August 28, 2013 Edition

President Benigno S. Aquino III announced a P10-million reward for the arrest of fugitive businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles on Wednesday, August 28. The reward will go to anyone who could lead authorities to Napoles, who has been at large for two weeks now. On August 14, a court ordered the arrest of Napoles and her brother Reynald “Jojo” Lim on charges they illegally detained their cousin-turned-whistleblower Benhur Luy, a former longtime assistant of Janet Napoles. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Tuesday, August 27, said that based on reports gathered by the National Bureau of Investigation, the Napoles siblings are still in the Philippines.


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Janet Lim-Napoles, before she went on the run for allegedly masterminding the multi-billion-peso pork barrel scam, filed libel charges against a Rappler reporter and 6 others. Specifically, the fugitive is suing Rappler’s Natashya Gutierrez for reporting on the luxury condominium that Napoles’ newly graduated daughter Jeane owns at the Ritz-Carlton in Los Angeles. Rappler reported on the property after various sectors raised doubts on the legitimacy of the Napoles family’s wealth, and after Jeane’s blogs about her luxurious lifefstyle were discovered. According to a report by the press watchdog Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR), Napoles is asking Gutierrez for P10 million (or around $255,000) in damages and attorney’s fees. The case against Gutierrez was filed on August 6 at the Taguig City Prosecutor’s Office, according to CMFR. Gutierrez has yet to receive a copy of the complaint.

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The leftist Makabayan bloc on Monday, August 26, said that their representatives in Congress will not be using their discretionary funds for the remainder of 2013 to challenge Aquino to do the same with the President’s Social Fund (PSF). “It is fundamentally important to send a clear message to the president and to the public na talagang ayaw na ng Makabayan sa (that the Makabayan bloc doesn’t want the) pork barrel system, that we don’t need it,” said Kabataan Party-list Rep Terry Ridon to Rappler. Willing to forego their pork barrel funds, the representatives will instead push for laws that allocate greater state subsidy for the interests their party-list groups are protecting.

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US forces readied to strike Syria on Tuesday, August 27, as the West insisted its goal was not regime change but to punish the Assad government for unleashing chemical warfare on civilians. The White House said there was “no doubt” that President Bashar al-Assad’s forces were to blame for an attack which killed hundreds of Syrians last week, and promised to provide declassified evidence this week to prove it. With military action seen as a near certainty and expected within days, Syria, on the other hand, vehemently vowed to defend itself with what it dubbed “surprise” measures, while allies Russia and Iran warned that the use of force would have dire consequences.

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The fate of the Reproductive Health law is now in the hands of the so-called gods of Padre Faura. The advocates of the controversial measure concluded their oral arguments on Tuesday, August 27, wrapping up the Supreme Court’s deliberations on the controversial measure that mandates government to distribute contraceptives and other reproductive health services to the poor. Both camps, the critics and supporters of the RH law, will now prepare their respective memoranda summarizing their arguments. The Court gave them two months — 60 days — to submit their memoranda. The justices will study these memoranda before scheduling an en banc deliberation and finally rule on the petitions asking the High Court to nullify the law on grounds that it is unconstitutional.

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At least three websites – Twitter, The New York Times, and Huffington Post UK – have reportedly had their registry account details and DNS records altered. The name servers, the computer servers that help create recognizable identifiers for the numeric IP addresses of websites, of The New York Times was first hit. This was apparently followed by an attack on Twitter. Twitter appeared to be less affected, though it has said that it is looking into the claims that the Syrian Electronic Army compromised the service. The newspaper’s main Twitter account said shortly after 2000 GMT that the website “is experiencing technical difficulties” but that news was still being published via Twitter and other links. Matt Johansen of WhiteHat Security said in a tweet that the technical aspects of the website during the outage were “pointing to Syrian Electronic Army.”

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The Sandiganbayan on Wednesday, August 28, issued an arrest warrant for the former Philippine National Police chief Avelino “Sonny” Razon Jr and 32 others for graft and malversation charges. The warrants were based on a criminal case filed by the Office of the Ombudsman on July 11 over the anomalous repair and maitenance of several light armored vehicles (LAVs) in 2007. Razon’s co-accused are former and incumbent PNP officials and several private individuals, including two former Philippine National Police comptrollers: Geary Barias and Eliseo de la Paz. The warrant was based on findings by the Deputy Ombudsman for the Military and Other Law Enforcement Offices that Razon requested for a supplement budget for the repair of the LAVs over what had already been requested. The respondents were charged for graft and for malversation through falsification over this anomalous transaction.


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The University of Liberia may not have incoming freshmen next school year. None of the 25,000 students who take the entrance exam passed. The country’s education minister described the widespread failure as “like mass murder”. Speaking to the BBC Focus on Africa program, she said: “I know there are a lot of weaknesses in the schools but for a whole group of people to take exams and every single one of them to fail, I have my doubts about that. I’d really like to see the results of the students.”


Read the full story on The Independent.

International recording artist Charice Pempengco sang the US national anthem for the opening baseball game in Chicago on August 24. The game was held to commemorate the American civil rights movement. Charice, whom Oprah Winfrey once described as “the most talented girl in the world,” also performed in the MLB Beacon Awards night where she sang “A Change is Gonna Come,” in tribute to Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin and All-Star athlete Bo Jackson.


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Former Pound-for-Pound kingpin Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao suffered a slight ankle injury while playing basketball over the weekend. While there are no reports on the severity of the accident, the Filipino boxing icon dismissed its importance. Pacquiao, who lost both of his bouts last year, has made a habit of playing nightly basketball games be it in or out of training. Against his esteemed head trainer’s wishes, Pacquiao continues to cross-train without fear of suffering a freak accident that could possibly jeopardize his scheduled 12-rounder with opponent Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios this November. Pacquiao decided to kick training camp off early to get back in shape, perhaps realizing the importance of putting on a good show in his next outing. He’s been getting back into the groove with long-time assistant trainer and friend, Buboy Fernandez. The official training camp isn’t due to commence until a little more than a month or so later.


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