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WATCH FOR MANILA STANDARD’S SPECIAL REPORT ON THE ECONOMY September 16, 2019
‘Stimulating the PH Economy‘ VOL. XXXIII • NO. 207 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2019 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
Faeldon likens BuCor stay to ‘life in hell’ By Macon Ramos-Araneta
IS-linked group grabs credit for S. Kudarat blast By Francisco Tuyay THE Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group has owned Saturday’s bombing of a public market in Sultan Kudarat that wounded seven civilians, but security experts said this could just be propaganda. ISIS claimed responsibility for the blast, the fourth incident this year, hours after an improvised explosive device went off near a bakeshop at the Isulan town public market. National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. dismissed the IS statement as “nothing but mere disinformation.” “It might be the left wing that concocted it,” Esperon said, noting that Cotabato City, the site of a decommissioning of former Muslim rebels, was unaffected. “We were in Cotabato City and the security situation was normal,” Esperon said. Investigations showed that the IED was placed by still unidentified bombers Next page
SACKED Bureau of Customs (Bucor) chief Nicanor Faeldon said he was slowly introducing reforms to ease conditions of prisoners at the New Bilibid Prison (NBP), whom he described as “living a life in hell,” when he was booted out of his job. Heading the bureau, he said, was a tough and challenging job. Many of the prisoners, especially the hardened criminals, and prison personnel stubbornly resist reforms, he said. This was true, not only in the national penitentiary, but also in other prisons nationwide, which made it necessary to travel around the country, he said. Yet, when he was appointed to the Bucor, he brought only one person with him, a colleague from the Marines.
“I was a total stranger in the BuCor and Bilibid when I arrived there nine months ago. I had only one man with me. And there I was to manage the 27,000 prisoners in the NBP alone, aside from the other [prisoners] outside Bilibid. I also had to oversee my subordinates,” said Faeldon, who lamented the absence of intelligence funds for the bureau. “I wanted to help them particularly the [prisoners] because I believe that Bilibid should be a ‘correctional place’ that would aid transform persons who transgressed the law...those who committed infractions,” he said. He said this is was also the intent of the Good Conduct Time Allowance (GCTA) law, which reduces prison terms for good behavior. Next page
TOUGH TASK. BuCor director general Nicanor Faeldon testifies on Sept. 3, 2019 during a Senate hearing on the GCTA scandal. Ey Acasio
76 ‘good conduct’ felons yield; PH taps Interpol By Rey E. Requejo
DECOMMISSIONED.
T
HE Justice and the Interior and Local Government departments gave conflicting statements Sunday on whether some of the heinous crime convicts released on good conduct have fled the country.
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and MILF chairman Murad Ibrahim (L) inspect the firearms given up by former combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front during the decommissioning rites at the Old Provincial Capitol Compound in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao on September 7, 2019. Presidential Photo
Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete, who said a total of 76 released heinous crime convicts have already surrendered to authorities and are now in the custody of the Bureau of Corrections, said none of the inmates released have gone abroad. Interior Secretary Eduardo Año, however, said he has received a report that some of the convicts freed under the good conduct time allowance (GCTA) have already flown out of the country, prompting the Philippine National Police to coordinate with the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol). “Interpol gave a positive response. They said they will help us in whatever way they can,” Año said even as he admitted that the Duterte administration’s hands are tied if the fugitives flee to a country with which the Philippines has no extradition treaty. Perete said he based his pronouncement on the report received by the Department of Justice from the Bureau of Immigration, which has been directed by Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra to be on full alert to thwart possible subject inmates from leaving the country. Next page
Peace-keeping team: New role for ex-MILF fighters 1,060 former MILF combatants. The JPST and the decommissioning process are part of the normalization mechanism agreed by both MILF and the government of the Philippines peace panel authored by former military officer and now BARMM Minister of Transportation and Communications (MOTC), Dickson P. Hermoso and MILF spokesperson
SULTAN KUDARAT, Maguindanao— After almost five decades of fighting, a new band of brothers has been formed through the Joint Peace and Security Team (JPST) who are now considered the security team as the decommissioning process began in this town on Sept. 7. The JPST is a combined force of the Philippine National Police, the Armned Forces of the Philippines and the Bang-
samoro Islamic Armed Forces of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (BIAF-MILF). Some 156 former MILF combatants who have undergone basic military training will be part of five teams of 75 members each. The JPST have their first security detail at the old capitol compound in Simuay, Sultan Kudarat, for the first batch of decommissioning process of
Oil prices decline for 3rd week now
Budget hearing done in record time
By Alena Mae S. Flores PHOENIX Petroleum Philippines led the latest oil price cuts of as much as P0.50 per liter to reflect the movement of oil prices in the world market. Phoenix cut its gasoline price by P0.50 per liter and diesel by P0.10 per liter effective at 6am on Sept. 7, and ahead of the other oil companies. Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Seaoil Philippines and Clean Fuel also announced their respective price cuts. Seaoil and Clean Fuel implemented their price cuts starting at 6am on Monday while Shell will roll back its prices starting Tuesday. “Please see fuel price change: rollback of Shell effective 6am September 10, 6am, gasoline by P0.50 per liter, kerosene by P0.25 per liter and diesel by P0.10 per liter,” Shell said in its advisory. Next page
By Rio n. Araja DAVAO City Rep. Isidro Ungab said Sunday said the House committee on appropriations that he heads had completed in record time the hearings on the 2020 budget proposals of all government departments, agencies and offices. Following the termination of the hear-
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ings on the 2020 budget proposals of the different government departments, attached agencies and offices, Ungab said the committee on appropriations was set to approve today, Monday, the committee report on House Bill 4228, principally authored by him, that seeks to appropriate funds for the operation of the government from Jan. 1, 2020 to Dec. 31, 2020. Turn to A3
‘Joker’ eclipses Polanski in Venice “JOKER,” a daring take on the comic book villain starring Joaquin Phoenix, won the Golden Lion for best film at the Venice film festival Saturday with Roman Polanski controversially taking second prize. Turn to A3
PH-SINGAPORE TIES. Singapore’s President Halimah Yacob (L) is welcomed by honor guards at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila on September 8, 2019. Halimah is on a five-day state visit to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Singapore and the Philippines. AFP
85-year-old grandpa stops HK riot police
“GRANDPA Wong” holds a cane held above his head as he pleads with riot police to stop firing tear gas—an 85-yearold shielding protesters on the front lines of Hong Kong’s fight for democracy.
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