VOL. XXIX NO. 356 3 Sections 32 Pages P18 WEDNESDay : FEBRUaRy 3, 2016 www.thestandard.com.ph editorial@thestandard.com.ph
Sereno: Rulings favored foundlings
A3
GLOVES COME OFF
Malacañang, Liberal Party trade barbs with Binay By Vito Barcelo and Sandy Araneta
Malacañang and its standard bearer, Manuel Roxas II, traded barbs with opposition candidate Vice President Jejomar Binay Tuesday after the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee recommended the filing of plunder charges against Binay.
“The Senate report speaks for itself. I have nothing to add to this,” Roxas said during a campaign sortie in Antipolo, Rizal. “The appeal of the people [is] for him to answer the charges,” he said, adding that the senators had heard all the testimony and examined all the evidence before release their partial report.
“Who am I to oppose the view of the Senate?” Clearly referring to the charges against Binay, Roxas added: “It is important that a President should not steal.” Binay’s camp, on the other hand, said the Senate subcommittee report held nothing new, and accused Roxas’ Liberal Party of
timing its release during the campaign and just before the next survey period for the opinion polls. United Nationalist Alliance spokesperson Rico Quicho accused the Liberal Party of using the charges against Binay to divert public attention from the administration’s failure to improve the lives of the poor. Next page
Promise. Vice President Jejomar Binay shares a light moment with the United Nationalist Alliance’s candidates in Cebu, where he vowed a bigger share of internal revenue allotments to local governments once he was elected president.
MILF eyed in Sultan Kudarat explosion By Francisco Tuyay and Florante S. Solmerin TWO people were wounded after a bomb planted in a private vehicle in Sultan Kudarat went off, in an attack that appeared to be carried out by members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in response to
the failure of Congress to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law. The blast came as the military deployed more ground troops in several areas of Mindanao, particularly Sulu, in preparation for any eventualities after the BBL—the lynchpin in the government’s peace pact with the MILF—failed to win
passage in Congress. A security expert said he had received reliable reports that the MILF was preparing for a possible all-out war against government forces. “The MILF faction led by Abdullah Macapaar alias Commander Bravo, who had an autonomous Next page
Erice says Duterte is ‘weird, crazy’
A3