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Sison slams Duterte’s claim of ‘gay’ NPA rebels

By Vince Angelo C. Ferreras
COMMUNIST PARTY of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria C. Sison took issue with the claim of President Rodrigo R. Duterte that almost half of New People’s Army (NPA) rebels are “gay.”
Mr. Duterte said over the weekend that his son Sebastian was allegedly “abused” by rebels when they handed over in Agusan del Sur last week two soldiers and six militiamen in their captivity.
“Alam ba ninyo 40 percent ng NPA ngayon na sundalo bakla?” Mr. Duterte said at a campaign rally by the ruling PDP-Laban in Laguna province last Saturday. (Did you know that 40 percent of NPA soldiers are gay?).
“Pagdating sa bukid, dinala ako ng apat na NPA doon sa niyogan. Gihalik-halikan ako tapos ‘yung lahat…’” the President quoted his son as saying. (I was molested by four NPA rebels).
“Most unbelievable part of the joke of Duterte is the claim that 40 percent of NPA fighters are gay. How can he make such a survey finding when his military and police minions cannot locate the thousands of Red commanders and fighters in more than 110 guerrilla fronts?” Mr. Sison said on Monday, Feb. 25.
Mr. Sison for his part said, “In making a joke, Duterte has obviously invented the story that gays in the NPA brought his son Baste to the woods to be subjected to kissing, mashing and other acts amounting to molestation.”
“There is a strict NPA rule of discipline against sexual molestation and taking sexual liberties against the will of others. It is up to the NPA command concerned to inform us how Baste was treated,” the exiled communist leader also said.
He added, “If indeed anyone in the NPA molested or took liberties with Baste, he or she would face disciplinary action, aside from experiencing the discomfort in discovering the truth of what Duterte had earlier said that he and Baste are congenital stinkers because the sewage system of their bodies cannot dispose of the waste of their food intakes and they suffer long periods of constipation.”
“The position of the CPP and the revolutionary movement has always been not to discriminate against women and the LGBT in the recruitment of fighters by the NPA,” Mr. Sison also said.
“The men, women and LGBT are qualified to become Red commanders and fighters so long as they are 18 years or older, and are able-bodied, have revolutionary commitment and are willing to undertake politico-military training, to do mass work and to fight the enemy with firearms.”

‘Inday controls the politics’: Duterte says of daughter

By Arjay L. Balinbin, Reporter
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte on Sunday said his daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio, is in control of the family’s political decisions.
Speaking in Cebu City last Sunday, Feb. 24, Mr. Duterte said he can no longer run for office after his term as president. He also said that whatever decisions needed regarding the 2022 elections will now be up to Ms. Duterte-Carpio, because she is the one taking the lead when it comes to the family’s political decisions.
“Inday is the one taking the lead. Inday is the one who controls the poli[tics]… Wala na ako eh. I know that after three years, wala na talaga ako. I will no longer be able to run and you will also not be able to tell Inday what to do,” Mr. Duterte said in his remarks during the distribution of grants to unconditional cash-transfer beneficiaries in Cebu City.
“Have you seen Inday? Alvarez was just kidding around. But I can also impeach him. So if you will make a joke, don’t joke around with someone who has a father, mother, sibling and children behind her. You better watch out,” the President narrated, referring to the ouster of former House speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez.
“She started planning it in Davao. Alvarez was replaced. I wasn’t even aware that she was angry. But with Inday, you just can’t… Go there and you’ll get a taste of….” the President continued.
Ms. Duterte-Carpio is seen by observers as a potential contender in the 2022 presidential elections.
The Davao City Mayor said she will make up her mind in 2021.
“I was mayor of Davao for 23 years. And I was also a congressman. I was Inday’s vice mayor and then I became President. By God’s grace I never lost an election. I’m not bragging about it,” the President said.
Mr. Duterte described her daughter as a “tough” mayor.
“By 12 midnight, it’s as if Davao has closed down. No people will be walking outside by then. Nobody’s smoking or drinking because if Inday sees you, she’ll slap you,” he said.
“If you go to Davao, you have to go about it carefully. I beat people up too but Inday is worse than me. Have you seen the sheriff that she punched? She even pulled his hair. He was almost bald,” he said.

Palace cool on additional powers for PACC

MALACAÑANG has thumbed down the idea of granting the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) “prosecutorial powers.”
“Hindi, dahil ang batas ay ibinigay na sa Ombudsman. Magiging duplicate na ‘yun,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador S. Panelo said in an interview on Feb. 21. (No, because that [authority] is given to the Ombudsman. [To otherwise delegate that elsewhere would be a duplication]).
“Hindi pwede. Sa mga public officials. Ang Ombudsman lang…tsaka DoJ.” (Only the Ombudsman and the DoJ [Department of Justice]).
PACC Chairman Dante L. Jimenez, in a phone interview last December, said he wanted to ask President Rodrigo R. Duterte to grant the agency prosecutorial powers and expand its jurisdiction.
“Yes, katulad sa (like the) Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) of Hong Kong, they can investigate, they can prosecute and at the same time [have a program on] prevention and education,” Mr. Jimenez said.
The expansion of jurisdiction that the PACC seeks to recommend includes handling cases of government workers below the salary grade 26 level.
Mr. Duterte created the PACC in 2017 by signing Executive Order No. 43. The commission operates under the Office of the President and is primarily made up of a chairperson and four commissioners. The commission was formed in the wake of Mr. Duterte’s criticisms against then Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales.
Malacañang announced on Jan. 11 that Mr. Duterte had issued another executive order mandating the PACC to recommend complaints of violations of the Anti-Red Tape Act to the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA).
Executive Order No. 73, which the President signed on Dec. 28, states that the PACC shall “(r)ecommend to the Anti-Red Tape Authority, for investigation, violations of Republic Act No. 9485, otherwise known as the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007, as amended, and its Implementing Rules and Regulations.”
The President’s order also states that “nothing shall prevent the President, in the interest of the service, from directly investigating and/or hearing an administrative case against any presidential appointee or authorizing other offices under the Office of the President to do the same, as well as from assuming jurisdiction at any stage of the proceedings over cases being investigated by the commission.” — Arjay L. Balinbin

Lay off priests, Duterte now says

By Arjay L. Balinbin, Reporter
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte on Sunday said people should stop using his name to intimidate Church leaders, especially Catholic priests.
“Do not touch the priests. They [have] nothing to do with politics,” he said in his remarks in a campaign rally led by the PDP-Laban in Cebu City.
“Either Muslims or Christians, they [have] nothing to do with us. Do not do it. Do not try to do it. Ang (The) religious [leaders] have nothing to do with the vagaries of life. Lay off! Stop threatening them or ako ang makalaban ninyo (I will be your enemy),” he added.
Mr. Duterte himself has repeatedly attacked Catholic bishops who have been critical of his administration’s war on drugs and his remarks against women.
He even said in a speech last January that bystanders should kill or steal from rich bishops.
In the middle of his speech in Cebu City last Sunday, “the President read to the public the message he received from Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle concerning an anonymous individual using the President’s name and his family to threaten Catholic leaders,” the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) said in a press release on Monday, Feb. 25.
“Good day po, greetings from Rome. I was informed that Bishop David and some priests got death threats from someone claiming to be working for the President’s family. Just to let you know, baka may naninira (maybe someone is trying to harm his reputation). Thanks, we pray,” the message said as read by the President.
The President also read his camp’s reply to the message: “Wala po ganun (No such plot) Cardinal. Salamat (Thank you). Just to let you know that there are persons using the name of the President and his family.”
The President also told his audience: “Oras na galawin ninyo ang mga madre o pari o imam… wag niyo silang galawin (Once you touch nuns or priests or imams… do not touch them). Those are religious people. Kilala man ninyo yan (You know who they are). Tayo mag-enkwentro diyan (We’ll end up in an encounter). Wala silang kinalaman (Religious leaders have nothing to do with it).”

Senate bill on Baguio-Benguet Authority in plenary

SENATOR Richard J. Gordon has sponsored to the plenary Senate Bill No. 2169 creating the Greater Baguio-Benguet Development Authority. The bill establishes the new authority with the aim of decongesting Baguio City and dispersing economic activity to the city’s neighboring municipalities. It also creates a special metropolitan area in Benguet called the “Greater Baguio-Benguet Metropolitan Area” composed of the municipalities of La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tuba, and Tublay, subject for approval in a plebiscite. In a text message, Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III said it was still “possible” that the proposed measure could reach third reading approval in the 17th Congress given the remaining session days. Congress is on its Feb. 9 to May 19 break for the May 13 midterm elections. It will resume session from May 20 to June 7. — Camille A. Aguinaldo

CTA affirms voiding of tax claim against mining firm

THE Court of Tax Appeals (CTA) denied for lack of merit a motion for reconsideration by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) on the cancellation of its assessment on the alleged P254.72-million tax deficiency of Coral Bay Nickel Corp. for January to March 2007. In a resolution on Feb. 6, the full court upheld its Aug. 14, 2018, decision affirming the said cancellation the previous year by CTA’s third division, which further cited as invalid a waiver which supposedly extends the period to assess Coral Bay of its alleged tax deficiencies. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

Duterte skips EDSA rites but issues message

SKIPPING the EDSA People Power anniversary rites for the third time, President Rodrigo R. Duterte nevertheless issued a presidential message saying “I join the Filipino people in commemorating the 33rd Anniversary of the People Power Revolution.” The message also read in part, “As the entire nation prepares for the upcoming Midterm Elections this May, let us always remember how this historic revolution restored our power to collectively chart our future through the ballot.” For its part, the opposition Otso Diretso senatorial ticket, a number of them direct heirs to the People Power legacy, said, “Pilit ibinabalik ng kasalukuyang gobyerno ang madilim na bahagi ng kasaysayan na naranasan na ng mga Pilipino mahigit 30 taon na ang nakararaan.” (This government is forcing the return of a dark chapter in our history). On the eve of the People Power commemoration, Mr. Duterte also vowed, “I will really finish the war against drugs in three years time,” the remainder of his term. “My time now is the most dangerous for the drug addicts and pushers. I will never let this pass,” he also said in Cebu City that Sunday.

Fuel prices in ‘big time’ increase

OIL companies are implementing another “big time” price increase for petroleum products this week, with both gasoline and diesel rising by P1.45 per liter. In their advisories, the oil firms will be implementing the price hike at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 26. The price of kerosene will also increase by P1.35 per liter. This week’s increase is the biggest so far this year for gasoline, beating the P1.40-per-liter rise on the second week of January. Diesel prices were highest this year during that same week when it reached P2.30 per liter. The Department of Energy (DoE) said oil-producing countries had been trying to correct the supply surplus situation and had agreed to cut back on output to bring both oil supply and prices to normal. “However, recent political events in Venezuela, along with the waiving on the sanctions on Iran expiring on April, caused prices to steadily increase affecting the local market,” DoE said.

More suspected cocaine found

MORE blocks of suspected cocaine were found on the shores of Aurora in Luzon and Davao Oriental in Mindanao on Sunday afternoon. The Philippine National Police (PNP) reported on Monday that a fisherman found a suspected cocaine “block” wrapped in plastic and tied with rubber off Dingalan, Aurora. In the municipality of Caraga in Davao Oriental, police found two such blocks of suspected cocaine. — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras

Batang Pinoy targets Visayan athletes in grassroots

THE Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) said it is on the lookout for new sports talents in this year’s Batang Pinoy 2019 Visayas Qualifying Leg, hosted by the city and province of Iloilo. “We would like to encourage the participation of provinces in the far-flung areas. We expect to discover young athletes and tap them as national athletes in the future,” PSC Governor Arnold G. Agustin said about the event, which opened on Feb. 23 at the Iloilo Sports Complex. Around 3,000 athletes from 72 local government units (LGUs) in the Visayas are taking part in this competition. Paul Ycasas, Deputy Head National Secretariat of PSC, said, “Some of the events are not played in Palarong Pambansa. That is why we emphasize giving more chance…particularly to provincial athletes to participate and gain experience.” “This is a very good program, starting from 15 years old and below, that’s the time when the children can choose whatever they want, whatever they want to play, and whatever they want to train,” Iloilo City Sports Director Moises Salomon Jr. said for his part. And Mayor Jose S. Espinosa III said, “The city of Iloilo is always supportive of this program because through sports we can (solve) the problem of drugs in the country.” — Emme Rose Santiagudo

Nation at a Glance — (02/26/19)

News stories from across the nation. Visit www.bworldonline.com (section: The Nation) to read more national and regional news from the Philippines.
Nation at a Glance — (02/26/19)

Best rides for 2019

Year 2019 is poised to be an exciting year for the local automotive industry. Better market conditions are expected as consumers get used to the latest excise tax rates imposed on automobiles and as they have partly recovered from the impact of inflation surges, higher interest rates and inconstant oil prices last year.

New and redesigned cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUVs), among others, that exemplify more advanced components are on the horizon this year. These vehicles, compared to their older versions, boasts of greater power and handling, more sophisticated and refined look, and improved safety features. From a number of recently launched automobiles and those coming our way in the months ahead, here are some worth noting:

Ford Ranger Raptor

This super truck is engineered with ultra-strength frame, giant bash plate, and an elevated design that allow it to thrive in different road conditions. Ranger Raptor is radiating a bolder and stronger look through its signature FORD block-letter grille, muscular haunches, frame-mounted bumper, and a tailgate that features an integrated bumper and 3D badging.

Inside Ranger Raptor are body-contoured sports seats carefully tailored for better body grip. Raptor stitching can be observed throughout the cabin, particularly on its steering wheel, soft top instrument panel, leather-wrapped shifter, and floor mats. A multi-intelligent instrument panel that displays performance information on a low-glare, high-quality flat screen is also available.

Ranger Raptor is setting a new standard of performance with its cutting-edge 2.0L bi-turbo diesel engine, carefully calibrated with Ford’s latest 10-speed auto transmission technology. It delivers more top-end power, more bottom-end torque, improved acceleration, and quicker gear changes.

Hyundai Reina

The all-new Hyundai Reina has generated a lot of buzz since it was launched to the local market by the Hyundai Asia Resources, Inc. (HARI). This subcompact stunner is tailored based on Hyundai’s fluidic sculpture design philosophy and is marked by hexagonal front grille, showcasing an urban elegance reminiscent of the Hyundai Modern Premium pedigree.

Reina comes with various safety features that are usually unavailable in most subcompact cars. It is equipped with dual airbags that provide significant occupant protection for both driver and front passenger, a speed-sensing auto door lock to keep doors secure, and an Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) that gives driver better control in maneuvering during slippery road conditions.

Under the hood of Hyundai Reina is a 1.4L gasoline engine with dynamic power of 95ps for quicker maneuverability in and around the city. It offers a more versatile and convenient driving experience through either a five-speed manual transmission or a four-speed automatic transmission.

Kia Soluto

Kia Soluto is the first all-new model showcased by Kia Philippines this year. This subcompact sedan is stylishly made to suit a perfect lifestyle. The electric side mirrors with LED side repeaters, chrome outside door handles, projector fog lamps, pole type antenna, and rear combination lamps are nice exterior touches that give Soluto a striking appeal.

The new Soluto features smart and useful details that capture the essence of the modern-day driving. These include an Android Auto and Apple Car Play compatible Audio System, an Audio Remote Control and a 2.8-inch LCD Cluster. For utmost comfort, Soluto is designed with comfortable seats and enough room to stretch, and is equipped with Rotary Temperature Control and 360° Rotatable Airducts.

Soluto is engineered with the highly efficient 95-Ps 1.4MPI gasoline engine, mated to either a four-speed automatic transmission or a five-speed manual transmission.

Mitsubishi Strada

Mitsubishi Strada is set to create another huge impact to the local market after Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation (MMPC) unveiled its latest version. The all-new Strada embodies a stronger and tougher look of a modern pickup with its refreshed design. The high hood and functional LED lamps, harmonized with grille design, complement its sculpted body curves with contrasting sharp lines. The front-to-back character line expresses a sense of space and thickness of its overall body.

This powerful pickup comes with a larger interior space, equipped with a functional and modernized center panel and console. All variants of Strada feature 2-DIN Touch Screen monitor, tuner, MP3 player, USB, iPod-ready Auxiliary-in, Bluetooth with Mirror Link feature Multi-media system, and GPS Navigation System.

Refined to deliver an unmatched performance and off-road capability, Strada is powered by 2.4L 4 In-line 16 Valve DOHC Clean Diesel with Variable Geometry Turbo and MIVEC (Mitsubishi Innovative Valve timing Electronic Control System) 4N15 which gives a maximum output of 181 Ps/3,500 rpm and a maximum torque of 430 N-m/2,500 rpm.

Suzuki Ertiga

The new Ertiga exudes a distinctive exterior styling, featuring a taller and wider nose, a dynamic shoulder line, deeper curves, an aerodynamic body and refined chrome accents. It combines elegance and sturdiness that clearly differentiates it from other vehicle models under its segment.

Inside Ertiga is a world where sophistication meets utility. It has a flexible seating that can be easily adjusted to accommodate friends, family and large amounts of luggage. It also comes with user-friendly features such as bank note or coin holders, USB port and accessories socket, glove box, seatback pockets, accessories socket for second-row seat and ventilated cup holders, among others.

A powerful and efficient 1.5 petrol engine powers the new Ertiga which promises to deliver a smooth and powerful response, as well as high fuel efficiency. — Mark Louis F. Ferrolino

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