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WATCH FOR MANILA STANDARD’S SPECIAL REPORT ON THE ECONOMY September 16, 2019
WEATHER ‘Marilyn’ rains out six flights
‘Stimulating the PH Economy‘
By Rio N. Araja A TROPICAL depression outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility entered the country at 9:30 Turn to A3
VOL. XXXIII • NO. 211 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
Bilibid hospital rocks with sex, drugs treat ‘Special’ inmates also roll in all-day gambling
By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Joel E. Zurbano
“T
ILAPIA,” a code name for a female prostitute hired for P30,000 a night by highprofile inmates at the New Bilibid Prison, is just one example of how money is made inside the national penitentiary, former Bureau of Corrections officer-in-charge Rafael Ragos said Thursday. Ragos, one of those who had testified against detained Senator Leila de Lima, told a Senate hearing that the prostitutes were brought inside the prison, where they were “enjoyed” by high-profile prisoners. “Dancers, entertainers, after a while they’d become girlfriends, wives. The rate was P30,000 a night,” Ragos said in Filipino. But the moment they stepped out of the NBP, these women were kidnapped by policemen who were in cahoots with some of the inmates.
Ex-DFA chief bares flaws in China oil offer By Rey E. Requejo, MJ Blancaflor and Macon Ramos-Araneta THE Philippines and China can have joint exploration in the country’s exclusive economic zone even without setting aside the Arbitral Award by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016, former Foreign Affairs secretary Albert del Rosario said on Thursday. Del Rosario said President Rodrigo Duterte will not be reneging on his promise to the Filipino people during his October 2016 departure speech for Brunei that he cannot be the “sole authorized agent” to share with the Chinese the country’s EEZ, “which belongs exclusively to the Filipino people.” “We would like to respectfully emphasize that the President has a choice not to set aside the arbitral ruling ‘to come up with an economic activity’ in our EEZ. If a service contract arrangement is followed, where a Chinese company participates either as an equity Next page
STRANGER AND STRANGER. Former BuCor Officer-in-Charge Rafael Ragos (above left) testifies in Thursday’s continuing Senate inquiry into the alleged Good Conduct Time Allowance and hospital pass for sale to some high profile inmates inside the Bureau of Corrections in Muntinlupa City while former Bukidnon Mayor Jose Galario (standing) points to BuCor physician Ursico Cenas as the one who sold a hospital pass to him for P150,000 in connection with the GCTA. Ey Acasio
Gordon on Napoles GCTA roster: Stupid mistake By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Rey E. Requejo THE inclusion of Janet Lim Napoles and Rolito Go in the roster of prisoners that were supposed to be released under the Good Conduct Time Allowance was a “stupid mistake” that uncovered the recklessness of the Bureau of Corrections, Senator Richard Gordon said Thursday.
Gordon’s remarks came after his committees ordered the detention of BuCor documents and records section chief Ramoncito Roque, New Bilibid Prison Hospital medical officer Ursicio Cenas and BuCor legal division chief Frederick Anthony Santos for contempt due to false testimony given in the hearings. Gordon said it did not look like there was a deliberate attempt to free Napoles,
who is on trial for graft and plunder in the multi-billion-peso pork barrel scam. “It’s a stupid mistake. It’s as stupid as puttng former Calauan mayor Antonio Sanchez out of jail,” Gordon said, referring to the near release of the convicted rapist and murderer that sparked public outrage. “Are you going to let Napoles out when we already have this chaos because of Next page Sanchez?” Gordon said.
President Rodrigo Duterte said money changed hands in the release of heinous crime convicts through the Good Conduct Time Allowance Law. “Even if it was allowed, corruption was there. Set aside all the legal infirmities [in the law], corruption was [still] present.”
The kidnappers then demanded ransom for the release of the women, and negotiations for their release happened inside the NBP. Ragos said the lowest ransom paid for a “tilapia” was P200,000, which could go higher depending on the financial capability of the “boyfriend” or “husband.” Ragos said there were many unusual transactions at the Maximum Security Compound. He said convicted drug lord Peter Co frequently received female visitors. “Many visited Peter Co, I didn’t know if they were his girlfriends or wife,” he said. Next page
Espino ambush: Cops hunt down 10 NFA twin orders: By Francisco Tuyay Import rice, hike palay farm price POLICE said Thursday some 10 gunmen were involved in the attempted assassination of former Pangasinan governor Amado Espino Jr. and the killing of one of his security escorts. “Suspects [are] still unidentified and we have counted more or less 10 malefactors responsible for the incident,” Police Col. Rederico Maranan, Pangasinan
police director, said. Philippine National Police Chief Oscar Albayalde reported that Espino was onboard a black Toyota Land Cruiser driven by Agapito Quizon together with Police Staff Sgt. Jayon Malsi with back-up security onboard a black Toyota Innova driven by Anthony Columbino backed by PSSG Richard Esguerra when the suspects fired upon them. Turn to A3
More dead pigs dumped in Marikina By Macon Ramos-Araneta THE Marikina City government on Thursday said it would ask the Department of Agriculture to probe the incident where dead pigs were found floating in Marikina River. Next page
Beware! It’s freaky Friday the 13th today SCARED of Friday the 13th? The date associated with bad luck, haunted houses and that 1980s slasher-film series will be extra spooky this week—it will get a full moon for the first time in six years. Turn to A3
By Othel V. Campos and Rio N. Araja AGRICULTURE Secretary William Dar announced Thursday a directive authorizing the National Food Authority to bring down rice prices to ₱27 per kilo by flooding the market with 3.6 million bags, and raise palay support price to ₱19 from ₱17 per kilo. The said measures were approved by the NFA Council during an emergency meeting on Tuesday. Dar, who chairs the NFA Council, has given NFA Administrator Judy Carol Dansal to dispose of the stocks on or before Oct. 10. When sold at retail price of ₱27 per kilo, the 3.6 million 50-kilogram bags would amount to ₱4.86 billion, which the NFA can readily use to procure palay or paddy rice from farmers. During the meeting, the Council agreed to flood Metro Manila and other markets nationwide with ₱27 per kilo rice using its current stocks stored in NFA warehouses across the country. The ₱2 increase in palay price support could translate to ₱8,000 additional income per farmer, based on current national average yield of 4 tons per hecTurn to A3 tare.
Tugade trusted, Poe ignored by Palace By MJ Blancaflor and Joel E. Zurbano PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will not fire Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade even as the Palace challenged Senator Grace Poe to name a more qualified traffic czar amid reports that patients die en route to hospitals because ambulances are stuck in traffic gridlock. Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said the President still trusts Tugade despite the unsolved traffic problem in the country’s capital. In a television interview Poe suggested that President Duterte should consider designating an “expert” to solve Metro
Manila’s traffic problem. She added that ‘I think somebody else should take his (Tugade’s) place’, a remark that provoked an angry retort from Tugade who said he would not be moved by the “whims and caprices of misguided politicians.” Poe, continuing her tirade, also compared Tugade to former Department of Transportation and Communications Secretary Emilio Jun Abaya, who, the senator said, was the reason behind former President Benigno Aquino III’s “downfall.” “Former President [Aquino] clung too much to Secretary Abaya, when in fact, Next page