Daily News Highlights – April 8, 2015 Edition

A Singapore court on Tuesday, April 7, charged a Filipino nurse with sedition and lying to police over a series of social media posts which were deemed offensive. Ello Ed Mundsel Bello, 28, who previously worked at the the government-run Tan Tock Seng Hospital, was slapped with two charges of publishing seditious statements on January 2, when he allegedly posted that ’Singaporean are losers in their own country’ and that Filipinos are better. Ello later told police his social media account was hacked. 

Read the full story on Rappler.

Filipino Liza Avelino, 43, is getting ready to climb a mountain in the Himalayas after saving for over 2 years. Avelino, who works as a domestic helper in Hong Kong, is in Nepal preparing for her climb up Island Peak or Imja Tse. The mountain is a popular training mountain for Mt Everest, located just 10 km away. “When I was little, I had a dream to travel the world. But there was a lack of resources – time, money, I didn’t have it,” Avelino told the South China Morning Post. She grew up poor in Davao City to farmers who couldn’t afford to send her to school. In 1996, at the age of 24, she started working as a domestic helper. She’s thankful she’s had supportive employers throughout her career.

Read the full story on Rappler and the South China Morning Post. 

The Philippine National Police (PNP) admitted on Tuesday, April 7 that the United States provided intelligence assistance in the form of maps of Mamasapano, Maguindanao. Former Special Action Force (SAF) chief Police Director Getulio Napeñas told a congressional committee that the maps used by SAF troopers came from “US counterparts” but did not elaborate further. Napeñas also admitted that the PNP requested for the map. The congressional hearing sought to establish the role of the US in Oplan Exodus, which resulted in the death of international terrorist Marwan and more than 50 civilians, SAF troops, and members of the MILF. The operation, though successful in achieving its objective of killing Marwan, was ultimately considered a big failure due to the high casualty count.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Catch the highlights from yesterday’s hearing.

Filipino evacuees from Yemen reached 342 after a second batch of Filipinos fled the strife-torn country, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Tuesday, April 7. The agency said the situation in Yemen remains volatile and uncertain. It urged all remaining Filipinos in Yemen to register with the crisis management teams in Movenpick Hotel Sana’a and in Al-Sheirf Hotel Hodeidah, so that they can join the last remaining land evacuation. Relief workers have warned of a dire situation in the impoverished Arabian Peninsula state, where a Saudi-led coalition is waging an air war on the Iran-backed Huthi Shiite rebels.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Scientists are questioning the effectivity of the government’s mangrove reforestation program. Many have called the program, led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, “unscientific” and “rushed.” Chief among the voices calling for a rethinking of the program is world-renowned mangrove scientist Jurgenne Primavera, who was named a TIME Magazine Hero of the Environment in 2008. “Stop the non-science planting on old coral beds, seagrass, and mudflats,” she told Rappler in a phone interview. Jurgenne and other scientists have found cases where the wrong type of mangrove seedling was planted or mangroves were planted in areas not suitable for them. The mangrove reforestation program is estimated to cost P1 billion (US$ 22.4 million).

Read the full story on Rappler.

Filipinos took to social media on Tuesday, April 7, to talk about discrimination among social classes and the equal treatment of domestic helpers. The discussion stemmed from a Facebook post by celebrity Maggie Wilson-Consunji who recounted how appalled she was that a “yaya’s meal” existed in the private beach resort island of Balesin. A yaya is a nanny in Filipino. Netizens quickly debated the merits of whether a “yaya meal” is discriminatory or not. Some argued that it was discriminatory because it was called as such and because regular resort members were discouraged from ordering it. Others, however, said there’s nothing wrong with labelling an item on the menu as a yaya’s meal since the word “yaya” wasn’t meant to be derogatory. 

Read more about the yaya meal on Rappler and tell us what you think.

The anti-graft court Sandiganbayan denied former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s demurrer to evidence on Monday, April 6, which means Arroyo’s lawyers will have to present counter-evidence in her ongoing plunder trial. Arroyo is facing charges for having approved the utilization of P365.9 million in special charity funds, which the government said was misused. Arroyo’s defense strategy has been hinged on what her lawyer’s say is an ‘absence of conspiracy’ in diverting the funds for personal gain. 

Read the full story on Rappler.

Britain’s prince Harry cautioned all those wanting to take a photo with him to not do it ‘selfie-style’, because he hates it. The 30-year-old made the remark on Monday, April 6 in Canberra where he was warmly received by hundreds of fans. One teenage girl wanted to have a photograph of herself with him in the background when she was reprimanded by the prince. “Seriously! You need to get out of it. I know you’re young buy selfies are bad. Just take a normal photograph,” he said to her. Harry is in Australia for a month-long mission before he retires from the army in June. 

Read the full story on Rappler.

How would it be to have dinner with a Stark, or at least ‘half a Stark’? That was the amusing premise of a comedy sketch which featured Saturday Night Live alum Seth Meyers and Kit Harrington, who plays Jon Snow in the epic Game of Thrones series. In the sketch, Snow is invited to dinner with Seth’s friends where he quickly proceeds to turn light banter into awkward silence. Meyer is seen giving social tips to Snow, who apparently knows nothing about keeping things light and friendly.

Watch the full clip on Rappler.

Malaysia’s parliament on Tuesday, April 7, passed a tough anti-terrorism law meant to nip emerging signs of Islamic militancy in the bud, but which opponents denounced as a harsh blow for civil rights. The Prevention of Terrorism Act allows authorities to detain terrorism suspects without charge, and the political opposition as well as legal and rights groups had urged its withdrawal. On Monday, April 6, police said 17 people, including two who recently returned from Syria, had been arrested on suspicion of plotting terror attacks in the capital Kuala Lumpur. No further details were given. The terrorism act has heightened worries in Malaysia over a deepening crackdown on civil liberties launched by the government in the wake of a 2013 election setback.

Read the full story on Rappler.