VOL. XXIX NO. 234 3 Sections 24 Pages P18 SUNDAY : OCTOBER 4, 2015 www.thestandard.com.ph editorial@thestandard.com.ph
FOOD TASTING FOR A LIVING
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NOY: NO APOLOGIES CLUELESS ON ‘STAG PARTY’; ONLINE PETITION VS LP GAINS GROUND By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan and Joel E. Zurbano PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III, chairman of the ruling Liberal Party, sees no need to apologize for the “stag party” that LP members had in Laguna on Thursday and infuriated Filipino netizens into starting an online petition on Saturday. At the same time, a labor organization demanded the resignation of LP officials involved in the stag party where a group of dancers, called Playgirls, performing a racy dance with LP members on stage during the birthday of Laguna Rep. Banjamin Agarao. The performance was recorded by a “concerned citizen” and posted on Facebook, raising a howl from netizens, who complained that the LP event was a violation of the Magna Carta of Women, or Republic Act No. 9710. “[But] the President had nothing to do with it. The President had no idea that it was happening,” Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a radio interview over a state-owned Radyo ng Bayan. Although Valte admitted that the performance denigrated and debased women, she said Aquino, even if he is the LP chairman, does not share the perception of some LP members and there was no need for him to apologize for their behavior. “The President will never condone, nor will he give approval, to any act that would denigrate our women, that would debase them or contribute to such an indignity. We all saw that, whether private event or public event, you know that that is not the perception of the President,” she said. But a group of netizens started a petition on Change. org demanding that Aquino take responsibility as the head of state and party chairman. “The entertainment at a Liberal Party oath taking ceremony and attended by government officials presented women as sexual objects,” the petition read. “Despite Malacañang [through Secretary Herminio ‘Sonny’ Coloma] and MMDA Chief Francis Tolentino’s denial that the women performers were his ‘gift’ to the host, eyewitness accounts from the media who were present proved otherwise,” the petition read. Next page
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BINAY, MARCOS NEAR DEAL ON 2016 TEAMUP By Vito Barcelo VICE President Jejomar Binay and Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. have supposedly reached a “very significant breakthrough” in their ongoing talks to team up for the 2016 national elections, Binay’s camp said on Saturday. “It’s almost a done deal,” Binay himself said in a radio interview as lawyer Jose Virgilio Bautista, secretary-general of the United Nationalist Alliance, lauded the development as “a very significant breakthrough.” Bautista said Binay and Marcos talked directly with each other for the first time on Friday and discussed political matters, including UNA’s search for Binay’s running mate. “Those two haven’t spoken directly. They always had an intermediary. And I think that is a very significant breakthrough because they have never spoken personally with each other,” Bautista said. Next page
HEADING HEADING HEADING HEA FLYING HIGH. The National University Cheer Dance Squad performs a thrilling aerial pyramid on the way to retaining their crown in the UAAP Cheer Dance Competition at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay yesterday. Finishing runner-up was University of Santo Tomas, while University of the Philippines Pep Squad settled for second runner-up. EY ACASIO