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Three senators: Top cop liable for ‘ninja cops’ By Macon R. Araneta, Francisco Tuyay and MJ Blancaflor AT LEAST three senators believe there is sufficient evidence to file graft charges against Philippine National Police chief Gen. Oscar Albayalde, for his alleged role in protecting “ninja cops” who resold illegal drugs confiscated during a police raid Next page in 2013.
MACHINE GUN. Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade checks the Remote Controlled Weapons system machine gun at the deck of the BRP Tubbataha during the 118th Philippine Coast Guard Anniversary on Thursday. Norman Cruz VOL. XXXIII • NO. 239 • 3 SECTIONS 16 PAGES • P18 FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2019 • www.manilastandard.net • mst.daydesk@gmail.com
780% water rate hike looms Manila Water sees consumers bearing brunt of SC penalty
Panelo accepts dare to ride on PUV, take LRT
By Othel V. Campos, Rey E. Requejo and Macon Ramos-Araneta
By MJ Blancaflor PRESIDENTIAL Spokesman Salvador Panelo has accepted the dare to take public transportation on his way to work without bodyguards and media coverage, after he had denied the existence of a “mass transportation crisis.” Panelo told reporters Thursday that he will take the jeep and then the LRT to Malacañang on Friday, Oct. 11, but declined to give further details or to have media coverage. “I don’t like media coverage because it might become a spectacle. I’m sure, someone will recognize me. If they will see me, maybe they will take a photo,” he said in a news conference. Pressed by reporters if he will commute during rush hour, Panelo said: “Secret. You’ll hear about it. And maybe you’ll see something about it.” Next page
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OUSEHOLDS in Metro Manila face a possible 780 percent increase in their water rates, Manila Water warned, while a fifth of all areas in Mindanao remain without electricity.
IMPLEMENTING RULES.
On Thursday, at the Prince Hotel in San Marcelino, Manila, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, along with Rep. Angelina Tan, Senator Risa Hontiveros and PhilHealth president and CEO Ricardo Morales, sign the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Universal Health Care Law or the Republic Act No. 11223 enacted last Feb. 20 by President Rodrigo Duterte. (Inset) Health advocates, meanwhile, stage a protest at the signing venue. Norman Cruz
Pork price rise seen amid ASF AN INCREASE in the prices of pork products is likely to happen following the presence of the African swine fever in the country, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said Thursday. He said the producers of some brands had been requesting an increase in the prices of their pork products. “There are requests to increase prices, and an increase is possible,” Lopez told GMA News Online. Meanwhile, the government in Iloilo City has imposed a 90-day ban on the entry of live pigs, hog carcasses, pork, pork products, and by-products coming from any country found positive for African swine fever. Executive Order 99, signed by Mayor Jerry Treñas on Oct. 9, 2019, totally bans the entry of similar products coming from countries that are positive for ASF. Turn to A3
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DOH budget cut to cost 10K jobs—Recto By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Vito Barcelo SENATE President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto on Thursday warned that 10,921 personnel of the Department of Health, including 7,107 public health nurses, will be thrown out of work next year if the proposed P9.39 billion cut in the department’s budget is not reversed. He likened the budget cut to a plague
President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia as member of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council of the 18th Congress. As a member, Leonardia will represent all the local government units to the board, making him the lone local official appointed to LEDAC, which includes the Vice President, the Senate President, the House Speaker and seven Cabinet secretaries.
Mass arrest: 542 BPO workers nabbed By Vito Barcelo
BUSINESS B1
POLISH writer Olga Tokarczuk on Thursday won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature, which was delayed over a sexual harassment scandal, while Austrian novelist and playwright Peter Handke took the 2019 award, the Next page Swedish Academy said.
LEONARDIA APPOINTED.
with a 40-percent casualty rate, noting that the 2020 proposal of P88.26 billion is lower than this year’s budget of P97.65 billion. “If not reversed, it will turn us into an archipelago of dismissed nurses. It is a kind of hospital discharge that is the most unkind,” Recto said. One of the major programs to be severely affected by the budget cut is the Human Resource for Health Deployment Program or HRHDP. Next page
WORLD BANK CUTS PH GROWTH GOAL Polish writer wins Nobel
Manila Water cautioned the Supreme Court that water rates could shoot up 780 percent if the justices fine it P921 million for alleged violations of the Clean Water Act. The Court had fined Manila Water for failing to complete its sewerage projects by 2009, or five years after the Clean Water Act took effect, and slapped on an additional running daily fine of P322,102 until the projects are completed. In a motion for reconsideration filed last week, the water concessionaire said
THE BELL RINGS. Villar Group Chairman Manny Villar rings the bell Thursday during AllHome Corporation’s Initial Public Offering Listing Ceremony at the Philippine Stock Exchange in Taguig. Also in photo are PSE Chairman Jose Pardo, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Emilio Aquino, Senator Cynthia Villar, AllHome Director Manuel Paolo Villar, AllHome Vice Chairman Camille Villar, DPWH Secretary Mark Villar, PSE President and CEO Ramon Monzon, PSE Directors Emmanuel Bautista, Ma. Vivian Yuchengco and Wilson Sy; SEC Commissioner Kevin Lester Lee; AllHome Chief Financial Officer Frances Rosalie T. Coloma; AllHome President and CEO Benjamarie Therese N. Serrano; and AllHome Independent Directors Jessie D. Cabaluna, and Laura Suarez Acuzar.
AT LEAST 542 foreigners, mostly Chinese, were arrested by immigration and police officials in a raid of an illegal business process outsourcing company in Pasay City. Immigration Commissioner Jamie Morente said the aliens were arrested for working without a working permit. The company that the foreigners were supposedly working for is also allegedly involved in an investment scam. The mayor’s permit issued to the company was supposedly for “support services.” The 542 foreigners were mostly male
and made up of 442 Chinese, 45 Burmese, 25 Malaysians, 23 Vietnamese, four Taiwanese and three Indonesians, Morente said. Immigration Intelligence chief Fortunato Manahan Jr. said “the foreigners were involved in some sort of telecommunications fraud, adding “their victims are mostly from mainland China.” Morente said the aaliens will face deportation. “If the alien committed a criminal act, it is under the jurisdiction of the local authorities. But if we see that there is an immigration violation, we may charge for deportation separately,’’ Morente Next page said.