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In yesterday's front-page story in The Philippine STAR, we learned that Oxford University apparently conducted a study that Pres. Rodrigo "Digong" Duterte spent P10 million for "trolls" to promote his messages and harass his critics, something that Pres. Duterte vehemently denied. First of all, then presidential candidate, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte was a Johnny-come-lately in the presidential race of 2016 and the Yellowtards or their trolls had already seized social media in the Internet world.

But when Duterte threw his hat into the presidential ring, people like me, came out to support Duterte's bid, even if I wasn't asked to do so. It is because in a field of incompetent and corrupt candidates, Duterte was a square peg in a round hole. Frankly speaking, I did not originally support Duterte because of his ties to Leftist groups whom he considered his friends. But someone told me that if there is anyone who can forge a lasting peace with the Reds, it is someone that the Communist Party of the Philippines would trust, and therefore I took a chance in supporting Duterte's presidential bid.

If you looked at the list of all the presidentiables, there was the early leader in Vice President Jejomar Binay, Sen. Grace Poe, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, former DILG Sec. Manuel "Mar" Roxas, and Mayor Duterte. Let's start with Binay, who just a year prior to the election was already targeted for demolition by the Yellowtards, who exposed his corruption when he was Mayor of Makati, including his fabulous farms.

A worthwhile candidate would have been Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, unfortunately, she was already suffering from cancer and the voters would not vote for a sick candidate. Then there was Sen. Grace Poe, whom I initially supported, until Duterte threw his hat in the presidential ring. Of course there was Mar Roxas, whom many of us saw as a total incompetent when three years ago, they went to Tacloban City at the height of super typhoon "Yolanda". To many of us who supported Duterte, voting for Roxas was an affirmation of the Aquino Presidency. Voting against Roxas is our way of thumbing our noses against then president PNoy Aquino!

So back to that Oxford University study. First of all, we would like to know whether that study was an official one by Oxford University and or a study done by a student in Oxford. Where did they get their analysis and figures? I hope they included this humble writer in that study so we can prove to Oxford University that they are totally wrong because so many of us voters in the last election voted for Duterte as we have been totally frustrated by the Aquino Regime. It was our way of telling Aquino that we didn't like what you did for the nation in the six years of your term!

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In his first State of the Nation Address Pres. Duterte became the first president of this country to publicly talk about history and his plans to give credit where credit is due to the famous Chieftain Lapu-Lapu who was the first in this archipelago to fight and win against a foreign invader. In his second SONA, Pres. Duterte talked about the infamous Balangiga massacre, which happened on Sept. 28. 1901 during the Philippine-American War.

As I pointed out in my previous column, in the US the official name of this conflict is the Philippine Insurrection. If you go and visit the famous Arlington Cemetery in Washington, D. C. they have a huge monument known to many, the bronze statues of World War II soldiers raising the American Flag in Iwo Jima, that's where you will see the words, Philippine Insurrection.

As I wrote the other day, one church bell remains in the base of the 9th Infantry Regiment in Camp Red Cloud, South Korea, while two other bells remain in the former base of the 11th Infantry Regiment at the Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming. But there is some good news when US Embassy spokeswoman Molly Koscina told the media, "We are aware that the bells of Balangiga have deep significance for a number of people, both in the United States and in the Philippines. We will continue to work with our Filipino partners to find a resolution."

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