VOL. XXIX NO. 292 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 TUESday : dECEMBER 1, 2015 www.thestandard.com.ph editorial@thestandard.com.ph
Drilon: No LPs jumping ship yet
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2 iraqis sPotteD Near cLash site By Francisco Tuyay
TWO Iraqi nationals whose mission in the country remained unknown were spotted in Central Mindanao but the military on Monday said the Ansar Khilafa Philippines that government troops were pursuing relentlessly had no direct links to the Islamic State and were known cattle rustlers.
The two Iraqis, an intelligence source said, were spotted by agents monitoring terrorist activities in the area where an Indonesian jihadist and seven others were killed in a firefight with Marines on Nov. 27 on the outskirts of Palembang town in Sultan Kudarat. “They [2 Iraqis] were seen adjacent to Palembang town last November 23 but could not be located their present location,”
said the source. The reported presence of the two Iraqis brings to 12 the number of suspected foreign terrorists in the country days before the bloody encounter with the AKP. The foreigners include three Syrians, spotted somewhere at the Cararao Complex in Lanao province, five Malaysians in Sulu Next page and two Indonesians.
Salute to Gat Andres Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada lays a wreath before the shrine of national hero Andres Bonifacio, a resident of Manila’s Tondo district, near Manila City Hall on the hero’s 152nd birth anniversary Monday. DANNY PATA
Lacierda twits FB survey win of Miriam
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Duterte blasts Pope in bizarre speech PRESIDENTIAL candidate and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte was declared the standard bearer of the PDP Laban Monday, after boasting of killing criminals and even cursing the Pope for causing traffic in Metro Manila. In a rambling, obscenity-filled speech at the Century Park Hotel in Manila, Duterte said he would take a zero-tolerance approach to crime and
admitted personally killing criminals. “It’s true, I don’t deny that,” he said. Duterte bragged about killing a group of kidnappers and then burning their bodies during his time as mayor, but did not provide details. “I really finished them. This was a good killing,” he told a cheering crowd. The mayor even lashed out at Pope Francis, blaming him for causing
traffic jams in the capital of the overwhelmingly Roman Catholic nation when he visited in January. “Pope, you son of a -----, why don’t you go home,” he said. In a report earlier this year, Human Rights Watch said Duterte’s so-called “Davao Death Squad” had killed more than 1,000 people during his tenure as Next page mayor of the city.