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Dear Rappler reader,
The supermoon dominated Monday’s night sky – large, regal and mysterious. The moon won’t be seen this close to Earth again for 18 years. Many myths and superstitions are associated with the supermoon, among them, that it can cause disasters. That metaphorical “disaster” seems to be operational as far as PLDT Chairman Manny Pangilinan is concerned, who called 2016 “annus horribilis” or horible year. But it’s not only PLDT that is feeling the pinch, take a look at the Ph peso as it sunk to a near 8-year low.
Fullmoons are perfect backdrops for ghosts – in this case a 30-year old ghost that continues to haunt the country. Marcos daughter Imee Marcos pointed to his father’s former henchman, Fidel Ramos, who headed the Philippine Constabulary, which conducted arrests and other abuses during Martial Law. Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III castigated Communications Secretary Martin Andanar for calling anti-Marcos burial advocates ‘temperamental brats’ and told him to “review history.”
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The Philippine peso dropped to an almost 8-year low against the US dollar after the Federal Reserve pointed to a rate hike “relatively soon” ending at P49.20:$1, Friday. Analysts said heavy foreign selling in the local equity market also contributed to the depreciating Philippine peso. Meanwhile, PLDT, the country’s largest telecommunications company, lowered its core income guidance to P28 billion for 2016, after it booked a 50% plunge in the 3rd quarter, mainly due to lower revenues as well as higher costs and expenses. PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said “It’s an annus horribilis (horrible year). Hopefully 2017 will be annus mirabilis (wonderful year).” Just last week, PLDT’s top rival, Globe Telecom announced its net income halved to P2.74 billion in the 3rd quarter of the year, weighed down by the expenses from the P69.1-billion deal to buy out the telecommunications business of San Miguel Corporation (SMC).
Daughter of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, Imee, shifted blame to former President Fidel Ramos as protests continued regarding the impending burial of her father at the heroes’ cemetery. She said, “We were still studying and children then. Why don’t we ask former Philippine Constabulary Chief Fidel Ramos about the alleged arrests and abuses.” Among those who criticized the High Court’s decision to allow the burial was Ramos, the general who later turned against his commander-in-chief and led the revolution that toppled Marcos. Meantime, efforts to block the burial met another roadblock after Senate Resolution 86 opposing the burial failed to get majority votes. One of the senators who voted for the resolution, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel hit back at Communications Secretary Martin Andanar, who had called anti-Marcos burial activists ‘temperamental brats’. Pimentel told Andanar: Review your history. But the saga has a new plot twist. The “differences in opinion,” as the palace refers to them, did not deter what was said to be a “very warm” meeting between President Rodridgo Duterte and the former president Ramos at Malacanang.
Senator Leila de Lima admitted she had a relationship with her driver and bodyguard Ronnie Dayan, but insisted she did not finance the construction of his house in Pangasinan. In an exclusive TV interview, the senator said the relationship, which lasted “a few years,” was part of her “frailties as a woman.”
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III and Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said President Rodrigo Duterte was not serious when he made the warning he might suspend habeas corpus. They said it was just a “passing thought.”
Nearly a week after President Rodrigo Duterte said he was ordering the Philippine National Police (PNP) not to buy assault rifles from a US-based company, Director General Ronald dela Rosa said the purchase would push through. Dela Rosa said, “As far as the PNP is concerned, we have the blessing of the President to continue with the transaction.”
Here’s the story of every OFW, caught on video, which has gone viral. Five-year-old Vaniah Ayn Perdido was in tears as she tried to stop her father, Joe Mar David Perdido, from returning to the Maldives where he works as an assistant restaurant manager for a resort.
Watch the latest trailer of Disney’s live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast. It’s full of revealing details on the protaganists, the castle’s inhabitants and even the movie’s antagonist.
Skygazers took to high-rise buildings, tourist landmarks and beaches worldwide on Monday, November 14, to catch a glimpse of the closest “supermoon” to Earth in almost 7 decades.
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