Manila Standard - 2016 July 27 - Wednesday

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Curfew ordinances TRO’d By Rey E. Requejo

VOL. XXX • NO. 165 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2016 • WWW.THESTANDARD.COM.PH • EDITORIAL@THESTANDARD.COM.PH

THE Supreme Court on Tuesday stopped the governments of Manila, Navotas and Quezon City from imposing curfews on minors and ordered the three local government units to comment on a petition filed by a group of residents and students

who opposed the city ordinances. The LGUs were given 10 days to submit their comments. Last week, a group of residents and students called Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (Spark) challenged ordinances in the three cities that imposed curfew hours on people Next page below 18 years old.

Safe conduct pass for Joma, Misuari

JOSE MA. SISON

By John Paolo Bencito and Florante S. Solmerin

NSC meets today amid sea dispute

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RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday he would give safe conduct passes to exiled communist leader Jose Ma. Sison and fugitive Moro leader Nur Misuari, as formal talks with the rebel groups are set to start by the end of the year.

By John Paolo Bencito PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will convene the 35-member National Security Council today to discuss the pressing issues facing the country before a delegation led by former President Fidel Ramos faces Beijing for talks over the West Philippine Sea. “The President will lead the NSC in a multi-partisan dialogue in order to agree on vital policies and strategies on important matters, including the recent ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration on the West Philippine Sea,” the Presidential Communications Office said in a statement sent to reporters. The NSC, chaired by Duterte functions to advise the President Next page

SC junks anti-Edca petitions By Rey E. Requejo THE Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld its Jan. 12 decision declaring the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement between the Philippines and the United States as constitutional. Voting 9-4, the justices denied separate motions for reconsideration fired by former senators Rene Saguisag and Wigberto Tañada, who were among the 12 senators who voted to eject the US military bases in Subic in 1992; the Kilusang Mayo Uno and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), and several other party-list groups. Court spokesman Theodore Te said the tribunal ruled that the petitioners failed to raise new arguments that would warrant a reversal of their decision. Next page

THOU SHALL NOT KILL. Sympathizers led by ‘Huwag Kang Papatay’ Movement offer candles, flowers and prayers during a Mass for the victims of extra judicial killings at the St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Adamson University, Manila on Tuesday. DANNY PATA

Rody draws flak for ‘inciting’ drug killings A HUMAN rights group on Tuesday slammed President Rodrigo Duterte for “implicitly” supporting the killings of alleged drug suspects during his first State of the Nation Address. “Instead of speaking out against the sharp rise in police killings of suspected drug dealers and users and the sinister increase in extra-judicial killings of

criminal suspects by unknown perpetrators, Duterte implicitly voiced support for such unlawful brutality by stating that police can rightly put illegal drug suspects ‘below the ground’ if necessary,” Phelim Kine, Asia deputy director of the New Yorkbased Human Rights Watch, said in a statement sent to the Manila Standard.

“Duterte made clear that his government’s “relentless and sustained” campaign against illegal drugs―which Philippine human rights groups have blamed for a “surge of extra-judicial killings of suspected criminals and drug offenders”―won’t end anytime soon. “Instead, Duterte urged police: “Double your efforts. Triple them,

if need be. We will not stop until the last drug lord, the last financier, and the last pusher have surrendered or [been] put behind bars or below the ground.” Kine said US Secretary of State John Kerry should express concern about Duterte’s “relentless and sustained” campaign against illegal drugs when he meets him Next page this week.

9 Filipinos get life term over failed Sabah siege A MALAYSIAN court sentenced nine Filipinos to life in prison on Tuesday over an armed incursion in 2013 that left scores dead and paralyzed a remote corner of Borneo for weeks, a defense lawyer said. Eight others, including three Malaysians, received prison sentences ranging from 10 to 18 years, said lawyer N. Sivananthan.

In Manila, Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said the nine Filipinos accused in the failed siege in Lahad Datu district in Borneo in 2013 were spared from execution after a Malaysian court reduced their sentence to life from death. “All the accused Filipino have been assisted and represented by a private lawyer after their arrest

in early 2013 and from the start of the trial proceedings in January 2014,” Jose said. “The services of the private lawyer were arranged by our embassy in KL and paid for by the PH government. “Those found guilty have appealed their case. The appeal was filed and the case elevated to the

Malaysian Court of Appeal.” Jose said he and officials from the Philippine Embassy were regularly visiting the accused who are in jail in Borneo and assuring them of full legal assistance. The capital punishment for the terror-related offense in Malaysia was death, according to Foreign Affairs. Next page

Speaking before troops at Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija, Duterte also defended his decision to declare a unilateral ceasefire with the communist rebels, a decision he said was made collectively by his Cabinet. “I have initiated talks within the Cabinet about this. I have to start with releasing the leaders not on anything but safe conduct passes for Sison and Misuari,” Duterte said. “I don’t know if one day, there could be a mess or trouble. It is always a comforting thought that I have an Armed Forces that’s ready in case we cannot understand each other,” Duterte said. “My mission in this presidency is peace, and I have to talk to the MILF [Moro Islamic Liberation Front]) and MNLF [Moro National Liberation Front] and even Nur [Misuari] and [Al Hadj] Murad, [who say] they’re always ready to talk peace,” he added. In his State of the Nation Address last Monday, Duterte declared a unilateral ceasefire with communist rebels, calling for an “end to the violence on the ground” and the restoration of peace in the communities and a resumption in peace talks. He also urged the communists to “end these decades of ambuscades and bloody skirmishes.” Communist Party of the Philippines founder Sison, who is seeking political asylum in The Netherlands, was Duterte’s former professor of political thought at the Lyceum of the Philippines. He acts as chief political consultant of the National Democratic Next page Front.

Tycoons tapped to kick in Kerry weighs in on PH-China row funds for addicts’ rehab

ON A STUMP. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a Democratic Party organizing event on July 25, 2016 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Story on A2) AFP

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VIENTIANE—The Philippines and China should “turn the page” and hold talks over contested areas of the South China Sea after a tribunal shot down Beijing’s claims to the strategic waterway, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday. Relations between China and the Philippines hit a nadir earlier this month after Beijing refused to recognize a UN-backed ruling invalidating its claims to much of the sea. The Philippines, which says it owns areas claimed by China, took the case to a Haguebased tribunal for arbitration. Kerry reiterated Washington’s stance that the tribunal’s decision to favor the Philippines was binding, but added that it was time to seek new ground. “I would encourage President Duterte to engage in dialogue, in negotiations,” Kerry told reporters in Laos, referring to the tough-talking new Philippines leader. Kerry is due to fly to Manila for talks with Duterte later Tuesday. Next page thestandard.com.ph

CABINET Secretary Leoncio Evasco said Tuesday the Duterte administration will tap business tycoons in its plans to build four large drug rehabilitation centers to house drug addicts seeking rehabilitation. “We can ask them to do their share in this campaign. We have been giving so much to them,” Evasco told GMA News. He made the statement even as the military said it was willing to allow the use of military camps as rehabilitation centers for drug users. “As per Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, the camps [that can be used as rehabilitation centers] should have large spaces like Fort Magsaysay in Palayan, Nueva Ecija; Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal; and Camp Osito D. Bahian in Malaybalay, Bukidnon,” Armed Forces spokesman

Restituto Padilla said. Meanwhile, a police officer believed involved in “recycling” confiscated illegal drugs was killed in a shootout with lawmen during a buy-bust operation in Quezon City at dawn on Tuesday. Quezon City Police Chief Guillermo Eleazar identified the slain police officer as Senior Insp. Ramon Castillo, 46. Under the administration’s plan, two rehabilitation centers will be built in Luzon while the Visayas and Mindanao will have one rehab center each. Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said the plan to set up more rehabilitation centers in the country was prompted by reports of hundreds of drug users and pushers voluntarily turning themselves in. Next page

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