Rappler Newscast | October 12, 2012

Rappler.com

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Former president Arroyo is rushed to the intensive care unit because of a heart problem. | Singapore’s economy shrinks in the third quarter, but avoids a recession. | United States Vice President Biden clashes with Republican rival Ryan in the vice presidential debate.

Today on Rappler.

  • Former president Arroyo is rushed to the intensive care unit because of a heart problem.
  • Singapore’s economy shrinks in the third quarter, but avoids a recession.
  • United States Vice President Biden clashes with Republican rival Ryan in the vice presidential debate.

Story 1: ARROYO RUSHED TO ICU; ARRAIGNMENT UNSURE
Former President Gloria Arroyo is rushed to the intensive care unit of the Veterans Memorial Medical Center Friday.
VMMC doctors say Arroyo is suffering from ischemia, a heart problem.
This may prevent Arroyo from attending her arraignment at the Sandiganbayan on October 15, which she earlier requested to be deferred.
On October 4, the court issued an arrest warrant in connection with a plunder suit on the alleged misuse of charity funds.
Arroyo requests for hospital arrest while prosecutors want her moved to a regular detention center.
She has been confined at the VMMC since Thursday after complaining of dehydration and weakness.
Sandiganbayan orders VMMC Director Dr. Nona Legaspi to testify before the court next week on Arroyo’s medical condition.

Story 2: COMELEC ALLOWS 27 BETS TO RUN FOR SENATE
The Commission on Elections allows 27 out of 84 candidates to run for Senator in 2013.
Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr says the poll body will call 59 others for a hearing on October 18 and 19 to -quote- “justify the legitimacy of their candidacies.”
Comelec approves the candidacies of all senatorial bets of President Benigno Aquino’s rainbow coalition and Vice President Jejomar Binay’s United Nationalist Alliance.
The commission also allows the candidacies of Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn, former Philippine Constabulary Chief Retired General Ramon Montaño, and the three candidates of the Ang Kapatiran Party.

Story 3: NEGOTIATOR SHRUGS OFF MISUARI THREAT
Government peace panel member Senen Bacani downplays threats to the peace deal between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
Moro National Liberation Front leader Nur Misuari threatens to sue the government for the agreement that would replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao which he once led as governor.
In an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Misuari says he can file a case against President Benigno Aquino III before the International Court of Justice.
He adds, “Instead of solving, this will plunge Mindanao to another war that the Philippine government cannot afford to have at this time.”
Bacani says the government is involving the MNLF in the process of forming the Bangsamoro region.
But he says MILF breakaway group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement, which opposes the peace deal, will be excluded from the agreement.
The peace panels of the government and the MILF will be signing the peace accord on October 15.

Story 4: APL.DE.AP TO HELP BANGSAMORO CHILDREN
In the wake of optimism over a historic agreement with the MILF, Filipino-American singer Apl.de.ap wants to be more involved in the program.
The singer, whose real name is Allan Pineda, plans to include his own Apl Foundation to carry out feeding programs and book donations for children in Bangsamoro areas.
The singer was inducted a month ago by President Aquino as Ambassador for Peace.

Story 5: VITUG: BIG BROTHER GONE, FOR NOW
Rappler’s editor at large Marites Dañguilan Vitug talks about the Supreme Court’s temporary restraining order on the Cybercrime Prevention Act, which Vitug calls a “Big Brother law.”
Let’s watch her video blog.

The country can breathe easy, for now. The Supreme Court has stopped the Big Brother law or the cybercrime prevention act in its tracks, thanks to the multitude of protests, online and offline.
Faced with 15 petitions questioning the chilling libel and anti-privacy provisions of the law, the Supreme Court listened.
In their en banc meeting, the justices discussed whether the TRO would cover only specific provisions or the entire law. In a unanimous vote, they decided to issue a TRO on the whole law, which will last for 120 days.
Apparently, the Court is showing some deference to Congress, its co-equal body; it is giving it time to fix the law.
Now, what’s next?
The Court will hear the arguments of both sides in January next year.
Meantime, in the Senate, amendments to the law have been proposed.
Most of us were not watching when the law was discussed early this year. Our sights were elsewhere—on the historic impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona.
This time, it won’t happen.
The public will follow this in the Senate and the Supreme Court.
Which of the 2 will slay the Big Brother? It doesn’t really matter.
The important thing is: they do away with Big Brother, once and for all.

Story 6: SERENO STOPS AQUINO ALLY’S REMOVAL FROM MAYORAL POST
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno issues a temporary restraining order stopping the Commission on Elections from removing Imus Mayor Emmanuel Maliksi from his post.
Maliksi is an ally of President Aquino in the Liberal Party.
The order stops the enforcement of an August 15 Comelec decision declaring Maliksi’s rival, Homer Saquilayan, the winner of the 2010 polls.
This is the first time Sereno exercised this authority.
Aquino named Sereno chief justice last August 24.

Story 7: SC DISMISSED PETITIONS AGAINST CORONA’S IMPEACHMENT
The Supreme Court junks the petitions questioning the validity of the impeachment trial against dismissed Chief Justice Renato Corona.
In a 3-page resolution, the Court says Corona’s removal on May 29 and the appointment of his successor, Chief Justice Lourdes Sereno on August 24, has made the case moot.
The Senate convicted Corona for failing to disclose P180 million in peso and dollar bank deposits.
Voting 13-0, the Court also dismisses the petition filed by Corona himself, saying it has become moot and academic.

Story 8: PHILEX: PADCAL MINE LEAK AN ACCIDENT, NOT CAUSED BY NEGLIGENCE
Philex Mining is contesting a 1 billion peso fine for the tailings leak in its Padcal mine.
The company says the leak was an accident and the company has not been negligent.
Katherine Visconti has the details.

Executives from the country’s largest mining firm Philex are finally showing pictures of a tailings spill at their Benguet mine.
In early August, tailings waste from the Padcal mine began leaking into this creek, which flows into the larger Agno river.
A government engineer tells the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines this was once a clean class A river.
The river is the life blood of 42 households of indigenous people who mainly support themselves with fishing or mining.
Philex supplied these photos and has openly engaged with the media.
The spokesman for Philex says the spill was not the result of negligence but an unpredictably large rainfall.

MIKE TOLEDO, PHILEX SPOKESMAN: An accident happened. It had nothing to do with the integrity of the tailings pond, it had something to do with force majure too much rain. And it was not the pond that was breached, it was the penstock and now that’s being addressed.

This diagram shows the steps Philex took to stop the leak.
This long hollow tube is a penstock.
When water in the tailings pond overflows it drains into the penstock and out the drainage tunnel below.
Philex asserts that heavy rain increased pressure on the penstock causing a leak.
Within days, spill samples reveal the suspended solids in the two penstocks are almost a hundred to a thousand times the allowable level.
The company begins dropping large rocks into the tailings pond to plug the leak.
For nearly 40 days Philex tries this approach.
The leaks continue.
A source on Twitter  sends Rapler this video taken by someone at the site.
A government engineer says dropping these concrete boulders into the pond is a trial and error approach.
A Philex engineers says they wedged a thousand ton concrete sphere into the sink hole. It works.  

LIBBY RICAFORT, VP FOR OPERATIONS, PHILEX: From about 2 inches thick of flowing slurry, it immediately went down to less than an inch and the density from as high has 50 to 60% went down to 15.

They pour concrete over the plug to keep it in place and commission a new spillway to filter out some of the tailings from the penstock.
They spray the creek banks to flush out the tailings and manually bag sediment and carry it away.
Despite losing up to 40 million pesos a day Philex keeps the mine closed.

JESUS G. DUREZA, EX PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER FOR MINDANAO: It is a welcome that one big company that has taken bold steps, even gone to the extent of saying they are suspending operations. This is an example of what mining companies are and I think we owe it to the company to commend them publicly although we are still looking at the result of that.

Philex says they already paid about P800,000 to the neighboring community to cover damages, mostly to fishing traps and fishing boats and livestock.
The company says it will cover damages for the community but will contest a 1 billion peso fine the government wants to impose.  
The Mines and Geosciences Bureau chief says the bureau is ready to face the challenge in court
The question is: will Philex remain the Philippines’ poster firm for responsible mining after this.
Katherine Visconti, Rappler Manila.

Story 9: SINGAPORE ECONOMY SHRINKS BUT AVOIDS RECESSION
Government figures show Singapore’s economy shrinks by 1.5% in the third quarter but avoids a technical recession after growth in the previous three months was adjusted upwards.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry says the export-driven city-state is still on track to achieve annual growth of 1.5% to 2.5% in 2012.
It says, “Economic growth in the second quarter was better than expected, resulting in an upward revision of quarter-on-quarter annualized growth.”
The revision is largely due to new data showing stronger growth in both industrial and residential building.

Story 10: PASSIONATE BIDEN TARGETS EARNEST RYAN IN FIERY VP DEBATE
United States Vice President Joe Biden and Republican rival Paul Ryan clash on domestic and foreign policy in the vice presidential debate, weeks before America goes to the polls.
Biden tries to stem Democratic Party panic after Barack Obama’s poor performance in the presidential debate last week.
Ryan attacks Biden on the Obama administration’s handling of the crisis sparked by the killing of US ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens on September 11.

PAUL RYAN, REPUBLICAN VP CANDIDATE: It took the president two weeks to acknowledge that this was a terrorist attack. He went to the U.N., and in his speech at the U.N. he said six times — he talked about the YouTube video.
Look, if we are hit by terrorists, we’re going to call it for what it is, a terrorist attack…This Benghazi issue would be a tragedy in and of itself. But unfortunately it’s indicative of a broader problem, and that is what we are watching on our TV screens is the unraveling of the Obama foreign policy, which is making the world more — more chaotic and us less safe.

Biden attacks Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney over his remark to rich donors that 47 percent of Americans are “victims” reliant on government.
Obama did not bring up the controversial remark in last week’s debate.

JOE BIDEN, UNITED STATES VICE PRESIDENT: These people are my mom and dad, the people I grew up with, my neighbors. They pay more effective tax than Governor Romney pays in his federal income tax…He’s talking about the people that have built this country. All they’re looking for, Martha — all they’re looking for is an even shot. When they’ve been given the shot, they’ve done it.


Political analysts score the clash a draw, with Biden doing enough for the Democrats and Ryan avoiding serious errors for the Republican ticket.
Thursday’s clash serves as a warm-up act for the final two bouts between Obama and Romney on October 16 and 22.

Story 11: THE wRap: YOUR WORLD IN ONE READ
At number 2, Tensions between neighbors Syria and Turkey worsen as the Turkish government intercepts a Syrian passenger plane en route from Moscow.
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan claims the plane carried “equipment and ammunition shipped to the Syrian defense ministry” from a Russian military supplier.
Syria challenges Erdogan to show the alleged weapons, adding Turkey is lying to justify its “hostile attitude” toward the Damascus regime.

At number 5, the Philippine Coast Guard says at least 9 Filipino fishermen have been missing off Scarborough Shoal for 12 days.
Authorities are scouring the nearby towns of Candelaria, Palauig, Iba and Cabangan in Zambales for the missing crew of a boat that failed to return from the area disputed by the Philippines and China.

At number 6, Chinese author Mo Yan wins the Nobel Literature Prize for a body of work that mixes folk tales, history and contemporary genres.
China and its controlled media praises it, but its most prominent dissident questions it.
Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng criticizes the award saying the move was meant to appease Beijing.
Wei praises Mo Yan’s skill as a writer but questions his actions including copying by hand part of a speech by late leader Mao Zedong for a commemorative book.
He says the Chinese regime “tolerates” Mo Yan.
Yan, whose real name is Guan Moye, draws from his youthful experiences in the province of his birth in his novels, short stories and essays.

And at number 8, a former actress from the Philippines Dindi Gallardo sues “The Dark Knight” creator Frank Miller, his girlfriend Kimberly Cox, and his company.
In a complaint filed at the Manhattan Supreme Court, Gallardo accuses Cox of racial discrimination, inflicting emotional distress and creating a hostile work environment that was tolerated by Miller.
Gallardo is demanding unspecified punitive damages even if Cox had offered to settle.

Story 12: CRISIS-TORN EU WINS 2012 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
The European Union gets the Nobel Peace Prize for bringing more than half a century of peace to a continent ripped apart by World War II despite currently being under crisis.
The Nobel Committee president says the union has contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe.
The award comes as a surprise at a time when European solidarity faces its most daunting challenge in decades.

– Rappler.com

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