Manila standard 20170112 thursday

VOL. XXX • NO. 334 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2017 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

WINE OF HONOR. President Rodrigo Duterte, raising his glass Wednesday in a toast during the New Year Vin d’honneur at the Rizal Hall in Malacañang, urges foreign diplomats to continue to build strong bonds with other nations, while vowing his administration will pursue new relations as Manila nurtures time-tested friendships.

Duterte seeks new allies, boosts old ties By John Paolo Bencito

THE Philippines will strengthen its friendships with other countries even as it strives to forge new ones, President Rodrigo Duterte said before the diplomatic corps on Wednesday during his ﬁrst Vin d’Honneur. “We value partners as we seek to strengthen existing friendships even as we pursue new ones,” Duterte told the diplomatic corps that included Papal Nuncio Guiseppe Pinto, US Ambassador Sung Kim, Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua and Russian Ambassador Igor Khovaev. “We believe that friends help each other and utilize constructive engagement to achieve common goals. In truth, we all share

the same aspiration of greater peace, progress and prosperity.” Duterte’s Vin d’Honneur was attended by 94 envoys and heads of international organizations― one of the leanest in recent years. He said the Philippines was doing its part in addressing the challenges it faced as part of the international community, and particularly terrorism, natural and human-induced calamities, transnational crimes, hunger and poverty and international disputes. “Indeed, as we strive to be stronger at our core, we hope to do more not just for our own people but for our region and for the world,” Duterte said He said the Philippines and its partners should work together to Next page

Palace shuts off Leni from Vin d’ Honneur MALACAÑANG invited Vice President Leni Robredo to its Vin d’ honneur reception but then canceled it, Robredo’s spokeswoman said on Wednesday. “Our Ofﬁce received an invitation to the Vin d’honneur via e-mail last December 28,” Georgina Hernandez told reporters in a statement. But “On January 4 Malacañang

called the Ofﬁce to retract the invitation, stating that the guest list was limited,” she said. Malacañang said it was President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision on who to invite for his ﬁrst Vin d’ honneur after Robredo got uninvited to the annual Palace gathering. “It was not the President’s decision to snub her,” presidential

Access to RH choices OK’d

EO spurs use of family planning methods By John Paolo Bencito

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RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has signed an order providing access to family planning methods despite a Supreme Court order prohibiting the government’s procurement and distribution of some family planning aids, an ofﬁcial said Wednesday.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia slammed the high court for delaying its decision to lift the temporary restraining order on sub-dermal implants, a contraceptive that can prevent pregnancies for up to three years. He said Duterte signed Executive Order No. 12 after it was finalized by the Health Department and other agencies on Jan. 9. FIGURAL FIST. Yet again, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Army and police officers join “All women of reproductive age should be able President Duterte in raising the now familiar fist gesture during the erstwhile social custom to achieve their desired family size, their desired Vin d”honneur Wednesday which has since morphed into a diplomatic ceremony, the iconic Next page highlight being the presidential toast.

of exporters, which employs hundreds of thousands of workers, opposes the plan to increase monthly contributions to the Social Security System. “The national government is duty-bound to step in and pay the THE country’s biggest group increase in beneﬁts of members if

Digong chides 1,400 mayors: Heed warning By John Paolo Bencito

PARTING SHOT. US First Lady Michelle Obama (C) and US President Barack Obama greet supporters as daughter Malia looks on after the President delivered his farewell address in Chicago, Illinois on January 10, 2017. AFP

Obama farewell speech: Yes we did CHICAGO, UNITED STATES― Barack Obama addressed America and the world for the last time as US president Tuesday, in a speech that was both a tearful goodbye and a call to arms. Capping eight years in the White House, Obama returned to his adopted hometown of Chicago to recast his “yes we can” cam-

paign credo as “yes we did.” Surveying the staging posts of his presidency―from the Iran nuclear deal to reforming healthcare―the speech sought to lift supporters shaken by Donald Trump’s shock election. Obama urged them to pick up the torch, ﬁght for democracy and forge a new, fairer, “social compact.” twitter.com/ MlaStandard

“For all our outward differences, we are all in this together,” he said, warning that naked partisanship, racism, and inequality all threaten democracy. “We rise or fall as one.” “All of us, regardless of party, should throw ourselves into the task of rebuilding our democratic institutions.” Next page

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PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte confronted the country’s 1,400 mayors Wednesday and chided them for letting illegal drugs into their communities. After warning those involved in the illegal drug trade to resign or die, Duterte addressed the local chief executives who were

bused in from the Philippine International Convention Center to Malacañan Palace. Duterte spoke to mayors in two batches—the ﬁrst were mayors from the Visayas and Mindanao, the second batch was made up mostly of Luzon mayors. Various sources who were present during the meetings said

AN UNIDENTIFIED gunman shot and killed a state prosecutor and a former Associate of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II in front of a restaurant along Com-

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monwealth Avenue in Quezon City Wednesday afternoon. Aguirre immediately ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to look into the killing of Quezon City prosecutor Noel

MOST Filipinos disagree with the need to impose Martial Law to address the various problems being faced by the country, the latest Pulse Asia survey released Wednesday revealed. The survey, conducted among 1,200 adult respondents showed that 74 percent do not see the need to impose Martial Law to resolve the many crises facing the nation, while 12 percent agree with the need to have martial rule. Fourteen percent were undecided. The sentiment was the prevailing opinion in all geographic

the SSS cannot afford to shoulder the expenses,” said Sergio OrtizLuis, president of the Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport). Under the existing setup, SSS members pay 11 percent of their

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