VOL. XXIX NO. 333 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 mONday : JaNUaRy 11, 2016 www.thestandard.com.ph editorial@thestandard.com.ph
Napeñas hits LP ‘lies’ on massacre
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ROW OVER GRACE DIVIDES COMELEC By Rey E. Requejo and Sandy araneta
THE row within the Commission on Elections deepened Sunday as Commissioner Rowena Guanzon tore into Chairman Andres Bautista for taking her to task for submitting without his clearance a comment to the Supreme Court defending the poll body’s decision to disqualify Senator Grace Poe from the presidential race.
“My question is, does he want us to win or lose in the Supreme Court?” Guanzon said in Filipino in an interview over radio dzBB. “My question to all of you listening is, do you want us to lose in the Supreme Court? I don’t want us to lose because I don’t like losing.” Bautista drew Guanzon’s ire after he sent her a memo requiring her to explain within 24 hours why she filed a comment to the Supreme Court without letting him read and sign it. He added in the memo that if she did not explain herself, he would inform the Supreme Court that the comment was unauthorized.
But Guanzon said the comment filed last week had the authority of the Comelec en banc, even if it was not signed by Bautista. She noted that the Comelec was given only 10 days to file a comment from Dec. 28, 2015—and that if they did not submit it by Jan. 7, they might lose the case. Bautista, on the other hand, said the Comelec had sought and was given a five-day extension, or up to Jan. 12 to file its comment, so Guanzon did not need to rush her Jan. 7 submission, an assertion she also disputed. Guanzon, who voted with the majority to disqualify Poe, described Bautista’s attitude as “peculiar.” Next page
Countdown. Officials release doves during the kickoff ceremonies for the start of the gun ban and the countdown for the election period for this year’s elections at the Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros, Manila, on Sunday. Danny Pata
Population advocates blast budget cut By Christine F. Herrera FAMILY planning advocates on Sunday chided the Senate, for removing the P1billion budget for free condoms, IUDs and birth control pills for distribution by the Department of Health this year. Former Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman and the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development
said Congress reneged on its obligation to adequately fund the speedy and full implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law (R.A. No. 10354) after Senator Vicente Sotto III caused the deletion of P1 billion of the P1.157 billion for the procurement of “modern and natural family planning supplies.” Lagman, the principal author of the
RH Law, underscored that the remaining P157 million is not nearly enough for the purchase of family planning commodities. “This reverses the progress we have achieved so far in promoting reproductive health and ensuring that couples, especially women, are given better choices in planning their families Next page
‘Peace body gave bogus attendance documents’
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