Maniolas

CHARM OFFENSIVE US Embassy press attaché Molly Koscina finds her job cut out for her amid President Duterte’s antagonistic stance toward the Philippines’ longtime ally. ELOISA LOPEZ Just how do you launch a charm offensive to counter President Rodrigo Duterte’s harsh words against the United States? Fortunately, the job of parrying such jabs has fallen on an articulate, seasoned and, incidentally, female American diplomat. Molly Rutledge Koscina, who can intimidate with her 5’10” frame and disarm with her generous smiles, found her hands full when she took on the job as press attaché and first secretary of the US Embassy over a month ago. She succeeded former spokesperson Kurt Hoyer. “Since I’ve been here, it’s really been nonstop press queries,” Koscina told Inquirer editors during her visit to the newspaper’s offices last week. Koscina admitted that in her 12 years in the US State Department, and her previous postings in Havana, Cuba, and Beijing and Shanghai in China, she had not encountered anything like a President mouthing off against a traditional ally. “In my memory, there were never words like these against the United States,” Koscina said. Expletive Since becoming President, Mr. Duterte has declared he was no fan of the US, notwithstanding the Philippines’ long-standing ties with the world’s most powerful nation. In recent weeks, the President has thrown an expletive against President Obama (among other world leaders, including Pope Francis and the United Nations’ Ban Ki-moon), used a sexist slur against outgoing US Ambassador Philip Goldberg, and announced he Read More …

The Israeli Embassy said it would open its doors to Filipinos wishing to sign the condolence book for one of the world’s most influential leaders, the late President and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Shimon Peres. Embassy officials said the condolence book would be available beginning Friday to allow Filipinos to express their sympathies on the passing of one of the founding fathers of the State of Israel. The embassy will welcome visitors on Sept. 30 from 9 a.m. to 2 p,m.; and on Oct. 4 and 5 from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The Israel Embassy is located at Avecshares Center, 1132 University Parkway, North Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City. Apart from being the ninth president of Israel and the world’s oldest head of state, Peres served as the state’s prime minister for two non-consecutive terms. His political career spanned nearly 70 years, beginning in the 1940s. He won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for his participation as foreign minister in the talks that culminated in the Israel-Jordan peace treaty, which he had initiated with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Latest Duterte rejects talks with Jaybee Sebastian Russia accuses US of nurturing aggressive nuclear strategy Why is Chicago a murder capital? Clues from a bloody month 20 of the best contemporary Spanish cinema at this year’s ‘Pelicula-Pelikula’ Recommended Disclaimer: Comments do not represent the views of INQUIRER.net. We reserve the right to exclude comments which are inconsistent with our editorial standards. FULL DISCLAIMER View Read More …

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, left, talks with Vietnam’s Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong at the Party’s headquarters in Hanoi, Vietnam, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. AP HANOI—President Duterte has  invited more Vietnamese businessmen to invest in the Philippines, and to consider importing more Filipino products to boost two-way trade. The President made the pitch in bilateral talks with Vietnam State President Tran Dai Quang on Thursday at the State Palace of Vietnam. Both countries “agreed to really level up the trade that we have by increasing trade numbers,” Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, who was part of the president’s delegation, told a press briefing. “The President invited Vietnamese corporations to invest in the Philippines. We’ll protect your investors and your investments, contracts will be honored,” Lopez said, adding that Mr. Duterte gave assurances that Vietnamese investments would be protected and the government would provide a more conducive investment climate. The President arrived at the State Palace at 10 a.m., Thursday, to military honors and an official welcome by Tran. Earlier in the morning, Duterte took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the National Monument for Heroes and Martyrs in Hanoi. Aside from Tran, he met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Nguyen Phu Trong,  general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Apart from being Southeast Asian neighbors, the Philippines and Vietnam are both claimants to disputed territories in the South China Sea, which are  being claimed by China. Vietnam earlier expressed support for Read More …

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte reviews an honor guard with his Vietnamese counterpart Tran Dai Quang during a welcome ceremony at the presidential palace in Hanoi, Vietnam, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. AP DAVAO CITY – President Rodrigo Duterte said the United States must stop its criticism of him, particularly in connection with the extrajudicial killings tied to his war on drugs, by saying it should “not pretend to be the moral conscience of the world.” “Do not be the policeman because you do not have the eligibility to do that in my country,” he said. Earlier, US Senator Benjamin Cardin of Maryland said in a dialogue with Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, that “in advocating and endorsing what amounts to mass murder,” Duterte has taken the wrong way in dealing with the illegal drugs problem. “Senator Leahy is absolutely right when he said that a lack of respect for rule of law and democratic governance breeds instability, distrust, and sometimes violence,” Cardin said. But Duterte said the US was being hypocrite and urged it to “stop it.” “Why are you shooting the black people there when they are on the ground? he asked. He also said the US and it’s allies, such as Britain, also violated the human rights of other countries, such as when they invaded Iraq “on the flimsy excuse that there was a weapon of mass destruction there.” “They’re only good at criticizing,” he said, calling them pea-brained. Duterte said the criticisms have been going on for years Read More …

ILOILO CITY—Ati-atihan dancers with their rhythmic drumming welcomed more than 2,700 Chinese tourists and crew of a cruise ship that stopped over briefly on Boracay yesterday. The passengers and crew of the MS Legend of the Seas, operated by Royal Caribbean Cruises, stayed on the world-famous resort island about seven hours before departing for Xiamen City in China, according to Helen Catalbas, Department of Tourism (DOT) Western Visayas director. The Legend of the Seas was the first cruise ship to visit the Philippines since President Duterte took office on July 1. It was also the first visit of a big Chinese tour group since a United Nations arbitral tribunal ruled in July that the Philippines had exclusive sovereign rights over disputed portions of the South China Sea. China protested the ruling which invalidated its “nine-dash line” claim covering nearly the entire South China Sea, including parts of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. President Duterte has said he is open to bilateral talks with China to settle the territorial dispute. Tourism officials welcomed the Chinese tourists. “Tourism goes beyond politics,” Catalbas told the Inquirer, adding the DOT was glad the Chinese came to visit. She said the number of tourists from China dropped slightly in August after the ruling of the international tribunal but it soon recovered and has continued to grow. The cruise ship, which also visited Manila on Friday, arrived in Boracay early on Saturday and docked between Boracay island and the Aklan mainland. The passengers and crew started Read More …