Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Tuesday, October 29, 2024.
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READ: Duterte: No apology for drug war deaths
FORMER president Rodrigo Duterte took full legal responsibility for the alleged involvement of some policemen in extrajudicial killings (EJK) and offered no apologies for his bloody war on drugs that claimed the lives of more than 6,000 suspects — mostly poor men — without the benefit of a trial. Attending the first Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee hearing on his war on drugs, Duterte defended his campaign, which is also being investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over allegations of crimes against humanity. Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III, chairman of the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee, said the public hearing would examine the Duterte administration's enforcement of anti-illegal drugs laws. Duterte denied accusations that he gave monetary rewards to policemen who killed drug suspects during a buy-bust. "It is not state-sponsored killing. I did not say such a thing because I'm a lawyer." He said that when he was Davao City mayor — and even during his presidency — he instructed policemen "to encourage [the suspected] criminals to fight, encourage them to draw their guns." Duterte had a faceoff with former senator Leila de Lima and families of drug suspects believed to be victims of EJK. De Lima was detained in 2017 at the Philippine National Police Custodial Center on what she described as trumped-up drug charges. De Lima denied the drug charges and said they were politically motivated because she criticized Duterte's bloody war on drugs. The Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court in 2023 dismissed all the drug complaints against her. De Lima testified that when she was still with the Commission on Human Rights, she investigated alleged EJKs conducted by the so-called Davao death squad against criminals. But she was not able to pursue it even when she became justice secretary due to lack of evidence.
READ: EJK victims' families get to air their side
SOME family members of drug suspects killed during the previous administration's war on drugs on Monday came face to face with former president Rodrigo Duterte, the architect of the bloody campaign against illegal drugs. Duterte, who attended the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee investigation of his war against illegal drugs, peppered his statement with expletives, but Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III declined to strike his remarks from the transcript despite Sen. Risa Hontiveros' call to admonish him. Among the resource persons invited were former senator Leila de Lima and Commission on Human Rights Chairman Richard Palpal-latoc. De Lima has blamed Duterte for drug charges that kept her detained for years but which were eventually thrown out of court. De Lima was elected senator in 2016 but was detained in 2017 on drug charges initiated by the Duterte government. On June 24, 2024, the Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court acquitted her from all criminal cases. Randy delos Santos, the uncle of 17-year-old Kian Loyd delos Santos, who was killed in a police buy-bust in Caloocan in 2016, said they have not yet fully achieved justice despite the conviction of the police officers responsible for the teenager's death. Santos said he was fired from his job when news came out linking his family to illegal drugs.
READ: House committee chief cites grounds to impeach VP Sara
THE chairman of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability said Monday there were two possible grounds to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte. These were her actions as secretary of the Department of Education (DepEd) and her use of funds allocated to the Office of the Vice President, said Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua. Chua said Duterte could face impeachment for alleged graft and corruption.
READ: Leon intensifies in Kristine's wake
TROPICAL Cyclone Leon has intensified into a severe tropical storm, days after more than 100 people were killed by Kristine, the worst storm of the year, the state weather bureau said Monday. Moving westward at 20 kilometers per hour (kph), Leon was estimated at 780 kilometers (km) east of Echague, Isabela, packing maximum sustained winds of 95 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 115 kph, the weather bureau said. In its 12 p.m. bulletin, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said the highest wind signal that may be hoisted during the occurrence of a severe tropical storm would be Signal No. 3 or 4, especially in extreme Northern Luzon.
READ: Senate to scrutinize govt flood control program
SENATE President Francis Escudero said the government's flood control program would be scrutinized when the Senate begins next week its plenary debates on the proposed 6.352 trillion peso 2025 national budget. With many areas devastated by Severe Tropical Storm Kristine, Escudero said it was certain the flood control budget would be a "hot topic" when the Senate takes up the proposed budgets of concerned agencies. This includes the proposed appropriations of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and the Department of National Defense-Office of Civil Defense.
BUSINESS: Income status target at risk from disasters
Headlining business, failure to decisively address persistent flooding and other climate issues could make it significantly harder for the Philippines to move beyond lower middle-income status, a former Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) official said. Writing for New York-based financial consulting firm GlobalSource Partners, former BSP deputy governor Diwa Guinigundo pointed out that inadequate disaster preparedness was behind the extensive damage caused by severe tropical storm Kristine, which battered most of Luzon last week and left over a hundred people dead.
SPORTS: Pido Jarencio fires back at bashers
In sports, UST Growling Tigers head coach Pido Jarencio didn't mince words as he fired back at his bashers after his team snapped a three-game skid in the UAAP Season 87 men's basketball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena Sunday. Jarencio's Growling Tigers defeated the FEU Tamaraws, 79-70, to stay in fourth place with a 5-6 win-loss card.
READ: Opinion and editorial
Antonio Contreras, Yen Makabenta, and Orlando Mercado are today's front page columnists. Contreras there is a need to recalibrate the Philippines' response to and preparedness for extreme weather events, Makabenta asks the situation if former president Rodrigo Duterte refuses to appear in Congress over a self-incrimination right, while Mercado talks about delicadeza in the military.
Today's editorial says the Department of Education now turns its attention to top students in the country. Read the full version in the paper's opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
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