The Standard - 2016 June 29 - Wednesday

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VOL. XXX NO. 137 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 WEDNESDAY : JUNE 29, 2016 www.thestandard.com.ph editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Abu Sayyaf using kids in crimes

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‘COMELEC CHIEF MISREAD RULES’ Commissioner invokes reso on travel authority

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

COMMISSIONER Christian Robert Lim on Tuesday accused Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista of misapplying and misquoting the rules on travel authority, saying he had no power to approve his own trip.

In a memo, Lim noted that the Comelec, as a constitutional body, is exempted from securing tavel authority from the Office of the President, but must follow the rules and guidelines that it promulgates. The row over Bautista’s recent trip to Japan was the latest wrinkle in the ongoing turmoil at the Comelec that pits six commissioners against the chairman.

Earlier, the commissioners accused Bautista of a “failure of leadership” in a memo that raised 15 issues against him. The commissioners now say Bautista traveled abroad without authority from the en banc, which could not designate an acting chairman while he was away. This, they said, meant they could not act on pending work.

Lim said an executive order clearly states that constitutional bodies should promulgate guidelines regarding the approval of travel authorities of their heads. Based on a Comelec en banc resolution approved May 12, 2016, if the chairman needs to travel, the most senior member of the commission will sign the travel authority. Next page

File photo shows Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista (left) with Commissioners Al Parreño, Arthur Lim and Sheriff Abas during the National Board of Canvassers’ opening of ballot boxes at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City. LINO SANTOS

Swim for fitness

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Aquino leaves 20 Congress bills unacted By Macon Ramos Araneta WITH only two days left in his term, President Benigno Aquino III has yet to act on more than 20 bills approved by Congress, which will have to be refiled in the 17th Congress if he doesn’t sign them into law before noon of June 30. Senator Vicente Sotto III said that if Aquino does not sign the 22 enrolled

bills before he steps down, they will be deemed “unacted” and will have to go through the entire legislative mill again in the 17th Congress. Among the unsigned bills are an anti-carnapping measure, the proposed Foreign Ownership Act and the Basic Education Act. A few days from the end of his term, Aquino signed four measures, includ-

ing the Centenarians Act and the NBI Reorganization and Modernization Act. The Centenarians Act grants a P100,000 cash incentives and additional benefits and privileges to each Filipino centenarian. It does not, however, include a provision that would have granted them 75 percent VAT Next page exemption.


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