As someone who still pays for a weekly subscription, I’m very disappointed at TIME Magazine editors. I just realised that after all these years reading about and admiring people featured on their annual 100 most influential list, it turns out that some on the list include people whose achievements were simply romanticised, exaggerated or completely untrue.
Take the write-up about Filipino Senator Leila De Lima who is currently detained on various charges for her alleged involvement in the proliferation of illegal drugs at the Philippine national penitentiary, the New Bilibid Prison. TIME included the senator in the category “Icons” as if De Lima is someone to be admired. Well, if you live in an alternate universe and prefer someone who is loud, a bully and lacks moral values, then you likely would consider De Lima to be an “icon”.
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First of all, the write-up, which was written by former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power, was so short, lacked facts and details about the cases against De Lima. She implied that the only reason De Lima landed in jail was because she is a staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte…
But Senator de Lima has become Duterte’s most vocal critic—a role her friends call suicidal. Last August de Lima convened a hearing on Duterte’s drug-war killings, featuring devastating testimony from a former hit man. Duterte allies stripped de Lima of her Justice Committee chair. In February she was jailed.
Power did not even bother to know the facts about the cases against De Lima. She also had the nerve to imply that De Lima’s colleagues in the Senate were in cahoots with Duterte and not acting independently when they stripped De Lima of her committee chairmanship. Never mind that De Lima was abusing her power in the Senate by turning the Senate hearing into a witch-hunt and focusing on Duterte’s alleged role in the vigilante group the Davao Death Squad while he was still City Mayor there.
The focus of the Senate hearing then was supposed to be on the alleged extra-judicial killings (EJKs) relating to the government’s war on drugs, but De Lima took the opportunity to lambast Duterte in front of the media. That did not sit well with the other senators because De Lima came across like she simply had an axe to grind for her failure to prosecute Duterte when she was the Department of Justice Secretary under the Aquino government and even earlier when she was still the head of the Human Rights Commission during the Arroyo government.
Power’s write-up was disturbing because it was obvious that she only based its message on one side of the story – De Lima’s side. Power wanted to paint a picture of a lawless Philippines under Duterte. She mentioned “some 7000 people were killed” in the drug war as if all these deaths were government-sanctioned. She wanted De Lima to look like a political prisoner whose only crime was to criticise Duterte. Power does not have respect for the members of Philippine criminal justice system, which includes the law enforcement agencies and the court judges who work on De Lima’s prosecution.
Power is not only showing her ignorance of Philippine politics, she is also showing her superiority complex. She probably thinks that only the Western system of delivering “justice” is acceptable. To be fair, Filipino politicians have a track record of persecuting those not allied with them when they are in power. Even former allies get thrown under the bus as soon as they fall out of favour. This was very evident during former President Benigno Simeon Aquino’s term. As a matter of fact, De Lima played a big role in detaining Aquino’s political enemy former President Gloria Arroyo for five years even when she was sick. Power should have asked celebrity and international human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin Clooney about the time De Lima denied Arroyo her right to travel and her right to presumption of innocence back in 2011. I wrote about it several times in the past. It’s still worth highlighting now:
De Lima’s initial violation back then was in defying the Supreme Court’s temporary restraining order on the travel ban against Arroyo. De Lima even risked disbarment for ignoring the highest court’s order. Senator Miriam Santiago likewise questioned De Lima’s action citing the DOJ had no legal basis to issue a watch-list order against Arroyo since there was no pending case against the former President and was only a respondent in a joint DOJ Comelec investigation on electoral fraud at that time.
Santiago said the DOJ had “no legal basis” to issue watch-list orders based on the memorandum circular.
She rejected the argument that Arroyo’s constitutional right to travel could be suppressed as a matter of “national interest.” She noted that a person could be barred from traveling based only on three exceptions: national security, public safety or public health.
“It is a very serious and grave mistake to think that national security, public safety and public health can be interchanged with national interest,” she said. “We are putting words in the mouth of the Constitution, that is why the Supreme Court ruling is correct.”
Justice Secretary Leila De Lima acted like the President’s thug in preventing Arroyo’s departure.
It was apparent then that De Lima was acting on orders from President BS Aquino. He even cut short his overseas trip when he found out Arroyo was about to leave the country. De Lima acted like the President’s thug and seemingly obeyed his orders to do anything – even break the law and deny basic human rights – just to prevent Arroyo from leaving the country.
TIME Magazine’s editor Nancy Gibbs also wrote a very brief comment about De Lima, which likewise showed her ignorance on Philippine issues and her own bias about human rights:
Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte and his nemesis Senator Leila de Lima, whose denunciation of Duterte’s bloody crusade against drug dealers has landed her in prison.
Both Gibbs and Power’s credibility are in question now since it is obvious they did not bother to check the facts about De Lima’s incarceration.
The TIME editor’s agenda in choosing Duterte’s critic former Colombian President César Gaviria to do the Philippine President’s write-up is also questionable. They apparently wanted someone who did not have anything good to say about Duterte. Just because Gaviria failed in his own drug war in Columbia doesn’t mean those who take a tough stance on illegal drugs elsewhere will fail too. Gaviria doesn’t seem to want Duterte to stop drug lords from plying their trade. He wants Duterte to focus on treating addicts instead.
There are many ways to address the drug problem, but the Philippines being a poor country, cannot afford to spend public funds on treating all drug addicts like celebrities. Sometimes prevention is cheaper than the cure, which is why a lot of Filipinos agree with Duterte that removing the source of the drugs will solve the drug scourge a lot quicker. In a Third World country like the Philippines, drug addicts will have to go cold turkey once the source of their recreational drug is gone. No luxury rehab centres for drifters, unfortunately.
Gaviria cannot really compare the Philippine drug problem to Colombia’s drug problem. Colombia was once one of the world’s top producers of cocaine. The U.S. government was even involved in trying to beat the drug cartels. The problem in Colombia was bigger than the Philippines. Gaviria should have at least commended Duterte for addressing the Philippine drug problem before the country became a Narco state like Colombia. This was something the previous Aquino government failed to do.
TIME’s write-up about Duterte is unfavourable, indeed. They ranked him right up there with strongmen who did nothing for their people but bring misery. After almost a year in office, Duterte’s popularity is still strong. That’s proof that Filipinos are not exactly living in a lawless and hopeless state the way some of these bleeding heart liberals from TIME and the UN want the rest of the world to think.
In life, things are not always what they seem.
The history of Oliver North the the growth of Afghanistan as the number 1 exported of opium in the world after US invaded the country and defeated the Talibans are the naked testimonies that American big business influenced US Government are into illegal drug trade in many parts of the world thru their CIA with their FBI seeing to it that illegal drugs do not enter the US.
Gaviria is obviously for the legalization of the illegal drug trade. But shabu in the Philippines and cocaine produced and used in Columbia are different in its destructiveness.
So we have now the “taste of Fake News”…Time Magazine , Mainstream Media in the U.S., like CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, etc.. are now doing, Fake News. Most of the U.S. Media has gone liberal…and they are disappointed by the win of Pres. Donald Trump, a conservative.
Gavira, Gibbs and Power do not know what is happening in our country…its is unfortunate for these people, to get one side of the story , write it as a fact.
in any illegal Drug War; it is vicious and bloody. Drug Lords control the Drug trade…All of these “Bad Dudes”, are armed to the teeth and dangerous…
Drug Dealers have to protect their Drug Market territories. Some offer the Police money , to ply their Drug Trade. Murder, shoot out, homicide, etc…cannot be prevented in this Drug War. All these “Bad Dudes” have to use violence to get ahead in the game !
Gibbs and Power, should visit the inner cities, in the U.S., where cocaine, crack cocaine, ecstasy, etc…are widely distributed. In the U.S. ….I have not seen any U.S. Attorney General involved in Drug Trade. In the Philippines, we have an equivalent of an “Attorney General”, or former Secretary of Justice, who was a Drug Lord , and a nymphomaniac. She had many lovers, including Prison convicts, who were also her Shabu Drug dealers….
We can put these facts, in the Ripley’s Believe It or Not….and the world may come to the Philippines, to talk to Ronnie Dayan, and other lovers of Leila de Lima. They can also listen those Prison convicts, who ran a Drug Trade, inside the National Bilibid Prison !
Only in the Philippines, Dudes ! Back up…Gavira, Gibbs and Powers ! Do your jobs in fighting illegal drugs, in your own country ! And, mind your own damn business !
I suppose fox news is the only unbiased news outlet? LOL! Conservatives complain about fake news yet they love fake news from fox, alex jones, breitbart, hannity, et al.
Conservatives also have Trump – the shameless king of falsehood.
A nymphomaniac? Are you referring to De lima? Are you still a part of the good ole boys?!?
Duterte admitted that he is a womanizer but I did not see you bashing him for being a nympho but you bashed De lima? Such flagrant display of ignorance and hyposriy.
I am not surprised by your ignorance and hypocrisy as it is like a hobby to many Filipinos 🙂
How typical, defending your corrupt queen of narco politics. Nympho or not, she illegitimately came to her position as senator through illegal means and reinforcing more illegal drugs proliferating into the country. She, like all oligarchs, simply and only use and exploit. Nothing about them are redeemable.
TIME magazine is part of an elaborate machinery created not to inform, but to program public perception. We can’t expect them to present an objective piece on Duterte or whoever it is they want to destroy- even when THEY CAN get the facts. Which version serves their purpose? So trying to inform Samantha Power (as somebody suggested) to “enlighten” her about Delima’s real plight is useless.
@ren car:
In the Filipino culture, a man proves his manhood by having mistresses. If a woman has many lovers. She is a slut. I never take sides in any Fake News network: Fox News, CNN, ABC, NBC, MSNBC,Time magazine, New York Times, etc…I take my news in the internet. And I use my common sense in reading news and magazine articles!
I am not part of the good ‘ole boy. Leila de Lima is a Bitch; a Drug Dealer and a Nymphomaniac. If you look to her as a “saint”…it is your problem.
Why should I bash Duterte ? He is doing good as a President…
You are more of an ignorant and a hypocrite ! Get lost, YellowTard !
Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Jane Power, TIME Magazine’s editor Nancy Reid Gibbs, former Colombian President César Augusto Gaviria Trujillo, and the rest of all of them, can believe in whatsoever they like, but the truth remains the truth, no matter how sweet the lie may taste.
because Duterte is responsible for the murders of 7,500 of your fellow citizens that deserved a trial, THATS WHY DUMBASS!and besides that, what else has Duterte done? The Philippines still has 30% of its peopleliving on less than $2/day, the highest electricity rates in the world and Oligarchs are still front-running the Stock-Market around the clock getting mega-wealthier….but Falippino’s think Duterte is doing a good job?IF THAT IS SO, Failipino’s really are fuckin idiots.
Hey ilda, i dunno if you’ve made a piece about this youtube video but I think you should
https://youtu.be/V2DrA8pSX8o
If you don’t read the news you are uninformed.
If you read the news you are misinformed.
The Philippines qualifies as a lwawless country with the current ‘Extra-Judicial’ killings of over 7,000 ‘ALLEGED’ street level drug dealers. Depsite what people here at GRP see, IT CERTAINLY IS WHAT IT IS, LAWLESS,case closed. With 7,000 murders of citizens for crimes that would never get more then 2 or 3 years in a state prison in most civilized countries (and with no evidence necessary for the EJK)and people being murdered for them, it is exactly what it is.There is no grey area, when citizens are being murdered at the behest of the President…..awlessness is what the International community see’s it as. If Filipino’s see it as ‘Cleaning up the streets’ and are applauding the murders of their fellow citizens, it just goes to show how truly sick a society they live in.THESE ARE FACTS that can not be ignored, 7,000 Filipino’s have been murdered becquse Duterte said he would give the murderers a medal…..Duterte is actually kind of lucky that no one has decided to whack him in retaliation.
TIME magazine is nothing less than a CIA mouth-piece as well, but even a broken clock is right twice a day….and on this one, they happen to be correct.
They have not yet put in prison, those criminals, who had done the : Hacienda Luisita massacre; the Mendiola massacre; the Mamapasano massaacre; the Maguindanao massacre; the Lumad massacre; etc…
How can they put the people, whom YellowTards claimed committed the “Duterte massacre” ?
File a case against Duterte in the Court of Law, if anybody has concrete proof of his “crimes”.
To use the media as a Court of Law , is what Duterte’s detractors are doing…you are just wasting your time.
Your column is so ignorant, that it becomes painful to read. Drug wars are not sustainable that’s it, end of story. Once the killing stops things revert back to how they were, this is because the drug wars don’t address the reason why people are turning to becoming users in the first place, simple economics. It’s hilarious to think Duterte supporters thought voting Duterte into this position would cause the world to fall in love with the leader. The thing is, Dutertes support comes from a cult-like bloc within The Philippines and a few OFWs scattered across the world. Did he not liken himself to Hitler? or joke about joining in with a gang rape? How do you expect the rest of the world to take such a childish diplomatic retard seriously when he is regularly involved in antics of that nature?
@KRACKlover:
Unfortunately, son, your comment shows your ignorance, childishness and cuckery that’s it’s so painful to read. AFAIK, one that determines a person is more of his ACTIONS and not of words.
Why don’t you take your SHITPOSTING to somewhere else?
@ KRACKLOVER, the entire civilized world knows Duterte is a BUFFOON, but FAILIPINO’s love him, until one of their family members is murdered in an EJK .Frikkin Idiots that they are.
@NEW WAVE:
Majority of the people in the Philippines doesn’t believe in this EJK except to those families/relatives who relied on the income on Illegal Drug Trade and the bombarded/fed by Mainstream Media who uses this words perpetually.
And how IRONIC that none of this Media, EU, US or pro-Life bodies would want to PINPOINT this incidents on CRIMINAL SYNDICATES…Why? Is it out of FEAR or it would be more likely because they are on the PAYROLL.
Best information are those coming from the REAL people who actually live in the Philippines…unfiltered and candid.
Unfortunately, you’re missing the point. Or perhaps you’re an ACTUAL BUFFOON who even agrees with Leni Robredo’s proposal to decriminalize drug use just like in Portugal yet the latter only decriminalize marijuana and not crystal meth.
The proof that Duterte stated that ‘I’ll give you a medal if you muder a drug dealer’ is on youtube.com for anyone who wants to waste his time.Failipino’s live in a LAWLESS country, and are seemingly proud of it. BUT when the Grim Reaper comes to your door in the form of a Cop and your Son or Daughter is in the street dead, it won’t be so God Damn good then, will it ?
@Kracklover:
” ….the drug wars don’t address the reason why people are turning to becoming drug users in the first place, simple economics….”
What a stupid YelllowTard !
People use drugs, to get high….people drink whisky, lambanog, tuba, gin, rum, brandy, etc…to get drunk…people do sex to get sexual climax or orgasm ! It is not economics…it is basic human instinct and people get hooked on it !
I have never seen such stupid blog post in the GRP….a great nonsense !
Fox news is a propaganda institution for the Republican Party, just as CNN, MSNBC and ABC are for the Democrat Party. I am sorry for anyone who is gullible enough to believe anything these hack, globalist institutions say.
@ HT, you are the MORON that did not understand KRACKLOVER’s post. and Greg, the CIA controls the USA media, the repubs and Dems are one in the same.
Senator de Lima is a garbage, she deserved to rot in jail for life