Manila Standard - 2021 May 15 - Friday

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Rody puts China on notice ‘We won't withdraw (from WPS).… This is where friendship ends’

Ex-envoy: Stop ‘blame game,’ start enforcing Hague ruling

By Vito Barcelo

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RESIDENT Duterte declared Friday the Philippines would not pull out its ships from the West Philippine Sea and continue its maritime patrols there, in his strongest statement yet on the country’s territorial dispute with China, which has more than 200 vessels in the area.

“We have a stand here and I want to state it here and now again. We will not move an inch backward,” Duterte said in the taped speech aired Friday. “I have two ships there. Let me tell China now, as I said before, I am not ready to withdraw, I don’t want a quarrel, I don’t want trouble, I respect your position and you respect mine,” the President said. He also said it is not wrong to admit that the Philippines is “inferior” in terms of “might and power.” “Now, I really won’t withdraw. Even if you kill me, I will be here. This is when the friendship ends,” said Duterte, who has been criticized for

By Rey E. Requejo, Macon Ramos-Araneta and Maricel V. Cruz STOP blaming Filipinos for the Chinese seizure of Scarborough Shoal in 2012, former Foreign secretary Albert del Rosario told President Duterte Friday. Saying that China took control of the area after it reneged on an agreement with the Philippines that both

appeasing China to get loans and investments, and who has thanked Beijing profusely for donating COVID-19 vaccines to the Philippines. But the President on Friday reiterated that the Philippines maintains its claim of sovereignty over the islands and the waters within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

PH bet Mateo stuns in 20-kg, ornate ensemble DESPITE a costume that weighed over 20 kilograms, the Philippines’ Miss Universe bet Rabiya Mateo on Friday looked stunning in a towering red-andblue ensemble inspired by the national flag—which some pageant fans back home still didn’t like. Although Mateo said she felt like a Victoria’s Secret model with the winged costume, the beauty queen from Iloilo City seemed to have read comments on her outfit on social media as she turned emotional on an Instagram live video, apologizing if some of her fans were "disappointed" with her performance. Pageant pundits stoked the fires when they noted that former Miss Universe Catriona Gray, in a tweet, did not include her fellow Filipina’s outfit among her six favorites from the

NAVAL HUB. Pag-Asa Island in the West Philippine Sea is shown in this file photo. The Armed Forces wants the island to be its logistics hub for its naval and air vessels conducting sovereignty patrols in the waterway amid incursions of Chinese militia vessels. AFP photo

COVID ‘labeling’ no way to treat victims, rights agency warns By Rio N. Araja and Willie Casas LOCAL officials in Ozamiz City have marked off about 100 houses with caution tape to prevent close contacts of COVID-19 patients in the houses from spreading the disease to the community – drawing flak from other officials and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR). Ozamiz Mayor Ando Oaminal ordered the security tapes placed on the entrances and doors of the households in Dakbayan village on Monday following his City Address on their COVID-19 situation, the

Asenzo Ozamiz News Channel reported. The Mayor explained that it was done “to avoid going out of quarantine residents, which will result in more COVID cases in our city. In this way, the ceilings will be alerted that the house is on quarantine and they can help to keep the quarantine protocols of the inhabitants.” “It's after (residents of) a few homes in our city that should have been quarantined went out and violated this order, which is a great possibility that it was exposed to someone else,” Oaminal added. As of Tuesday, 33 houses still had red caution tape on their doorways, along with a paper that recorded the date of

their residents’ quarantines, the Misamis Observer reported. As of press time, it was unclear if the caution tapes remained. The Standard could not reach Mayor Oaminal for comment on Friday. The CHR, meanwhile, on Friday reminded the government to avoid labeling individuals or groups infected with COVID-19 as this could expose them to discriminatory treatment. CHR spokesperson Jacqueline Ann de Guia said public health policies on containing the spread of COVID-19 “must never compromise the human rights of individuals.”

The commission urged local officials to be mindful of the social stigmatization that may result from such labeling. Apart from undermining the social cohesion in the community, labeling may discourage other individuals to report the illness and cause them not seek health care immediately to avoid discrimination, De Guia said. “Instead of instilling stigma and fear around the communicable disease, what works best is building trust in reliable health services, showing compassion and providing humanitarian assistance to those affected, and adopting practical Next page

‘Pandemic fuels radical moves’ THE Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) have intensified recruitment efforts to its ranks amid the coronavirus pandemic, Presidential Peace adviser Carlito Galvez, Jr. told senators Friday, admitting the government "failed" to foresee radicalization as an impact of the global health crisis. "We failed to consider the impact of the COVID-19. During the COVID-19,

many plantations closed down. At the same time, it restricts the people from doing things to take their livelihood," Galvez, a former military chief and now presidential peace adviser, told the Senate's local government panel. "Because of this situation... many people now, on the verge of hunger, it's easy to recruit them considering that these are Next page

tion of Davao del Norte, insufficiency of evidence, and lack of probable cause to support any of the crimes allegedly committed by the respondents. It also directed the Philippine National Police to “immediately release” the respondents, namely Chad Errol Booc, Segundo Melong, Benito Bay-ao, Moddie Mansimoy-at, Esmelito Oribawan, Roshelle Mae Porcadilla, and Jomar Benag. Next page

AT A GLANCE

(AS OF 4 PM MAY 14)

1,131,467 TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES

6,784 58,986 NEW

ACTIVE

18,958

134

1,053,523

2,872

DEATHS

RECOVERIES

NEW

Sinopharm gets ‘green light’ for emergency use By Willie Casas

7 Lumad cleared of kidnap raps THE Davao del Norte Prosecutor’s Office has dismissed the criminal complaints filed against seven individuals arrested following the supposed rescue of indigenous children from alleged communist rebels in Cebu City in February. In a resolution dated May 5, the prosecutor’s office junked the complaints for kidnapping and serious illegal detention, human trafficking, and child abuse for being outside the territorial jurisdic-

COVID-19 PH

PAG-IBIG PARTNER. Manila Standard received on Friday two plaques of recognition from the Pag-IBIG Fund for "leading print media companies in year 2020" and "for displaying the highest level of understanding amongst broadsheets" as our newspaper helped the agency deliver information to the public over the past year. The plaques were signed by Pag-IBIG CEO Acmad Rizaldy Moti and vice president Karin-Lei N. Franco-Garcia.

THE World Health Organization approved Friday the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use—the first Chinese jab to receive the WHO's green light. The UN health agency signed off on the two-dose vaccine, already being deployed in dozens of countries around the world. The WHO has given emergency use listing to the vaccines being made by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson, and the AstraZeneca jab being produced at sites in India and in South Korea, which it counts separately. Meanwhile, the delivery and roll-out of the Moderna COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine in the Philippines can now proceed Next page

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