VOL. XXX NO. 80 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 TUESDAY : MAY 3, 2016 www.thestandard.com.ph editorial@thestandard.com.ph
Digong fails to give BPI waiver
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AQUINO ASKS INC TO PICK MAR-LENI Bloc-voting Iglesia denies backing Duterte’s bid
By Sandy Araneta
PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III visited the Iglesia ni Cristo central office on Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City Monday, a week before the May 9 elections to seek an endorsement for administration candidates Manuel Roxas II for president and Leni Robredo for vice president.
Aquino’s convoy entered the INC compound at 9 a.m. and left the church about an hour later. In an interview after his visit, Aquino said he spoke with INC executive minister Eduardo Manalo and thanked him for supporting the administration. Aquino said he also shared with Manalo his vision for the country after he steps down from office on June 30. “First, I thanked him because
we really felt their support,” Aquino told reporters in Filipino. “As usual, I was received warmly by Ka Eduardo. I have no complaints,” the President said, without explaining what he meant when he said he also made “the usual... political appeals.” In a statement issued later, Aquino said: “I asked for the meeting. I thanked him for the support he and his brethren have extended
to us. I enumerated the gains under Daang Matuwid. Lastly I expressed the hope that these gains will not only be continued but built upon in the future.” Several politicians have sought the endorsement of the INC, whose support could translate to about 1.5 million to 1.8-million votes on Election Day, according to the research company Pulse Asia. Next page
Campaign trail. President Benigno Aquino III campaigns for his candidates in front of giant images of Liberal Party bets Mar Roxas and Leni Robredo at the Cagayan National High School in Tuguegarao, Cagayan on Monday. MALACAÑANG PHOTO
Martin signs truth covenant
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Tribal leader killed by military, lumad claim By John Paolo Bencito MORE indigenous people are being killed as the Aquino administration comes to a close, a lumad rights group said Monday, citing the death of a tribal leader allegedly at the hands of the military in Surigao del Norte last week. “The Aquino administration has no compassion for the people. They contin-
ue to kill the lumad…in the mountains that soldiers continue to terrorize,” the group Kahugpungan sa mga Lumadnong Organisasyon sa Caraga (KasaloCaraga) said in a statement. Cristina Palabay of rights group Karapatan, said the administration had a grim track record. “As of March 2016, there were 318 victims of extrajudicial killings under the
BS Aquino presidency, 89 of them are indigenous peoples,” Palabay said. “There were 152 victims from Mindanao, and 64 from the Bicol region,” she added. The latest victim was identified as Datu Arnel Nayer, a vocal Mamanwa tribal leader who opposed a government plan to award an ancestral land claim by the Manobo tribe in 2013. He was found Next page