Rappler Newscast | January 23, 2013

Today on Rappler.

• The word war between Senator Alan Cayetano and Senate President Enrile turns ugly and personal.
• The foreign affairs department says the Philippines’ decision to take China to court is a move against an intruder.
• The boss of Aman Futures, a pyramid scam company, is arrested in Malaysia.

 

Story 1: ENRILE, CAYETANO IN UGLY WORD WAR
The word war between Senator Alan Peter Cayetano and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile turns ugly when the topic shifts from Senate funds to personal issues.
Cayetano says Enrile is against him because of the Senate President’s ties to former President Gloria Arroyo.
Ayee Macaraig reports.

The issue is supposed to be Senate money, but senators go into a whole lot more.
Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano delivers a privilege speech on Wednesday to address the controversy on Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile’s selective fund giving.
Cayetano says he wants to focus on the use of taxpayers’ money, an issue Enrile did not address in his offer to resign last Monday.
Yet the senator could not help but get personal as he explains Enrile’s beef against him.
He also responds to media attacks from Enrile’s chief of staff lawyer Gigi Reyes.

ALAN PETER CAYETANO, SENATE MINORITY LEADER: Sa nakakakilala sa amin, hindi kami nakukuha sa pera. Hindi kami hipokrito and we are people who know how to respect other people. But we are also people who know how to stand up for our rights.

Cayetano says it’s not just national politics that’s involved, but also points to Reyes’ ties to critics of his wife, Taguig Mayor Lani Cayetano.
He says in Tagalog, “Isn’t Ma’am Gigi best friends with the wife of Justice Tinga who was my wife’s political rival in Taguig?
And Ma’am Gigi’s sister-in-law, a councilor in Taguig, is my wife’s number one critic.”
The minority leader reiterates his call for an independent, private firm to audit the Senate funds.
But it’s not the budget that Enrile responds to.
The Senate President immediately lashes back on an entirely different topic.

JUAN PONCE ENRILE, SENATE PRESIDENT: Tungkol sa iyong yumaong ama. Andito po at hanggang ngayon di niya nababayaran na utang niya na ginastos niya sa opisina namin na itinayo ko para meron siyang pakain sa pamilya niya, P37 million.

Cayetano quickly responds to defend his late father, saying the late Senator Renato Cayetano was loyal to Enrile when they worked together in a law firm.
But the exchange gets uglier.

ENRILE: Anong utang na loob ko sa inyo?

CAYETANO: Di ba pinagsilbihan kayo nang maganda? Yung bahay po namin inutang sa bangko at nabayaran po iyan.

ENRILE: Yung mga kahoy?

ENRILE: May I request…Let me answer questions on the gutter. I will not go down to the gutter.

CAYETANO: You already did, Mr President. You already went to the gutter. Your chief of staff has already gone to the gutter. This is irrelevant to our discussions here and you’re bringing up things where a person who’s already dead cannot answer.

Their fellow senators call for a suspension of session as Enrile’s blood pressure rises.
A calmer Enrile later apologizes but says he stands by his decision not to give additional funds to his critics for a reason he will not disclose.

AYEE MACARAIG, REPORTING: From the cash to the wood.
Senators sling mud and many other issues as the fund controversy rages on.
Enrile says he’s open to an audit but with all the issues coming out, it remains to be seen how and if the controversy will be addressed at all.
Ayee Macaraig, Rappler

Story 2: TRILLANES: JPE WILL USE SENATE MONEY FOR UNA CAMPAIGN
Sen Antonio Trillanes says Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile must be ousted or he will use Senate money to fund the opposition’s election campaign.
Trillanes says “If you have such a Senate President with tyrannical tendencies, and the country sees how the funds are disbursed, they will see how his resources will be used for the campaign period.”
Enrile holds more than half a billion pesos as Senate President.
Trillanes is reacting to Enrile’s decision not to give additional funds to his critics last December.
But the Commission on Audit says Enrile has discretion over the use of Senate savings.
Trillanes says he will do what he can to remove Enrile.
On Monday, Enrile offered to quit his post, a motion 11 senators rejected.
Trillanes dismisses Enrile’s resignation as “drama” and a “shallow victory.”

Story 3: DFA: PH MOVING AGAINST ‘INTRUDER’ CHINA
The Foreign Affairs department says the decision to take China to court over maritime disputes is the government’s action “against an intruder.”
The department says, “If someone forces himself into your house, and tries to unlawfully take away what belongs to you, should you not take action against the intruder?”
On Tuesday, the government says it will ask an arbitration panel under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to rule on China’s claims.
China uses their 9-dash line map to claim the South China Sea, including areas disputed by neighboring countries.
In a statement, the Chinese embassy insists China “has indisputable sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea.”
It adds, the disputes should be settled through negotiations.
On Tuesday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon  calls for an “amicable” settlement to the dispute between China and other Asian nations.
China, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan all have overlapping claims to islands in the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea.

Story 4: ATIMONAN WITNESS: POLICE WERE ATTACKED FIRST
A witness in the alleged shootout in Quezon tells investigators the police at the checkpoint were not the first to fire, but the men in the car.
On Tuesday, Rolando Boncayo Vico Jr tells the National Bureau of Investigation he was 20 to 25 meters away from the checkpoint when he saw gunfire from a black Montero vehicle.
The men in the vehicle allegedly fired at policemen after being ordered to stop at a checkpoint.
Vico says the police and the soldiers fired back in defense.
His testimony contradicts the statements of 3 witnesses who say the checkpoint sign was removed.
Vico says he saw the sign when the shooting happened.
The justice department and the NBI presented the witnesses during a re-enactment of the incident on January 17.
The military clears the soldiers involved in the incident.
23 policemen face investigation.

Story 5: AMAN FUTURES BOSS ARRESTED IN MALAYSIA
Malaysian intelligence agents arrest on Wednesday Emmanuel Amalilio in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
Amalilio is the man behind a pyramid scam that victimized thousands.
The arrest ends a 3-month manhunt.
Amalilio started Aman Futures Group, a securities firm that duped 10,000 Filipinos mostly from Visayas and Mindanao into giving them investments by offering a double-your-money scheme.
Justice secretary Leila De Lima is coordinating with Malaysian authorities for Amalilio’s deportation.

Story 6: SUSPECTS IN ISABELA MAYOR KILLING, ARRESTED
Two more suspects in the killing on Tuesday of Maconacon, Isabela Mayor Erlinda Domingo are arrested.
Quezon City police say the two were arrested during follow-up operations based on information given by the first arrested suspect, Christian Flores Pajenado.
The other 2 suspects are Michael Domingo and Mary Grace Abduhadi.
They were captured in Commonwealth, Quezon City.
Domingo was leaving Park Villa Apartelle when she was shot.
She was reportedly scheduled to return to Isabela.
Her bodyguard was also injured during the incident.
This is not the first time a Maconacon mayor was killed.
In 2009, mayor Francisco Talosig was shot by an unidentified male gunman.

MAR ROXAS, INTERIOR AND LOCAL GOV’T SECRETARY: Hindi natin alam kung two isolated events ito, o magkakonekta ito… A small town in a remote area of Isablela on the coast, facing the Pacific… in a span of 3 years, two mayors have been shot. Kaya mariin kong nireremind, si RD at si police chief, na alamin natin ang kabuuan nito.

Story 7: COLLEGE GRADUATE? TEACH IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL
A new education program wants talented graduates to teach public school students.
For the people behind Teach for the Philippines, addressing teacher shortage and improving quality of education go hand in hand.
This report.

Are you a college graduate? Why not teach in a public school?
This is the idea behind Teach for the Philippines or TFP, a new program that wants to train and recruit talented Filipino graduates …to commit to two years teaching in the public schools.
It is a novel idea with the big goal of achieving education equality.
Teach for the Philippines’ Head of Recruitment Patricia Feria says it is not just volunteer work.

PATRICIA FERIA, TEACH FOR THE PHILIPPINES: That’s not what Teach for the Philippines is. What we’re offering people is a two-year full-time commitment. Essentially, rather than committing yourself to a leadership training or management training institution, come work for us, we’ll develop your leadership skills and then at the same time, you make a difference in the lives of 60 kids.

There is a shortage of teachers in the Philippines.
On top of that, of 100 students who enter Grade 1 in the Philippines, only 42 will graduate high school.
TFP wants to help curb the problem by sending young leaders from top universities to experience the situation first-hand.
In return, the program’s partner Ateneo will train the new teachers for free.
TFP will hone their leadership skills while local governments will pay them a monthly allowance.
It is a model used in 26 other countries worldwide.
Joining TFP also means joining a global resource network.

REBECCA WARREN, TEACH FOR THE PHILIPPINES: For example, if you were stuck in Grade 3 and having difficulty to get a student of yours reading, you could shout out to your cohort of 50 but you can also shout out for looking at strategies and sharing ideas and best practices from a range of different countries across the network.

The first batch of teachers start in June, when the school year begins.
The program hopes the teachers will not only fill a shortage, they will also inspire young, less than privileged students to excel.
Natashya Gutierrez, Rappler, Manila.  

Story 8: GOOGLE OPENS PHILIPPINE OFFICE
The stage is set for Google to take on the Philippines as a new Southeast Asian territory.
Google officially launches the Google Philippines office on Wednesday, making Manila the site of the company’s fifth Southeast Asia office.
Narciso Reyes, formerly Google’s head of sales for the Philippines, will serve as Country Manager for the office.
The Managing Director of Google in Southeast Asia says they are in the Philippines for the long term.
He mentions adapting the company’s services for the country in relation to less reliable internet connections.

Story 9: THE wRap: YOUR WORLD IN ONE READ
At number 3, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to boost exports and end two decades of deflation result in investor confidence.
In Bloomberg’s global poll of investors, analysts and traders, 54% say they’re optimistic about the effect of Abe’s policies on Japan’s investment climate.
The figure is up from the 21% asked two months ago about predecessor Yoshihiko Noda.
Abe is Japan’s 7th prime minister since 2007.

At number 6, The Library of Congress wants to house not just books and historic documents, but also the 170 billion posts on Twitter since 2006.
Collecting the 140-character tweets is in keeping with the library’s goal of collecting “the story of America” and getting collections “that will have research value.”
The Library of Congress is assembling the tweets sent by Americans each day in the belief that each tweet reflects a small but important part of the national narrative.
There are about half a billion tweets sent each day in October 2012.

At number 9, The Taliban says Britain’s Prince Harry has a mental problem for comparing shooting insurgents in Afghanistan to playing video games. 
The Taliban’s spokesman says there are 49 countries with their powerful military failing in the fight against the mujahideen.
Harry says he killed Taliban insurgents during a 20-week posting, flying missions in an Apache attack helicopter.
He was in charge of the weapons systems, which he describes as a joy.

And at number 10, Only 4 days after the launch of Temple Run 2, the action video game is downloaded 20 million times and becomes the 3rd highest grossing application in the iTunes App store.
While the game is free, Temple Run 2 players can buy coins for upgrade and gems which can be used to continue the game if the player dies.
In the game, players take on the role of an explorer attempting to steal an idol from a temple while chased by “demonic monkeys”.

– Rappler.com

Newscast production staff

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER / WRITER	Lilibeth Frondoso
DIRECTOR	Rupert Ambil
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER / PUBLISHER	Rodneil Quiteles
HEAD WRITER / PROMPTER	Katerina Francisco
MASTER EDITOR / PLAYBACK	Vicente Roxas
	Tre Batenga
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR / CAMERAMAN	Charlie Salazar
	Adrian Portugal
	Francis Lopez
GRAPHICS	Jessica Lazaro