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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com
Rody still reaping 'excellent' ratings By John Paolo Bencito PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte’s trust rating fell by three points, but remained in “excellent” category amid criticisms against his war on drugs, the latest Social Weather Stations survey revealed. The latest questionnaire’s 1,200 adult respondents revealed that Duterte got a +76 public trust rating, three points less than the one he received before he took his oath as President but still marked as “excellent.” On Tuesday, the Palace attributed the rating drop to the “margin of error.” The latest survey, conducted from September 24 to 27 has
error margins of ±3 points for national percentages, and ±6% each for Metro Manila, Luzon areas outside the nation’s capital, the Visayas and Mindanao. “While there is a variance in his June [+79] and September [+76] ratings, this is not significant enough to indicate a change in the people’s sentiment given the margin of error of each survey,” Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, in a statement, explained. Andanar said Duterte’s “excellent” trust rating would further motivate the administration to continue the reforms it introduced in the first 100 days. “His administration will continue fighting illegal drugs and
crime, combating terrorism, curbing corruption, and sustaining the momentum of economic growth,” he said. The survey showed that 83 percent of those surveyed have “much trust” in Duterte, nine percent were undecided and only eight percent have “little trust” in the President. His predecessor, former President Benigno Aquino III got a “very good” +67 trust (broken down into 77 percent much trust, 10 percent little trust) rating in a survey conducted from September 4 to 7 in 2010. Aquino’s trust rating following his election victory in May 2010 was +83 (88 percent much trust, four percent little trust).
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CHARGED. Members of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption led by Dante Jimenez and lawyer Ferdinand Topacio file drug trafficking cases against Senator Leila de Lima and seven others before the Department of Justice on Tuesday for their alleged involvement in the illegal narcotics trade inside the New Bilibid Prison. N. Araga
Solons begin Cha-Cha talks T
HE House committee on constitutional amendments begins today its deliberations on several proposals to amend the 1987 Constitution, or the proposed shift from presidential to a federal system as espoused by President Rodrigo Duterte, a House official said Tuesday. Rep. Roger Mercado, the head of the panel, said his committee will begin considering all pending Charter-Change measures calling for a Constituent Assembly and
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Following a tense naval standoff at the Scarborough Shoal in 2012, China has imposed tighter quarantines on Philippine bananas, with thousands of tons of the fruit being impounded and eventually destroyed in Chinese ports. Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol over the weekend said that China has lifted restrictions on Philippine bananas and pineapples and will be opening up its market to mangoes, coconut and seafood. President Rodrigo Duterte, who visits China on Oct. 18, is expected to discuss anti-drug cooperation and fishing rights in the disputed Scarborough Shoal when he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping. An official who asked not to be named confirmed the President will ask Xi to help in his war against illegal drugs, many of which come from China. The same official said Duterte will not raise the decision of the UN tribunal that threw out China’s territorial claims over its nine-dash line policy in favor of the Philippines. “But fishing rights at Scarborough are part of arbitral ruling,” the source added. The official said the “huge differences” on sovereignty over the disputed waters would not be resolved in one sitting. On Tuesday afternoon, Duterte and Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. had a closeddoor meeting to discuss what would be raised with China. Another administration source told the Manila Standard that the Philippines is also waiting for word if China will agree to have a joint statement about the ongoing territorial dispute over the South China Sea. The source said the Philippines has proposed an agenda prior to the meeting, and this includes the fishing rights. “President Duterte will ask China to allow Philippine fishermen to fish in the shoal,” the source said.
Constitutional Convention at one p.m. His panel will invite legal luminaries to guide lawmakers in drafting a new Constitution. “We will begin our initial hear-
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From A1 VACC president Dante Jimenez accused the respondents of violating the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, particularly the provision that outlaws the “sale, trading, administration, dispensation, delivery, distribution and transportation of any dangerous drug and/or controlled precursor and essential chemical.” The penalty under the law is life imprisonment and a fine ranging from P500,000 to P10 million. The complaint was based on allegations that De Lima in conspiracy with the other respondents allowed and benefited from the proliferation of illegal drugs inside the NBP during her term as Justice secretary. Jimenez alleged that the respondents were involved in the illegal drug trade inside and outside the NBP from 2012 to 2016. De Lima, Bucayu, Dayan, Sanchez, Dera and Sebastian, the complaint said, were able to conspire with one another to perpetuate “a massive drug trade inside the Bilibid [prison] through the influence and power exercised by the Office of the Secretary of Justice, though then Secretary De Lima.” The complainant also said De Lima used her authority to appoint and designate men inside the NBP to make drug transactions easy in the prison.
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Liberal Party, failed to address poverty in the six years it was in power. This is why poverty remains a serious problem today,” Salgado said. He said the LP administration ended with 26-million poor Filipinos based on official government statistics. “The former chief of the National Economic Development Authority even declared we should be happy with this figure, and this underscores the insensitivity of the LP administration to the plight of the poor,” Salgado said. “Despite the highly touted economic growth and credit rating upgrades, millions remained poor and
For his part, Villafuerte said Congress must put an end to the level of corruption that has attended the drug menace, which can best be gleaned from the special privileges that drug lords have been enjoying at the NBP’s maximum security cells, resulting from payoffs to corrupt government and prison officials. “This House inquiry should lead to a broad range of new legislation plus other initiatives including the establishment of a more secure NBP outside Metro Manila, the complete halt to special privileges now enjoyed by drug lords and other supposedly maximum security prisoners, and the creation of a lot more drug rehabilitation centers nationwide to prevent drug abusers from ending up as hardened criminals in jail,” said Villafuerte. Barbers, chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs, filed House Bill 3406 seeking to update the antiquated Anti-Wiretapping Law to help combat drugrelated crimes. He said HB No. 3406 seeks to include the wiretapping of conversations of suspected drug lords, pushers, and protectors or coddlers, among the privileged communication “that may be wiretapped by the government in order to bring suspected drug criminals to justice.” “This measure [HB 3406] hopefully will plug a major loophole in the Anti-Wiretapping Law. If approved, this will give our law enforcers more ammunition to pin down these criminals who have destroyed the future of our youth and thereby jeopardizing the future of our nation,” Barbers said. He also lamented during Monday’s probe that signal jammers in the NBP were allegedly being turned off to allow illegal drug transactions in exchange of P100,00 that inmates pay to the authorities. Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez earlier said the inquiry was intended not to prosecute any individual, including De Lima. Alvarez said the inquiry was in aid of legislation to stop the illegal drug trade at the national penitentiary.
ing this Wednesday, the start of our full-blast consideration of all pending Charter-Change proposals including Constituent Assembly or Constitutional Convention,” Mercado said. The committee will continue its hearings on November 15, 16, 22 and 23 after Congress’ Halloween break, Mercado said. Congress will adjourn on Oct. 19 and resume sessions on Nov. 7. Mercado said the country’s legal luminaries will be invited in the hearings “whether they oppose or support Charter Change.”
Rep. LRay Villafuerte urged President Rodrigo Duterte to capitalize on his record satisfaction ratings to continue pushing structural reforms via the shift to a federal system of government, which he said was the only “antidote” to the over-concentration of political power in “Imperial Manila” at the expense of the other regions. “Federalism will shift to high gear his ambitious yet doable agenda of freeing 10-million Filipinos from poverty and transforming our country into an upper-middle-
income economy six years from now and into a high-income one by 2040,” he said. An SWS survey conducted among 1,200 respondents from Sept. 24 to 27 across the country yielded a high net satisfaction rating of +64 percent for Duterte, with only 11 percent dissatisfied with his performance and 13 percent undecided. It was the highest rating among all post-1986 Presidents with the exception of Fidel V. Ramos, who scored higher in 1992. Maricel V. Cruz
On the other hand, the VACC said Sebastian acted as one of the lieutenants of De Lima and Baraan in seeing to it that drug lords inside the prison complied with the demands of the drug trade. The group accused Dayan and Sanchez of being the bagmen of De Lima who collected the drug money from Sebastian. The anti-crime group cited the testimony given by convicted inmates led by Herbert Colanggo during the hearing of the House committee on justice inquiring into the proliferation of the illegal drug trade inside the NBP. The VACC noted that Colanggo and several other witnesses were able to give details on how the illegal drug trade was being conducted inside the NBP upon the protection and intervention of De Lima with the help of the other respondents. Colanggo also testified that he started giving money to De Lima through Sanchez starting in October 2013, allegedly to fund her senatorial campaign, with payments reaching P3 million just before he and 18 other high-profile inmates were transferred to the National Bureau of Investigation in December 2014, paving the way for Sebastian to take control of the drug operation in the NBP, allegedly with the blessings of De Lima. The group said the transfer of the so-called Bilibid 19 was “calculated,
planned and pre-meditated” to concentrate the drug trade under the control of Sebastian and De Lima. The group added that De Lima had motive to allow the proliferation of illegal drugs in the NBP, which was to gather funds for her senatorial bid. Before the 2013 mid-term elections, the VACC said De Lima was reported to have spent P86.15 million. “For all the advertisements she contracted during the election campaign, where would she get the money from? One could not turn a blind eye on her actual source of fund. She had generous benefactors from inside the Bilibid. This explains why she never had second thoughts about running for one of the highest political positions in the country,” the complaint said. The VACC also questioned the reason why De Lima undertook the raid at the NBP but excluded Philippine National Police deputy chief for operations Director Benjamin Magalong, who had planned the raid. It added that it was also questionable that De Lima ordered the transfer of the 19 high-profile inmates to the NBI but excluded Sebastian, a known drug lord Jaybee Sebastian and make numerous personal visits at the NBP and even at the huts of high-profile inmates at the NBP before and after the December 2014 raids. “Each one of them had played significant roles in order to ensure the
perpetuation of the illegal drug trade inside the Bilibid. Senator De Lima, through her authority, as the secretary of Justice was able to put in position her cohorts at the BuCor to enable her to maneuver the drug trade,” the complaint said. “Her influence and power likewise offered respondents in this case... protection to ensure invisibility in the conduct of their illegal trade,” the complaint added. De Lima said the lawyers of the VACC should know that they should have filed the case before the Office of the Ombudsman instead of the Justice Department. She said filing the case with the Justice Department was a waste of time, because it would be sent to the Ombudsman. “In the interest of the speedy administration of justice, they should have directly filed this complaint with the Ombudsman, not the DoJ,” she said. “Unless they have other reasons for filing it with the DoJ instead of the Ombudsman. Maybe because that is the domain of [Justice Secretary Vitaliano] Aguirre, the master of fakery. Justice under Aguirre is fake,” De Lima said. “I challenge all those filing cases against me to file directly with the Ombudsman, which is the proper agency with jurisdiction, instead of the DoJ,” she said.
jobless. We had improving GDP growth but worsening poverty. That is the real legacy of the LP. “The LP style of governance was one of insensitivity and incompetence. They had six years and they blew it.” Salgado also said the Liberal Party was obsessed with protecting and rewarding its allies in politics and business and persecuting political enemies. “That was their priority. That is why poverty persists,” he said. Robredo visited almost every week several coastal villages and rural areas in the Philippines during her first 100 days and dubbed the series of activities as “Laylayan Event.” President Rodrigo Duterte ap-
pointed her head of the Housing and Urban Development and Coordinating Council, the agency that was also led by Binay during his term as vice president. Last month, Binay’s camp also criticized Robredo following her statement that she was disappointed by the government’s “slow” construction of resettlement houses for the victims of super typhoon “Yolanda” that hit the country in 2013. “If the Vice President is interested in quick answers, may we suggest that she ask her [former] running mate Mar Roxas and Butch Abad,” Salgado said. “Both of them were given major roles by the previous administration in the Yolanda rehabilitation program. We hope that aside from
quick answers, they give honest answers as well.” Roxas served as Interior secretary while Abad was Budget secretary during the time of President Aquino, who endorsed the candidacy of the Roxas-Robredo tandem in the May 9 presidential elections. Salgado said Robredo should also consider the observations of the United Nations decrying the failure of the Aquino administration to build decent and sufficient permanent housing for the victims two years after Yolanda. As late as 2015 the UN noted that, in both temporary and permanent housing, the provision of water, adequate sanitation and electricity remained “seriously problematic.” Joel E. Zurbano
He said Negros Occidental would again be called Western Visayas (Region VI) and Negros Oriental Central Visayas (Region VII). “We don’t want to spend P19 billion just for two provinces. In any event in federalism, that [executive order by Aquino] will also eventually be repealed. It’s an expensive exercise,” Diokno said. He said Negros Occidental Gov. Alfred Marañon Jr. and Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo did not object when told of the coming executive order. On the recommendation of former Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, President Benigno Aquino III promulgated Executive Order 183 on May 29, 2015 placing the two Negros provinces under the same region. EO 183 said creating a region for the two adjacent provinces was needed “to further accelerate the social and economic development of the cities and municipalities comprising the provinces of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental and improve the delivery of public services in the aforementioned provinces.” The islands’ officials had pushed to include the new region in the proposed 2016 budget through amendments, but there was not enough time to go over the budget with all the line agencies. For that year, and also in 2017, the allocation of the two provinces remained with their previous regions. Diokno said any regional issue, such as the delivery of basic services in the two provinces, could be overridden by technology. John Paolo Bencito
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the good ... Peace,” she added. Schweighart is set to represent the country in the upcoming Miss Earth pageant to be held on Oct. 29, 2016 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. Duterte came under heavy international criticism after saying in a speech that he would be happy to slaughter three-million drug addicts like Hitler exterminated millions of Jews. Duterte on Tuesday responded to actress Agot Isidro, who called him a psychopath in her Facebook page. “One actress got mad at me, saying I’m a psychopath,” he said in Filipino during an oathtaking ceremony for new officials at the Palace. “I leave her to her constitutional right to free expression. She should enjoy that,” Duterte said. Isidro on Friday reacted to Duterte’s pronouncement that he would rather die of hunger than accept aid from superpowers that wish to meddle in his war against illegal drugs. John Paolo Bencito
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to US atrocities in the Philippines in the early 20th century. Ramos, whom Duterte tapped to become special presidential envoy to China over the West Philippine Sea issue, was supposed to meet with Chinese officials last month but the meeting was canceled because, diplomatic sources said, Beijing refused to talk about the matter. Carpio, on the other hand, urged Duterte to understand the importance of holding patrols within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone during a speech at the closing of amphibious exercises with the United States on Tuesday. Ramos, whom Duterte credited for convincing him to run for president, said looking to the aspirations of the young and not the historical past should be the mindset of a leader. “That must not be the mentality of
leaders these days,” Ramos said, suggesting that if Duterte can show pictures of Moros killed by Americans, future Filipinos can also pictures of Filipinos and Filipinos, like the Ampatuan, Maguindanao massacre of November 2009. “You should have also shown that pictures of people killed in Maguindanao,” Ramos said, referring to the Ampatuan massacre that killed journalists. Although he thinks the country “lost badly” because of Duterte’s often sharp, unnecessary tirades in his first 100 days in office, Ramos also believes Duterte can deal with the learning curve of being president. Speaking at the closing of the Amphibious Landing Exercises (Phiblex) 2016, Carpio reiterated that cooperating with the country’s allies was the best way of protecting the nation’s territory, a duty entrusted to the President of the Philippines by the Constitution.
“The Philippines must protect its EEZ. That’s the mandate of the Constitution and the only way to protect that is to send patrol ships there because if a foreign fishing vessel will poach on our waters in the EEZ, the only way we can stop them is to patrol there,” he said. “The Constitution says the Armed Forces is responsible for protecting the national territory. Who is the head of the Armed Forces? The President,” Carpio said. “I think if you will explain properly he will understand.” Carpio, who is also from Davao City, urged Duterte not to discard the country’s traditional allies because only one country can help the country in dealing with the West Philippine Sea issue. “There is only one power on earth that can stop the Chinese from poaching in our EEZ. That is the US,” he said. But Duterte himself, speaking before officers of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines in
Malacañang, questioned whether the United States would actually go to war for the Philippines. “I do not mean to cancel or abrogate military alliances. But let me ask you, do you really think we need it? If there is a war, do you think we really need America? And do you think we need China and Russia for that matter? Or do we need somebody?” Duterte asked. Duterte noted that China and Russia do what they please and the United States has not done anything about it over the past decades. “Look at [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. He wanted Crimea. He just went there and occupied it. America could do nothing,” he said. However, Duterte said he would still like to enter into deals with America, particularly in education and health. “So let us go for alliances that would contribute to the health, to the education.”
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Meanwhile, a defeated mayoralty bet was killed and the son of a deputy police chief was arrested during an anti-drug operation in Pikit, North Cotabato, on Tuesday, according to a report reaching Camp Aguinaldo.
The report identified the slain man as former town councilor Dindo Piang, 45, and the arrested man as Nasser Karim, son of deputy police chief Sindatu Karim. It said Nasser was arrested after a machine gun owned by one of the 44
slain Special Action Force members in 2015 was found on him. Police said Piang fired his gun on the policemen and soldiers of the 7th Infantry Battalion who were serving a search warrant at his home at 4 a.m.
The younger Karim and six other people were arrested, but the elder Karim reportedly refused to issue any statement. In Lanao del Norte, high-powered firearms and drugs were recovered
from a suspect during an operation conducted on Tuesday by the military and agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. Francisco Tuyay and Florante S. Solmerin
“Guys, I’m a Duterte follower. The people who talk to me everyday knows [sic] how delightful [sic] I am to see and experience the change he has made happen so far. I am half German that is the reason why I talked to a fellow delegate about ‘Hitler’ so casually who is Austrian. Because all my life I am always teased by fellow filipinos as ‘Hitler’ because they are not well informed that Hitler was not German. In fact Hitler was Austrian. So, when I saw my fellow delegate I made a soft joke about it out of my excitement,” she wrote in a lengthy Facebook post. “I am an extremist so forgive me my fellow Filipinos and Duterte supporters if you didn’t understand how I am. I got that idea wherein I said, ‘Duterte is doing Hitler stuff’ from online news, newspapers with headlines saying he is Hitler-like but for
From A1 found dead inside a sugarcane plantation in Maliwalo village around 7:15 a.m. also on Monday.