Now they’re hijacking Ninoy’s martyr legacy

Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad.

VP Sara Duterte needled the AFP Thursday for not stopping the PNP from arresting her father, ex-president Rody Duterte.

She sounded totally out of it. Why should the AFP prevent the PNP from enforcing an Interpol arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court? As Defense Sec. Gilberto Teodoro clarified, the AFP was in fact tasked to support the PNP action.

At a pro-Duterte rally in The Hague, Sara opined why President Bongbong Marcos should resign: “Hindi mo pinapakita sa taumbayan na maayos kang mag-isip at kaya mo mamuno.”

Only last Oct. 18 Sara live-streamed on her Facebook page how she would behead BBM. Scowling into the camera, she held an imaginary head which she knifed on the neck.

She then said she’ll dig up BBM’s father Marcos Sr.’s remains at the Libigan ng mga Bayani and hurl it into the sea.

She did it again Nov. 23 on nationwide live stream. She threatened to assassinate BBM, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez. “No joke, no joke,” she assured viewers of her sanity.

Sara proclaimed it her duty as VP to be at The Hague to get a distressed Filipino (Papa Rody) released from jail.

Yet on July 24, as a super typhoon battered millions of Filipinos, she and family flew to Germany for a Taylor Swift concert.

Sara accused Malacañang of succumbing to foreign interest – the ICC.

Yet she was silent when her father let Chinese Maritime Militia trawlers poach Philippine seas, ram Filipino fishing and coast guard boats and blockade Sandy Cay.

This takes the cake: Sara said that if Papa Rody insists on returning to Manila, he might be shot dead at the tarmac like Ninoy Aquino.

Aquino’s family rejected the analogy, reminding that Ninoy came home from exile in 1983 to lead Filipinos’ struggle for democracy against dictator Marcos Sr.

“Too farfetched to compare Duterte to Ninoy,” BBM’s spokeswoman said. “Duterte had once likened himself to Hitler” in wanting to kill three million drug addicts.

“Aquino never had a record of mass murders,” the spokeswoman went on. Aquino’s admirers found BBM’s spokeswoman’s defense odd. BBM has belittled the February EDSA Revolution holiday for three years in a row under his presidency – 2023, 2024, 2025.

Aquino’s 1983 assassination slow-boiled into the 1986 EDSA Revolt that toppled Marcos Sr., family and cronies.

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For two years now a mega franchisee has been exacting 65-percent royalty from pioneer operators at Subic Bay Freeport. The stiff charge has pushed up commodity prices, pulled down commerce and ruined jobs in Luzon’s second largest port.

All that is about to end. Government has issued Harbour Centre Port Terminals Inc. an ultimatum: put up or shove off.

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority fired off two Notices – of Violation and of Default – on March 13. Those shall take effect 10 and 30 days, respectively, upon HCPTI’s receipt.

The Notice of Violation centered on the staggering 55- to 65-percent royalties.

SBMA rejected HCPTI’s claim that those were not royalties but “cargo integrator fees” in Subic’s Naval Supply Depot, Boton, Alava, Rivera and Bravo Wharfs.

SBMA stood pat on its power to regulate and set royalties, charges and fees – to which HCPTI should submit.

SBMA cited RA 7227 Section 13(b) and the Joint Venture Agreement with HCPTI.

To be relieved of the stiff royalties are Mega Subic Terminal Services, Subic Seaport Terminal Services, Amerasia International Terminal Services and their many subcontractors.

The three pioneered in Subic Freeport in 1994-1996, investing hundreds of millions of pesos in facilities, services and manpower.

Mega Subic built hi-tech grain unloading plants. Subic Seaport’s fertilizer landings introduced the freeport to world maritime commerce. Amerasia systematized cargo handling.

HCPTI entered the picture 29 years later. It exempted the pioneers only from berthing and wharfage fees. But it collected cargo integrator fees or royalties on stevedoring, arrastre, storage, reefer, camage, stripping/stuffing, warehousing, line handling, equipment rental, standby-charges, manpower supply and special services.

The Notice of Default alleged HCPTI’s uncomplied submissions to SBMA:

(1) Quarterly statement of revenues;

(2) Quarterly statement of expected trends and investments;

(3) Rules of the joint venture areas;

(4) Monthly report on statistical data;

(5) Schedule of vessel arrivals;

(6) Periodic and preventive maintenance plan;

(7) Annual report of organization and personnel-in-charge;

(8) Insurance coverage.

SBMA gave HCPTI “a non-extendible period of 30 days from receipt [to comply]. Otherwise, SBMA shall exercise its right under Section 21.1 to terminate the JVA.”

HCPTI’s foothold in Subic began with a November 2009 unsolicited proposal to develop, manage and operate the freeport for P6.4 billion. The outgoing SBMA administrator signed the JVA in February 2010, during the election ban on government contracting.

The deal reduced HCPTI’s investment to only P200 million over three years. No competitive challenge was received, precisely because there was an election ban.

Government lawyers advised against the joint venture, and NEDA withdrew its clearance. A slew of court cases, however, favored HCPTI’s entry in 2023.

Calls to HCPTI for its side were unanswered as of late Tuesday afternoon.

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