Good day. Here are the stories for The Manila Times for Saturday, October 12, 2024.
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READ: Blinken hits China’s risky sea moves
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned Beijing’s “increasingly dangerous” actions in the South China Sea as he met leaders of the Asean in Laos on Friday. China has deployed military and coast guard vessels in recent months in a bid to eject the Philippines from a trio of strategically important reefs and islands in the South China Sea. It has also been ratcheting up pressure over a disputed island group controlled by Japan in the East China Sea, rattling Tokyo and its allies.
READ: PH Marines, 5 allies hold joint sea exercises
MARINE forces from the Philippines, the United States, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom and Australia will take part in the “Kamandag 08-24” sea exercise from October 15 to 25. In an advisory on Friday, the Philippine Marine Corps (PMC) said it will join the US Marine Corps as a primary participant in the drills, which stands for “Kaagapay ng Mga Mandirigma ng Dagat.” They will be joined by units from the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, Republic of Korea Marine Corps, United Kingdom Royal Marine Commandos, and Australian Defense Force. Kamandag is part of this year’s activities set by the Mutual Defense BoardSecurity Exchange Board, composed of Philippine and US security officials.
READ: ‘De la Rosa forced me to implicate de Lima’
SELF-CONFESSED drug lord Rolan “Kerwin” Espinosa told a House hearing Friday that former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief and now Sen. Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa forced him into implicating former senator Leila de Lima as a supplier and protector of drug kingpins. Testifying before the House Quad Committee, Espinosa said de la Rosa applied the pressure on him after he arrived from Abu Dhabi, where he was arrested for illegal possession of firearms and explosives. De la Rosa was with the PNP team that brought Espinosa home from Abu Dhabi. Reading from his affidavit, which was written in Filipino, Espinosa said de la Rosa told him to link Peter Lim and de Lima to the illegal drug trade. Lim is a Cebu businessman who was included in then-president Rodrigo Duterte’s “narco-list,” which compiles the names of supposed drug lords and local government officials who are in cahoots with them. Espinosa also said de la Rosa told him to admit that he himself was a major drug trafficker.
READ: POGO ‘big boss’ linked to Alice Guo arrested
THE Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (Paocc) said it has arrested the alleged “big boss” of the Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) hub in Porac, Pampanga. Paocc Executive Director Gilbert Cruz said in a television interview Friday that Lyu Dong, who also goes by the aliases “Boss Boga, Boss Apao, and Boss Bahaw,” was nabbed on Thursday inside a residential subdivision in Laguna. A joint team from the Bureau of Immigration (BI), Department of Justice (DoJ), Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp), and Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking made the arrest, Cruz said. He described Dong as the “kingpin of POGOs.”
READ: Lawmakers file anti-EJK, POGO bills
MEASURES that would classify extrajudicial killings (EJKs) as a heinous crime and permanently ban Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) were filed at the House of Representatives on Friday. House Bill 10986, or the AntiExtrajudicial Killing Act, was fi led by Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr., Deputy Speaker Jayjay Suarez with quad committee chairmen Robert Ace Barbers, Bienvenido Abante Jr., Danilo Ramon Fernandez and Joseph Stephen Paduano. Other authors of the bill include Reps. Romeo Acop, Johnny Pimentel, Gerville Luistro, Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez, Paolo Ortega, Jefferson Khonghun and Jonathan Keith Flores. The bill’s explanatory note said EJKs, or the killing of individuals without judicial proceedings or legal authority, pose grave threat to rule of law, democracy and human rights.
BUSINESS: Recto: Tax goal likely to be missed
Headlining business, tax collections could fall short of target this year, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said on Friday, but non-tax gains will still enable the government to hit its overall revenue goal. This came as the Finance Department, in a Facebook post earlier in the day, said that the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BoC) — the main tax-collecting agencies — had continued to post revenue gains as of end-September.
SPORTS: South Cotabato beat foes in MPBL playoffs
Over to sports, Levi Hernandez drilled in seven triples to lead Batangas City to a 76-66 victory against seventh seed Davao Occidental in the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League (MPBL) playoffs at the Batangas City Coliseum on Thursday. In the other game, Mark Cruz scored 24 points to give South Cotabato a slim 85-82 win against Biñan to also close in on a semifinal slot. Hernandez finished with a game-high 21 points and five rebounds to lead the Batangas City Tanduay Rum Masters. Cedric Ablaza and Philip Paniamogan added 12 points apiece. Batangas City, the only MPBL team to advance to the playoffs in every season since 2018, could end the series and reach the semis with another win on Thursday at the Alonte Arena in Biñan, Laguna. Batangas led by as much as 19 points in the game at 67-48.
READ: Opinion and editorial
Antonio Contreras, Yen Makabenta, and Danton Remoto are today’s front page columnists. Contreras looks into candidates running for elections, Makabenta says the upcoming election lifts the nation’s temperature to absurd levels, while Remoto reviews emails from his readers.
Today’s editorial says President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is taking the right stance on the West Philippine Sea at the Asean Summit in Laos. Read the full version in the paper’s opinion section or listen to the Voice of the Times.
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