Rappler Newscast | September 20, 2012

Today on Rappler.

• Former president Estrada says he regrets supporting Senator Trillanes a day after Trillanes’ word war with Senate President Enrile.
• Philex Mining Chairman Manny Pangilinan says the government changed the rules in the middle of the game.
• Ayala Corporation chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala says the telecommunications industry is dealing with the surge in data.

Story 1: ESTRADA: SUPPORTING TRILLANES A BIG MISTAKE
Former President Joseph Estrada comes out swinging against Senator Antonio Trillanes.
A day after Trillanes’ word war with Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, Estrada blasts Trillanes as arrogant, an ingrate, and “out of his mind.”
Estrada is a close ally and partymate of Enrile in the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino or PMP.
In a phone interview with reporters, Estrada says, “His head got so big. It’s a good thing it can still fit in the elevator.”
The former President says he regrets supporting Trillanes in his 2007 senatorial bid under the Genuine Opposition.
Trillanes ran for senator while in jail for plotting coups against the Arroyo administration.
“Yes, that’s one of my biggest mistakes, supporting that kind of [man].
Estrada says fame got to Trillanes’ head and now he is maligning – in his words – respectable people like Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario.
Estrada asks, “Has he done anything?”
He adds Trillanes is not even respected by his fellow soldiers.
Trillanes accuses Enrile of being a lackey of former President Gloria Arroyo.

Story 2: MARCOS: NP NOT BEHIND COUP PLOT VS ENRILE
Senator Bongbong Marcos distances himself from Senator Trillanes’ decision to bolt the Senate majority coalition.
Marcos and Trillanes are members of the Nacionalista Party.
Marcos denies text messages saying he is behind Trillanes’ move and that he plans to install Senator Ralph Recto as the new Senate President.
Marcos says he just laughed when he saw the text messages. He said the “analysis” was far-fetched and makes no sense.

FERDINAND MARCOS JR., PHILIPPINE SENATOR: Natawa nga ako nung nakita ko… ang layo naman ng analysis niya no, maliwanag naman na walang alam yung taong nagsabi noon, because it makes no sense. Dahil kung NP move bakit si Trillanes lang ang lumipat, or its a coup against… wala namang nangyari, wala namang nangyaring change of leadership…The entire episode yesterday was the act of an individual senator clearly, there’s no sea change in the leaderships or the aggrupations of the senators.

Story 3: ENRILE: ‘TRILLANES IS JUST COVERING HIS ASS’
Senate President Enrile accuses Sen. Trillanes of making an issue out of the division of Camarines Sur just -quote- “to cover his ass.”
He also denies former President Gloria Arroyo called him to railroad the bill dividing Camarines Sur into two provinces.
Arroyo spokesperson Elena Horn says the former president never talked to Enrile about it.
In a privilege speech Wednesday, Trillanes says the split of the province will supposedly benefit Arroyo’s son, incumbent Camarines Sur Representative Dato Arroyo.
But Enrile says Trillanes only wants to divert attention from his alleged backdoor deals with China at the height of territorial disputes over Scarborough Shoal.
He says Trillanes pushed for a bilateral approach to the problem instead of the Philippine government’s multilateral framework.
Enrile calls the senator a “coward” and questions his loyalty to the country for favoring China.
Trillanes’ partymate, Senator Pia Cayetano, defends Trillanes.
In a tweet, Cayetano says: “Sen. Trillanes may be many things to different people. But a coward and a traitor to the Filipinos? Never.”

Story 4: MANNY PANGILINAN: TRILLANES IS LYING
While senators fight in Manila, businessman Manny V. Pangilinan tells Rappler Trillanes is wrong.
Pangilinan’s name was mentioned in the word war between Senate President Enrile and Senator Trillanes – if Enrile is correct about Philippine Ambassador to China Sonia Brady’s notes.
Pangilinan says, “Trillanes is lying. It’s all falsehood.”
Enrile says, according to the notes, “Mr. Pangilinan and Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario wanted to create an event” and Trillanes accused the two of “manipulating a war condition to divert attention from the Reed Bank.”
A Pangilinan-led group is currently exploring gas deposits at Reed Bank, in the South China Sea that China says is part of its territory.
Pangilinan denies a deal has been signed with Chinese state-owned oil firm China National Offshore Oil Corporation.

Story 5: MVP: GOV’T CHANGED RULES WITH MINING EO
Philex Mining chairman Manny V. Pangilinan says the Padcal mine tailings incident was an unfortunate act of God.
He says it slashed by more than half the projected 4 billion earnings of the company.
But he says Philex chose to do the responsible thing and remained transparent about the accident.

MARIA RESSA: For the longest time Philex was poster child for responsible mining, but Padcal mines happened.
MANUEL V. PANGILINAN, CHAIRMAN, PHILEX MINING: The accident acquires the character of “force majeur” because nature acting on its own really caused this particular accident. Typhoons also cause Meralco wires to go down and PLDT and Smarts networks to go down.
RESSA: What does that mean for Philex mines?
PANGILINAN: It’s severe, it’s substantial, we had forecast profits of 4 billion pesos, likely to drop 1.5 to 1.7 billion.

Pangilinan echoes the sentiments of the mining executives that the Mining Executive Order does not provide the climate of consistency needed by the industry.

PANGILINAN: At the end of the day it’s a question of what is the bias, what is the direction of policy towards mining? If the bias is not for mining then so be it. If the mining industry were to shut down in its entirety today the world would just simply just stifle a yawn.
RESSA: Have the rules changed in the middle of the game?
PANGILINAN: I believe they have. Good side about it is that it has raised issues.

Story 6: AYALA: TELECOM INDUSTRY DEALING WITH SURGE IN DATA
On Talk Thursday, Ayala Corporation chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala says the Philippine economy has hit a ‘very exciting stage.’

JAIME AUGUSTO ZOBEL DE AYALA, AYALA CORP CHAIRMAN: We are one of the 3 largest growth countries in the world right now. China still remains strong even though it’s slowed down and Indonesia’s just slightly ahead of us but in the first half of this year, growing at 6% puts us actually at the very top of the categories in the world.

Ayala also talks about how technology is changing business models and pushing infrastructure development.
He says the telecommunications industry is dealing with the surge in data and will bring infrastructure to the level where it satisfies the demand.

ZOBEL DE AYALA: Telecom become a very personalized thing, people feel about it very strongly. People don’t go through a day without referring to their phone so people are and I understand where frustrations come from. The plethora… has made the data surge tremendously high. massive demand flowing through the system…The telecom companies have to adjust to this new reality…Everyone is dealing with the surge in data people are being able to access it… it is our job to adjust to it, and a lot of money are being put into it. It’s not yet perfect but a great deal is going in and I think the industry will come up the bat and be able to give people what they need and I think that will be felt far sooner rather than later.

Story 7: ACTRESS IN ANTI-ISLAM FILM SUES PRODUCER
An actress in the anti-Islam film that sparked protests in the Muslim world sues the film’s producer.
Actress Cindy Lee Garcia says Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, an Egyptian Coptic Christian and fraud convict, duped her into thinking the film is about ancient Egyptians.
Garcia says her life is now in danger.
US media say Nakoula wrote and produced the film, using the pseudonym Sam Bacile.

Story 8: YOUTUBE EXTENDS FILM CURB TO SAUDI ARABIA
YouTube extends its restrictions on an anti-Islam video to Saudi Arabia.
In a statement, YouTube parent company Google says the film would be restricted “in countries where it is considered illegal by local authorities.”
This covers India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.
Google’s announcement comes a day after Saudi Arabia threatened to block YouTube if Google did not respond to a request to restrict the video.

Story 9: FRESH PROTESTS OVER OBSCENE PROPHET CARTOONS
France braces for a backlash from Muslim protesters after satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo publishes cartoons of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, including 2 drawings showing him naked.
Officials say they will step up security at its embassies and ban demonstrations.
Sunni Islam’s highest authority and the Vatican’s official newspaper condemn the publication of the cartoons.
Charlie Hebdo’s editor, Stephane Charbonnier, describes those angered by the cartoons as “ridiculous clowns.”
He accuses the government of pandering to them by criticizing him for being provocative.

Story 10: THE wRap: YOUR WORLD IN ONE READ
At number 4, Lawyers say they will challenge a new Philippine law that makes electronic libel a criminal offense.
Lawyer and UP professor Harry Roque says this means that unlike ordinary libel complaints which are often brought against printed newspapers, any Twitter and Facebook user is now liable for prosecution.
Roque says the law violates freedom of expression.
He says, “We will see the PNoy administration in court on this one. And we will prevail.”

At number 6, NASA’s Curiosity Rover will study its first martial rock Friday, September 21, more than a month after landing on the Red Planet.
The science team plans to have Curiosity pause for a few days in order to perform the mission’s first “contact science”.
The Rover will use instruments on the vehicle’s robot arm to photograph and analyze a pyramid-shaped rock.

At number 8, The Philippines commemorates the 40th anniversary of the declaration of martial law on Friday, September 21.
Victims of the Marcos dictatorship have been talking to students about the human rights abuses that followed the declaration of martial law.
Anti-Marcos activist Susan Quimpo says many students barely know anything about this dark period in Philippine history.

And at number 10, Gadget lovers flood Apple with pre-orders and set up camp outside the company’s real-world stores for the iPhone 5 – set for release on Friday.
People started lining up outside the Apple store in Manhattan last week and similar vigils have begun in other Apple stores around the world.
Apple says it received more than two million orders for its new iPhone 5 in the 24 hours after it began pre-sales online on September 14.

– Rappler.com