VOL. XXX • NO. 197 • 4 SECTIONS 24 PAGES • P18 • SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 2016 • WWW.THESTANDARD.COM.PH • EDITORIAL@THESTANDARD.COM.PH
15 Abu killed in Sulu battles By Florante S. Solmerin A TOTAL 15 Abu Sayyaf members were killed while 17 soldiers were wounded in two separate clashes places Friday in Patikul, Sulu, the military said. But based on the official report of the Army’s Special Operation Command, only six Abu Sayyaf bodies were recovered although a separate media report said the ASG claimed they suffered only 12 casualties. Earlier, Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom) spokesman Jamor Felimon Tan Jr. said the six casualties included an ASG sub-leader from an encounter that started at sunrise in Sitio Makaita, Barangay Bunkaong. But in the SOCOM report, the two separate encounters happened in Sitio Tubig Magkawas Next page
FROM A GRATEFUL NATION. President Rodrigo Duterte pins a medal on a government trooper during the 10th anniversary celebration of the Eastern Mindanao Command held at the Naval Station Felix Apolinario in Davao City.
Reds slam AFP patrols Mishap still bothers me, Rody admits By John Paolo Bencito PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte blamed a “terrible headache” as reason for him to skip two events in Eastern Visayas on Thursday. The 71-year-old Duterte explained in his speech before troops at the Eastern Mindanao Command headquarters in Camp Panacan, Davao City that his headache “was caused by his misaligned spine” as a result of a mo-
torcycle accident four years ago. “I was supposed [to appear] yesterday, but I had this spinal thing, uh, going crazy again, and a migraine... I vomitted in the morning so I said I could not make it,” Duterte said. “I had this terrible headache because of the misaligned spine when I met an accident when I was already 67-years-old in a motorcycle spill,” he added. The President was supposed to
visit the wake of PO1 Gary Cabaguing, a policeman killed in an anti-drug operation in Samar, and the other policemen and soldiers who were wounded in the performance of their duties in Tacloban City later that day. Duterte maintained that he would still go to places where there is a military man or a policeman who dies in the line of duty. “That’s the only thing that I can give, to honor them. My presence
and to be there and to give them a snappy salute, for dying for their country,” he said. Duterte, the oldest candidate to win the presidency, has previously admitted that he has Buerger’s disease and Barrett’s esophagus. Buerger’s disease, associated with smoking, causes inflammation and thrombosis in small and medium-sized blood vessels, usually in the legs and the gangrene. Next page
Highway cop jumps off building
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OMMUNIST rebels on Saturday scored the military for allegedly maintaining troops in communities despite the promise to recall troops from combat operations, a day after they agreed to an indefinite ceasefire to create mechanisms for a binding interim truce with the government. statement. “There have been persistent reports of continuing presence of armed operating troops of the AFP in barangay centers, occupying barangay halls, community schools and day care centers, senior citizen centers and other civilian structures. They continue to set up detachments or physical bases in the center of civilian population,” the group added. Next page
Resign Senate post, critics urge De Lima By John Paolo Bencito
RECORD DEVOURER. Filipino Rix ‘Terabite’ Francisco sets a new world record after eating five burgers in a minute. Francisco, during the History Con at the World Trade Center on Saturday, bested the previous Guinness World Record of Canadian Peter Czerwinski who ate four burgers in a minute in 2013.
Couple vows to spill beans on govt execs INTERIOR and Local Government Secretary Ismael Sueno said suspected drug lord Melvin Odicta and his wife Merriam will reveal the names of government officials allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade. The Iloilo couple met with Sueno at Camp Crame to clear their names and seek protection from retaliation by the persons
By John Paolo Bencito
But the military insisted that routine law enforcement operations and patrols “will continue” despite the ceasefire to ensure the safety of their bases and the community. “The CPP strongly criticizes the Armed Forces of the Philippines [AFP] for maintaining their presence and continuing to make aggressive moves in and around the areas of operations of the NPA,” the CPP said in a
By Francisco Tuyay ONE of the two highway patrol cops who were charged of killing a motorist inside a police squad car last month jumped to his death from a building in Camp Crame Saturday morning, a day after the first hearing of the murder charges against him. Police Officer 3 Jeremiah de Villa was declared dead on arrival by physicians at the Philippine National Police Hospital at about 9:45 a.m. after he jumped from the rooftop of the Police Security Protection Group building, said acting Highway Patrol Group chief Senior Supt. Antonio Gardiola. “This morning, he was seen walking around and heading toward the neighboring [PSPG] building. He was assigned there before. We don’t know why, we
Just usual activity, military maintains
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Holdover officials hit for derailing programs
they are naming. They told Sueno that they have the lists of government officials involved in drug dealing operations, but the lists do not contain the names of senators or congressmen. According to their lawyer, Raymund Fortun, the couple is not on the drug list of President Rodrigo Duterte. Next page twitter.com/ MlaStandard
CRITICS of Senator Leila de Lima on Saturday demanded that she resign the chairmanship of the powerful Senate committee on justice and human rights as she herself was now under scrutiny for her alleged involvement in illegal drugs. Lawyer Larry Gadon said De Lima’s credibility and partiality has been tainted following allega-
tions of involvement in the illegal drug trade and rumors about “paramours.” As this developed, relatives of Warren Cristobal, the man whom President Rodrigo Duterte identified as the new “boyfriend” of Senator Leila de Lima, said there was no truth to the President’s claim that the two had an affair. “I do hope that these issues will be resolved, these has no truth.
By John Paolo Bencito and Funny Pearl A. Gajunera AGRICULTURE Secretary Emmanuel Piñol has accused National Irrigation Administration Administrator Florencio Padernal and other holdover officials in derailing President Rodrigo Duterte’s Free Irrigation Program. Piñol had told a budget hearing
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that irrigation fees be removed from the expenses of farmers seeking irrigation aid from government. But Piñol said the additional P4 billion intended to cover the Irrigation Service Fees were not included in the NIA budget for 2017. “After the Committee hearing, the DA officials and the other officials of the four agriculturerelated agencies —NIA, National
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Food Authority, Philippine Coconut Authority and the Fertilizer and Pesticides Authority (FPA) —were invited to a caucus by Appropriations Committee vice chairperson Rep. Magnolia Antonino,” Piñol said. “It was there when I realized that the opposition to the Free Irrigation Policy of the President came within the NIA itself, especially among officials who are holdovers from the previous ad-
ministration, including the holdover administrator Florencio Padernal,” he added. “During the caucus, he just sat there looking like a boy who just committed a mischief, edgy and uncomfortable.” Piñol said the same NIA administrator earlier told him in a transition meeting “that giving Free Irrigation Water to the Filipino rice farmers would be very difficult.” Next page
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