Angel Locsin scolds Robin Padilla

By Herbert Vego

ACTRESS Angel Locsin, in a Facebook post, rebuked Senator Robin Padilla for explicitly declaring himself “Komunista po ako” on Tuesday (July 14) during the Senate impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio.

Come again, Robin? That does not make sense.

Angel remembered how Padilla helped the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) in red-tagging her and other members of humanitarian organizations during the era of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Locsin asked the actor/senator, “Nasaan ka nung panahong nire-red-tag ako kahit alam mong hindi totoo?”

As a senator-judge, Padilla was grilling prosecution witness Atty. Jeremy Lotoc over his promotion to regional director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) at the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) when in fact he is not a Muslim but a Christian.

Was Sen. Robin unaware that affiliation with Islam religion is not a prerequisite to occupying the BARMM post.

Anyway, that diversionary trick served as Robin’s excuse in asking Lotoc whether he was aware of the historical context of the “Operation Romanov,” the supposed plot to execute VP Sara and her family.

Padilla vaguely referred to “Romanov” in the context of threats targeted against political families who are actively fighting communist insurgents.

“Operation Romanov” alludes to the Romanov dynasty that ended during the Russian Revolution of 1917 with the abdication of the 14^th and last Russian Emperor, Nicholas II.

In 1918, angered by widespread economic collapse, the Bolshevik communists executed Nicholas II and his entire family.

Padilla was merely echoing Mayor Sebastian “Baste” Duterte who, on March 15, 2025, reminded President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. that — for allowing the detention of his father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague – he could end up like Nicholas II.

Nobody else but Baste who furiously declared in an anti-Marcos rally in Davao City on April 12, 2026, “We only need one head, the head of Bongbong Marcos.”

Therefore, that statement does not square with defense lawyer Mark Vinluan’s contention that “Operation Romanov” was aimed at assassinating VP Sara.

What would it profit Bongbong to eliminate Inday Sara?

Nothing! On the contrary, it is the vice-president who stands to occupy the presidential “throne” if and when Marcos dies while in office.

So, who has the motive to kill?

-oOo-

MORE POWER FEATURED IN BILYONARYO

YESTERDAY, I saw a video presentation on Bilyonaryo News Channel, where hosts Atty. Ina Magpale, Myrna Velasco, and Atty. Ivan Galura — took turns interviewing Roel Z. Castro, president/CEO MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power) on how he had enabled the company to catapult itself from being a fledgling successor of a dilapidated power-distribution utility to the top one in Western Visayas – from 62,000 customers in 2020 to almost 110,000 today.

The program hosts remarked that the Razon Group must be eyeing to become the next Goliath in the power distribution segment. “Razon” refers to trillionaire Enrique Klar Razon, the investor behind MORE Power, who is serious in supporting Castro in implementing massive network transformation and expansion strategies.

In fact, MORE Power is no longer the only distribution utility carrying the banner of Primelectric Holdings. There are two others currently operating – Negros Electric and Power Corp. (Negros Power) in Negros Occidental and Bohol Light in Bohol.

MORE Power Corp. has advanced its grid modernization efforts with the energization of Iloilo City’s first fully unmanned power substations.

The distribution utility is equipped with a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system, where its substations can be monitored and operated entirely from a remote-control center. This enables real-time oversight and more efficient grid management.

It relies on automatic circuit reclosers that allow unmanned fault detection that can swiftly isolate issues and restore power within seconds.

The SCADA framework provides a ‘digital brain’ for the grid, enabling predictive maintenance and data-driven forecasting to prevent overloads.

Castro said that MORE Power has made use of artificial intelligence (AI) to quickly identify anomalies across the network and respond faster to service interruptions.

“As MORE Power moves forward with its plans for 2026, we are not only preparing for immediate expansion but also future-proofing Iloilo’s energy system,” Castro said.