Circumstances: Looking at the Newspapers, 1/28/19 (Local)

Philippine Daily Inquirer's "Unfair Protection"

Local cement manufacturers appear to have succeeded in presenting a convincing storyline to the Department of Trade and Industry about the alleged destructive impact of imports on their profitability. Last week, the DTI announced the imposition of a provisional safeguard duty on imported cement starting next month, claiming it needed to protect local manufacturers who were at a disadvantage because of cheap imports. “With the elements of surge and injury clearly established, DTI is mandated to impose a safeguard duty. DTI is thus imposing a provisional safeguard duty of P8.40 per [200-kilo] bag, equivalent to about 4 percent,” Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez told reporters covering him. That’s an additional tax of 4 percent on imported cement. [link]

Mindanao Daily "Will Moreno join the ‘Roa family’ reunion?"

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is expected to attend the annual “Roa Family Reunion” in Cagayan De Oro City today (Jan. 25, 2019). The media are banned to cover the event, which indicates that Duterte’s coming to Cagayan De Oro City was on a personal note. However, a little bird has shared disturbing reports about the alleged “invitation” of some outsiders, especially candidates. Well, a candidate for congress in the city’s second district has claimed that Duterte has invited him to join the “family reunion.” There is also a question on whether Mayor Moreno would join the Roa Clan reunion this year. Contrary to claims of Mayoral candidate Pompee La Viña, Moreno has been claiming to be a relative of the Roas. In several interviews, La Viña poked on Moreno as a “fake” Roa. “Moreno has never been a Roa. He (Moreno) came from Balingasag. There are Roas there. Perhaps, Moreno is related with the Roas in Balingasag, but not in Cagayan De Oro,” La Viña said. [link]

Sun.Star Cebu "Sharing the Patria stake"

IT isn’t over yet. In a Jan. 12 post on the official Facebook page of the Cebu Heritage Society, a civil society group of heritage advocates, Eileen G. Mangubat emphasized the involvement of the public in continuing the campaign to save the Patria de Cebu, a 64-year-old religious and historical landmark, from demolition in a project intended to revitalize downtown Cebu: “Taxpayers have a say in especially sensitive urban development projects.” Last Jan. 15 and 16, architect Melva R. Java and Mangubat tendered, respectively, their resignations to Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, who had appointed them as members of the Cebu Archdiocesan Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church. The Commission, which is tasked “to oversee the ‘conservation, restoration, and preservation’ of parish churches, their adjunct structures and the Archdiocesan Museum of Cebu,” has 11 other active members and is chaired by Fr. Brian Brigoli of the San Carlos Seminary College, wrote Mangubat in a Jan. 21 email to editors of the Cebu dailies. The Patria is at the center of a controversy testing how Cebu stakeholders prioritize the legacies of the past in the blitz for modernization. A plan to redevelop the Patria into the centerpiece of the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year festivities in 2021...  [link]

Manila Times "Nation still cannot turn the page on Mamasapano"

LAST Friday, Jan. 25, 2019, the nation marked at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City the Day of National Remembrance in honor of the 44 Special Action Force troopers who were killed in a botched operation to capture Malaysian terrorist Zulkifli bin Hir (aka Marwan) on Jan. 25, 2015 in Mamasapano, Maguindanao. It is now four years since that fateful and tragic day. But four years on, most Filipinos, this paper included, feel an acute sense of outrage over the rank failure to bring closure to the incident. We are all troubled because we know that up to now, there has been no balancing of accounts, no determination of accountability and liability for the horrific tragedy. Mamasapano remains an open wound. We know how open from the fact that the families of the fallen 44 are still waiting vainly for the government to complete its promised financial assistance to their families. [link]