A protest of farmers, demanding help from the provincial government of North Cotabato in the wake of a months-long drought in the area, ended in a violent dispersal Friday, April 1, with at least 2 killed and dozens more injured. Farmers and cause-oriented groups have blocked the Davao-Cotabato Highway since Wednesday, March 30, to press their demands, but on Friday, the rally was dispersed by police.

The government had vowed to hold accountable those responsible for the “tragic incident.” Meanwhile, concerned citizens and groups – including movie star Robin Padilla – have started relief drives, collecting sacks of rice for the affected farmers.

Read more on Rappler. You can also read this Thought Leaders piece on the issue, discussing the need to get the facts and pinpoint accountability.

Was the Commission on Elections (Comelec) negligent when it failed to block hackers who obtained and publicly shared sensitive voter information?

Information security experts fear that what can be considered as the biggest leak of personal data in Philippine history could result in massive identity theft by preying criminals. This, after hackers boasted on March 27 that they had accessed the Comelec’s database of 55 million registered voters and uploaded it online.

More details in this exclusive report.

For more than 5 hours on Saturday, April 2 and early Sunday, April 3, Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) – the largest terminal of the country’s main gateway – was barely operational after power went out. The airport said a substation of Meralco at the airport “tripped”, causing the terminal to lose power at 8:45 pm on Saturday. The substation was able to relay power to Terminal 3 starting 12:30 am.

This has caused significant delays in both departures and arrivals of numerous flights using the terminal.

Read more on Rappler, and check out if your flight has been affected. 

It has been about 7 weeks since the Philippine government started its probe into the $81-million bank heist in downtown Manhattan. But until now, it is still unclear who are liable for the heist and where the stolen money is.

A lot has happened since the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) started its probe in February 19: Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman and two deputies resigned; criminal complaints were filed; Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) president and CEO Lorenzo Tan went on leave; and $4.63 million of the stolen fund was returned to the AMLC.

As Philippine Senate prepares for its 4th hearing on Tuesday, April 5, Rappler compiles what we know so far about this controversial, cross-boundary heist.

Days after Syrian troops backed by Russian forces recaptured Palmyra and its ancient ruins from Islamic State (ISIS) jihadists, the army “uncovered a mass grave of officers, soldiers, members of the popular committees (pro-regime militia) and their relatives,” according to a military source Saturday, April 2. Twenty-four of the victims were civilians, including 3 children, who were “executed either by beheading or by shooting.”

Meanwhile, nearly a week on, few of Palmyra’s up to 70,000 original residents have returned, as civilians still fear for their security.

Agence France-Presse reports from Syria.

The king’s daughter returns with a tin sword. The aging bully flexes his muscles before an adoring crowd. The heir to the yellow city trips over his trail of confetti. The judge on the bench screams hell and damnation. The dark man at the center of the mob is a man of the people, or is a messiah, or is a thief, quietly filling his pockets with gold.

Rappler’s presidential profiles maps the narratives that arc through the 2016 elections. Here, in The Demonized, the second installment of The Imagined President series, we examine the worst versions of candidates running for the presidency as imagined by their critics.

Read the “Demonized” profiles of Binay, Defensor Santiago, Duterte, Poe, and Roxas. You can also read the first installment, “The Idealized,” here, and bookmark the page for the last installment, “The Candidate,” out next month.

One in five adults could be obese by 2025, said a major survey Friday, April 1, that warned of a looming epidemic of “severe obesity” with significant health and economic costs. Of about 5 billion adults alive in 2014, 641 million were obese, it found. The figure was set to exceed 1.1 billion by 2025.

“There will be health consequences of magnitudes that we do not know,” author Majid Ezzati of Imperial College London told Agence France-Presse of the research published by The Lancet medical journal.

Agence France-Presse has the details.

The blaze that struck the Manila campus of the University of the East (UE) on Saturday morning, April 2, left damage estimated to be worth P22 million, the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) said.

In a statement, the university said the school chapel and two college buildings – College of Arts and Sciences and College of Engineering – were affected by the fire. No casualties were reported. The university’s main campus in Manila will be closed to students and visitors on Monday, April 4, while other campuses will be open.

The incident comes just a day after fire also engulfed the Faculty Center of the University of the Philippines Diliman campus.

More details in this report.

In the Philippines, it is easy to board a plane, boat or drive to your favorite beach destination. However, you’re looking for an alternative to beach trips, there are several other destinations to discover and explore for your weekend escapade.

Writer Joshua Berida gives a list of 8 destinations where you can go tubing, try your first climb, cool off under a waterfall, and more – all of which are just hours away from Manila.

TV stars Lovi Poe and Solenn Heussaff battled it out on Lip Sync Battle Philippines, Saturday, April 2. Solenn channels her inner mustachioed “Mr Suave,” while Lovi pulls off a scintillating performance as Britney Spears, lip-synching to “I’m A Slave For U.” Both delivered solid performances, but Lovi ended up being the episode’s champion.

Watch the fun performances here.