Rappler Newscast | September 22, 2014

Today on Rappler.

• More than 300,000 people from all over the world join the rally against climate change.
• Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima faces corruption allegations for undeclared properties.
• Tension in Scotland days after voting “no” to independence.

FILIPINOS IN US TO AQUINO: WALK YOUR CLIMATE TALK 
The People’s Climate March becomes the largest climate rally in history, with over 310,000 people participating from all over the world.
The march held Sunday in New York draws from the activism and energy of grassroots organizations to pressure world leaders meeting at the UN Climate Summit to make bold commitments to fight climate change ahead of a treaty to be agreed upon next year. 
Filipinos take part in the historic event to call on top emitters and the Philippines to invest in clean energy.
Ayee Macaraig files this video blog.

The protest turns into one big parade.
This is the People’s Climate March here in New York, which aims to be the biggest action for climate change in history.
One thousand-two hundred groups are marching the streets of Manhattan from sectors as diverse as the environment, labor, faith to LGBT groups.We’ve seen groups from as far as Tibet and Bangladesh.
People here demand concrete action, expressing frustration at governments and corporations for failing to do enough to curb greenhouse gas emissions and invest in renewable energy.
The march shows the different faces of climate change, affecting all aspects of people’s lives.
Filipino climate activists and domestic workers are also making their voice heard, calling on President Aquino to walk the talk on climate change.

LINDA OALICAN, DOMESTIC WORKER IN THE US: The economy of the Philippines is very much affected by climate change. As a result of that, the continuing poverty and unemployment it produces pushes the over 10% of Filipinos to go out of the Philippines to find work to put food on the table, send their children to school. So we are those people.

KATHRYN LEUCH, PHILIPPINE MOVEMENT FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE: PNoy, please naman you cannot demand them to cut their emissions when right in your backyard, 45 coal plant boilers, expansion and new coal-fired power plants ipapatayo mo? Ano yun? Katawa-tawa. At the same time, sasabihin mo kailangan natin mag-adapt to climat ehcange, hihingi ka sa kanila ng support pero ikaw mismo di mo maayos ang sistema sa sarili mong bansa. (PNoy, please, you cannot demand them to cut their emissions when right in your backyard, you will build 45 coal plant boilers. What’s that? That’s ridiculous. At the same time, you say we need to adapt to climate change, you ask them for support but you cannot even fix the system in your own country.)

This March is touted as a day for the global grassroots climate movement.
While participants don’t expect much from world leaders meeting at the UN Climate Summit, they say they have to take it upon themselves to act.
Ayee Macaraig, Rappler, New York.

CATAPANG: TYPHOONS A NEW KIND OF WAR
In the aftermath of Typhoon Yolanda or Haiyan, Philippine military chief Gregorio Catapang says the military now considers every typhoon as a new kind of war fought in the 21st century.
During Rappler’s PH+SocialGood Summit in Tacloban Saturday, Catapang answered questions from survivors of Haiyan, which devastated Central Philippines in November last year.
Catapang was asked why it took the military a long time to respond to the crisis on the ground, with looting rampant in the aftermath of the world’s strongest storm.

GEN GREGORIO PIO CATAPANG, AFP CHIEF OF STAFF: Of course we were thinking – as Filipinos we will not take advantage of the disaster. And we did not expect that there will be looters. Alam nyo naman na nahihirapan na yung Pilipino (You know the Filipinos are suffering), and then you will add up a problem for this so, it took us some time to react on this issue.

Catapang adds, Haiyan was a lesson learned for the military.
He also says military personnel are now also involved in the war against climate change.

GEN GREGORIO PIO CATAPANG, AFP CHIEF OF STAFF: Ang greatest experience namin is we treat all typhoons as if they were enemies of the state and we prepare very meticulously to address each typhoon. Katulad ngayon na we have typhoon Mario…This will be a war on climate change. Call to arms po ito.

AQUINO: EUROPE TRIP YIELDS $2.3B IN INVESTMENTS
President Benigno Aquino says his trip to Europe generated about $2.3 billion or about P102.58 billion in investments to the Philippines.
Aquino ended his week-long trip to Europe Saturday in Berlin, Germany – the final stop in a 4-nation visit that also took him to Spain, Belgium and France. 
The President says the Philippines is expecting around $2.3 billion in investments in the sectors of manufacturing, energy, the IT-BPM sector, infrastructure, and transport.
Of the amount, $908 million or about P40.50 billion has been committed, while $1.47 billion or about P65.56 billion are prospective.

AQUINO’S BOSTON HOMECOMING NOSTALGIC, EMOTIONAL
President Aquino returns to Boston for the first time in 31 years and recalls his time in the city during his family’s exile.
Fresh off his European tour, Aquino is in Boston for the first stop of his 5-day United States trip. 
The government allotted P14.8 million or about $333,000 for the US visit.
In an emotional speech in Boston College, Sunday – Monday in Manila – Aquino shared his fond memories of the city, where he spent some of what he calls his formative years.
Aquino and his family moved to Boston in 1980, after his father, the late senator Ninoy Aquino, was allowed to leave prison to get a heart bypass in the United States. 
The senator had been jailed in the Philippines since 1972, shortly after then President Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law.
In his speech, the President said Boston gave his family –quote– “a sense of normalcy…in what can only be described as very abnormal times back home.”
The President also paid tribute to his father, recalling his decision to return to Manila despite threats to his life.
The older Aquino was shot down in the tarmac upon his arrival, triggering the EDSA People Power Revolution that overthrew Marcos.
The President recalled how he had wanted to exact revenge against the Marcoses for his father’s death.

BENIGNO AQUINO III, PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT: This was one of our family’s lowest points. As the only son, I felt an overwhelming urge to exact an eye for an eye. Mr. Marcos and his ilk were like rabid dogs who had lost all reason. There was no longer any potential for dialogue; the only solution when confronted by a rabid dog is to put it down.

The President describes his father’s death as first extinguishing all hope, but soon –quote– “started a new movement for change.”

BENIGNO AQUINO III, PHILIPPINE PRESIDENT: For me, the time my family spent in Boston will always be linked to the revolution that reclaimed democracy and our national dignity. The solidarity we felt from Boston College and the community here was a precursor of the solidarity displayed by the millions of Filipinos who massed in EDSA. It is, indeed, an understatement to say that Boston is close to my family’s heart.

PNP CHIEF FACES GRAFT, PLUNDER COMPLAINT OVER MANSION, ‘WHITE HOUSE’
Philippine National Police chief Director General Alan Purisima faces graft, plunder and indirect bribery complaints over an allegedly undervalued property and the renovation of a multi-million residence at the general police headquarters in Camp Crame.
In a graft complaint filed Monday, the Coalition of Filipino Consumers or CFC says Purisima was not truthful in declaring his Nueva Ecija residence to be valued at only P3.75 million or about $70,000. 
The group says the house and lot costs around P30 million to P50 million.
CFC also files plunder and indirect bribery charges over Purisima’s official residence inside Camp Crame.
The PNP earlier said the building’s renovation, which amounted to P12 million or about $270,000 was funded with the help of Purisima’s Mason friends.
The group says his acceptance of money for the renovation was a –quote– “clear case of accepting gifts by reason of office and/or position.”

SCOTLAND FEARS LOSS OF NEW POWERS IN REFERENDUM HANGOVER
After voting against independence, Scotland faces growing fears that new powers promised by London will prove a disappointment.
In a last-minute bid days before the historic referendum, British Prime Minister David Cameron promised more powers for Scotland if voters chose to stay with the United Kingdom.
A key question is what fresh powers Cameron and Britain’s other main parties will now hand to the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh.
Although Scots rejected independence by over 10 percentage points, many voters did so on the basis of promised fresh powers.
Edinburgh already has control over some domestic policies like health and education, but was promised new powers over tax and welfare.
But many do not trust Cameron to honor a pledge made in the heat of the campaign.
Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond said the proposed timetable for greater powers already shows signs of slipping.
Violent riots in Glasgow’s main square Friday night reflect the division in the country, with about 4 out of 10 Scots disappointed with the results of the referendum.

SIERRA LEONE’S EBOLA SHUTDOWN UNCOVERS 70 DEAD IN CAPITAL
Sierra Leone wraps up its 72-hour shutdown Sunday, in a bid to contain the deadly Ebola epidemic in the west African country. 
Authorities report medical workers uncovered up to 70 dead bodies in and around the capital. 
Most of Sierra Leone’s 6 million people were confined to their homes as almost 30,000 volunteers went door-to-door to educate locals and hand out soap. 
Independent observers call the shutdown a “mixed success,” noting the poor training of the medical teams and the quality of advice being given out. 
Aid organizations also questioned the feasibility of reaching 1.5 million homes in three days and argued it could erode trust between the government and the people.

MORE THAN 130,000 SYRIAN KURDS FLEE TO TURKEY
More than 130,000 Syrian Kurds flee across the Turkish border to escape jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS.
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus says the terrorist group advanced to the border town of Ain al-Arab in the past week, seizing dozens of villages.
Until the ISIS advance, Ain al-Arab was relatively safe and took in 200,000 people displaced from elsewhere in Syria.

ALIBABA MAKES WALL STREET DEBUT
Chinese online retail giant Alibaba made its long-awaited Wall Street debut Friday, opening the door to its global expansion. 
Company founder Jack Ma was on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as trading opened, while a group of Alibaba customers rang the opening bell. 
At the end of the trading day, Alibaba’s shares soared 38% after its debut.
By raising as much as $25 billion, Alibaba is poised to break the record for the largest initial public offering in history.
Priced at $68 a share, Alibaba would raise $21.7 billion with the offering of 320 million shares.
A research firm says Alibaba, which dominates the Chinese online retail space, has become the biggest e-commerce firm in the world in terms of gross merchandise volume.

NASA’S MAVEN SPACECRAFT ENTERS MARS ORBIT
Space agency NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft began orbiting Mars Sunday to study how the Red Planet’s climate changed over time.
The unmanned orbiter traveled more than 10 months and 711 million kilometers to reach Mars.
MAVEN, which stands for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, aims to help scientists understand how the planet’s climate went from warm and wet to cold and dry.
The spacecraft’s findings may also shed light on how humans could survive a future visit to the Red Planet.
NASA’s robotic vehicle Curiosity is also probing the Martian surface to know whether the environment had the ability to support life.
An Indian spacecraft, the Mars Orbiter Mission, is also on course to reach Mars, marking India’s first mission to the planet.

THE wRap: YOUR WORLD IN ONE READ
At number 6, Thai princess Sirivannavari Nariratana says she’s treated just like any other athlete after her debut in the Asian Games dressage competition Saturday. 
Just like thousands of her co-competitors, the granddaughter of Thailand’s king stays in the athletes’ village.
The Thai princess is the latest in a line of royals to compete in top-level equestrianism, including Britain’s Zara Phillips, a 2012 Olympics silver-medalist.

At number 9, A US firefighter who suffered serious injuries in an accident during an Ice Bucket Challenge event last August died Saturday. 
Tony Grider was on the ladder of a fire truck when it got too close to a power line as it dumped ice-cold water on a marching band. 
A power surge energized the ladder and electrocuted Grider and another firefighter, who survived. 
The Ice Bucket Challenge, in support of research for Lou Gehrig’s disease, sparked a worldwide craze. 

And at number 10, UN Women Global Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson calls on men to take part in the campaign for women’s rights and gender equality. 
The British actress and Harry Potter star led the launch of the “HeForShe” campaign at the UN Headquarters in New York, Saturday. 
Watson said men and women should rethink gender stereotypes and the negative perception of feminism. 

EMMA WATSON, UN WOMEN GLOBAL GOODWILL AMBASSADOR: Men, I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation. Gender equality is your issue, too.

– Rappler.com

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