Manila Standard - 2017 September 21 - Thursday by Manila Standard

QUAKE JOLTS MEXICO, LEAVES 216 DEAD RACE AGAINST TIME. Rescue teams try to beat the deadline Wednesday looking for survivors from the rubble following a major earthquake in Mexico City, with initial reports suggesting 216 people, including women, were killed, 30 of whom from the capital. AFP

MEXICO CITY, Mexico— At least 216 people including 21 children crushed beneath an elementary school were killed when a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Mexico Tuesday. The destruction revived horrific memories in Mexico on the anniversary of another massive quake in 1985, the disaster-prone country’s deadliest ever. It struck just two hours after the country held a national earthquake drill, as it does every year on the anniversary of the 1985 quake, which killed at least 10,000 people. One of the most gutwrenching scenes was at the Enrique Rebsamen primary school on Mexico City’s south side, whose three floors collapsed into one, trapping students and teachers inside. Twenty-one children and five adults were killed, said Maj. Jose Luis Vergara of the Mexican navy, who was coordinating a rescue effort that involved hundreds of soldiers, police, civilian vol-

unteers and rescue dogs. He said another 30 to 40 people remained trapped, while 11 children have been rescued so far. Emergency workers found a teacher and a student alive beneath the rubble and were trying to get them out, he said. But the situation was precarious. Late into the night, part of the wreckage collapsed as rescuers continued their search. Local media reports said soldiers had administered oxygen to one trapped child through a tube. President Enrique Peña Nieto, who rushed to the site, warned the death toll could rise. “Unfortunately, many people have lost their lives, including children,” he said in a national address. The devastation struck across a swath of central states and the death toll as of early Wednesday was 216, the head of the national disaster response agency, Luis Next page

Mopping up as Marawi war nears end THE Marawi crisis will likely end this month as government troops are concluding their operations in the wartorn city, President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday. “It looks like we’re just mopping up, and they’re just trying to ﬁnd out where

the leaders are,” Duterte told state-run PTV4. Duterte said that while he thinks the ﬁght in Marawi is “almost over,” there won’t be any victory celebration. “I do not want any celebration of victory. We

all lost in Marawi. Every Moro or every soldier who died breaks our heart. They’re all Filipinos,” he said in Filipino. “So when it’s over, I don’t want anybody shouting, ‘Mabuhay! Mabuhay!’ Next page

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50 hazing suspects eyed Panel cleared to restore budget of CHR, 2 others By Maricel V. Cruz HOUSE appropriations committee chairman and Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles said Wednesday night his panel had been cleared to endorse the restoration of the budgets of the Commission on Human Rights, the Energy Regulatory Commission and the

National Commission on Indigenous People after the heads of the three ofﬁces appealed to Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. The breakthrough was achieved after CHR Chairman Jose Luis Gascon, ERC Commissioner Geronimo Sta. Ana and NCIP Chairwoman Leonor OraldeQuintayo sought the help

of House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas and Appropriations Chairman Karlo Nograles to act as a bridge between them and Speaker Alvarez. Nograles said that, during the meeting, Gascon agreed that the CHR should extend its investigations beyond human rights violations allegedly perpetrated by state agents

House junks impeach-Bautista move corruption allegations against him were “fabricated and baseless.” THE House of Representa“I welcome the decision tives’ committee on justice of the House of on Wednesday dismissed Representaoutright the impeachment tives Comcomplaint leveled against mittee on Commission on Elections Justice to Chairman Andres Bautista. Next page Reacting immediately, Bautista said he was considerably relieved after the House panel dismissed the impeachment complaint ﬁled against him and maintained that

By Maricel V. Cruz and Vito Barcelo

WALK-THROUGH INSPECTION.

Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista, against whom an impeachment complaint was lodged by his estranged wife but dismissed by the Committee on Justice of the House of Representatives Wednesday, inspects the printing of ballots for Barangay and SK elections at the National Printing Office in Quezon City. Manny Palmero

to include other groups who were victimizing members of the police, the military and even civilians. “The Speaker basically told Chairman Gascon that we are not the enemy,” Nograles said. “The Duterte government is not the enemy. We are one with the CHR in the ﬁght against all forms of human

rights violation but they must start looking also at the violations committed by criminals and insurgents.” Alvarez earlier said a reenacted budget was a possibility if both chambers of Congress would fail to come up with a compromise on the reduced budget of the Commission on Human Rights. Next page

Bounty on ‘ninja’ cops up; govt admits to some EJKs SOME deaths in the bloody drug war were the ”handiwork of government,” President Rodrigo Duterte admitted Wednesday as he raised the reward for the heads of scalawag cops to P3 million. “Handiwork of government. Meron ‘yung lumaban, admitado namin ‘yan,” Duterte said in an interview with state broadcaster PTV4 when asked if some of the deaths in the drug war were not the result of the government’s anti-narcotics drive. But he described the incidents as “organized crime” that he was not yet ready to divulge. He insisted he was ready to face charges because of the bloody drug drive once he stepped down from ofﬁce after ﬁve years. “Ako, admitahin ko.

Sino... Sino ‘yung nagkaroon ng engkwentro? Sige, akin ‘yan. Sabi ko, “I will hold myself solely responsible.” Balang araw kung gusto nila akong i-demanda, eh ‘di i-demanda mo. “It would be my pleasure to go to prison for my country.” Duterte made the pronouncements as he raised the bounty on alleged ninja cops to P3 million, saying the government’s crackdown on scalawags had somehow been slow. “Wala namang nahuli na ninja cops. I’m raising the ante to P3-million per head,” the President said in his speech during the conferment ceremony of 2017 Outstanding Government Workers in Malacañang. Next page

Frat officers, members tagged; alert order out By Bill Casas

ORE than 50 ofﬁcers and members of the Aegis Juris fraternity are now considered suspects in the hazing death of University of Santo Tomas law student Horacio Castillo III, police said Wednesday.

“Part of the investigation will include possible members of the UST law faculty and alumni who participated in the hazing of Atio Castillo or the cover up of this incident,” said Manila Police District Director PSSupt. Joel Coronel. “They will be held either as co-conspirators, accomplices, accessories [and] even [be] liable for obstruction of justice.”

Under the Anti-Hazing Law, even members who were not present during the initiation rites but had knowledge of it may be held liable for the victim’s death, Coronel said. Aside from 16 ofﬁcers, the police were also looking for about 40 members. The MPD chief added that they were looking into Next page

Protests vs drug war, martial law abuses set By John Paolo Bencito, Bill Casas and Rey E. Requejo THE martial law era of the late President Ferdinand Marcos should be remembered for its failures, especially in upholding human rights, President Rodrigo Duterte said Wednesday, ahead of massive protests

planned for today, Sept. 21. The protests, coinciding with the 45th anniversary of Marcos’ declaration of martial law, are aimed at the government’s bloody war on drugs, his martial law declaration in Mindanao and what leftist groups described as Duterte’s dictatorial tendencies. Next page

807-page Duterte hints at DAP charges vs De Lima President told state workers for Human Rights were not John Paolo petition seeks By allowed to visit her in her dein a speech. Bencito and Joel tention cell in Camp Crame The President, however, Aguirre ouster Zurbano did not explain how De last Tuesday. A YOUTH group whose leaders wore colorful wigs trooped to the Department of Justice on Wednesday to demand the resignation of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II. The group dubbed as YouthRESIST delivered to the DoJ an 80 7-page petition, citing reasons why Next page

ASIDE from her alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison, embattled Senator Leila de Lima may soon face new charges related to the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program under the previous administration, her top critic, President Rodrigo Duterte, said Wednesday. “She has a case coming up also related to DAP,” the twitter.com/ MlaStandard

Lima, a former, justice secretary, got herself entangled in the DAP under the administration of Benigno Aquino III. “Although I could not believe really because we were talking, this woman is really something,” he continued. Meanwhile, De Lima slammed the Duterte administration after delegates of the Asean Parliamentarians

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De Lima said the APHR delegates led by Tian Chua and Charles Santiago, both members of Parliament of Malaysia, together with members of the minority bloc in the House of Representatives, Reps. Tom Villarin and Teddy Baguilat Jr., were not allowed to see her despite compliance with the 10-day prior notice rule. Next page

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ALLIANCE REBUKED. The Liga Independencia Pilipinas tells a news conference Wednesday that today’s protest rally at the Quirino Grandstand will gather a group of the Liberal Party which it brands as ‘dilawan’ (yellow) and represented by former President Noynoy Aquino and Senator Kiko Pangilinan; the ranks of destabilizers allegedly led by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV; and ‘pulahan’ (reds) to which belongs Jose Maria Sison, the legal front of the CPP-NPA-NDF, and Bayan. Norman Cruz

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