VOL. 6 ISSUE 192 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2013
P 15.00 • 20 PAGES
www.edgedavao.net
EDGEDAVAO Serving a seamless society
MORE THAN A DUTY. An elderly woman participating in the “Pasko Fiesta”’s 12th RRD Elderlympics 2013 gets a lift from a security officer of SM City Davao yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.
ARMY ADMITS AIR STRIKES 10th ID chief justifies action: NPA denies suffering fatatities BRO. EDDIE VILLANUEVA:
BROTHER EDDIE. “President Aquino can cement legacy.” Lean Daval Jr.
By ARMANDO B. FENEQUITO JR.
‘I still believe in President Noy’ T
By NEILWIN JOSEPH L. BRAVO
E
njb@edgedavao.net
VANGELIST Bro. Eddie Villanueva, leader of the Jesus is Lord (JIL) church and ‘Bangon Pilipinas’ Movement, said he has faith in President Benigno Aquino Jr. For a man of faith, that should mean a lot. In town for the 25th anniversary of the JIL in Davao City, Villanueva thinks President Aquino has the moral ascendancy to cause change in governance. He cited the President’s sincerity by sparing none of his men involved in the ‘pork barrel scam’ including known ally Ruffy Biazon of the Bureau of Customs. “I think the President himself is taking a position of, I would say, balancing his respect towards various sides—the accused and the complaining sector. At this point in time I think the President is still awaiting the outcome of the investigation and he entrusts everything to the court. In other words, he is not cuddling anyone,” the 67-year old evangelist who ran for President in 2004 and 2010, and for the Senate in 2013, told Edge Davao in an exclusive interview on Saturday
FI STILL BELIEVE, 10
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HE commanding general of a division under the Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMinCom) defended his decision to use aeril bombings during last week’s encounter with New People’s Army rebels in the town of Maco in Compostela Valley. Major General Ariel B Bernardo of the 10th Infantry Division told Edge Davao that they have no other choice but to use aerial strikes “otherwise, kami ang maiisahan or they may use landmines naman sa approaches namin.” Four NPA rebels were reportedly killed in the encounter, a fact denied by the rebels in a statement issued yesterday. Bernardo said that the casualties are based on ground information and assessment on the result of encounter . “Surely, they have suffered personnel losses in that engagement with our troops who were on clear vantage position,”he said. Earlier, the military claimed that three rebels, two of them women, died in a clash with soldiers at Teresa
village in Maco on Wednesday. On Friday, another clash erupted between soldiers and NPA rebels in nearby Malamodao village, also in Maco. The body of a slain NPA rebel was found, as well as a hand grenade, magazines for M-16 rifles and backpacks. However, the New People’s Army has denied the claim of EastMinCom that four members of the NPA were killed in the said encounters. The NPA press statement says there is no truth to the claim made by EastMinCom commander Lt. Gen. Rainier G. Cruz, III that there were NPA members killed in the encounter on December 4 and 6. They said that the EastMinCom soldiers were engaged in a futile attempt to reverse the real score on the battlefield. “In contrast to the AFP's indiscriminate aerial bombing and strafing that did not distinguish between combatants from non-combatants, the NPA triggered command detonated explosives, ha-
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