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Volume 29 - No. 16 • 2 Sections – 16 Pages
MAY 3 - 9 , 2 0 1 8
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Duterte: China vowed to spare Scarborough from island-building by NESTOR
CORRALES Inquirer.net
CHINA has reassured President Rodrigo Duterte that Scarborough Shoal would be spared from Beijing’s militarization of the disputed South China Sea. Duterte said he had a recent meeting with Chinese officials, whom he did not identify. The president said he asked the ofScarborough Shoal is the international name of ficials to spare Scarborough Panatag Shoal, a rich fishing ground 143 miles shoal from Beijing’s aggressive off Zambales province. Photo courtesy island-building.
Scarborough Shoal is the international name of Panatag Shoal, a rich fishing ground 143 miles off Zambales province that China seized after a two-month maritime standoff with the Philippines in 2012. Filipino fishermen were now allowed to fish in the shoal but with coast guard ships nearby. “During our talks last three weeks ago, wag lang galawin TWO PHILIPPINE PRESIDENTS. President Rodrigo Duterte is joined by former President and incumbent Pampanga Second District Representative Scarborough. They promised Gloria Arroyo as they witness the program proper during the 116th Labor Day Celebration at the IEC Convention Center in Cebu City on
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of Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative
USA
DATELINE American Boracay resort owner arrested FROM THE AJPRESS NEWS TEAM ACROSS AMERICA
PHILIPPINE Bureau of Immigration (BI) agents have arrested an American tourist for illegally operating a beach resort on Boracay island. BI Commissioner Jaime Morente on Monday, April 30, identified the foreigner as 52year-old Randall Lee Parker, who was apprehended on April 25, barely a day before Boracay was closed by the government. Parker was arrested by BI intelligence operatives inside The Artienda, the resort he was illegally operating at Boracay’s Station Two, Morente said. The BI chief disclosed that he ordered Park-
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IBF junior bantamweight champion Jerwin Ancajas will put his title on the line against countryman Jonas Sultan. Philstar.com photo
Tuesday, May 1.
Malacañang photo by Richard Madelo
DFA: Kuwaiti assurance of protection to PH workers may end diplomatic row THE assurance of Kuwait to the Philippines that it would address the Filipino workers’ concerns could end the diplomatic row between the two countries, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said on Tuesday, May 1. “This gesture on the part of Kuwait, a country with which we have a shared history and strong people-to-people ties, will allow us to move forward and hurdle the challenges we face,” Cayetano said in a statement. Kuwaiti Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers Abdullah Mamao meets with Kuwaiti Deputy Al-Jarallah said that his government was Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Jarallah. Philstar.com photo ready to work with Manila in addressing
the concerns of Filipino workers in the Gulf state. Cayetano said the Philippines acknowledged Kuwait’s assurance to Manila of protecting the rights and promoting the welfare of 262,000 Filipinos working in the Gulf state where about 150,000 were household service workers. “This is a shared goal that should be pursued with willingness to understand and respect where each side is coming from,” said Cayetano. “We affirm our friendship with the govern-
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PCGG fails to sell Marcos wealth in 2017 by ELIZABETH
MARCELO
Philstar.com
MANILA — The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) has failed to dispose of the ill-gotten properties it recovered from the cronies of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, according to a report of the Commission on Audit (COA). The report, posted on the COA website over the weekend, said there were nine recovered properties set for sale in 2017, but not one has been sold as of yearend. The list was contained in the privatization plan that the PCGG submitted to the Department of Justice on April 20, 2017. “The audit team said that during the year, there was no public bidding conducted to privatize the assets. The management failed to dispose of the properties from previous years,” the COA report read. The audit body said the last time the PCGG
was able to dispose of the ill-gotten properties was in 2014, where only three of the 11 assets scheduled for privatization were sold to private buyers. Had the nine properties set for bidding in 2017 been sold, these would have generated P336.014 million in income to the government. The amount was supposed to be used in the implementation of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) as provided under Republic Act 6657. The nine properties listed for disposal included a 26,812-hectare Bredco property in Candidates of the Miss Universe pageant in 2016 explore the beautiful island of Boracay. Bacolod City which was surrendered to the File photo courtesy of the Department of Tourism. government in a compromise agreement with Antonio Martel and Simplicio Palanca; a 6.4hectare property in General Mariano Alvarez, Cavite surrendered by Jose Campos; a 5,952square meter lot in Naga City recovered from
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Ancajas ecstatic for ‘I’LL COME BACK’ historic bout vs Sultan Sister Patricia Fox defiant over expulsion
INTERNATIONAL BOXING FEDERATION (IBF) super flyweight champion Jerwin Ancajas is raring to make history with countryman Jonas Sultan when they collide on May 26 at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California. This will mark the first time two Filipinos will clash for a world title in almost a century, and the 26-year-old Ancajas is elated to play a huge part in it. “I am so glad and very grateful that I was given an opportunity to fight Jonas Sultan,” Ancajas (27-1-1, with 19 KOs) said in a news release from his promoter, Top Rank Inc. The Magallanes, Cavite-based boxer will put his title on the line against Sultan, the No. 1 ranked contender from Cebu City. The latter earned the title shot when he outpointed
MANILA — She spent decades helping the Philippines’ poorest people, but Australian nun Patricia Fox is fighting deportation after drawing President Rodrigo Duterte’s ire -- and says she will try to return even if expelled. The 71-year-old Melbourne native is due to be kicked out of the country by May 25 after Duterte personally accused her of political activism that violates
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by CECIL
MORELLA Philstar.com
PH favored to host Miss Universe 2018 pageant in Boracay by RITCHEL
MENDIOLA AJPress
AN organizer of the 2016 Miss Universe in the Philippines shared that the Miss Universe Organization (MUO) has approached them again for a possible restaging of the beauty pageant’s 2018 edition in the country. Requesting to be anonymous as he is representing a private company that helped stage Miss Universe 2016 in the country, the organizer confirmed that the MUO asked their company to be ready in helping to restage the pageant, should the Philippine government give it the green light. Tourism Undersecretary Kat De Castro said that there is a good chance the country is hosting the Australian missionary Sister Patricia Fox is welcomed by human rights activists pageant once again. “It’s just me as she is escorted by immigration officers following her release from the Bureau and the Miss Universe Organizaof Immigration compound in Manila. Philstar.com photo by Miguel De Guzman tion trying to iron out a few de-
tails,” she said. Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon Tulfo-Teo said in April that President Rodrigo Duterte talked about restaging the Miss Universe pageant in Boracay — which was closed for rehabilitation last April 26 — to attract tourists back to the popular tourist destination. Teo said the DOT would be “very proud and happy” to showcase the island once it had recovered from the environmental damage it had suffered through the years. The Philippines has been reconsidered after talks with China reportedly failed because of Beijing’s refusal to broadcast Miss Universe live. PH gov’t to release P490-M for Boracay roads According to the government, they will release more than P400
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