PHNOM PENH, Cambodia –Two journalists were set to be freed from jail in Cambodia on Tuesday, August 21, a day after a prominent land rights activist was pardoned, as the government loosens its grip on dissenters in the wake of a flawed election victory last month.

Cambodia's king pardoned land campaigner Tep Vanny late Monday at the request of strongman prime minister Hun Sen, days after he officially extended his 33-year grip on power.

On Tuesday two journalists who had worked for the US-backed broadcaster Radio Free Asia received bail, Phnom Penh municipal court spokesperson Y Rin told the Agence France-Presse, 10 months after they were detained on espionage charges in a case slammed by rights groups. 

Analysts have said Hun Sen could use pardons and the kingdom's pliant courts to help deflect criticism, as he has in the past, amid questions of legitimacy after July's vote was widely decried as a sham.

Vanny has long been a thorn in the side of authorities for advocating on behalf of Phnom Penh communities displaced by unchecked development, and has been in and out of jail.

Last arrested in August 2016, she was hit with an additional two-and-a-half-year jail term just as her sentence was due to expire.

Vanny told AFP on Tuesday while picking up her belongings at Phnom Penh's Prey Sar prison that she was surprised by the decision, which cut short her time behind bars by about a year.

"I was reluctant to believe it when prison guards told me to prepare myself for the release, so I asked them: 'Are you joking with me?'" she said.

Three other activists who were already out on bail were also included in the pardon signed by King Norodom Sihamoni.

The journalists – Oun Chhin and Yeang Sothearin – were arrested last November for allegedly running an illegal media studio and filing reports from a guesthouse in the capital.

Their arrest came after Radio Free Asia, a popular source of Khmer-language news, suspended its operations in Cambodia, citing the government's "increasingly threatening and intimidating rhetoric about RFA".

When asked why they were released, the court spokesperson said it was a decision of the investigating judge in the case, adding that the two were expected be freed Tuesday evening. 

Hun Sen backed a crackdown on perceived threats in the run-up to the election, which included the shuttering of media outlets and the expulsion of foreign staff from a prominent pro-democracy NGO. 

The main opposition party was dissolved and one of its leaders arrested, clearing the way for Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party to grab all seats in parliament in the vote – turning the country into a one-party state.

Vanny said she would continue her work but suggested she would dial down her activism as it had taken a toll on her family.

"I was in jail 4 times," she said. "So it affects my family, especially my children, and I lost my job and livelihood." – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) has postponed the vote on the short list of chief justice applicants because they need more time to examine documents, including Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs).

This is coming off two ousters of Philippine chief justices because of deficiencies in their SALNs.

What exactly can the public know about the wealth of Supreme Court justices?

Below are summaries of the justices’ net worth and their government salaries and allowances over the last 6 years, or since 2012 when the impeachment of the late Renato Corona prompted more public scrutiny of their SALN

Summaries of their net worth are released yearly by the Supreme Court, while the amounts of their government allowances and salaries are released yearly by the Commission on Audit.

Is this all we can and should know about their wealth?

Strict guidelines 

Typically, SALNs of government officials can be released in full. For example, copies of SALNs of the President, Vice President, and heads of the constitutional bodies are released to media by the Office of the Ombudsman on a walk-in basis.

In the Supreme Court, it’s a little bit more difficult.

The Supreme Court releases summary reports of the justices’ SALNs. Compiled in one table, it shows only real properties, personal properties, total assets, liabilities, and net worth.

To see the full documents, you'd have to file a written request justifying it. It will then have to be approved by the Court en banc.

Also, a request can be made only for the latest SALN.

These rules came about in July 2012, months after Corona was impeached, when the en banc issued A.M. No. 09-8-6-SC, or the resolution that laid out somehow strict guidelines when it comes to releasing justices’ SALNs.

The Court noted an instance in 1989 when an aggrieved lawyer requested copies of justices’ SALNs after accusing some of them of partiality.

“Requests for SALNs must be made under circumstances that must not endanger, diminish or destroy the independence, and objectivity of the members of the Judiciary in the performance of their judicial functions, or expose them to revenge for adverse decisions, kidnapping, extortion, blackmail or other untoward incidents,” the court said. 

In 2014, the SC denied the request of former tax commissioner Kim Henares to obtain 9 years' worth of SALNs of justices of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, and Court of Tax Appeals.

The SC said that Henares cannot just go on a “fishing expedition” if she has not yet established that the justices have tax deficiencies.

Other details

With such strict guidelines, there are missing details that are of public interest.

For example, during the JBC public interviews on August 16, member Milagros Fernan-Cayosa said that the assets of Associate Justice Lucas Bersamin had remarkable jumps, the highest being an P8-million increase from 2015 to 2016.

Our table above will not show that because we can only show general amounts.

Without a full document, we will not know what caused the increase in assets – whether it’s a newly-acquired property, or newly-acquired business shares, or just cash deposits that may have come from pension or somewhere else.

We will not know details of their liabilities, their stakes; and we also will not know who they owe, if any.

We also will not be able to scrutinize if justices filled out their SALNs correctly. 

Bersamin was asked why he did not declare as part of his liabilities a condominium unit when he was still paying for it on an installment basis. Associate Justice Andres Reyes Jr was asked why he did not declare his shares in a family-owned bake shop.

Remember that Maria Lourdes Sereno’s non-filing of SALNs was interpreted to be a violation of Republic Act 6713, and a constitutional violation that declared her to have never been qualified for the post.

Dissenters in the Sereno ouster warned against treating the SALN as an end-all-be-all of integrity.

“Since the majority of the Court has ruled that SALN filing is equivalent to the requirement of integrity, the Supreme Court is now required to be transparent with the SALNs of the incumbent justices,” said a letter sent to the Court last June by the Movement Against Tyranny, led by former senator Rene Saguisag.

The group added: "It cannot now pursue the same prohibitive rules on SALN disclosures as contained in A.M. Nos. 09-8-6-SC as it did prior to its ruling in Republic v. Sereno, as the Court itself has declared that Justices are not above the law."

The Court has yet to respond to the group’s request; it has also yet to release summaries for 2017.

With the selection of a new chief justice, the Supreme Court can and should expect more demands for transparency. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Youth group Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan slammed the "dastardly act" of Bicol Central Academy (BCA) owner and administrator Alexander James Jaucian, whose rage and supposed order to burn students’ bags were caught on a video posted on social media.

"The wanton disregard of the property of the students, paid for by their hard-working, ordinary wage-earning parents is reeking with tyrannical if not maniacal regimen by the capitalist-school owner," the group said in a statement on Monday, August 20.

They added, "No amount of words to condemn the dastardly act committed by the abusive school owner of Bicol Central Academy, who moonlights as a provincial board member of Camarines Sur, could match the atrocities he inflicted on senior high school students."

Viral photos posted on social media showed Jaucian allegedly ordering that the bags of students be burned after they failed to comply with a "no-bag" policy for a school event. Jaucian was also caught on video calling the students "stupid.”

"To burn their bags is one thing but to berate his own students and call them "stupid" must be the most ironic and irreconcilable act an educator could ever do," the group said.

They added Jaucian’s actions deserve the “severest” administrative and criminal sanctions and urged parents of the affected students to file charges against him. 

After the Department of Education launched a formal investigation into the matter, DepEd Bicol Director Gilbert Sadsad said on Tuesday, August 21 that it would ask the Department of Social Welfare and Development to file criminal charges against Jaucian for violation of the Child Protection Policy. 

Sadsad also told Rappler that the DepEd will ask BCA’s board of trustees to remove Jaucian from the school and request the Bureau of Fire Protection in Libmanan to investigate the incident for a possible arson case.

As to what might happen to the school itself, SadSad said the DepEd was looking into the possibility of revoking the BCA’s senior high school permit only so that other students would not become "collateral damage."

Education Secretary Leonor Briones earlier said Jaucian should go on leave.– Rappler.com

BAGUIO, Philippines – Erroneous depictions, factual errors, and misspellings in student textbooks about the land and people of the Cordillera Administrative Region reached the attention of the Regional Development Council here.

As a result, the Committee on Indigenous People’s Concerns moved during a recent meeting to not only condemn such mistakes and misrepresentations, but also asked Congress to rectify them.

In one instance, a textbook has a multiple choice question, tasking students with describing Cordilleran parents as either one of the three answers:

• short and dark
• fair and tall
• tall and yellow

One entry mislabeled the Banaue Rice Terraces as the “Banana Rice Tereces” while yet another mistake placed the location of these Ifugao Rice Terraces in the Ilocos Region.

In another case, an illustration of a boy in G-strings and Ifugao vest said that he was from Zambales. Igorots, in one other tidbit of misrepresentation, came from Italia.

Ethielyn Taqued, Department of Education – Cordillera education program supervisor, who was invited to a meeting on the matter, said these errors did not go through their department’s prescribed evaluation process. She said the textbooks in their K to 12 deparment were coordinated by private publishing companies.

According to Taqued, the books which passed their evaluation process would have visible DepEd marks on the front, back, and spine of the book.

The books containing the various errors did not have the requisite marks.

“More than just condemnation, we will also ask Congress through our resolution for them to possibly legislate pertinent laws giving powers to our institution to go after such perpetrators,” said CIPC Chair Roland Calde, who is also regional director of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples – Cordillera.

“If only these textbooks were validated by the community, erroneous information against the IPs of the Cordillera would have been corrected,” said Calde. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Admitting he was in Davao City to get some rest, President Rodrigo Duterte was back to giving a long speech in his first public event since rumors he was comatose began circulating.

On Tuesday, August 21, Duterte spent two hours delivering a speech in front of local government officials in Cebu City.

At the League of Municipalities event, he said he had been resting in his hometown watching, among other things, Netflix.

"I'm in Davao because I'm resting," he said.

Just that afternoon, he had watched a Netflix show or movie about the drug cartels in Mexico and Jamaica.

"Señalosa (Sinaloa), Medellin, look at those, you have the history, you have the Netflix. Panoorin mo lahat 'yung ginawa nila sa bayan nila (Watch everything they did to their country). In Jamaica – I was watching it kaninang hapon (this afternoon)," he said.

He denied he entered into a coma over the weekend and said he still has many years ahead of him. Communist Party of the Philippines founder Joma Sison was among those who posted in public about the rumors.

"I do not know what he (Sison) means by comatose ako. Kama lang sana ako. Comatose? Matagal pa ako (I was only in bed. Comatose? I will last a long time.)," said Duterte.

The President is expected to spend the entire week in Davao City as he attends events in Mindanao and Visayas – including a possible meeting with Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) leader Nur Misuari and a military camp function.

The President, in hs Tuesday speech, repeated his complaint about his spinal problems, which supposedly resulted from motorcycle accidents. Duterte is a fan of big bikes. He said that, on a daily basis, he feels level "7" pain out of a scale of 10.

Thus far, the public relies merely on the word of Duterte or his spokesmen on the state of his health. Malacañang says there is no need to release medical bulletins issued by Duterte's doctors to quell concerns about his health.

Duterte calls Sison 'freeloader'

Duterte also went back to slamming Sison, calling him a "freeloader" and "discredited leader."

He advised the communist leader and his former professor to transfer from the Netherlands, where Sison has been in exile for decades, to seek refuge in another country.

"Ask another country to take you...Belgium, Germany. You stop. Kawawa 'yung Norwegian people," said Duterte, getting the name of the people of the Netherlands wrong.

In response to Sison's post about the coma rumors, Duterte claimed he was abusing the Netherlands' hospitality by going "in and out" of hospital due to his cancer. Sison has denied having any type of cancer.– Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino Muslims gathered early Tuesday morning, August 21, to celebrate the annual Islamic feast of Eid'l Adha.

The Eid'l Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice, remembers Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Ishmael in obedience to God, even as God spared Ishmael in the end. 

It is one of Islam's two biggest feasts. (READ: Imam on Eid'l Adha: Pray, don't drink, be kind to non-Muslims)

Our photographers Maria Tan, Angie de Silva, and Darren Langit, and our videographer Charles Salazar, documented this year's Eid'l Adha at Quezon Memorial Circle and the Blue Mosque in Taguig at around 7 am on Tuesday.

Check out the colors – and feels – of the Eid'l Adha this year:

Watch the following videos, too, to know more about Eid'l Adha:

– Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte warned communists that if they turn violent, he won't hesitate to order the use of bombs against them, even if civilians could get hurt in the process.

"I'm warning you rebels. Marami akong armas (I have many arms). You do some fighting there, I will freely use all the jets to bomb you. And if I hurt civilians, then it's part of the territory," he said on Tuesday, August 21 in Cebu City.

"Huwag kayong masyadong atake-atake ng kampo (Don't attack camps) because if you start, I will not hesitate to bomb you," continued the President.

He also had a warning for the local government executives who were present at the League of Municipalities: they could lose power over local police if they provide resources to communist rebels.

"Never associate yourself with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). Never give them aid. It will be to your chagrin at the end of the day if you do that. You will lose power over the police," said Duterte.

As of July, over 180 local officials  have been stripped of their police powers after being linked to corruption or the illegal drug trade.

Duterte terminated peace negotations with the CPP but recently greenlighted guidelines for localized peace talks. Given that these localized talks involve the local governments and local chapters of the New People's Army, it's not clear how Duterte will draw the line between "association" with communists and merely implementing the localized talks.

Duterte also said the Left no longer have any redeeming quality after their attacks and ambushes that have led to the deaths of police and military personnel.

"Then if we talk again, I will not be nasty but – don't because they are the enemy. A lot of my police, almost thousands of them and the policemen and soldiers died. That can't be corrected by peace talks," said Duterte in a mix of English and Filipino. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Maguindanao massacre suspect and former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) Governor Zaldy Ampatuan has been allowed to go out of detention to attend his daughter's wedding on Tuesday, August 21.

Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) Spokesperson Xavier Solda told Rappler in a text message that Ampatuan was able to do this by securing a court order for him to go out of his detention from 4 to 7 pm on Tuesday.

According to the BJMP, the event was held at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza Hotel in Manila City.

"Nakabalik naman siya ng maayos sa kanyang selda before 7 pm kanina sa (He properly returned to his cell before 7 pm in) Quezon City Jail Annex inside the Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City," Solda said in a text message.

The BJMP said it has no information on which court allowed Zaldy to celebrate outside jail or who Zaldy's daughter is. 

Remember Zaldy: Ampatuan is one of the suspected masterminds of the Maguindanao massacre of 2009, which left 58 people dead, most of whom were journalists.

During the time of the massacre, Ampatuan served as the governor of the ARMM. He was expelled from the post after he was implicated in the crime and now faces 58 counts of murder.

Witness accounts pinned Zaldy Ampatuan as present in meetings that planned the wholesale killing, which was meant to prevent the candidacy filing of then vice mayor Esmael Mangudadatu to challenge the gubernatorial bid of Zaldy's brother Andal Ampatuan Jr.

The slaughter is now known to be the deadliest single attack on journalists in history, and the bloodiest-ever, election-related violence in the Philippines.

Zaldy's pleas: Since 2015, Zaldy Ampatuan has been asking courts to allow him to post bail for his release so he can roam free while his cases are heard.

His request was first denied in September 2015, when Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 221 ruled that witness testimonies point to strong evidence of guilt.

Ampatuan tried his luck with the Court of Appeals (CA), but the appellate court's 8th Division just upheld the earlier ruling of Judge Reyes, junking the ex-governor's request on April 18, 2018.

Apart from the murder charges, Zaldy is facing a possible forfeiture case after the CA in 2017 also upheld a 2015 Ombudsman decision finding him guilty of dishonesty and grave misconduct in connection to his wealth. – Rappler.com

ALEXANDRIA, USA – The jury began a fourth day of deliberations on Tuesday, August 21, in the trial of Donald Trump's former campaign chief Paul Manafort, the first resulting from the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

The case against Manafort stems from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference and possible collusion between the Trump campaign team and Moscow, and is viewed as an important test for the probe, which the president has repeatedly denounced as a "witch hunt."

But 69-year-old Manafort is charged with crimes that are unrelated to his brief time as campaign chairman.

He is accused of failing to pay taxes on tens of millions of dollars he earned while advising Russian-backed politicians in Ukraine between 2006 and 2015, as well as of providing fraudulent statements to secure bank loans.

The case went to the jury on Thursday after 12 days of gripping testimony about hidden bank accounts, betrayal and lavish spending by Manafort on luxury homes, cars, antique rugs and clothes.

Prosecutors outlined schemes allegedly used by Manafort to avoid paying US taxes on the millions of dollars he earned in Ukraine and then deposited in bank accounts in Cyprus.

Manafort also filed false statements to obtain millions of dollars in loans from banks when his Ukraine consulting fees dried up, according to prosecutors. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Ilocos Norte Governor Imee Marcos told Filipinos who continue criticizing her family to move on from Martial Law. 

This was Imee's message on Tuesday, August 21, as the nation commemorated the assassination of ex-senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr, the leader of the opposition during the dictatorship of Imee's father, the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos.

"The millennials have moved on, and I think people at my age should also move on as well," Imee said in a press conference on the sidelines of the Visayan Island Cluster Conference of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines held at Radisson Blu.

Cebu Daily News and the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that Imee believes the longtime feud between her family and the Aquinos should not be raised during Ninoy Aquino Day.  

"The conflict between the Marcoses and Aquinos happened a long time ago. We don’t need to keep hating people for a very long time. It's not our way. We just need to go forward," said Imee. 

It's a common line Imee and her younger brother, ex-senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr, would use whenever asked about the abuses under Martial Law. (READ: #NeverAgain: Martial Law stories young people need to hear)

The 21-year rule of their father was marred by killings, torture, disappearances, media oppression, and corruption. (READ: Martial Law, the dark chapter in Philippine history)

In August 1977, 21-year-old Archimedes Trajano stood up during an open forum where Imee was speaking and asked why she was the national chairperson of the Kabataang Barangay.  

Witnesses said Trajano was seen forcibly taken from the venue by Imee's bodyguards, and was tortured for 12 to 36 hours and thrown out of a second floor window. His bloodied body was found on the streets of Manila on September 2, 1977. (READ: Gone too soon: 7 youth leaders killed under Martial Law) 

Trajano's mother later sued Imee before a district court in Honolulu, Hawaii, on March 20, 1986, about a month after the Marcos family moved there following the EDSA People Power Revolution that toppled the elder Marcos from power. 

The Trajanos won the case in 1991, with the court awarding them $4.4 million. They then filed a civil case with the Pasig City Regional Trial Court in 1993 to collect the compensation from the Marcos family. 

But in 2006, the Supreme Court (SC) voided the case and ruled in favor of Imee.  

Ten years later in 2016, the SC also allowed a hero's burial for the dictator. – Rappler.com 

BEIJING, China – Malaysia will shelve 3 China-backed projects worth a total $22 billion until the debt-laden Southeast Asian nation can afford to pay for them, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Tuesday, August 21, during a visit to Beijing.

The projects include a railway connecting Malaysia's east coast to southern Thailand and Kuala Lumpur, and two gas pipelines.

"I explained to (the Chinese leaders) why we can't have the ECRL (East Coast Rail Link)," Mahathir told Malaysian reporters at the end of his 5-day visit, saying the project "will be deferred until such time when we can afford (it)".

"It's about borrowing too much money, which we cannot afford, we cannot repay, and also because we don't need those projects for Malaysia at this moment... our problem now is how to solve our financial deficit."

Mahathir is trying to reduce Malaysia's national debt, which has ballooned to some $250 billion.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang acknowledged that "any cooperation between the two countries will inevitably lead to problems of one kind or another".

"We take a long-term view of the relationship between our two countries and will resolve the issue through dialogue and negotiation," Lu told a regular press briefing.

After meeting Premier Li Keqiang on Monday, August 20, Mahathir said he believed China would help Malaysia resolve its fiscal problems.

The Malaysian leader also warned against "a new version of colonialism happening because poor countries are unable to compete with rich countries just in terms of open free trade".

Lack of transparency

The $20-billion rail project was given to China's largest engineering firm, the China Communications Construction Company, and mostly financed by a loan from the Export-Import Bank of China.

Malaysia's finance ministry said in July that 88% of the cost of the two gas pipelines worth 9.4 billion ringgit ($2.32 billion) had been paid to their Chinese contractor despite only 13% of the work being completed.

One pipeline is in Malaysia's Sabah state on Borneo island and the other runs from Malacca in peninsular Malaysia to the northern state of Kedah.

"We do not find the need for... (the pipeline projects)," Mahathir said. "It costs too much money. And we have to cancel or defer it to a later stage."

In May, Mahathir shelved separate plans to build a high-speed railway between Singapore and Malaysia which had been agreed several years ago, saying it was too costly.

Despite the threat to revise China-linked contracts, Mahathir sought to strengthen business ties with Beijing during the trip.

China is the top trading partner of Malaysia, which is home to a substantial ethnic Chinese minority.

Relations were warm under the previous government of Prime Minister Najib Razak, and Chinese investment in the country surged as Beijing signed deals for major infrastructure and construction projects.

The projects shelved by Mahathir are part of China's ambitious Belt and Road initiative, an international trade infrastructure program aimed at reviving Silk Road routes across the globe.

China's financial largesse has raised concerns over the vulnerability of poorer nations to such massive debt.

Last year, Sri Lanka was forced to hand over majority control of its Hambantota port to China after failing to repay its loans. – Rappler.com

ALEXANDRIA, USA – Donald Trump's former campaign chief Paul Manafort was found guilty of tax and bank fraud Tuesday, August 21, in the first trial resulting from the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

The guilty verdicts on 8 counts are a victory for special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference and possible collusion between the Trump campaign team and Moscow.

Trump, who has repeatedly maligned the Mueller probe, views it as a stain on his presidency and has pushed for it to be ended, described Manafort's conviction as "very sad."

US District Judge T.S. Ellis declared a mistrial on 10 counts on which the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict.

But the jurors found Manafort guilty of the remaining 8 counts: 5 of making false income tax returns, two of bank fraud and one of failure to report foreign bank and financial accounts.

While the 69-year-old Manafort could theoretically live out the remainder of his years in prison as a result of the convictions, a legal expert told Agence France-Presse that his time behind bars would in reality likely last under a decade.

Just before leaving the courtroom, Manafort winked to his wife, who was present for the verdict.

Manafort's lawyer Kevin Downing said his client was "evaluating all of his options" and thanked the judge for a "fair trial."

"Mr Manafort is disappointed of not getting acquittals all the way through, or a complete hung jury on all counts," Downing told journalists.

'Good man'

Reacting to the verdict as he arrived in West Virginia for a rally of supporters, Trump described Manafort as a "good man," said he was "very sad" at the trial outcome– and once more denounced the Mueller investigation as a "witch hunt."

Trump had previously suggested that Manafort, who briefly served as his campaign manager, was being treated worse than late American gangster Al Capone.

He has refused to rule out a pardon. Observers have speculated that the prospect of a pardon may have explained why Manafort chose a trial as opposed to a plea deal like his former aide Rick Gates.

The case went to the jury on Thursday, August 16, after 12 days of gripping testimony about hidden bank accounts, betrayal and lavish spending by Manafort on luxury homes, cars, antique rugs and clothes.

Prosecutors outlined schemes Manafort allegedly used to avoid paying US taxes on the millions of dollars he earned in Ukraine, saying he also filed false statements to obtain millions of dollars in loans from banks when his Ukraine consulting fees dried up.

Defense attorneys sought for their part to cast doubt on the credibility of the prosecution's star witness, Manafort's former trusted deputy Gates, who took a deal from the government and turned against his former boss.

Trump spent much of Tuesday cooped up at the White House, as two high-profile legal cases with profound implications for his presidency played out on US television screens.

Barely minutes after the Manafort verdict was announced, Trump's longtime personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty in Manhattan court to 8 counts, including fraud and campaign finance violations.

Questioned by a federal judge, Cohen indicated he had paid sums of $130,000 and $150,000 each to two women who claimed they had affairs with Trump, at his boss's request in order to buy their silence "with the purpose of influencing the election." – Rappler.com

NEW YORK, USA – Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's longtime lawyer and fixer, pleaded guilty Tuesday, August 21, to 8 counts, including violations of campaign finance rules during the 2016 presidential race – and implicated his former boss in the process.

The former lawyer and businessman pleaded guilty to 5 counts of tax fraud, one of bank fraud and two counts of violating campaign finance laws during the hearing before US District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan.

Questioned by the federal judge, Cohen said he had paid sums of $130,000 and $150,000 each to two women who claimed they had affairs with Trump, acting at his boss's request, in a bid to buy their silence "with the purpose of influencing the election."

Cohen did not specify the women's names, but the sums correspond to a payment known to have been made to porn star Stormy Daniels just before the election to silence her claims of a one-night stand with Trump – and another destined for former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

Cohen's explosive assertion – which suggests Trump may have committed a crime – was all the more spectacular coming from a man who once declared he was so loyal he would "take a bullet for the president."

Most of the counts against the 51-year-old Cohen carry maximum prison terms of 5 years, with the exception of making false statements to a financial institution, which carries up to 30 years.

Guilty pleas are common in the United States when it appears prosecutors have sufficient evidence for a conviction if the case goes to trial.

The FBI raided Cohen's home and office on a referral from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is looking into whether Trump sought to obstruct the Russia meddling probe.

The plea deal came days after The New York Times reported that Cohen was also under investigation for tax and bank fraud, possibly exceeding $20 million via loans obtained by the taxi medallion business he owns with his family.

Just minutes earlier, former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was found guilty of 8 counts, in the first trial resulting from the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

A jury found Manafort guilty of 5 counts of making false income tax returns, two counts of bank fraud and one of failure to report foreign bank and financial accounts.

Each of the bank fraud counts carries a significant maximum sentence and the 69-year-old Manafort could theoretically live out the remainder of his years in prison – though a legal expert told Agence France-Presse it would run to under a decade in reality. – Rappler.com

ALEXANDRIA, USA – Paul Manafort was riding high, raking in tens of millions of dollars as the strategic adviser to pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine.

And as fast as the Republican political consultant was making money, he was spending it: millions on luxury homes and cars, $1 million for antique rugs, another $1 million on clothes including top-of-the-line suits and an $18,500 python jacket, and more.

Just when his lavish tastes were squeezing him financially and the Ukrainian pipeline was running dry, Manafort landed a position as chairman of the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.

What should have been his dream job ended up being his undoing, ultimately triggering the process that led to the 69-year-old's conviction in federal court on Tuesday, August 21, on 8 counts linked to making false tax declarations, bank fraud and failure to report foreign accounts.

Each of the bank fraud counts carries a significant maximum sentence and he could in theory live out the rest of his life in prison, though a legal expert contacted by Agence France-Presse predicted it would in reality run to under a decade.

Fired by Trump after just 3 months as his campaign manager, Manafort's financial misdeeds were uncovered by Special Counsel Robert Mueller during his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

It was a brutal fall for a political insider who, in addition to Trump, worked on the White House bids of Republicans Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bob Dole.

Political family

Paul John Manafort Jr was born on April 1, 1949 in New Britain, Connecticut. Politics ran in the family – his father once served as mayor of his hometown.

Manafort earned a law degree from Georgetown University, joined a law firm after school and eventually a lobbying shop known as Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly.

The "Stone" was Roger Stone, the Washington political insider who would eventually be among those recruiting Manafort to join Team Trump.

After making a name in domestic politics, Manafort turned his talents to the lucrative practice of lobbying on behalf of questionable foreign leaders such as Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Somalia's Mohamed Siad Barre and Jonas Savimbi of Angola.

But it was his work for Viktor Yanukovych, who served as president of Ukraine from 2010 to 2014, when he fled to Russia amid corruption allegations, which got him in trouble.

Prosecutors alleged during Manafort's trial that more than $75 million of Ukrainian money poured into his offshore bank accounts, most of which were based in Cyprus and managed by a Cypriot attorney referred to in court as "Dr. K."

Manafort was Tuesday convicted of 5 counts of making false income tax returns, two counts of bank fraud and one of failure to report foreign bank and financial accounts.

But the 6-man, 6-woman jury was unable to reach a verdict in 10 counts prompting Judge TS Ellis to declare a partial mistrial.

'Very good person'

Besides landing him in jail, it was the Ukrainian connection which also led to Manafort's dismissal from the Trump campaign.

He resigned as Trump's campaign chairman on August 19, 2016 after investigators for the new Ukraine government released files showing secret cash payments from Yanukovych to Manafort worth $12.7 million.

"Paul is a true professional and I wish him the greatest success," Trump said at the time.

The US president has since downplayed Manafort's contribution to the campaign but has continued to come to his defense, describing him as a "very good person" and saying his trial was a "very sad day for our country."

He expressed regret after the jury's verdict Tuesday, telling reporters: "It's a very sad thing that happened, this has nothing to do with Russian collusion."

While the charges against Manafort were not related to his work for Trump, he was one of several people who attended a June 9, 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with a Kremlin-linked lawyer who was offering the campaign damaging information on Hillary Clinton.

Legal experts believe Manafort, by going to trial and declining to enter into a plea agreement with the Special Counsel's office, may be hoping for a presidential pardon. – Rappler.com

WASHINGTON DC, USA – One year ago Michael Cohen, the longtime lawyer and fixer to Donald Trump pledged he "would take a bullet for the president."

On Tuesday, August 21, that once-deep loyalty melted away when Cohen stunningly implicated the US president in two felony crimes as he pleaded guilty to charges of bank fraud, tax fraud and campaign finance violations.

It was a huge takedown for the brash New Yorker, who tied the last decade of his career personally to Trump.

Cohen, 51, a one-time personal injury lawyer who accumulated a small fortune in Manhattan's shady taxi badge industry, bought real estate in a Trump building and eventually worked his way into an office right next to the billionaire's in his eponymous 5th Avenue skyscraper.

As personal lawyer to one of New York's richest property magnates and an executive vice president of the Trump Organization, he handled numerous business deals inside and outside the United States for his boss, as well as fixing some of the future president's more seamy problems.

Left on the wayside when Trump moved triumphantly into the White House, Cohen made a business out of his personal contact in the Oval Office and swore his allegiance, fighting to protect Trump's reputation.

"I'm the guy who stops the leaks. I'm the guy who protects the president and the family. I'm the guy who would take a bullet for the president," he told Vanity Fair in September 2017.

Taxi business to real estate

Cohen grew up on Long Island and earned his law degree from Western Michigan University's Cooley Law School, one of the lowest-ranked law schools in the country.

In 1994, he married Laura Shusterman, the daughter of a Soviet emigre who was in the notoriously rough-and-tumble taxi business in the Big Apple.

Cohen began buying and selling taxi medallions, once worth as much as $1 million each, which allow a driver to operate a yellow cab.

As a property investor working with his Russian and Ukrainian contacts, Cohen's name was attached to multiple deals worth tens of millions of dollars.

But, the New York Times reported, he could flip property so quickly that it raised eyebrows over what and who was really behind the trades.

One year before the election, even as Trump was already on the campaign trail, he took the lead in an effort to seal a deal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, tapping connections close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But the deal – one sought by Trump since the 1990s – never gelled.

It was during the campaign that he showed his other value to the president-to-be: buying the silence of women who threatened to reveal to the public their alleged affairs with the Republican candidate.

Just days before the election, Cohen paid $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about her past with Trump.

He also was involved in buying for $150,000 the rights to the story of Playboy model Karen McDougal about her alleged affair with Trump.

Those actions, which involved shell companies and offshore entities controlled by Cohen, got him into legal trouble over banking, tax and campaign finance laws.

Cohen initially said he used his own money to pay Daniels and was not reimbursed. Trump, who first denied knowing anything about the payment, has since conceded that Cohen was paid back.

Millions for lobbying Trump

But Cohen's case became an embarrassment and a threat to Trump. Trump declared early on that the investigation was all about Cohen's private business, with nothing to do with him.

It also emerged that after Trump became president, Cohen actively marketed his access to the president. He earned some $2 million from companies like AT&T and Novartis, while pitching himself as "Personal Counsel to President Donald J. Trump."

"I'm crushing it," the Washington Post reported he told an associate in mid-2017.

He further angered Trump in July when, according to reports, he told investigators that the US president knew in advance of a June 2016 meeting in which Russians were expected to share dirt on then-election rival Hillary Clinton.

Trump denied in a tweet that he knew of the meeting, which is at the center of the investigation into possible collusion with Russians.

"Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam," Trump said. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Former president Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday, August 21, led the commemoration of the 35th death anniversary of his father, the late senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. 

The Aquino family, their friends, and supporters attended a mass at Ninoy's grave at Manila Memorial Park in the morning and at the Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon City in the afternoon.

Supporters also tied yellow ribbons  around Metro Manila – a move reminiscent of 1983, when Ninoy's friends and supporters tied yellow ribbons along his supposed path from the airport to his Times Street home in Quezon City to welcome him.  But he never saw them as was assassinated upon disembarking from his plane at what was then the Manila International Airport on August 21, 1983. (READ: LOOK BACK: The Aquino assassination)

Here is the speech of former president Aquino as delivered in Sto Domingo Church:

Vice President Leni Robredo, Senators Kiko Pangilinan and Sonny Trillanes, Msgr. Gerry Santos and to all the reverend fathers who officiated the mass, to the other religious together with us today, sa mga bumubuo sa Purple Cross Movement, at sa dating mga kasamahan ko sa Gabinete na hindi ko na babanggitin. Alam niyo ho kasi ang tradisyon ay pinaka-senior ang unang binabanggit, baka may magalit po pag sinabi ang mga edad nila kaya di ko na babanggitin ang mga pangalan nila. Sa lahat ng nakiisa sa misa, lalong-lalo na po sa mga galing sa Caloocan at Quezon City sa pangunguna nina Egay Erice at saka ni Bolet Banal. At siyempre sa inyong lahat po, ang aking mga Boss, magandang hapon sa inyong lahat.

Sa Bro. Armin po, dating Kalihim ng Edukasyon, ang nagpadala ng imbitasyon. Alam naman po niyo, siya ang head ng De La Salle Systems at sanay na nag-uutos. Sabi po sa akin: “We wish to request a short message from you.” Siyempre po ako’y masunurin at pipilitin nating talagang maiksi ang sasabihin natin ngayon hapon. Pero habang pilit kong paigsiin, napag-isip ako, si Bro. Armin, na dating kasama sa Gabinete, sinasabi: Nung araw boss kita, napakahaba mong magsalita. Sana hindi ho ganun, Bro. Armin.

Kinana binaybay ko ang EDSA dahil papunta tayo sa Manila Memorial kung saan nagkaroon po ng misa para sa aking ama, at nakita ko po ang napakaraming yellow ribbon na talaga naman pong ikinabit at sinadyang iayos ang pagkakabit. Sa mga nagkabit po ng mga iyon, maraming, maraming salamat po sa inyo. At sana naman po, hindi kayo kasuhan ng littering bukas.

Ika-tatlumpu’t limang anibersaryo na po ito ng pagkamatay ng aking ama. Ang Batas Militar at mga kaganapang may kinalaman sa panahong iyon, ay tila dumidilim na sa alaala, lalo na para sa kabataan ngayon. Hamon po sa aking ibahagi ang mensahe na mauunawaan ng mga millennial at ng mga mas bata pa sa kanila.

Palagay ko magandang lagay ko sa isang istorya naman. Kunyari po nagkaroon ng pagkakataong makabalik ang aking ama dito sa mundo, at nagkaroon ng pagkakataon na makausap si Senator Leila De Lima, baka ganito po ang takbo ng kanilang usapan. “Leila, alam mo naman naging Senador ako.” Sasagot si Leila, “Ako rin po.” “Leila, nakulong ako pitong taon at pitong buwan.” Si Leila, “Ako dalawang taon naman pong nakakulong.” “Leila, alam mo bang ang nag-akusa sa akin ay Pangulong nakaupo.” Sasabihin ni Leila, “ako rin po.” “Leila, ako na-assassinate sa Manila International Airport.” Malamang sasagot si Leila nang: “Ay sana naman, di ako maganyan.” (READ: What if Ninoy Aquino met Leila de Lima? Noynoy jokes about their chat)

Nasabi ko na po noon, sa pagkamatay ng aming ama, tinanong ko: Paano ba ipagpapatuloy ang laban kung wala na ang pinuno? Taumbayan ang nagbigay ng sagot sa atin. Doon po sa aming tahanan sa Times, nakita ko ang napakahabang mga pila ng mga taong gustong makiramay. Inakala naman ng lola ko po na kung siya ay pupunta sa kabaong ng aking ama sa madaling araw, ay magkakaroon siya ng pagkakataong masolo ang aking ama. Ang gulat po niya nung makita niyang marami pa rin ang nakikiramay, nakapila; at hindi na po niya napigilan ang sarili at nagtanong. Bakit ngayong oras lang kayo nagawi? Ang sagot po sa kanya: Kakatapos lang po ng aming trabaho, ngayon lang po ang oras na makakapunta kami dito. Dito nga po sa Sto. Domingo, nung ako po ay lumalaki, tulad ng karaniwang Katolikong pamilya, kami po ay nagsisimba; at dito po sa Sto. Domingo ang una naming parokya. Dito rin po kung saan pagkalipat mula sa aming bahay ay binurol ang aking ama; dito rin po sa Sto. Domingo, palagay ko nakita natin ang umpisa ng huling kabanata sa pagbabalik ng atin pong minamahal na demokrasya.

Para doon po sa permiso na magamit ang Sto. Domingo at para sa kasalukuyang permiso na dito po tayo makapagmisa sa paggunita sa pagkamatay ng aking ama: maraming, maraming salamat po sa Rector ng Sto. Domingo, at sa ating mga kapatid na Dominikano.

Kayo na po ang tetestigo sa dami ng sumama sa paglibing na inabot ng higit 11 oras. Yung media noon, gumawa ng kanya-kanyang paraan para hindi mabanggit ang paglibing sa aking ama. Tanda ko pa nga po, may pahayagang binigyang pansin ang punong nakidlatan, nilagay sa front page kung saan may nasugatan daw pong nanonood sa prosisyon. Sa TV, radyo, at maski sa dyaryo, parang walang nangyari; kumbaga, gustong ilihim ang totoo.

Nung naisip ko po ito, naalala ko po ang Jesus Christ Superstar, at doon po may diyalogo si Hesu Kristo at Pontio Pilato. Nung inawit ng gumanap na Hesus ang linyang: “I look for truth and find that I get damned,” ang sagot ni Pilato: “Well what is truth? Is truth unchanging law? We both have truths. Are mine the same as yours?”

Ako po ay napapag-isip lang, tila sa kasalukuyang araw pati ang katotohanan ay isang napakahirap nang makamtan, sa Ingles, na tinatawag na “Commodity.” Bakit ko po pinasukan ito? Madalas po, sa ulat sa dyaryo, o napapanood sa TV, nakikita nating may nahuli at napatay sa gyera kontra droga. Madalas din nating mababasa o maririnig ang katagang “Nanlaban.” Ako lang po ay nag-isip lang: Pag ang isang tao po ay inaresto, kadalasan po, di lang po sa Pilipinas kundi pati sa ibang lugar, pinoposasan po ang tao na ang kamay niya ay nasa likod po, di ho ba? Di ho pinoposasan dyan sa harap. Bakit ginagawa ito? Dahil iyon po, pag pinosasan ka, kailangang kontrolado; pag ang kamay mo nasa likod, siyempre, mahirap pong kumilos. Tama po ba?

Kaya ako po’y nagtataka, lalo na pag sinabing: Heto ay nanlaban; nakipag-agawan ng armas, at tapos naobliga ang nagbabantay na siya ay barilin, kaya namatay. Pag-isipan lang po natin. Kung sinusunod yung tinatawag na S.O.P., pinosasan ang kamay sa likod, yung tao na inupo diyan sa sasakyan, nakasandal sa kanyang mga kamay, napakahirap pong ilapit ang kanyang dalawang kamay sa baril ng kanyang katabi. Tama ho ba?

Pag naagaw ho niya, lalong mas mahirap na ipihit ang kanyang katawan, para maitutok doon sa mga nagbabantay sa kanya. Sa madaling salita po, pag may nangyaring isang sitwasyon tulad nito, natural ho, obligasyon ng mga nagtuturo sa ating mga umaaresto, sampu ng kanilang mga hepe, na ipaalala ang Standard Operating Procedure. Gawin ito. Bawas ang panganib sa nagbabantay, buhay ang suspek na arestado. Kayo na po ang magsabi sa akin kung bakit wala tayong nakikitang nasesermonan, napapagalitan, napapa-retraining dito sa mga sitwasyon na tila madalas na “nanlaban,” at “nakipag-agawan.”

Diin ko na rin: May isang butihing Senador na itinutulak ang imbestigasyon para sa mga baril na natatagpuan sa mga crime scene, dahil pare-pareho daw po ang serial number ng mga baril na nakukuha. Gusto nating malaman paano kayang nangyari na ang bawat baril, may sariling serial number, nagkapare-pareho ang nakukuha bilang ebidensya.

Iba pa pong halimbawa sa katotohanan: Totoo po na nung taong 2014, nung bumaba ang supply at tumaas ang presyo ng bigas, kaliwa’t kanan po ang banat na inabot namin. Ngayon po, hindi lang po bumaba ang supply ng bigas, sinabi nga po ng NFA na naubos na. Ano po ba ang naririnig natin?

Palagay ko po, nasa simbahan tayo, hindi ko naman po ugaling makipag-away nang walang saysay, hanggang dito na lang muna ang sasabihin ko tungkol sa mga isyung ito. Maingat akong magkomento dahil trato sa atin ay kalaban. Pag nagmungkahi ako, baka panindigan na lang ng nakaupo ang nabitiwang salita, at mas mapasama pa ang taumbayan. Ako po’y dati nang nangaral na at nagbabala bago ang halalan. Ayoko naman pong magtunog na parang sirang plaka. Klaro sa akin na yung mga aral, depende din iyang matatanggap sa taong pinapa-alalahanan. May tamang panahon kung kailan handa siyang makinig.

Magandang halimbawa nito ang nangyari po sa isa kong pamangkin na simula pa lang sa pagkabata po ay talagang mahilig na pong kumain. Ugali po niya na pagkatapos maghapunan doon sa kusina, kakandong po siya sa kanyang ina, at lahat ng madampot ng kanyang mga kamay, isinusubo sa bibig. Nakita po ng aking ina at sinabi sa aking kapatid: “Yang anak mo, kinuha ang kalamansi; baka isubo.” Sagot po nung aking kapatid: “Mom, pabayaan mo siya, para matuto na hindi dapat sinusubo lahat ng naaabot.” Sinubo po nung bata, siguro mga dalawa o tatlong taong gulang palang siya noon, ang kalamansi ay kinagat, at natural po, nang-asim ang kanyang mukha. At simula po noon ay hindi na po matakaw na damputin lahat ng madadampot at maisusubo.

Ibig ko lang po iparating na: May panahon nga ho, kung kailan ang mga sinasabi mo ay maiintindihan na. Ngayon po, sabi ko nga ho, di ako magsasalita nang isang taon habang nanunungkulan yung pumalit po sa atin. Umabot na po tayo ng dalawang taon. Malamang matatanong ninyo, bakit hindi ka nga nagsasalita? May pagbabago ba? Wala pong pagbabago sa akin, pero iba na po siguro kung maranasan natin yung kanilang pamamahala. Ayoko na rin na sabihin nila na hindi maabot ang kanilang gustong maabot, ay dahil nakikialam tayo. Pinabayaan natin sila. May pruweba na tayo kung anong direksyon nila. Kayo na po ang magsasabi kung aling direksyon ang tama.

Aminin ko po sa inyo: Minsan nangarap ako na pagbaba ko sa puwesto, totohanang retirado na ako sa politika at at matututukan ko naman ang para sa aking sarili. 12 taong gulang pa lang ako nang mapataw ang Batas Militar. Dalawang taon na lang senior citizen na ako; halos buong buhay ko po, nasa publiko. Nakiusap ako sa taumbayan nung halalan: Iboto natin ang kandidatong siguradong magtutuloy sa ating sinimulan. Ang kampanya natin noon: Continuity. Inuumpisahan na nating mapitas ang mga bunga noon. Ang hangad natin, mas makapagtanim pa sana sa ngayon para sa susunod na salinlahi, nang sa gayon ay di hamak na mas marami at mas malalaki ang aanihin at mapipitas natin pagdating ng panahon. Pero alam naman po ninyo, hindi pinalad ang ating kandidato noong Mayo 2016.

Sa pagbaba ko sa puwesto, dumating ang mga inaasahan nating mga reklamo na walang katuturan. May isang reklamo pong hinain laban sa atin; ang sabi, wala daw kaming ginawa kaugnay ng pagkolekta ng buwis ng isang malaking kumpanya ng langis. Pero kalakip po ng reklamo ang dokumento ukol sa kasong nasa Court of Tax Appeals at sa Korte Suprema na patunay na may aksyon ang gobyerno. Iyon po ay kasama nung reklamong hinain. Sa madaling salita, ang nagreklamo sa akin ang mismong nagbigay pruweba na mali ang reklamo niya. September 2016 isinampa ang reklamo; natanggap natin ito, October 2017. Hinarap natin ang reklamo at sumagot sa mga paratang. Naglabas ng desisyon ang Ombudsman pabor po sa atin. Nagfile naman ng Motion for Reconsideration ang naghain ng reklamo. Dulo nito, tuluyang ibinasura ng Ombudsman ang reklamo nitong Marso 2018. Ang tinakbo ng kaso po, isang taon at kalahati; nariyan pa ang gastos sa mga abugado. Ngayon lang po ako nareklamuhan nang pormal sa akin pong buhay. Ang sabi sa akin ay mabilis-bilis na raw po ito.

Malamang may nagtatanong sa inyo. Ako ay tutol sa nangyayari, ano kaya ang magagawa ko? Sa susunod na taon po, may halalan; sa Ingles po, ang tawag sa halalan sa susunod na taon ay midterm elections. Nung ako po ay Pangulo, mataas ang kumpiyansa ko na magsalita para sa Pilipino. Ako po ay kumbinsido na nasa likuran ko ang taumbayan. Kaya naman tama ang aking tinatahak.

Sa midterm elections makikita kung suportado pa tayo ng taumbayan. Pag nagbasa ka ng media reports noon, ang dating na parang lamang na lamang ay ang oposisyon. May binansagang tatlong hari pa na mag-a-anoint ng mga tiyak na mananalo daw sa halalan. Alam natin ang resulta: 9 sa 12 na puwesto ang nakuha ng ating mga kasangga. 2 lang sa anointed ng 3 kings ang nanalo; pinaka-mataas na ang number 5, yung isa ay number 11. At yung isa naman po na hindi na-anoint ay number 12. Tayo po ay natuwa sa resulta; anlaki ng pasalamat ko sa aking mga Boss. Tumibay pa ang aking kumpiyansa na tayo po ay talagang nagsasalita para sa kanila.

Sa susunod na taon, 2019, midterm elections na naman. Dapat klaro ang mensaheng ipaparating natin, hindi lang sa halalan para sa pagka-Senador at iba pang mga posisyon, kundi para sa lahat ng mga puwesto.

Kung sang-ayon ka sa takbo ng bansa ngayon, iboto mo ang kakampi ng administrasyon. Pero kung di ka sang-ayon, wag mo lang iboto ang ating mga kandidato; ikampanya niyo pa sila; palakasin ninyo ang magdadala ng tinatawag na “checks and balances” sa gobyerno. Ano po ang silbi nito? Palagay ko po, makikinig, nakinig at kasalukuyang nakikinig ang administrasyon sa gusto ng taumbayan. Tingnan na lang po ninyo ang sa kaso ni Kian, kung saan hindi po nadaan sa limot; may mga ilang pulis pong pinapasagot sa kasalukuyan. (READ: Aquino: If you disagree with Duterte, vote for opposition in 2019)

Tandaanan po ninyo, tawag ko sa inyo: Boss. Dahil kayo ang Boss, kayo ang dapat masunod. Klaro po, nasa inyong mga kamay ang ating kapalaran. Nasa inyo kung gagamitin ninyo ang kapangyarihan na iyan.

Sa pagtatapos, baka may magtanong na naman sa akin sa araw na ito, kung buhay ang tatay ko, sasabihin pa ba niyang “The Filipino is worth dying for.” Naniniwala po akong ang magiging sagot niya ay: May duda ka pa ba?

Pinakita na ito nung EDSA, kung saan hinarap ng sambayanan ang armadong puwersa ng diktadurya. Ang tanging sandata ng taumbayan: paniniwala sa Diyos at tiwala sa mabuting hangarin ng kapwa. Nagtagumpay tayo noon. Wala ngang nakapag-isip na sa ganoong paraan magwawakas ang Batas Militar. Ginawa ito ng Pilipino nang mapayapa, at hinangaan tayo ng buong mundo.

Minsan na ngang nagpakita ng lakas ang taumbayan. Paniwala ko po, sa gabay ng Poong Maykapal, at sa tiwala at malasakit sa kapwa, sa tamang oras, muling maninindigan para sa tama at katotohanan ang sambayanang Pilipino.

Magandang hapon po. Maraming salamat po sa inyong lahat.

– Rappler.com

SYDNEY, Australia – At least 10 ministers have offered their resignations as a leadership crisis in Australian politics deepened Wednesday, August 22, with another challenge against Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull appearing inevitable.

The embattled leader narrowly survived a move to unseat him by his populist Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton on Tuesday, August 21, with a Liberal party ballot voting 48-35 in his favor.

It came to a head after months of poor opinion polls and a revolt by fellow Liberal politicians on Monday, August 20, against his plans to embed carbon emissions targets in law at a time of soaring power prices.

Despite Turnbull's win, it laid bare that dozens of his own MPs do not want him as their leader, and Dutton worked the phones and blitzed the airwaves Wednesday to shore up more support for another widely-expected crack at the top job.

Dutton quit his cabinet position after his failed leadership bid, with at least 9 other ministers also offering to go, according to a tally by broadcasters ABC and Sky News. They include the health minister and trade minister.

Turnbull has so far only accepted two resignations – Dutton and International Development Minister Concetta Fierravanti-Wells.

Buoyed by his support, Dutton, seen as a more hardline conservative that the moderate Turnbull, attempted to soften his perceived tough guy image, earned as home affairs and immigration minister, and to lay out his policy agenda.

The former police officer, who admits he rarely smiles, made no secret of still wanting to run the country.

"I'm speaking to colleagues, I'm not going to beat around the bush with that, mate," he told commercial radio station 3AW on again attempting to dump Turnbull.

"That's being very honest and upfront with you and that's how I see it."

He added that he thinks he could win an election – due by the middle of next year – as leader against Labor opposition leader Bill Shorten.

"I would never run for the leadership not believing that I could beat Bill Shorten," added the 47-year-old.

If he became prime minister, Dutton said he would focus on lowering electricity prices, cutting immigration to ease population pressures and boost water investment to help drought-stricken farmers.

Genie out of the bottle

Some media outlets were tipping another challenge as early as this week, but Dutton supporters signaled it was more likely next month after parliament returns from a break.

And he could face competition with The Australian newspaper reporting that Treasurer Scott Morrison was also beginning to count numbers for his own leadership tilt.

"Now that the genie is out of the bottle, I'm not sure we can put it back," warned Liberal MP Craig Kelly – a Dutton supporter – when asked if Turnbull could survive.

Complicating matters were reports that at least 3 National MPs – who are in a governing coalition with the Liberals – would no longer guarantee to vote with the government if Dutton seizes power.

With the government only having a wafer-thin one-seat parliamentary majority, this could spark an early election.

"People need to really take stock of the destruction that they are wreaking on the government," warned Defense Industry Minister Christopher Pyne, a Turnbull backer.

Disquiet with Turnbull's leadership had been building for some time, with the government trailing Labor in 38 consecutive opinion polls, with the latest showing it slipping even further behind.

The turmoil is the latest chapter in a turbulent decade for Australian politics, with no leader managing to serve out a full term since John Howard lost the 2007 election. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Maguindanao massacre suspect and former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) governor Zaldy Ampatuan turned emotional during the wedding reception of his daughter on Tuesday, August 21.

Ampatuan was captured on video waltzing with his daughter Kristina on a dance floor in Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila.

The bride started tearing up as soon as Ampatuan held her hand. He then pulled a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe Kristina's tears.

Ampatuan was later seen hugging his daughter and kissing her forehead.

The video was posted on Facebook at 7:17 pm on Tuesday by Tawi-Tawi Representative Ruby Sahali, one of the guests at the wedding.

{source}

<div class="fb-video" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/ruby.sahali/videos/10210111189614566/" data-width="500" data-show-text="false"><blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/ruby.sahali/videos/10210111189614566/" class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ruby.sahali/videos/10210111189614566/"></a><p></p>Posted by <a href="#" role="button">Ruby Maquiso Sahali</a> on Tuesday, 21 August 2018</blockquote></div>

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"A dance between father and his daughter. What a sight to behold," Sahali said.

Ampatuan is one of the suspected masterminds of the Maguindanao massacre in 2009, which left 58 people dead, most of whom were journalists.

At the time of the massacre, Ampatuan was the ARMM governor. He was expelled from the post after he was implicated in the crime and now faces 58 counts of murder.

Bureau of Jail Management and Penology Spokesperson Xavier Solda told Rappler that Ampatuan secured a court order allowing him to leave his cell at the Quezon City Hail Annex inside Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City from 4 pm to 7 pm on Tuesday.

Solda said Ampatuan was able to return to his cell before 7 pm. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Audit (COA) said that the government lost P2.67 billion in revenues for not charging royalties against mining companies in the Caraga region that operated outside Mineral Reservation Areas or MRAs from the years 2012 to 2016.

“The data available showed that the government lost the opportunity of collecting revenues of at least P2,668,810,678.88 for the period covering CY 2012-2016 from the aforesaid five Mining Companies due to non-imposition of royalty against mining companies operating outside the mineral reservation areas,” said state auditors in its 2017 audit report of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB).

The mining companies in question are Agata Mining Ventures, J.C.G (Greenstone) Resources Corporation, Marcventures Mining & Development Corporation, PHILSAGA Mining Corporation and SR Metal Incorporated which operated in the Caraga region, a top destination for mining companies.

The COA said mining companies which operated within MRAs paid both excise tax and 5% royalty to the government, while those 5 mentioned above that operated outside the MRAs paid only excise tax but not royalties, which cost the government P2.6 billion in revenues.

What the law says

Under Republic Act (RA) 7942 or the Mining Act, mineral resources are owned by the government. 

In the same law, the President can establish a mineral reservation area and if you operate within that area, you have to pay royalty not less than 5% of the market value of the gross input of the mineral or mineral products extracted on top of other taxes.

There’s the grey area: the law did not specify whether royalty should be charged if the operations are outside the MRAs.

But COA said there should be no distinction between a reservation area and a non-reservation area, as both are owned by the government.

“Although the implementing rules and regulations of RA No. 7942 did not include the imposition of royalty against mining companies operating outside the declared MRAs, royalty should have also been imposed against these mining companies as these companies also extract mineral resources owned by the State," said COA.

For COA, the government should come up with a mechanism to charge royalties against these companies, such as passing a supplemental rule, or declaring those areas as MRA before granting permits to the companies. (READ: Mining in Surigao del Sur: Soil of life, soil of death)

“Collection of royalty from Mining Companies should be the prime consideration of the government for the preservation and restoration of the environment,” said COA.

The COA said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) should recommend to President Rodrigo Duterte to authorize the imposition of royalty fee against companies which operate outside MRA.

It also called on the DENR as well as the MGB to propose a law to Congress.

Mining operations in Caraga are at the center of the land struggle of Lumad communities there.

The law provides for a mechanism where the mining company and the community can agree to a royalty payment, which will form part of the community’s trust fund. (READ: Anti-poverty chief calls to stop mining operations in Lumad lands)

Lack of record-keeping

COA also observed that documents such as Ore Transport Permits (OTP) and  Mineral Ores Exportation Permits (MOEP) were not systematically filed, therefore it was difficult to retrieve and account losses.

State auditors also said no specific person is assigned to maintain files of the Mining Management Division. “Though there were files of documents in the Office of the Economist but folders were just scattered anywhere and were not securely kept since there was no specific place or room where those records were filed,” said COA.

Because of the lack of records, the COA cannot account for the total amount of collected royalties from 2012 to 2017. – Rappler.com 

MANILA, Philippines – The 3 lawyers arrested for monitoring the raid of the Time in Manila bar in Makati City are no longer attorneys for the owner of the bar.

"Our temporary engagement as counsel for the owner of Time bar to monitor the search has ceased as of the past week, and all we say and do now will be in our capacity as lawyers for JV, RB, and Lenie," stated a Facebook post of Diane Desierto, senior partner of the firm where the 3 attorneys work for.

The post has since been taken down as of Wednesday noon, August 22.

Desierto did not elaborate, but the bar has been a source of stress for the firm. (READ: Arrest of lawyers in Makati bar 'very grave cause for concern' – IBP)

Who are the lawyers? Jan Vincent Soliven, Lenie Rocel Rocha, and Romulo Bernard Alarkon of the Desierto & Desierto law firm were sent to monitor the Time in Manila bar raid last August 16.

Cops arrested them after they allegedly failed to introduce themselves and their client immediately even after taking photos and videos of the raid, and also allegedly "harassing" raiding cops.

The lawyers only identified a certain "Mr Server" seconds before they were handcuffed. (WATCH: Videos show arrest of lawyers in Makati bar raid)

Cops said the lawyers were only able to secure a written certification stating that they represented a certain Burton Josept Server as their client hours after the arrest.

What cases do they face? Cops filed complaints for obstruction of justice, disorder and disobedience, illegal crossing of police lines, and "constructive possession" of illegal drugs against the lawyers.

The Makati bar arrest has been a hot topic in legal and police circles, with people from both sides pointing out mistakes committed by both the lawyers and the cops. (READ: What did lawyers, police do wrong in Makati bar raid?)

The owners of the bar, meanwhile, are expected to face drug complaints as cops recovered sachets of shabu, kush, and cocaine from back-to-back raids of their establishment. – Rappler.com