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VOL. XXXIII • NO. 21 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • MONDAY, MARCH 4, 2019 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
PANAGBENGA HIGHLIGHT. The grand float parade, a trademark and the highlight event of the Panagbenga Flower Festival’s 24th edition, features 28 colorful floats of which five are non-competing and three, hall of famers. The participants beat last year’s 21 floats. Peter Paul Duran
Wild fires set off DENR alarm bells Cimatu alerts fieldmen amid El Nino onset By Rio N. Araja
NVIRONMENT Secretary Roy Cimatu on Sunday placed all field offices of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on alert for forest fires as the country braces for the impact of an El Niño episode.
E Senators, Comelec: Release of narco list premature, unfair By Macon Ramos-Araneta SENATORS and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Sunday spoke out against releasing a “narco list” of politicians allegedly involved in the illegal drug trade, particularly if it is without evidence and if it comes out before the May elections. “Making it public is unjust and unfair to those who may be delisted later, or worse, after the elections” said Senator Panfilo Lacson, noting that such a list could be used to smear candidates running for office in May. “This has happened before and it could happen again,” he said.
Makabayan bloc rooting for nine senatorial bets
Senator Richard Gordon added that producing such a list could be a basis for filing a libel case against the government officials responsible. Both senators were reacting to a plan by Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Ano to release the names of politicians appearing on the narco list as a guide for voters. But Lacson said such a list should be used only for intelligence purposes and to help law enforcement build up a case. He said this has the end view of filing appropriate criminal charges against those on the list. Gordon raised due process concerns.
By Rio N. Araja
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China: Loans to PH no debt trap THE Chinese government does not set any debt trap for developing countries when it extends loans to fund infrastructure projects, China’s top political advisory body said Saturday. At a press conference, Guo Weimin, spokesperson of the second session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said extending Chinese loans to developing countries facilitates infrastructure projects that are expected to bring
He also ordered the executive directors of 16 regional offices to conduct a region-wide assessment and update of their forest protection plans in anticipation of an El Niño-induced drought, which could increase the risk of wild fires. “Our teams should always be ready for deployment to suppress incidents of outbreaks, particularly grassfires, to prevent them from crossing over to forested areas and turn into fullblown forest fires,” he said. Field officials have been ordered to give priority to vulnerable sites inside protected areas and those that have been rehabilitated under the enhanced national greening program. Next page
development and boost the economic growth of these nations. “Chinese investments only account for a very small share of their total debt. And our projects are mostly infrastructure, which can support the long-term development of those countries,” Guo said. “Yet some say, this is a great debt trap. But this doesn’t make sense,” he added. In the Philippines, China is financing the $62 million Chico River Pump Irrigation Project, which aims to water around 8,700 hectares of agricultural land to benefit more than 4,300 families in the northern part of the country. Next page
Federer weaves magic, wins 100th title ROGER Federer described winning his 100th career title as a “special, magical” achievement on Saturday but the 37-year-old insists he won’t obsess over passing Jimmy Connors’ all-time men’s record of 109. Next page
WILD FIRES. An unseen Air Force Tactical Group jet hovers over Benguet’s Padcal Mountain Range on an assesment mission over the weekend. Forest fires of undetermined origin hit the Cordillera region in the past three weeks. A raging forest fire took the lives of three forest guards in Benguet last week. Dave Leprozo
Rape streamed live from PH—France STRASBOURG―A man has been charged with ordering videos of rapes and sexual assaults, some of them on children, broadcast live from the Philippines, a French prosecutor said on Saturday. The suspect, a 55-year-old former police officer, according to L’Est Republicain
newspaper, was being held for conspiracy to commit rape and sexual assault on someone under 15 years of age, Francois Perain, prosecutor in the eastern city of Nancy, told AFP. French officials were tipped off by the investigators at the US Department of Homeland Security of the activities of a French national between 2017 and 2018, Perain said. Next page
Charriol killed in France car crash FRENCHMAN Philippe Charriol, founder of the luxury watch and jewellery brand that bears his name, was killed in an car accident at the Le Castellet racing track in southeast France on Wednesday, a circuit Next page official said.
THE leftist Makabayan coalition on Sunday backed at least nine opposition and independent senatorial candidates running for senator. Satur Ocampo, Makabayan president, said they will endorse, support and vote for former representative Neri Colmenares, Bayan Muna chairperson; Senators Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, Grace Poe and Nancy Binay; ex-senator Serge Osmeña; human rights lawyer Jose Manuel Diokno; ex-Quezon representative Erin Tañada III; ex-solictor general Florin Hilbay, and Marawi civic leader Samira Gutoc. Aquino, Diokno, Tañada, Hilbay and Gutoc are from the Otso Diretso opposition coalition. Next page
Dengvaxia lawsuits vindication for PAO By Rey E. Requejo THE Public Attorney’s Office on Sunday praised the decision of the Justice department indicting former Health secretary Janette Garin and other health officials over the deaths of children linked to the controversial Dengvaxia vaccine during the previous administration. PAO chief Persida Rueda-Acosta said they saw the the findings on Garin and company’s criminal liability as a vindication of the agency’s pursuit of cases for the victims and their families. Acosta said she believed that the department’s filing of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide had also disproved the insinuations of Garin and Health Next page