I hope it is not a dud, a valiant but empty rhetoric.
This is the apprehension of opposition Rep. Edcel C. Lagman about President Rodrigo Duterte’s assertion of Philippine sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) after Duterte appears to desist from seeking sanctions from the United Nations to pressure China to respect the 2016 arbitral verdict of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA).
The assertion by President Rodrigo Duterte in a pre-recorded maiden speech before the United Nations General Assembly upholding the country’s sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), also referred to as the South China Sea, is a welcome and long-sought presidential action, albeit belated and must be enforced.
Neither braggadocio nor self-serving claims of sovereign independence can hide the dismal human rights record of the Duterte administration.
Human rights violations are global concerns which transcend sovereign boundaries justifying the call of lawmakers from the European Parliament for the United Nations to lead “an independent investigation into widespread killings in the Philippines related to President Duterte’s war on drugs.”
The government must tap for more domestic consumption and enhanced global trade the great potential and enviable versality of the Bicol pili which is “the King of Nuts”.
This was the message of Rep. Edcel C. Lagman to Agriculture Secretary William Dar in a letter dated September 13, 2020 urging the creation of a Pili Industry Development Program (PIDP).
While the constitutional power of the President to pardon prisoners whose convictions have become final is deemed absolute, such act of executive clemency must neither be arbitrary nor capricious.
In order to avoid the abuse by the Chief Executive of his power to pardon, the Congress has created the Board of Pardons and Parole to recommend prisoners who are deserving of executive clemency.
