Duterte gives in to Kris’ plea for brod By John Paolo Bencito
VOL. XXX • NO. 360 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2017 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph
GALLANTRY HONORED. President Rodrigo Duterte honors the gallantry of Cpl. Owen Yee at the latter’s wake at St. Ignatius de Loyola Parish in Cagayan de Oro City on Sunday, after hitting the rebels for launching several attacks against the military even before the New People’s Army’s announced termination of its unilateral ceasefire on Feb. 10.
New crackdown on Reds snags 4 Du30 calls on Interpol to arrest Joma; NDF invokes Jasig By Florante S. Solmerin, Pearl A. Gajunera and John Paolo Bencito
T
nance technical staff and finance staff of the revolutionary movement based in the region. The military said in spot report that they were arrested by virtue of a warrant of arrest issued by a regional trial court for multiple attempted murder. NDF chief Fidel Agcaoili said all NDF consultants are protected by the Joint Agreement on Security and Immunity Guarantees (Jasig) that was recently reinforced during the third round of talks in Rome, Italy. Arbitrario was accompanied by Roderick Mamuya, a regional liaison of the Southern Mindanao Regional Command of the New People’s Army. The two were immediately turned over to the police. Next page
Next page
NDF: Soldiers’ rubout meant to mislead Rody By John Paolo Bencito and Maricel V. Cruz COMMUNIST rebels on Monday claimed that the Armed Forces of the Philippines killed three of its own soldiers in Bukidnon to pin the blame on the New People’s Army and to provoke President Rodrigo Duterte into cancelling peace talks. “It could be a rubout from the AFP to pin the blame on
By Maricel V. Cruz, Gabrielle H. Binaday and Anna Leah E. Gonzales
PILOT STATION. Light Rail Manila Corp. president Rogelio Singson (left) briefs LRTA Administrator Reynaldo Berroya (second from left), Jaime Zobel de Ayala, Ayala Corp. chairman, and Fernando Zobel de Ayala, president and chief operating officer of Ayala Corp. during the launch of the pilot station Doroteo Jose in the LRMC improvement project. Lino Santos
THE Chamber of Mines of the Philippines on Monday asked President Rodrigo Duterte to review the closure and suspension orders issued by Environment Secretary Regina Lopez, calling them “irresponsible, unfair and illegal.”
Next page
In a statement, COMP chairman Art Disini said Lopez’s decision to close 23 large-scale operating mines and suspend five others would hurt 1.2 million Filipinos whose livelihood depend on legal mining and cripple local governments that benefit from the taxes paid by the industry. “Her actions have finally revealed her true bias: to stop all mining in the Philippines,” the Next page group said.
378 erring cops told to clean Pasig SoKor wants By Macon R. Araneta PHILIPPINE National Police [PNP] chief Dir. Gen. Ronald dela Rosa on Monday said he will bring 378 police scalawags from the National Capital Region Police Office to Malacañang, where they will be made to clean the Pa-
sig River. In a press conference, Dela Rosa said the move was in line with President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to bring the errant policemen to him instead of subjecting them to retraining. Dela Rosa said the President wants the policemen to remove
the water lilies clogging the Pasig River as they are becoming a problem for the barge which shuttles the President from Malacañang to Bahay Pangarap across the river. He added that most of these 378 policemen are not involved in Next page
MM classes suspended amid strike By Joel E. Zurbano and Rio N. Araja AFTERNOON classes in some colleges and universities in Metro Manila were suspended on Monday because of a transport strike to protest the reported phaseout of old passenger jeepneys. The city governments of Manila and Malabon announced the suspension of classes in all levels in both public and private schools at noon due to the nationwide strike led by an organization of jeepney drivers. The transport strike was expected to end by 7 p.m. on Monday. The jeepney drivers struck even as the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board approved a provisional
JEEPNEY PHASEOUT. The PNP
and military Monday help transport passengers from Taft Avenue in Manila (above) while stranded passengers wait for their rides along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City (left) after a transport coalition group challenged the no-strike policy for public utility vehicles and to protest the planned jeepney phaseout. Norman Cruz/ Manny Palmero
Next page
twitter.com/ MlaStandard
the NPA,” said Luis Jalandoni, chairman of the negotiating panel of the National Democratic Front [NDF]. “It could be possible that the military themselves killed the soldiers [to railroad the peace talks] ... Because the NPA doesn’t have this policy to waste bullets in a single encounter,” Jalandoni told GMA-7 in a TV interview from Utrecht, The Netherlands. Three soldiers were killed by
Mines group hits out at ‘unfair, illegal audit’
HE military has begun arresting communists after President Rodrigo Duterte ended peace talks with them over a spate of rebel attacks on government troops. Reports reaching Camp Aguinaldo Monday said Ariel Arbitrario, a consultant for the National Democratic Front, was arrested at a checkpoint in Davao City. He had been released last year to join peace talks with the government. Arbitrario’s arrest was confirmed by Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate at a news briefing. “The members of the government panel were already made aware of this. I hope this will be resolved soon so it will not complicate matters,” Zarate said. On Saturday, the military and police arrested a communist couple in Ozamiz Port, Misamis Occidental. The military identified the suspects as Lito Elmidolan alias Gary and wife Maria Bella Elmidolan alias Lalay or Thelma, ord-
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Monday said he would no longer proceed with the creation of an “alternative commission” to probe the botched raid in Mamasapano, Maguindanao in January 2015, in which 44 police commandos were killed. In a speech during the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s campaign to encourage large taxpayers to pay taxes, Duterte said he would instead wait for the results of the cases filed before the Ombudsman on the culpability of officials under the previous Aquino administration on the ill-fated encounter between police and Muslim rebels. “I am not going ahead with the creation of a commission, because, apparently, the Ombudsman has said that it’s still pending before them. I do not want to have a multiple incongruity, especially if one is finding fights with the other. So I will wait,” the President said. Duterte said actress and television host Kris Aquino, sister of former President Benigno “NoyNoy” Aquino III, has texted
facebook.com/ ManilaStandardPH
S
thestandard.com.ph
PH to deliver ‘swift justice’ By John Paolo Bencito THE South Korean government has asked President Rodrigo Duterte to “deliver swift justice” to the family of slain Hanjin executive Jee Ick Joo and to resolve the other cases filed by Korean nationals against scalawag cops, chief presidential counsel Salvador Panelo said Monday. He made his statement even as Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation were jointly looking into the possible involvement of an alleged Korean mafia in Jee’s kidnapping and killing. Next page
Church urged not to meddle in state affairs SENATOR Aquilino Pimentel on Monday said the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines had the right to speak against the Duterte administration’s campaign against illegal drugs but reminded the group about the separation of Church and State. Next page
Missed your copy of Manila Standard? Call or text our Circulation Hotline at 0917-8848655 or email: circ@manilastandardtoday.com