{"id":243564,"date":"2020-01-30T21:00:01","date_gmt":"2020-01-31T02:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=243564"},"modified":"2020-01-30T21:00:01","modified_gmt":"2020-01-31T02:00:01","slug":"4-solons-weigh-in-on-prrds-us-travel-ban-for-cabinet-execs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/01\/30\/4-solons-weigh-in-on-prrds-us-travel-ban-for-cabinet-execs\/","title":{"rendered":"4 solons weigh in on PRRD’s US travel ban for Cabinet execs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
For Senate President Vicente Sotto III, the President\u2019s latest action \u201cis a sign of his displeasure.\u201d (File photo<\/a>: Senate of the Philippines\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0— Several senators on Thursday voiced their opinions on President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s latest directive barring Cabinet officials from traveling to the United States \u201cindefinitely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Duterte issued the directive Wednesday as the country began terminating a military accord with Washington, and nearly a week after Malaca\u00f1ang announced that the President has rejected US President Donald Trump\u2019s invitation to attend the Southeast Asian leaders\u2019 summit in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 4.<\/p>\n

For Senate President Vicente Sotto III, the President\u2019s latest action \u201cis a sign of his displeasure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senators Ronald dela Rosa and Francis Tolentino, meanwhile, expressed their support, saying they see nothing wrong with the directive.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you joined the government, it is presumed that they are prepared to sink or swim with this government. Now if they are not ready to sink, they had the option to quit swimming with the government,\u201d dela Rosa said in an interview.<\/p>\n

He said Duterte’s decision should be respected because every decision he makes is \u201ccoming from the heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPinag-isipan niya yan, pinag-aralan niya ang kaniyang mga<\/em>\u00a0(He carefully contemplates and study all of his) decisions. So let\u2019s respect the President\u2019s decision,\u201d dela Rosa said.<\/p>\n

Tolentino echoed his colleague\u2019s sentiments.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the alter ego principle, the cabinet members are serving as alter egos of the President, and if the principal himself would not be visiting a foreign country, he can direct his alter egos to practice the same policy,\u201d he said in a separate interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I don\u2019t see any reason why that would be administratively controversial,\u201d Tolentino said.<\/p>\n

The two administration senators also believed that President Duterte\u2019s latest actions will not have much impact on the country\u2019s economy and security, as Senator Panfilo Lacson feared.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Lacson warned that Duterte\u2019s \u201clatest tirades\u201d might have dire consequences to Philippine economy and security, \u201cespecially if Washington responds and retaliates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lacson said he hopes that some of the Cabinet members will have \u201cthe courage and sensibility\u201d to speak to Duterte to reconsider.<\/p>\n

\u201cHindi naman siguro aabot sa<\/em>\u00a0(I think it would not lead to) severance of ties, it\u2019s historically engraved,\u201d Tolentino said, referring to the historical relationship between the Philippines and the US.<\/p>\n

With regard to the perceived missed opportunities in not attending the March summit, Tolentino noted that the summit was only designed to bring Asean members closer to their North American counterparts.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a founding member of Asean, I do not see any reason why it would affect us. It is only a venue. There are other bilateral venues that the Philippines can avail of,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just a one sitting, one conference event. We continue to engage other countries, including North American countries. There are agreements in place, trade agreements, as well as person-to-person relations.\u00a0Andun naman yun\u00a0<\/em>(They are already there). I don\u2019t foresee in the immediate future a great impact,\u201d Tolentino said.<\/p>\n

He said meetings with the American business community are \u201cdone on a regular basis\u201d by the Philippine ambassador to the US.<\/p>\n

Dela Rosa agreed with Tolentino, and called on Filipinos not to be overly \u201cpessimistic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHuwag kayo masyadong<\/em>\u00a0pessimistic,\u00a0huwag kayo masyadong matakot. Tingnan na lang natin<\/em>\u00a0how it will play out.\u00a0Hindi naman natin sigurado kung ano ang magiging resulta niyan<\/em>\u00a0(Don’t be so pessimistic, don’t be so afraid. Let’s just see how it will play out, We are not even sure what will be the result of this),\u201d dela Rosa said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0— Several senators on Thursday voiced their opinions on President Rodrigo Duterte\u2019s latest directive barring Cabinet officials from traveling to …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":243565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-jose-cielito-reganit","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243564"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":243567,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243564\/revisions\/243567"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}