Manila Standard - 2016 August 29 - Monday

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Come clean, De Lima, Espino told By Christine F. Herrera

REMEMBERING HEROES. An unidentified man sprinkles water (left) on the tombs of soldiers at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Fort Bonifacio, first established in 1947 as a resting place for Filipino military personnel from privates to generals who served during World War II, and eventually designated as the official place of burial for deceased Presidents, national artists and scientists while another (right) arranges flowers in front of the monument of Andres Bonifacio, depicting the Cry of Pugad Lawin, originally referred to as the Cry of Balintawak, the beginning of the Philippine Revolution against Spain. Ey Acasio/Andrew Rabulan

Envoys to UK, Brunei named By Sandy Araneta PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has nominated a former political envoy and a businessman to serve as the country’s new ambassadors to the United Kingdom and Brunei, replacing career diplomats whose tours of duty haven’t ended in those countries, an online report said Sunday. The Commission on Appointments website said Antonio Lagdameo, who previously served as ambassador to Spain and the UK under then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, will be returning as Manila’s envoy to London. It also showed that businessman James Lao has also been recommended for the Brunei post. Their appointments have already been submitted for confirmation to the bicameral Commission on Appointments, a legislative body that approves assignments and promotions of the military, government and career officials, and political appointees. Next page

VOL. XXX • NO. 198 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2016 • WWW.THESTANDARD.COM.PH • EDITORIAL@THESTANDARD.COM.PH

HOUSE leaders on Sunday urged beleaguered Pangasinan Rep. Amado Espino Jr. to go on leave and urged Senator Leila de Lima to “face the music” to clear their names, after President Rodrigo Duterte linked them to the illegal drug trade in New Bilibid Prison. House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Deputy Speaker Fredenil Castro said they found “compelling reasons” to summon De Lima to a hearing on the NBP drug trade, saying the senator had a lot of explaining to do. In an interview over radio dzBB, Castro said Espino and De Lima could not ignore the House probes as they were implicated and tagged as conspirators in the drug trade inside the NBP. Castro said De Lima had to be investigated because the mansion that she allegedly gave to her alleged ex-driver lover Ronnie Dayan was “a product of a crime.” “This house, if it is proven that it is a product of a crime, will have to be probed during the investigation,” Castro said in Filipino. “Dayan, the former driver of secretary de Lima, had no money before. How come he was able to construct a house that is worth millions of pesos? You have to trace where the money came from, if it was the product of their participation in the drug operations in Bilibid.” Next page

IS-linked group raids Lanao jail Frees Maute leader 6 days after detention By Lance Baconguis

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ZAMIZ CITY—Muslim extremists carrying Islamic State group insignia stormed the Lanao del Sur provincial jail Saturday, freeing 28 detainees in the latest in a series of mass escapes.

About 50 heavily armed members of the Maute group raided the local jail in the southern city of Marawi on Saturday, freeing eight comrades who had been arrested barely a week ago, police said. Twenty other detainees, held for other offenses, also escaped in the raid, provincial police chief Senior

Supt. Agustine Tello said. The freed members of the Maute group were arrested on Aug. 22 after soldiers manning an army checkpoint found improvised bombs and pistols in the van they were driving. The Maute group is one of several Muslim gangs in Mindanao. The group has carried out kid-

FOI faces delay amid debates on budget bill CONGRESS may not be able to pass the long-delayed Freedom of Information bill this year because lawmakers will be preoccupied with passing next year’s national budget, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said Sunday. He said there would be a slim chance that Congress will take up the FOI bill since they would be busy deliberating on the P3.35-trillion budget for 2017. “Due to time constraints, we will miss out on the passage of the FOI bill within the year,” Alvarez said. “From now until about November, that period will be devoted to the budget hearing. Let us see if we can pass it [the FOI bill] by next year.” Alvarez made his statement even as Malacañang on Sunday released the proposed Freedom of Information manual. The 30-page manual will be reviewed as the Justice department and the Office of the Solicitor General have listed 166 exceptions to President Rodrigo Duterte’s executive order implementing an Next page

WEATHER MOONSOON rain that may trigger flash floods and landslides are likely over the Ilocos, Cordillera and Central Luzon, the weather bureau said Sunday. Cloudy skies with light to moderate rain and isolated thunderstorms are expected over Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon, while partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms will prevail over the rest of the country.

nappings and bombings and is believed to have led an attack on an army outpost in the Mindanao town of Butig in February. The fighting there lasted a week, leaving numerous fatalities and forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes as helicopter gunships fought off the attackers. Next page

Drug users crave quick fix despite bloodbath

CAPTURED. This photo taken on Aug. 23, 2016 shows Philippine soldiers guarding members of the Maute extremist group aboard a military vehicle in Marawi City in Mindanao, a day after they were arrested at a military checkpoint and who were later on August 27 freed by their comrades in a daring jailbreak. AFP

PEDICAB driver Reyjin dives into a neighbor’s house for a quick meth fix, fearful of taking a bullet to the head in President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs but unable to quit. More than 2,000 people have died violent deaths since Duterte took office two months ago and immediately implemented his scorched-earth plans to eradicate drugs in society, ordering police to shoot dead traffickers and urging ordinary citizens to kill addicts. The bloodbath has seen unknown assailants kill more than half the victims, according to Next page

NIA urged: Explain P26-b fund, rice import plan Zika virus By Christine F. Herrera A LAWMAKER on Sunday demanded answers from National Irrigation Authority as to why the country needed to import one million metric tons of rice this year when P26 billion has been allocated for irrigation systems that are supposed to reverse the continuing decline in palay production. Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Vil-

lafuerte noted that while the NIA continues to allocate a huge chunk of its budget for the “construction, expansion and rehabilitation of irrigation systems” nationwide, its efforts appear to have had no impact in helping farmers mitigate the effects of the El Niño-induced drought, which was the primary cause of the decline in agricultureal output in the first half of the year. “Sadly, from being one of the

world’s top rice producers, the Philippines has now become one of the world’s top rice buyers, with the government set on importing one million metric tons this year to ensure sufficiency of our staple,” Villafuerte said. “President Rodrigo Duterte has submitted a P3.35-trillion proposed national budget for 2017, which promises to bring about ‘real change.’ It’s about time that

real change also comes to the NIA and it can only start by providing free irrigation to farmers,” added Villafuerte, who represents Camarines Sur’s 2nd district. By providing free irrigation to all irrigable farm lands and restructuring the NIA, the Bicol solon said the government could realize its goal of attaining rice self sufficiency before the end of Duterte’s term in 2022. Next page

CPP-NDF relays interim truce declaration to NPA THE Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army on Sunday said they had announced a “unilateral interim ceasefire” as a result of the resumption of its peace negotiations with the government. In a statement, the CPP-NPA said the Central Committee of the twitter.com/ MlaStandard

Communist Party of the Philippines and the National Operational Command of the NPA “hereby declare to all commands and units of the NPA and people’s militias an interim ceasefire in line with the recommendation of the Negotiating Panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines

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and in pursuit of the August 26 Joint Statement of the NDFP and Government of the Republic of the Philippines on the resumption of formal peace negotiations.” The CPP said the ceasefire was being issued to further promote its peace negotiations with the government in an effort to accelerate it.

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It said it reciprocates the indefinite ceasefire issued by President Rodrigo Duterte on Aug. 21. “This unilateral declaration of interim ceasefire shall take effect today [Aug. 28] and will remain valid during the course of the peace negotiations until superseded Next page

infects 4 in S’gapore SINGAPORE―Singapore on Saturday reported the first locally-transmitted case of the Zikavirus, with three other suspect infections pending confirmation. Authorities identified the confirmed patient as a 47-yearold Malaysian woman residing in the city-state. “As she had not traveled to Zika-affected areas recently, she was likely to have been infected in Singapore,” the Ministry of Health and the National Environment Agency said in a joint statement late Saturday. Next page

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