OP ED EDITORIALS & CARTOONS: . Let sleeping dogs lie
The 73-year-old President was reported to have missed four of 11 meetings and a gala dinner at a regional summit last week and over the weekend. His spokesmen said he had been taking “power naps.” Mr. Duterte himself later expressed surprise at people’s reaction to his absences: “What’s wrong with my nap?” he asked.In his stead, he fielded his trade secretary to join other Southeast Asian heads of state in the traditional photo session.
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In fact, it was a bonus that Mr. Duterte stayed on after he had said he wanted to head back home earlier. It is likely he did not feel well, even as his spokesmen said he merely lacked sleep. Or it could be he could not contain his disdain of and discomfort at such formal, high-level gatherings. An official told foreign media that Mr. Duterte feels “constrained by formalities and finds them unproductive and a slight waste of time.”His applauding loyalists chalk it up as Mr. Duterte being true to his maverick, honest self.Others, however, are not as merciful. Before seeking the post, he should have known that being president entailed hobnobbing with his foreign counterparts. He should appreciate the value of visiting and being visited. And if he were indeed feeling sick, why even leave the country to begin with?
Manila Standard..
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Then again, this is the kind of leader a plurality of Filipinos did bargain for. No surprise there, really. It seems too much to expect him to change at this late stage.Mr. Duterte’s absences in the meetings likely caused us nothing but a few raised eyebrows and questions from other leaders, especially those who compared him to Malaysia’s nonagenarian leader Mahathir Mohamad who felt duty-bound to be present in all sessions.In the end, what will matter is not how often Mr. Duterte appeared in pictures or made small talk with his counterparts, but whether he helped forge genuine cooperation and meaningful dialogue among other countries in the region.At any rate, we don’t expect the President will be wanting to take a nap today, when he welcomes his Chinese counterpart and dear friend.
ASEANEWS EDITORIAL & CARTOONS:
7.1.DAILY TRIBUNE- Hot potato- DAILY TRIBUNE / – CONCEPT
– Manila’s lost glory
7.2. Manila Bulletin – Japan needs foreign workers in many fields
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7.4 The Manila Times – DRUG MONEY
7.6 The Philippine Star – Escaping accountability
The Straits Times says:
Countering the scourge of fake news
Facebook’s refusal to take down a post which makes defamatory allegations against Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and the Singapore Government in relation to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal shines light on the relationship between free speech and fake news. The post, by sociopolitical site States Times Review, is an egregious example of fake news cooked up by a media tuck shop that serves dubious fare. Facebook, by contrast, is a commercial empire. With 2.27 billion monthly active users, more than 33,000 employees, and offices and data centres spread across the world, it has been called “a global nation unto itself”. The protection of free speech features creditably on its agenda.
Wittingly or otherwise, Facebook’s actions serve to amplify the space for fake news. Facebook cannot claim to be innocent of that amplification merely because it sees itself as a platform and not as a publisher. This is a disingenuous distinction when a platform can be used to achieve electoral outcomes, practise propaganda and spread hate speech. And not for the first time. The New York Times said Facebook misled the American public about its knowledge of how it was used by Russian hackers to meddle in the 2016 presidential election. And in an editorial yesterday, the paper called out Facebook for its “staggering lack of corporate responsibility and civic duty in the wake of this crisis”.
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