Daily News Highlights – October 15, 2015 Edition

More than 7 years since the sinking of the M/V Princess of the Stars that left over 200 dead and hundreds more missing, a Manila court has ordered Sulpicio Lines to pay P241 million in damages to the survivors and relatives of the victims of the ill-fated vessel. In a decision dated September 18, Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 49 Judge Daniel Villanueva the court ordered Sulpicio Lines, now operating as Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corporation, owned by the Go family, to pay P230.25 million in damages and P11.5 million in attorneys’ fees. According to the complainants, officials of Sulpicio Lines “failed to exercise extraordinary diligence” when the crew of the M/V Princess of the Stars failed to safely transport its 724 passengers to Cebu.

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The head of the country’s most diversified conglomerate San Miguel Corporation told some of the world’s business tycoons that his company is ready to switch on the Philippines’ 3rd major mobile broadband telecommunications network by 2016. Australia’s largest telecommunications company Telstra Corporation in August told its stock exchange that it is in talks with SMC for a wireless joint venture in the Philippines. Although no agreements have been reached yet, Ang told reporters in September that San Miguel will not have a problem investing in the wireless joint venture. The Australian telecom, meanwhile, remained tight-lipped on the venture, saying “no agreements have been reached in relation to these matters and there is no certainty” that the partnership will happen. “The moment we switch on our telco, it will be a superior network. We’re building a network that will provide our countrymen a good network that will work,” SMC CEO Ramon Ang had said. Currently, the country’s telecom industry is being dominated by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company and Globe Telecom.

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The son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who declared weeks ago his bid to become the Philippines’ vice president earlier, now has a standard-bearer: the feisty senator and legal expert Miriam Defensor Santiago, who suffers from stage 4 lung cancer. Santiago, who only declared her presidential bid on Tuesday, was asked after a speech in Pasay City if Senator Marcos would be her running mate. She said, “Yes.” She added: “I think we mutually chose each other, our two camps. We happen to cross each other, the telephone lines happen to cross each other. It’s coincidental. One camp was calling the other camp.”

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Citing humanitarian considerations, the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan has allowed former president now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to have a two-day check-up at the St Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig. Arroyo, who suffers from cervical spondylosis, is under hospital arrest at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center for plunder charges. The court’s decision comes a week after Arroyo’s lawyers released the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention’s opinion over the detention of the former president, calling it a “violation of international law.” She can go to the private medical facility from 9 am on October 21 to 4 pm on October 22.

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Youth sector representative Terry Ridon urged the House of Representatives to reinstate the P478 million worth of deduction from the proposed budgets of state universities and colleges for 2016. He filed with the House committee of appropriations a letter requesting for an amendment of the P3-trillion proposed national budget, which the House approved on October 9. He proposed that the P3.4 billion funding for the separation benefits of the Citizen Armed Forces Geographical Units or CAFGUs be channeled to SUCs. It was earlier reported that 59 SUCs are set to face heavy cuts in their maintenance and other operating expenses. The congressman said “there can be no justification for the CAFGU budget’s increase to P3.4 billion in 2016.” In 2015, CAFGU compensation was only given P2 billion.

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Taking after Sara Duterte – daughter of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte who shaved her head and posted on Instagram a photo of herself sporting the new look and using the hashtags #Duterte2016, #JustDUit, and #kalboparasapagbabago – 7 city councilors followed suit on the same day. Her post was interpreted by followers as a signal that she was finally giving her blessings to her father to run for president. She had been identified by Duterte himself as the one most strongly opposed to his presidential bid. By Wednesday afternoon, Duterte camp insiders were reported to be preparing for a declaration or even a filing of his certificate of candidacy on Thursday, October 15. As of posting, nothing was definite. Duterte has until Friday, October 16, to file his certificate of candidacy.

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If you want to know who has filed their certificates of candidacy for national and local positions, check Rappler #PHvote’s lists.

The governor of Okinawa revoked approval for work on a United States air base on the southern Japanese island, in the latest setback to the controversial plan. The proposal to relocate Futenma air base to the Henoko region, first mooted in 1996, has become the focus of anger among locals, who insist it should be shut and a replacement built elsewhere in Japan or overseas. Outspoken Okinawa governor Takeshi Onaga voided approval after work in Henoko resumed last month following a month-long delay, saying that “defects” had been found in the approval given by his predecessor in 2013. Work in Henoko, a rural coastal district in central Okinawa chosen for the replacement facility, is only in the initial stages with crews setting up sea floats and a makeshift bridge necessary for landfill work. The move by the governor leaves the future of construction of the new base in doubt, with the authorities on the sub-tropical island and the central government likely to take their dispute to court, local media reported.

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Britain has refused Ecuador’s request to give WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange safe passage for a medical checkup after he had a sharp pain in his right shoulder, Quito’s top diplomat said. Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadoran embassy in London since 2012, seeking to avoid extradition to Sweden, where prosecutors want to question him about a rape claim, which carries a 10-year statute of limitations that expires in 2020. Assange, who faces arrest if he tries to leave the embassy, denies the allegation and insists the sexual encounter was consensual. The 44-year-old Australian also fears that if he leaves he could eventually face extradition to the United States and a trial over the leak of hundreds of thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents in 2010.

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The Ebola virus may persist in some men’s semen for 9 months after they were initially infected, far longer than previously thought, according to preliminary research. The findings raise new health concerns for the survivors of the Ebola epidemic that has ravaged West Africa since late 2013, killing more than 11,000 people in the deadliest outbreak since the virus was first identified in 1976. “These results come at a critically important time, reminding us that while Ebola case numbers continue to plummet, Ebola survivors and their families continue to struggle with the effects of the disease,” said Bruce Aylward, the World Health Organization’s special representative on the Ebola response. “This study provides further evidence that survivors need continued, substantial support for the next 6 to 12 months to meet these challenges and to ensure their partners are not exposed to potential virus.”

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The United States, through a coordinated effort with Britain, has smashed malware that stole bank codes and other data worth at least $10 million in the US alone. New charges have been leveled against the administrator of the hacking network. The Bugat botnet, also known as Cridex or Dridex, spread through seemingly innocuous emails to computers and once inside was used by botnet operators to obtain bank details and initiate bank transfers of millions of dollars, the US Department of Justice said. A 30-year-old Moldovan, Andrey Ghinkul, arrested on August 28 in Cyprus, was charged Tuesday with crimes related to the operation of the botnet and Washington is seeking his extradition.

Read the full story on Rappler Technology.