US interest in the Philippines.

Duterte is at odds with the United States and there’s no sign of Philippine Foreign Policy returning to its historically very pro-US stance… but we all know that Philippine Foreign Policy may change when the Duterte administration is replaced.

Now let me ask the following questions:

In that light and as a journalist who likes to believe that she sways Public Opinion, what exactly can Gretchen do to advance US interests in the Philippines?

More specifically, what exactly does the United States expect Gretchen Ho to do after it gave her a prestigious scholarship grant?

Will Gretchen Ho ever support Duterte’s Independent Foreign Policy despite the Americans expecting her to support American interests?

Is Gretchen Ho willing to forsake any future US grants similar to the one she received last year?

Simply put, will Gretchen Ho even dare to bite the hand that fed her?

Surely, a supposedly legit journalist like Gretchen Ho must have made herself aware of the expectations associated with receiving US State Department grant.

What's the point of all these?

I am not saying that Gretchen Ho and Hidilyn Diaz have any significantly active participation in any destabilization plot. However, the findings in the previous sections show that these two’s inclusion in the matrix may not have come totally out of left field.

I am in no way disapproving of foreign grants to Filipino citizens, but when the foreign power has CORE INTERESTS that directly clash with those of the Filipino People, then I have a problem with that.

Likewise, I am in no way disapproving of being part of charitable organizations, but when there’s credible evidence showing that the charitable organization is heavily linked with a destabilizer, then I have a problem with that.

Suffice it to say, it is still up to the PCOO Sec. Martin Andanar and Presidential Spokesperson Sal Panel to fully substantiate their myriad claims during the fateful press briefing.

But to say that Hidilyn Diaz’s and Gretchen Ho’s inclusion in the matrix is totally unfounded, that the two are as pure as snow, is just like Esquire calling Maria Ressa the “Sexiest Woman Alive” in 2010.

Let me say this in plain Taglish:

Kahit ako man ay nagulat nang mapangalanan sina Diaz at Ho, pero takang-taka ako na ang portrayal sa kanila ng media ay tila wala silang kahit anong bahid ng koneksiyon sa kahit sinong involved sa matrix, samantalang malinaw na mayroon. Hindi ko sinasabing may kinalaman sila sa destabilization plot, pero hindi ko matanggap, batay sa publicly available data, na walang-wala silang kahit anong koneksiyon sa kahit kanino.

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Angel Locsin's retort to Jimmy Bondoc's post is disappointing, to say the least.

Background

Singer Jimmy Bondoc in a 22 May 2019 post said he's "excited to see the biggest tv network close down".

Bondoc raised three core issues concerning the network:

Rigged contests that are "manipulated to suit the whims of hidden bosses" or whose winners are pre-determined,

News for sale, where the "highest bidder gets the (favorable) slant" and where "foreign groups are usually the victors",

"Countless victims", ranging "from sexual harrassment to plain and simple bullying"

ABS-CBN actress Angel Locsin reacts

While he didn't name which network it is, I think we all know he's referring to the media giant ABS-CBN that's under threat of closure after its 25-year congressional franchise expire in 2020 because earlier this year, Pres. Duterte said he'll object to the renewal of its franchise as he accused the network of swindling public funds.

In retaliation to Bondoc, ABS-CBN actress Angel Locsin said:

"The network might not be perfect but for you to be happy about thousands of people losing their jobs is pure evil."

Kapamilya actress Angel Locsin (@143redangel) fired back at singer Jimmy Bondoc after the latter said he is excited to see “the biggest TV network close down” referring to ABS-CBN.

Read full story here: https://t.co/4DD6ppqwQI pic.twitter.com/EPUNal3GBE
— Philstar.com (@PhilstarNews) May 23, 2019

I find Locsin's reaction utterly amusing. I mean, did she just downplay criminal acts?

Locsin presumably read the entirety of Bondoc's post. While she admitted that the "the network might not be perfect", she never denied the widespread sexual harrassment, bullying, and criminal fraud that Bondoc accused the network of.

Did Locsin just dismiss these patently felonious practices as mere "imperfections"?

Surely, sexual harassment, criminal fraud and bullying are issues that can never be justified because the networks creates "thousands of jobs", right?

First, Sexual harassment

Locsin’s words remind me of the Zamboanga del Norte Congressman Romeo Jalosjos.

As described in People v Jalosjos, Jalosjos in 1996 raped an 11-year-old girl in at least nine separate occasions, for which he was sentenced to decades of imprisonment.

The same Supreme Court decisions states that Jalosjos gave the girl an allowance every time he rapes her.

For example:

“…he asked her to fondle his penis while he caressed her breasts and inserted his finger into her vagina. After their shower, accused-appellant ate breakfast. He gave Rosilyn P5,000.00…”

Going by Locsin’s logic, Jalosjos “might not be perfect” but for us to be happy that the girl can’t have a few thousand pesos every time she’s raped is pure evil.

You are a woman, Miss Locsin, you should know better.

Miss Locsin, you didn’t think that one through.

As for News for Sale and Bullying...

Angel never denied Bondoc’s accusation that the network slants news in favor of the highest bidder and just like Bondoc’s accusation of widespread sexual harassment in the firm.

Instead, Locsin very conveniently used the term “imperfect” to describe the network. Ain’t that a little too easy, Miss Locsin? ABS-CBN News reaches millions of Filipinos on a daily basis. Did you, Miss Locsin, belittle the catastrophic effects of widespread disinformation just because ABS-CBN provides “thousands of jobs”?

And bullying, geez! Miss Locsin, no less than your father is a Person with Disability (PWD), and we all know that PWDs are very common victims of bullying. That’s why I was shocked to discover that you simply ignored Bondoc’s allegations of widespread bullying in ABS-CBN.

Have you nothing to say about the cases ABS-CBN anchor Gretchen Fullido filed against several network executives and Ces Oreña-Drilon? A regional trial court has already indicted them on at least one of those cases, yet as far as I can recall, you said NOTHING about it.

Moreover, while I couldn’t care less about whoever wins whatever ABS-CBN contest, I am just surprised to discover that you ignored Bondoc’s allegation that the network or its executives rig contests, as you yourself are a judge of the ABS-CBN'S Pilipinas Got Talent.

Miss Locsin, you’re either severely hypocritical or aggressively ignorant.

But I'm not done yet.

On swindling public funds

Pres. Duterte accused ABS-CBN of swindling government funds. Angel, being a politically active aware individual after endorsing her nephew Neri Colmenares’ 2019 senatorial bid, should also be aware of this..

Citing massive unpaid loans from the government-owned Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), Pres. Rody Duterte on 06 March 2019 said he will oppose attempts to renew the congressional franchise of Lopez-owned media giant ABS-CBN.

PRRD TO OPPOSE ABS-CBN FRANCHISE RENEWAL
PRRD TO OPPOSE ABS-CBN FRANCHISE RENEWAL

Citing massive unpaid loans from the Development Bank of the Philippines, Pres. Rody Duterte said he will oppose attempts to renew the congressional franchise of media giant ABS-CBN.

PRRD said, "The franchise is up for renewal. You ask if I'll object? Yes, I will object! Unang-una, yung utang nila (sa DBP), tablahin natin yan?"

[TRANSLATION: The franchise is up for renewal. You ask if I'll object? Yes, I will object! First of all, their (DBP) loan, should we just forget about it?]

PRRD said during the 1st Anniversary celebration of the Presidential Anti-corruption Commission held in Malacañang on 06 March 2019.

ABS-CBN's 25-year congressional franchise expires in 2020 and it needs to be renewed for the media giant to continue TV operations..

TV franchises are given via Republic Acts passed by Congress. PRRD, as the Chief Executive, has the option to veto Republic Acts.
Posted by Thinking Pinoy on Wednesday, March 6, 2019

PRRD said:

"The franchise is up for renewal. You ask if I'll object? Yes, I will object! Unang-una, yung utang nila (sa DBP), tablahin natin yan?"

[TRANSLATION: The franchise is up for renewal. You ask if I'll object? Yes, I will object! First of all, their (DBP) loan, should we just forget about it?]

ABS-CBN's 25-year congressional franchise expires in 2020 and it needs to be renewed for the media giant to continue TV operations. TV franchises are given via Republic Acts passed by Congress... and PRRD, as the Chief Executive, has the option to veto Republic Acts.

Here's a partial list of unpaid DBP loans secured by the ABS-CBN owners Lopez Group:

1: Maynilad Water Services, Inc.: P710.86 million

Loan granted in 2001 and started to default in 2003. The Lopezes controlled maynilad until 2006. DMCI Homes and MVP's Metro Pacific Investments Corporation took over in 2007.

2: Bayan Telecommunications, Inc. (BayanTel): P591.81 million

Loan granted in 1995 and started to default in 2001. The Lopezes controlled Bayantel until Globe Telecom started to take over in 2012, with the government finally approving the takeover bid in 2015.

3: Central CATV Inc. (SKYcable)—P207.10 million

Loan granted in 1997 and started to default in 2001. The Lopezes control Skycable a.k.a. Central CATV Inc up to this day.

4: Benpres Holdings Corporation (Lopez Group of Companies)—P157. 95 million

Then called Benpres Holdings, DBP granted the loan in 1996. default started in 2002. The Lopez Group owns ABS-CBN, among Others.
The said DBP loans are over P1.67 billion in total.

Given these, did Locsin just say that we should overlook ABS-CBN’s failure to pay P1.67 billion owed to the Filipino People just because ABS-CBN provides “thousands of jobs”?

Miss Locsin, you didn’t think that one through.

Your nephew, the losing Otso Diretso senatoriable Neri Colmenares loves to paint himself as an anti-corruption advocate. By very publicly endorsing Colmenares, I can only surmise that you yourself are against corruption, right?

Now, how would you reconcile your anti-corruption stance with either your ignorance of matters that directly concern you or your giving a cold shoulder to what could be a monumental case of corruption?

Miss Locsin, you’re either severely hypocritical or aggressively ignorant, so to give you the benefit of the doubt, let’s just say you didn’t think that one through.

“Thousands of Jobs”

Regardless of the points I raised in the previous sections, I cannot just ignore the fact that ABS-CBN does provide thousands of jobs of Filipinos.

My problem with your argument, however, is your apparent incognizance of the widespread and long-standing labor issues plaguing the network, specifically its Internal Job Market (IJM).

In 2010, ABS-CBN IJM Workers’ Union blasted the network for alleged unjust dismissals and worker harassment.

Union president Antonio Perez claimed that management had discriminately terminated, delayed, or rearranged work schedules of dozens of ABS-CBN IJM workers [ABS].

In a statement, the workers’ union said:

“The management only offered… regular status to selected workers, and it entails waiver of all complaints of the worker against the management, no back-pay or recognition of the delayed regular status supposed to be granted for those who served for long years already, among other conditions.”

Let’s cite another case, just for kicks.

In Fulache v ABS-CBN, where the Supreme Court said ABS-CBN “forgot labor law and its realities” and that it “acted with patent bad faith” in the case involving several retrenched cameramen, editors, and drivers, who accused the network of violating laws on regularization and engaging in unfair labor practices.

The High Court ruled in favor of the unjustly terminated employees and ordered the network to pay damages.

Miss Locsin, you may have a distorted idea of the quality of the “thousands of jobs” that ABS-CBN offers, maybe because you only know of the rates paid to pretty frontline employees like you, but are you aware of the plight of those who work behind the camera?

Again, Miss Locsin, you’re either severely hypocritical or aggressively ignorant, so to give you the benefit of the doubt, let’s just say you didn’t think that one through too.

Think, Miss Locsin, think... and only after then should you talk. Don't contribute to the misinformation. Please try to see beyond your nose.

I do not expect omniscience on your part but please, read up a bit. [ThinkingPinoy | RJ Nieto]

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There's a win-win solution, actually.

While at the wake of my mentor Jojo A. Robles, I had a conversation with a friend who happens to be a talent at ABS-CBN She told me she doesn't agree with me with my stance on ABS-CBN prospective closure.

I will conceal my friend's identity for her own protection. For purposes of discussion, I'll call her "Sunset".

My friend was actually referring to article "Angel Locsin v. Jimmy Bondoc: THINK, ANGEL, THINK!", where I basically grilled ABS-CBN actress Angel Locsin for her poorly-informed rebuke of singer Jimmy Bondoc's earlier post.

BONDOC VS LOCSIN

Locsin was reacting to Bondoc's post where the latter said he's "excited to see the biggest tv network close down" after describing the network as "a snake pit, where success is based on politics and sexual favors."

Jimmy didn't mention ABS-CBN, but I think we all know what he really meant.

Several camps have alleged that bullying, sexual harassment, and fraud are rampant in ABS-CBN, and I personally encourage victims to come forward and file complaints.

Gretchen Fullido blazed the trail, and she's finding much success right now after a Quezon City Court indicted news anchor Ces Drilon and a couple of other ABS-CBN network executives for the libel Gretchen Filed.

SUNSET'S POINT

Going back to what Sunset was saying, she said that while Jimmy may be justified in raising several important issues, Jimmy should have been more circumspect in the words that he used.

Sunset explained that Jimmy, instead of just expressing his disgust over the alleged crimes happening within the media firm, insulted thousands of innocent workers who work there.

I think I got her point, and I think her point is valid.

Jimmy seems to have adopted a scorched earth strategy when he wrote that statement: instead of simply criticizing the network's owners and the corrup person inside it, his use of the words "excited to see the biggest tv network close down", while striking, may indeed be a tad too much.

Let me explain why.

THE FRANCHISE ISSUE

Just like Pres. Rody Duterte, I want the Lopezes to pay back the billions of pesos they owe the government, the same billions that may prevent the renewal of ABS-CBN's franchise next year. And the government pressuring the Lopezes into paying back the loans need not, and likely will not, result to ABS-CBN's closure.The fact of the matter, however, is that there are so many ways to deal with that issue without requiring ABS-CBN to close down:

FIRST: The Lopezes can simply pay the money back, similar to the what Mighty Corporation did a few years ago. The Lopezes owe the government is a lot less than what Mighty had to pay back so it should be easier to settle.

If that happens, then closure would be unnecessary. Otherwise, this leads us to...

SECOND: Should the Lopez Group lack the necessary liquidity to settle the debts in time, they can sell off assets to meet the requirement. The Lopez Group is worth billions of pesos' so while it's true that a few billion pesos will hurt its balance sheets, I doubt that it's enough to run the company into the ground.

If that happens, then closure would be unnecessary. Otherwise, this leads us to...

THIRD: In the assumption that they cannot (or unwilling to) pay, the government can just added pressure by not renewing its franchise.

If the Lopezes yield then finito. Otherwise...

FOURTH: I've heard from the grapevine that the Lopezes have managed to acquire an obscure TV station with an active franchise as a Plan B in case ABS-CBN doesn't get renewed. However, I have checked various TV franchises and I see that they contain a Non-Transferability Clause which, in simpler terms, means no part of a TV franchise can be tranferred to anyone.

Should ABS-CBN insist on using the said franchise to legalize its operations, Congress can simply cancel that other franchise as its well within its powers to do so.

FIFTH: Should the Lopezes play dirty by bringing the issue to the Supreme Court, I can so far see only two things happening...

A. The High Court respects the separation of powers, so that it will not interfere with Congress' decision to revove that obscure network's franchise, or,

B. The High Court gives the case due course, then PRRD can in theory just play as dirty as ABS-CBN. After all, PRRD would have already appointed 11 out of the 15 SC Justices by end of 2019, a year before ABS-CBN's current franchise expires.

The Lopezes should be well aware of the fourth and fifth points so if I were them, I would just pay back what I owe to spare me the trouble. That is, whichever way things go, it seems that the Lopezes will eventually end up paying, and paying resolves the issue.

THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO

The worst-case scenario that I can see is the Lopez Family selling all or part of its 55% stake at ABS-CBN to someone else, i.e. ABS-CBN continues operating albeit with a new set of owners.

Based on ABS-CBN's 2018 General Information Sheet, the Lopez Group owns around 55% of ABS-CBN, or about 481 million common shares. That's worth about Php 9 billion using today's ABS-CBN share price of P18.60.

As far as I know, ABS-CBN owes the government-owned Development Bank of the Philippines Php 1.67 billion. Adding possible surcharges and penalties, I think Php 9 billion is more than enough to pay the loans back.

The Lopezes, should they lack sufficiently liquidity today, can just self half of their stake and they'll have enough. The Lopezes may also opt to sell their almost one billion preferred shares, worth over Php 18 billion. They even opt to sell a mixture of both commo and preferred stocks. Moreover, the Lopezes may also secure a bank loan to finance the debt repayment, thereby avoiding the need to lose any control over the firm.

THE LOWDOWN

Whichever way, it is clear here that while the repayment of the DBP loan may hurt the Lopezes, it is extremely unlikely that ABS-CBN will close down just because of it.

Thus, I think that it was unnecessary for Jimmy to go as far as expressing his excitement of ABS-CBN's supposed closure. While we couldn't care less about how rich (or less rich) the Lopezes will be, we should also think about how the lowly salaried employees will feel as soon as they hear news that the network is about to close shop, even if it it likely won't.

Like President Duterte, I am a very practical person: I'd rather have erring citizens pay stuff back than crush them because latter doesn't really do anyone any good.

The point here is this: Jimmy may have gone overboard when he raised the issue of closure. If I were him, I would've said "I am excited to see one of the richest abusive oligarchs fall down" instead. That way, he would not have caused undue worry among the thousands of less affluent employees of the station.

I myself take extra care when posting statements so I can minimize collateral damage.

Truth be told, I think it's safe to say that most ABS-CBN employees don't care who owns ABS-CBN, as long as they have a job, such as the single mother that relies solely on her ABS-CBN job to feed her five kids. Meanwhile, the government is after the Lopezes for their unpaid debts and not the Lopezes' employees.

Hence, it would've been so much better if Jimmy focused solely on the Lopezes and the Lopezes alone. After all, it's the Lopezes who didn't pay back the loans and not their lowly employees.

Jimmy should've used more precise verbiage, as opposed to one that attacked not only his intended targets, but also those who he wants to protect.

As for Angel, I stand by my statement that if she insists on inserting herself into politically-charged issues, I highly suggest that she read up a bit first. [ThinkingPinoy]

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Dear Karen Davila,

My manager spoke to me recently and he relayed to me what you had to say. It's funny that this is the second time you've tried to reach me through channels, even if you can very easily get hold of my phone number by calling our common friends.

Anyhow, here's what I've got to say in return.

Your latest complaint

The latest post you're complaining about is a blind item. You weren't named anywhere on that post, so why are you so affected?

Note that I didn't cite the post here because I do not want to make that issue bigger than it should be, or for it to take on dimensions that I didn't intend it to take. I may be an asshole, but not 24-7.

Yes, the commenters tried to guess who that person is, but is it really ethical for me to suppress my followers' Freedom of Speech just because you didn't like what they say?

KAREN, U DAT?

Are you sure that Duterte is the dictator or is it some supposedly veteran journalist that’s so onion-skinned, she wants to silence people who don’t like her?

Going by your logic, should we blame you for the public ridicule that Alma Moreno and Manny Pacquiao had to suffer after they guested in your show?

Karen, please check the constitutionality of your requests before you blurt them out.

I personally think you have much to improve in your journalism, but I never crusaded for your involuntary silence.

Heck! I actually want you to talk even more because you, to put it lightly, amuse me every now and then. But contrary to what you would like to believe, I do not exist to torment you: it just so happens that you commit gaffes far more often than most high-profile journalists, and it would be hypocritical of me not to point them out.

Honestly, I haven't seen any other high-profile journalist commit the same kind of glaring mistakes that you do.

And why would I keep quiet about them? They are matters of Public Interest, and I am not indebted to you in any way, shape, or form.

A Code of Omerta

While it is true that there's supposedly an unwritten rule that journalists don't attack other journalists, I think that this rule doesn't apply to "our" case because:

First, you and your colleagues in traditional media don't consider us journalists but mere "fake news purveyors". Do you suddenly consider "fake news purveyors" as journalists when it's convenient for you?

Second, journalists should be able to take what they dish out. Are you telling me that you can't take criticism when criticizing people has been your job for decades? Have you never heard of Media Lens UK, Karen?

Third, you have talked about me unfavorably in your show several times, yet never have you respected my Right of Reply. Heck, you didn’t even bother to ask my side on that episode about the October 2017 Fake News Senate Hearing, despite me being the topic of that specific episode.

Who was being unethical then, Karen? And you even have the gall to ask for fairness?

But that is not to mean that I exert no effort to be as fair as possible.

As far as I can recall, I have never made up stuff about you. Everything I’ve said about you were either based on publicly available footage or information that I have verified using at least two independent sources.

On your fake news about me

With that said, you told my manager that you were so hurt when I allegedly said Senator Trillanes bought you and your husband a pricey condominium unit. I find that funny because this was not the first time you brought that up.

About a year or so ago, you called a common friend to complain about that exact thing. I was with him when you were having the conversation.

Asked where you found that post, you said you saw it in “ThinkingPinoy.info”, which is not my site because I own as far as I can recall only ThinkingPinoy with the top-level domains .com, .net, .org, .com.ph, .net.ph, and .org.ph, specifically to prevent copycats from using my brand. I specifically decided against purchasing rights over .info because any decent netizen will know that they usually are used by fake news sites so I do not wanna spend my money on protecting my brand from something that is unlikely to be a threat.

Do not blame me for your technological ignorance as your ignorance, technological or otherwise, is not my fault.

I vividly remember our common friend telling you that I never wrote that Trillanes-bought-you-a-condo issue because I do not own the source site you cited yet years later, you still insist that I did what I didn’t.

Should I sue you for slander? But more importantly, why are you spreading fake news about me? Is that the kind of journalist that I should aspire to become, seriously?

Am I really the one spreading fake news here, Karen? Should I call the CBCP so they can include you in their list?

Onion skin

You are arguably far more well-known than I am but I think that I have already suffered a sufficient amount of bashing, enough to have the right to tell you that public figures, especially those who willingly entered the limelight like you, should not be this onion-skinned.

When I was unfairly grilled on national TV by six senators for hours on end, have you ever seen me use the victim card? When Maria Ressa slandered me all over the world for god knows how many times already, have I ever cried for sympathy? When I was unjustly blamed during 2018 PH-Kuwait Diplomatic crisis for something that I didn't do, did I ever scream "Woe is me!"?

No, I took all of them in stride. I let my followers decide who’s the insecure liar.

Now, if you are still so convinced that I have unfairly and illegally maligned you, then please do yourself a favor: next time you complain, call me directly.

But in case a multi-awarded journalist like you is too scared to talk to a huckster like me, please tell whoever common acquaintance you’ll call next the specific post and specific location concerning the specific thing you’re complaining about.

Geez, Karen, the kind of complaining you’ve done so far smacks of bad journalism. A simple Who What When Where and How is an SOP: you don’t just call random people and complain about something you can’t even describe accurately.

Truth in journalism

You see, Karen, ThinkingPinoy started as a pedestrian putok-sa-buho who got so sick and tired of Mass Media’s slanted reporting that he took it upon himself to call out the hypocrisy and the lies bombarding the masses every day.

Despite your visible dislike for our current president, be thankful that you work in the Philippines.

Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, Jon Stewart, and even the much-ridiculed pundits of Fox News would have had a field day had you been working in the United States… although that assumes you can, in one way or another, become famous enough to be within range of their radar.

And don’t even get me started with the much more virulent European Press.

Karen, had you taken considerable and noticeable efforts to improve your journalism, I would have already forgotten all about you by now. But judging from your latest stunt with Vico Sotto, it appears that you really are the gift that keeps on giving.

When you so publicly expect so much from others like Manny Pacquiao and Alma Moreno, the public will also expect much from you.

I am part of that public.

Yes, I agree that I may not be as good as the person that I want you to become, but have you ever heard me complain to you about the flak I get from the public?

Despite all these

Despite everything I’ve said so far, I actually am happy that you got to where you are right now. I know you have sacrificed a lot to achieve what you’ve achieved. I will not – and I have no plans to – take any of that from you. Your success is your success.

But getting to the top is easier than staying on top, and that second thing is the challenge you’re facing today.

Will you stay on top by complaining to lesser humans like me, or by honing your craft and stopping the hypocrisy?

Think about it.

And no, I do not hate you: I just want you to be better.

I want you to be a better journalist not for your own sake, but for the sake of those who watch you every day. Filipinos have suffered long enough, so please don’t make them suffer any further.

Legit Journalists don't act the way you do right now.

Note that I have been intentionally vague here because I tried my best to minimize any embarrassment that this may cause you. Yes, despite everything I've written, I was actually trying my best to hold back.

Pramis, hindi pa ako beast mode ng lagay na 'to. Had I written this with beast mode activated, you would have had a splitting headache... or at least a "splitting image" of it .

Now toughen up.

Sincerely,

RJ Nieto
Publisher, ThinkingPinoy

P.S. Honestly, I prefer myself being called the The Splitting Image of a Dutch riding an above-ground subway in Cambridge.

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