twitter.com/ MlaStandard
facebook.com/ ManilaStandardPH
manilastandard.net
Missed your copy of Manila Standard? Call or text our Circulation Hotline at 0917-8848655 or email: circulation@manilastandard.net For advertisement: email: advertise@manilastandard.net • 85646229
MARCOS DIRECTS PHILHEALTH TO EXPAND BENEFITS
US SPEAKER SAYS TO MEET TAIWAN PRESIDENT SOON
NEWS / A3
WORLD / B2 VOL. XXXVII • NO. 27 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P20 • THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 2023 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
Brains in Degamo slay known DOJ mum on identity but says video call with hired killers tags suspect
By Rey E. Requejo, Charles Dantes, Vince Lopez and Maricel V. Cruz
T
HE KILLERS of Negros Oriental Gov. Roel Degamo had a video call with the mastermind behind the March 4 assassination, Justice Secretary Jesus Crisin Remulla said Wednesday, adding that the case would be “wrapped up soon.”
Two of the suspects -- Joven Javier and Osmundo Rivero -- tagged a “prominent person” as having ordered the hit through a middleman identified as “Marvin,” GMA News reported, quoting a source who asked not to be identified. The source said four plans were drafted on how to kill Degamo -- by an ambush, by a sniper attack, by intercepting him in public, and by attacking his residence. As this developed, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assured the families of Degamo and the eight other victims killed during the attack that the government will seek justice for their slain loved ones. “I just came here to condole with the family of Gov. Roel. we asked them what else needs to be done, how can Next page
JUSTICE WILL BE SERVED. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assures Pamplona Mayor Janice Degamo, widow of slain Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo, that justice will be served as he visited the wake in Dunaguete on Wednesday, March 8, 2023.
PBBM looks at faster cleanup of oil spill, Japan sends expert help President: No By Vince Lopez, Vito Barcelo, Charles Dantes, Maricel Cruz and Macon Ramos-Araneta
looking to clean up the oil spill from a sunken tanker in Oriental Mindoro waters in less than four months. Japan has also committed to send exPRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. perts to help stop the further spread of on Wednesday said the government is oil from the sunken tanker MT Princess
Empress, President Marcos said. “This is a big help so that we can contain the oil and prevent it from reaching land. The oil reached some coastal areas before we found the vessel,” he said. The target is based on how the gov-
ernment cleaned up the 2006 Guimaras oil spill in four months, Mr. Marcos said in an interview on the sidelines of an event in Quezon City. “If it’s not possible in one month,
Next page
CONTAINMENT MEASURE. Coast
Guard personnel deploy an oil spill boom off Naujan in Oriental Mindoro to contain the leaking industrial fuel from a sunken tanker. Inset photo shows Coast Guard personnel and volunteers collecting debris covered in oil in neighboring municipality Pola.
one to lose job in PUV upgrade
THE government must carefully study its public utility vehicle (PUV) modernization program so that no transport workers will lose their jobs amid its implementation, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Wednesday. Mr. Marcos said the transport workers – mostly jeepney and UV Express drivers and operators – fear they might not be able to secure a loan to buy a new vehicle that meets the government’s prescribed modernization guidelines as it tries to phase out PUVs 15 years and older in favor of less-polluting electric vehicles. The President made the remarks after the leaders of transport groups Manibela and PISTON met with Presidential Communications Office Secretary Cheloy Garafil and Office of the Executive Secretary Undersecretary Roy Cervantes in Malacanang on Tuesday night, leading to the end of Next page
Meralco clients PCG, experts bat for int’l pressure on China’s ‘gray zone activities’ face rate hike by P0.62 per kwh By Rey Requejo and Charles Dantes
exposing China’s “gray zone operations” will allow international bodies AMID escalating tensions in the to criticize the “activities” of Beijing West Philippine Sea, Philippine Coast in the Indo-Pacific. Gray zone operations are intended Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela said
to assert territorial claims through “The Philippine Coast Guard’s pernon-military means such as the de- sistent presence in patrolling the conployment of Coast Guard vessels, tested waters while at the same time maritime militias, and the fortifica- documenting China’s activities allowed tion of islands and elevations. Next page
By Alena Mae S. Flores and Maricel V. Cruz CONSUMERS will face higher electricity rates for March, by about P0.62 per kilowatt-hour, even after Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) deferred the collection of P1.1 billion of generation charges to mitigate the impact of the higher rates on them, the power firm revealed Wednesday. Meralco estimated a total increase of about P1.11 per kWh for residential customers this month, including value-added tax and system loss, prompting it to ask the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to defer the collection of a portion of the increase equivalent to P0.40 per kWh. Given the significant increase in
Next page
UN twits PH inaction over ‘comfort women’ BREAKING GLASS CEILINGS AND CODES. (From left) SM Supermalls President Steven T. Tan joins Philippine Commission on Women Executive Director Kristine Yuzon-Chaves, Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio, UN Resident Coordinator Gustavo Gonzalez, and UN Women Philippines Country Program Manager Lenlen Mesina during an event marking International Women’s Day event at the SM Aura Premier Samsung Hall on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. They are joined by NEDA Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillion and Rep. Geraldine Roman, chairperson of the House Committee on Women and Gender Equality during the whole day event titled ‘Breaking the Code: Equality for All Through Technology and Innovation,’ which puts the spotlight on bridging the digital gender gap and promoting equality for girls and women in digital education and technology sectors.
THE Philippines violated the rights of victims of sexual slavery perpetrated by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second World War, the United Nations women’s rights committee said in a decision Wednesday. In a statement from Geneva, the UN panel said the country failed “to provide reparation, social support, and recognition commensurate with the harm suffered.” The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) issued its decision Wednesday after examining a complaint filed by 24 Filipinas -- members of the Malaya Lolas, a non-profit organisation established to provide support to sexual slavery survivors. Next page