THE MANILA TIMES | MAY 23, 2019

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Fitch lowers growth forecast for PH to 5.9% ++

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•• 6 SECTIONS PAGES • VOL. 120 NO. 222 32

THURSDAY, MAY 23, 2019

In future elections, let’s stop using Smartmatic REPUBLIC SERVICE RICARDO SALUDO

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NLESS we want to institutionalize doubt- and dispute-plagued computerized elections, the nation should stop using automated vote counting machines (VCMs). In all four automated national elections since 2010, grave doubts and questions arose in VCM use and canvassing, which even tech-savvy experts cannot conclusively dispel and answer. Meanwhile, Filipinos can only take on BLIND FAITH THAT THE RESULTS TRULY RElECT

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Trusted since 1898

Sara rejects reconciliation with ‘Machiavellian’ Alvarez Davao mayor on Pulong as House Speaker: It’s up to the President BY CATHERINE S. VALENTE

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HE midterm polls may be over, but speculation as to who will lead the incoming 18th Congress, particularly the House of Representatives (HOR), is ramping up.

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Former Davao vice mayor Paolo “Pulong” Duterte, who will represent the city’s First District in the Lower House, could go for the speakership, his sister Sara DuterteCarpio indicated on Wednesday. “The question on the interest of Cong[ressman]-elect Paolo Duterte to vye (sic) for Speaker of the HOR should best be addressed by our father (President Rodrigo Duterte) because he is the President and our patriarch,” the Davao City mayor said in a statement. Duterte-Carpio, who was reportedly

Let’s accept China’s hand of friendship IN MY LINE OF SIGHT

RAMON T. TULFO

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N the busyness and confusion of the election period, the public forgot to take notice of the exposè in this space of THE HUMAN TRAFkCKING SYNDICATE THAT IS using the country’s airports as entry and exit points. 4HE HUMAN TRAFkCKING SYNDICATE COMPOSED OF SENIOR IMMIGRATION OFkCERS AND their alleged protector, former Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre, was supposedly earning — at the height of its unhampered

³Sara A2

SENATORIAL RACE Official Comelec Results

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WINNERS The 12 winning senators join hands after they were proclaimed by the Commission on Elections on Wednesday. PHOTO BY GERARD SEGUIA

AMLC: PH Duterte tightens grip on power in PH polls a destination of illicit funds THE Philippines has become a destination of illicit funds generated from criminal activities including terrorism, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) said in its latest risk assessment report. The AMLC on Wednesday said the assessment was based on 161,650 suspicious transaction reports (STRs), received from January 2013 to December 2017, that involved a total of over P17 trillion in funds. “The study indicates that . . . illicit funds from … the following unlawful activities: violation of environmental law; illegal trafficking of persons; kidnapping for ransom; and terrorism and conspiracy to commit terrorism” were sent to the

³Funds A2

ALLIES of President Rodrigo Duterte stormed to a landslide victory in the midterm polls, final results showed Wednesday, dissolving a last check on his controversial rule. Loyalists won both houses of the legislature, shutting out all opposition candidates in the Senate, which had served as a buffer against Duterte’s most conten-

tious plans. The results open a path for Duterte — who has remarkably high approval ratings — to make good on his call to bring back death penalty and advance his project to rewrite the Constitution. “It’s a clear signal that the people will be behind him as he pushes bills and processes that went nowhere previously,”

political analyst Ramon Casiple said. With nine Duterte backers and three nominally unaligned politicians taking the 12 seats at stake in the 24-member Senate, only four opposition members will remain, results from the elections authority showed. Duterte allies kept control of the lower

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1. VILLAR, Cynthia 2. POE, Grace 3. GO, Bong 4. CAYETANO, Pia 5. DELA ROSA, Ronald 6. ANGARA, Sonny 7. LAPID, Lito 8. MARCOS, Imee 9. TOLENTINO, Francis 10. PIMENTEL, Koko 11. REVILLA, Bong 12. BINAY, Nancy

25,273,727 22,029,788 20,657,702 19,789,019 19,004,225 18,161,862 16,965,464 15,882,628 15,510,026 14,668,665 14,624,445 14,504,936

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Calida, Bersamin among top 10 highest-paid govt execs SOLICITOR General Jose Calida and Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin were among the highest paid government officials last year based on the Commission on Audit’s (CoA) 2018 Report on Salaries and Allowances (ROSA). The list was led by former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) governor Nestor Espenilla Jr., who earned P21,047,795.49.

He died in February this year of cancer. Espenilla was followed by the former Development Bank of the Philippines president and now Land Bank of the Philippines chief Cecilia Borromeo (P15.8 million), BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo (P14.4 million), BSP Deputy Governor Cyd Amador (P13.867 million) and BSP Deputy Governor Chuchi Fona-

What’s inside SENATE PASSES ‘ENDO’ BILL

cier (P13.5 million). Calida, who earned P12,469,650.68, was sixth, receiving P2,378,016 as basic salary, P8,078,085.35 in “PERA/ADCOM/ Honorarium;” P290,000 in allowances, gBONUS INCENTIVES AND BENEkTSu TOTALING P431,336; P308,000 representing discretionary and extraordinary and miscellaneous expenses (EME); and a “prior years’

adjustment” of P984,213.33. BSP Assistant Governor Ma. Ramona Santiago was seventh with P11.3 million, while Government Service Insurance System President and General Manager Jesus Clint Aranas was eighth with P11.1 million. Bersamin, who was a Supreme Court

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ELECTION SYSTEM CHANGES NEEDED NewsA3

POLITICAL LESSONS FROM THE ‘GAME OF THRONES’

GLITCHES that marred the May 13 midterm polls highlighted the need to change the system, including how votes are counted, as well as the composition and processes of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), watchdogs told The Manila Times on Wednesday. Guesting at a Times roundtable,

National Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) Chairman Augusto “Gus” Lagman reiterated calls for a hybrid voting process — where votes are manually counted at the precinct level and then electronically canvassed — plus a Comelec recomposition to include more technical and management

people as commissioners. Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) Executive Director Maribel Buenaobra renewed calls for the Comelec to explain the seven-hour transmission delay that raised fears of cheating.

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Antonio ContrerasA4

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PACQUIAO WILL KO THURMAN – GIBBONS

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CINCO DE MAYHEM CELEBRATES NEW WAVE OF OPM

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ROUNDTABLE AT THE TIMES

Gus Lagman, chairman of the National Movement for Free Elections or Namfrel (right), stresses a point during a discussion on election issues at The Manila Times (TMT). With him were (from left) Lito Averia, Namfrel council member; TMT Publisher/Editor Nerilyn Tenorio; TMT President and Chief Executive Officer Dante Francis ‘Klink’ Ang 2nd; Executive Editor Arnold Belleza; and Maribel Buenaobra, executive director of the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting. PHOTO BY RENE H. DILAN


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THE MANILA TIMES | MAY 23, 2019 by The Manila Times - Issuu