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Bantag defiant, won’t give up Says surrender out of question until Remulla resigns as DOJ chief PBBM notes ‘little progress’ on Code of Conduct in SCS LITTLE progress has been made on the Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea, even as the need for it has become more urgent, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said over the weekend. “Well, nothing new actually has happened in terms of the code of conduct. We all just restated over and over again. We need to have a code of conduct,” he said in a media briefing on the sidelines of the 40th and 41st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summits and Related Summits in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Mr. Marcos was among the heads of state who brought up the need for a COC at various summits. “It is urgent. It is becoming more and
more urgent...to have the actual code of conduct, already finalized and already in place as soon as possible,” he added. Mr. Marcos said ASEAN leaders all agreed to apply the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and uphold the international rule of law. “Everybody, including the Chinese says we follow UNCLOS and international law. So at least that position of ASEAN is clear,” he said. He said they also reached a consensus to abide by the One-China Policy, a position held by China that there is only a single sovereign state under the name China and that Taiwan is part of China. Next page
By Rey E. Requejo
S
USPENDED prisons chief Gerald Bantag said Monday he will not surrender even if a warrant of arrest is issued against him for as long as Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla remains in his position. “I will definitely face this case to“Why will I surrender? They will gether with my supporters, but if SOJ just conspire against me again. But if Boying will not step down, I will not Boying leaves, then I can surrender,” surrender even if I have a warrant of ar- he added. rest,” Bantag told CNN Philippines. The Department of Justice on Mon-
day issued subpoenas against Bantag and his co-respondents to answer the two murder complaints filed against them for the killings of broadcaster Percival “Percy Lapid” Mabasa and inmate Cristito “Jun Villamor” Palaña, the alleged middleman in the murder contract. The DOJ’s panel of prosecutors set the preliminary investigation hearings at 9 a.m. on November 23 and at 1 p.m. on December 5. Next page
VOL. XXXVI • NO. 273 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P20 • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2022 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
BuCor to set up high-tech Bilibid security system
Biden, Xi agree to avoid conflicts, manage issues NUSA DUA, Indonesia—Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping ended a landmark summit in Bali, Indonesia on Monday after three hours of talks aimed at avoiding conflict between the rival superpowers. Xi and Biden shook hands in front of the US and Chinese flags before starting the long-awaited meeting on the resort island ahead of a Group Next page
G20 DEAL. US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Nusa Dua on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on November 14. AFP
DND admits PH military capability ‘among weakest’ in Asian region By Maricel V. Cruz
BUREAU of Corrections officer-incharge Gregorio Catapang Jr. said he will be implementing a technologydriven security system for the New Bilibid Prison. Catapang made the announcement as a forensic pathologist likened the pileup of unclaimed cadavers of Bilibid inmates at a funeral parlor in Muntinlupa City to a “mass disaster.” Catapang said high-tech equipment such as facial recognition will be used to “guard the guardians” at NBP. “Similar to the command center of the AFP so I can see on the screen everyone who is on duty -- who is on duty in quarter one, in quarter two, quarter three, and quarter four,” he said. “And once operational, the inmates will also undergo the facial recognition machine then they will be accounted for,” Catapang added. Catapang confirmed the bureau already has a list of personnel involved in contraband entry into the Bilibid. Some 12,000 contraband items were seized from the NBP earlier this month. The illegal items include cellular phones, laptops, illegal drugs, and Next page
Tugade named new LTO head, Perez to ARTA
THE military capability of the Philippines is among the weakest in the region, Department of National Defense officer-in-charge Jose Faustino Jr. admitted Monday at a congressional hearing. Lawmakers also expressed dismay over what they viewed as the failure of the Armed Forces of the Philippines to prevent China from building structures in the West Philippine Sea. “I would not say that we are a pushover. Admittedly, our military capability is one of the weakest in the region. It is exactly why we are trying to modernize right now,” Faustino told the House committee on national defense. “We are trying to strengthen our position… we align with our treaty partners, allies, like-minded countries. We would like to have a rulesbased international order in those areas,” he told legislators.
NEW OFFICIALS. Transportation Secretary
Jaime Bautista (left) shakes the hand of the new Land Transportation Office chief, lawyer Jose Arturo Tugade, on Monday. Inset shows lawyer Ernesto Perez, whom President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. elevated from Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) officer-in-charge to its new Director General.
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P63b in yearend cash gifts out today for gov’t workers
Malls adjust shopping hours as MMDA sees traffic spike
THE government will start releasing today (Nov. 15) the year-end and cash gift bonus to qualified civilian and military/uniformed personnel totaling at least P65.3 billion. Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said the total budget for the grant of the yearend bonus is P56.73 billion while the cash gift amounts to P8.6 billion. “The release of the year-end bonus and cash gift is provided under our General Appropriations Act for this year. For sure, many of our fellow government workers have been looking
MALLS and commercial centers in Metro Manila adjusted their business hours Monday to comply with a proposal by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to help ease traffic congestion during the holiday season. Starting November 14 until January 6, these establishments will open at 11 a.m. and close at 11 p.m. for a 12-hour operating window. Meanwhile, the volume of vehicles on Metro Manila’s major thoroughfares is expected to increase by around 10% to 20% during the
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FINGER HEART.
Miss Earth Philippines 2022 Jenny Ramp gestures as she is about to introduce herself at the press presentation of the 89 candidates of the Miss Earth 2022 beauty pageant at the Okada Manila in Parañaque City on Monday. Danny Pata
PRESIDENT Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has named lawyer and businessman Jose Arturo “Jay Art” Tugade as the new Assistant Secretary to head the Land Transportation Office (LTO). Mr. Marcos also named former Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) officer-in-charge (OIC) Ernesto Perez as the new Director General of the anti-red tape body. Perez succeeds lawyer Jeremiah Belgica, who served from July 2019 to June 2022. After taking his oath of office before Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista Next page