The world powers are stepping up their campaign against ISIS after the November 13 terror assaults in Paris.
French authorities were busy tracking down suspected personalities. Several were arrested, some died in the operation or blew themselves up. The manhunt has led to Belgium where authorities raided several sites and asked people to stay home for their own safety.
US President Obama has vowed to hunt down ISIS together with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. The world is getting smaller for ISIS.
In Syria, France has bombed places identified as strongholds of the ISIS, some of which were already vacated in anticipation of the retaliation. The world powers are relentless in efforts to annihilate the extremist group and its terror attacks. Security measures are stricter in Paris as well as in New York, another possible target.
The question now is can the world powers actually stop ISIS? Bringing the war against ISIS to its home ground in Syria is easier said than done.
According to international analysts, the US, which was involved in four or five major wars, was in a way successful in the Saudi wars because it had strong local allies.
Today fighting against ISIS in Syria is a different story where there is no strong local ally. Their ally there belongs to the minority.
Brussels in Belgium is on high alert of an imminent terror attack. The government has advised its people to stay home. Several streets in Brussels remained a ghost town. Here in the Philippines, we have to watch for updates of the movements of ISIS in the international news . Let us be vigilant for any possible terror attacks especially in Mindanao.
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Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte finally announced his decision to run for president in the 2016 election. He still has to actually substitute the PDP-Laban candidate Martin Diño, chairman of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, who withdrew from the race earlier this month.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) still has to decide whether the substitution is legally feasible because Diño, in his certificate of nomination, stated that he was running for the position of mayor in the city of Pasay, an apparent clerical error.
PDP-Laban leaders said the person who filled up the certificate had made a mistake. Duterte’s bid still needs Comelec approval.
What made Duterte change his mind after declining relentless calls from his supporters? Duterte was categorical in saying the decision of the Senate Electoral Tribunal on the Grace Poe disqualification case so disappointed him he felt compelled to run.
Duterte said he believes the SET was wrong in deciding in favor of Grace Poe and giving her the presumption that as a foundling, Poe is a natural-born citizen.
So it’s clear that Duterte is running to stop Grace Poe from becoming president. If the Comelec allows Duterte to run for the highest office in the land, we would have five serious contenders. That would give people more choices.
What attracts people to support Duterte is his gung ho style in running after criminals in Davao City. Supporters believe a Duterte presidency is the only hope to stop the massive drug trade that has penetrated most barangays, and government corruption.
For me it is good that Duterte is finally running so that Filipinos can closely look at him and find out his true nature and qualifications. Duterte still has to answer several controversies. His advocacy of federalism is very attractive to people in the Visayas and Mindanao. Cebuanos have long complained about the control of “Imperial Manila” where decisions and funding of the national government is highly centralized to the detriment of the autonomy and authority of local government units.
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