Rappler Newscast | September 16, 2014

• Mayon Volcano is on Alert Level 3, state of calamity declared over nearby areas.
• The Supreme Court says it’s up to President Aquino to seek compensation over the Tubbataha reef incident.
• US warplanes bomb ISIS near Baghdad

STATE OF CALAMITY IN CITIES, TOWNS AROUND MAYON
Albay Governor Joey Salceda declares a state of calamity in areas surrounding Mayon Volcano, after the volcano showed signs of a potential eruption in the coming days.
The state of calamity covers the cities of Legazpi, Tabaco, and Ligao; and the towns of Santo Domingo, Malilipot, Guinobatan, Camalig, and Daraga.
Late Monday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology placed the volcano on Alert Level 3 or “Critical” mode.
This means the volcano is exhibiting relatively high unrest, magma is at the crater, and an eruption is possible within weeks.
Mandatory evacuation for all residents within the permanent danger zone and those in the extended danger zone is ongoing.
Mayon Volcano is famous for its near perfect cone shape from the summit to the base.
Its last major activity was an explosion of ash and steam in May 2013.

TYPHOON LUIS: 2 DEAD IN DROWNING INCIDENTS
Two people who drowned in Pangasinan became the first casualties linked to Typhoon Luis – international name Kalmaegi.
On Monday, authorities claimed “zero casualties” from the typhoon, which brought heavy rain and strong winds across Luzon over the weekend.
Officials said they would exclude the deaths from the sinking of a ferry off Southern Leyte, saying the incident was only an “indirect” impact of the typhoon.
The situation report released early Tuesday still listed the casualties and survivors of the ferry sinking, but identified it as separate incidents.
Nearly 140,000 people or more than 31,000 families were affected by the typhoon.

SC: AQUINO CAN SEEK COMPENSATION FOR TUBBATAHA DAMAGES
The Supreme Court says it’s up to President Benigno Aquino to seek compensation for damages over the Tubbataha reef incident through diplomatic means or through a suit against the US before a United Nations tribunal.
The Philippines earlier said it will seek damages after the USS Guardian ran aground on the reef in January 2013, damaging the protected marine reserve in Palawan.
On Tuesday, the High Court junked a petition for a writ of kalikasan that would require the US to pay for damages.
The high court said damages should be made in a separate civil suit.  
It also says the matter is within the jurisdiction of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

PAL BUYBACK: LUCIO TAN’S CHANGE OF HEART
What could have pushed Lucio Tan to buy Philippine Airlines back?
The promising developments in the flag carrier could be considered reason for Tan to take PAL back, two years after it sold 49% of the airline to an unlikely partner: beer arch rival San Miguel Corporation for $500 million.
But a source says it was an emotional decision for the tycoon.
In a party to celebrate the buyback Monday night, Tan said, “PAL is more than an airline company for me. It goes beyond investing — it is like family.”
During Tan’s management, PAL undertook massive layoffs that resulted in labor disputes, forcing it to shut down briefly in 1998.
In 2008, the US Federal Aviation Administration downgraded the Philippines’ aviation status to Category 2, preventing PAL from expanding operations in the US and flying into the European Union.
When San Miguel bought PAL, its president Ramon Ang had a clear goal: fix the airline and make it profitable again.
With the new change of hands, the market now awaits Tan’s next move.
Earlier reports said Tan plans to take in Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways as partner.

US BOMBS ISIS NEAR BAGHDAD FOR FIRST TIME
US warplanes carry out their first airstrikes against the Islamic State or ISIS near Baghdad Monday.
US officials say it is the first time the US has targeted the militants close to the Iraqi capital.
A US defense official says American warplanes carried out one air strike near Baghdad and another near Mount Sinjar, in the north of Iraq, in the past 24 hours.
The strikes destroyed six ISIS vehicles near Sinjar and an ISIS fighting position southwest of Baghdad that had been firing on Iraqi forces.

LEADERS PLEDGE POWERS IN FINAL PUSH BEFORE SCOTTISH VOTE
In a last bid to stop the United Kingdom’s split, leaders of three main British parties pledged to give the Scottish parliament more powers if voters reject independence.
This comes two days ahead of Scotland’s independence referendum Thursday.
Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, opposition Labor party leader Ed Miliband, and Liberal Democrat deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg signed the pledge.
The joint pledge said, “People want to see change. A ‘No’ vote will deliver faster, safer and better change than separation.”
It reaffirms the timetable for the new powers promised for Scotland after polls a week before the referendum showed a pro-independence surge.
The pledge was published after Cameron’s last minute trip to Scotland to urge Scots to vote against independence or face the consequences.
He says, “Independence would not be a trial separation, it would be a painful divorce.”
Economist and Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz describes pro-union warnings as –quote– “fear-mongering.”

THE wRap: YOUR WORLD IN ONE READ
At number 2, the European Union urges the international community to increase aid to make up for “precious time” lost in the response to the deadly Ebola outbreak.
The United Nations or UN announces an emergency meeting on the crisis after it said Ebola cases are multiplying –quote– “faster than the capacity to manage them.”
The UN is appealing for $600 million for supplies, with countries asked to send doctors, nurses, beds, trucks, equipment and other vehicles to countries affected by the outbreak.

And at number 7, A US government audit says NASA’s program to detect and protect the Earth from incoming asteroids is poorly managed.
Just one million dollars of the program’s 40-million-dollar annual budget is spent on strategies to deflect an incoming asteroid or evacuate areas in danger of impact.
In 2005, space agency NASA was tasked to establish a program for tracking near-Earth objects to decide on their threat and to catalogue 90% of these objects by 2020.
But an audit by a NASA inspector shows the space agency identified only 10% of these objects and will not meet its 2020 target.

PH+SOCIALGOOD: MANILA #2030NOW
How can technology be used to deal with climate change and the impact in leaves behind?
In PH+SocialGood: Manila #2030NOW, international and Filipino speakers talk collaboration in a world where no country is safe from natural disasters.
Philippine Climate Change Commissioner Lucille Sering says, at the root of climate change is the world’s unsustainable energy sources: fossil fuels that lead to the emission of greenhouse gases.
Sering encourages the shift to greener energy to effectively reduce disaster risks.

LUCILLE SERING, PHILIPPINE CLIMATE CHANGE COMMISSIONER: If you want to address climate change, we need to have that climate of change or klima ng pagbabago in the way we do things, if we want to address the challenges that climate change poses to us.

Kris Van Orsdel of New York State’s Storm Recovery Office also says that recovery processes after a big disaster can be slow.
As the Philippines nears the one year anniversary of the world’s strongest storm – Haiyan – Van Orsdel says it took years for the US to recover from Hurricane Katrina.

KRIS VAN ORSDEL, DIRECTOR, NEW YORK OFFICE OF STORM RECOVERY: You’re coming up on the one year anniversary and Katrina, it took us over six years to get back, and that’s in the United States.

He also says initiatives like using social media and Rappler’s Project Agos can help better respond to future disasters.

KRIS VAN ORSDEL, DIRECTOR, NEW YORK OFFICE OF STORM RECOVERY: When Katrina happened in the United States, we are really a very developed nation, we didn’t have the structures in place that Rappler and others are implementing today, top-down ideas from the government, bottom-up ideas from people…It’s not only about rebuilding better today, it’s about coming up with a better plan for the future. 

– Rappler.com

Newscast Production Staff