DU30: GOD TOLD ME TO STOP CURSING By F. Pearl A. Gajunera DAVAO CITY—President Rodrigo Duterte said God talked to him on his flight back from Japan and admonished him to stop cursing. “Everybody was asleep, snoring, but a voice said that, you know, if you don’t stop epithets, I will bring down this plane now,” Duterte said in his arrival speech at the Davao International Airport after an official three-day visit to Japan. He said he even asked the voice who he was, but only later realized that it was God. “So, I promise God to—not to express slang, cuss words and everything,” he said. He said that a promise to God is also a promise to the Filipino people, the reason why he must be careful not to use curse words. Asked if he would no longer curse at the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Senator Leila de Lima, Duterte said: “There is always time for everything.” Duterte is well known for using profanity when he is angry, and has cursed the Pope, US President Barack Obama, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. “Ask anyone who really knows me. There’s always a time for everything—a time to be foul mouthed… I do not want anyone reading my mind,” he said Friday. In one interview during the presidential campaign, Duterte said cursing was part of his strategy to connect with the masses.
Baguio beauty is Miss Intl By Nickie Wang VERSUS DEUM. President Rodrigo
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
Duterte, deep in prayer, in obvious contemplation of what he called God’s admonition to him on his flight back from Japan this week, quoting the Almighty, thusly, ‘if you don’t stop epithets, I will bring down this plane now.’ Then added posthaste ‘I do not want anyone reading my mind.’
Piracy up in Rody’s KL visit
VOL. XXX • NO. 259 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2016 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph
Zika virus afflicts 2 in Cavite
TWO more people were afflicted with the Zika virus, bringing to 17 the total number of Zika cases so far, the Department of Health said Friday. Health Undersecretary Gerardo Bayugo said a boy and an adult female, both from Cavite, contracted the disease, and that they were yet to be brought to a hospital. The two aside,15 more Zika patients have been listed in Cavite, Iloilo, Makati, Mandaluyong, Muntinlupa, Antipolo and Cebu. The Zika virus is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito. It is usually not life-threatening but has been linked to a rise in birth defects in other countries, where hundreds of babies have been born with unusually small heads. The virus is transmitted to people through the bite of an infected mosquito from the Aedes genus, and mainly the Aedes aegypti in the urban areas and the Aedes albopictus in the rural areas. Next page
M’sapano reopening not Noy’s problem FORMER President Benigno Aquino III said Friday he was ready to face the revival of the Mamasapano case that left 44 police commandos dead and derailed the peace negotiations with the Moro rebels. “For me there’s no problem. If they want to investigate, why not?” Aquino said in a chance interview at the Thai Embassy after signing the Book of Condolences for the passing of the Thai King. Next page
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte says he will be raising the issue of piracy when he visits Malaysia to complete his Asian tour. “I am going there to complete my tour and discuss piracy because we have this piracy going on every now and then,” Duterte told reporters in Davao City Thursday night. He made his statement even as Malacañang said Friday Duterte’s Japan trip
yielded US$1.8 billion in business-tobusiness deals. “These are not government contracts but private-to-private joint undertakings,” Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella told reporters. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez also signed a P6.4-billion loan agreement Next page
Mayor, 9 men die in gunfight vs cops K
IDAPAWAN—A mayor accused of drug trafficking was killed along with nine bodyguards in a shootout with police Friday, authorities said, hours after President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to intensify his crackdown on crime.
BLOODY BRUSH-OFF. Mayor Samsudin Dimaukom (in circle)
of Datu Saudi Ampatuan town, one of local chief executives named in President Rodrigo Duterte’s list of narco-politicians, is introduced during the 29th founding anniversary of the 6th Infantry Division as guest of honor in Maguindanao on Oct. 24, four days before he was gunned down in what has been officially reported as a police encounter in Makilala town, North Cotabato. Omar Mangorsi
Samsudin Dimaukom, the mayor of Saudi Ampatuan, was one of more than 150 local government officials, judges and police identified by Duterte earlier this year as being involved in the illegal drug trade. The deadly crime war has claimed more than 3,800 lives and drawn criticism from the United States, the United Nations and international rights groups who have accused police of summarily executing suspects. Police spokesman Supt. Romeo Galgo said that Dimaukom and his security personnel
opened fire after anti-narcotics police stopped their vehicles at a checkpoint on suspicion they were transporting illegal drugs. Officers returned fire, killing the men in the town of Makilala. “Suspects [were] heavily armed and fired upon the law enforcers, which prompted them to fire back,” Galgo said. Police said they suffered no casualties. Dimaukom made a name for himself by funding the construction of a pink mosque in Saudi Ampatuan in a plea for peace in the town which has been wracked by violence. Next page
Disbar De Lima for impropriety, SC urged By Rey E. Requejo THE Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption and former officials of the National Bureau of Investigation have asked the Supreme Court to disbar Senator Leila De Lima for improprieties and violation of the code of conduct for lawyers. In a complaint filed with SC’s Office of the Bar Confidant, the VACC, former NBI officials Reynaldo Esmeralda and Ruel Lasala and whistleblower Sandra Cam said De Lima should be disbarred for impropriety and for violating the Lawyers Oath and the Code of Professional Responsibility. “The practice of law is a privilege…It is a privilege that can be revoked, subject to the
mandate of due process once a lawyer violates his oath and the dictates of legal ethics,” the complainants said. The complainants cited the testimonies of witnesses before the House committee on justice’s probe on the proliferation of illegal drugs
inside the New Bilibid Prison. Based on the testimony of witnesses, including NBI officials and inmates, the complainants said De Lima knew that prohibited drugs were being sold and traded, and provided protection for the incarcerated drug lords so
as to raise funds for her senatorial campaign. The complainants noted that De Lima spent P86.1 million during the campaign, questioned where she got the funds, and suggested she had “generous benefactors from inside the Bilibid.” Next page
SAF called in to stop drug deals in Bilibid By Rey E. Requejo THE Justice department is considering deploying police commandos at the medium security compound of the New Bilibid Prison after receiving reports that drug deals had moved there from the maximum security compound. Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguire II said the Special Action Forces of the Philippine National Police had recently managed to confiscate a plastic bag of methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu” inside the maximum security compound where they have been deployed. Aguirre said he is confident illegal drugs can no longer be smuggled inside, but said there may still be illegal drugs hidden inside. Next page
Pinoys now free to fish in Scarborough—Palace By John Paolo Bencito FILIPINO fishermen are now be able to fish in the disputed Scarborough Shoal without being intercepted by Chinese Coast Guard vessels more than four years after the Chinese gained control of the area, Malacañang said Friday.
“For the past three days, it has been observed that there are no longer any Chinese Coast Guard vessels and that Filipino fishing boats are no longer being intercepted and that they are now able to fish in the area,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in a Palace press briefing. Next page twitter.com/ MlaStandard
TIME FOR PRAYER. Surviving relatives flock to the well-manicured Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City Friday to offer flowers and light candles for departed loved ones—correspondingly seen in other graveyards across the country—under an otherwise scorching sun, with umbrellas protecting them from the blazing heat. Lino Santos
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