twitter.com/ MlaStandard
facebook.com/ ManilaStandardPH
instagram.com/ manilastandard
Missed your copy of Manila Standard? Call or text our Circulation
manilastandard.net Hotline at 0917-8848655 or email: circulation@manilastandard.net
For advertisement: email: advertise@manilastandard.net • 85646229
RODY TAPPED AS ADMINISTRATOR OF QUIBOLOY CHURCH’S PROPERTIES By Rey Requejo and Macon Ramos-Araneta
PNR HALTS TRAINS STARTING MARCH 28
FORMER President Rodrigo Duterte has been appointed administrator of the properties of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, the religious sect’s media arm Sonshine Media Network International (SMNI) announced on social media yesterday. KOJC’s counsel Dinah TolentinoFuentes said Duterte’s appointment will ensure continuous operations of the group, which she described as “beset on all sides by challenges.” KOJC is led by its founder Apollo Quiboloy, who is wanted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. A California judge on Thursday ordered the unsealing of the arrest warrants against Quiboloy and his coaccused, bringing the case a step closer toward extraditing the pastor for charges of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking by force, fraud, coercion, sex trafficking of children, conspiracy, and cash smuggling. Duterte and Quiboloy have enjoyed close political and economic tiesfor decades. Both are known influential public figures, especially in Davao City and across Mindanao. Quiboloy has publicly acknowledged his deep friendship with Duterte since his days as Davao City mayor, likening him to an older brother. Next page
NEWS / A2
MERALCO RATES UP A BIT IN MARCH BUSINESS / B4
VOL. XXXVIII • NO. 27• 4 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P20 • SATURDAY, MARCH 9, 2024 •
Prepare for conflicts, Xi orders Chinese military China adopts new laws to ‘resolutely safeguard’ sovereignty
C
HINESE President Xi Jinping has ordered the military to prepare for conflicts in the East and South China Seas as the Communist Party-led government is poised to adopt wideranging security laws in 2024 to "resolutely safeguard" its sovereignty. Xi, according to a report by Kyodo News, also directed China’s military to enhance its strategic capabilities in emerging areas such as cyberspace and outer space. In Manila, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. on Friday said the military has adopted the new Comprehensive Archipelagic Defense Concept to defend Philippine territory including its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
PCG spox trades barbs with Global Times on X
‘A SANCTUARY FOR HEALING AND HOPE’
NEWS / A2 "In plain language, we are developing our capability to protect and secure our entire territory and EEZ in order to ensure that our people and all the generations of Filipinos to come shall freely reap and enjoy the bounties of the natural resources that are rightfully ours within our domain," he said in a Next page statement.
NEWS / A4 CANCER CENTER. Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez drops the time capsule containing, among others, the plan for the 20-story Philippine Cancer Center in Diliman Quezon City during the groundbreaking ceremony at the construction site Friday (see story on A4). Ver Noveno
Speaker confident Zubiri will steer Senate to Cha-cha approval 11 Pinoy seafarers on seized By Maricel V. Cruz
stitution’s restrictive economic provisions. “I believe in the leadership of the Senate, SPEAKER Martin Romualdez expressed especially Senate President Juan Miguel confidence Friday that the Senate would Zubiri that he can handle everything, and approve proposed amendments to the Con- he can convince all his colleagues in the
6he standard the standard the standar
SINGKIL DANCE. Female prisoners perform the Muslim ‘Singkil’ dance while wearing colorful costumes at the Bureau of Corrections Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City on Friday in celebration of International Women's Day and in preparation for the upcoming Ramadan. Manny Palmero
Senate,” Romualdez told reporters at the sidelines of the groundbreaking of the Philippine Cancer Center in Quezon City yesterday. Next page
SC upholds order on PLDT to regularize 7,344 workers By Rey Requejo THE Supreme Court has upheld the Department of Labor and Employment’s order to PLDT Inc. to regularize its employees engaged in the installation, repair, and maintenance services of the telecommunication giant’s lines. In a decision written by
tanker going home, says DFA By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Maricel V. Cruz ELEVEN more Filipino seafarers on board the Iran-seized oil tanker ST Nikolas will return to the Philippines in the next few days, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Friday. DFA Undersecretary Eduardo Jose de Vega said the Filipino seafarers’ contracts have officially expired and their manning agency has already replaced them with foreign crewmembers. Next page
Associate Justice Rodil Zalameda, the SC’s First Division dismissed the consolidated petitions for certiorari assailing the ruling of the Court of Appeals, which affirmed, with substantial modifications, the resolutions issued by then-Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, finding labor violations by PLDT and its contractor. Next page
Unemployment rises to 4.5% in Jan. NEWS / A2
#ANONGBALITA? 'Dragon Ball' creator Toriyama passes away, 68
Love is lovelier the 5th time for Murdoch at 92
For Pinoy fans, Taylor Swift is 'unpaid therapist'
NEWS / A2
NEWS / A2
NEWS / A2