Peace deal with Moros seen to stop ISIS spread By John Paolo Bencito and Joel Zurbano
CAPTURED FLAG. Filipino soldiers display
VOL. XXX • NO. 186 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2016 • WWW.THESTANDARD.COM.PH • EDITORIAL@THESTANDARD.COM.PH
the flag, in this photo taken on June 3, 2016, used by the Islamic State group after taking over an Abu Sayyaf camp in a far-flung village in Butig, Lanao del Sur. The soldiers captured an Islamic militant training camp after a 10-day battle as part of military operations to clear the remote jungle region of insurgents. AFP file photo
MORO Islamic Liberation Front Chairman Al Hajj Ebrahim Murad said the peace deal between the government and rebel Moro groups, including the MILF and the Moro National Liberation Front, will help thwart the increasing influence of the Islamist group ISIS in Mindanao. “If this process will not prosper, it is difficult to hold back young people from joining ISISinspired groups,” Murad said in a television interview. Murad admitted that while they cannot confirm yet whether there are groups in the Philippines that are really tied up with the terror group, there are some groups in the country which is “inspired by ISIS.” “Small [breakaway] groups can survive now because they have the support of the people. The people still have grievances,” Murad said, referring to the failed Bangsamoro Basic Law whose passage was rammed in Next page Congress.
Drug syndicates tagged Extra-judicial killings not vigilantes’ handiwork—PNP By Francisco Tuyay
No special budget for Charter Change
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RUG syndicates and not vigilantes are behind the spate of alleged extra-judicial killings in the last few months, Philippine National Police Chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa said Tuesday.
By Christine F. Herrera BUDGET Secretary Benjamin Diokno on Monday said there is no special budget for Charter Change and emergency powers to solve traffic in Metro Manila in President Rodrigo Duterte’s P3.35-trillion national budget for 2017. Diokno said no appropriation was made for Charter Change because the President preferred a Constituent Assembly as the mode for revising the Constitution, which does not involve additional expenses because the House and the Senate have their respective budgets. Under this mode of Charter Change, the House and Senate convene as a Constituent Assembly to make changes to the Constitution. Diokno also revealed there is no budget for the President’s proposal to get emergency powers to address the traffic problem, even as the budget of the Office of the President grew tenfold from P2 billion this year to P20 billion in 2017. “Emergency powers do not need a budget,” Diokno said. Diokno said the budget of the Office of the President rose sharply because at least 12 government agencies have been placed under it. Next page
Binay chides Noy for inaction on FM By Joel E. Zurbano and Rey E. Requejo FORMER President Benigno Aquino III failed to act when his vice president recommended that the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos be buried in Batac, Ilocos Norte, a proposal that had the approval of the Marcos family. The camp of former Vice President Jejomar Binay made this disclosure as various groups continued to protest the Duterte adminsitration’s plan to allow Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. “The Aquino administration missed an opportunity to lay the Marcos burial issue to rest when it did not act on former vice president Binay’s recommendation made as early as 2011 to allow the burial of Marcos in Batac, Ilocos Norte,” said Binay’s spokesman Joey Salgado. “The former vice president noted that the burial of Marcos in Batac had the approval of the Marcos family. However, Aquino did not act on the recommendation. That’s why the nation is once again Next page
WAR ON DRUGS. President Rodrigo Duterte meets up with Philippine National Police Chief Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa at Malacañang’s State Dining Room on Aug. 16. Details of their meeting have not been officially announced but observers believe their discussion may have been on the administration’s campaign against illegal drugs. Malacañang Photo
Splurge on ‘Yolanda’ rehab, Du30 urged By Christine F. Herrera THE budget watchdog Social Watch Philippines on Tuesday urged President Rodrigo Duterte to immediately start spending money that is already appropriated for the victims of Super Typhoon “Yolanda” who have become even poorer three years after the disaster.
“The implementation of Yolanda recovery projects is agonizingly slow and miserably falling short. The poor are far from building back and, in fact, [are] poorer now than before the disaster,” said Isagani Serrano, co-convener of SWP. Citing the report of National Economic and Development Authority, Serrano said as of March 2016, the completion
ASG men kidnap 3 in Zamboanga SOLDIERS on Monday captured a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf fortified with bunkers, tunnels and foxholes on Hill 355 in Barangay Silangkum in Tipo-Tipo town, Basilan, Major Felimon Tan Jr., spokesman of the Western Mindanao Command, said Tuesday. He said the terrorists abandoned their stronghold following an attack by the military. Tan made his statement even as MILF Chairman Al Hajj Ebrahim Murad said a peace deal between the government and the rebel Moro groups, including the MILF and the MNLF, will help thwart the increasing influence of the Islamist group ISIS in Mindanao. “If this process does not prosper, it will be difficult to hold back young people [from joining Next page
WEATHER WEATHERMEN spotted a new low-pressure area even as a Yellow Rainfall Warning was declared in some parts of Luzon, disaster officials said Tuesday quoting the weather bureau. They said the LPA was spotted at 4 a.m. some 800 kilometers east of Baler town. “Meanwhile, the Southwest Monsoon will continue to affect Luzon and rain that may cause flash floods and landslides is expected over the Ilocos Next page
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rate of houses for the Yolanda victims is only 9 percent and that 42 percent of the target housing units have not even started. Only 19,330 out of the 205,128 intended to provide shelter to the victims were completed and 98,393 housing units are still being constructed, Serrano Next page lamented.
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Next page 1,036 KILLED
625
KILLED IN POLICE OPERATIONS
411
KILLED BY VIGILANTES
SOURCE: ABS-CBN DATA FROM MAY 10 TO AUGUST 12
SURRENDERED FIREARMS. Licensed firearms owned by Ozamis City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog are turned over to the regional police headquarters on Aug. 16 for safekeeping after their licenses were canceled. President Rodrigo Duterte earlier named Parojinog as among politicians involved in narco-politics. Lance Baconguis
Reds assured consultants will join Oslo gab PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday assured the leaders of the National Democratic Front that their consultants will be able to join the resumption of the peace talks in Oslo next week in the hope of ending Asia’s longest-running communist insurgency. In a meeting in Malacañang, he assured the members of the NDF panel
During a command conference at the PNP National Headquarters in Camp Crame, Dela Rosa said they have “scientific evidence” to prove the claim. He added the PNP has identified the drug syndicates involved in the killings. “We learned that because we have scientific evidence leading to that conclusion. You will know that later,” Dela Rosa said. He said some alleged vigilante killings were actually syndicated killings by those involved in drugs. “You will be surprised when we release the data and facts on who are killing each other,” Dela Rosa said in Filipino. Dela Rosa added that the evidence would be presented in a forthcoming Senate hearing into
that their leaders will be allowed to join the peace talks under the auspices of the Norwegian government. “The president assured the NDF lawyers that the NDF consultants will fly to Oslo,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said. “The president said while he was hurt by the sharp exchanges between him and CPP founding chair Jose Maria Si-
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son, who is based in The Netherlands, he gave assurances that he will walk the extra mile for peace,” Peace Process Secretary Jesus Dureza said. In the House of Representatives, the Makabayan Bloc urged Duterte to grant a “general, unconditional and omnibus” amnesty to all political prisoners in the Next page country.
Roxas’ protest mooted THE Supreme Court, acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, has dismissed for being moot the election protest filed by former Interior secretary Manuel Roxas II against former vice president Jejomar Binay seeking to nullify Binay’s proclamation in the 2010 vice presidential race. High court spokesman Theodore Te said the Court dismissed Roxas’ protest and Binay’s counter-protest because the contested tenure of office of the vice president had already expired. Next page
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