Tarsila Villarente knows Rizal Park perhaps like no other people in Davao City. It has been her home for decades now. And she?s not complaining. On beautiful, sunny days, she luxuriates in the shades, graciously offering cigarettes to customers. For her, it doesn?t get any better than this. Davao Today?s Cheryll D. Fiel takes a peek at Tarsila?s life.
Davaoe?os who passed the scandal-tainted June 2006 nursing board exams are junking the plan to require a retake of the test, while some bewailed the government?s failures in the education and health systems as the primary factors that created this mess. Jeffrey B. Javier reports.
The Philippines’s ranking in the “Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2006” by the Paris-based Reporters Withour Borders has slipped, from 139th last year to 142nd this year. The country is in the bottom 20 of the rankings, sharing the ignominy with the worst violators of press freedom in the world. Reporters Without Borders blamed the continuing killings of journalists and the defamation suits filed by President Arroyo’s husband for the slip in ranking.
Was Mayor Rodrigo Duterte?s unprecedented appearance at the City Council motivated by a serious desire to eradicate the drug problem? If so, why didn?t he or the PDEA file cases instead in court against the alleged drug dealers? Was it because of desperation and exasperation — that no matter what Duterte does, illegal drugs continue to proliferate? Or was it meant to spook councilors into giving him more ?peace and order? money in next year?s budget? Davao Today managing editor Cheryll D. Fiel tries to answer these questions.
Related story: Duterte?s Admission of Failure Proves Extrajudicial Killings Not the Answer
By Cheryll D. Fiel
davaotoday.com
DAVAO CITY ? If there?s one thing the appearance of Mayor Rodrigo Duterte at the City Council last week proved, it is that the extrajudicial killings of suspected drug dealers and addicts, something that this city has seen for quite a long time now, cannot solve the drug problem, according to human-rights advocates.
In his testimony, Duterte expressed exasperation over the continued proliferation of illegal drugs in the city, which he said are creating ?zombies? out of users.
