Tension not escalated

But, unofficial sources and human rights critics of the Duterte administration place those killed at 28,000.

I have said it before that BBM is in the right direction in focusing his war on illegal drugs by telling the young about the consequences of getting involved in illegal drugs.

However, a lot of education campaigns among the youth is urgent since illegal drugs continue to be imported from abroad, either through smuggling or through a corrupt body like Customs.

Just read the newspapers and realize that cartels and syndicates have not discontinued their involvement in the Philippines making it a transshipment point of illegal drugs.

Santa Banana, where do you think all the illegal drugs being seized almost everyday are coming from? From China. At the rate China is smuggling drugs into the Philippines, China need not invade the Philippines.

Unless cartels and syndicates stop smuggling illegal drugs into the country, the problem of illegal drugs will remain a big headache for Marcos Jr., who is already being besieged with so many challenges and problems.

In the meantime, new PNP Chief Benjamin Acorda has ordered PNP intelligence to monitor some 3,000 scalawags out of the 280,000 total police force, most of them involved in the Duterte drug war.

Santa Banana, that’s quite a big number of rogue policemen to have contributed greatly to the loss of faith and confidence of the people in an institution mandated to be the protector of the people and maintain peace and order.

***

COVID-19 pandemic not over

The World Health Organization may have lifted the global pandemic health emergency, but it is well and good the Department of Health issued a warning that insofar as the Philippines is concerned, the COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over.

Santa Banana, we Filipinos should not be too complacent about an unseen enemy that can’t seem to go away!

The fact that the WHO has lifted the global emergency on the pandemic cannot be taken for granted, given the current medical bulletin in the Philippines.

Even now, there is a surge of COVID-19 cases filling up the pandemic wards of hospitals nationwide, especially in the National Capital Region.

Blame that on the recent Holy Week observance which most people took advantage of for reunions with their families, going to beaches and crowding churches, and people now have greater mobility, often unmasking themselves in shopping malls and in restaurants.

The alarm signal on COVID-19 may not yet be called, but there is need for the people to be cautious.

In the meantime, it would do well for the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases) to come up with guidelines for the DOH to implement nationwide.

I am not an alarmist, at my age highly susceptible for infection and transmission of infectious diseases like the COVID-19, but my wife and I are always on the side of caution.

The DOH officer-in-charge has reminded the public to remain vigilant and continue using multiple layers of protection such as wearing face masks, isolating themselves when sick, getting vaccinated and boosted, since the country is now seeing the rise of COVID-19 cases. On the other side of the coin, when we look at our hospitals and see them filling up with COVID-19 cases, we realize COVID-19 cases are on the uptick.

The latest infection to watch for is the XBB.1.16, the subvariant called ARCTURUS which is very transmissible.

While only one case of ARCTURUS has been detected , it could easily speed up. We cannot be too complacent. Caution is necessary.

Kilicdaroglu, whose campaign has been endorsed by Turkey’s main pro-Kurdish party, fumed on Tuesday.

Running neck-and-neck with Erdogan, Kilicdaroglu claims that “foreign hackers” recruited by Erdogan’s team are preparing deepfakes —manipulated videos and soundbites —aimed at discrediting rivals days before the election.

“Dear Russian friends,” he added on Twitter on Thursday.

“You are behind the montages, conspiracies, deepfake content and tapes that were exposed in this country,” he said without explaining why he was blaming Russia.

“If you want our friendship after May 15, get your hands off the Turkish state.”

‘Army of trolls’

Erdogan has responded in kind, alleging that “an army of trolls” was working for his rival.

“You are using lies and misinformation. You are devising schemes that even the devil would not

GIVEN the recent bullying of Filipino fishermen and their countrymen in the West Philippine Sea by better-armed Chinese vessels, we are elated the Philippine Coast Guard has started monitoring PRC vessels in the area.

One good thing going is the PCG has allayed concerns regarding the situation in the West Philippine Sea, saying the tension there with Chinese vessels is not heightened.

In a radio interview, beamed nationwide on Sunday, PCG Vice Admiral Joseph Coyme said, in a mix of English and Filipino, they are currently monitoring several alleged Chinese militia vessels anchored in Philippineclaimed claimed maritime areas, but said these vessels do not affect their operations that much.

“The good thing now is we are not escalating the tension, through the presence of the Philippine Coast Guard and law enforcement agencies,” said Coyme, who led placing five navigational buoys or sovereign markers in “critical areas” of the West Philippine Sea.

The buoys, installed near Patag Island, Balagtas Reef, Kota Island, Panata Island and Juan Felipe Reef, carry the Philippine flag and signify the country’s sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the country’s exclusive economic zone, the PCG said.

The move also highlights the country’s unwavering resolve to protect its maritime borders and resources and contribute to the

Washington has expressed its support to Manila and reiterated its obligations to its ally under the US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty

safety of maritime trade, the PCG added.

In April, more than 100 Chinese vessels were seen with their long-drawn-out presence near the WPS, and the PCG reported provocative tactics by the ships, including a Chinese coast guard ship that sailed into the path of a PCG vessel, almost causing a collision.

In July 2016, the UN Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, the Netherlands invalidated China’s expansive and non- historic nine-dash line claims covering the entire South China Sea and recognized the Philippines’ sovereign rights in the area within its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone. The nine-dash line has been used by China to show the maximum extent of its claim, without indicating how the dashes would be joined and in turn affect the area being claimed.

The PRC has not clarified the legal basis or nature of the nine-dash line on maps that stretches more than 1,500 km off its mainland and cuts into the exclusive economic zones of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.

Beijing ignored the international ruling and deployed hundreds of militia vessels in the disputed areas, including those belonging to the Philippines.

Washington has expressed its support to Manila and reiterated its obligations to its ally under the US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty.

Washington said: “The United States stands with the Philippines in the face of the People’s Republic of China Coast Guard’s continued infringement upon freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.

“The United States stands with our Philippine allies in upholding the rules-based international maritime order and reaffirms that an armed attack in the Pacific, which includes the South China Sea, on Philippine armed forces, public vessels, or aircraft, including those of the Coast Guard, would invoke US mutual defense commitments under Article IV of the 1951 US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty,” it added.