September 19, 2013 Edition

The government is preparing rebellion charges against followers of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) founder Nur Misuari who have attacked and shut down Zamboanga City for 10 days now. Under inquest proceedings by a special panel of the justice department, about 70 have been formally charged but may increase as new information comes. Batches of MNLF forces have been surrendering to the Zamboanga City police chief, brining to 93 the total of MNLF rebels in government custody. About 50 more rebels remain in “areas of interest,” the government said. Zamboanga Mayor has called for “justice” and a “long-term solution” after the city suffered billions of pesos when the firefighting put Zamboanga at a standstill.

Read more on Rappler.

Read more about the re-opened airport and seaport on Rappler.

In a surprise move, the US Federal Reserve left its $85 billion a month stimulus program in place against broad expectations that it would reduce it as the economy grows. Fed policy makers instead cut their growth forecast for this 2013 and 2014, suggesting the economy is feeling the impact of government spending cuts. It said it will wait for “more evidence that progress will be sustained before adjusting the pace of its (bond) purchases.” The Fed had been widely expected to begin reducing the bond-purchase program, aimed at pulling down long-term interest rates, after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke predicted in May that the stimulus operation could be tapered late 2013 year. This has led to massive exodus of funds from the emerging markets, like the Philippines, back to the US.


Read more about the Fed’s decision on Rappler.

Read more about the new US economic growth targets here.

Read more about the impact on the Philippines here.

The Aquino government has moved a bidding deadline for the P43.3-billion Cavite-Laguna Expressway (CALAx) project for another month, bringing to 4 the big-ticket infrastructure projects considered “priorities” that were delayed this 2013. The public works and highways cited the request of the CALAx bidders for more time to form their business partners. Similar delays have hit the LRT-1 Cavite extension project, Cebu airport expansion and the automated fare collection system for the rails in Metro Manila. These delays have been heavily criticized by various sectors since it takes years to build these capital-intensive projects.

Read more on Rappler.

Levi Baligod, legal counsel of Benhur Luy and the other whistleblowers in the government’s investigation into the alleged multi-billion-peso pork barrel scam, talked to Rappler about the recent developments in the case and shared his insights into how the case will pan out. He said a lawyer of alleged pork barrel scam queen Janet Napoles offered money to settle the case, which is now being investigated in the Senate. Luy, a state witness, earlier named at least 5 senators and 23 congressmen who had allegedly colluded with Napoles, his cousin and former employer, to channel their Priority Development Assistance Fund to ghost projects in exchange for hefty kickbacks. Will politics and pockets prevail?

Watch the interview on Rappler.

How do you make the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill, which has been in Congress for over two decades, relevant and feasible in the time of social media? This was tackled at the Senate committee on public information and mass media’s final hearing of the FOI bill with heads of TV networks and online outlets, bloggers and government officials in attendance to discuss refinements needed. Rappler’s Maria Ressa and Interaksyon’s Roby Alampay said that information must not only be accessible but also usable. The FOI bill aims to institutionalize the right to know and policy of public disclosure enshrined in the Constitution by providing a system for ordinary citizens to access government documents and information. Senator Grace Poe said the committee will work on the details on how government agencies will comply with the bill given technological considerations and will approve the bill within the year.

Read and watch more on Rappler.

For Rappler’s live blog of FOI hearing, click here.

Syria’s chemical weapons will be surrendered but it would take at least a year to do so and cost one billion dollars, warned defiant strongman Bashar Al-Assad in a confident interview with US network Fox News. His latest appearance came as UN envoys debated a draft resolution that would enshrine a joint US-Russian plan to secure and neutralize his banned weapons in international law. Assad insisted that Syria was not gripped by civil war but was the victim of infiltration by foreign-backed Al-Qaeda fighters. He insisted that his forces had not been behind an August 21 gas attack on the Damascus suburbs that left hundreds of civilians dead, but vowed nevertheless to hand over his deadly arsenal. It was Assad’s second interview this month with US television, and one of a series of meetings with Western journalists to counter mounting political pressure from Western capitals.

Read more on Rappler.

The Anti-Bullying Act of 2013, which requires all elementary and secondary schools to adopt policies that will prevent and address bullying in the classroom, is now in place. President Benigno Aquino III signed on September 12 Republic Act 10627, which defines bullying as a the use of written, verbal or electronic expression, or a physical act or gesture to cause physical or emotional harm by one student to another student. Bullying can also mean the creation of a hostile school environment, infringement of student rights, and “material and susbtantial” disruption of the school’s education process. The passage of the law is “a huge step” in protecting students from “the earliest forms of violence,” a senator said.

Read more on Rappler.

A resurgent hurricane neared Mexico’s northwest coast on September 18 after twin storms killed at least 80 people nationwide and buried part of a village under a mudslide, leaving dozens more missing. President Enrique Peña Nieto said 58 people were missing after a “major landslide” collapsed on La Pintada, a village of 400 people in the mountains of southwestern Guerrero state. The situation at La Pintada is “very critical” after more than 20 homes were crushed in the remote village where at least 15 bodies have been pulled out of the rubble and over 280 villagers evacuated. Authorities said the death toll had risen to 80 across the country after a pair of tropical storms, Ingrid and Manuel, triggered landslides and floods over large swaths of Mexico this week.

Read more on Rappler.

The Tokyo subway’s clockwork precision played a proud part in its successful tilt at hosting the 2020 Olympic Games, with bid chiefs pointing out that the city’s “rail structure is one of the best in the world and continues to expand and develop.” The vast train network that criss-crosses subterranean Tokyo can be a confusing and intimidating place for the uninitiated, but in a city where millions of commuters travel by train daily, it boasts the precision of a finely-crafted Swiss watch, keeping Tokyo moving. Huge banks of computing power link 13 lines and nearly 300 stations over 195 kilometers of track, putting one train on each line every two-to-three minutes at peak times. Subway officials say that Tokyo’s business culture and the value its people place on punctuality pushes them to achieve the kind of precision that foreign underground railways cannot easily replicate. Prolonged delays are fodder for local, if not national, news programs, and see the train companies handing out cards to passengers that they can submit to their bosses as a reason they were late for work.

Read more on Rappler.

Embassies in Indonesia are warning their nationals that extremists may attack the Miss World beauty pageant on the resort island of Bali after a series of hardline Muslim protests. The United States, British and Australian embassies have in recent days all issued warnings. Bali has been attacked by Islamic militants before, most notably in 2002 when bombings on the resort island killed 202 people, many of them foreigners. In recent weeks, thousands of radicals have taken to the streets protesting against the decision to hold Miss World in Indonesia, denouncing it as “smut” and “pornography.” Philippines’ bet is Megan Young.

Read more on Rappler.