Joma tags P1k outlay as ‘killing budget’
VOL. XXXI • NO. 214 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@manilastandard.net
Fund free tuition law than CHR ---Alvarez
By John Paolo Bencito
By Maricel V. Cruz
COMMUNIST Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison denounced President Rodrigo Duterte Friday as the “worst kind of president” after authorizing a budget of only P1,000 for the Commission on Human Rights and billions of pesos for law enforcement. “I think I have a lot of criticisms to make of previous presidents, but this is the worst kind of president,” Sison said in an ANC television interview. “I would say that Duterte is very well on the way to proclaiming a fascist dictatorship. He’s preparing for martial law and to impose a fascist dictatorship in the Philippines,” he added. Sison slammed Congress’ move to allocate only P1,000 to the CHR, which supports his statement that Duterte is heading towards dictatorship. Next page
SPEAKER Pantaleon Alvarez on Friday backed a proposal to reallocate the Commission on Human Rights’ proposed P678-million budget for 2018 to finance the implementation of the free college education law. He said he would rather finance President Rodrigo Duterte’s recently signed Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act than give the CHR a big budget when it had failed to carry out its mandate to protect the Filipinos’ human rights. “Why does the government allocate millions of pesos for an agency that does not fulfill its mandate when it can better provide enough budget for a scholarship program of the state to help the poor and deserving students?” Alvarez said. “We will rather fund the free tuition law to ensure its implementation. The CHR does not serve its purpose anyway.” Next page
REPLACEMENT. New trainees from the National Capital Region Police Office stand at attention while getting a briefing Friday from their seniors after the Philippine National Police sacked 297 policemen from three precincts in Caloocan City, with plans to kick out the entire 1,000-member contingent of the Northern Police District after city cops were implicated in the killing of three minors in August. Metro Manila police chief Oscar Albayalde said all police personnel in Caloocan would undergo retraining and reorientation before being reassigned to other police units, not necessarily in Manila. Andrew Rabulan
Entire Caloocan police force fired By Francisco Tuyay
HE Philippine National Police on Friday sacked 297 policemen from three precincts in Caloocan City and plans to kick out the entire 1,000-member contingent of the Northern Police District after city cops were implicated in the killing of three minors in August
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The 297 sacked personnel were assigned at Police Community Precinct (PCP) 7, which was home to three of the men tagged in the killing of Grade
11 student Kian delos Santos; PCP-2, where members of the force shot and killed Carl Angelo Arnaiz, 19; and PCP4, where members forced their way into
the house of an old woman. Metro Manila police chief Oscar Albayalde said all police personnel in Caloocan would undergo retraining and reorientation before being reassigned to other police units, not necessarily in Manila. Albayalde did not say how long the retraining would last and how long it would take for the entire police force in Caloocan to be replaced. “Their relief will be done via batches. Eventually we will reshuffle the whole Caloocan City Police,” Albayalde said. On Wednesday, 11 members of
the NPD-District Public Safety Battalion were seen on CCTV taking valuables from a house during a supposed drug operation, forcing the National Capital Region Police Office to take prompt action. Albayalde said the 11 members of the unit that took part in robbery have been kicked out. The Metro Manila police chief said those relieved will be temporarily replaced by members of the Regional Public Safety Battalion of the NCRPO and District Safety Battalion of the Next page NPD.
Pledges swamp lawyers’ group kitty drive for CHR By Joel E. Zurbano THE fund drive for the Commission on Human Rights initiated by Artikulo 3, a group of human rights lawyers, has been swamped by pledges, with at least one individual pledging a personal donation of P100,000. A total of 119 congressmen gave the CHR, which had a budget of more than P600 million this year, a 1,000-peso budget for next year over its criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on illegal drugs, which has killed thousands. “We are thankful for the numerous queries and pledges received by Artikulo 3 from groups and individuals
interested in donating to the CHR. One individual even pledged a personal donation of P100,000 for the agency,” Artikulo 3 president Hilda Clave said. She refused to identify the generous donor. But as the protests mounted after the House of Representatives approved a P1,000 budget for the CHR for 2018, social media went abuzz with reactions from celebrities and ordinary netizens who have initiated a fund-raising campaign for the agency. Actress Agot Isidro, a vocal critic of Duterte, in her Twitter account lashed out at the 119 who approved the measure on Next page Tuesday.
Defense chief: Nationwide martial law ‘very remote’ By John Paolo Bencito weakened state of militant DEFENSE Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Friday played down President Rodrigo Duterte’s threats of declaring martial law nationwide, saying this was a “very remote” possibility, given the
groups. “He said if the left launches massive protests and they set fires on the streets and disrupt the country, then I might declare martial law,” Lorenzana said in Filipino at a Palace briefing.
“In my estimate, that’s a very remote chance that will happen.” In his speech before troops at Cagayan de Oro City, Duterte said that “he will not hesitate to impose martial law throughout the country and order the ar-
rest of everybody” if communists stage a rebellion against the government. Lorenzana said the President was only concerned that a leftist rebellion that might get out of hand and disrupt public order, but Next page
PH condemns N. Korea’s London train incident ‘farthest’ missile launch city’s 5th terror attack SEOUL―North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan and into the Pacific Friday, responding to the new UN sanctions with its farthest-ever missile flight in what analysts called a demonstration of its ability to target Guam.
The launch, from near Pyongyang, came after the United Nations Security Council imposed an eighth set of measures on the isolated country following its sixth nuclear test earlier this Next page month.
PASSENGERS were seen badly burned and covered in blood after what police described as a “terrorist incident” on a London Underground train on Friday. Witnesses reported seeing passengers with facial burns
and hair coming off at Parsons Green station and seeing a fire or hearing an explosion on the train. Police said “a number of people” were injured as Prime Minister Theresa May’s office Next page
LIBERATING MARAWI. Members of the Philippine Marines 1st Brigade conduct clearing operations Thursday at the main battle zone to liberate the ruined city of Marawi from the presence of Islamic State-inspired terrorists still in some portions of the lakeshore capital. The government has suffered 148 fatalities and 660 on the enemy side, with 45 civilian deaths blamed on the militants. Mark Navales
President: Trillanes wealth came from Chinese By John Paolo Bencito and Macon RamosAraneta
CONTINUING PROVOCATION. A woman watches Friday a screen showing file footage of a North Korean missile launch. Pyongyang, in a major show of defiance to the international community, fired a ballistic missile over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido Friday, the second to fly over Japan in less than a month, and the first since North Korea’s sixth nuclear test and new United Nations sanctions on the country. AFP twitter.com/ MlaStandard
LONDON BLAST. Several people are injured Friday after witnesses reported a blast on a packed rush-hour commuter train in London, with police saying they are treating it as a terrorism incident. Passengers on board a train heading into the capital fled as fire engulfed a carriage at Parsons Green underground station in West London at 8.20 a.m. (3.20 pm in Manila), with some suffering burns and other injuries in a stampede to escape, according to witnesses. AFP facebook.com/ ManilaStandardPH
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THE loss of the Scarborough Shoal to the Chinese has led to the accumulation of alleged ill-gotten wealth of Senator Antonio Trillanes in his supposed off-shore bank accounts, President Rodrigo Duterte insinuated Friday. In a television interview, Duterte once again questioned Trillanes’ role as back-channel negotiator for
the Philippines in its claims involving Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal—saying the opposition senator “had earned” from his talks with the Chinese. “He was going back and forth, eight or nine times in China and his money had accumulated—that’s the time we lost the Scarborough Shoal,” the President said in an interview aired over staterun television PTV4. Soon after winning the presidency, Duterte said
that Trillanes could have committed treason in his backchannel talks with Chinese officials over the West Philippine sea claims, as he reiterated someone should answer for the loss of the Scarborough Shoal to the Chinese. In an interview last May, Duterte said Trillanes had initiated secret “back-channel” talks with the Chinese government that could have only put in jeopardy the Philippine interest over the shoal. Next page
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