Manila Standard - 2017 April 21 - Friday

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CRASH PROMPTS PENALTY CALL VS OVERLOADING By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Ben Moses Ebreo

Rody pokes fun at Erap: Back to jail

THE vice chairman of the Senate committee on public services said stiffer penalties should be imposed on bus companies that overload their vehicles after an overloaded Leomarick bus fell into a ravine in Nueva Ecija, killing 32 people and injuring 46 others on Tuesday. Senator JV Ejercito said the Nueva Ecija bus accident was so tragic that

By John Paolo Bencito PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday poked fun at former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada who celebrated his 80th birthday on Wednesday, threatening to have him detained again for once calling him a “low-class” politician. ‘‘Si Erap, naghihintay na ‘yung buang. Birthday niya ngayon eh. Sabi niya, ‘Punta ka talaga ha kasi…?’ Tapos noon sabi niya, ‘Wala ‘yan si Duterte. Ano ‘yan, low class lang ‘yan. Ano ‘yang style niya pag ka ano..’ Ngayon, t*** i** ibalik kita sa kulungan,” Duterte said in late evening speech at the Cine Lokal launch in Pasay. Duterte said that not even Estrada could find any fault with him. Next page

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VOL. XXXI • NO. 66 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • FRIDAY, APRIL 21, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Take no Sayyaf prisoners—Du30 By John Paolo Bencito

F

OR President Rodrigo Duterte, the only good Abu Sayyaf is a dead one.

administration provoked China to build more islands in the disputed territory. “During her [Arroyo’s] term there was peace and quiet in the South China Sea. One principal point is that there was no such

“Do not give me prisoners. I don’t need them,” he said Wednesday night. “If there’s a fight and they surrender, you refuse. You decline the offer of surrender.” “Let’s continue fighting. Eventually they will run out of bullets. I have plenty of soldiers to spare,” he added as he divulged that the recent clash in Bohol was timed by the ASG to embarrass the government, which is hosting meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. “The Abu Sayyaf [is there] because there is an Asean meeting now, and they went there maybe to kidnap [some people]… I told the Navy if you see them [on a boat], blast them off,” he said. Earlier in the day, Duterte offered a P1-million bounty for each of the six Abu Sayyaf bandits who escaped the deadly encounter with security forces in Inabanga, Bohol, last week. The President even called up on civilians to kill the jihadists, as he ordered an intensified crackdown on the terrorist group, even in their lairs in Sulu. The President had earlier told security forces to finish off the Abu Sayyaf as another of the terrorist group’s sub-leaders, Alhabisi Misaya, was spotted in Negros Oriental, constituting a threat to nearby Apo Island, Sumilon Island and Siquijor. Last week, Abu Sayyaf bandits planning a terrorist attack clashed with police and troops in nearby Inabanga, Bohol, leaving

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LIFE AT 80. President Rodrigo Duterte and former President Gloria Arroyo are among guests of Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, himself a former chief of state, on his 80th birthday anniversary at the Manila Hotel Wednesday. Malacañang Photo

Mines firm Aquino blamed for China’s island building binge Maricel V. Cruz, Sara hits out at BySusanne Fabunan and Francisco Tuyay ABS-CBN CHINA’S island building spree in the disputed waters of the South China Sea should be blamed on the Aquino administration, former Jus-

By Anna Leah E. Gonzales ASSISTANT Finance Secretary Paola Alvarez said Thursday the inter-agency Mining Industry Coordinating Council was seeking a P50-million budget so it could hire independent experts to reassess the operations of the 311 mining firms as ordered by President Rodrigo Duterte. The 311 include the 28 mines shuttered or suspended by the Environment department. Alvarez made the statement even as Manila Mining Corp. urged ABS-CBN and ANC to clarify what it said was a “misleading news report” about the company. In a disclosure to the stock exchange, Manila Mining said ABSCBN and ANC recently released a story titled “DENR gives Manila Mining 2 months to neutralize the open pit’s acidity level.” “The open pit referred to was the Ntina pit. The report is misleading because it is incomplete and suggests, whether wittingly Next page

tice secretary Estelito Mendoza said at a media briefing in the House of Representatives Thursday. At the same briefing to launch Mendoza’s primer entitled “The Ocean Space of the Maritime Area of the Philippines” published by the UP Law Center, for-

mer President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Arroyo said China’s move to build more islands in the disputed waters did not take place under her watch. Mendoza said the filing of a case before the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal by the Aquino

Fire trucks deal a ‘go’ amid protest By John Paolo Bencito and Rey E. Requejo THE deal to buy fire trucks from Austria for P2.8 billion that led President Rodrigo Duterte to fire Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno over alleged irregularities will push through, the Palace said Thursday. “It is a perfected contract and there is no temporary restraining order that prevents its implementation,” said Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella. “The Department of the Interior and Local Government fire truck deal will proceed.” Some 14 units of Rosenbauer Next page

READY FOR ASEAN. Members of the Philippine National Police Highway Patrol Group conduct at Camp Karingal in Quezon City a deployment preparation for Asean Summit delegates attending the event next week. Manny Palmero

Bongbong hammers away at Leni failure By Rey E. Requejo GORGEOUS GRACE.

Students rehearse their performance Thursday at the CCP Complex in Pasay City for the ‘Aliwan Fiesta 2017’ street dance competition this coming weekend. Norman Cruz

FORMER senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the counter-protest of Vice President Leni Robredo for failing to pay the protest fee on time. Marcos, through his lawyer George Garcia, said the high court acting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal should dismiss Robredo’s counter-protest since she failed to settle the first installment of P8 million out of the P15.44-

million fee required of her by the tribunal. Marcos cited Rule 34 of the 2010 PET Rules saying “if a party fails to make cash deposits or additional deposits herein required within the prescribed time limit, the Tribunal may dismiss the protest or counter-protest or take such action as it may deem equitable under the circumstances.” Marcos said instead of paying the first installment on April 17, Robredo, through her lawyer Romulo Macalintal, filed a mani-

festation asking the Tribunal to make a clarification on the fees that Marcos must settle and hold in abeyance the payment required of her for the 8,042 counter-protested clustered precincts. Robredo was ordered to pay P8 million for the first installment and P7.43 million for the second. She said Marcos should be made to pay P185 million and not P66 million since in his pleading he asked the PET to secure the protection of the election results Next page


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