Today on Rappler.
- The Supreme Court throws out a disbarment complaint against acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio.
- RH Bill principal author Edcel Lagman says they will stomp out killer amendments that will destroy the spirit of the bill.
- Cambodia recalls its ambassadors who accused the Philippines of playing “dirty politics.”
Story 1: SC DISMISSES DISBARMENT COMPLAINT VS. CARPIO
The Supreme Court throws out a disbarment complaint against acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio Friday.
In a special en banc session, the Court says sitting justices could be removed from office only by impeachment.
Lauro Vizconde filed a disbarment complaint against Carpio on August 6.
He says Carpio influenced judiciary appointments when he was presidential legal counsel in 1992.
The Court dismisses the complaint in time for the JBC to draw its shortlist of chief justice candidates on Monday.
Story 2: JBC RESETS VOTE ON CJ SHORTLIST TO MONDAY
The Judicial and Bar Council reschedules voting on its short list of chief justice candidates to Monday.
The council fails to reach a consensus on a motion to suspend rules disqualifying candidates with pending cases.
Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr says this will be the JBC’s last postponement.
President Benigno Aquino III has until August 27 to choose the next chief justice from the JBC shortlist.
Story 3: HOW JBC’S 5 VOTES CAN CHANGE THE GAME
5 votes in the JBC can mean a candidate’s inclusion in the shortlist for a judicial post.
But the rules also say, 5 votes are all you need to suspend the rule that disqualifies candidates with pending cases from the race.
Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr says if an action against a chief justice candidate is “unfair,” the JBC can suspend its rules.
Tupas is one of the 8 members of the JBC– the representative from the House of Representatives.
The suspension will benefit candidates with pending cases: Presidential Commission on Good Government chairman Andres Bautista, Securities and Exchange Commissioner Teresita Herbosa, and Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza.
If it happens, the suspension will pave the way for the likely inclusion of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima in the shortlist.
De Lima is the reported choice of President Aquino.
Story 4: THE FIGHT FOR THE RH BILL
RH Bill principal author Albay Representative Edcel Lagman is confident the RH Bill will be passed in August.
He says he has been fighting for the bill for 15 years.
Lagman is confident of President Benigno Aquino III’s support which he calls a “calibrated push”, carefully navigating the controversies surrounding the bill.
EDCEL LAGMAN: Like all killers, killer amendments should be hunted down.
Story 5: PAMPANGA RESCUE OPERATIONS
A doctor who leads what some say is the best-trained rescue team in the Philippines is in the middle of rescue operations in Pampanga this week.
Natashya Gutierrez reports.
This is Ted Esguerra — coast guard and doctor by profession, rescuer at heart.
Esguerra has been saving lives for 13 years.
Rescuers like him work overnight hours without relievers, and suffer from a shortage of supplies.
He knows the dangers of the job, but he says it’s worth it.
TED ESGUERRA, RESCUER: Yung simpleng contagious dun yung pag nahawakan mo siya, magpasalamat siya sayo. I don’t know what the connection is, what the feeling is, but it’s something millions can’t buy.
When the monsoon rains hit, Esguerra and his team are sent to the hardest hit areas.
Their first stop is Marikina where they save 79 stranded victims until 5am. The next day, they are off to Pampanga, where over 300 barangays are submerged.
Esguerra travels over 3 hours to Santo Tomas town, Pampanga, and takes his rubber boat, ready for rescue.
But what residents need isn’t rescue, but food and water, because even evacuation centers are short on stock.
This is something Esguerra wants to fix.
He dreams of unifying rescue efforts in the country so there is better communication, and resources are used efficiently to serve the most urgent demands.
Esguerra says the country needs more rescuers, who are trained properly and scientifically to save lives the right way.
As a man who has seen death, he knows time is of the essence and could cost a life.
ESGUERRA: Meron kasing tinatatawag na “a heart which is too old to live.” Destined talaga yan mamatay. Ang kailangan natin pag-aralan is how to save a heart that is too young to die.
Esguerra says he has tried to quit before but rescuing is part of him.
He says every death drives him to save more people, in an attempt to make up for the lives lost.
He plans to do this for as long as he is able.
Natashya Gutierrez, Rappler, Manila.
Story 6: SOUTHWEST MONSOON AFFECTING NORTH AND CENTRAL LUZON
State weather bureau Pagasa says the effects of the southwest monsoon will still be felt across Northern and Central Luzon.
In its latest bulletin, Pagasa forecasts mostly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms.
The rest of the country will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms.
Story 7: AQUINO CHOPPER MAKES EMERGENCY LANDING
5 choppers carrying President Benigno Aquino III and members of the cabinet make an emergency landing on the Subic-Clark-Tarlac expressway.
Communications Secretary Ricky Carandang says the President is on his way to Paniqui, Tarlac to check the flood situation there.
Heavy rains and poor visibility force the choppers to land on the highway near San Miguel, Tarlac.
Story 8: CAMBODIA ORDERS ENVOY TO LEAVE PH
The Cambodian ambassador who accused the Philippines of playing “dirty politics” has been ordered to leave.
The Department of Foreign Affairs confirms Cambodia is recalling its ambassador to the Philippines, Hos Sereythonh.
Foreign Affairs spokesperson Raul Hernandez says Cambodia did not state the reason for Hos’ recall.
In a letter to the Philippine Star on July 30, Hos disagrees with an article written by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Erlinda Basilio.
Basilio says Cambodia failed to gain consensus and to issue a joint communiqué for the first time in 45 years.
Hos slams the Philippines and Vietnam for wanting to include South China Sea issues in the joint statement.
Hos says, “(To) try to blame Cambodia…is dirty politics and should have no place in Asean.”
Story 9: THE wRap: YOUR WORLD IN ONE READ
At number 4, former Algerian Foreign Minister Lakhdar Brahimi will be named next week as the new United Nations and Arab League peace envoy to Syria in place of Kofi Annan.
The 78-year-old Brahimi was a UN envoy in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks and then in Iraq after the 2003 invasion.
He is coming out of retirement to represent the United Nations and the Arab League in a diplomatic push to end the slaughter in Syria.
At number 6, The wife of a former top official of the Chinese Communist Party did not protest prosecution’s claim August 9 that she and a family aide poisoned a British businessman last year.
The court trying Gu Kailai is done with the hearing phase and is expected to issue a verdict soon.
It’s the latest phase in the fall from grace of Bo Xilai, Gu’s husband, who was a powerful party official until he got mired in a big corruption scandal, the biggest to hit the economic giant in recent history.
And at number 8, Google agrees to pay 22.5 million US dollars after tracking people’s web-use habits even if they had not given permission.
it’s the largest fine that the US Federal Trade Commission has imposed on a single company.
As part of the settlement, Google also admits its mistake.
Google says no “personal information” – such as names or credit card data – had been collected, and that the action had been inadvertent.
Story 10: LONDON 2012 HIGHLIGHTS
As the Olympics wraps up, Rappler looks back at the highlights of the past three days before the closing ceremonies on Sunday, August 12.
As of Day 13, the USA leads medal tallies with 39 golds over China’s 37.
Natashya Gutierrez reports.
Jamaica’s sprint king Usain Bolt is the star of the Olympics’ second week.
Bolt defends his 100 meter title and 200 meter title, and becomes the first athlete ever to win two sprint events in two successive Olympics.
The 25-year-old is still the world record holder in both events.
As Bolt cruises, Chinese athletics icon Liu Xiang suffers fresh heartbreak.
Former Olympic champion and world record holder Liu injures himself in his second Games in a row.
Liu is out of the Olympics after hurting himself in his opening competition, reminiscent of his forced withdrawal from Beijing in 2009 when he also injured himself in his first race.
In basketball, four men’s teams are left in the semi-finals.
The USA and Spain look to be on track for a rematch, but the US must first defeat Argentina in the semifinals while Spain faces Russia, both on Friday.
Team Philippines is out of the Olympics after BMX biker Daniel Caluag fails to make the semis.
Earlier this week, long jumper Marestella Torres bowed out when she missed her personal best jump by a wide margin, while Rene Herrera ended his campaign when he finished last in the men’s 5000m despite getting his personal best time.
This is the 4th straight Olympics that the Philippines goes home without a medal.
Mansueto “Onyok” Velasco was the last to bring home a silver medal when he won in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Natashya Gutierrez, Rappler, Manila.
Story 11: 3-TIME NBA DEFENSIVE PLAYER TRADED TO THE LAKERS
The Los Angeles Lakers adds another key piece in their quest for the NBA Title.
3-time Defensive player of the year Dwight Howard lands in L.A. following a 4-team deal involving Orlando Magic, Denver Nuggets, and Philadelphia 76ers.
Howard joins Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, and newly acquired 2-Time MVP point guard Steve Nash in the Lakers’ starting lineup.
L.A. trades away their own All Star center Andrew Bynum to make the deal happen.
Other notable players involved in the trade are forwards Andre Iguodala, Al Harrington and Nikola Vucevic and guards Jason Richardson and Arron Afflalo.
The Orlando Magic will also get 3 future first round picks from each of the other 3 teams.
Story 12: FILIPINO-AMERICAN PART OF ‘CURIOSITY’ TEAM
A young Filipino-American is part of the team that landed the Curiosity Rover on the Red Planet.
KD Suarez reports.
As the Curiosity Rover lands on Mars, one of the hundreds of scientists rejoicing at the NASA jet propulsion laboratory is a young Filipino-American engineer.
Gregory Galgana Villar III is one of the youngest members of the Mars Science Laboratory, the team behind the historic mission.
GREGORY VILLAR III, OPERATIONS SYSTEMS ENGINEER: We were getting more and more excited, until he finally said “touchdown confirmed!” and we all just jumped for joy.
From a lab intern, he becomes an operations systems engineer, part of the testing and simulation of the rover.
With the rover starting to explore the Red Planet, he is now a Science Planner for the team, in charge of planning what the rover will do every day.
GREGORY VILLAR III, OPERATIONS SYSTEMS ENGINEER: We take inputs from the scientists and engineers, we meet in one room, and they tell me what they want to do in the next day and incorporate that into a plan.
Born to Filipino parents, he grew up in California, studied physics in California Polytechnic in Pomona.
Gregory thanks his education in the Philippines for his success. He studied high school in St. Louis University in Baguio.
GREGORY VILLAR III, OPERATIONS SYSTEMS ENGINEER: I owe my success here due to my education in the Philippines, because the curriculum there is very good during high school.
His advice for young Filipino scientists: study hard, work hard.
GREGORY VILLAR III, OPERATIONS SYSTEMS ENGINEER: Your dreams can come true if you work hard enough. I never let anything stop me. I don’t think anything is not accomplishable if you work hard enough.
KD Suarez, Rappler, Manila.
– Rappler.com
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