Rappler Newscast | February 12, 2013

Today on Rappler. 

• Team PNoy and United Nationalist Alliance kick off the national campaigns for the 2013 elections.
• Performance and trust ratings of the country’s top officials drop in the latest Pulse Asia survey.
• North Korea conducts its third nuclear test.

Story 1: TEAM PNOY KICKS-OFF 2013 AT PLAZA MIRANDA
President Benigno Aquino’s senatorial slate kicks off their campaign for the 2013 elections at Plaza Miranda.
Natashya Gutierrez gives us the details on the Team PNoy proclamation rally.

Story 2: TEDDY CASIÑO RUNS FOR SENATE
Rappler’s Patricia Evangelista follows Bayan Muna Rep Teddy Casino who held his proclamation rally this morning.
She files this video blog.

Story 3: DROP IN TOP OFFICIALS’ TRUST, APPROVAL RATINGS
Pulse Asia’s January Pre-Election Survey shows a significant decline in performance and trust ratings of the country’s top 5 officials.
President Benigno Aquino, Vice President Jejomar Binay, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., and Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno suffer double-digit declines in their overall performance rating between November 2012 and January 2013.
Enrile suffers the biggest drop in approval ratings, dropping 27 percentage points from 73% in November to 46% in January.
His disapproval ratings rise from 5% to 16%, an 11-percentage point rise.
Despite their significant drops, Aquino and Binay are the top two officials still enjoying majority approval ratings.
Aquino suffers a 12-percentage point drop, from 78% approval rating in November to 66% in January.
His disapproval rating remains unchanged at 6%.
Binay’s approval ratings also decline, from 82% to 69%, while his disapproval ratings rose slightly, from 3% to 5%.
Belmonte’s approval ratings drop 18 percentage points from 46% to 28%, while Sereno’s ratings drop 14 points from 38% to 24%.
As with the performance ratings, only Aquino and Binay get majority trust ratings in the survey, with Aquino getting 68% and Binay, 71%.
Enrile gets the biggest trust rating change, dropping 21 percentage points from 67% to 46%.

Story 4: WHAT MAKES A WINNING POLITICAL AD?
The television ads used to make or break a candidate.
But in this age of social media, are they as effective?
Carmela Fonbuena reports.

It’s the season for political ads once again, where candidates sell themselves to Filipino voters like they are bottles of shampoo.
We see the same tried and tested formula: Popular relatives, slogans, and catchy jingles.
The past 4 national elections since Congress lifted the political ad ban in 2001 shows how political ads can make a senator.
The biggest success story so far is Mr Palengke  – a strategy that helped catapult a relatively unknown senatorial bet  – Mar Roxas – to the top spot on election day.
But relatives, slogans, and jingles are not enough to make a winning political ad like Mr Palengke.
There’s an entire science behind making TV viewers like the ad and vote for the candidate: making children dance to it, or making voters sing to it
So far, none of the ads today have captured the voters the way Mr Palengke did in the 2004 senatorial elections.
Is it too early to tell?
Or have voters’ tastes changed?
Carmela Fonbuena, Rappler, Manila.

Story 5: #PHVOTE: CAN SOCIAL MEDIA WIN YOU THE ELECTIONS?
As the campaign period for the 2013 national elections begins, political analysts and voters wonder: can social media deliver a win?   
The answer to that question–at least in the Philippines–remains unclear.
In the United States, social media played a huge role in campaigns of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.
Both parties saw the potential of social media to sway voters.
Will the candidates of the 2013 mid-term elections in the Philippines take the same social media path?
The Rappler social media team checked their accounts last night and here’s what we found:
Senator Chiz Escudero tops Twitter with more than 100,000 followers.
He’s followed by other former and current politicians–and a political newbie.
At number 2 is former Akbayan Rep Risa Hontiveros, followed by San Juan representative JV Ejercito, Aurora Rep Sonny Angara, Senator Loren Legarda, Senator Antonio Trillanes, Bayan Muna Representative Teddy Casino, former presidential contender Eddie Villanueva, and resigned Senator Miguel Zubiri.
On Facebook, Eddie Villanueva tops the list with a more than 130,000 likes, friends and followers.
He’s followed by Red Cross chair Richard Gordon, Bam Aquino, JV Ejercito, Chiz Escudero, Risa Hontiveros, Teddy Casino, Puerto Princessa mayor Ed Hagedorn, Miguel Zubiri, and UNA Senate Bet Mitos Magsaysay.
In 2012, social media campaigning expert Cynthia Cook says while social media cannot assure a win in real life, ignoring its potential can be disastrous.
She says engagement is key.
Not all of the Senate bets have been consistently active on social media–and their numbers show.
Incumbent Senator Gringo Honasan, who joined Twitter after the 2010 elections, fails to make it to our list.
His account does not have updates between December 2011 and May 2012.
Only 3 candidates who topped our Facebook and Twitter lists also make it to Pulse Asia’s latest Senatorial Preference Survey: ratings-leader Chiz Escudero, JV Ejercito, and Miguel Zubiri.
Will those ‘likes’ and ‘follows’ translate into votes? We’ll find out soon.

Story 6: CLAMOR FOR NON-EUROPEAN POPE
In a surprise announcement, Pope Benedict XVI says he will resign on February 28, paving the way for the election of a new pontiff.
It also opens up the possibility of an Asian pope.
Paterno Esmaquel reports.

It’s shocking, but also exciting.
The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI fuels hope for the first Asian pope.
On Twitter, Filipinos cheer for their own bet – Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle.
But statistics show Europeans – not Asians like Tagle – will dominate the papal elections called the conclave.
Less than a tenth of electors come from Asia, the third fasting growing continent when it comes to Catholic Church members.
Most electors come from Europe, making up over half of the whole group.
Europe is the only continent that saw a decrease in church membership in 2012.
Though he is Indian, Fr Michael Ignatius of the East Asian Pastoral Institute wants Tagle to clinch the papacy.
He believes time is ripe for an Asian pope.

FR. MICHAEL IGNATIUS, INDIAN PRIEST: Now Christianity is fully in Asia; no more, Christianity is not in Europe. For 2,000 years the European have not really guided the Church. Given a chance, how will an Asian guide the Church, and see? And Jesus was an Asian, not a European, for that matter.

Like Fr Ignatius, American nun Sister Clare Lentz wants a pope from outside Europe.

SR. CLARE LENTZ, AMERICAN NUN: A Eurocentric papacy threatens the Church because the Church has moved on. We are a global Church.

Sister Lentz also wants Tagle to lead the Catholic Church, saying she admires his willingness to listen.

SR. CLARE LENTZ, AMERICAN NUN: I love Fr Tagle. He is so simple. And he’s going to all of those universities, and he’s having open meetings with the students, with Muslims, with everybody. And he asks them, what do you think? What a different way to approach the People of God. “What do you think?” Not to say, “This is what the Church believes.” He listens.

Tagle doesn’t address calls for him to become pope.
In a message Tuesday, he says he is sad Benedict XVI resigned.
But he adds, “Sadness gives way to admiration for the Holy Father’s humility, honesty, courage, and sincerity.”
In March, Tagle’s largely European group will meet in Rome to elect the next pope.

PATERNO ESMAQUEL, REPORTING: Does a pope’s nationality even matter? Well, culture shapes any leader. And the place the raised him, the people he met, the problems he encountered will certainly influence the Catholic Church.
Paterno Esmaquel, Rappler, Manila.

Story 7: NORTH KOREA CARRIES OUT NUCLEAR TEST
North Korea confirms it conducted a nuclear test Tuesday, with international monitoring agencies reporting a seismic event near Pyongyang’s nuclear test site.
The US Geological Survey detects a tremor of magnitude 5.1 with the epicenter in Kilju county, site of North’s Punggye-ri test site.
North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency says the test used a smaller but more powerful bomb.
It adds, the test is part of “practical measures of counteraction” to defend the country “in the face of the ferocious hostile act of the U.S.”
Pyongyang has been threatening a “higher-level” nuclear test for weeks despite warnings of severe repercussions from the UN Security Council.
The UN Security Council meets Tuesday for emergency consultations on North Korea’s suspected nuclear weapons test.

Story 8: THE wRap: YOUR WORLD IN ONE READ
At number 7, Australian crocodile “Cassius” reclaims his crown as the world’s biggest crocodile in captivity after his rival for the title died.
The 5.48- meter crocodile held the record until “Lolong” was caught in the Philippines 17 months ago.
The 6.17-meter crocodile died from a mystery illness on Sunday.
A crocodile wrangler at Marineland Melanesia says the Guinness Book of World Records contacted them as soon as the Philippine crocodile died.

At number 8, Twitter increases the price tag of its sponsored trends service.
The Wall Street Journal says what started out as an 80,000-dollar a day ad scheme in 2010 is now raised to $200,000 a day.
Twitter says the promoted trend advertising system allows Twitter users to see “time-, context-, and event-sensitive trends promoted by their ad partners.
These paid Promoted Trends appear at the top of the Trending Topics list on Twitter and are clearly marked as ‘Promoted.'”

And at number 9, The United States launches its latest Earth observation satellite February 11, enhancing an array of orbiting eyes that help with every from climate-change study to urban planning.
The satellite is launched atop an Atlas rocket fired from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
The Landsat Data Continuity Mission is the latest in a line of satellites used to gather imagery from space of the Earth.

Story 9: UNA LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN IN CEBU
Opposition United Nationalist Alliance launches its 2013 campaign in Plaza Independencia, in a bid to court Cebu’s 2.5 million voters.
Ayee Macaraig reports.

– 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