May 14, 2013 Edition

The Aquino government has about 3 more years to meet its goal of 10 million foreign tourist arrivals by 2016, more than double the 4.3 million achieved in 2012. Is it still possible to hit this aggressive target? Rappler looked into some of the key factors in bringing into the country the dollar-spending visitors and providing the necessities to reach and stay at their destination. Hitting the goal is hinged on how the stakeholders — the government, regulators, negotiators, airlines, accommodation industry players, and other investors — address between now and 2016 the gaps in infrastructure, investments and regulatory bottlenecks.


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The results of the midterm elections would bring substantial changes in the ARMM area, according to Transformative Justice Institute (TJI) chairperson Atty. Adoracion Avisado, PhD. New faces in politics he considered ‘nouveau riche’ (newly rich families) like the Paquiaos in the mid and south Mindanao area, may start to dominate the political landscape of the future, Avisado said in an e-mail interview. He said he expects these new faces to help expedite the completion of the Basic Law of Bangsamoro after elections. A 15-member Transition Commission is drafting the Bangsamoro Basic Law.


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The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), the citizen arm of the poll body, took back its unofficial consolidated tally of election results on Monday night, May 13, after voting closed. PPCRV chief Ana de Villa Singson attributed the unusually higher tally compared to other publicly available early poll results, like Rappler’s, to a scripting error. This means that PPCRV’s database was not properly formatted, thus it failed to delete earlier files as new batch from Comelec’s server poured in. For spooking the media organizations that used their data, which did not match precinct votes, PPCRV issued a public apology.


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Angry Taiwanese fishermen burned Philippine flags to protest the killing of a crew member by the Philippine coast guard. Hundreds of fishermen wearing yellow headbands and chanting “Justice must be done!” and “Killer must be punished!” hurled eggs at the Philippine de facto embassy in Taipei. Philippine President Benigno Aquino III called for calm as tensions escalated between the two countries over the firing by at one of 4 Taiwanese fishing vessels that it said had strayed into the country’s waters last week.  Aquino said an investigation was being carried out.


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Grace Poe, former censors chief and daughter of the late movie icon Fernando Poe Jr., zoomed past consistent survey topnotchers Loren Legarda and Chiz Escudero, both re-electionists in the early poll results. The 3 are among the 9 members of the administration coalition Team PNoy who made it to the Magic 12. Only 3 from opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) made the cut, with Nancy Binay, the daughter of Vice President Jejomar Binay, in the top 5.


For the dynamic infographic on the live update of official results, click here 

Hundreds of factories which form the hub of Bangladesh’s garment industry are to close indefinitely after worker unrest sparked by the death of more than 1,100 colleagues, the industry’s main trade body said. As the search for bodies from April’s collapse of a factory complex wrapped up and workers demand for higher wages, the indefinite closure represents yet another body blow to the industry, which has pleaded with Western retailers not to pull out of Bangladesh and promised to come up with a credible safety framework. Bangladesh is the world’s second-largest apparel maker and the US$20 billion industry accounted for up to 80% of annual exports


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Bloomberg News apologized for allowing its journalists to access financial computer terminals, which gave them access to information about the company’s clients. In an editorial posted on Bloomberg.com, editor-in-chief Matthew Winkler said, “Our reporters should not have access to any data considered proprietary. I am sorry they did. The error is inexcusable.” Winkler said the practice dated back to the early days of Bloomberg News in the 1990s, when reporters used the terminal to find out what kind of news coverage customers wanted.


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Finance data image via Shutterstock

Fifteen people in Saudi Arabia have died from a SARS-like virus out of 24 people who contracted it since last August. Experts are still grappling to understand all aspects of the virus and how humans become infected with “this new virus is not the SARS virus.” Since the virus was first recorded in September 2012, there have been 34 cases reported worldwide, and 18 of those have died, according to the WHO. While it has been deadliest in Saudi Arabia, cases have also been reported in Jordan, Germany, Britain and France where two patients are now in hospital in the northern city of Lille. It is a cousin of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which triggered a scare 10 years ago.


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SARS virus image via Shuterstock

Singapore will eclipse Switzerland as the largest offshore wealth center in terms of assets by 2020, according to according to London research firm, WealthInsight. CNN reported that while the offshore banking crown still belongs to Switzerland, which has a massive $2.8 trillion assets under management, or 34% of the global private banking industry, Singapore is currently the fastest growing market with $550 billion under management, up from just $50 billion in 2000. Thanks to increasing numbers of wealthy Chinese, Indians and Indonesians, Singapore’s $450 billion offshore accounts are fueled by the shift to low-tax and safe investment centers closer to home.


Read more on CNN 

Joseph Estrada is likely to add a new title in his portfolio: Mayor of Manila. The pardoned plunderer who had garnered the highest number of votes in a presidential race was booted out by the country’s elite in business and politics. Remaining popular among the masses after his 6 years in jail and after gaining the second highest number of votes when he tried to vie for the presidency the second time, Estrada went head-to-head against Alfredo Lim, the incumbent Manila mayor dubbed the “Dirty Harry.” With almost 100% of the votes for Manila mayoral post officially canvassed, Estrada is set to assume a new role as a local leader. The Liberal Party, which backed Lim, however, blocked the proclamation of Estrada as mayor.


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