SUMMARY
This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.
Today on Rappler.
- Senator Trillanes tells his jailed colleagues Revilla and Estrada: stop whining.
- The Philippines backs the proposal to revise Japan’s pacifist constitution.
- And, Egypt is under global pressure to pardon Al-Jazeera journalists.
UNCLEAR RULE LEADS TO JINGGOY MUGSHOT LEAK
The Philippine National Police said it won’t release the mugshots of prominent suspects in the pork barrel scam.
But hours after Senator Jinggoy Estrada was detained, government sources leaked his mugshots to the media.
Only the police and the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan are supposed to have copies of official mugshots.
Police spokesperson Theodore Sindac admitted they don’t have a clear-cut policy on the release of mugshots.
He said, “It is not our obligation to release it.”
In contrast, the police released the mugshot of alleged pork barrel mastermind Janet Napoles soon after she was turned over to police custody.
Sindac said Estrada specifically asked not to have photos of his booking process taken.
He adds, the request was within Estrada’s right to privacy.
Senators Estrada, Bong Revilla, and Juan Ponce Enrile face plunder and graft charges for allegedly conniving with Napoles to divert public funds.
Revilla surrendered last June 20.
SOCIAL MEDIA POST OF THE DAY
When news of the pork barrel scam broke out, social media zeroed in on the lavish lifestyle of Janet Napoles’ daughter Jeane.
This time, it’s Senator Jinggoy Estrada’s son Jolo in the spotlight.
Photos from his Instagram account spread in social media.
There are photos of expensive designer shoes…
luxurious weekends in plush hotel suites…
gambling in high-end casinos…
a diplomatic passport…
and riding in a private jet.
It is not confirmed whether he owns the passport.
TRILLANES TO REVILLA, ESTRADA: MAN UP, STOP WHINING
In a TV interview Tuesday, Trillanes says he experienced worse conditions in jail for 7 and a half years over rebellion charges.
Trillanes was reacting to Senator Bong Revilla’s complaints over rats and cockroaches and a request for an air cooler to counter the heat in his detention cell.
Before his arrest on Monday, Senator Estrada said he will request for cable TV, a phone, and an iPad.
His father, former president and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada offered to pay for an air-conditioner for his son.
But Trillanes advises his colleagues, “I believe they’ll just have to man up.”
A Navy officer turned coup plotter, Trillanes was detained for rebelling against the administration of former President Gloria Arroyo.
He won as senator in 2007 while in jail.
GMA OWNERS TO SELL ‘MINORITY’ STAKE TO RAMON ANG
In a statement, GMA says Ang would take a “participating minority equity interest” in the company.
GMA is controlled by the Gozon, Duavit and Jimenez families.
Ang confirmed he is set to acquire 30% of GMA.
He says it’s a “done deal.”
Ang’s stake in GMA 7 is not his first foray into the television industry.
He acquired a stake in Solar Entertainment from businessman Wilson Tieng early this year.
The deal with Ang followed a series of failed negotiations between GMA and PLDT’s Manuel Pangilinan.
Pangilinan had long courted GMA 7 for a stake, but price and other issues got in the way.
He eventually expressed frustration and gave up on the deal.
PLDT earlier offered to acquire up to 79% of GMA 7, with a market value of P48 billion.
The PLDT group has been acquiring media assets in a bid to transform itself into a multimedia company.
Through its subsidiary MediaQuest, PLDT owns GMA 7’s rival TV5,
and has stakes in the newspapers Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Philippine Star, and BusinessWorld.
HOUSE TO PROBE NEW CHED MEMO
The CHED memo introduces a new general education or GE curriculum for higher education.
The Kabataan Partylist files a resolution asking for a probe into the removal of the mandatory study of the national language.
CHED Chairperson Patricia Licuanan says college and tertiary schools have the discretion to teach courses in English or Filipino.
Advocates of the Filipino language criticize the memo, calling it an “attack on the national language.”
The new GE curriculum will be implemented starting school year 2018-2019.
PHILIPPINES BACKS JAPAN BID TO DEFEND ALLIES
This comes as both countries are locked in separate maritime and territorial disputes with China.
During a visit to Japan, Aquino says the Philippines will support the bid to revise the Japanese constitution,
which restricts Japan from defending an ally that is under attack.
Aquino says, “We believe that nations of goodwill can only benefit if the Japanese government is empowered to assist others, especially in the area of collective self-defense.”
The Philippines is challenging China’s expansive claims over the South China Sea while Japan is competing with Beijing over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
Japan put up its pacifist constitution after its defeat in World War II with the dropping of atom bombs on cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
PASIG CITY LEARNS FROM ONDOY, IMPROVES DISASTER RESPONSE
When Tropical Storm Ketsana or Ondoy hit Pasig City in 2009, flood waters submerged thousands of homes in the city.
In Barangay Santolan alone, home to 7% of Pasig’s population, around 30,000 residents were affected.
David Lozada reports that served as a wake up call for the city.
Romeo Vasquez patrols the Pasig River and its communities.
The chief of Pasig City’s Fireboat Unit says his team is always ready to respond to disasters in the river.
ROMEO VASQUEZ, PASIG FIREBOAT CHIEF: Pinaka trabaho namin dito is drowning incidents. Kami ang nagreresponde. Mga kailangan respondehan sa tabing ilog, kami ang tumatakbo. Lalo na yung mga sunog sa tabing ilog from Pasig to Manila. Kami lang ang bumberong hindi nauubusan ng tubig. Kasi ang tubig namin ay galing sa Ilog Pasig.
(We mostly respond to drowning incidents. But we also respond to different accidents in communities beside the river like fires. We’re the only firemen who never run out of water because our source is the river.)
Vasquez says he will never forget Ketsana or Ondoy in 2009.
ROMEO VASQUEZ, PASIG FIREBOAT CHIEF: Palibhasa kami lang ang may fire boat dito sa Pasig sa buong Metro Manila, kami ang nakapag-responde sa mga kailangan puntahan na bahay na mga sira. Kami rin ang dumadampot sa mga patay noong Ondoy. Actually noong araw ng Ondoy, araw araw kami dumadampot – 2 linggo yun na may dinadampot kaming patay.
(We were the only ones with a fire boat here in Pasig and in the whole of Metro Manila so we were the ones who responded to those whose houses were wrecked. We were also the ones who gathered the dead bodies during Ondoy. Actually, during the aftermath of Ondoy, we would retrieve bodies everyday for 2 weeks.)
Ondoy was a wake up call for Pasig City.
The typhoon submerged many communities, both rich and poor, in flood waters.
The city started to improve its disaster mitigation, response plans and equipment in the flood’s aftermath.
In 2010, Pasig built its City Command Center to centralize response to incidents.
The local government installed over 220 CCTV cameras and weather gauging sensors.
The city also built a training center.
The city can now respond to calls for help within minutes.
RITCHIE VAN ANGELES, PASIG DRRM CHIEF: Usually, iyong tawag mag-stay lang yan ng almost one minute eh.
Gano’n kabilis, lalo’t kung matter of life and death ‘yon, kailangan within one minute you get all the data and you transmit it immediately sa dispatcher para yung dispatcher makapagpadala ng tulong.
(Rescue calls usually last for only one minute. It should be that fast especially if it’s a matter of life and death. The dispatcher gets all the needed information in one minute so he can mobilize help immediately.)
Pasig allots some 5% of its annual budget to reducing the risk and mitigating the impact of disasters.
In 2013, the city spent P244 million or 5.56 million dollars on disaster preparedness.
But Pasig DRRM Chief Ritchie Van Angeles says a big budget is not a prerequisite to being prepared.
RITCHIE VAN ANGELES, PASIG DRRM CHIEF: Ang importante magkaroon muna ng knowledge eh, kahit wala pang kasunod yung mga gamit. Maraming ways, kung gusto mo talaga.
(What is important is that you have the disaster risk reduction and management knowledge first. The equipment can just follow after. If you really want the knowledge, there are many ways to conduct these kinds of seminars or training programs.)
DAVID LOZADA, REPORTING: There are lessons to be learned in every calamity. The key is good planning, training, networking and communication. Pasig City shows, with political will, a city can be resilient even if a river runs through it.
David Lozada, Rappler, Pasig City.
Check out Rappler’s Project Agos microsite – a one-stop shop for educating the public on how to prepare better for disasters.
Project Agos aims to raise awareness on climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction and management.
It can help people better prepare, respond, and aid in recovery.
Visit www.rappler.com/projectagos.
SUNNI JIHADISTS CAPTURE IRAQ’S MAIN OIL REFINERY
Sunni jihadists capture Iraq’s main oil refinery at Baiji, north of the capital Baghdad.
BBC reports the refinery has been under siege for 10 days.
Members of terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or
ISIS also occupied border crossings leading to Syria and Jordan.
The Baiji refinery supplies a third of Iraq’s refined fuel.
The current unrest triggers petrol shortage and rationing.
BBC says the refinery’s capture is essential for the rebels to keep control of the areas they seized.
This comes while US Secretary of State John Kerry is in Iraq for talks with the country’s leaders.
OIL FIRMS HIKE PRICES AS TENSION IN IRAQ WORSENS
On Tuesday oil firms raise gasoline prices to an average of P57.70 or $1.3 per liter
and diesel prices to P45.75 or $1.04 per liter.
Petron Corporation says the price hike reflects movements in the international oil market.
Iraq is the second largest producer in the 12-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
The Energy Department says it persuaded oil firms to implement the price hike on staggered basis
as the rising prices of basic commodities already are a burden to consumers.
EGYPT UNDER PRESSURE TO PARDON AL JAZEERA JOURNALISTS
Australian journalist Peter Greste and Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fadel Fahmy each got seven-year terms while Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed received two sentences of seven and three years.
The journalists were accused of aiding the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood and “spreading false news” following Al-Jazeera’s coverage of a deadly crackdown on the Brotherhood of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
On Tuesday, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi says he won’t interfere in the ruling, despite pressure from the international community.
Several countries announced plans to summon Egyptian ambassadors in protest.
STUDENT SURVIVORS TO TESTIFY IN KOREA FERRY TRIAL
A special session will be held at a court in Gwangju, south of Seoul.
The captain and 14 crew members of the Sewol ferry are charged with criminal negligence and abandoning the passengers.
Nearly 300 people died, most of whom were high school students.
The special session will be held between July 28-30.
It will be closed to the public to protect the students’ “privacy and mental well-being.”
THE wRap: YOUR WORLD IN ONE READ
wRap #2: GLOBAL TEMPERATURE IN MAY HITS RECORD-HIGH
The combined average temperature in May across the globe is higher than the 20th century average.
The month’s 15.5 degrees Celsius sets a new record for the planet, making it the warmest May over land and water since 1880.
Record heat was recorded in eastern Kazakhstan, parts of Indonesia, and central and northwestern Australia.
Over the past 39 years, the month of May has been hotter than the 20th century average.
wRap #8: ‘WELL-PRESERVED’ DINOSAUR SKELETONS EXCAVATED IN RUSSIA
A Russian museum said paleontologists dug up two well-preserved dinosaur skeletons in the Siberian region of Kemerovo.
Each skeleton was about two meters long and the species was found 2.5 meters below the surface.
Excavation began late May 2014.
The dinosaurs roamed the Earth some 100 million to 120 million years ago.
wRap #10: EVER HEARD OF EARIN, WORLD’S ‘SMALLEST WIRELESS EARBUDS?’
Swedish designer Olle Linden designs Earin,
a device specifically designed for “the best and most comfortable music experience possible.”
With the help of crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, Linden designed earbuds minus the wires.
It uses Bluetooth to communicate with a paired smartphone.
The new device will be commercially available for about $250.
Within 5 days of its launch on Kickstarter, Earin raised $680,000, surpassing its target of $304,000.
For the full top 10 visit Rappler.com’s ‘the wRap.’
Hot temperature image from Shutterstock
– Rappler.com
Newscast Production Staff
| EXECUTIVE PRODUCER / WRITER | Lilibeth Frondoso |
| DIRECTOR | Rupert Ambil |
| ASSOCIATE PRODUCER / PUBLISHER | Rodneil Quiteles |
| Dindin Reyes | |
| HEAD WRITER / PROMPTER | Katerina Francisco |
| Marga Deona | |
| MASTER EDITOR / PLAYBACK | Exxon Ruebe |
| Emerald Hidalgo | |
| Jaene Zaplan | |
| TECHNICAL DIRECTOR / CAMERAMAN | Charlie Salazar |
| Adrian Portugal | |
| Francis Lopez | |
| Naoki Mengua | |
| GRAPHICS | Jessica Lazaro |
| Raffy de Guzman |
Add a comment
How does this make you feel?
There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.