May 2, 2013 Edition

Facebook said it would delete video of beheadings that are being spread on the social network. While it previously refused to ban the clips, Facebook seems to have changed its position less than two hours after a member of its safety advisory board criticized the stance. Facebook initially said people had the right to depict the “world in which we live.” But it shifted its position, saying it will remove instances of video “that are reported to us while we evaluate our policy and approach to this type of content.” The warning came after a one-minute video of a woman being beheaded by a masked man was uploaded on the site. The chief executive of the US’ Family Online Safety Institute, one of the organizations that the social network consults for online safety policies, said that Facebook had “crossed a line” and had failed to consider long-term psychological damage on viewers of violent material.


Read the full story on BBC 

A fire of still unknown origin gutted the municipal headquarters of the ruling Liberal Party in Barangay Bulalo in Sultan Kudarat on Wednesday evening, May 1. The fire, which occurred around 7 pm, also gutted another house near the property. The Bureau of Fire Protection in the town is conducting an investigation. A certain Ressie Torres owns the house rented by the Liberal Party. Several days ago, Torres already went into hiding because of threats. Torres told Rappler in an interview on Saturday, April 27, that it all started when she leased her property to a friend who, without her consent, allowed the Liberal Party to use it as their headquarters. Torres narrated that a group of men harassed her to remove the campaign materials of re-electionist Maguindanao Gov and LP bet Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu in her leased property. Mangudadatu is running against Tucao Mastura of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).


Read the full story on Rappler 

The Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) led protesters during the labor day rally in Manila on Wednesday, May 1. Regarded as the largest militant labor group in the country, workers were dismayed by President Aquino’s refusal to heed calls for a wage hike. KMU has been advocating a legislated P125 across the board wage increase. In rejecting the calls for an increase, Aquino told labor sector representatives there was a need for solutions to “see past the short-term.” But KMU said that while it is workers who create the country’s wealth, they hardly feel it in their pockets. The protesters found an ally in Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle who preached about the primacy of labor over capital.


Read the full story on Rappler 

Three additional suspects have been taken into custody over the Boston bombing incident, Boston police officials said on Wednesday, May 1. They refused to provide additional information except to say there was no threat to public safety. The bomb attack on April 15 left 3 dead and more than 260 injured. One of two Chechens, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, had been arrested earlier and had been suspected of setting off the explosives that detonated near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. His elder brother, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was killed on April 18 during the manhunt for the two of them. US media reports said two of those in police custody were Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s college classmates at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. They were alleged to have helped Dzhokhar after the attack.


Read the full story on Rappler
Read a related story in the New York Times

Foreign capital inflows following the Philippines’ upgrade to investment grade status may elevate the peso to “undesirable levels,” according to a report. “While the Fitch Ratings upgrade of the Philippines to investment grade rating (BBB-) can give the country a ride toward its targeted economic growth, it may also push the peso to undesirable levels,” said the First Metro Investment Corp. (FMIC) and University of Asia and the Pacific (UA&P) Capital Markets Research Center in its latest Market Call released on Tuesday, April 30. The report said that the peso is likely to appreciate 4% to 5% against the US dollar in 2013. The peso appreciated by 4.7% in February and 5% in March. The Philippines was awarded its first-ever investment grade rating on March 27. Fitch Ratings attributed the upgrade to the country’s robust economy and its improved fiscal management. On the same day, the Philippine Stock Exchange reached a new record high.


Read the full story on Rappler 

Around 100,000 people were chosen from several million Wednesday to get a head-start on a US Green Card, in what could be the last such annual lottery, slated to vanish under proposed reforms. Created in 1995, the lottery system leads to the awarding of 50,000 permanent residency permits each year to people from countries that send relatively few emigrants to the United States. But US Republican lawmakers, who control the House of Representatives, have included a plan to scrap it in the comprehensive immigration reforms currently being debated in Congress. A final vote on the reforms is not expected before this summer. Countries that sent more than 50,000 immigrants to the United States in the past five years are excluded from the lottery. This year that includes a range of countries, including Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, mainland China, Mexico, Pakistan, South Korea, and Britain, except Northern Ireland.


Read the full story on Rappler


Image via Shutterstock 

Pope Francis, speaking at a Mass on Wednesday, condemned the exploitation of workers and slave labor, in a subtle reference to the tragedy in a Bangladeshi garments factory. “Not paying a just (wage), not providing work, focusing exclusively on the balance books, on financial statements, only looking at making personal profit. That goes against God!” he said, quoted on the Vatican Radio website. A week after a garment factory collapsed in the outskirts of Dhaka, the death toll has risen to over 400. CNN reported workers are gradually picking up the debris and huge slabs of concrete. They continue to find and remove bodies, many of them decomposed and difficult to recognize.


Read the full story on CNN 

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday, May 2, conducts a final check of the ballot-counting machines before the country uses them again for the May 13 elections. The final testing and sealing (FTS) process is meant to check the completeness, security, and accuracy of over 78,000 precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines. Voters can visit their own precincts to witness this. Based on Comelec Resolution No. 9640, which contains general instructions for the board of election inspectors (BEI), the BEI should conduct the FTS at least 7 days before elections. Brillantes said the FTS will happen in most other precincts on May 6. From then on, the PCOS may only be opened on May 13, before voting begins and in the presence of watchers, if any. Controversy has surrounded the use of the PCOS machines, with critics asking for a local test of the software source code to ensure the integrity of the elections.


Read the full story on Rappler 

Television advertisements are voters’ biggest source of information and news about senatorial candidates for the coming May 2013 elections, according to a new Pulse Asia survey obtained by Rappler. Most of the respondents, representing 85% of voters nationwide, get information from TV ads. The rates are highest among voters in the National Capital Region (NCR) and the Visayas, where 90% of voters say it is their source of information. Among socio-economic classes, it’s highest among the ABC crowd (94%). Survey respondents were allowed to choose as many sources of information from a list. The survey was conducted from April 20 to April 22. The error margin is 2.3 points.


Read the full story on Rappler 

Former police officer Cezar Mancao, jailed at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Manila for the 2000 murder of Salvador “Bubby” Dacer, has escaped. Mancao escaped at around 1:40 am Thursday, May 2, and was captured in a CCTV image by the bureau, NBI Deputy Director Reynaldo Esmeralda said in an interview with ANC, the ABS-CBN News Channel. Mancao was supposed to be transferred to the Manila City Jail today, after the Manila Regional Trial Court ordered him moved from NBI detention. The order was released Tuesday, April 30, but was not immediately carried out because Wednesday, May 1, is a holiday.


Read the full story on Rappler