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WEATHER ‘Amang’ looks headed for Bicol landfall today TROPICAL Depression “Amang” —the country’s first storm this year —could make landfall in the Bicol Region by Wednesday as about 19 areas in Luzon and Visayas were
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VOL. XXXVII • NO. 61 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P20 • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2023 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
US, PH to boost growing ties
Militaries stay mum on China-Taiwan issue
U
S Secretary of State Antony Blinken will discuss growing military ties with the Philippines on Tuesday in Washington DC (Wednesday in Manila) before heading to Vietnam and Japan days after a new flare-up of tensions with China over Taiwan.
Meanwhile, the Philippines and the United States launched their largest-ever joint military exercises on Tuesday, as the longstanding allies seek to counter growing Chinese assertiveness in the region. At a joint news conference in Quezon City, both US and PH armies did not address questions about the Taiwan tensions and a possible role for the Philippines if China invaded Taiwan. Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will meet jointly in Washington with their
Philippine counterparts – Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo and DND chief Carlito Galvez, who are already in the US capital -- in the first such joint talks in sevsev en years between the United States and its former colony. Austin confirmed the meeting in a press statement. “The secretary participates in joint press availability Next page
DFA wary of ‘repercussions’ of neighbors’ row By Rey E. Requejo and Macon Ramos-Araneta SHOULDER TO SHOULDER. US Marines Maj. Gen. Eric Austin, US exercise director and representative for Balikatan, speaks while Philippines counterpart Maj. Gen. Marvin Licudine listens during a press conference on Tuesday. Inset shows US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Heather Variava (middle), Lt. Gen. William Jurney, USMC, Maj. Gen. Licudine, and AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Andres Centino link arms as a sign of oneness and brotherhood after the opening ceremony of the joint military exercise at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City. AFP and Danny Pata
FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo has warned in a forum in the United States that the tensions in the Taiwan Strait may have “adverse repercussions” on the Philippines. This was after China said it had “suc-
cessfully completed” three days of war games around Taiwan on Monday, capping a show of force that saw it simulate targeted strikes and practice a blockade of the self-ruled island. Chinese warships and aircraft were still operating around Taiwan on Tuesday, the island’s defense ministry said, a day after Beijing declared an end to its
massive war games. Speaking during the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) forum held in Washington DC, Manalo stressed there are 150,000 to 200,000 Filipinos living and working in Taiwan, which just sits 200 kilometers north of the Philippines. Next page
Envoy: ‘Repeated infringements’ caused defense buildup Defer LRT fare hikes, PBBM orders
DoTr, ‘study economic impact first’
By Rey E. Requejo
“REPEATED infringements” on the Philippines’ sovereignty and jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) called for the enhancement of the country’s defense capabilities, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said in a forum in the United States on Monday (Tuesday in Manila). Manalo, speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) forum in Washington, D.C., cited President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s intention to continue upholding the Philippines’ sovereign rights in the long-disputed WPS through “peaceful and legal means.” This developed as China said Tuesday the ongoing “Balikatan” joint military exercises between the Philippines and the US should not interfere with the disputes in the South China Sea. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin stressed that the cooperation between Manila and Next page
Abalos bewails police cover-up of big drug haul By Charles Dantes and Maricel V. Cruz
EDCA SITES. Map locating nine Philippine military bases where the US now have
access. AFP
INTERIOR and Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. on Tuesday again called on 10 high-ranking policemen to go on leave as he decried a “massive cover-up” of the circumstances around the arrest of cops who allegedly kept 42 kilograms of shabu seized during a huge drug bust in October 2022. At a press conference, Abalos said he was disappointed over the “very slow Next page
train lines is P11 plus P1 per kilometer. He said the DOTr’s Rail Regulatory Unit (RRU) endorsed the report favorPRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ing the fare increase for LRT lines 1 and ordered the Department of Transporta- 2. The Transportation Secretary chairs tion to defer fare increases for the Light Next page Rail Transit (LRT) lines 1 and 2 “pending a thorough study on the economic impact” to commuters after the agency announced the planned hikes on Tuesday. During yesterday’s briefing, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista explained that the DOTr will comply with the President’s instruction and will carefully study the economic repercussions of the increase to passengers of the three major rail lines in Metro Manila, which includes the Metro Rail Transit 3 (MRT-3). “In compliance with the President’s instruction, we will thoroughly study how a fare hike today will impact passengers of our three rail lines in Metro Manila,” the transport chief said, adding that the increase for MRT-3 was likewise deferred “due to infirmities in complying with the requirements and procedure.” Bautista last March 27 approved the boarding fare increase of P2.29 and P0.21 per kilometer distance fare for LRT-1 and LRT-2. Currently, the boarding fare for both
By Darwin Amojelar and Vince Lopez
MWSS: MM to suffer massive water shortage in ‘24 By Othel V. Campos and Maricel V. Cruz METRO Manila will suffer a massive water shortage next year, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) said Tuesday, fol-
lowing a forecast of an El Niño dry spell in the first half of 2024 and increasing demand for water during the hottest months of the year. The water regulator said the demand from Angat Dam, which supplies over 90 percent of potable wa-
ter to the National Capital Region, reached 5,680 million liters per day (MLD) in 2020 from 4,395 MLD in 2010. Given this trend, the agency said, Metro Manila will experience a water deficit in 2024. Next page