MINING AUDIT RESULTS QUESTIONED By Rio N. Araja and Anna Leah E. Gonzales A LAWMAKER on Sunday accused Undersecretary Leo Jasareno of granting special favors to some mining companies that were not ordered closed or suspended for violating environmental laws, while an industry association urged the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources to release the results of its audit. Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace
Barbers on Sunday challenged DENR Secretary Gina Lopez to justify Jasareno’s appointment as the leader of the audit team. Barbers also questioned Jasareno’s findings, which resulted in the closure of 23 big mining companies and the suspension of several others. “How about those mining companies which were not closed and whose owners were known friends of Mr. Jasareno?” Next page Barbers asked.
VOL. XXX • NO. 359 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2017 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph
Senate probes ‘pay for kill’ tale By Macon R. Araneta
ARTS FOR PEACE Pasinaya 2017, a celebration of Filipino culture and arts, has unfolded with this year’s event taking on the theme ‘Arts for Peace,’ at the CCP Complex in Pasay City.
NORMAN CRUZ
THE Senate will investigate this week allegations by the international watchdog Amnesty International (AI) that police paid killers to liquidate drug users and pushers, Senator Panfilo Lacson said Sunday. “I have asked them to look for a committee room for Thursday. If there’s an available [room], we will [notify] those concerned,” said Lacson. Lacson , who heads the committee on public order, said he had already instructed his staff to write a letter to AI and ask them their basis for the allegations. Lacson said he wanted to know the source of AI’s information. “Was there an affidavit? Was there really a statement? Those Next page
Reds deemed terrorists CBCP: War on drugs spurs reign of terror By John Paolo Bencito and Rio N. Araja THE Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines on Sunday assailed President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs for creating a “reign of terror” among the poor in a pastoral letter read in all Masses across the country, but the Palace said the bishops were out of touch with reality. “We, your bishops, are deeply concerned due to many deaths and killings in the campaign against prohibited drugs,” CBCP president Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said in his most strongly worded comments so far on Duterte’s crackdown on pushers and users, which has killed more than 7,000
drug suspects since July 2016. “An additional cause of concern is the reign of terror in many places of the poor. Many are killed not because of drugs. Those who kill them are not brought to account,” Villegas added. The CBCP pastoral letter made it clear it did not advocate neglecting the war on drugs, saying the Church supported the administration’s concern for the evils brought by illicit d rugs. However, the bishops maintained that “an even greater cause of concern is the indifference of many to this kind of wrong.” “It is considered as normal, and, even worse, something that [according to them] needs to be done,” the pastoral letter, signed Jan. 30, read. Next page
As talks fail, Du30 orders arrest of freed detainees By Sandy Araneta and Lance Baconguis
FAILED GAB. President Rodrigo Duterte declares the suspension of peace talks with the Communists Party of the Philippines—National Democratic Front after visiting the grave of his mother at the Davao Catholic Cemetery in Davao City on Feb. 4, 2017.
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RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday declared the Communist Party of the Philippines, its armed wing, the New People’s Army, and the umbrella organization, the National Democratic Front as terrorists and ordered detainees he had freed for peace talks rearrested.
“From now on, I will consider the CCP-NPA-NDF a terrorist group,” Duterte said one day after ordering an end to peace talks with the communist rebels. “I’m ashamed at the statements of these sons-of-bitches. Who do they think they are?” the President, a self-described leftist, said in Filipino. “You give them all the leeway and they make you look stupid,” he added. In remarks at the wake of sol-
diers killed by the communist rebels in Camp Evangelista in Cagayan de Oro City, Duterte also ordered the military and the Bureau of Immigration to be on the lookout for NDF consultants that he had freed for peace talks, including CPP leaders Benito and Wilma Next page
Duterte son Korean mafia warned of ‘kill order’ told: Mind By John Paolo Bencito your kids By John Paolo Bencito PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday advised his son Sebastian “Baste” Duterte to “go home and spend time with your kids” after he heard one of his grandchildren talking bitterly about their father. “I’m hurt for my grandchild as I have not seen the guy [Sebastian],” Duterte. “Go home because your child does not know you anymore.” Duterte said he didn’t want his grandchildren to grow up without their father around them all the time. “Many men are fools,” Duterte said. “They would father three, four children and then leave the wife and go to another woman.” Duterte has three children with his former wife Elizabeth Zimmerman: Davao City Mayor SEBASTIAN ‘BASTE’ DUTERTE
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has warned the South Koreans allegedly controlling the illegal drug trade and prostitution in Cebu province that they would get shot like ordinary criminals if they continued their illegal activities. Following Police Chief Ronald dela Rosa’s remarks that a South Korean mafia could possibly be involved in the abduction and killing of businessman Jee Ick Joo, Duterte said the Koreans in-
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kidnapping, you will be treated just like ordinary criminals.” But Duterte emphasized the Philippines’ friendship with South Korea. “I’m not condemning all Koreans. They’re always welcome here,” Duterte said. “Korea is our friend. It has helped us in so many ways. I will not want to pick a quarrel just like [with] India,” Duterte said referring to his stand against the Indians engaged in usurious lending. Next page
More charges sought vs Jee’s killers By Rey E. Requejo and Macon Ramos-Araneta THE widow of South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo has asked the Justice department to file more cases against those responsible for kidnapping and killing her husband. Choi Kyungjin made the plea before the department’s prosecu-
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volved could not enjoy “special privileges” here just because they were foreigners. “It’s strongest in Cebu. If you ask any [Cebuano] or if you go to Cebu for an investigative journalism you will find out,” Duterte told reporters on Saturday night. “I’ve always heard from intelligence sources that in Cebu, with all due respect to the South Korean government, they’re the ones controlling drugs, prostitution. “For those into the racket of prostitution, drugs and everything,
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tors during the hearing on the reinvestigation of the case on Friday last week. Despite the case, the number of South Koreans visiting the Philippines soared to a record 1.5 million last year and they spent a total of P70 billion, Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto said. He said a total of 5.967-million tourists flocked to the coun-
try in 2016 “for sun, sea and shopping,” with the South Koreans again topping the count. In the Senate, Senator Panfilo Lacson on Sunday said it was wrong for President Rodrigo Duterte to say he had lost trust in the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation following the abduction and killing of Jee. Next Nextpage page
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