Xmas Day dampener: Typhoon warning up SEVERE tropical storm “Nina” is expected to make landfall over Catanduanes or Metro Manila on Sunday night, the weather bureau said Friday. “The storm’s eye wall is more dangerous than its eye, and it is possible that ‘Nina’ will make landfall in Metro Manila or Catanduanes,” weather forecaster Robert Badrina told the Manila Standard. Storm Signal no. 2 remained hoisted over Catanduanes, Sorsogon, Northern Samar and Eastern Samar. “Nina”―international name Nock-Ten―will be packing winds of up to 194 kilometers an hour and gusts of nearly 241 kilometers an hour when it hits the eastern tip of Luzon on Sunday, the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The Philippines’ weather bureau is predicting more modest wind speeds.
“Our people are being made aware that we could get hit on Christmas Day,” Romina Marasigan, spokeswoman for the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, told AFP. “The highest levels of preparedness are being undertaken,” she said, including stocking up designated evacuation centers with food and other provisions. Millions of Filipinos are traveling by land, sea or air to their hometowns for the festive holiday. Local weather authorities said the storm could brush past Manila after Christmas Day if it maintained its current path. The main threats were landslides and flash floods from heavy rain as well as potentially large waves known as storm surges smashing through coastal communities, they said. Next page
Jack Lam faces new charges THE Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption on Friday filed a complaint against Chinese gaming tycoon Jack Lam and four others for violating the Anti-Dummy Law. The VACC, through its president Dante Jimenez and legal counsel Ferdinand Topacio said Lam and four others broke the law to get around the prohibi-
tion on foreign ownership of real estate. Also named as respondents in the eightpage complaint were Rosanno Nisce, former president of Fort Ilocandia Holdings; Siu Wah Chung, a British national and former chairman of the board; Edgar Lim, former treasurer and director of Fort Ilocandia Holdings; and Jose Roberto Mumuric, former secretary and direcNext page tor of Fort Ilocandia Holdings.
VOL. XXX • NO. 315 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2016 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph
PH, Asia heighten alert Davao blast suspect falls; terror plots fail in Jakarta, Melbourne
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ECURITY forces arrested the ninth suspect in the September 2 Davao City night market bombing as Southeast Asian nations and Australia went on alert after foiling separate terror plots. In Jakarta, Indonesian police foiled plans by an IS-linked group for a Christmas-time suicide bombing after killing three suspected militants Wednesday and discovering a cache of bombs, authorities said. In Melbourne, Australian police said Friday they arrested seven people as part of an investigation into a plot to attack central Melbourne on or around Christmas Day. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the alleged terrorists planned to “explode improvised explosive devices” in the city’s business district. (Related stories on C4) Joint military and police operatives arrested the ninth suspect in the September 2 Davao City blast at a checkpoint in Barira, Maguindanao Thursday afternoon. Army deputy public affairs chief Lt. Col. Ray Tiongson said a checkpoint manned by police and troops stopped six vehicles without plate numbes and arrested five people, including ex-PO2 Jessy Vincent Guinto Original alias Abu Aisha, formerly assigned at the Antipolo Police Station and a suspect in the Davao Next page night market bombing.
Duterte ‘most Googled person in PH’, says ‘Time’ PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte was the Philippines’ “Most Googled Person in Each Country in 2016,” Time magazine said Friday. Duterte is known for his expletive-laden speeches, and Malacañang said Friday it was not surprised by the magazine’s report. Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said Duterte was an unknown politician from Davao City when he decided to run for President in the May elections. “The President was a relatively unknown political figure outside Davao City and Region XI. It is therefore not surprising that people
in the Philippines would be interested to know him and his platform,” Andanar said. But the person who got the attention of most people around the world was US President-elect Donald Trump. Trump was the top trending person in 88 countries this year, “far more places than anyone else in the world,” Time said. John
Paolo Bencito
Rody: Martial Law must be a presidential prerogative PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said he wants the Constitution amended to make it less difficult for any president to declare Martial Law. Speaking in front of volunteer women in Angeles City on Thursday, Duterte said he wants the declaration of Martial Law to be the sole prerogative of the president. This, he said, would bypass the “inefficiency” of having Congress and the Supreme Court agree to the declaration.
“If I declare Martial Law amid an invasion or war, I cannot proceed on and on, especially if there is unrest. I would need to go to Congress and to the Supreme Court? “Well, what happens if the Supreme Court says one thing and Congress says another— one says yes and the other says no? Where would you put me? That’s why I really need to change it,” Duterte said. Under the 1987 Constitution, Next page
GIANT PROBLEM. President Rodrigo Duterte, discussing Thursday how huge the illegal drugs problem is with 4 million addicts in the Philippines, assures the more than 9,000 women volunteers against illegal drugs—the Convergence of Nanay Volunteers as Community Drugwatch—in Pampanga there will be ‘no corruption’ in his government.
Drugs, gambling heaped on Leila By John Paolo Bencito SENATOR Leila de Lima did not only condone the illegal drug trade, she may have also protected and benefitted from illegal gambling, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre said Friday.
FILM FESTIVAL. Stars from the eight films included in this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival wave to fans on board their individual floats during the Parade of Stars around the capital city of Manila on Friday. Norman Cruz
Aguirre said De Lima, a former Justice secretary, may soon face another investigation after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered him to investigate online gambling operations owned by Chinese gambling mogul Jack Lam.
“Most probably, he was talking of Leila de Lima, who was being suspected of protecting Jack Lam when she was still the DoJ Secretary because of the proliferation of illegal online gaming,” Aguirre told Manila Next page Standard.
Most Pinoys expect happy Xmas MOST Filipinos expect to have a happy Christmas and believe it is better to give than to receive, the results of the latest Social Weather Stations survey showed. The survey was conducted among 1,500 adults
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nationwide, and it says 73 percent or seven out of every 10 Filipinos expect to celebrate this Christmas. But five percent of the respondents said their Christmas will be sad while 21 percent said it will be nei-
ther happy nor sad. In a message to the faithful, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle said Christmas is a season of hospitality and every Filipino in need, especially the poor, must be welcomed. Next page
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