February 12, 2015 Edition

The probe into the bloody Mamasapano clash took a strange twist on February 11 as lawmakers focused on a video that has gone viral showing supposed Moro rebels shooting a member of the police Special Action Force (SAF). Members of the House of Representatives engaged in a heated argument on whether to show the video or not. Acting Philippine National Police chief Deputy Director General Leandro Espina again turned emotional over what he said was an “overkill” by Moro rebels in the January 25 Mamasapano clash. He trended on Twitter, with many netizens praising and sympathizing with him.

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“I don’t know about dying but it is in a coma.” Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr warned that the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) might be the next casualty of the Mamasapano clash. The chairman of the Senate local government committee said many lawmakers and the public are not keen on passing the BBL, and it is time to find an “alternative” way to ensure peace. Emotions are running high against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, he said, citing the “atrocities committed against our policemen.”

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US President Barack Obama said he would not flinch from sending US special forces to kill Islamic State leaders, as he called for Congress to authorize military operations that stop short of a full-scale invasion. Tantamount to a declaration of war, Obama on Wednesday, February 11, asked lawmakers for formal authority to take the fight to the Islamic State (ISIS) group, beyond their current footholds in Syria and Iraq if necessary. Since August 2014, the US military – along with allies – has been conducting a campaign of air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

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Australia has thwarted an “imminent” terror attack, arresting two men and seizing an Islamic State (ISIS) flag, a machete and a video detailing the alleged plot during a raid in Sydney. New South Wales Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn said the planned attack was “consistent with the messaging coming out of [ISIS]”, while New South Wales state Premier Mike Baird described it as “beyond disturbing.” The men were arrested in a raid on a property in Sydney’s western suburbs by the Joint Counter Terrorism Taskforce on February 10 after a tip-off, and charged with making preparations for a terrorist act.

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Whale sharks and dolphins are pests, said Mayor Nelson Garcia of Dumanjug town in Cebu, as he explained why he wanted to kill them. At an environmental summit on February 11, Garcia noted how whale sharks and dolphins eat two tons of fish a day. When asked if he knew that killing whale sharks and dolphins, both endangered animals, is a crime under national and local laws, he quoted the Bible: “God said, man has dominion over the ocean, the fishes, the birds, the animals, and subdue it. That is the order of God.”

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Two people were killed and 43 injured on February 11, including 5 foreign nationals, in a 100-vehicle pile-up on the highway to South Korea’s largest international airport. The multiple collision occurred in heavy fog on the Seoul-bound lane of a bridge that forms part of the main expressway linking Incheon airport with the capital. The pile-up appeared to have been started when a limousine ran into the back of a car, an Incheon police station spokesman said. Five foreigners were among the 43 injured.

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Greece’s new anti-austerity government failed to reach a deal with its European partners February 12, on renegotiating its huge bailout, with talks now set to go down to the wire next week. Finance minister Yaris Varoufakis set out Athens’ proposals for a new debt program at an emergency meeting with his counterparts from the 19-country eurozone in Brussels. As he made his case more than 15,000 people turned out on Athens streets in a display of support for the government’s program, according to police. But Jeroen Dijsselbloem, head of the Eurogroup of eurozone ministers, said 6 hours of talks produced no agreement on an extension of Greece’s $270-billion EU-IMF bailout program.

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Europe said it had launched a prototype space plane on February 11 in a strategy to join an elite club able to both launch a spacecraft and return it safely to Earth. A Vega rocket lifted off from the European Space Agency’s base in Kourou, French Guiana, bearing the novel Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV), ESA said in a webcast. The 5-meter  (16-feet), two-ton wingless demonstrator is the first step in filling a gap in ESA’s range of skills. Europe can launch satellites, robot explorers and supply ships but unlike rival spacefarers – the United States, Russia and China – does not have the means to bring them back to Earth intact.

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Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle exempted Chinese-Filipino and Chinese Catholics from the required fasting and abstinence on Ash Wednesday, February 18, as the penitential day falls on the eve of Chinese New Year. In a circular letter, Tagle said the dispensation applies to the Archdiocese of Manila on February 18 from afternoon until midnight. By granting this dispensation, Tagle said he recognizes the “cultural and spiritual importance and the traditional practices” associated with the Chinese Lunar New Year.

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Manny Pacquiao’s American trip came and went without the much-anticipated Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight announcement people had been hoping for. No big surprise at the Super Bowl, as some had theorized. No late night hotel contract signing. Not even the exchange of cell phone numbers could break the deadlock that would bring forth the bout. Now back in his hometown of General Santos City, Philippines, the 36-year-old boxing icon hinted that a fight announcement could be happening soon through his official Instagram. The question is, against whom?

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