Manila Standard - 2017 June 02 - Friday

Page 1

VOL. XXXI • NO. 108 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

MISGUIDED. A Philippine Air

Force MD-520MG Defender light attack helicopter fires rockets at militant positions in Marawi City on May 30, 2017. It was another PAF jet a Marchetti S-260 that launched the airstrike which missed its Maute target, killing 11 government soldiers on June 1, 2017. AFP

‘Friendly fire’ kills 11 troops; probe sought 8 foreigners among dead Maute men

By Francisco Tuyay and Florante S. Solmerin

M

ARAWI—Airstrikes aimed at Islamist militants who are holding hostages as human shields in Marawi City killed 11 soldiers, authorities said Thursday, as they conceded hundreds of gunmen may have escaped a blockade.

By John Paolo Bencito AT LEAST eight foreign fighters, suspected to be members of the Islamic State, were killed fighting side by side with local extremists in Marawi City, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Thursday. Among those killed were two from Saudi Arabia, two from Malaysia, two from Indonesia, one from Yemen and one from Chechnya (Russia), the Defense chief said. “The report we got from the civilians from Marawi is they saw a lot of foreign-looking fighters,” Lorenzana told Palace reporters. “We don’t have any record of them coming through the proper channel, through the airports.... Maybe they’re coming from Indonesia or from Malaysia, Sabah,” he added. Lorenzana said it was Mindanao Development Authority

RESCUED. Soldiers, police and local government volunteers rescue civilians trapped in Marawi City as fighting rages for a week now. Left panel shows a boy clutching to his mother during the evacuation. Mark Navales and AFP

Martial law until we’re OK—Du30

Next page

Arrest order out vs local terrorists By Rey E. Requejo THE government has ordered the arrest of members of local terror groups Maute and Abu Sayyaf and their suspected supporters. Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana issued the order in his capacity as administrator of martial law. Aguirre said the four-page arrest order directed law enforcers to apprehend 125 suspected members of the Maute and Abu Sayyaf terrorist groups, whose names are mostly aliases. It was the first arrest order issued under the implementation of martial law and suspension of Next page

By John Paolo Bencito and Macon Ramos-Araneta

Palace propaganda stirs outrage, gets disowned By John Paolo Bencito PRESIDENTIAL Spokesman Ernesto Abella on Thursday disowned a martial law propaganda video released by the Presidential Communications Operations Office under Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, which was later taken down. Struggling to deflect questions from Palace reporters on a 36-second animated video saying martial law should be “the rule of the land,” Abella once again directed questions towards Andanar, saying his office was the one

that prepared the controversial video aimed at shoring up support for martial law as a means to combat “extremism.” “I think the question should best be given to Secretary Martin [Andanar]. We did not prepare it” Abella told reporters. He said he hadn’t seen the video but only the reaction of angry netizens. Pressed on who approved the content of the released material, Abella again pointed at Andanar. “There should really be a flow but in this particular case, they Next page

Tuition hiked in 1,013 private schools SOME 1,013 private elementary and secondary schools nationwide were allowed to increase their tuition and other fees this year, the Education department said Thursday. Education Secretary Leonor

Briones said some eight percent of the total number of private institutions would be implementing a tuition increase by next year. Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto said after both houses of Congress ratified the

reconciled version of the bill making tuition in public colleges free, Malacañang should include the cost of the program in the 2018 national budget. He said the cost of defraying Next page

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte told Congress on Thursday they must understand his position if he needs to extend martial law. Responding to criticisms by opposition lawmakers that defense officials had not recommended he declare martial law, Duterte said he would listen to his Armed Forces and the police on when to lift military rule. “With more reason today, I will ask the military and the police, ‘Are we okay? Because if we are, then let’s lift it immediately,’” Duterte said in a speech before newly appointed officials at Malacañang. “But for as long as the military says, ‘Sir, hindi pa talaga kaya. [We still can’t do it.’] And it’s beyond 60 days, Congress must understand that I may need more time,” he said. Duterte, who reiterated that drug money is fueling Next page

UP denies Hapilon as alumnus THE University of the Philippines on Thursday denied that suspected Islamic State leader Isnilon Hapilon was its alumnus. The school said Hapilon did not graduate from the university’s College of Engineering before joining the extremists in Mindanao. In a statement, the university stated ‘‘upon verification with the official records of the Office of the University Registrar and the Next page

The friendly fire deaths bring to 171 the number of people reported killed since gunmen waving black flags of the Islamic State group began rampaging through the Marawi last week. Shortly after the violence erupted, President Rodrigo Duterte imposed martial law across Mindanao, home to 20-million people, to quell what he said was an IS bid to establish a base in the Philippines. But the government’s narrative of being in “full control” of Marawi took a hit Thursday when defense chiefs said 11 soldiers were killed in a misguided bombing mission. “It’s very painful. It’s very sad to be hitting our own troops,” Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told reporters in Manila, noting that the incident might lead the government to limit air strikes in Marawi City. “It’s sad but sometimes it happens in the fog of war.” He initially said 10 soldiers died but national military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla later confirmed 11 were killed. Seven others were wounded by the friendly fire. Padilla said the aircraft involved in the incident was a Marchetti S-260, one of 18 new units that the Air Force bought as part of its upgrade program. Two planes were involved in the mission. The first dropped its ordnance accurately but the second missed and hit the government troops who were inside a building instead, Padilla said. The pilot of the plane has been grounded pending an investigation, he added. Armed Forces chief Gen. Eduardo Año ordered the creation of a board of inquiry to determine what went wrong. Lorenzana, meanwhile, warned that many militants may have escaped, despite checkpoints throughout the city and surrounding it. “We have reports they are going to some of the towns around Marawi City,” Lorenzana said. He said there were about 500 militants at the start of the unrest and only between 50 and 100 were believed to still be in Marawi. According to the military, 120 gunmen have been killed, meaning as many as 330 remain unaccounted for and could have slipped out of the city. Next page

CAPTION HEAD. Pr fdlksafdsklf ds;lkfds ;fklsd fdlksafdsklf ds;lkfds ;fklsd fdlksafdsklf ds;lkfds ;fklsd fdlksafdsklf ds;lkfds ;fklsd fdlksafdsklf ds;lkfds ;fklsd fdlksafdsklf ds;lkfds ;fklsd fdlksafdsklf ds;lkfds ;fklsd fdlksafdsklf ds;lkfds ;fklsd fdlksafdsklf ds;lkfds ;fklsd fdlksafdsklf

NAVY TURNS 119. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte joins the 119th anniversary celebration of the Philippine Navy held at the Sasa Wharf in Davao City on May 31, 2017 . The President led the commissioning of the Barko ng Republika ng Pilipinas (BRP) Davao del Sur as part of the celebrations. Presidential Photo


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.
Manila Standard - 2017 June 02 - Friday by Manila Standard - Issuu