DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The photographer behind the controversial pictures of Isabelle Duterte defended the presidential granddaughter’s family, saying the shoot was done for free.

In his Facebook post on Monday, December 18, Davao City-based photographer Lito Sy said he did not charge P250,000 for the pre-debut photoshoot inside Malacañan, contrary to rumors spreading on social media.

There was no fee for the service, according to Sy, as Isabelle’s mother, Lovelie Sangkola Sumera “is a very good friend of mine in Davao during (the) early 90s.”

Sumera is the erstwhile spouse of Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte.

What’s more, the red gown used by Isabelle was also sponsored by a Duba-based friend of Sangkola, he said.

“The other gowns were provided by the stylist Jeff Galang which are also borrowed from famous designers in exchange for credits and milage,” he said.

Sy also said that the expenses of Isabelle, who is already an actress under Viva, only included some P25,000 for Galang and an undisclosed amount for make-up artist Winn Ramos.

The expenses were paid by the mother of Isabelle and not by the vice mayor, he explained.

His post has garnered more than 2,000 reactions and has been shared at least 1,000 times as of press time.

Meanwhile, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio was mum on the issue upon being asked by reporters on Monday, December 18, for comment.

“I don’t have a reaction about it since it’s not a Davao issue and it did not happen in Davao,” she said.

The young Duterte’s photo shoot inside the Palace earned criticisms as some pointd out she was violating a law regarding the use of the country’s coat-of-arms.

Critics cited Executive Order No. 310 series of 2004 which states that “the Coat-of-Arms, Seal and Flag of the President of the Philippines or of the Vice President of the Philippines shall be exclusively used to represent the President of the Philippines or the Vice President of the Philippines, respectively.”

The President meanwhile, said the case is just a “small matter.” (davaotoday.com)

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio on Monday, December 18, clarified that the city still has four working speed guns for the Transport and Traffic Management Office (CTTMO).

“We have a speed gun, we have it with the CTTMO,” Dutere-Carpio told a press conference.

Previously, Supt. Ernesto Castillo, head of the Traffic Group, said they no longer have any functioning speed guns, thus affecting the body’s implementation of the speed limit rule here.

But the mayor denied Castillo’s claims, and advised the official not to preempt other offices.

The Traffic Group operates under the DCPO, while the CTTMO is a department under the control of Duterte-Carpio’s office.

On Monday, she told reporters that she has spoken to Davao City Police Office (DCPO) Director Alexander Tagum on this matter

“I called the attention of the City Director (Tagum) to tell the policeman not to speak on behalf of other offices. If he wants to verbalize the issues of his office, he should limit it within his office,” she said.

CTTMO’s integrity was put under the spotlight after reports on the city’s implementation of speed limit went out, said Duterte.

Supposing that there has been a lack of speed guns to keep the speed limit implementation running, the mayor could not reconcile the fact that “there were people complaining to me that the CTTMO apprehended them.”

Davao City has set a 30kph to 60 kph allowable speed limit in certain areas for motorists under the Executive Order No. 39.

However, Castillo reported that for almost a year, the city has no available speed guns. He said they are still awaiting the release of five speed guns they requested since March. (davaotoday.com)

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte said he is supporting same sex marriage in the country, adding that the law governing marriage can be amended.

During the 7th LGBT Davao Year-end Gathering at the Azuela Cove here Sunday, December 17, Duterte was applauded after saying he wants same sex marriage and the government can change the law.

“Ako gusto ko same sex marriage (I want same-sex marriage). Ang problema (the problem is) we’ll have to change the law. But we can change the law,” Duterte said referring to the Family Code which provides for the marriage of a man and a woman.

“I don’t have any problems making it marrying a man, marrying a woman or whatever is the predilection of the human being,” Duterte added.

Change of tune

In March this year, Duterte in a speech before the Filipino community in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, said same sex marriage cannot work for the Philippines where majority are Catholics and where “there is the Civil Code, which says that you can only marry a woman for me… for a woman to marry a man.”

“Yun ang kultura nila. Eh di kayo lang, hindi ‘yan pwede sa amin. Katoliko kami… (That’s their culture. It does not apply to us. We are Catholics…),” he said previously.

Before the Presidential elections last year, Duterte said he was would consider legalizing same-sex marriage.

LGBT commission?

Duterte on Sunday added he wants the LGBT community to nominate a representative from their sector for a new commission which the government is yet to set up.

“So yang Commission na ‘yan, bubuuin ko pa (I have yet to set up that Commission),” he said, after he mentioned about the incident where he fired commissioners of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor (PCUP).

“I’d like a gay there somewhere or a lesbian. And mag-usap kayong lahat all over the Philippines ‘yung… You nominate somebody who is honest, hardworking. And I would like to show that any, any ma-bakla man o ma-tomboy can — well, can always work just like an ordinary human being (And you talk among yourselves all over the Philippines. And I would like to show that any, whether he is a gay or a lesbian, well, can alway work just like an ordinary human being),” Duterte said.

He said he will give the LGBT sector until the second week of January next year to nominate their representative. (davaotoday.com)

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte wants pushcart educator Efren Peñaflorida to head the Presidential Commission on the Urban Poor (PCUP) and Davao teacher Randy Halasan to sit as one of the commissioners.

Duterte made the statement before Davao City-based media Friday night, December 15. The President mentioned that he would want “yung nagtutulak ng karomata, yung nagaturo” (the one who is pushing cart and teaching) to chair the PCUP.

Duterte was referring to Peñaflorida who was named CNN Hero of the Year in 2009 for his efforts to bring education to poor children through a pushcart loaded with books and other teaching materials.

Peñaflorida was also conferred with the Order of Lakandula, the highest honors given to a civilian, by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Meanwhile, Halasan, a teacher of Pegalongan Elementary School in Marilog district here is also being considered to sit as a commissioner of the PCUP. Halasan won the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2014 for his dedication to help with the education and livelihood of the Matigsalug community in Sitio Pegalongan in Barangay Malamba.

Special Assistant to the President Christopher “Bong” Go confirmed they have already reached out to Halasan.

Duterte on Tuesday, December 12 fired the commissioners of the PCUP, an agency supervised by the Office of the Cabinet Secretary, including its head Terry Ridon.

He said Ridon has traveled abroad several times since his appointment in September.

“There’s something wrong with this office, there was never a hearing en banc, or whatever, no major reports, no nothing,” Duterte added.

Ridon, however, said all their travels were authorized by the Palace.

“The public record of the agency can speak for itself: we had implemented with full integrity the presidential promise of no demolition without relocation. We had represented government and given voice to the urban poor in international conferences on public housing, poverty alleviation and climate change, which was unprecedented in any administration,” Ridon said.

In his latest Facebook post Saturday, December 16, Ridon shared photos of the Greens PH Laguna urban poor climate resilience forum.

“This is one of the landmark initiatives of PCUP, in which people’s organizations are empowered to determine climate resilient housing frameworks and petition housing agencies to implement these projects in urban poor areas,” he said.

Ridon added that it was “one of the most concrete results” of the PCUP’s participation in international conferences. (davaotoday.com)

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The City Council on Thursday, December 14 repealed two city ordinances approved about six decades ago.

During the last regular session for 2017, councilors voted with finality the ordinances to repeal the city ordinance banning the use, playing, operation and maintenance of pinball machines and other similar devices and the ordinance prohibiting the operation of jukeboxes within public markets.

The ban on pinball machines was approved in 1960 while the jukebox ordinance was made into law in 1975.

Councilor Mabel Sunga Acosta, chair of the committee on publications authored and moved to repeal both ordinances.

On previous reports, Acosta maintained that these ordinances have to be abolished and removed from the Code of Ordinances of the city since the said devices are already obsolete and the policies are not relevant anymore.

“We look over the code and we found out that there are some ordinances that are not relevant already,” Acosta said in a press conference on November.

She said the effort to repeal and revise old ordinances form part of the plan to update local laws published in the Code of Ordinances and include more recent ones in it.

“Several ordinances need to be reviewed so that the second edition of the Code of Ordinances will be updated and those that are not relevant already will be repealed,” she said.

The Code of Ordinances of Davao City contains all general and special ordinances of the city from 1937 until its publication in 2009, when President Rodrigo Duterte was still the Mayor of Davao. (davaotoday.com)