Manila Standard - 2016 October 28 - Friday

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Baguio beauty is Miss Intl By Nickie Wang FILIPINO beauty queen Kylie Verzosa won the Miss International title at the beauty pageant held at the Tokyo Dome City Hall in Tokyo on Thursday. The 24-year-old model and Business Management graduate of Ateneo de Manila University bested 68 other candidates from around the globe. Next page

VOL. XXX • NO. 258 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2016 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Joint exercises possible—Rody PH, Japan reaffirm maritime cooperation By Sandy Araneta

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RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday he is open to having joint exercises with Japan, after he announced the end of military exercises with the United States.

HANDS TOGETHER. President Rodrigo Duterte (center), accom-

panied by Transportation Secretary Arturo Tugade (right) and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana applaud the end of Japan’s coast guard drills in Yokohama on Thursday, on the final day of his state visit during which tensions in the South China Sea have been a key topic. AFP

TRACKING TECHNIQUES. A Japan Coast Guard security team

displays tracking and capture techniques by rigid-hulled inflatable boats against an unidentified ship at sea in Yokohama Thursday, with visiting President Duterte and some of his Cabinet men (not in picture) observing the coastguard drills. AFP

“Joint exercises? Yes, of course... In general terms, yes, no problem,” Duterte said during an interview with reporters after he visited the Japanese Coast Guard on Thursday afternoon. Duterte said patrol vessels from Japan would be used within the country’s territorial waters, including the West Philippine Sea. In July, the Coast Guards of both countries conducted their sixth Joint Maritime Law Enforcement Exercise. In Japan, Duterte said he saw no issue with China if the Philippines used patrol vessels acquired from Japan to patrol the West Philippine Sea. “I do not think they would stop us,” he said, referring to the Chinese. During his three-day official visit to Japan, Duterte and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reaffirmed their countries’ maritime cooperation. Their joint statement said that Japan would provide patrol vessels and other equipment for the Philippine Coast Guard. Duterte and Abe also witnessed the signing of the Exchange of Notes on Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) Loan for the two large-scale patrol vessels to the Philippines. Duterte lauded Japan’s intention to provide high-speed boats to the Philippines. Next page

VISION OF DELIGHT.

Binibining Pilipinas-International 2016 Kylie Verzosa is the new Miss International, succeeding title holder Edymar Martinez of Venezuela who passed on the crown to her Thursday night in Tokyo, Japan. The 24-year-old Baguio City-born model is her country’s 6th winner to bring home the crown. AFP

Filipina 2nd best in Miss Grand Intl contest

PH-US ties Du30 condoles with emperor’s family strained by ‘string of tirades’ By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan WASHINGTON on Thursday said President Rodrigo Duterte’s daily anti-US tirades were “contributing to greater uncertainty” in Philippine-US relations. In his daily press briefing, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Duterte’s “string of unproductive rhetoric” was inconsistent with 70 years of strong diplomatic relations between Filipinos and Americans. “[T]he string of counterproductive rhetoric... has injected some unnecessary uncertainty in the relationship between the United States and the Philippines,” Earnest said. “And I don’t think I’ve been coy about the fact that we’d rather not see this kind of rhetoric from the President of the Philippines.” Next page

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte’s courtesy call on Emperor Akihito was canceled Thursday as the Japanese imperial family went into mourning for the emperor’s uncle, Prince Mikasa who died at the age of 100. Duterte said he respected the imperial family’s time of mourning and expressed his condolences. “The protocol officer said not to go there anymore because they are in mourning. I respect that because I would ask the same… if I

were in his shoes,” Duterte said. Prince Mikasa was the youngest brother of the current emperor’s father Hirohito, in whose name Japan fought World War II. Duterte and Akihito were slated to meet before the President concluded his three-day official visit in Japan on Thursday. Mikasa’s death coincides with renewed attention to the future of the aging and shrinking imperial family and whether women should be allowed to inherit the throne,

breaking a males-only succession tradition that conservatives say is central to an imperial tradition stretching back 2,600 years. Mikasa, a scholar of ancient Oriental history, taught at colleges, and served as honorary president of the Middle Eastern Culture Center in Japan and the Japan-Turkey Society. Emperor Akihito, 82, hinted in August that he wanted to abdicate—a step unprecedented in Next page

De Lima coddler of drug lords—minority By Christine F. Herrera THE opposition bloc on Thursday released a “minority report” that tagged Senator Leila de Lima as a coddler of drug lords and recommended the filing of criminal charges, including graft, direct and indirect bribery, plunder, drug trafficking and amassing of illgotten wealth against her. The report was released in response to the findings released by the House committee on justice, twitter.com/ MlaStandard

which did not recommend charges againt De Lima after exposing her alleged role in the illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison when she was still Justice secretary. The minority report said evidence arising from the four hearings and testimony of 22 inmates showed “probable cause” to warrant the prosecution of De Lima and other officials. House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez said his bloc disagreed with the House justice commit-

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tee’s refusal to recommend the prosecution of De Lima and her criminal liabilities. House Deputy Minority Leader Harry Roque Jr. said recommending De Lima’s prosecution did not violate the separation of powers, because the legislature would merely urge or propose that the Justice Department prosecute De Lima. This, he said, did not overreach congressional jurisdiction or usurp a function that rightly belongs to the Justice Department. Next page

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SPEECH writer Nicole Cordoves of the Philippines almost clinched the Miss Grand International 2016 title before winning first runner-up at the pageant’s coronation night on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) at the Westgate International Theater in Las Vegas, Next page Nevada.

Nicole Cordoves

Leila assails House report By Macon R. Araneta SENATOR Leila de Lima on Thursday dismissed the House minority bloc as “a company union” that had its own agenda in recommending the filing of drug charges against her. She said the move by minority lawmakers to issue their own report after the House justice committee failed to recommend charges against her for her Next page

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