Manila Standard - 2016 November 15 - Tuesday

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Congress warns Du30 ‘Writ suspension must have basis’ By Macon Ramos-Araneta, Maricel V. Cruz and John Paolo Bencito

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RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte should justify before Congress the need to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said Monday.

“If he suspends the privilege, he has to justify it so let us leave [it to] him. Anyway, we are not yet there,” said Pimentel, Duterte’s party mate in PDP-Laban. Pimentel said Duterte should write both chambers of Congress, which will then convene to discuss the President’s declaration. “We can agree or disagree and when we agree, we can even extend [the period during which the suspension is in effect],” he said. Alvarez assured the public that the House of Representatives

would not give into the President’s suspension of the writ without basis. “If it’s unnecessary, I do not think he will get his way,” Alvarez, secretary general of President Duterte’s party, the PDP-Laban, said. Alvarez maintained that the House would never be a Palace rubber-stamp, and that lawmakers would decide on the matter once the President has actually declared the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. Next page

Threats to security hamper gains—NSA By Florante S. Solmerin and Christine F. Herrera

VOL. XXX • NO. 276 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2016 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

PEACE AND FIST. President Rodrigo Duterte and former President Fidel Ramos display their respective fists in a tongue-and-cheek gesture after discussing what a senior official described as issues of climate change, peace process and foreign diplomatic engagements, only days after the latter criticized Duterte’s leadership as a ‘sinking ship.’ Radyo ng Bayan

THE country can’t take off if the government can’t solve internal security threats such as the 48-yearold communist insurgency, the Moro rebellion and the problem of Islamic jihadists in some parts of Mindanao, National Security Adviser (NSA) Secretary Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said Monday. “We have to have internal security before anything else,” Esperon said during the Kapihan sa Manila Hotel forum Monday. Esperon also said the government’s battle against illegal drugs and anti-corruption were cornerstones of President Rodrigo

Duterte’s war on criminality. The government has been in the thick of negotiations with the Moro National Liberation Front, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front. The negotiations have temporarily silenced the guns of the contending parties while working out a more permanent end to the armed conflicts. These efforts, Esperon said, must show concrete results. “We’ve to create peace and stability. We’ve got to take out all these internal problems so we can take off for the better,” he said. Next page

Trump: 3-m illegals Senator, Bohol solon face ouster over ‘pork’ N. Araja in US to be deported ByandRioMacon R. Araneta WASHINGTON—Donald Trump will keep his vow to deport millions of undocumented migrants from the United States, he said in an interview to be broadcast Sunday, saying as many as three million could be removed after he takes office. “What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three US President-elect Donald Trump million—we are getting them out of our country or we are dential campaign, which resulted going to incarcerate,” Trump in last Tuesday’s shock election said in an excerpt released victory against his Democratic riahead of broadcast by CBS’s val Hillary Clinton. Trump added that the barrier to be 60 Minutes program. The billionaire real estate erected on the US border with Mexbaron made security at the ico may not consist entirely of brick US-Mexico border a central and mortar, but that fencing could be Next page plank of his insurgent presi- used in some areas.

THE Ombudsman ordered Senator Joel Villanueva dismissed from service Monday for grave misconduct, serious dishonesty and conduct prejudicial to the interest of the service for misus-

ing P10 million of his pork barrel in 2008 when he was still a member of the House of Representatives. Ombudsman Conchita CarpioMorales also ordered the filing of two counts of graft, one count of malversation of public funds and another count of malversa-

tion through falsification of public documents against Villanueva before the Sandiganbayan, the antigraft court. Also included in the charge sheet were former Department of Agriculture secretary Arthur Yap, now Bohol representative; Villanueva’s staff Ronald

Watchdog implicates ex-GOCC in Pagcor mess By Rey E. Requejo THE Justice Department has been asked to prosecute an official of the Duterte administration for plunder and graft charges for a P234-million anomaly at the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. during the previous administration. The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption sought the inclusion of Transportation Undersecretary Raoul Creencia as a

Anti-burial people tagged as ‘temperamental brats’ MALACAÑANG on Monday tagged those opposing the burial of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos at the Heroes’ Cemetery as “temperamental brats” for refusing to concede to the Supreme Court’s decision. In a newspaper column, Communications Secretary Martin Andanar drew parallels between the American protesters slamming elected US president Donald Trump and those opposing Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. “Both the Americans protesting the outcome of a fair election and the Filipinos objecting to the well-considered ruling of our own Supreme Court are undermining institutions. They are temperamental brats refusing to

concede to the outcome of regular processes,” Andanar said. “If Trump should not be trusted with the nuclear codes, the antiburial people should not be trusted with administering the rule of law.” “Brats? I don’t think they are brats,” Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said in reaction to Andanar’s statement. “They can never be called beats. Theirs are actually principled positions, principled stand,” said Pimentel whose father, former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel, was a political detainee during the Marcos regime. Andanar said while many of the burial’s critics were now pushing the President to reverse his decision, their actions were Next page

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Samonte; agriculture employee Delia Ladera; National Agribusiness Corp. representatives Alan Javellana, Romulo Relevo, Ma. Julie Villaralvo-Johnson, Rhodora Mendoza, and Maria Ninez Guanizo, and Aaron Foundation Philippines Inc. president Alfredo Ronquillo. Next page

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US anti-narc takes up PH war on drugs CLOSEST MOON. Stargazers in Makati City get a treat as the biggest full moon since Jan. 26, 1948 is seen

Monday trying to caress the skyline, becoming full as it reaches perigree, the point when the moon is closest to the Earth – with the best viewing time in the Philippines at 7:21 p.m. It will be seen this close to Earth again on Nov. 26, 2034, according to meteorologists. Lino Santos

Rody comes to the defense of PNP chief PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Monday condoned the foreign trip that Philippine National Police chief Ronald De la Rosa accepted as a gift from Senator

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Manny Pacquiao despite the finding of the Ombudsman that it may have been a violation of corruption laws. “I would like to send the warm-

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est congratulations of the Filipino people and government to the senator for making us proud. And your defense of [Dela Rosa] is Next page

UNITED States assistant secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs William Brownfield arrived in Manila on Monday to meet with the leaders of the Justice department and the Supreme Court. The US State Department said Brownfield will be in the Philippines until Wednesday to advance INL support for the rule of law and fair, efficient justice institutions. Next page

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