inside Philippine politics and beyond
By Raïssa Robles In recent days, President Benigno Aquino III has been likened to a monarch, dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Fidel Castro and even Hitler. How did PNoy – long tagged as a “Retard”, ”Abnoy” and “malambot” suddenly transition into an evil super-brained bad-ass who’s supposed to be “smarter than Marcos”? Listen to how Noynoy critic Senator Joker Arroyo puts [...]
Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, If I shall die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. - 18th Century Children’s Prayer By Raïssa Robles I couldn’t sleep last night thinking of the hundreds of children and their parents who were swept to sea in their [...]
By Raïssa Robles When obscenely rich and powerful Filipinos get into legal trouble, who do they turn to? Estelito Mendoza. When then President Joseph Estrada faced a Senate impeachment trial, who defended him? Estelito Mendoza. When former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo recently tried to skip the country ahead of an imminent electoral sabotage case, who went on her behalf to [...]
Read Janelle Manahan’s reply-affidavit My exclusive – by Raïssa Robles Left to die, Janelle Manahan summoned all her will and strength to text her family for help. In this gripping eyewitness account of her own attempted murder and the slaying of her live-in partner Ramgen Revilla, young aspiring model-actress Janelle Manahan narrates the events that changed her life [...]
Read her signed counter-affidavit By Raïssa Robles Ramona Revilla is the only other living witness – besides girlfriend Janelle Manahan – to the murder of Ramgen Revilla on October 28, 2011. She submitted a 13-page counter-affidavit to the Philippine consulate in Ankara, Turkey last November 24. It is understandably short on details since the police has tagged her as an [...]
By Raïssa Robles I read with great interest a Philippine Star story on lawyer Oliver Lozano’s impeachment complaint filed against President Benigno Aquino III entitled ‘Direct assault on SC another impeachable offense.’ Lozano implied that PNoy was worse than dictator Ferdinand Marcos because PNoy had publicly castigated Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona. Lozano was quoted as saying the following: “Even [...]
My exclusive By Raïssa Robles When Senator Antonio Trillanes was in detention for a capital crime, he was banned from using the Internet and mobile phone by a regional trial court judge. Trillanes appealed the ban but the government of then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo successfully blocked this, as well as his request to physically attend Senate sessions. That was [...]
Read the actual documents By Raïssa Robles If Carlo J. Caparas, the king of massacre movies, were to make a film out of the Ram Revilla murder, an apt title would be – “God help me, the killers I hired are idiots,” my hubby Alan said. This was after he heard me giggling at times and expressing disbelief while reading [...]
By Raïssa Robles This interview with Customs Deputy Commissioner Danilo Lim and the accompanying sidebar on smuggling were recently published in Asian Dragon magazine. I am posting these with the magazine’s permission. If the former jailed rebel general Danilo Lim continues to look grim these days, he has good reason to be. Lim, 56, has been handed the chance [...]
By Raïssa Robles Today we commemorate the birth of Andres Bonifacio, father of the native revolt against Spain. There were sporadic revolts under the Spanish yoke but it was Bonifacio who brought the resistance close to the seat of Spanish power. Bonifacio’s life and death made me wonder what kind of living – not dead – heroes do we [...]
Probably one of the best persons to pass judgement on the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 is a frequent flyer. Fortunately, I’ve been living with one for many years now. And so today, I’d like to share with you the thoughts of a frequent flyer on why our airport terminal has been cited as one of the worst [...]
My exclusive By Raïssa Robles Congressman Edcel Lagman is one of the few lawmakers who have chosen to stand by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo no matter what. However, on the issue of passing a landmark Reproductive Health Law, Lagman told me in no uncertain terms that he will continue to fight for this even if he were to end [...]
By Raïssa Robles In May 1987, the independent polling organization Social Weather Stations gave then President Corazon Aquino the findings of a “preliminary and confidential [and] non-commissioned” survey showing most Filipinos wanted her to distribute Hacienda Luisita to the tenants. The timing of the survey release was important. Mrs Aquino could still do something about the survey results since [...]
By Raïssa Robles In journalism, you’re not supposed to start your stories with questions. But in the case of the 2009 massacre of 57 people in Ampatuan, Maguindanao, I think the questions are the story itself. I don’t have the answers to these questions two years after the bloodbath. Maybe Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the former President of the Strong Republic, [...]
By Raïssa Robles As my contribution to this day of remembering, I’d like to share with you all what I wrote two days after the Ampatuan massacre. I thought I had lost this piece forever when my original site went down due to hacking. Fortunately I found it again today. The post-massacre photos in this piece were taken and [...]
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s case is “THE TEST CASE” for the crime of electoral sabotage. - Congressman Edcel Lagman, a close Arroyo ally My exclusive By Raïssa Robles History repeats itself. In 2001, former President Joseph Estrada was charged and arrested for the crime of economic plunder – a law that he voted “Yes” to while still a senator. [...]
By Raïssa Robles The Arroyo camp is complaining that the Commission on Elections and the Department of Justice “railroaded” and “rushed” the electoral sabotage case against her. The truth is the opposite of that. The “evidence” of Arroyo’s crime first came to light on July 11 this year and quickly unfolded from there. It all began when Zaldy Ampatuan [...]
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 [...]
My exclusive By Raïssa Robles We dont. I counter-checked three times this statement she had made in her recently-filed urgent petition. And three times I got the same answer – the Philippines has no extradition treaty with Spain. Why is this so important, you might ask. That is a very valid question. Because this is one of the core [...]
Read for yourself the Temporary Restraining Order issued by the Supreme Court today allowing former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to travel. One of my Facebook friends – @Danilo Vallescas Adorador III - noted that the Supreme Court TRO “enjoined the Department of Justice from enforcing DOJ Department Circular No. 41 and” the Watchlist Orders pertaining to the Arroyo couple. He said - Interestingly, it [...]