August 31, 2012 Edition

Transportation and Communications Secretary and Liberal Party president Manuel “Mar” Roxas II is the next Secretary of the Interior and Local Government, replacing the late Jesse Robredo who died in a plane crash last August 18. Replacing Roxas is Cavite Rep Joseph Emilio Abaya, LP secretary-general. The twin appointments consolidate the ruling party’s hold on the bureaucracy as it gears up for the mid-term elections in May 2013 and prepares for the next presidential race in 2016. The Department of the Interior and Local Government has control over local government units and the Philippine National Police. 

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Mitt Romney vowed to rescue the US economy and create jobs Thursday as he accepted the Republican presidential nomination at the climax of a convention that sought to humanize the candidate. The former Massachusetts governor told Americans that Barack Obama had singularly failed to deliver the “hope and change” he had promised and that the country must elect him to save an economy crippled by wrong-headed policies. Romney’s elevation to official challenger to Obama in the November election comes more than 5 long years after he launched his first White House bid and with the current race neck-and neck and dependent on a handful of key states.

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Pascal Lamy, head of the World Trade Organization (WTO), confirmed that growth in global trade would remain below 4% this year and urged governments against protectionism. Annual growth in world trade has averaged 6% over the past 15 years, but this year will be below 4%, Lamy told France’s BFM radio, blaming the slowdown on a sluggish world economy. But Lamy said the rough patch should not be an excuse for political leaders to give in to protectionism. In April, the WTO warned that world trade growth, which slowed in 2011 after a big rebound in 2010, would weaken again this year and grow by 5.6% in 2013. 

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The Philippine economy grew by 5.9% in the second quarter, cementing the Philippines’ strong position as one of the economies in Asia and the world to watch. The second-quarter growth is slower than the 6.3% in the first (revised from 6.4%), but it still exceeded analysts’ and even government’s expectations, which averaged 5.4%. Buoyed largely by accelerated government spending on infrastructure, sustained remittances from Filipinos working abroad that fuels consumption, and consistently strong services sector boosted by tourism-related activities, the Philippine economy will continue to withstand global woes, according to socio-economic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan.

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The Philippines’ goal of attaining rice self-sufficiency in 2013 year may cause harm to the international rice market and cause price shocks, according to a working paper released by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). If this happens, this would be the second time the Philippines affects global rice prices in recent history after being cited as one of the main reasons for the world rice price crisis in 2008. The Manila-based multilateral institution noted that the Philippines is one of the 3 biggest rice importers in the world. The other top global importers are Nigeria and Indonesia.  “Net importing countries have pursued self-sufficiency in rice that is likely to insure them against the risk of trade disruptions. However, the self-sufficiency strategy raises the cost of rice security in the region,” the ADB said.

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The maker of an application that would alert iPhone users to US military drone strikes has saidthat Apple has repeatedly shot down his efforts to get it into the App Store. “I just wanted to make a simple app that would send a push notification every time there is a drone strike,” Begley told Agence France Press. “I was thinking about how hidden the drone war is and about ways to play with what happens in the pockets of smartphone users,” the New York University graduate student continued. Begley said that Drones+ was rejected twice by Apple on technical grounds since he first submitted it to the Cupertino, California-based maker of iPhones, iPads, iPods and Macintosh computers in July.

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It’s crunch time for House Bill (HB) 4244, or the Reproductive Health bill (RH bill), in the House of Representatives. After two weeks in the House plenary, the lower chamber still failed to begin the period of amendments. Based on the adjusted timeline of RH bill principal author Albay Rep Edcel Lagman, there are 3 session days left for the legislative chamber to at least finish individual amendments on the controversial measure. By September 10, the House plenary will already be prioritizing the approval of the government’s 2013 budget, the General Appropriations Bill.

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It looks like Manny Pacquiao’s next opponent has been narrowed down to two choices and Team Pacquiao is not looking beyond Juan Manuel Marquez and Miguel Angel Cotto. Pacquiao’s lawyer, Franklin Gacal Jr, said Timothy Bradley, who defeated Pacquiao via a controversial split decision in June, is definitely out of the equation. Not only is Bradley bad for Pacquiao’s business interests, he is also reportedly asking for a ridiculous guaranteed purse. 

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Hundreds of people pushed, prodded and stretched their way to a new world record for the biggest simultaneous group massage, in the Thai capital Bangkok on August 30. A total of 1,282 entrants took part in the event at a convention center, smashing the previous Guinness World Record of 526 people set in Daylesford, Australia, in March 2010. The event was staged by the Thai government to lure foreigners to a country whose tourist-friendly image has been tested in recent years by deadly floods, political violence and concerns about crime and safety.

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A man who befriended a teenage Australian girl on the social media site Facebook before luring her to a secluded spot and killing her was imprisoned for at least 21 years on August 31. Christopher Dannevig, now 22, pleaded guilty to the May 2010 killing of 18-year-old Nona Belomesoff after grooming her online under a false identity. Knowing she had a love of animals from her Facebook page, Dannevig pretended to work for a wildlife rescue group and led the teenager, who met him several times before her death, to believe he could help her find work.

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