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VOL. XXXI • NO. 44 • 5 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • SUNDAY, MARCH 26, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@thestandard.com.ph
RODY: PH A NARCO STATE UNDER NOY By John Paolo Bencito
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HE Philippines turned into a “narco-state” during the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III when as much as 40 percent of local government units being involved in the illicit trade, President Rodrigo Duterte said Saturday.
“[Do] you know why shabu flourished everywhere? Because most of the politicians were already into drugs,” Duterte said
during the groundbreaking ceremony of the P700-million drug rehabilitation center in Malaybalay, Bukidnon.
“Little did we realize that five years [ago], we were already a narco-state and 40 percent of the basic government units—the barangay, then you have the municipality, city, province—were already into drugs,” he added. During the Aquino administration, a local politician who was also a top leader of the ruling party died with several others in a helicopter crash while transporting the proceeds of drug trafficking. Duterte said it is thus not surprising that detained Senator Lei-
la de Lima, who was then secretary of justice, would benefit from the drug trade, a charge that De Lima has repeatedly denied and for which she stands trial. As a result, he said drug lords have turned thousands into “imbeciles” with about 77,000 victims of crimes perpetrated by drug addicts. “If you count the victims, according to the victims of drug addicts, it’s 77,000,” the President said, exhorting the police not to waver in the war against drugs. Turn to A2
BUSINESS/ C2
LADY BPO PIONEER MAKES HER MARK IN INSURANCE SECTOR
GADGETS / D3
GARMIN: MULTISPORT WATCHES FOR FITNESS, ADVENTURE, STYLE
SPORTS / C4
PETRON FAVORED TO WIN PSL TITLE PRESIDENTS AT ODDS. President Rodrigo Duterte appears to be pondering what he will do with his predecessor Benigno Aquino III during the turnover ceremony at Malacañang June 30 last year. Some eight months (or 268 days) later, Duterte said Aquino allowed the Philippines to become a narco-state.
DIGONG: EU WANTS ‘FIX ROOMS’ VS DRUGS By John Paolo Bencito ASIDE from demanding the release of jailed Senator Leila de Lima, Europeans also suggested that the Duterte administration put up “shabu clinics” similar to the “supervised injection sites” in several countries in Europe but disparag-
ingly called “fix rooms.” “The EU communicated to us and they want a ‘health-based solution.’ These sons of b*****s, they want us to build clinics. Instead of arresting and putting them in prison just like in other countries, they will inject you or give you shabu if you want it. Then you can leave,”
Duterte told a group of FilipinoChinese businessmen. “If you want marijuana, there is a place there, government-sponsored. [It’s an] idiotic exercise. If you want cocaine, they will give you cocaine. If you want heroin, they will give you heroin. People just go there and consume every chemical
until kingdom come, until they are crazy like the four million [here],” he added. “I’ll give it a liberal increment of something like 700,000 to 800,000 out of their mind all over the Philippines. Who will answer for this? Who will answer for those who died?” Duterte fumed. Turn to A2
REDS TO ANNOUNCE CEASEFIRE BY MAR. 31 By John Paolo Bencito COMMUNIST rebels announced on Saturday it will declare a unilateral ceasefire not later than March 31 but President Rodrigo Duterte said he will take the matter under advisement because of the actions of the New People’s Army during the last truce. “I have to consult the Speaker, I have to consult the Senate President. I have to convene the National Security Council and I have to ask the generals of the army and the police,” Duterte said dur-
ing the groundbreaking of a drug rehabilitation center in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon. “Especially the military and police, I will call for a meeting and ask them whether it would be good at this time because I already got mad because they decided to lift the ceasefire [last Feb. 1]. That was also unilateral,” he added. “If they don’t follow it, there will just be an aberration in the system of talking peace,” he said, recalling the Feb. 3 incident when three soldiers were Turn to A2
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RECRUITMENT DRIVE. Members of the Katipunan ng mga Guro ng Bayan hold up recruitment streamers and posters at the Carriedo Station in Manila. Norman Cruz
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FISHERMAN LIVES THRU 2 MONTHS IN OPEN SEA SYDNEY—A Filipino fisherman has been rescued in Papua New Guinea after drifting at sea for 56 days, but his uncle died during the ordeal, a report said Saturday. The men left General Santos in the southern Philippines in January but hit bad weather and were swept out to sea, the PNG Post Courier reported after a fishing boat spotted Roland Omongos, 21, on March 9. The newspaper, citing local police, said the pair had no food and the survivor’s uncle died. It said Omongos kept his body for as long as possible but was forced to throw it overboard when it started to decompose. He survived on two five-liter containers of water and was found weak and distressed by the Bermadethe Marie which was journeying from Wewak to Rabaul, a town on the Papua New Guinean island of Turn to A2 New Britain.
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