Duterte has a lot to thank the Santo Niño for
We have been constantly monitoring the activities of Taal Volcano that erupted last Sunday and the latest report we got was about the cracks and fissures happening in the areas surrounding the Taal Volcano, which the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration says could be a warning of an eminent eruption; something that could even be bigger than the eruption last Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) revealed that the water in the main crater lake of Taal Volcano has drained away, three days after the volcano exploded to life, the state volcanologists said. In a bulletin issued last Wednesday, Phivolcs said that satellite images show that the volcano’s main crater lake, which was once a blue-green in color has been drained.
Ma. Antonia Bornas, chief of Phivolcs Volcano Monitoring Division, revealed that the draining of the main crater lake is related to ground deformation, which is caused by the upward movement of magma. Magma is molten rock beneath Earth’s surface. They also observed that portions of the Pansipit River, the drainage outlet of Taal Lake, have also dried up.
Taal’s main crater lake is 1.9 kilometers in diameter and four meters above sea level. At this point let us all pray that the Taal Volcano eruption is already over and it goes back to its dormant self for decades. However, we accept the reality that no one can really predict if the volcano will stop erupting. After all, we accept the fact that no eruption can be the same for one volcano.
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I was told that Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte will be coming to Cebu City to witness the 40th celebration of the Sinulog Festival. Perhaps it is his way of thanking the Señor Santo Niño for helping him win the presidency three years ago. These days the president has a lot to thank the Lord for because of the recent withdrawal of one of the complaints filed by Atty. Jude Sabio against him before the International Criminal Court, which validates what we have been writing about on this particular case, that it is a ploy by the opposition.
I’m sure that people who are not in the know realize that the ICC has become an unwitting tool of the political opposition in accepting the documents filed against the president. Sabio, who sued Duterte before the ICC over the administration’s bloody war on illegal drugs, has decided to withdraw his complaint, saying he was “disillusioned” with the actions of the president’s critics. Sabio further said that he had suffered a lot of hardship for handling the cases of Edgar Matobato, who claimed to be a former member of a death squad with alleged links to Duterte.
Sabio also claimed that Duterte critic and former senator Antonio Trillanes IV and Sen. Leila de Lima did not provide him enough financial support. With this report, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said the “destabilizers” of the Duterte administration are slowly but surely “being undressed.” Panelo further said, “The ICC has to wake up from its stupor if not ignorance. It should realize by now that it is being used by disgruntled and discredited persons to advance their goal of besmirching the reputation of (President Duterte) and achieving their impossible dream of bringing down the Duterte presidency.”
Meanwhile, the ICC Office of the Prosecutor has claimed that the communication submitted to them cannot be withdrawn and that Sabio’s move will not affect its examination. However, Panelo insisted that Duterte cannot be tried before the ICC because the tribunal never acquired jurisdiction over the Philippines. He said, “The Rome Statute that created the ICC was never clothed with legal enforceability in our jurisdiction because it lacked the legal requirement of publication, the operative act that should have given birth to its enforceability over the Philippines.” This means that while this issue should already be over… it is not yet truly over!
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Again, I would like to reiterate what I wrote in yesterday’s column that wakes or funeral vigils of residents of a barangay should not be allowed on the main roads. Like what has happened in Barangay Kamputhaw where a wake was set up across the barangay hall, thus blocking half of one of Cebu City’s most traffic-congested streets. So once more we exhort the Cebu City Transportation Office to stop this practice!
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