WEEKLY ISSUE @FilAmNewspaper www.filamstar.com Vol. IX Issue 545 1028 Mission Street, 2/F, San Francisco, CA 94103 Email: [email protected] Tel. (415) 593-5955 or (650) 278-0692 September 19-25, 2019 Elaine Chao (Photo: Wikimedia) VP Robredo faces resolution of her fraud, sedition cases Trump Transpo Sec. By Beting Laygo Dolor acting as presidential electoral tribu- by the Commission on Elections, which Chao under scrutiny Contributing Editor nal (PET) is expected to release the Marcos charged was an election taint- US NEWS | A2 decision on the vote recount of the ed with fraud and massive cheating. ANYTIME within the next week or 2016 elections filed by former sen- To prove his claim, Marcos so, Vice-president Leni Robredo can ator Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. against requested and was granted a manual expect a decision to be handed out in her. recount of votes in three provinces. two high-profile cases involving her. Robredo defeated Marcos by some TO PAGE A7 VP Leni Robredo (Photo: Facebook) In the first, the Supreme Court 250,000 votes based on the final tally ■ By Daniel Llanto FilAm Star Correspondent IN THE wake of the drone attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities, Foreign PH braces for fuel Affairs Sec. Teodoro Locsin Jr. said Riza Hontiveros (Photo: Facebook) the loss of half of the world’s top oil Divorce bill in producer is so serious it could affect the country “deeply” and cause the “Philip- crisis after attacks discussion at PH Senate pine boat to tip over.” PH NEWS | A3 “This is serious,” Locsin tweeted. “It will – not could – affect us deeply. To put it bluntly, an oil shortage or on Saudi oil facilities Kansas steep rise in oil price will rock the Phil- Chiefs ippine boat and tip it over.” beat Oil prices soared more than 10 percent on September 16 after the Iran- Oakland backed Huthi rebels in neighboring Raiders, Yemen hit two sites owned by Saudi 28-10 state-run oil giant Aramco on Septem- SPORTS ber 14, effectively shutting down six NEWS | A5 percent of its global oil supply. Tensions also heightened as US Chiefs QB President Donald Trump blamed Iran Patrick for the attacks and raised the possibility Mahomes of a military strike on the country. (Photo: R. Mascardo) ■ TO PAGE A7 Photos show damage control teams rushing to conflagration by drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities (Photo: Youtube) US singles out Iran, readies Safeguards exist for China-linked telco facilities set-up in military bases - AFP response to Saudi oil attacks By Daniel Llanto Esperon and Defense Sec. Delfin FilAm Star Correspondent Lorenzana said they are “undertaking measures to respond to the concerns” “We have a lot of options,” the US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper also THE UNITED STATES readied its over the deal. leader told reporters, saying there was singled out Iran as a regional desta- THE INSISTENT security concerns response Monday to the “unprece- Presidential spokesman Salvador no rush to react and that talks with bilizing force, while stopping short raised over the deal signed between the dented” attack on Saudi oil facilities as Panelo told a media briefing that Lo- allies would come first. of directly accusing Tehran over the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) President Donald Trump said Iran was renzana will “ask the concerned people “I’m not looking to get into new strike. top brass and the Chinese-linked Dito likely to blame, fanning new fears of involved in the deal.” This arose from a conflict, but sometimes you have to,” The US military, he said, is work- Telecommunity Corp. (recently granted conflict in the Gulf region. suspicion that the AFP leadership went he said. “That was a very large attack, ing with its partners to “address this franchise as the country’s third major Trump said he was ready to help overboard on its own to please the owners and it could be met by an attack many, unprecedented attack and defend the telco) to establish its facilities and towers key ally Saudi Arabia after the week- of Dito who are known friends of Presi- many times larger.” international rules-based order that is within military bases caused the Nation- end drone attacks, which triggered a dent Duterte, risking security breach. “Certainly, it would look to most being undermined by Iran.” al Security Adviser and Defense Chief to record leap in global oil prices, but The AFP last week signed a deal like it was Iran,” the president added. take a step back and investigate. would await a “definitive” determina- with the consortium, allowing the tion on who was responsible. After meeting with Trump, US ■ TO PAGE A2 The Department of National Defense (DND) together with National Chinese-linked firm to put its system, Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon towers, and facilities within military Prostitutes who become cons’ will put the deal on hold and investigate bases in the country. girlfriends, wives, other money- its ramifications. ■ TO PAGE A7 making schemes in penitentiary Communist leader’s extradition revealed to Senate from Netherlands seem unlikely schemes inside the national peniten- The inmates, he said, tipped off as PH seeks help from Interpol tiary, revealed last September 15 by their policemen-friends about the pres- former Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) ence of “tilapia.” OIC Rafael Ragos. The kidnappers then demand- By Beting Laygo Dolor Ragos was among those who ed ransom for the release of “tila- Contributing Editor testified against detained Sen. Leila pia.” And negotiation for the release de Lima and said he delivered PHP5 happened inside the NBP. THE PHILIPPINE government will million to the Paranaque residence of When Sen. Panfilo Lacson asked seek the return from the Netherlands of the then justice secretary. He said the the amount of ransom paid, Ragos Jose Maria ‘Joma’ Sison to face charges money would have been used to bank- said the lowest price for a tilapia that the Communist Party of the Philip- roll her senatorial campaign. was PHP200,000. The amount can pines (CPP) founder ordered the mass Facing the fifth Senate hearing be higher depending on the financial killing of New People’s Army (NPA) on the Good Conduct Time Allowance capability of the boyfriend or husband rebels three decades ago. (GCTA) for sale, Ragos disclosed that of a tilapia detained in Bilibid. Sison has been based at Utrecht women were being brought inside Bili- Before the expose on “tilapia” and since the late ‘80s after the Dutch gov- (Photo: Freepik) bid. “They were used by high profile kidnapping rackets, Ragos said there ernment granted him political asylum. (prisoners). They enjoyed the women.” are many unusual transactions in the A Manila court ordered the arrest of By Macon Araneta “Dancers, entertainers, after a Maximum Security Compound. Sison and 37 others two weeks ago for FilAm Star Correspondent while they became girlfriend, wife. The He said convicted drug lord Peter the alleged purge of rebels suspected to rate was PHP30,000. That’s over- Co frequently received female visitors. be government agents. Upon learning of the arrest order, “TILAPIA,” code name for female night,” said Ragos. “Many visited Peter Co. I didn’t know Sison last week reminded the Philippine prostitutes being paid PHP30,000 by But the moment they stepped if they were his girlfriends or wife,” he government of his status as a protected high-profile inmates for an overnight out of the NBP, these women were said. political refugee. stay at the New Bilibid Prisons (NBP), kidnapped by policemen who were in is just one of the money-making cahoots with the inmates. ■ TO PAGE A7 Jose Ma. Sison (Photo: Facebook) ■ TO PAGE A7 A2 FilAm Star September 19-25, 2019 US News A woman with Trump rages as NY Times ideas: Warren holds clarifies its Kavanaugh story US PRESIDENT Donald Trump blasted The Justice Kavanaugh - Assaulted by lies and Fake New York Times Monday after it updated a story News!” he said. detailing a previously unreported accusation of The US president later called in a tweet “for first New York rally sexual misconduct by Supreme Court Justice Brett the Resignation of everybody at The New York Kavanaugh to say the alleged victim did not recall Times involved in the Kavanaugh SMEAR story.” the incident. Kavanaugh has categorically denied engaging DEMOCRATIC presidential candidate Eliza- The article made waves when it was published in sexual misconduct. beth Warren energized several thousand New over the weekend, re-examining sexual assault al- The Times account was adapted from a forth- Yorkers on Monday with a list of ideas for fixing a legations aired last year at Kavanaugh’s polarizing coming book by the article’s authors, which details “broken” American system she says only benefits Senate confirmation hearing. an assertion by the Yale classmate that friends of the rich. The article dealt mainly with one of his Kavanaugh “pushed his penis into the hand of a For her first election rally in the Ameri- accusers, Deborah Ramirez, who alleged that Ka- female student.” can metropolis, a Democratic stronghold, the vanaugh waved his penis in her face at a drunken The witness notified US senators and the 70-year-old senator from Massachusetts was dormitory party when both were students at Yale. Federal Bureau of Investigation about the account, But it also included a previously unreported but the FBI did not investigate, according to the treated to an enthusiastic welcome from a crowd account by a Yale classmate who said he saw Kava- Times. massed in front of the arch in the famous Wash- naugh expose himself to a different female student Last September, an outcry by Democrats ington Square Park in the heart of Greenwich at another party.