February 6, 2015 Edition

Almost two weeks after an anti-terrorism operation killed 44 police commandos while supervised by suspended Philippine National Police chief Alan Purisima, President Benigno Aquino III announced to key Cabinet officials that he had accepted the resignation of Purisima, a close friend of his. Purisima’s lawyer, however, said, “As far as I know General Purisima has not tendered any resignation.” Some legal experts say a suspended police officer should not be allowed to resign but be fired from the job.

Read the full story on Rappler.

The anti-graft court Sandiganbayan ordered the garnishment of Senator Ramon Revilla Jr’s assets totaling P224.512 million, which he allegedly earned from the misuse of the development fund allotted his office over several years. The writ covers 44 bank accounts and investments, 28 real properties, 15 motor vehicles, 5 separate shares of stock totaling P1.14 million in 3 different corporations, and shares in 12 other exclusive sports clubs and private companies. Prosecutors have asked another division of the anti-graft court to also order the temporary freezing of P184 million in the wealth of Jinggoy Estrada, another senator facing plunder charges for the same scam. The Ombudsman also filed plunder and graft charges against 5 former lawmakers who allegedly pocketed a combined P339 million from the same scam.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo is scheduled to meet with Philippine President Benigno Aquino III on Monday while Manila awaits whether Jakarta will grant clemency to a Filipina who is on death row for serving as drug courier for an international syndicate. During the state visit, the two countries’ leaders will sign a memorandum of understanding on combatting illegal drugs. Jokowi is currently in Malaysia, where he is expected to discuss with Prime Minister Najib Razak a range of issues, including sticky disputes on maritime borders and the treatment of Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia.

Read the full story on Rappler.

A clinical trial with a candidate treatment for Ebola has yielded “encouraging” results, showing fewer deaths and faster recovery rates among 80 patients, the French government and medical research agency Inserm said. They are testing the Japanese-manufactured anti-viral drug favipiravir. This is the first positive development in the series of trials to find a drug that would tackle the hemorrhagic fever virus that has infected 22,495 people and killed 8,981 in the worst Ebola outbreak in history.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Pope Francis reached out to children with disabilities and special needs in Brazil, India, Spain, and the United States via Google Hangout. During the candid 30-minute conversation – where Francis admitted he was a “dinosaur” when it comes to technology – the children told Francis how technology was helping them learn in school and pursue their interests. The pontiff, in turn, gave them advice on overcoming difficulties and urged them to share their gifts to the world.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Online retailer CashCashPinoy and e-commerce platform Ensogo are facing tax evasion charges after the Bureau of Internal Revenue accused them of “willful attempt to evade its tax obligations and deliberate failure to supply the correct and accurate information in its income tax return.” CashCashPinoy is said to have a tax liability of P132.51 million, while Ensogo allegedly owes the government P36.1 million.

Read the full story on Rappler.

The Commission on Elections has postponed to April 25 the election of youth councils nationwide that was originally set for February 21. It is still a temporary date, however. The poll body is awaiting the President’s signature on a law that would again move the Sangguniang Kabataan polls to October 2016. The Comelec spokesman said the April date is a temporary measure to give the poll body enough time to prepare, in case the youth polls would really push through this year. Lawmakers are of the position that no new set of officials should be elected until a law reforming the youth council system, which has been riddled with corruption, is enacted.

Read the new election calendar in this full story by Rappler.

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board approved a 50-centavo rollback on minimum jeepney fare in Southern Luzon, upon the petition of Negros Oriental Representative Manuel Iway. The minimum fare for the first 4 kilometers is now P8.00. Fares for succeeding kilometers will remain at P1.50 per kilometer. The decision covers the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon; the Mimaropa region is composed of Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan. The LTFRB cited the continuous rollback of diesel prices as basis for its decision to approve the fare rollback.

Read on Rappler where else the congressman has petitioned for fare rollback.

The State Colleges and Universities Athletic Association (SCUAA) National Olympics will push through in Cagayan province February 8-14 after it was cancelled in 2014 due to disasters that struck other regions, preventing them from sending delegates. The event, which will be hosted by the Cagayan State University will bring government-run colleges and universities from 17 regions to compete for 41 sports and socio-cultural games.

Read the full story on here. For updates on the various SCUAA events in the coming days, bookmark Rappler’s University Sports page.

After actress and TV host Kris Aquino lashed out on show business colleagues and the public in general for criticizing her brother President Benigno Aquino III, the daughter of former President Joseph Estrada by a former actress called her “a bully…who cannot handle the truth.” Kris has waged a word war with other entertainment personalities who she thought were criticizing President Aquino for his failure to attend to the arrival of corpses of police commandos who were slain in an anti-terrorist operation in Mindanao. Jerika Ejercito shared on Facebook a link to an article about Kris’ defense and commented: “Don’t dish it out if you can’t handle it. Sheesh…every night she bullies her guests on a&a and every morning does it all over again on her show cleverly named kristv her poor guests publicly humiliated…she feels entitled to be BRUTALLY HONEST day in, day out…but obviously cannot handle the truth herself.”

Read the full story and related articles on Rappler.