For our special presentation on our talkshow on Straight from the Sky, we bring you another serious discussion about the proposed shift by the Duterte administration from our current unitary form of governance (we’ve been this way since 1946) and into a Federal/Parliamentary form of government. In MyTV, we have a talkshow that discusses anything about the law called My Law 101 hosted by Atty. Jonathan Capanas Dean of the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) and media old-timer Atty. Bingo Gonzales, which is one of the most watched talkshow on MyTV.

These two are the best legal minds in Cebu and I asked both Atty. Capanas and Atty. Gonzales to be my guest in Straight from the Sky so they too could help aid and educate our televiewers of the importance of knowing what Federalism is all about. So watch this show on Federalism tonight on SkyCable’s channel 53 at 8:00PM with replays on Wednesday and Saturday same time and channel. We also have replays on MyTV’s channel 30 at 9:00PM Monday and at 7:00AM and 9:00PM on Wednesday and Friday.

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If you are a keen observer of Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte, then by now you would get to know and understand that when he talks, especially before the cameras, he is always ready to express his emotions. In short, what you see is what you get! So during his four-day state visit to the People’s Republic of China, there was talk about a “separation” with the United States of America and that got many people worried. After all, the majority of Filipinos are just too “pro-American” for their own good.

To add to the gravity of the situation, Pres. Duterte made mention that during his younger days he was denied a US visa. That puts me in the same boat as Pres. Duterte because way back in 1972, my brother Archt. Bing Avila and I were also denied a US visa. At that time, we didn’t even know what “TnT” (tago ng tago) meant. We were fresh out of college and our parents gifted us with a trip to the US, and the US consulate denied us a visa. It was only when my late father told the US Consul (he was a member of our Rotary Club) that he would give his word as a Rotarian that his kids will return from their US trip that we were given a US visa.

So being denied a US visa shouldn’t make us anti-American. But while US Pres. Barrack Obama’s foreign policy was the “Asian Pivot”, he did not factor in the election of Pres. Duterte who is doing his own “Pivot to China”. That state visit to China earned Pres. Duterte some US$24 billion in investments and credit. Before I call that “bringing home the bacon,” I would like Finance Secretary Ben Diokno to “itemize” these monies. How much really are investments and how much are in grants and, more importantly, whether these are “recycled” items.

Remember during the time of Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, she too visited China and also got billions in investments, but many of these pledges have remained pledges. So how sure are we that some of these “gifts” were not recycled? At this point, we know that Pres. Duterte will be visiting Japan very soon, therefore I would like to hold my comments on his Chinese visit until and after he makes his visit to Japan. Japan, as we all know, is at odds with China and, it is America’s strongest military ally in Asia. So it would be interesting to see how Pres. Duterte would play the Japanese card.

What is crystal clear now is that the Duterte administration is not cutting diplomatic ties with the US, which many yellow-blooded trolls are trying to insinuate in the hope that the CIA would trigger a coup against Pres. Duterte. But Duterte’s “China Pivot” has raised eyebrows in the US and perhaps the timing is perfect that Pres. Obama is on his way out that he could no longer come up with a calculated response to Duterte’s China call.

But while getting a hefty US$24 billion from his China visit is something to crow about, one of the major results that we expected from Pres. Duterte’s China Pivot is the issue on whether the Filipino fishermen in Panatag a.k.a. Scarborough Shoal off Zambales can now fish in peace without the Chinese fishing vessels or Chinese Coast Guard disturbing them. But all that Pres. Duterte could tell our fishermen is, “I leave it to the Chinese authorities what they will do in the next few days.”

Well, we really have a few days to think about things anyway, the Chinese vessels had to scamper or return back to China due to super typhoon Lawin. But when the storm passes over, we will closely monitor any hostile activities between the Chinese Coast Guard and the Filipino fishermen. Only then can we say that Pres. Duterte’s China Pivot was a stunning success or a dismal failure. In my book, the concerns of the Filipino fishermen outweigh the billions of dollars worth in investments from the Chinese simply because it means recognizing our sovereignty over the Panatag shoal.

vsbobita@mozcom.com.