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Trump scuttles talks with Kim Raps Nokor for hostility, ‘trail of broken promises’
SUMMIT CANCELED. US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (right) appear poles apart after the former abruptly canceled the scheduled June 12 summit in Singapore. But North Korea says it is still willing to talk ‘at any time in any form’ after the summit cancellation, with Trump blaming the North’s ‘open hostility’ for the cancellation, another phrase for what Washington called Pyongyang’s ‘trail of broken promises.’ AFP
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NITED States President Donald Trump informed Kim Jong-un late Thursday (Friday in Manila) he is canceling their nuclear summit next month in Singapore, blaming “anger” and “hostility” from the North Korean regime for the collapse of the historic event. Trump and Kim had been due to hold high-stakes talks on June 12 aimed at ridding the reclusive state of nuclear weapons, but the meeting was recently thrown into doubt as both sides raised the prospect of scrapping the discussions and traded threats. But several hours later, North Korea said it is willing to talk to the United States “at any time,” prompting China to urge both sides to show restraint as a pall of uncertainty settled over the turbulent Korean Peninsula once more. Next page
Sotto: Set death penalty only for big drug trade
Doctors uncover MJ’s ‘tilt’ illusion CORE or stomach strength, shoes with special heels, and a peg on the floor. That’s how the late Michael Jackson performed his 45-degree, leaning, gravity-defying “Smooth Criminal” dance move, according to three neurosurgeons in a study published in a science journal this week.
By Macon Ramos Araneta VOL. XXXII • NO. 100 • 3 SECTIONS 18 PAGES • P18 • SATURDAY,, MAY 26, 2018 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@manilastandard.net
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MICHAEL JACKSON
Great countries do not need strongmen. They need strong institutions. —Ombudsman Conchita CarpioMorales, speaking to lawyers at an Integrated Bar of the Philippines forum
Sereno asks SC for more time to rebut order MAKING NOISE. Some students from the left-leaning League of Filipino Students stage a protest Friday against the effects of Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion in Divisoria, Manila, a chaser to militants’ call for higher wages than tax reform. Norman Cruz
Senate panel pushes for fuel excise tax suspension
By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Vito Barcelo THE Senate committee on public services on Friday urged the government to suspend excise taxes on fuel as allowed by law, even as the public continues to reel from rapidly rising commodity prices. Senator Grace Poe, who heads the panel, said she would ask her colleagues
CONCHITA CARPIO-MORALES
Joma belittles Rody’s threat as comedy yarn JOSE Maria Sison on Friday shrugged off President Rodrigo Duterte’s threat to kill him, saying it would be best for them to continue “preparing for the resumption of formal talks and make substantial progress as soon as possible.” “PRRD [Duterte] has repeated so many times the threat to kill me that sometimes I surmise that the expression ‘kill’ has actually become a term of endearment, as in some American comedies,” Sison, the chief political consultant of the communist National Democratic Front of the Philippines, said in a statement posted on the NDFP website. Next page
SENATE President Vicente Sotto III said Friday that a bill seeking the reimposition of the death penalty could get the 13 votes or more that it needs if capital punishment is limited to high-level drug trafficking. In an interview on the ANC news channel, Sotto said he would vote for such a bill, and was even willing to help Senator Manny Paquiao, who is the principal author, to sponsor it. “I’d rather not use the words ‘actively push;’ but I’d allow it to be debated on the floor,” he told ANC’s “Headstart.” Legislation to restore the death penalty, a campaign promise of President Rodrigo Duterte, has not prospered under Sotto’s predecessor, Senator Aquilino Pimentel III. Sotto said arguments that the death penalty is anti-poor or will not deter crime were “correct,” except for highlevel drug trafficking. Next page
to support the initial recommendation of the committee, after conducting a public hearing in Iloilo City on the effects of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law. This developed as the Department of Finance is proposing to Congress in the next few weeks to raise excise taxes on the so-called “sin products” despite their impact on inflation.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez told reporters raising taxes on cigarettes and alcoholic drinks would make the people think first before they buy or consume these products. Raising excise taxes on sin products was not based on the idea of raising revenues that could be derived from them, but to “discourage the consumption of Next page
By Rey E. Requejo and Maricel V. Cruz OUSTED chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno on Friday asked the Supreme Court to give her more time to explain why she should not be sanctioned for violating the sub judice rule and for casting aspersions on members of the bench at the height of debates on the quo warranto case against her. Sereno’s spokesperson, Josalee Deinla, said Sereno has already filed a motion for extension asking Supreme Court to give her 15 days more, or until June 9, to respond to Next page the show cause order.
CoA flags DoJ over P92-m bank accounts By Rio N. Araja THE Commission on Audit has called the attention of the Department of Justice for undocumented payroll and unauthorized accounts worth P92 million under the administration of then Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II. According to an audit report, the Justice department was liable for having unreconciled payments, undocumented payroll, and even dormant and unauthorized accounts. The unauthorized account included an P8 million trust fund from the AMAN Futures pyramid scam, while the department’s payroll was not supported by documents with four March 1, 2018 vouchers, the last month of Aguirre in office. VITALIANO AGUIRRE
The vouchers “were not supported with payroll registers,” CoA said. “We rejoined that the accounting division submit the supporting documents for the four unsupported journal entry voucher [JEVs] and to expedite their verification of the transactions,” it added. The state auditors flagged DoJ for its four vouchers with P33-million unrecorded payments of wages to employees on a job order status, and the allowances of officials and employees. They expressed disappointment over the DoJ’s failure to reconcile the P32 million with the four vouchers as the finance teams of the Justice department Next page
WELCOME MARCH. The Philippine Navy Band plays a marching tune to welcome the arrival of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s Asagiri-class destroyer Setogiri docked at South harbor Friday. The warship, skippered by Capt. Susumi Moriyama, commander of the Escort division Tokeshi Tonegawa, is here for a goodwill visit. Norman Cruz