Rappler Newscast | January 23, 2014

Story 1: DFA TO PINOYS IN THAILAND: PREPARE FOR EVACUATION
Prepare for possible evacuation, says the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs or DFA to Filipinos in Bangkok.
It raised crisis alert level 2 in Thailand’s capital and surrounding areas.
In a statement Thursday, the DFA says, “While there has been an effort to maintain a state of normalcy in the Thai capital, the situation remains fluid and volatile particularly in anti-government protest areas.”
On January 14, the DFA raised alert level 1 over Bangkok.
The DFA says –quote– “exercise vigilance and take necessary precautions.”
Thailand declared a 60-day state of emergency in Bangkok, following street protests against Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
But protesters promise to keep fighting.

Story 2: LACSON STRUGGLES WITH REHAB EFFORTS
Ping Lacson says he doesn’t have enough powers as Rehabilitation Secretary.
President Benigno Aquino appointed Lacson to lead rehabilitation efforts after the devastation left by Typhoon Yolanda or Haiyan.
But Lacson says his appointment through a memorandum order instead of an executive order means his position has no legal weight.
He has no say over the budget.
His role is limited to an overall manager or coordinator.
He says he could do more if he had more powers.
On New Year’s Day, more than a month after the typhoon, at least 1,000 corpses remained unburied in Tacloban City, prompting Lacson to order a mass burial.
Lacson says he considers this his “first test in facilitating and coordinating.”
The rehabilitation czar says coordination is his greatest challenge, comparing the rebuilding task with Indonesia’s efforts after the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004.
Lacson says Indonesian senior minister Kuntoro Mangkusubroto had –quote– “near absolute authority.”
He adds he could have gone beyond coordination if he had the kind of authority Kuntoro had.

PING LACSON, REHABILITATION SECRETARY: If I was given that kind of a power, baka ngayon marami nang nakatayong mga bahay at eskwela doon. Baka ngayon marami nang nakatayong munisipyo roon. (If I was given that kind of a power, perhaps we would see more houses and schools rising. We would see more municipal halls.) Because if you’re given enough authority, as long as you’re well intentioned and you will not abuse the authority given to you, you can accomplish more.

Story 3: YOLANDA VICTIMS GIVE PNOY ‘VERY GOOD’ GRADE
Victims of Typhoon Yolanda give President Aquino a high satisfaction rating in the newly-released breakdown of a Social Weather Stations survey.
Among the typhoon survivors polled in December 2013, 73% say they were satisfied with the President and 19% said they were dissatisfied.
It’s a net satisfaction rating equivalent to “very good.”
Outside the Yolanda-devastated areas, 69% say they were satisfied with Aquino, while 21% say they were not.
An earlier SWS survey shows the President’s satisfaction rating was unaffected by Yolanda, despite widespread criticism of the government’s response to the typhoon that killed at least 6,000 people.
Yolanda wreaked havoc in the Visayas, where Filipinos are historically kinder to government officials according to surveys.
The Yolanda victims give Aquino a “very good” grade even though they consider themselves poorer than the rest of the country.
In December 2013, 72% of Yolanda victims consider themselves poor, compared to 52% among non-victims.

Story 4: ROXAS, ROMUALDEZ MEET AT DISASTER RESPONSE HEARING
Interior Secretary Mar Roxas and Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez meet Thursday at a Senate hearing on the government’s disaster response for Yolanda.
The two shake hands before the hearing began.
Roxas and Romualdez earlier clashed over the government’s relief efforts.
Romualdez accused Roxas and President Aquino of refusing to take over rescue efforts in Tacloban unless local government signed over control.
Roxas said he only wanted to clarify the division of work between the national government and local officials to avoid finger-pointing.
On Thursday, Roxas also defends his remark referring to the political families of the President and Romualdez, saying he is aware that this may come into play and cause problems.
Romualdez is a relative of former First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos, whose husband jailed the father of President Aquino.
More than two months after the typhoon, Romualdez says his city still needs stable power.

ALFRED ROMUALDEZ, TACLOBAN CITY MAYOR: Kuryente. Kailangan i-fast track talaga, para magkaroon na ng kuryente, the schools, magkaroon na ng kuryente even the airport. Lahat generator pa eh. So kailangan tulungan… Five percent pa lang ang kuryente namin eh, kaya malaki pa ang aayusin. (Electricity. We need to fast-track delivering energy so that the people, the schools will have electricity, even the airport. They’re all running on generators now so we need to help them…Only 5% of our power is restored, more needs to be done.)

Story 5: ‘BURN MALAYA PLANT IF NOT HELPING CONSUMERS’
Senators criticize energy officials for failing to use the state-owned Malaya power plant to bring down the price of electricity and help consumers.
During the hearing into the power rate hike of Manila Electric Company or Meralco, Committee chair Senator Serge Osmena asks the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation or PSALM to explain why it did not run the National Power Corporation’s Malaya plant, which could have lowered prices in the spot market.
Meralco earlier attributed its rate hike to the more expensive power it had to buy in the spot market.
This was caused by the maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya plant.
PSALM says it did not use the Malaya plant to avoid incurring losses.
But Sen Chiz Escudero hits PSALM officials for keeping the reserve Malaya plant offline just to cut its losses.
Osmena also says the decision to keep the old plant without using it during times of emergency was a “conflict of policy.”
He tells PSALM officials, “Why don’t you burn or dynamite the plant and sell it for scrap? You’re fooling a lot of people.”

Story 6: AT LEAST 5 DEAD, 4 INJURED IN KIEV PROTESTS
It’s a bloody week in Kiev as protesters and police clash over controversial new laws restricting the right to protest in Ukraine.
At least 5 protesters are killed and 4 injured from the escalating unrest.
The clashes turn more and more violent, with protesters throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at police and the security forces responding with tear gas and rubber bullets.
These come after two months of protests over the government’s failure to close a trade deal with the European Union because of Russian pressure.

Story 7: THE wRap: YOUR WORLD IN ONE READ
At number 5, The International Olympic Committee or IOC dismisses the latest terror scare to the Sochi Winter Games after several Olympic Associations said they received a suspicious e-mail.
Federations from the United States, Britain, Italy, Germany, Hungary and Slovenia said they received emails or letters with similar content.
In its reply, the IOC says the email –quote– “contains no threat and appears to be a random message from a member of the public.”

At number 6, a young Indonesian maid is the latest symbol of the sad plight of migrant workers all over the world.
Pictures showing the maid’s badly disfigured face and bruised body sparks a collective outpouring of shock and anger that spread beyond Hong Kong, where Erwiana Sulistyaningsih was reportedly abused by her employer for more than 8 months.
Her supporters say Hong Kong authorities should treat her case as an offshoot of policies that have increasingly turned against migrants over the years.

And at number 7, American scientists at Virginia Tech University are developing a sugar-powered “biobattery” that can store 10 times more energy than lithium-ion batteries in smartphones.
The biobattery could take the place of disposable or rechargeable batteries and is expected to be cheaper and environmentally friendly.
It can be recharged by simply adding sugar.
The new biobattery could be available in 3 years.