Nation’s problems make me want to hang myself – Duterte

A day after admitting that he regretted running for the country’s highest post in 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte on
Thursday said the nation’s problems made him want to hang himself.

“Honestly, if you were the president of a nation such as this, you would be tempted to hang yourself because there are
so many problems,” Duterte, who was speaking before land reform beneficiaries in General Santos City, said in his native
Cebuano.

Moments earlier, the president asked his security detail to remove the bullet-proof barrier that was installed on the
podium to protect him.

He explained that he had the barrier removed because he had done nothing wrong to the nation for him to be
assassinated.

“Why would you shoot me when I did nothing wrong to you? Just choose anyone from them here. They all came from
the military. They are all generals,” he said, referring to the former military men who were now civilian officials in his
government.

“But don’t shoot us politicians because we are just serving you.”

A day earlier, Duterte said he regretted his decision to run for president as he again vented his frustration with
government corruption.

He then discouraged his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, from joining the presidential race because she would
be likely be “disrespected” by critics.

Sandigan says evidence strong enough to convict Jinggoy of plunder, trial to continue

MANILA, Philippines — The plunder trial of former Sen. Jinggoy Estrada will proceed after the Sandiganbayan rejected
his plea seeking the case’s dismissal without presenting counter-evidence.
Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division Friday rejected Estrada and his co-accused Janet Lim-Napoles’ demurrer to evidence in
the government’s plunder case over the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam.

A demurrer to evidence is a pleading that challenges the sufficiency of the prosecution’s evidence against the accused. It
paves the way for the dismissal of the case halfway through the trial, without the accused having to present their
counter-evidence.

With the denial of Estrada’s motion, his camp would have to present their evidence to counter the prosecution’s
arguments and a full-blown trial would proceed.

The anti-graft court said the Office of the Ombudsman’s prosecution team presented evidence strong enough to convict
Estrada of plunder if they fail to rebut them with their counter-exhibits.

Estrada is accused of amassing P183-million worth of kickbacks for funneling his PDAF to bogus non-government
organizations linked to Napoles. Estrada had repeatedly denied having any transaction with Napoles concerning his pork
barrel.

Napoles, a businesswoman, is believed to be the mastermind behind the multi-billion scam.

In December, the Sandiganbayan convicted Napoles for plunder in a separate case involving the PDAF allocations of
Senator-elect Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.

Revilla was acquitted.

Estrada ran and lost in the 2019 midterm elections under the administration-backed Hugpong ng Pagbabago slate.
Revilla was on the same slate with Estrada, but the prior won in the elections with 14,624,445 votes.