[Rappler’s Best] Canceled

A powerful earthquake jolted Mindanao early Monday, June 8, just as students were to begin their first day of classes. Massive damage is feared; please follow Rappler and our Liveable Cities chat room on the app for updates.

Now on to some human-inflicted damage. 

If you think you’ve seen the lowest of low in Philippine politics in the last few weeks, you’d have to think again. We probably have not seen the worst. Who can blame you for feeling you’ve had enough? Even our grizzled reporters are at the end of their tethers. Consider this:

• Despite the appointment of Senator Erwin Tulfo as new chair of the Senate blue ribbon committee (BRC), which functions as an investigative body, the renegade Cayetano bloc pushed through with its own BRC hearing on Thursday, June 4, featuring 18 ex-soldiers who previously claimed that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., former speaker Martin Romualdez, as well as politicians critical of the Duterte family, received several suitcases of cash over time. Dwight de Leon points out the context, which negates any iota of truth that’s probably sprinkled in the ex-soldiers’ claims: the hearing became a platform to tear down critics of Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, who remains technically Senate president but has been stripped of power by 12 of his colleagues.
• The new majority bloc, led by Senate President Pro Tempore Sherwin Gatchalian, called it a bogus hearing. Tulfo, in fact, scheduled his first hearing as committee chair for today, Monday, June 8.
• It didn’t help that, the following day, Vice President Sara Duterte visited a Leyte city linked to the lawyer of the ex-soldiers who testified.
• In the Cayetano-initiated probe, ousted BRC chair Senator Rodante Marcoleta accused the media of receiving bribes and failing to question Gatchalian’s recent moves. Journalists slammed him and he apologized. What’s Marcoleta’s real beef? Dwight tells us in this report.
• Cayetano claims that law and politics are on his side. How does one cover and write about a “professional gaslighter?” Dwight admits that these days, he does not give Cayetano much grace. Read more in his Inside the Newsroom piece.

Outside the vulgar halls of the Senate, the probe into the flood control scandal continues to unravel, albeit oh so slowly. 

• Senator Jinggoy Estrada is now in jail for graft and plunder for the third time. He’s now crying for health care, wanting to be transported to a hospital for what his doctors claim is a badly-needed knee surgery. We’ve heard this line before, writes Jairo Bolledo in this story that traces the ailments that followed the senator’s plundering seasons.

• Contractor Curlee Discaya, detained at the Senate for nine months, was turned over to the police on Monday following a warrant over a non-bailable malversation case with wife Sarah and nine others.
  
• The US has canceled the diplomatic and tourist visas of former speaker Martin Romualdez, one of the alleged prime movers of the flood control scheme. Here’s a list of public officials barred from leaving the country.

The noise may have drowned out the fact that both houses of Congress actually went on a midyear recess on Wednesday, June 3, marking the end of the first regular session of the 20th Congress. They resume session on July 27, when President Marcos delivers his State of the Nation Address. 

But this is a congressional break like no other. 

• On July 6, the Senate — as an impeachment court — is scheduled to begin the trial of Vice President Duterte. It’s reasonable for you to think that all the appalling events in the last four weeks, and the coming ones, are a buildup to this day.
• If you were Duterte, would you allow the trial to proceed if you have the wherewithal, the people, the motivation, the political climate, and perhaps even the backing of a super power to stop it? 
• President Marcos is hard-pressed to retake the narrative through a last-two-minutes play: a Cabinet revamp that has already started with the appointment of a new budget chief, a new labor secretary, and a new tourism secretary. Heads are seen to roll in more departments. Val Villanueva writes about a dream team recommended by some of the President’s advisers. 

The political heat is almost suffocating, even as the rainy season has officially begun. 

Here are some of Rappler’s bests that you shouldn’t miss:

Walden Bello criticized the House for expelling its errant member, Cavite Representative Kiko Barzaga, describing the move as “nothing more but the censorship of one of the loudest critics of this administration.” Victor Barreiro Jr. begs to disagree, arguing that Barzaga’s “shitposting and lies, amplified by algorithms and social media, are detrimental to a functioning democracy at best… and narrative warfare of the Trumpian sort at worst.”

Iya Gozum joined a heritage walk from Quirino Avenue to Roxas Boulevard to see how recently felled trees in Manila have ruined the experience. Watch and weep. 

Bea Cupin walks us through the pitch of defense chief Gilberto Teodoro at the Shangri-La Dialogue: that Manila can be a convergence point for regional security. 

Gelo Gonzales shows us the level of knowledge and debate on AI among our lawmakers. 

Marites Vitug tells us about the growing defense ties between the Philippines and Italy. 

Why clean energy is the answer to the Philippines’ power woes

UN urges the world to ready for extreme heat risk from El Niño

Metro Pacific Water steps in as San Jose del Monte’s interim water operator

Most Grade 11 students struggle with reading. What now?

Philippine fresh mangoes enter Canadian market

– Rappler.com

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The views expressed by the writer are his/her own and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Rappler.