Warning on P8-t buildup ignored By John Paolo Bencito and Vito Barcelo MORE than 12-million jobs will be created over the next five years when the administration starts rolling out its ambitious P8-trillion infrastructure development plan, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said Monday even as an analyst warned that the additional spending might sink the country into “virtual debt bondage.” “After listening to my coworkers, they picture a golden age of infrastructure, which to the Department of Labor is the golden age for employment. It’s a golden age for build, build, build. To the Department of Labor that means the golden age of jobs, jobs, jobs,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello told an audience of mostly Chinese businessmen and the foreign press in Beijing. “With $164-billion infrastructure projects for the next five years, we are talking of not less than 12-million jobs for our countrymen,” he added. The January 2017 Labor Force Survey from the Philippine Statistics Office shows that the employment rate is at 93.4 percent, underemployment is at 16.3 percent, while unemployment is at 6.6 percent. While the administration creates more than a million jobs every year, increased infrastructure spending in the country would likely double the number of Next page
Sino loan to finance weapons’ buy—DND VOL. XXXI • NO. 91 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • TUESDAY, MAY 16, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@thestandard.com.ph
PARTNERS. President Rodrigo Duterte gets a warm welcome from China President Xi Jinping prior to the holding of the first session of the Leaders’ Roundtable with the theme ‘Synergy for Closer Partnership.’ Presidential Photo
By John Paolo Bencito and Francisco Tuyay THE Philippines is ready to buy planes, fast boats and drones from China using a $500-million long-term soft loan to build up its defense capabilities, Defense Secretary Delfin Lazaro said Monday. After executives of the stateowned arms manufacturer Poly Technologies paid a courtesy call on President Rodrigo Duterte, who is on a working visit in Beijing, Lorenzana said he signed a nonbinding letter of intent to buy defense equipment, including “airplanes, drones [and] fast boats” that can help the military stop bandit groups and pirates operating in Basilan, Tawi-Tawi and Sulu. “We’re not saying we will buy or not. But if we need anything from the Chinese defense industry, we will procure [these] using the loans they will offer us,” he said. Beijing offered a $500-million loan on standby, which the Philippines can draw from once the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ modernization fund is fully used up. “If we still have money, we will buy with our money. When we run out, that’s when we dip into their loan,” Lorenzana said. Lorenzana said a technical team will have to inspect the equipment being offered, while the Defense department will consult with the Army, Navy and Next page
PH, China set ‘peace’ gab Bilateral talks slated on May 17, a first in joint bid to end sea row By John Paolo Bencito
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RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte vowed Monday that the Philippines would continue to “peacefully engage” with China to lower tensions in the South China Sea, saying that bilateral meetings that would be held for the first time on May 17 were a step in the right direction towards settling the territorial dispute between the two countries. “It is important to keep our communication lines open. I am pleased that we have established a bilateral consultation mechanism on the South China Sea. This is one step forward toward peacefully engaging disputes and I hope the inaugural meeting will be a success,” Duterte told President Xi Jinping during their meeting at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.
Formed during President Duterte’s first trip to China last year, the bilateral consultative mechanism (BCM) will see Filipino and Chinese officials meet for the first time from May 18 to 19 to tackle the South China Sea dispute. Manila’s Ambassador to Beijing, Jose Santiago Sta. Romana will lead the Philippine delegation during the bilateral discussions,
while China will be represented by Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua. Duterte said the mechanism should be used to strengthen relations between the two countries. “We have signed many agreements and resumed bilateral dialogue mechanisms, such as the foreign ministry consultation. These are steps... in the right direction,” Duterte said. Foreign Affairs Executive Director Evangeline Ong said the bilateral consultative mechanism would allow both countries to separate the tracks where they cooperate well, and where they have problems. For his part, Xi said the relations between the Philippines and China Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana shares his views on the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation have improved since Duterte’s state during a press briefing at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Beijing. Members of Mr. Duterte’s Cabinet are in full force Next page including Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez. Presidential Photo visit in October 2016.
‘Impeach-Duterte’ bid rejected
Napoles’ petition cast aside
By Maricel V. Cruz THE House of Representatives’ committee on justice on Monday junked the impeachment complaint filed against President Rodrigo Duterte, with all 42 of the members present voting that it was
By Maricel V. Cruz and Rey E. Requejo THE Sandiganbayan on Monday denied the request of accused pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles to be detained at the National Bureau of Investigation, ordering her transfer instead to Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig City from the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City. The court’s First and Third Divisions, in separate orders, granted the prosecution’s motion to have Napoles, who is accused of plunder, detained at Camp Bagong Diwa. Napoles had been serving a 20- to 40-year sentence in the Correctional Institution for Women after a Makati court convicted her of serious illegal detention, but asked to be transferred to the NBI after the Court of Appeals overturned her conviction this month. Next page
insufficient in substance. The committee, chaired by Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, said the complaint filed by Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano was sufficient in form but lacked substance because it relied on hearsay allegations against the
President. House Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas subjected Alejano to intense grilling on the impeachment complainants’s verification of the complaint by asking Alejano if he would have Next page
Ex-Transport chief found Abu Sayyaf, liable for MRT mess—Poe 11 Maute men fall By Macon RamosAraneta
REJECTED. Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano ponders his next move after he gets raked over the coals before the House committee on justice which eventually decides to dump his impeachment complaint against President Rodrigo Duterte. Manny Palmero
SENATOR Grace Poe said Monday former Transportation Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya was remiss in his job when he signed for his department a P3.8-billion contract with a new maintenance company that resulted in the many problems hounding Metro Rail Transit 3. “Yes, I can see he committed some blunders and and he even admitted them,” Poe said. “He was the one who said he did not know what he entered into. He just fully trusted the previous DoTC officials that he said
were doing their job well.” Abaya’s revelation that he signed the contracts for MRT 3 without going through the “nitty gritty” was the biggest disclosure in Monday’s hearing of the Senate committee on public services led by Poe. “Perhaps that’s the biggest revelation here: He allowed the entry of a maintenance contract to replace Sumitomo but he did not know the details of this [contract],” Poe said. “He said he merely signed because, as he said, he was just new there... the past secretary [before him] and the latter’s people decided on the contract.” Next page
THE military said Monday a member of the Abu Sayyaf who served as a contact, spotter and purchaser of high-speed boats in the group’s cross-border hijacking and kidnapping activities was arrested in Tawi-Tawi on Saturday. Captain Jo-Ann Petinglay, spokesman of the Western Mindanao Command, identified the suspect as Sahidul Bandhala Jikiri who carries the aliases Idul, Jamiri Saidul, Saidul Idul and Jikiri Saidul. He said Jikiri was a resident of Next page