Tag: Salvador Panelo

Palace: PHL verifying existence of weather stations in W. PHL Sea may provoke China

(Eagle News) — The Palace on Tuesday, Dec. 4, appeared to shoot down the idea of physically going to areas being claimed by China in the West Philippine Sea to check if there are indeed weather stations there. Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in the first place “you may have some problems there; may even provoke something that we don’t want.” “They claim that it’s theirs, but the arbitral ruling says it’s ours. Meanwhile, nobody seems […]

Palace on Locsin’s defense of Satur Ocampo: That’s Locsin’s personal opinion

(Eagle News) — The Palace on Monday, Dec. 3, distanced itself from Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., who called the filing of human trafficking charges against Satur Ocampo “idiotic.” According to Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo, the Palace views Locsin’s comment as “a personal sentiment given the fact that he and former Congressman Satur Ocampo are friends and were both together in (the House of Representatives).” Ocampo and Locsin were members of the House of Representatives […]

Palace: Shifting to federal gov’t still a priority of administration

(Eagle News)–The Palace on Sunday, Dec. 2, reiterated that shifting to a federal set-up of government remains a “priority of the Duterte administration.” In a statement, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the “disposition of the Senate with respect to this proposal should be understood along with its current and tight situation of addressing the 2019 budget with not too ample time to spare.” “We thus expect the Senate to support the President’s desire for a federal […]

Palace: Duterte won’t pardon policemen convicted of murdering Kian delos Santos

(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte will not extend pardon to the three policemen who were found guilty by a Caloocan court of murdering Kian delos Santos in 2017. According to Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo, in the first place, the President “will never tolerate policemen who intentionally kill, who had done it not in accordance with the performance of their duties.” “Obviously the conviction is murder which is intentional..,” Panelo said, referring to the decision meted […]

Palace hits back at Robredo, Morales for “premature, baseless, unfair” comments on PHL-China oil deal

(Eagle News) — The Palace hit back at Vice President Leni Robredo and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, calling their remarks about the memorandum of agreement on oil development inked between the Philippines and China “premature, baseless and unfair.” According to Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo, Robredo and Morales may not have read the MOU itself, noting that “they anchor their comments merely on media reports, and not on the actual document itself, which the Palace […]

Palace: Ambush of soldiers, killings of local officials prompted decision to deploy additional troops to some areas

(Eagle News) — The ambush of soldiers providing relief to victims of a typhoon in Northern Samar, the armed attack on a police station in Lapinig, and the massacre of nine farmers in Sagay in October are only some of the incidents that prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to order the deployment of additional troops to selected parts of the country. This is according to Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo, who issued a statement on Friday, Nov. […]

Sison: NDFP negotiators cancelled trip to PHL due to security concerns

(Eagle News)–National Democratic Front of the Philippines negotiators cancelled their meeting with Palace officials because of security concerns, Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison said. In a statement, Sison said Fidel Agcaoili, chairman of the NDFP Negotiating Panel, Coni Ledesma, member, and Luis Jalandoni, senior adviser to the panel, after all, have been “threatened with arrest by military and police authorities of the Duterte regime and (President Rodrigo) Duterte  himself has given no […]

Two Palace officials to have informal meeting with NDFP’s Jalandoni, Agcaoili

(Eagle News)–Peace Secretary Jesus Dureza on Sunday, Nov. 18, said he may meet National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) negotiators Fidel Agcaoili and Luis Jalandoni in Manila soon. Apart from him, he said Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo was also tasked to meet with the NDFP negotiators in an “informal chat.” “I am now on my way to head the Philippine delegation to the United Nations General Assembly in New York so the planned meeting may […]

Panelo: Some world leaders missed ASEAN events, too

(Eagle News)–Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo on Friday, Nov. 16, hit back at those who criticized President Rodrigo Duterte for not attending all 33rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit events. “Accusation that the President is lazy or seriously ill to perform his functions as head of state and government just because he had to take power naps in between a few events to catch on some sleep and energize himself and avoid the embarrassment of […]

Palace thanks Senate for passing rice tariffication bill

(Eagle News) — The Palace on Thursday, Nov. 15, hailed the Senate passage of the Rice Tariffication Bill. The bill, which President Rodrigo Duterte certified as urgent to address inflation, was passed on third and final reading with a vote of 14-0. The House of Representatives passed its own version on third and final reading. Panelo expressed confidence the measure would not encounter hurdles in the bicameral conference committee. “We are likewise confident that through […]

Palace accuses Pangilinan of politicking following his claim vs the gov’t over inflation

(Eagle News) — The Palace on Thursday, Nov. 8, accused Senator Francis Pangilinan of politicking following his pronouncement the government has done nothing to address inflation. “We find it unfortunate that (he) is still milking the issue of inflation considering prices have gone down,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said. According to Panelo, Pangilinan’s claim that “the government has not done any concrete action to address the increasing prices of goods is out of touch with reality..” […]

Panelo: Andanar-led PCOO still operational

(Eagle News)–Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo on Saturday, Oct. 13, clarified the Presidential Communications Operations Office was still in place. According to Panelo, who was named the government’s new spokesperson with Harry Roque expected to run for a Senate seat, the PCOO would  only cease to exist “until such time the (Office of the Press Secretary)” is created. This means Martin Andanar is still the PCOO head. President Rodrigo Duterte first offered the post of head […]