The Standard - 2016 June 04 - Saturday

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VOL. XXX  NO. 112  3 Sections 32 Pages P18  SATURDAY : JUNE 4, 2016  www.thestandard.com.ph  editorial@thestandard.com.ph

JAPANESE ENVOY OFFERS SUPPORT

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RODY CURSES UN Offers no apology to ‘vultures’ in media

By John Paolo Bencito

DAVAO CITY—President-elect Rodrigo Duterte launched a profanity-laced tirade against the United Nations while criticizing it for being too weak to fix problems in the Middle East and Africa.

In a seemingly unprovoked attack on the UN at a Thursday night press conference, Duterte vented his anger in response to a question about foreign media groups that were critical of him. “That’s the trouble here, they’re always raising fears about this or that United Nations convention,” Duterte said, even though the journalists’ criticism had not been linked to UN protocols.

“F--- you UN, you can’t even solve the Middle East carnage... couldn’t even lift a finger in Africa… [where they are] butchering the black people there. shut up all of you.” Duterte, 71, had been incensed by the criticism of foreign and local media groups to his comments earlier in the week that corrupt journalists were legitimate targets of assassination. Explaining his stance on corrupt jour-

nalists, Duterte said on Tuesday that one murdered reporter who was a vocal critic of his leadership deserved to die. Duterte refused to apologize on Thursday and warned the media: “Don’t f--- with me.” Later, however, he promised his attitude would change once he becomes president, and told reporters he was just enjoying his remaining days as “a rude Next page person” while he still can.

Heat of the moment. President-elect Rodrigo Duterte rants against journalists during a press conference in Davao City on June 2. Duterte announced on Friday that he would no longer hold press conferences and will just rely on government television network PTV-4 for his public information needs. AFP

NEW PEACE TRACK PUSHED By John Paolo Bencito

DAVAO CITY—The new government’s incoming peace negotiator Silvestre Bello III said Friday the Duterte administration will explore “a new track of negotiation” to speed up peace talks with the communists. Bello’s statement came as the National Democratic Front said that they will insist that the incoming government junk the country’s military treaties with the United States in the Philippines as a “non-negotiable” condition for peace talks, despite the recent sea row with China.

“We will see if we can find a new track of negotiation in which key issues would be discussed simultaneously so we can fast-track things,” Bello said in an interview. Talks with the left have been ongoing since the Ramos administration, but they have never succeeded in ending the communist insurgency. NDF chief negotiator Fidel Agcaoili said Thursday that a junking of Visiting Forces Agreement and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with the US would be one of their conditions for reaching a truce with the incoming government. Next page

PIMENTEL EXPECTS SMOOTH SAILING

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