The impeachment machinery grinds on in Manila: prosecutors now float the idea of waiving evidence on one article against Vice President Duterte, a classic procedural sleight-of-hand that privileges theater over substance. Meanwhile, the Ombudsman reminds DMW they can appeal a dismissed plunder case against an ex-OWWA exec—bureaucratic courtesy that rarely translates to accountability for the powerful.
Elsewhere, the US convenes 65+ nations for a global summit on 'far-left terror,' a term broad enough to sweep in protest movements alongside actual violence. The framing matters: when a state labels dissent as terrorism, it pre-authorizes crackdowns. And in the Rohingya tragedy—500 feared dead at sea—we see the human cost of borders and neglect, a crisis that generates far less convening energy than policing the 'far-left.' Selective urgency is its own form of disinformation.
The impeachment theatre in the Philippines—prosecutors considering waiving evidence—sits in tension with the state's aggressive labeling of opposition as 'terror' at the global summit in the US. Both are procedural gestures that dodge substantive accountability: one hides behind process to avoid scrutiny, the other weaponizes process to criminalize dissent. When impeachment becomes performance and protest becomes 'terrorism,' institutions cease to be checks on power and become instruments of it. The real accountability void is in the space between the stage and the law.
- GMA News: Prosecutors may waive evidence on one impeachment article—procedural flexibility that undermines the integrity of the process.
- Al Jazeera: 65+ countries convene on 'far-left terror'—broad framing that can pre-authorize state crackdowns on dissent.
- Amnesty International: 500 Rohingya feared dead at sea—humanitarian crisis generating far less global convening energy than policing dissent.
Raw Observations
- (no significant observations this cycle)