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LEAVING ON A JETSKI? DUTERTE SETS VISIT TO PH RISE By Vito Barcelo PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will visit Philippine Rise from May 15 to 16, to assert the country’s territorial ownership of the vast continental shelf and to mark its renaming from Benham Rise, the Palace said Tuesday. Presidential Spokeman Harry Roque said the visit Next page
VOL. XXXII • NO. 83 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2018 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@manilastandard.net
Wanda quits; probe still on By Macon Ramos-Araneta, Vito Barcelo, Sara Susanne Fabunan and Maricel V. Cruz
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HE Office of the Ombudsman said Tuesday it has begun investigating the P60 million worth of Department of Tourism commercials that were placed in a TV show produced by Ben and Erwin Tulfo, the brothers of Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo, who resigned Monday over the scandal.
WANDA NO MORE. Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon Teshiba Tulfo-Teo, flanked by her brothers Ben (left(and Erwin, resigns Tuesday, according to her lawyer and spokesman Ferdinand Topacio, out of ‘delicadeza’ and not because President Rodrigo Duterte told her so, adding her decision to leave her position has been made ‘after a long and deliberate reflection and soul-searching with respect to the events that have transpired the past weeks.’ File Photos
Big Mak chomps McDonald’s at SC By Rey E. Requejo LOCAL burger company L.C. Big Mak Burger Inc. has won its legal battle against food chain giant McDonald’s Corp. over the popular “Big Mac” Next page brand.
Special envoy to rescue ‘rescuers’ in Kuwait By Vito Barcelo and Sara Susanne D. Fabunan PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has named Presidential Adviser on Overseas Filipino Workers Concerns Abdullah Mamao as special envoy to Kuwait in a bid to restore the falling diplomatic ties with the Gulf state following reports of Filipino workers being abused by their employers there, Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque said Tuesday. “He [Mamao] will be appointed special envoy to Kuwait and he was tasked to return to Kuwait immediately to make sure that all Filipinos who should be sent back home can return home,” the Palace official said. Mamao will fly to Kuwait to assist Fili-
pino workers who wish to be repatriated to the Philippines. Roque said Mamao’s appointment came after his successful efforts to ease a diplomatic row with Kuwait over operations launched by the Philippine embassy staff to rescue distressed Filipino workers there. He said Mamao’s task was to deal with the country’s “unsettled business” in Kuwait, including negotiating for the welfare of three Filipino diplomats wanted by authorities as well as four drivers detained over the rescue mission. “We want to see our three diplomats home. We want the four drivers completely cleared because they are residents of Kuwait. There’s about 800 runaways that we want to bring home,” Roque said.
“So the mandate of Secretary Mamao is to bring everyone home and to possibly normalize ties with Kuwait, sign the MOA [memorandum of agreement] if possible,” he said. He added Mamao will also see through the pending memorandum of understanding between Philippines and Kuwait on the protection of Filipino workers, in hopes of normalizing ties. Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, Roque, and other Foreign Affairs officials were scheduled to fly to Kuwait on May 7 to sign the labor deal between the two countries, but the trip was canceled after the latest diplomatic row. Roque said Mamao will talk with the Kuwaiti government about the deal ahead Next page of Bello.
Sereno vows no retreat: I’m no coward By Rey E. Requejo EMBATTLED Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said Tuesday she will not budge from her stand following the calls for her resignation. She faces the specter of being ousted by her colleagues at the Supreme Court who are expected to decide soon on the quo warranto petition filed against her by the Office of the Solicitor General. But Sereno said she will not step down and vowed to defend herself. “That resignation [call] is nonsense; that’s only for the coward,” Sereno told reporters at a forum on women at the Adamson University in Manila. “Our nation
Poll watchdog scouting for volunteers
needs heroes―-not just one but millions of heroes. That’s what we need now; that’s what the present time calls for.” Sereno said judicial independence and the freedom of the people would be threatened should her fellow justices vote to oust her on May 11. “Dictatorship will win and will prevail in the country if the quo warranto petition wins and judicial independence will be dead,” Sereno said. She made the statement after the Officers of the Philippine Judges Association and Supreme Court Employees Association reiterated their call for her to step down during the flag-raising ceremony at the Supreme Court grounds on Monday. Next page
By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan
Panel to probe Dengvaxia deaths By Vito Barcelo and Rio N. Araja PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the creation of a three-member panel of Asian health experts to determine if the anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia was responsible for the deaths of several children injected with the vaccine, Malacañang said Tuesday. Presidential Spokesman Harry
Roque said the President wanted to look into the safety concerns raised against Dengvaxia, the world’s first dengue vaccine. The President will invite foreign pathologists to clarify the conflicting findings from the Philippine General Hospital and the Public Attorney Office in relation to the controversial dengue immunization program, Roque said. Next page
“Yes we’ve already done that,” said Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, when asked if her office had already started an investigation into a Commission on Audit finding that led to Teo’s resignation. In its report, CoA questioned the P60 million paid to Ben Tulfo’s show Kilos Pronto, saying that the DoT ad placements “were not supported with proper documents” as required by law. Teo at first denied knowledge of the ad placements, saying the project had gone through a bidding process that was reviewed by the DOT legal department. She also said the ad agreement was between the DoT and People’s Television Network Inc., which operates the stateowned PTV4, and that it was PTNI that decided to place the tourism commercials in Kilos Pronto, produced by Tulfo’s Bitag Media Unlimited, a blocktimer. Amid calls for Teo to step down over the conflict of interest, she submitted her resignation to the Palace Monday, her lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said Tuesday. He added that Teo had decided to leave before the Cabinet meeting Monday, after which she had a one-on-one meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte. Senators said Teo’s resignation would not stop a Senate investigation into the advertising agreement between the DoT Next page and PTNI.
FORUM ON WOMEN. Embattled both, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno (left) and Australian missionary Sister Patricia Fox, appear as guest speakers Tuesday at the Women on Fire Forum at the Adamson University in Manila where they addressed issues separately confronting them. Resorting to free verse poetry in Filipino, Sereno expressed what she thought of the 71-year-old land reform and peasant rights advocate. Norman Cruz
THE National Movement for Free Elections said Tuesday it is looking to sign up as many volunteers as possible in time for the May 14 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, following its approval as one of the poll watchdogs. “Namfrel has issued a general call for volunteers to observe the barangay and SK elections this month,” the group said. It said the volunteer work only involves observing the elections in the barangay where they are registered to vote. Namfrel said all volunteers are required to remain non-partisan throughout the election process. On Monday, the Comelec said it has accredited Namfrel and the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting to serve as the poll body’s citizen arm during the coming elections. Senator Nancy Binay, meanwhile, appealed to the Bureau of Internal Revenue to waive the imposition of the 5 percent withholding tax on the electoral board’s honorarium and travel allowance in the upcoming barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections. Next page