Senator Miriam Santiago said on Tuesday, October 20, she would not release her medical records to the public on her battle and survival from cancer. Santiago, reacting to an open letter penned by Rappler columnist Dr Sylvia Claudio, said it is a violation of her human rights to compel her to release her medical records. Claudio called on Santiago to prove to voters that she really is cured of lung cancer. Claudio argued that Santiago could be at high risk of not completing her 6-year term in office, if elected as president. Santiago earlier this year revealed she had survived stage 4 lung cancer. The open letter and Santiago’s reply has generated an intense online debate of whether presidential candidates should be compelled to release their medical, financial, and personal records to the public.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Typhoon Lando (Koppu) left an estimated P5.3 billion in economic damage to the country, according to estimates released by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) on Tuesday, October 20. The provinces of Nueva Ecija and Aurora suffered the most extensive agricultural damage, according to NDDRRMC executive director Alexander Pama. Heavy rains and strong winds have flattened rice fields and other crops in a wide swath of land traversed by the typhoon. At least 18 deaths have been confirmed while more than 5,000 homes have been damaged. These figures could still climb higher as more reports come in. Typhoon Lando further weakend on Wednesday into a tropical depression after crossing the Balintang Channel towards the Calayan and Babuyan group of islands.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Typhoon Lando is on its way of the Philippines but it has left behind devastation and disrupted lives in its wake. MovePH, Rappler’s civic engagement arm, is helping disaster and humanitarian agencies gather information on the needs of affected communities. Many of them need water, food, shelter, medicines, and hygiene kits, according to initial reports. In the coming days, they’ll also need makeshift classrooms, childcare facilities, and livelihood assistance. If you know of a particular need by a specific community affected by typhoon Lando, you can report it to MovePH. The information will be relayed to the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) and Rappler’s Agos partners. MovePH will also release the information to the public so ordinary Filipinos can also help in any way they can.

For more information on how to report needs in affected communities, read the full story on Rappler.

A university professor on Tuesday, October 20, filed the 3rd disqualification plea against presidential survey front runner Senator Grace Poe based on her certificate of candidacy (COC). De La Salle University professor and political analyst Antonio Contreras said Poe isn’t qualified to run for president in 2016 because of her “failure to meet the 10-year residency requirement.” In an interview with reporters, Contreras said Poe disclosed in her COC that she would have resided in the Philippines for 10 years and 11 months by election day, May 9, 2016. “That’s not true,” Contreras said, because Poe lacks 2 months and 9 days of residency in the Philippines. Contreras said he filed the petition in his personal capacity. Two other petitions have been filed against Poe before the COMELEC questioning Poe’s eligibility to run for the top post in the land. Poe’s camp has categorized the petitions as part of a campaign to derail her candidacy.

Read the full story on Rappler.

China’s President Xi Jinping began a pomp-filled four-day state visit to Britain on Tuesday, October 20, as reports emerged of a multibillion pound investment deal over Britain’s new nuclear program. Xi will stay with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, enjoy a state banquet and visit Downing Street, Prime Minister David Cameron’s country residence Chequers and even Manchester City football club. The visit is expected to generate trade and investment deals worth more than £30 billion (40 billion euros, $45 billion) and lead to the creation of more than 3,900 jobs. Activists fear, however, that the trade deals will overshadow any attempt to press China on its human rights track record. Dozens of protestors rallied at a welcome event but were outnumbered by thousands of pro-Chinese demonstrators.

Read the full story on Rappler.

The Supreme Court has ordered the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan to halt the plunder trial of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for 30 days, while it hears a petition from the Arroyo camp. Arroyo is facing charges for having approved the use of P365.9 million in PCSO or state lottery intelligence funds, which was reportedly misused from 2008 to 2010. Sources told Rappler that the Solicitor-General was given 10 days to comment on a petition filed by the Arroyo camp questioning the Sandiganbayan’s decision to proceed with the plunder trial. Arroyo is currently under hospital detention at the Veteran’s Memorial Medical Center.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Haze generated by Indonesia’s forest fires has reached the Davao region, sparking health warnings from authorities. State weather bureau PAGASA said monsoon winds blowing northeast from Indonesia carried the smoke-filled air to Davao and other parts of Mindanao beginning Monday, October 19. Although air quality tests have yet to be released, local health officials have warned residents to take precautionary actions to avoid respiratory problems. The haze is caused by illegal slash-and-burn farming that has gone out of control in Indonesia’s Sumatra Island. Indonesian authorities recently launched its largest operation to battle the spread of the fires, with the assistance of other countries.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Canada’s Liberals won a landslide general election victory Monday, October 19, with young leader Justin Trudeau ending a decade of Conservative rule. For many Canadians the vote was a referendum on outgoing premier Stephen Harper’s management style, criticized as autocratic, and on who was better placed to put a sputtering economy back on track. The 43-year-old — who ran a combative campaign and offered up what he called a “new vision” for the nation — would be able to form a majority government with 184 of the 338 seats in the House of Commons, according to still incomplete figures from Elections Canada. Harper, who took power in 2006, had been seeking a fourth term in office.

Read the full story on Rappler.

John Apacible of the Ateneo Blue Eagles issued an apology on Tuesday, October 20, over a drunk driving incident caught on camera. The UAAP player said he was sorry and asked for forgiveness, adding he knew he “made a mistake” and is “deeply ashamed.” The 19-year-old student was seen in a video evidently inebriated and cursing at the person who took the video. At one point, Apacible brandished a vanity license plate with the words “Councilor” to taunt the person. Apacible has been suspended from the Blue Eagles games and practices for the remainder of the eliminations of the UAAP Season 78 men’s basketball tournament.

Read the full story on Rappler.

A Hungarian camerawoman who was caught on video kicking and tripping refugees at the Hungary border says she plans to sue Facebook and one of the refugees she kicked, according to a report by Mashable. Camerawoman Petra Laszlo, who was fired after the shocking video went viral, said that once her criminal trial is over, she intends to sue Facebook for allegedly refusing to take down groups threatening her and for deleting groups supporting her. She also wants to sue Osama Abdul Mohsen, one of the Syrian refugees she kicked, for changing his testimony. Laszlo said she wants to prove her innocence, adding “it is now a matter of honor.” Laszlo admitted to kicking the refugees saying something snapped inside her. She later apologized for her actions but was fired from the station she worked in.

Read the full story on Mashable.