John Aaron Salas

[Chel Diokno @ChelDiokno]

With all due respect to the Senator-Judge at para hindi maligaw ang publiko, ito po ang konteksto at kumpleto na sinabi ko:

“(Ang fishing expedition) ay maaaring sabihin nating nangyari kung only if the party requesting the evidence or documents ay nagbabakasakali lang, baka may makuha tayo dito.”

Linawin ko po: Hindi tayo nagbabakasakali lang. May probable cause o sapat na dahilan na nakita sa mga record ng Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) tungkol sa bilyun-bilyong dumaan sa accounts ng VP at kanyang asawa.

Hiningi natin ang bank records para makita kung tugma ito sa sinasabi ng AMLC reports. Tandaan: Ang bank records ay maaari lang mailabas kapag may utos o subpoena mula sa korte. Ibig sabihin, kung nabuksan ng Kamara ang mismong bank records bago ang trial, paglabag yan sa karapatan at due process ni VP Sara Duterte.

Ngayong may subpoena na para sa bank records ng Bise Presidente, magagamit ito ng magkabilang panig para patunayan ang kanilang kaso.

Sa ganitong paraan, makakapagpasya ang mga Senator-Judges batay sa kabuuan ng ebidensya.

[Jay Tarriela @jaytaryela]

The Philippines does not need — and did not seek — China's "permission" to move its own personnel within its own Exclusive Economic Zone.

Let us be clear about the facts and the law:

1. Ayungin Shoal is a low-tide elevation within the Philippine exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. The 2016 Arbitral Award, final and binding under UNCLOS, affirmed this. China has no lawful maritime entitlement there. None.

2. BRP Sierra Madre (LS-57) is a commissioned ship of the Philippine Navy stationed on Philippine territory. There is nothing "illegal" about a State's presence in its own EEZ. What is illegal is China Coast Guard's presence and interference in waters where it has no rights to "protect" and no laws to "enforce."

3. The medical evacuation was necessary because CCG personnel injured a Filipino sailor in the first place — striking him on the head with a baton during an unprovoked intrusion within 20 yards of LS-57 on 20 July. Casting the aftermath of your own aggression as "humanitarian consideration" is not magnanimity. It is deception.

4. "Inquired, verified, and monitored" is an admission of illegal interference with Philippine vessels conducting a lawful, routine, and humanitarian operation in Philippine waters — not a demonstration of authority.

The Philippines will continue its rotation, resupply, and medical evacuation missions to LS-57 as a matter of sovereign right, not Chinese sufferance. No amount of narrative laundering changes the law, the facts, or the 2016 Arbitral Award.

[marvièn @mvn_dn]

“I will not argue with you”

BECAUSE HE’S RIGHT AND YOU’RE JUST DESPERATELY GRANDSTANDING

[All day Astronomy @forallcurious]

This is the true shape of our planet, known as GEOID.

[Jay Tarriela @jaytaryela]

Racism has no place in this day and age — and racism meant to belittle another race deserves nothing but condemnation. Filipinos are not monkeys!

[Chel Diokno @ChelDiokno]

Bakit ayaw ilabas ang mga bank records, tax records, at Anti-Money Laundering Council reports ni VP Sara?

Hindi pwedeng idahilan ang confidentiality, lalo na kapag impeachment ang pinag-uusapan. May karapatan ang mga Senator-Judge na malaman ang buong katotohanan para makapagdesisyon nang tama.

Panoorin ang video para sa buong detalye.

Kayo, ano sa tingin niyo? I-comment ang inyong opinyon at i-share ang video na ito para mas marami ang makasali sa usapan!

[Sonny Trillanes IV @TrillanesSonny]

Ito yung political ad na nilabas namin nung 2016 campaign pero hinarang ng kampo ni duterte. Ngayon, alam nyo na ang epekto ng isang violent environment sa mga bata.

[History Nerd @_HistoryNerd]

Dua Lipa's "Levitating" 1920's vs 2020's

[John Aaron Salas @aaronjohnsalas]

💯

[Cleve V. Arguelles @CleveArguelles]

A timely throwback given the Marcoleta–Hontiveros debacle: “Wala ka namang legal background” is neither new nor an effective way to silence courageous and principled leaders into submission.

More than a century ago, at the Tejeros Convention that would shape the first Philippine revolutionary government, Daniel Tirona publicly questioned Andres Bonifacio’s election as Director of the Interior on the ground that Bonifacio was not a lawyer. As if a rigged election (or a lutong macau!) favoring Emilio Aguinaldo was not enough, Tirona still felt compelled to shame and completely marginalize Bonifacio so elite power could fully take over the revolution and displace the more radical Katipunan.

And while Bonifacio’s courage, leadership, and sacrifice continues to inspire Filipinos today, history would remember Tirona unkindly. During the Philippine-American War, he surrendered to American forces— without firing a single shot— despite commanding one of the better-equipped units. He also ended up as a servant of the American officer to whom he had surrendered for a time, cleaning his shoes and serving his meals.

A very different century, but nonetheless a familiar habit for those whose loyalty isn’t to the Filipinos. Then, the shameful cowardice of Tirona is finding powerful patrons in Aguinaldo and then the Americans. Today, some politicians seem to find remarkable comfort carrying water for interests far closer to Beijing and the main in jail in The Hague than to the Philippines.

[Lynda Jumilla-Abalos @lyndajumilla]

What in the name of epal is this in nasugbu? 🤦🏻‍♀️

[John Aaron Salas @aaronjohnsalas]

@ricci_richy 😆😆😆

[Karen Davila @iamkarendavila]

Watch @ZyannAmbrosio’s exclusive report. Here, NBI agents were at the GSIS side.

In our interview with OSAA Head Gen Aplasca, he claims there were NBI agents who were at the “edge of senate property” which led them to firing warning shots leading to an exchange.

The CCTV footage will help reveal the truth.

[John Aaron Salas @aaronjohnsalas]

🔊🔊🔊

[SPIRALSTAIRCASE..🎯🎯📣 @Obi_Prodigalson]

Sen Kiko Pangilinan.. ☺️☺️

[SPIRALSTAIRCASE..🎯🎯📣 @Obi_Prodigalson]

Sen Kiko Pangilinan.. ☺️☺️

[Heidi Mendoza @HeidiMendoza45]

Ang SALN ay parang “litrato” ng yaman mo sa dulo ng taon, samantalang ang AMLC records ay parang “CCTV” ng galaw ng pera (pasok‑labas) sa bangko sa ibat-ibang petsa.

Kaya: pwedeng malaki ang “galaw” sa CCTV pero pagdating ng pagkuha ng litrato, konti o zero ang natira. Kung ang claim ay “dumaan lang, wala natira,” ok - pero kapag milyon o bilyon ang dumaan, normal lang tanungin:

Saan galing? Saan napunta? Bakit dumaan sa account mo?

“Zero cash/bank deposits” sa SALN = ano ang sinasabi nito?

Ibig sabihin: Ang dineklara ay wala (0) o hindi nagdeklara ng cash on hand at cash in banks as of December 31. Sa reports tungkol kay VP, lumabas na sa SALNs 2019 - 2024, walang declared cash on hand at bank deposits.

Ano ang AMLC records at ano ang binibilang nito?

Ang AMLC ay tumatanggap ng reports mula sa mga bangko, lalo na:
• CTR (Covered Transaction Reports): karaniwang cash transactions > ₱500,000 sa isang banking day, automatic ang reporting.
• STR (Suspicious Transaction Reports): kahit anong amount kung may red flags, tulad ng unusual, di tugma sa profile/capacity, walang malinaw na purpose, atbp.

Sa House hearing reports, inilahad na may covered at suspicious transactions na naka-link kina VP Sara Duterte at asawa niya, at may total summary na umabot sa ₱6.77B sa mahabang period, kasama ang pasok-labas sa bangko.

So ano ang relationship ng SALN, AMLC records, at “Zero cash”?

Sa SALN: “Ano ang meron ka sa dulo ng taon?”.
Sa AMLC: “Ano ang dumaan na pera sa accounts mo sa iba’t ibang araw?”

Pwedeng sabay na totoo ang dalawa, malaki ang pasok-labas pero pagdating ng December 31, naubos/na-withdraw/na-transfer kaya zero ang ending cash/bank deposits.

Pero kung malaki ang flow at may STR red flags, natural na tanong:
“Kung ganito kalaki/ganito ka-flagged ang galaw, ano ang pinanggalingan at pinag-gamitan? Tugma ba ito sa legal income/capacity at sa dineklarang assets?”

Dahil required sa SALN ang pagdeklara ng “cash on hand or in banks,” kapag zero ang dineklara sa maraming taon, at may indikasyon ng bank activity, may mismatch:
“Zero ba talaga ang bank deposits as of Dec 31?”

“Kung meron, bakit hindi nadeclare?”
“Kung wala, bakit may ganitong pattern/volume ng transactions?”

Ganito ‘yan: ang SALN ay litrato ng yaman mo sa dulo ng taon, kasama dapat ang cash at bank deposits.

AMLC reports naman ay CCTV ng galaw ng pera - may CTR (cash > ₱500k/day) at STR (may red flags kahit anong amount) na nirereport ng mga bangko. Kaya kahit posible na malaki ang galaw pero zero ang natira sa December 31, normal lang tanungin:

saan galing, saan napunta, at tugma ba sa disclosures?

Yan lamang muna ang dapat alamin?

Makatang Makwenta

[John Aaron Salas @aaronjohnsalas]

😂

[Jaynit @jaynitx]

In the 1920s, a Stanford psychologist tracked genius children for 50 years.

Malcolm Gladwell breaks down what he discovered:

Rich families → successful. Poor families → failures.

Not average. Failures. Genius-level IQs that produced nothing.

He spent 60 minutes at Microsoft explaining why we're wrong about success:

The psychologist was named Terman. He gave IQ tests to 250,000 California schoolchildren.

He identified the top 0.1%. Kids with IQs of 140 and above.

His hypothesis: these children would become the leaders of academia, industry, and politics.

He tracked them. And tracked them. For decades.

The results split into three groups.

The top 15% achieved real prominence. The middle group had average, moderately successful professional lives.

And the bottom group? By any measure, failures.

The difference wasn't personality. Wasn't habits. Wasn't work ethic.

It was simple: the successful geniuses came from wealthy households. The failures came from poor families.

Poverty is such a powerful constraint that it can reduce a one-in-a-billion brain to a lifetime of worse than mediocrity.

There's a concept called "capitalization rate."

It asks a simple question: what percentage of people who are capable of doing something actually end up doing that thing?

In inner city Memphis, only 1 in 6 kids with athletic scholarships actually go to college.

If our capitalization rate for sports in the inner city is 16%, imagine how low it must be for everything else.

Here's something stranger.

Gladwell read the birth dates of the 2007 Czech Junior Hockey Team:

January 3rd. January 3rd. January 12th. February 8th. February 10th. February 17th. February 20th. February 24th. March 5th. March 10th. March 26th...

11 of the 20 players were born in January, February, or March.

This isn't unique to the Czechs. Every elite hockey team in the world shows the same pattern. Every elite soccer team too.

Why?

The eligibility cutoff for youth leagues is January 1st.

When you're 10 years old, a kid born in January has 10 months of maturity on a kid born in October. That's 3 or 4 inches of height. The difference between clumsy and coordinated.

So we look at a group of 10 year olds, pick the "best" ones, give them special coaching, extra practice, more games.

We think we're identifying talent. We're just identifying the oldest.

Then we give the oldest more opportunities, and 10 years later they really are the best.

Self-fulfilling prophecy.

The capitalization rate for hockey talent born in the second half of the year? Close to zero.

We're leaving half of all potential hockey players on the table because of an arbitrary date on a calendar.

Kids born in the youngest cohort of their school class are 11% less likely to go to college.

11% of human potential squandered because we organize elementary school without reference to biological maturity.

Now here's the part about math.

Asian kids dramatically outperform Western kids in mathematics. The gap is enormous and consistent across decades of testing.

Some people say it's genetic. It's not.

It's attitudinal.

When Asian kids face a math problem, they believe effort will solve it.

When Western kids face a math problem, they believe the answer depends on innate ability they either have or don't.

Here's the proof.

The international math tests include a 120-question survey. It asks about study habits, parental support, attitudes.

It's so long most kids don't finish it.

A researcher named Erling Boe decided to rank countries by what percentage of survey questions their kids completed.

Then he compared it to the ranking of countries by math performance.

The correlation was 0.98.

In the history of social science, there has never been a correlation that high.

If you want to know how good a country is at math, you don't need to ask any math questions. Just make kids sit down and focus on a task for an extended period of time.

If they can do it, they're good at math.

Why do Asian cultures have this attitude?

Gladwell's theory: rice farming.

His European ancestors in medieval England worked about 1,000 hours a year. Dawn to noon, five days a week. Winters off. Lots of holidays.

A peasant in South China or Japan in the same period worked 3,000 hours a year.

Rice farming isn't just harder than wheat farming. It's a completely different relationship with work.

There's a Chinese proverb: "A man who works dawn to dusk 360 days a year will not go hungry."

His English ancestors would have said: "A man who works 175 days a year, dawn to 11, may or may not be hungry."

If your culture does that for a thousand years, it becomes part of your makeup.

When your kids sit down to face a calculus problem, that legacy of persistence translates perfectly.

Now consider distance running.

In Kenya, there are roughly a million schoolboys between 10 and 17 running 10 to 12 miles a day.

In the United States, that number is probably 5,000.

Our capitalization rate for distance running is less than 1%.

Kenya's is probably 95%.

The difference isn't genetic. The difference is what the culture values and where it spends its attention.

Here's the most fascinating finding.

30% of American entrepreneurs have been diagnosed with a profound learning disability.

Richard Branson is dyslexic. Charles Schwab is dyslexic. John Chambers can barely read his own email.

This isn't coincidence. Their entrepreneurialism is a direct function of their disability.

How do you succeed if you can't read or write from early childhood?

You learn to delegate. You become a great oral communicator. You become a problem solver because your entire life is one big problem. You learn to lead.

80% of dyslexic entrepreneurs were captain of a high school sports team. Versus 30% of non-dyslexic entrepreneurs.

By the time they enter the real world, they've spent their whole life practicing the four skills at the core of entrepreneurial success: delegation, oral communication, problem solving, and leadership.

Ask them what role dyslexia played in their success and they don't say it was an obstacle.

They say it's the reason they succeeded.

A disadvantage that became an advantage.

Here's what Gladwell wants you to understand:

When we see differences in success, our default explanation is differences in ability.

We forget how much poverty, stupidity, and attitude constrain what people can become.

We refuse to admit that our own arbitrary rules are leaving talent on the table.

We cling to naive beliefs that our meritocracies are fair.

The capitalization argument is liberating.

It says you don't look at a struggling group and conclude they're incapable. It says problems that look genetic or innate are often just failures of exploitation.

It says we can make a profound difference in how well people turn out.

If we choose to pay attention.

This 60 minute Microsoft talk will teach you more about success than every self-help book you've ever read combined.

Bookmark this & give it an hour today, no matter what.

[Scholarship for PhD @ScholarshipfPhd]

PhD Supervisor

His ideas vs my brain

[Under Secretary of State Jacob S. Helberg @UnderSecE]

Today we announced plans for a historic 4,000-acre Economic Security Zone in the Philippines—the first AI-native investment acceleration hub under Pax Silica. This purpose-built platform will secure inputs vital to American supply chains and transform how allies manufacture together.

[John Aaron Salas @aaronjohnsalas]

💯

[Akbayan Partylist @AkbayanParty]

Fixed it.