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SPECIAL REPORT
VOL. XXXVII • NO. 189 • 3 SECTIONS 12 PAGES • P20 • WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2023 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
Resupply mission a success
PH vessels reach Ayungin, China envoy cites ‘special arrangement’ Medialdea: No commitment from Rody to move PH ship A FORMER top official in the previous administration said President Rodrigo Duterte did not make any commitment to the Chinese to remove the BRP Sierra Madre garrison from Ayungin Shoal. Salvador Medialdea, Duterte’s former executive secretary, told ABS-CBN News on Tuesday that Duterte never made such a promise, even as
he sought warmer ties with Beijing and Chinese President Xi Jinping during his administration. “The former president would never do that. He never did it, because he knows that is a symbol of our sovereignty,” Medialdea said in a phone interview, clarifying that Duterte did not make such commitments “even as a joke.”
By Vince Lopez and Rey E. Requejo
A
RESUPPLY mission reached the BRP Sierra Madre Tuesday, bringing food and other supplies to the Marines stationed in Ayungin Shoal, despite attempts by Chinese vessels to block the boats carrying provisions. Two Philippine Coast Guard ply vessels to Ayungin (Second boats escorted two sup- Thomas) Shoal in Next page
OPPOSITE SHIP’S VIEW. This photo by the China Coast
Guard distributed to Chinese news outlets and posted on Twitter/X on Tuesday shows the Philippine Coast Guard’s BRP Malabrigo en route to the Ayungin Shoal on a resupply mission to BRP Sierra Madre. In a statement, the CCG said it ‘tracked and monitored’ two Philippine supply vessels and two coast guard ships which ‘entered waters near the Ren’ai Reef of China’s Nansha Islands without the permission of the Chinese government.’
Manila hosts 3-day ASEAN-China meeting on SCS Code of Conduct By Rey E. Requejo and Macon Ramos-Araneta
Migrant Workers Secretary Susan ‘Toots’ Ople
‘A great loss’: DMW chief Ople passes away, 61
MEMBERS of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China have resumed discussions on the longplanned Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea on Tuesday. Manila is hosting the three-day dialog that gathers diplomats from the region, including those from five out of six claimant counties in the SCS, namely China, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vi-
and Indonesia. • China welcomes etnam, Taiwan is also a claimant but is not a state of ASEAN. Locsin appointment member As this developed, Chinese Ambassador to Manila Huang Xilian welthe appointment of former For• Risa: Recall Huang comed eign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin as special envoy to China. first, then negotiate Jr.Locsin’s appointment came on the heels of heightened tensions between Manila Beijing after a China Coast Guard ship • Imee: Document and fired a water cannon against Philippine all talks with Beijing
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‘Hackers have compromised PH institutions’
By Vito Barcelo, Charles Dantes, Maricel V. Cruz, Macon Ramos-Araneta and Rey E. Requejo SUSAN “Toots” Ople, the first secretary of the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), died Tuesday, the agency she headed announced. She was 61. In a statement, the DMW said Ople passed away around 1 p.m. surrounded by her family and loved ones. DMW spokesperson Toby Nebrija said more details would be released soon. Susan was the youngest of the seven children of former Senator Blas F. Ople and Susana Vasquez. Her father served as Labor secretary and minister during the term of President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Ople was appointed as Undersecretary of the Department of Labor and Employment by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Next page
By Rey E. Requejo
INDAK-INDAK VIBE AT SM LANANG. Davao City National High School’s Sining Sayon Dawet Cultural Ensemble prove it was a
#VibrantKadayawanAtSM as they emerged Grand Champion of the Indak Indak sa Kadayawan 2023 Davao School-Based Category. The southern metropolis celebrated the Kadayawan Festival on Sunday.
US 5 in town for World Cup; 2k cops to secure tilt THE United States men’s national team, led by several young National Basketball Association stars, arrived in Manila on Tuesday morning for their campaign in the FIBA Basketball
World Cup 2023, which the country is The powerhouse squad is in Group hosting starting Friday. C along with Jordan, Greece, and New The Americans are looking to bounce Zealand, and will open their campaign back from a disappointing seventh- on August 26 against the Tall Blacks at place campaign in the 2019 edition. Next page
DA admits no plan to bring down rice to P20/kilo, just ‘aspiration’
By Maricel V. Cruz
Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian
May, “may not be part of the agency’s plan” but said that “price reduction BRINGING rice prices down to P20 is the (administration’s) aspiration,” per kilo, as President Ferdinand Mar- the Department of Agriculture said cos Jr. said during the elections last Tuesday.
DA Undersecretary Leocadio SebasSebastian attended the hearing at tian admitted this to legislators during the House of Representatives to dethe agency’s budget hearing upon ques- fend the DA’s proposed P181-billion tioning from Deputy Minority Leader budget for 2024. Next page and Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman.
THE country’s Ambassador to the United States, Jose Manuel “Babe” Romualdez, on Tuesday warned that many Philippine “institutions are severely compromised” by hackers. He said hackers can now get into various systems to spread false information as well as control people. Romualdez said US experts are coming to Manila to assess the country’s cybersecurity risks amid reports that cyberspace is being used to sow division. He said the US would send some of its experts to “first assess the situation” and “give us a complete picture of exactly how far this is becoming.” “What’s more important is that we are going to be given or we will have to decide on the solutions that are going to be offered to us,” Romualdez in an interview with ANC. “That is really very important for us to do -- to try to minimize any kind of penetration coming from other sources,” he added. According to Romualdez, he was warned by the intelligence community not only in Washington but also in Manila that plans are in place to conduct “some operations” against Next page