IN THIS ISSUE
SPECIAL REPORT ON THE ECONOMY
DUTERTE
NOMICS: SUSTAINING THE ECONOMIC GAINS HEALTH OF (SECTIONS E-G)
VOL. XXX • NO. 226 • 7 SECTIONS 40 PAGES • P18 • MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2016 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph
THE NATION
PH to nations: Don’t interfere
MISS UNITED CONTINENTS.
Jeslyn Santos of Bulacan took home the Philippines’ first Miss United Continents crown from Guayaquil, Ecuador, on Saturday, besting 27 other candidates from around the world.
Yasay blunts criticism on drug war, killings
U
NITED NATIONS—Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. on Saturday pushed back against criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, telling the United Nations not to interfere. “We urge everyone to allow us to deal with our domestic challenges in order to achieve our national goals, without undue interference,” Yasay told the UN General Assembly. There has been growing international alarm over the rising death toll from Duterte’s crackdown on crime, with human rights groups saying that security forces are engaging in extrajudicial killings.
Duterte won elections in a landslide in May after vowing to eradicate the illegal drug trade in six months, and promising that 100,000 criminals would be killed in the process. Since he took office on June 30 about 3,000 people have been killed, about a third of them suspects shot dead by police and the rest murdered by unidentified at- ADDRESS. Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. addresses the tackers, according to police 71st session of the United Nations’ General Assembly in New York on statistics. Next page Sept. 24. AFP
Tugade’s traffic crisis powers on hold By Christine F. Herrera THE House drew closer to approving emergency powers for President Rodrigo Duterte to deal with the traffic crisis, with the formation of a technical working group to consolidate 10 bills into a substitute measure that the committee on transportation can consider by November. The committee, however, set aside a draft bill from the Transportation Department that proposes to assign Trans-
port Secretary Arthur Tugade as the “traffic crisis manager” for three years until possible conflicts of interest within his department are settled. Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento, panel chairman, said Tugade and his men had also failed to provide details and define the parameters in their draft bill about which parts of the country should be covered by the extra powers. “We want to know which part of the country is in traffic crisis. Where is the crisis? In
Metro Manila or the whole of the Philippines? We need specifics,” Sarmiento said. Earlier, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, author of one of the bills seeking emergency powers for Duterte, expressed fears that Tugade and other department officials would use these powers to benefit their former principals in the private sector. House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez expressed the same fears, noting that Tugade and Undersecretary Noel
PH, US set Oct. ‘war games’ THE Philippines and the US have scheduled military drills next month, the US Embassy in Manila said, days after President Rodrigo Duterte acknowledged that his country did need American troops in the South China Sea. About 1,400 US servicemen based in Okinawa, Japan, and 500 Philippine Armed Forces personnel will conduct an amphibious-landing exercise and live-fire training in multiple
locations on the main island of Luzon and in Palawan, according to a statement on the embassy’s website on Saturday. The drills, aimed at making troops better prepared to operate together during a natural disaster or armed conflict, are set for Oct. 4 to12. Duterte has sent conflicting messages about Philippine foreign policy and the nature of his nation’s tie-ups with overseas partners since
he was sworn in late June, sowing confusion at a time of rising concern about China’s claims to most of the South China Sea. The former mayor last week acknowledged that his country needed American troops after earlier calling for the end of joint patrols in the strategic waterway. The US alliance with the Philippines has for decades been a bedrock of American influence in the region. Next page
Bulacan lass WEATHER wins ‘united’ ‘Helen’ drenches beauty tilt Batanes THE Philippines took home its first Miss United Continents crown on Saturday in Guayaquil, Ecuador, following the victory of 23-year-old beauty queen from Hagonoy, Bulacan. Jeslyn Santos bested 27 other candidates from around the world. Miss Denmark was named 1st runner-up, Miss India 2nd runner-up, Miss Brazil 3rd runner-up, Miss Mexico 4th runner-up, and Miss Panama 5th runner-up. The winners were crowned at the Palacio de Cristal. This was the fourth year that the pageant has been opened to beauty queens from across the globe. From 2006 to 2012, Miss United Continents was a regional contest known as Miss American Continent. Santos, who stands 5’7,” answered the question “How to unite the continents of the world?” in Spanish. She wore a “Sinulog” national costume designed by Lemuel Rosos of Cebu. Next page
TYPHOON “Helen” will not make landfall but will continue to dump rain into Batanes and the Babuyan group of islands―where Typhoon Signal No. 1 remains hoisted―until Tuesday, the weather bureau said Sunday. The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometers per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 170 kph, and was moving west-northwest at 22 kph. Weathermen said it will also be rainy in Metro Manila and the Visayas. Rio N. Araja
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Kintanar were both former executives of the contractors involved in the Metro Rail Transit-Light Railway Transit Common Station project. “I have to be very straightforward with my concern. This concerns the Ayalas. Two of the executives—Secretary Tugade and Undersecretary Kintanar are from Ayala firms or have done business with the Ayalas. They might favor the Ayalas’ business interests. That’s not right,” Suarez said. Next page
Drug lord may testify vs De Lima By Rey E. Requejo and Christine F. Herrera THE drug lord accused of raising money for Senator Leila de Lima, Jaybee Sebastian, will be presented as a hostile witness at the next hearing of the House panel investigating the proliferation of illegal drugs in the New Bilibid Prison if he is subpoenaed, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said Sunday. Aguirre said he was not sure whether Sebastian, whom De Lima identified as a government informer, would Next page
Dick urges cops: Abide by the rules
BIGGEST. China is set to complete the installation work on its 500-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope known as FAST, the largest radio telescope in the world, to detect alien life.
PPA: No port congestion during holidays THERE will be no port congestion despite the expected surge in cargo volumes during the “ber” months, the Philippine Ports Authority said Sunday.
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PPA general manager Jay Daniel “Despite the surging numbers, Santiago said the country’s cargo we guarantee that our ports will volume climbed another 11 percent remain clog-free and can accomin the first seven months of the year modate the increasing cargo, compared with last year. Next page
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LAW enforcement agencies must go by the rules and not kill with impunity in their fight against drug pushers, Senator Richard Gordon said Sunday. “Kill drugs not people,” Gordon said. “It’s not justifiable killing people to get the drug addicts. We do not throw the Rule of Law book out of the window,” said Gordon who replaced Senator Leila De Lima as head of the Senate’s justice and human rights committee. He made his statement even as Malacañang said there would be Next page
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