Kerry: US avoiding maritime conflict
Noy snubs Gloria at NSC meet By John Paolo Bencito FORMER President Benigno Aquino III snubbed the woman he had thrown in jail for four years, former President Gloria Arroyo, when they both went to the Palace for a meeting of the National Security Council convened Next page by President Rodrigo Duterte.
VOL. XXX • NO. 166 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2016 • WWW.THESTANDARD.COM.PH • EDITORIAL@THESTANDARD.COM.PH
SECURITY COUNCIL MEETING. President Rodrigo Duterte presided over a National Security Council meeting in Malacañang on Wednesday that was attended by former Presidents Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Fidel V. Ramos, Joseph Estrada and Benigno Aquino III. MALACAÑANG PHOTO
US SECRETARY of State John Kerry on Wednesday said Washington wants to avoid confrontation in the South China Sea, after meeting with Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay to discuss the Philippines’ victory over China before the Permanent Arbitration Court (PAC) over conflicting territorial claims. “The decision itself is a binding decision but we’re not trying to create a confrontation. We are trying to create a solution mindful of the rights of people established under the law,” Kerry said. The PAC based in The Hague this month ruled that China’s claim to most of the strategic waterway was inconsistent with international law. The decision angered Beijing, which vowed to ignore the ruling. But Kerry said the United States saw an opportunity for claimants to peacefully resolve the row. “We hope to see a process that will narrow the geographic scope of the maritime disputes, set standards for behavior in contested areas, lead to mutually acceptable solutions, perhaps even a series of confidencebuilding steps,” he said. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have claims to the South China Sea, a vital Next page
Probe killings—IBP Fishing rights for all—PH
By John Paolo Bencito THE Philippines will be pushing for fishing rights of all countries with claims to the South China Sea once a delegation led by former President Fidel V. Ramos meets with Chinese officials, a source privy to the discussions of the National Security Council meeting said Wednesday. The initiative was raised by Ramos, who will be the country’s special envoy to China. “He will deal with the rights of fishermen from all countries and discuss trade and tourism,” the source told the Manila Standard. The source, who asked not to be named, said the consensus at the council meeting was for Ramos to move Philippines-China relations forward. Another source confirmed that President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the military not to jeopardize the implementation of a unilateral ceasefire that he declared with the communist rebels during his first State of the Next page Union Address.
By Rey E. Requejo
T
HE Integrated Bar of the Philippines expressed alarm Wednesday over the rising bodycount in the government’s war on drugs, and called for an investigation into the spate of killings of drug suspects by police and vigilante groups.
“The alarming spate of what are reported to be vigilante killings of suspected drug users and pushers, as well as the increasing
number of reported arrest-related deaths of drug suspects, deserves serious attention,” the IBP, the national organization of lawyers,
said in a statement. “We are a nation of laws and not of men and, as such, must never lose sight of the very foundation of our democracy, the idea that the rule of law must prevail. It is at times such as these, when the temptation to take extralegal measures is at its height, that our conviction to abide by this principle must likewise be at its strongest,” the group added. US concerns Even the US government through Secretary of State John Kerrt weighed in on the extrajudicial kill-
ings. “We hope to hear more froom President Duterte about protecting human rights and maintaiing the rule of law,” Kerry said. Duterte, even before he assumed the presidency, drew criticismfrom United Natioinas’ chief Ban Ki-Moon for his calls to kill criminals. In seeking a probe of the killings, the IBP urged the Philippine National Police and the Office of the Ombudsman to conduct a serious and credible investigation, and to resolve the incidents and prosecute the wrongdoers.
RH Law focus reset in favor of kids, girls By Cathrine Mae Gonzales
Party-listers go all out for House minority QUEZON Rep. Danilo Suarez on Wednesday bagged the House minority leadership after the members of the party-list groups serving as the “swing vote” got him elected, and after they said they did not want the Liberal Party to “have their cake and eat it, too.” The 20 party-list congressmen, who abstained from voting for the speakership, were told to elect the minority leader. They went for Suarez after they themselves tried to seek concession from House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. Next page
“It must not be forgotten that regardless of whether or not the victim is a drug offender, unjustified killing is murder nonetheless. Likewise, while our law enforcers have every right, and even the duty, to utilize deadly force when necessary to protect themselves and innocent bystanders, the abuse of this authority is equally criminal,” the IBP said. Earlier, the Free Legal Assistance Group (Flag), an organization of human rights lawyers, issued a similar statement. Next page
APPEAL. Members of the United Filipino Consumers and Commuters call on President Rodrigo Duterte to solve the country’s smuggling problem on Wednesday. MANNY PALMERO
Arroyo seeks amnesty for rebels FORMER president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has filed a bill that would grant amnesty to the members of the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army and National Democratic Front and other individuals and groups involved in past political conflicts. In House Bill 490, Arroyo twitter.com/ MlaStandard
stressed that granting amnesty to the country’s political prisoners would be significant to the Duterte administration’s peace and reconciliation efforts. “Accepting the rebels back into the folds of the law through amnesty, and eventually providing them access to the government’s existing socio-economic services, are essential to attaining
facebook.com.ph/ manilastandard
S
peace and reconciliation in the country,” Arroyo said in the bill’s explanatory note. She made her statement even as some senators urged the NPA, the CPP’s military arm, to immediately implement a ceasefire after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the Armed Forces to stop all military operations against the Next page communist rebels.
thestandard.com.ph
SOCIAL Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo on Wednesday urged the agencies involved in the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law to focus on improving the lot of Filipino women and children, citing her concern over the rising number of teenage pregnancies. Nearly one billion young people aged 10 to 24 in Asia-Pacific region are sexually active, according to the United Nations Population Fund report. But this rate is a result of the decline in the last two decades in all countries except the Philippines where “there has been little change.” “I will order that all DSWD Field Offices in the country as well as units of the DSWD that Next page
Edca creates opening for AFP arms upgrade LAWMAKERS said Wednesday the Supreme Court’s final ruling affirming the constitutionality of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement will be an opportune time for the government to fully modernize the country’s military
hardware. At the same time, former speaker and Quezon City Rep. Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the ruling was expected, stressing that Edca from the very beginning fell under the ambit of the Constitution. Next page
Missed your copy of Manila Standard Today? Call or text our Circulation Hotline at 0917-8848655 or email: circ@manilastandardtoday.com