VOL. XXX NO. 58 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 MONDAY : APRIL 11, 2016 www.thestandard.com.ph editorial@thestandard.com.ph
Pacquiao wins big in ‘final’ prizefight
A16
23 KILLED AS AFP, ABU SAYYAF CLASH
By Florante S. Solmerin
ZAMBOANGA—A government offensive against the extremist Abu Sayyaf Group after a spate of kidnappings has left 18 soldiers and five rebels dead in the worst violence in Mindanao this year, authorities said Sunday. Saturday’s clashes on the strifetorn island of Basilan came after an April 8 ransom deadline set by Abu Sayyaf, who had threatened to behead some of their foreign hostages. At least four soldiers were be-
headed in the fighting, which involved about 100 Abu Sayyaf rebels, regional military spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan said. Armed Forces chief Gen. Hernando Iriberri, who flew to the southern command base in Zam-
boanga city, 44 kilometers from the violence, said the fighting lasted almost 10 hours. “The whole armed forces is grieving,” he told reporters. He said a Moroccan national who was with the gunmen was killed in the clashes, identifying him as Mohammad Khattab, an instructor in making improvised explosive devices as well as an “Islamic jihadist preacher.” “He wanted to unify, organize all kidnap-for-ransom groups to be affiliated with an international terrorist organization,” the general said. He would not identify the inter-
national group the Moroccan was allegedly working for. Iriberri said operations were continuing, adding that “even as we speak, there is an encounter going on in the same place.” The 10-hour firefight Saturday took place inside the stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf Group led by Isnilon Hapilon in Sitio Bayoko, Barangay Baguindan, Tipo-Tipo, Basilan. Hapilon is included in the list of most wanted terrorists in Asia by the United States government with a $5-million bounty for his capture, dead or alive. Last year,
Hapilon’s group had pledged allegiance to the Islamic terrorists in Iraq and Syria. The bloody clash brought back the horrifying memories of the Al-Barka clash, also in Basilan, on Oct. 18, 2011 where 19 members of the Army’s Special Forces were killed, some of them mutilated, during a day-long firefight with about 400 combined armed men of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, ASG and some private armed groups. Military sources identified the fallen soldiers—all members of
Next page
VP debate. The six candidates for vice president in the May 9 elections face off in the official Comelec debate at the University of Santo Tomas campus in Manila on Sunday.
LP slogan in official ballots draws flak
A3
Rivals gang up on Marcos in television debate By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Christine F. Herrera THE first and only official debate among six vice presidential candidates put Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in the hot seat, with Senator Alan Peter Cayetano leading the attacks against him based on allegations of corruption and human rights abuses during his father’s
Martial Law regime. Cayetano and Senator Antonio Trillanes IV took turns attacking Marcos, while administration candidate Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo trained her guns on fellow Bicolano, Senator Francis Escudero. Cayetano, who has been at the tail end in all election surveys, confronted Marcos about his family’s alleged $10 billion in ill-gotten wealth. He also said that if
Marcos were elected, he might steal even more than the amount his father was said to have accumulated. But Marcos insisted that Cayetano’s numbers had no basis and came from nowhere. “I’m also wondering why he was coming out with those allegations only now when we have been together for years Next page