inside Philippine politics and beyond
My exclusive interview with Sen. Bongbong Marcos By Raïssa Robles One remark you might hear from supporters of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is that we shouldn’t blame the son for the sins of the father. Even Satur Ocampo said something to this effect when he defended his decision to run alongside the dictator’s offspring in 2010. “We are not collecting [...]
By Raïssa Robles Some were surprised to see Vice-President Jejomar Binay on the same side of the political fence as President Benigno Aquino III in trying to prosecute ex-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for electoral sabotage. Has Binay forgotten that just a month ago, Aquino embarrassed him publicly by announcing his rejection of Binay’s recommendation to bury Marcos with military honors [...]
“In life, we make decisions that could win the day but lose the morrow, or decisions that could lose the day but win the morrow. It is my hope that this recommendation, would win the day and win tomorrow.” - Vice-President Jejomar Binay told PNoy as he recommended military honors for the dead dictator Ferdinand Marcos My exclusive [...]
By Raïssa Robles UPDATE: Rafael Alunan again wrote on my website, this time to clarify that he was NOT referring to Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos as THE SCREAMING IDIOT. But to someone else: Here is what he said: Raissa, in the interest of accuracy, I did not refer to Bongbong Marcos as an idiot, so please correct the [...]
My exclusive analysis By Raïssa Robles It sure seems like he did. When Vice President Jejomar “Jojo” Binay gave President Benigno Aquino III his recommendation to bury Ferdinand Marcos with “military honors,” a smoking-gun document was attached to his recommendation, according to sources I interviewed. My sources came from all sides of the issue, including the Marcos camp. The [...]
By Raïssa Robles Those businessmen, Filipino contract workers and other passengers who are angry due to canceled flights of Philippine Airlines should keep this in mind – that what they deem essential is only a rich man’s plaything. I would not have believed I heard this from the mouth of PAL president Jaime Bautista himself if I had not [...]
Why I believe the real intent is to bust the union By Raïssa Robles Billionaire Lucio Tan has sacked 2,600 Philippine Airline (PAL) employees so most of them can be rehired by two companies formed by Manuel H. Osmeña, a long-time business partner of his family. Over a decade ago, the same long-time business partner formed an in-flight catering [...]
Maybe angry airline passengers should read PAL’s September 24 press release arbitrarily cutting flights By Raïssa Robles A commenter to my blog named Mikko pointed out a very interesting item on the Philippine Airlines website to me. It turns out that PAL posted there a press release dated September 24, 2011 entitled “PAL reduces flights ahead of spin [...]
By Raïssa Robles I can’t help but notice that a sit-down protest held by PAL’s ground employees yesterday totally paralyzed company operations and caused 14,000 passengers to miss their flights. Didn’t PAL keep saying – to justify the sacking of several thousand employees – that what they were out-sourcing were “non-core” activities? “Non-core” would mean that these activities are [...]
She waylays Imelda Marcos the way no Filipino has yet Our very good friend Veronica Pedrosa made this highly personal documentary which I would recommend for viewing. Not only because my journalist-hubby Alan comes out at the start before film director Joel Lamangan. But because Rica puts Martial Law and the Marcoses in the context that they ought to [...]
And probably passed on his skill to the rest of his family By Raïssa Robles People have asked me how I know that Ferdinand Marcos is lying about his accomplishments as a President. My answer to them is this – Marcos was a serial liar. In the twilight of his presidency, he lied to the Filipino people about [...]
By Raïssa Robles Here are drawings made by Martial Law detainees which I managed to hold on to all these years. I knew then that if these had been found in my possession, I would have been jailed, too. But I managed to hide them because I felt, somehow, they should one day see the light. That day is [...]
My exclusive By Raïssa Robles It was a short mobile text message consisting of only nine letters that convinced President Benigno Aquino III NOT to bury the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at Libingan ng mga Bayani, two sources confirmed to me separately. The text message was sent to PNoy’s mobile phone so you can see how close he [...]
By Raïssa Robles The torture happened over 30 years ago but to this day, the victim still insisted on talking to me on condition that I won’t reveal his name. Na-torture ka pala (you were tortured), I told the person whom I have known for the last 17 years. And yet he never mentioned he had been tortured even [...]
By Raïssa Robles For the record, Imelda Marcos told Philippine Daily Inquirer last Sunday, she has only 200 pairs of shoes. Imelda Marcos is trying to erase her shoes from world history. Type the phrase “Imelda shoes” on the Web search engine Google and you instantly get over two million entries. Last Sunday, the Queen of Shoes was asked [...]
An exclusive By Raïssa Robles When Filipinos aren’t watching, former First Lady Imelda Marcos not only makes fun of the late President Corazon Aquino, she also slams as bogus the late president and the 1986 Philippine Constitution. Thanks to Milan-based journalist Marcello Bussi, we know how Madame Congresswoman Marcos truly feels about Cory Aquino. Bussi writes for Milano Finanza, [...]
By Raïssa Robles On the eve of the May 2010 elections, the Maximilian Diamond of Imelda Marcos was put up for auction by Christie’s of London. It expected to sell this for up to US$1.5 million. I once covered the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) extensively. I am wondering now if that famous diamond which Imelda had bought [...]
Now you see him, now you don’t My Exclusive By Raïssa Robles Even if the Philippine government were to bury the long dead dictator Ferdinand Marcos with military honors, his corpse might not stay buried. Because the way you and I understand the word “buried” is not the way the widow Imelda Marcos understands it. Imelda Marcos has [...]
No need for anything more My exclusive By Raïssa Robles I turned to Alunan to confirm the preconditions that his former boss, President Fidel Ramos, had told me earlier. I also wanted to further clarify the issue of whether the dead dictator’s remains were already accorded military honors upon its return in 1993. Alunan was the Department of Interior [...]
By Raïssa Robles On the social networking site Twitter, Ria Roxas tweeted to Sen. Bongbong Marcos a link to my article entitled Fidel Ramos phoned me to shed light on his role in Ferdinand Marcos’ non-burial. Marcos had a mouthful to say against his distant uncle. Ria, a customer care representative who makes it known she is not related to [...]