Rappler Newscast | November 22, 2012

Rappler.com

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The Central Bank boss tops the list of the highest paid government officials in 2011 at 10.58 million. 12 rockets hit Israel hours after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. A survey shows Filipinos are the most emotional people in the world.

Today on Rappler.

  • The Central Bank boss tops the list of the highest paid government officials in 2011 at 10.58 million.
  • 12 rockets hit Israel hours after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
  • A survey shows Filipinos are the most emotional people in the world.

Story 1: LIST: 10 HIGHEST PAID GOVERNMENT EXECUTIVES IN 2011
The Commission on Audit releases a list of the highest paid government officials in 2011.
Topping the list are officials from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Development Bank of the Philippines, Government Service Insurance System, and the Philippine National Construction Corp.
BSP Gov. Amando Tetangco Jr is number 1 with a salary of 10.58 million pesos.
DBP COO Edgardo Garcia follows at P9.83-M and GSIS official Benedicto Arcinas Jr at P8.97-M.
Pagcor chief Cristino Naguiat Jr ranked 22nd in 2011, earning P5.43 million.
He was last year’s highest paid government official, earning P69 million.

Story 2: JUSTICE LEONEN ASSUMES POST
Supreme Court Justice Marvic Leonen assumes his post at the High Tribunal Wednesday.
Leonen takes his oath as the Court’s 172nd justice before President Benigno Aquino and Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.
Sereno also briefs him on his new post.
Before his appointment to the High Court, Leonen served as government peace panel chair.
In a tweet, Leonen says “Justice is the result of human sensitivity, intellectual rigor and an abiding faith that we can collectively learn from our histories.”

Story 3: FORMER WESTMINCOM CHIEF: MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED
Retired Lieutenant General Raymundo Ferrer says the worst election violence in the country’s history 3 years ago could have been prevented.
In November 2009, 58 journalists and family members of the Mangudadatu clan were killed by members of a rival clan, the Ampatuans.
Ferrer was the former Chief of the Western Mindanao Command.
He served as martial-law administrator of Maguindanao after the massacre.

LT. GEN. RAYMUNDO FERRER, FORMER WESTMINCOM CHIEF: They could have prevented it. On my level I could not dictate to my commanders how to do it. But I was telling them, try to manage this tension because I knew that there will be tension when these two groups will meet.

74 members of the Ampatuan clan are running in the 2013 elections.
Ferrer says their candidacies cannot be stopped because not all of them are criminals.

LT. GEN. RAYMUNDO FERRER, FORMER WESTMINCOM CHIEF: They said the Ampatuans may be going back to politics. We cannot prevent them because they’re not all criminals…It’s not the Ampatuans who created a monster out of themselves. It’s Manila that creates monsters on the ground. Because in order to get political support you have to take care of somebody on the ground and because of the culture, if you give them so much direct connection to Malacanang then they abuse this relationship.

Story 4: DRILON: AMPATUANS NOT ALLOWED IN LP
Senator Franklin Drilon questions LP’s endorsement of some members of the Ampatuan clan running in the polls.
In a press forum Thursday, Drilon says there is no room in the Liberal Party for the Ampatuan clan in the 2013 elections.
Drilon says, “We should revoke whatever certificates of nomination and acceptance that may have been issued to them. I am not in favor.”
But Malacanang says Maguindanao Gov Esmael Mangudadatu explains that those with the Ampatuan surname do not necessarily “share the same brand of politics that the patriarch espoused,’ referring to Andal Ampatuan Sr.

Story 5: COMELEC REJECTS 236,489 ARMM ‘VOTERS’
Comelec rejects more than 200,000 applicants in the recently-concluded general voters registration in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
A Comelec supervisor in Maguindanao says most of the rejected applications are double registrants.
The applications for registration were subjected to a post-verification process.
The general registration in ARMM was meant to clean up the voters’ list.

Story 6: IT’S FINAL: COMELEC DISQUALIFIES BLACK AND WHITE
The Commission on Elections, in an en banc ruling, denies the party-list application of pro-Aquino group Black and White political party.
Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento says the poll body voted 5-2 against Black and White.
He explains the disqualification is because it has no track record of upholding interests of the marginalized.
Comelec chair Sixto Brillantes says the group’s disqualification should erase speculations that the poll body is pro-Aquino.

Story 7: PH TO HOST FOUR-WAY TALKS ON SOUTH CHINA SEA
Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario says the Philippines will hold four-way talks with Southeast Asian nations with rival claims to South China Sea territories.
The deputy foreign ministers of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam will meet in Manila on December 12.
The talks exclude China, which claims most of the sea and insists on bilateral talks to resolve the disputes.
Del Rosario says the four-way meeting was first proposed by the Philippines last year.

ALBERT DEL ROSARIO, FOREIGN AFFAIRS SECRETARY: We view the situation in the South China Sea as being threats to stability and security in the region…We need to pay attention to the fact that there are many claimants and it has to be settled in a multilateral basis.

Story 8: PH ASKS FBI FOR INFO ON ‘FOILED TERROR PLOT’
The Philippine embassy in the United States is coordinating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to get more information on a ‘foiled terror plot.’
A US permanent resident born in the Philippines and two others were arrested in California Sunday.
They were allegedly trying to leave the US for Afghanistan to join al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
In a statement, Ambassador Jose Cuisia Jr says the suspects are “allegedly plotting to mount terrorist attacks that included targets in the Philippines.”

Story 9: 12 ROCKETS HIT ISRAEL AFTER TRUCE
Twelve rockets fired from the Gaza Strip hit Israel Wednesday in the first hours after a ceasefire agreement took effect between Israel and Hamas militants.
The truce, announced in Cairo Wednesday, ends a week of attacks that killed more than 150 people.
It requires both sides to halt attacks and for Israel to open Gaza’s border crossings.
An Israeli spokesman says the rockets landed in open fields and caused no injuries or damage.

Story 10: ISRAEL ENVOY HOPES CEASEFIRE WILL LEAD TO PERMANENT CHANGE
Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Menashe Bar-On says he hopes the Gaza ceasefire will trigger change for good.
He confirms reports the Hamas Group are stopping foreigners from leaving Gaza and are using civilians as human shields.

MENASHE BAR-ON, ISRAEL AMBASSADOR TO THE PHILIPPINES: We know that the Hamas used civilians as human shields. We know that the casualties between the civilian Palestinians were because of this. They used them as human shields. We don’t know about foreigners.

Bar-On says he hopes other Palestinians in Gaza will rise to urge authorities to shift their efforts to progress, not destruction.

MENASHE BAR-ON, ISRAEL AMBASSADOR TO THE PHILIPPINES: The Palestinians can have their peace also, we left Gaza in 2005 to give the Palestinians the opportunity, the golden opportunity to rule themselves…But instead of investing money in progress, in education, they teach their children how to kill…We hope this ceasefire will give wisdom to the Palestinians. Give them the wisdom to ask those leading, controlling the nation to change their way.

Story 11: THE wRap: YOUR WORLD IN ONE READ
At number 4, The International Monetary Fund believes Myanmar can become Asia’s next economic engine if it carries out vast reforms.
It signals the country could receive a Fund monitoring program in 2013.
The IMF says the discussions point to the possibility of a staff-monitored program next year.

At number 6, The United Nations Environment Program says attempts of countries to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions have been slow.
A UN report claims that greenhouse gases are 14% above where they should be by 2010.
Experts warn governments must be more aggressive in reducing carbon emissions or face more disastrous consequences of climate change.
BBC says a UN Climate Change Conference will be held in Qatar next week aimed at coming up with a global deal by 2015.

At number 8, Web-surfing Russians find YouTube blocked Wednesday after the video-sharing website appeared on a list of banned addresses.  Officials later said it was a “technical mistake.”
The blacklisting was done by Russia’s consumer protection agency.
After a media outcry, the agency tells Russian news agencies the intention was to ban only 22 specific videos giving instructions on how to commit suicide.

And at number 10, The estate of author J.R.R. Tolkien files a lawsuit against Warner Bros, claiming the film giant is abusing its right to merchandising linked to “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit.”
Filed weeks before the release of the first “Hobbit” movie, the lawsuit seeks at least $80-M in damages from the studio.
Tolkien’s lawyers claim Warner breached the terms of an agreement which allowed it to make money from physical merchandising.

Story 12: #MOVECEBU: SOCIAL MEDIA ALLOWS YOUTH TO PROMOTE THEIR ADVOCACY
Rappler holds its latest MovePH chat at the University of San Jose-Recoletos.
Students realize social media is not just a tool for social interaction but a potent force for creating ripples of change.
Voltaire Tupaz reports.

Social networking sites are often banned on campus.
But this attitude is changing.
At the University of San Jose-Recoletos in Cebu City, students can freely check their Facebook timelines and tweet.
On Wednesday Rappler held its latest Move.ph chat series for over 600 students from the University of San Jose-Recoletos and other colleges in Cebu City to discuss the anti-cybercrime law and the use of the internet to promote social change.
It is a cause that the University supports.  

REV. FR. EMMANUEL A. BOLILIA, OAR, VP FOR ACADEMICS, UNIVERSITY OF SAN JOSE-RECOLETOS: Rappler and many other domains are using the internet to promote social change and we can only pursue change, especially you dear young people if we will always be responsible users of this platform.

Through social media, the youth are able to use their energy and idealism to advocate issues close to their heart.
There are 570,000 young Facebook users in Cebu City and they are potent change agents.
But social media users should know how to harness this energy responsibly in order to be effective.

CHAY HOFILENA, DIRECTOR FOR CITIZEN JOURNALISM – RAPPLER: A lot of us think that because hindi ka kilala, you’re anonymous. You can post anything. Pwede mong tirahin or you can criticize anybody. But remember, if you cannot say it face to face, don’t post it online.

The Move.ph chat series also hopes to inspire students to be citizen journalists and report stories that matter.
Rappler’s Ayee Macaraig talks about the challenges of being a multimedia reporter.

AYEE MACARAIG, RAPPLER MULTIMEDIA REPORTER: You’re the one person, superwoman news team, because, number one, you’re the reporter, you write and interview, everything you know a reporter does, but ikaw ang cameraman mo. Ikaw pa editor mo. Ikaw pa magpost, pati keywords, ikaw pa. So you do a whole lot more with a whole lot less.

Whether a reporter or a student, the internet is a powerful tool for social change.

MARIA RESSA, RAPPLER CEO AND EXECUTIVE EDITOR: What is your power? Where you’re getting it from and how can you use it? What we’re trying to do in Rappler is to actually use our Facebook, our Twitter…anything that we do on social media or the internet to actually help development.

And what about journalists? What is at stake for them?
Ressa says it doesn’t matter what journalists have done in the past, they must adapt to this new media or become obsolete.
Voltaire Tupaz, Rappler, Cebu.

Story 13: GOOD OR BAD? PH MOST EMOTIONAL COUNTRY IN THE WORLD
A Gallup survey says Filipinos are the most emotional people in the world.
The Philippines places first among 151 countries ranked for emotion with Singaporeans as the most unemotional country.
Singapore’s economy almost doubled in 10 years, making the country of 5.3 million people one of the world’s wealthiest, but apparently not able to enjoy life as much.
The article calls Singapore’s ranking an “emotion deficit.”
The survey asked questions that reveal emotions — anger, worry, enjoyment. Respondents were also asked to evaluate their lives on a scale of zero to 10 and say whether they feel life would be better or worse in 5 years.
Here are the comments on the Bloomberg Businessweek article.
Grego Abaya Raymundo III says “And now we know why the Philippines produce more ‘celebrities’ than scientists, philosophers, and academicians.”
Lyn Encarnacion says: Being the most emotional country means that the Philippines is very diverse when it comes to emotion. It also shows Filipinos value life, she wrote.

– Rappler.com

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