DT_20190724

A2 NEWS
Wednesday, 24 July 2019
Daily Tribune
PHOTOGRAPHS of the country’s most beautiful places are viewed by a visitor at the House of Representatives building in Quezon City.
Needle the plunderers!
I expect to muster enough support from my
colleagues
From page 1
by the Chief Executive as deserving
of the death warrant.
“I will fight for it. Thanks to
President Duterte for supporting it. We
have one goal here, which is to stop
corruption in our country,” Go said.
Asked about the chances of his
bill hurdling the Senate, Go replied,
“Maybe, hopefully, you will help
us, the President, in our campaign
against corruption, the government’s
campaign against illegal drugs and the
campaign against criminality.”
In his Senate Bill 207, Go seeks to
reinstate the death penalty for plunder
and drug offenses via lethal injection.
Go stressed that people, including
legislators, who are not corrupt should
not worry about the death penalty.
“You don’t have to be afraid if
you do not steal. So, nobody will die,
nobody will be slapped with the death
penalty if there are no plunderers,”
he said.
“If this (bill) is passed, it can sow
fear on thieves in the government,”
the senator said.
Combating corruption
An earlier report by the United
Nations Convention Against
Corruption claimed that about $2.6
trillion is lost annually to global
corruption.
These are monies needed
for essential services, including
healthcare, education, clean water
and infrastructure, the UN said,
adding that “corruption harms
societies in multiple ways. It
undermines democracy and rule
of law, erodes quality of life, slows
economic development and enables
organized crime and terrorism.”
The UN Office on Drugs and
Crime also said the international
community has recognized that
combating corruption is essential to
preventing and addressing root causes
of conflict and violent extremism,
From page 1
State of the Nation Address
(SoNA) on Monday at the
Batasang Pambansa, a speech
described by Velasco and Leyte
Rep. Martin Romualdez as loaded
with the Chief Executive’s clear
vision for the remaining three
years of his administration.
Velasco said Mr. Duterte was
astute and sharp in his report to
the Filipino people.
We need to work as
expected from us by our
constituents.
The two congressmen agreed
to step aside as Duterte adopted
Cayetano’s 1521 Magellan
Formula, which will have the
latter steering the House for
15 months before Velasco takes
over for the last 21 months of
the President’s remaining three
years in office. Romualdez,
meanwhile, will serve as House
Majority Floor Leader for the last
half of the six-year term.
President Duterte laid down his
legislative agenda which centered
on several measures aimed at
fighting corruption, improving
peace and order, boosting the
economy and uplifting the
lives of the Filipino people,”
building peace and protecting human
rights.
You don’t have to be afraid if
you do not steal.
“Governments understand that
anti-corruption is critical to countering
organized crime, including human
trafficking and migrant smuggling, as
well as trafficking of drugs, weapons
and natural resources,” UNODC
executive director Yury Fedotov said.
Sen. Ronald de la Rosa also
branded Duterte’s pronouncement
on the revival of the death penalty as
“very positive.”
De la Rosa also filed a bill calling
for the imposition of death penalty on
drug traffickers.
Senate support
In a broadcast interview yesterday,
Senate President Vicente Sotto III also
said he will support the reimposition
of the death penalty on high-level drug
trafficking.
Sotto stressed that it is awkward
for legislators to reject the death
penalty for plunderers.
“That’s why we, in Congress, it’s
awkward for us to say no to (death
penalty for) plunder. We should really
include it (plunder) in the death
penalty,” Sotto said.
This early, the Senate leader
predicts that 13 to 14 senators
will support the death penalty
for high-level drug trafficking
and plunder.
De la Rosa, at a recent “Straight
Talk with Daily Tribune,” stressed
that his version of the death penalty
is not as anti-poor as many critics of
the capital punishment have been
claiming.
“I expect to muster enough
support from my colleagues,” De la
Rosa said.
“Among the three versions filed,
mine is the lightest. I see a bigger
Velasco said Mr. Duterte was astute and sharp in
his report to the Filipino people.
Velasco said on Tuesday.
The Marinduque
representative also said
the Legislative-Executive
Development Advisory Council
(LEDAC) should convene
immediately.
President Duterte made
another powerful speech
about his renewed
commitment to good
governance and intensified
campaign against
corruption.
The LEDAC, a panel chaired
by Mr. Duterte, should find
common ground to ensure
immediate legislation of his bills
presented in the SoNA.
“There must be an agreement
among the Executive, the
Senate and the House of
Representatives on which
bills in the CLA (Common
Legislative
Agenda)
will be
chance of my bill being passed
because my death penalty version
is only for drug traffickers, drug
manufacturing,” he added.
De la Rosa stressed that without
the death penalty, big-time drug
lords, particularly foreigners, are
lured to engage in the illegal business
in the country.
“In my experience as Bureau of
Corrections chief, I asked no less
than the convicted drug lords and
traffickers why they insist on bringing
in shabu in our country. And their
reason? It’s because we don’t have
the death penalty for drug offenses
here in the Philippines,” De la Rosa
explained.
“They are not afraid unlike with
the other countries where they will
surely face death if they are caught,”
he added.
Urgent measures
In his fourth SoNA on Monday, Mr.
Duterte pushed for the death penalty
against heinous crimes related to
illegal drugs and plunder.
So, nobody will die, nobody
will be slapped with the
death penalty if there are no
plunderers.
The President is likely to certify
these measures as urgent, his
spokesman also said on Tuesday.
“Most likely, (the President) feels
that drugs and plunder are our biggest
problems,” presidential spokesman
Salvador Panelo told reporters during
a Palace briefing.
“Maybe he wants death penalty,
hoping it will mitigate the upsurge
of the drug menace and plunder,”
he added.
During his SoNA, Duterte cited
the Marawi Siege as an example of
how money from the illegal drugs
trade disrupted the peace and order
situation in the country. He claimed
that “tons of shabu worth millions and
millions of pesos” financed the Islamic
State-inspired terrorists during the
five-month battle.
The death penalty bill was passed
by the House of Representatives in the
17th Congress. It was, however, met
with strong opposition in the Senate.
But with majority of the
President’s endorsed candidates
winning senatorial seats in the recent
midterm polls, passing the restoration
of capital punishment, as well as
Mr. Duterte’s other priority bills, are
expected to have more support.
Respective versions
Aside from Go and De la Rosa,
Senators Panfilo Lacson and Manny
Pacquiao have also filed their respective
versions of the death penalty law.
“As a general rule, we don’t
want death penalty as it is in the
Constitution, unless Congress passes
a law about it,” Panelo stated.
The death penalty was abolished
in the Philippines in 2006 during the
administration of former President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
In the 17th Congress, the Senate
did not move the bill proposed by Sen.
Manny Pacquiao which called for the
reimposition of the death penalty.
Pacquiao’s SB 189 sought to
amend Republic Act 9165 or the
Comprehensive Drugs Act of 2002.
The boxing icon-turned-senator
proposed the penalty of life
imprisonment to death and a fine
ranging from P1 million to P10 million
on those found guilty of importing and
selling illegal drugs.
Those who protect or coddle any
violator of the Comprehensive Drug
Act would also face a penalty of life
imprisonment to death and a fine
ranging from P500,000 to P1 million.
In his explanatory note, Pacquiao
said drug trafficking remains “a
highly lucrative illicit business
with limited risks due to systemic
poverty, ineffective criminal justice
institutions, outdated drug control
laws, poorly controlled maritime
borders and public corruption.”
Meanwhile, Philippine National
Police Chief Oscar Albayalde
said he “firmly believes” that the
President’s endorsement of the
capital punishment will be a “game
changer.”
Energy bills first to move
prioritized so these can be
enacted into laws at the soonest
possible time,” Velasco added.
The lawmaker said he is
committed to shepherding Mr.
Duterte’s priority measures.
Velasco said he filed bills
aimed at postponing the barangay
elections in May to October 2020,
institutionalizing the Reserve
Officers’ Training Corps and
the rightsizing of government
bureaucracy.
Romualdez, meanwhile, said
the President’s speech was
RECYCLABLE materials are
unloaded in this junk shop
that will have to go soon
following President Duterte’s
order to Metro Manila mayors to
reclaim the streets for people’s use.
ROMAN PROSPERO
From page 1
Uncanny strike
quickly turned to worse at around
noon, as rain clouds suddenly
appeared over the beach with the
lifeguards also leaving their posts
with the impending bad weather.
However, some people stayed
on the beach and watched the
storm clouds unfurl. With one
roaring thunder, lightning struck
a man in his 40s which caused
him to have a heart attack. He
is currently in critical condition.
According to the Clearwater
Fire and Rescue officials, the
others who were injured in the
strike are in good condition
— including three who were
taken to Morton Plan Hospital
and a fifth patient who was
transported to Tampa General
Hospital with burns.
Three other people who were
also injured refused transport and
were not immediately identified.
Meantime, Clearwater Fire
and Rescue District Chief,
Greg Newland praised the good
samaritans at the beach for
quickly jumping to action by
pulling those hurt to safety and
performing CPR on the man who
was struck.
“straightforward and direct to
the point.”
“President Duterte made
another powerful speech about
his renewed commitment to
good governance and intensified
campaign against corruption,”
Romualdez said on
Monday
evening.
H e
s a i d
he will
be supporting the
creation of the Department
of Disaster Resilience and
push for the eradication of
poverty, illegal drugs, peace
and order concerns, lack of
infrastructures and corruption.
“I assure the country’s
economic managers that
Congress will align its
legislative agenda with
President Duterte’s priority
economic bills, which aims to
cut poverty almost by half in
2022,” he added.
Deputy speakers
Meanwhile, the 11 newly-appointed
House Deputy Speakers took their
oath before Speaker Cayetano on
Tuesday.
They are Representatives
Paolo Zimmerman Duterte,
Ferdinand Ledesma Hernandez,
Evelina Escudero, Loren Legarda,
Conrad Estrella III, Prospero
Pichay, Roberto Puno, Eddie
Villanueva, Aurelio Gonzales Jr.,
Johnny Pimentel and Luis Rey
ANALY LABOR
“They put themselves at risk,
major thunderstorm going on,
lightning popping every couple
seconds, and they actually ran
out on to the beach and were able
to pull the victims into a safer
location,” Newland said.
According to authorities, it is
not uncommon for beachgoers
to stay on the sand to watch
storms pass, but staying there
with a storm approaching can be
dangerous.
“Beachgoers should take
cover and go to a safe place
when lightning and thunder are
present,” said the officials. “As
a reminder, Clearwater Fire and
Rescue uses the phrase: ‘When
you hear the roar, go indoor.’”
The Florida strike was one of
three lightning strikes reported
in the US over the weekend as
a 16-year-old boy was struck by
lightning at a soccer tournament
in Aurora, Illinois, Chicago
ABC station WLS reported.
He remained conscious and
was taken to a local hospital
and is now reportedly in good
condition.
Another child between the
age of five and six was struck in
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania as well.
UMBRELLAS make for an art installation that this man is trying to capture
with his camera phone in Venezuela.
AFP
Villafuerte.
Cayetano designated each
deputy speaker to lead some
standing committees.
Rep. Duterte will be Deputy
Speaker for Political Affairs,
while Rep. Estrella will represent
the Partylist Coalition.
According to House Rules,
Deputy Speakers of the House
are the second highest-ranking
officials of the chamber.
These House leaders will take
over the duties of the Speaker in
the absence of Cayetano.
Cavite Rep. Jesus Crispin
Remulla was appointed as House
Senior Deputy Majority leader.
He will take over the duties of
the Majority Floor Leader during
his absence.
I am one with the
President in urging the
Department of Energy
to fast-track projects
involving renewable energy
sources.
The members of the House
have not fielded any lawmaker
who will lead the 60 standing
committees and 15 special
committees, along with the
lawmakers who will become
members of each panel.
Cayetano, Romualdez and
newly-appointed Secretary-General
Atty. Jose Luis Montales and
Sergeant-at-arms Gen. Ramon
Apolinario took their oath on
Monday.