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Bantag not eligible for WPP Remulla cites 2 grounds: being law enforcer and tagged as mastermind
By Joyce Pañares, Rey E. Requejo, Willie Casas, and Macon Ramos-Araneta
J
USTICE Secretary Crispin Remulla on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of placing suspended prisons chief Gerald Bantag under the government’s witness protection program.
“Law enforcement personnel are not The Justice chief added that anyone qualified,” Remulla told Manila Stand- tagged as the alleged mastermind of a ard in a text message. case cannot be considered a state witness.
Remulla earlier said the department saw no evidence that anyone higher than Bantag was responsible for the Oct. 3 murder of radio commentator Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa. “I was hoping I could point to other groups -- the drug lords and not Bantag -- but these facts came out,” he said. Meanwhile, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said authorities have “practically” Next page
VOL. XXXVI • NO. 268 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P20 • THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2022 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
Senators seek hike in public health budget
176 unclaimed bodies of Bilibid inmates up for autopsy at PGH THE Department of Justice on Wednesday revealed that 120 out of the 176 unclaimed cadavers of persons deprived of liberty or prisoners will be transferred to the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) for autopsy, amid the deaths related to the killing of broadcast journalist Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa. This will determine whether they died of natural causes or were summarily executed while serving their prison terms inside the New Bilibid Prisons, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said. A supposed middleman in the October 3 murder of Mabasa, Cristito “Jun Villamor” Palaña, was suffocated with a plastic bag by fellow prisoners in Bilibid,
hours after self-confessed gunman Joel Escorial surrendered and identified him. Interviewed during the 86th founding anniversary celebration of the National Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday, Remulla said PGH management and the DOJ will sign an agreement for the turnover of the 120 bodies for pathological examinations. According to Remulla, well-known forensic pathologist Dr. Raquel Fortun will lead the autopsy. The Justice Secretary explained that not all of the 176 unclaimed bodies would be turned over to PGH since the latter can only accommodate a maximum of 120 cadavers. Next page
PBBM to push 5 key issues at 41st ASEAN Summits
By Macon Ramos-Araneta SENATORS sought to raise allocations for public health emergencies and the allowances of health and non-health workers on Wednesday during the chamber’s deliberation for the P5.268-trillion national budget next year. Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel sought to increase to P52 billion the allowances for the two sectors from P18.9 billion in the proposed budget. But Pimentel questioned why these items were in the “unprogrammed funds” portion of the national budget, “considering this is an important allocation. For the past years, these funds have been unused.” He sounded the alarm that if these P34 billion in funds will not be used, they could potentially become “parking funds.” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sonny Angara explained they were in the “unprogrammed funds” since these allocations are dependent Next page
Q2 growth rate revised upward to 7.5% from 7.4% THE Philippine Statistics Authority said Wednesday it revised the second quarter gross domestic product growth rate upward to 7.5 percent from the preliminary estimate of 7.4 percent. It said the major contributors to the revision were construction, whose growth was adjusted from 19.0 percent to 19.5 percent; real estate and ownership of dwellings, from 3.9 percent to 4.4 percent; and manufacturing, from 2.1 percent to 2.2 percent. The PSA maintained the secondquarter gross national income growth rate at 9.3 percent. The agency released the revised figures ahead of the announcement of the third-quarter GDP figures on Thursday. The PSA also reported that the agriculture sector grew 1.8-percent yearon-year in the third quarter to end two quarters of contraction, on higher crops, livestock, and poultry production. Next page
TOUCHDOWN CAMBODIA. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos are warmly welcomed by Cambodian officials upon their arrival at Phnom Penh Airport to attend the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summits and related summits. En route to the meeting, the President answered questions from the media on board the flight (inset). Neth Pheaktra via Twitter and Ver Noveno PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will push for regional cooperation on five key issues, including maritime and food security, during the 40th and 41st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summits and Related Sum-
mits in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Before arriving in Phnom Penh, Mr. Marcos told the media aboard the Philippine Airlines flight that he is hoping to have “productive sessions” with other ASEAN leaders, as well the other dia-
logue partners of the regional bloc. When asked how he intends to tackle the West Philippine Sea or South China Sea issue during the meetings, he said: “I think the Code of Conduct is medyo natutulog eh (a bit asleep). It is not re-
ally moving forward. Maybe we can do it using that, the Code of Conduct that is being proposed.” “We already have actually, the previous declaration which we can base it on. Next page
President sees economy moving in right direction By Vito Barcelo and Vince Lopez
EXAM BEFORE THE EXAM. Police check the belongings of persons arriving near De La Salle University campus on Taft Avenue in Manila early Wednesday on the first day of the 2023 Bar Examinations. The southbound lane of the road from Quirino Avenue to Estrada Street was closed to traffic. Norman Cruz
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said the economy is “moving in the right direction” as he welcomed the recent drop in the country’s unemployment rate -- the lowest since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. “This is a good sign. The economy is trying very hard to grow. We just have to be able to tolerate the shocks that are coming from abroad. But otherwise, the economy is moving in the right direction,” Mr. Marcos said. The President also vowed to improve the quality of jobs to address underemployment while bolstering job opportunities in the country. “Ever since we started with the economic team, even before I took office, we really concentrated on the creation of jobs,” he said. “And that’s why it is having the effect now of bringing down our employment rate,” the President added. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed the number of jobless Filipinos was at 2.5 million in September 2022, a 1.78 million decrease from the same period in the previous year. According to PSA, the average unemployment rate in Next page
Powerball winner is $2 billion richer A WINNING Powerball lottery jackpot ticket was sold in the US state of California that awarded its winner a record US$2.04 billion (about P118.35 billion) -the largest in the lottery’s history. After the drawing was delayed for 10 hours starting Monday because Speaker and Rep. Romualdez
Japan fetes 3 PH ex-Cabinet men
Spouses important, says House Speaker
NEWS / A3
NEWS / A3
Del Rosario
Dominguez
Tugade
of technical problems, the winning numbers were revealed: 10, 33, 41, 47, 56, with the Powerball number, 10, in Tuesday morning’s drawing. Twenty-two tickets were sold in 16 states worth USD1 million each, Next page
Facebook parent lays off 11k staff FACEBOOK owner Meta will lay off He said the cuts represented 13 permore than 11,000 of its staff in “the cent of the social media titan’s workmost difficult changes we’ve made in force and would affect its research lab Meta’s history”, boss Mark Zucker- focusing on the metaverse as well as berg said on Wednesday. Next page