VOL. XXX • NO. 313 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2016 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph
‘Du30 killings part of anti-kidnap job’ THE Philippines said Wednesday that President Rodrigo Duterte’s killing of three people in the 1980s was part of a police operation, after the United Nations human rights chief urged Manila to investigate him for murder. In several speeches last week, Duterte recounted how in 1988, early in the first of his several terms as mayor of Davao City, he and local police ambushed and
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killed three suspected kidnappers. UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in a statement Tuesday that Duterte’s killings, by his own admission, “clearly constitute murder” and Philippine judicial authorities must launch a murder investigation. Duterte spokesman Ernesto Abella said Wednesday Zeid’s comments were nothing more than “his opinion.” Next page
BI chief gets ultimatum to return P20-m payoff By Rey E. Requejo JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Wednesday required Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente to turn over P20 million from the P50 million allegedly extorted from Chinese casino mogul Jack Lam. Aguirre ordered Morente to surrender to his department or to
the National Bureau of Investigation the amount he considers evidence in the extortion case. Aguirre, who supervises the Bureau of Immigration, gave Morente 24 hours or until December 22 to comply with his order. “You are likewise instructed to make a written report to the undersigned on your compliance Next page
CHRISTMAS SPIRIT. President Rodrigo Duterte, his common-law wife Honeylet Avanceña and their daughter Veronica have their picture snapped during the Christmas Party at the riverside Malacañang on Tuesday.
Justice indicts De Lima Files criminal raps for defying House order
Top cops’ bonuses: Nothing received
By Rey E. Requejo and Macon Ramos-Araneta
T
HE Justice Department filed a criminal case Wednesday against Senator Leila de Lima before a Quezon City metropolitan trial court for ignoring a summons of Congress.
By John Paolo Bencito MALACAÑANG on Wednesday maintained that President Rodrigo Duterte did not offer exorbitant bonuses to the country’s top policemen following reports from policemen claiming they received amounts from the office of Police Chief Ronald dela Rosa on Monday. “Well, somebody is supposed to have said that sort of thing, but from my own source, nothing was received from their end,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said. “Nothing was received from their end and nothing may be forthcoming.” Malacañang on Tuesday denied Dela Rosa’s announcement that the top policemen would receive bonuses of P100,000 each. Abella said they were still Next page
SHE DID RETURN. Opposition Senator Leila de Lima, described by the Solicitor General as ‘Public Enemy No. 1,’ returns to the country Tuesday after a week-long trip overseas where she received an award and spoke at the Annual Conference on Cultural Diplomacy in Berlin, Germany. No media interviews were granted. Eric Apolonio
Power sharing with Reds ruled out By John Paolo Bencito PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte told exiled Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison that his demand for power sharing was impossible, and said a ceasefire agreement
was needed before any political prisoners are released. Speaking before soldiers and policemen at Camp Aguinaldo on Tuesday, Duterte reiterated that a coalition government that the communist rebels want will not prosper. “It will never happpen. I said
that I cannot share power with him. He knows that,” Duterte said, referring to his phone call with Sison early Tuesday at about 2 a.m. Manila time. Duterte said he also told Sison, his former professor at the Lyceum Next page
Sex—costs, Sayyaf suspects abduct benefits 4 crewmen from PH ship weighed PARIS—From an evolutionary perspective, sexual reproduction could be seen as a non-starter. Compared to cloning, which also exists in Nature, it’s a major waste of time and energy. Think of the ungainly, preening peacock—an easy snack for tigers and wild dogs—strutting his stuff to impress the ladies. Next page
FOUR crewmen from a Philippine-flagged fishing vessel have been snatched in waters off Sulu where Abu Sayyaf Islamic militants have previously taken hostages, the military said Wednesday. A sister vessel found the unmanned FB Ramona 2 in the Celebes Sea early Tuesday, two hours after the crew of both vessels made their last radio contact, regional military spokesman Major Filemon Tan said. twitter.com/ MlaStandard
Tan told reporters that seamen from the sister ship “found all crews on board missing and the VHF Radio/GPS was stolen.” He said the Filipino boat captain and three other crew members were believed to have been abducted. The area is close to the remote Sulu island group more than 1,000 kilometers south of Manila. The Sulu group is a stronghold of the Abu Sayyaf, which is
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In a resolution written by Assistant State Prosecutor Vilma Lopez-Sarmiento, the department approved the indictment of De Lima after it found probable cause to hold De Lima liable for violating Article 150 of the Revised Penal Code, which penalizes “disobedience to summons” after she ignored a House summons to appear before its inquiry into the proliferation of illegal drugs inside the New Bilibid Prison. De Lima’s indictment comes a year after she left her post as Justice secretary to run for the Senate in May. The senator said she would swiftly respond to the charge, describing it as a way to save face, after the House investigation failed to establish a link between
her and the illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison. She added that she has yet to receive a copy of the complaint against her. “This rush to crucify me publicly through inaccurate press releases and statements, even before allowing me the chance to learn about the charges against me and to prepare my defense, speaks loudly and clearly of the real motivation behind the filing of this case,” she said. “Therefore, pending our receipt of the formal notice by the proper court, my legal team is currently reviewing all options available to us—but with the disadvantage of not really knowing what the allegations and evidence against me are.” Next page
JT protests EJK, scraps ’17 concert GRAMMY award-winning singer James Taylor said Wednesday he has canceled a February 2017 concert in the Philippines to protest the extrajudicial killings in President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal drug war. “I don’t think of my music as being particularly political but sometimes one is called upon to make a political stand,” the US star said in social media posts on Twitter as well as on his Facebook page. “For a sovereign nation to prosecute and punish, under the law, those responsible for the ilCANCELED CONCERT. Grammy-winning American singer-songwriter legal trade in drugs is, of course, James Taylor has taken to social media Wednesday to announce the understandable, even commendcancellation of his Manila concert next year, saying he needs to make a political stand, citing the increasing number of deaths—now in the vicinity able,” he said, calling drug dependence a “scourge” and a of 5,000—related to President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against illegal drugs. AFP “worldwide problem.” Next page
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