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ISIS SOUTHEAST ASIA HEAD ABU ZACHARIA KILLED IN MARAWI ENCOUNTER By Charles Dantes THE leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria in Southeast Asia was shot dead while resisting arrest, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) reported Wednesday Western Mindanao Command Chief Lt. Gen. Roy Galido said Faharudin Hadji Benito Satar a.k.a. Abu Zacharia was killed in a 10-minute gunfight with government troops sent to arrest him in the early hours of June 14. Members of the 103rd Infantry Brigade and the Philippine National Police (PNP) conducted the joint operation to serve a warrant of arrest against Zacharia.
Abu Zacharia. Joint Task Force ZamPelan
VOL. XXXVII • NO. 120• 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P20 • THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 2023 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
Zacharia previously replaced Abu Dar as leader of the Daulah IslamiyahMaute Group that laid siege on Marawi City in 2017. Next page
Brace for 90-day evacuation–PBBM Orders Cabinet to scramble budget, avoid depleting quick response funds of LGUs
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EGAZPI CITY— President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday ordered national agencies to cover 90 days of relief assistance to evacuees of the areas around restive Mayon Volcano to unburden local government units (LGUs) responding to the disaster.
Three months, government scientists and local experts say, is the estimated maximum period of unrest in Mayon, which state volcanologists said could unleash a “more vigorous” type of eruption as it already is spewing lava and ashes. The President visited Albay province, landed in Legazpi City, and conducted an aerial inspection of the areas affected Next page
ALL HANDS ON DECK. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. attends a situational meeting with DOST Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. (right) and Bicol Gov. Edcel Greco Lagman at the Albay Astrodome on Wednesday, June 14, 2023, as Phivolcs warned of a 'more vigorous' eruption of Mayon Volcano. Marcos first conducted an aerial inspection of the affected areas and visited an evacuation center at Guinobatan Community College. Alfred Frias, PPA Pool
‘More vigorous’ eruption likely–Phivolcs
By Rio N. Araja, Charles Dantes and Maricel V. Cruz
Institute of Volcanology and Seismology Management Council (NDRRMC) said. (Phivolcs) said Wednesday. Albay Governor Edcel Greco Lagman said in his province alone, More than 37,000 residents or more than 33,000 residents may be MAYON Volcano could have a "violent 9,500 families have been affected forced to evacuate should Mayon or more vigorous" eruption that can build by the ongoing volcanic unrest, the Volcano be placed under Alert Level 4. up in just a matter of hours, the Philippine National Disaster Risk Reduction and Next page
DILG chief warns of 'powerful syndicate' inside PNP Court allows self-confessed drug lord Espinosa to post bail By Joel E. Zurbano
A REGIONAL trial court (RTC) in Leyte province has granted the petition of self-confessed drug lord Rolan "Kerwin" Espinosa and four other co-accused to post bail over charges they engaged in the illegal drug trade. Baybay City RTC Branch 14 Presiding Judge Carlos Arguelles, in an order dated June 13, 2023, allowed the bail petition of Espinosa, Brian Anthony Zaldivar, Alfred Cres Batistis, Jose Antipuesto, and Marcelo Adorco, amounting to P700,000
each for their respective provisional liberty. This was due to the “failure of the prosecution to prove that evidence of guilt against them is strong,” Arguelles said in his ruling. Espinosa, however, will still remain behind bars because he is still facing two other non-bailable cases before the Manila RTC — one for drugs and another for illegal possession of firearms and
THE Department of the Interior and Local Government is looking into the possibility that a powerful syndicate inside the police force was behind the P6.7 billion drug bust in Tondo, Manila eight months ago. DILG secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. said this group could be the reason investigators find it difficult to gather infor-
mation and why no one was cooperating during the probe. Abalos said this prompted him and then Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Rodolfo Azurin Jr. to call for courtesy resignations of police generals and colonels in January. “I felt so frustrated, what's happening here. What we should do after the resignation, we want to make sure to [let] them [know] that we’re
serious. We will put you behind bars. That’s what we are doing right now. We are really house cleaning everything,” said Abalos in an interview with CNN Philippines. While the graft charges and other criminal complaints against 50 police officials were already filed on Friday with the Office of the Ombudsman, Abalos said the National Police Commission Next page
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Prioritize evacuation plan for OFWs in Taiwan amid China threat—Imee By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Rey E. Requejo COMPLETING an evacuation plan for Filipino migrant workers in Taiwan – which is constantly under threat of invasion by China -- should precede any US relocation of refugees from Afghanistan to the Philippines, Senator Imee Marcos said Wednesday.
This developed as Philippine Ambassador to the United States Jose Manuel Romualdez debunked insinuations that the American proposal for Manila to allow the entry and temporary housing of Afghan nationals was kept secret from the public. Marcos, who chairs the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, said the evacuation plan should be the immediate Next page
Palace: June 28 a holiday for Eid’l Adha JUNE 28 will be a national holiday in line with the Islamic celebration of Eid’l Adha or the Feast of Sacrifice, Malacañang announced on Wednesday. Proclamation No. 258, dated 13 June 2023 and signed by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, said Eid’l Adha is one of the greatest feasts of Islam being celebrated by Muslims worldwide to mark
the end of Ramadan. “Following the 1444 Hijrah Islamic Lunar Calendar, the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos has recommended that 28 June 2023, Wednesday, be declared a national holiday, in observance of Eid’l Adha,” the proclamation added. Next page
FRIENDLY VISIT. Members of the Philippine Navy wave Chinese and Philippine flags as they welcome the Chinese naval training ship 'Qi Jiguang' at Pier 15 in Manila on Wednesday, June 14, 2023, for a three day port call. Danny Pata
China training vessel in PH for 3-day ‘goodwill visit’ A CHINESE navy training vessel in the South China Sea. stop on a Southeast Asian tour through berthed in the Philippines on Dragon dances and a brass band Vietnam, Thailand and Brunei. Wednesday for a rare port visit as the greeted the 165-meter (542-foot) Qi "It's a goodwill visit," Chinese two countries contest reefs and waters Jiguang in Manila to mark its final Next page