NEDA CHIEF SAYS COST OF DECENT LIVING P42,000/MONTH By Vito Barcelo, Maricel V. Cruz and Macon Ramos-Araneta IT WILL entail at least P42,000 a month for a family of five to live decently, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and National Economic and Development Authority Director General Ernesto Pernia said on Thursday. The Neda chief came up with his estimate after the agency drew criticisms from labor groups and lawmakers—who also asked President Duterte to fire the agency’s top officials for using P10,000 to illustrate the cost of living of a typical Filipino family of five. It was Neda Usec. Rosemarie Edillon who used the amount as a hypothetical figure, an example, in computing the impact of inflation—which in May reached 4.6 percent—on the consumption of a family of five. Next page
VOL. XXXII • NO. 113 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 2018 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@manilastandard.net
Senate probe of TRAIN pushed By Macon Ramos-Araneta
S
ENATOR Nancy Binay is seeking a Senate inquiry into the status of social mitigating measures under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law.
SOUR PROSPECTS. Price of white sugar—as this commodity arranged Thursday in San Andres market in Manila—is on the increase with sellers blaming the hike on the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion or the TRAIN Law. Lino Santos
Davao newsman killed; Du30 vows ‘radical changes’ A JOURNALIST based in Davao del Norte was gunned down by unknown killers around 2 pm on Thursday in Panabo City in Davao del Sur, police said. The victim was Dennis Denora, 67, publisher of the community paper Trends and Times and a former columnist of the Sunstar newspaper. Denora was on board his white Hyundai vehicle en route to Tagum City when he was shot twice in the head and died instantly, police said. In other developments: • Police Chief Oscar Albayalde on
Durant delivers dagger vs Cavs GOLDEN State’s Kevin Durant sank a clutch three-pointer in the dying seconds of NBA Finals game three for the second consecutive year Wednesday, delivering a deja vu dagger into Cleveland’s title dreams. Next page
Next page
Palace justifies ‘recycling’ of Cabinet members By Vito Barcelo PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday gave his critics more ammunition for their charge that he condones “recycling corruption,” after he appointed the sacked urban poor commissioner to another government post. Among five commissioners of the Presidential Commission on the Urban Poor who were fired last year for going on foreign junkets, Manuel L. Serra Jr. was appointed Wednesday as a member of the governing board of the Philippine Coconut Authority. Another fired PCUP commissioner, Melissa Avanceña Aradanas, a cousin of the President’s partner, Honeylet Avanceña, was also appointed in March as deputy secretary general of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council. Next page
EMILIO AQUINO
JOSE GABRIEL LA VIÑA MANUEL SERRA JR.
PH ‘second least peaceful’ among Asia-Pacific nations
Next page
Maute’s ‘medical jihad’, wife nabbed By Francisco Tuyay A SUPPOSED active supporter of the Islamic-Inspired Maute group tasked to hatch bomb attacks during the Ramadan including the Feast of the Black Nazarene last January along with his wife were arrested in a police operation in Cagayan de Oro city Wednesday. Initial reports from the office of the Philippine National Police identified the suspects as Eyadzhemar Abdusalam, 26, also known as Medical Jihad; his wife Catherine Dianne Palmitos, alias Maryam Aisha, both nabbed at 4:50 p.m. The couple, authorities claimed, were based in General Santos City. Next page
These mitigating measures provided under the TRAIN Law, Binay said, are necessary to assure the protection of the poor as Filipinos feel the bite of high prices for goods and services as a result of the government’s tax reform program. “We need to know how effective the government is in implementing these measures because these were put in place specifically to mitigate the impact of TRAIN,” Binay said. During the Senate hearing held in Iloilo City, Binay said they were told that pump prices in the Panay region had
DRUG WAR. Laguna Provincial Director Sr. Supt. John Kirby and Santa Rosa police chief Supt. Eugene Orate are interviewed by a television news reporter following a buybust operation during a bloody encounter Thursday with alleged drug pushers and law enforcement authorities in Baranagay Tagapo in Santa Rosa City. One of two suspects, Donato Yambao Sarsaba, died on the spot. Roy Tomandao
THE Philippines slipped one notch to 137th out of 163 countries in the 2018 Global Peace Index, giving it the second worst score in the Asia Pacific, just ahead of North Korea, which placed 150th. The Institute for Economics and Peace, which does the yearly survey, said the Philippines “suffered particularly badly as President Duterte continued his assault on alleged drug dealers and from the fivemonth battle between government forces and Islamic militants who took over the city of Marawi.” Some 1,200 people were killed during the siege of Marawi, which ended five months after it started, but Mindanao remains under martial law. The institute also said the Philippines was among the countries that increased weapon imports last year, as China continued to exert itself “both militarily and politically in the region.” Next page
Facebook joins TV show business SAN FRANCISO—Facebook announced its first original news shows for the social network, joining other online platforms producing video to compete with televiNext page sion.