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VOL. XXXIII • NO. 264 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2019 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
QUAKES DAMAGE 700 SCHOOLS—DEPED By Julito G. Rada and Macon Ramos-Araneta THE Department of Education, facing shortage of school shelters in earthquake-ravaged areas in Mindanao, said Monday it needed at least P1.6 billion to replace 500 classrooms and repair 700
school buildings. Education Secretary Leonor Briones said she has requested funds from the National Disaster Coordinating Committee under the Office of the President and is studying whether the agency’s own budget can be used to repair damaged schools. DepEd officials said it would take
“more than a year” to build replacement buildings, each worth P2.5 million, which can withstand tremors and typhoons. The Oct. 3 quakes, whose magnitudes all measured above 6, left at least 29 dead and sent some 28,000 people to evacuation centers, said the national disaster coordinating agency. Next page
BITTER MEMORIES. The Philippines, an archipelagic nation of 7,100 islands plus, joins the rest of the world in marking today World Tsunami Awareness Day, with that unnerving devastation 43 years ago—still fresh in memory racks—that jabbed 700 kilometers of the Moro Gulf coconut-dotted shoreline in Mindanao, leaving some 8,000 dead or missing. Top right, some unidentified Samaritan doing their best helping earthquake victims in Makilala, North Cotabato with steaming rice broth while the Marawi area, (below it) trying to rise from ruins from the five-month siege in 2017 is whacked Monday, from FB page of Baeshora AimAce, by a surly squall. File photo, Geonarri Solmerano
World Tsunami Day: Moro Gulf remembered By Joyce Pangco Pañares
ASEAN pushes sea code 10-member bloc wants binding deal in 3 years
“WHEN the sea had spent its fury and rolled back to its normal cadence, about 8,000 were dead or missing, while some 10,000 were injured and at least 90,000 were homeless.” This was how Victor Badillo and Zinnia Astilla, both from the Manila Observatory, described the effects of “the most disastrous tsunami experienced by the Philippines” on Aug. 17, 1976, when a magnitude 7.9 to 8.2 earthquake struck, with its epicenter in Sultan Kudarat. Their observations gain special significance today, Nov. 5, a day the United Nations has declared as World Tsunami Awareness Day. “Deaths were caused by drowning. With the collapse of their homes around midnight, the victims found themselves in dark, turbulent waters. This is a case where the waves accomplished more damage as they left,” Badillo and Astilla wrote in their 1978 paper “Moro Gulf Tsunami of 17 August 1976.” “One father had clung to a tree and
By MJ Blancaflor
L
EADERS of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations want to finish a binding Code of Conduct in the South China Sea within three years or earlier.
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Pork or ‘parked’ funds? Ping asks By Macon Ramos-Araneta SENATOR Panfilo Lacson said Monday he will ask the Budget department about the P20 billion in “parked funds” in the 2020 national budget. “I will have it clarified, and I have all the items, all the descriptions of the appropriations. Our question is how they intend to spend it,” Lacson said. “Remember that last year, the other financial assistance to the LGUs, amounted to P16 billion. When the HOR Turn to A6
LEADERS’ SYNERGY. President Rodrigo Duterte interacts with one of the leaders who attended the gala dinner at the Impact Exhibition and Convention Center in Nonthaburi, Thailand on Sunday. Malacañang Photo
Du30, other leaders skip summit with US; Trump no-show By MJ Blancaflor SOUTHEAST Asian leaders including President Rodrigo Duterte skipped the Association of Southeast Asian NationsUnited States Summit on Monday, after American President Donald Trump was a no-show. Trump was represented by national security adviser Robert O’Brien while Pres-
ident Duterte was represented by Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. Among the state leaders, only Laos Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, and Thailand Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha were present during the ASEAN-US Summit. The other seven leaders skipped the meeting.
Trump’s absence for the second straight year in ASEAN will not affect the countries’ view of US as an ally, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III told reporters in a press conference. “I don’t think it affects the view of the ASEAN about the reliability of the US. For reliability, we had better look into their actions rather than in to their presNext page ence,” Dominguez said.
MRT 3 emits smoke, offloads 530 By Joel E. Zurbano
SALUTE TO THE TRICOLORS. The National Parks Development Committee and Salute to a Clean Flag advocacy group as well as children and youth groups—including (inset) Olympic weightlifting and airwoman Hidilyn Diaz—attend the flag ceremony at the Rizal Monument at the bayside Luneta Park on Monday—in line with the celebration of National Children’s Month and the country’s hosting of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games due to begin later this month. Norman Cruz
AROUND 530 passengers were forced to alight from a Metro Railway Transit 3 train on Monday afternoon after it emitted smoke while on the northbound lane approaching the Santolan station in Quezon City. “At 4:08 p.m. today [Nov. 4], a smoke emission from one of our trains was reported by our train driver at Santolan Station [Northbound],” MRT 3 management said in a statement. “Rest assured that our rehabili-
tation and maintenance provider, Sumitomo-Mitsubishi Heavy, will conduct a thorough investigation regarding this incident, and implement measures to prevent this from happening again. We will apprise you of further updates. We apologize for the inconvenience,” it added. A female passenger, identified only as Aurora, said: “We were about to board a train here in Santolan station when MRT personnel told us they temporarily stopped the operation because of the problem.” Turn to A6
This was the sentiment expressed in the ASEAN common statement ready by President Rodrigo Duterte at the 22nd ASEAN-China Summit held in Thailand on Nov. 3. Chief Presidential Legal Counsel and Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said the 10-member regional bloc greeted China on its 70th anniversary and said ASEAN and China should improve further discussions on political security through regular high-level meetings and coordination. The President also reaffirmed ASEAN’s commitment to maintain and promote peace, security, stability and safety in the South China Sea, he said. Next page
Pork from China brought on ASF By Othel V. Campos and Rio N. Araja THE outbreak of African swine fever in the Philippines was caused by smuggled pork from China, Agriculture Secretary William Dar said Monday. In a press briefing, Dar said illegal shipments seized by authorities at the Port of Manila in October were a clear indication that the virus originated from China. The pork, declared as tomato paste, later tested positive for ASF. Next page
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