November 26, 2014 Edition

The Philippines confirmed sending a note verbale to Biejing in October to protest China’s reclamation activities on Kagitingan Reef (Fiery Cross Reef) in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea). A recent report IHS Jane’s Defence revealed new details of the reclamation China is undertaking on what it calls the Yongshu. The United States military had urged Beijing to stop the activity, but China blasted the comment as “irresponsible.” The confirmation of the diplomatic protest came as the Philippine Supreme Court heard oral arguments on an enhanced military agreement between Manila and Washington DC, where the solicitor general admitted that the pact does not guarantee that the US would come to the country’s rescue if tension escalated in the South China Sea. Meanwhile, Vietnam, another claimant in the maritime dispute, has sent two warships on a “goodwill visit” to Manila, seen as a sign of stronger cooperation between the two countries in the face of China’s aggression in the South China Sea.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Resolving an issue that 3 administrations failed to address for more than a decade, the Supreme Court has ordered the oil depot of multinationals Shell, Chevron, and Petron to vacate the 33-hectare site in the city of Manila, where the terminal has been seen to pose security and environmental risks. The oil companies are given 45 days to submit a comprehensive relocation plan, and 6 months after that to relocate. At least one of the companies – Petron – is eyeing a new site either in the neighboring provinces of Cavite and Laguna, or another city in Metro Manila, Navotas.

Read the full report on Rappler.

Racially-charged unrest followed a grand jury’s decision in Ferguson, Missouri, chose not to charge a white police officer who shot dead an unarmed black teen, saying it was done out of self defense while performing his duty. More than 2,000 soldiers have been deployed in the area – triple the initial force – in a bid to quell a repeat of the looting and arson. President Barack Obama condemned violence, saying: “There are productive ways of responding and expressing those frustrations and there are destructive ways of responding. Burning buildings, torching cars, destroying property, putting people at risk. That’s destructive and there’s no excuse for it. Those are criminal acts.”

Read the full story on Rappler.

The Philippine Bureau of Immigration (BI) has taken off its blacklist the 9 Hong Kong journalists who aggressively questioned President Benigno Aquino III at the 2013 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit in Bali, Indonesia, in 2013. From initially saying their behavior was a threat to peace and order in the Philippines, the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency this time cited the fact there was no untoward incident that transpired during the President’s recent visit to China for the 26th APEC Leaders’ Summit. Meanwhile, Malacañang cannot cite the legal basis for the blacklist order, which has been rescinded, but Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr says it was imposed in ‘good faith’

Read the full story on Rappler.

The executive actions taken by United States President Barack Obama – further deferring the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants and their parents – are seen to benefit some 40,000 Filipinos. A study by the Pew Research Center shows that 15% of around 200,000 undocumented Filipinos in the US, or an estimated 30,000 individuals, are eligible for the relief. In addition, there are 10,000 who are already eligible under the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

Read the full story on Rappler.

A government-commissioned survey showed there are fewer Filipinos who give grease money to facilitate government transactions, but it also revealed that poor families are the ones more likely to give in to solicited bribes to avail of social services. The 2013 National Household Survey on Experience with Corruption in the Philippines, commissioned by the Office of the Ombudsman, covered 10,864 respondent-families, representative of the country’s 21.9 million families nationwide. The survey measured the respondents’ actual experience in small-scale corruption, particularly in bribery or “facilitation money.” It also identified public services vulnerable to corruption, and whether the bribes were initiated by the receiver or the giver.

Read the full story on Rappler.

The Philippine Supreme Court upheld the disqualification of Governor Emilio Ramon Ejercito of Laguna, a vote-rich and industrialized province south of Manila. Ejercito, a movie actor and nephew of former President Joseph Estrada, was found to have overspent on his campaign in 2013, based on his own expense report submitted to the Commission on Elections – a document that most politicians are widely believed not to accomplish truthfully due to outdated and unrealistic caps on campaign spending. The case stemmed from a complaint filed by President Benigno Aquino III’s party mate who lost in the elections. Ejercito will be replaced by the vice governor.

Read the full story on Rappler.

The list of questionable corporate practices allegedly committed by car-sharing service Uber is getting longer. A communication professor is taking Uber to task for allegedly misrepresenting data to promote the safety of Uber rides in dangerous areas of San Francisco – and then taking down the said post. Gina Neff, an associate professor of communication at the University of Washington and the School of Public Policy at Central European University in Budapest, said on Monday, November 24, the Uber Data Blog post – now deleted – is archived with the title “How crime location knowledge is a proxy for Uber demand.” Its original web address, however, points to another possible title: “How prostitution and alcohol make Uber better.”

Read the full story on Rappler.

What does artnet owning “the world’s largest and most comprehensive price database for secondary market sales of fine and decorative art” for? It figured, they can check out their analytics to come up with the top 50 living artists – from among the 18,079 that they know of – who “performed incredibly well” in auctions in 2014. The gauge: How much higher their artworks sold compared to the starting bid prices. The list, dominated by Chinese artists, had two Filipinos on it: sculptor Ronald Ventura (5th), who sold 23 pieces as of November; and painter BenCab (27th), who sold 14.

See the full list on artnet News.

The composer who was once dubbed as “Japan’s Beethoven” but later admitted that he used a ghostwriter for his major works is facing a lawsuit over the cancellation of his tour. Concert organizer Samon Promotion is seeking 61 million yen ($520,000) from Mamoru Samuragochi, but the musician’s lawyer said his client cannot be held responsible for it because the decision to cancel the tour was made by the firm. Samuragochi shot to fame in the mid-1990s with classical compositions that provided the soundtrack to video games despite having had a degenerative condition that affected his hearing. Japanese media once cast him as a tortured genius robbed of the ability to hear the beautiful music he made.

Read the full story on Rappler.