Rappler Newscast | November 28, 2013

Story 1: PH GROWTH SLOWS TO 7% IN Q3
The country’s growth slows down in the 3rd quarter in the aftermath of 10 storms, not including Yolanda, international name Haiyan.
The National Statistics Coordination Board or NSCB announces the country’s gross domestic product grew 7% in the third quarter.
The third-quarter figure was slower than the 7.6% growth in the 2nd quarter and the 7.7% growth in the first quarter.
The 3rd quarter does not include November, the month when Yolanda struck.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan says Haiyan’s impact on the GDP will be “quite significant.”
But he says, “we still expect for full year GDP to come close to 7%.”
The services sector remains the main driver of growth, expanding 7.5%, on the back of strong real estate and renting activities.
The industry sector grew 8.2%, thanks to increased manufacturing while the agriculture sector posted a 0.3% growth due to damage wrought by 10 tropical storms.
Other factors that spur growth on the demand side: higher investments and fixed capital and robust consumer and government spending.
Officials claim it will still be one of the fastest growing economies in the region, next only to China.  
China’s economy expanded 7.8% in the September quarter.

Story 2: CA FREEZES ASSETS OF EX-LAWMAKERS, STAFF
The Court of Appeals issues a freeze order on the assets of 4 former congressmen and 6 staff members of lawmakers who are facing charges for their alleged participation in the multi-billion-peso pork barrel scam.
The 10 are among the 38 people charged with plunder, malversation of funds, bribery, and graft and corruption.
In August, the same month the case was filed with the Office of the Ombudsman the CA ordered frozen some 400 bank accounts of Napoles, her relatives, and dummies.
Curiously, of the top 5 lawmakers accused of plunder and of amassing the most amount of money only Rep. Edgar Valdez was issued a freeze order.
The other 4 – Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Juan Ponce Enrile, and Bong Revilla Jr, and former Congresswoman Rizalina Seachon-Lanete who is now governor of Masbate – were spared.
The staff of the 4 were included in the freeze order.
The CA served the freeze order to banks on Wednesday.
The Justice department says it wants the freeze order to include all 38 and not just 10.
Justice secretary Leila De Lima says the decision not to include the 3 senators in the freeze order was made by the Anti-Money Laundering Council
The second batch of cases related to the pork barrel scam will be filed by the DOJ on Friday.

Story 3: AQUINO: BRIGHT CHRISTMAS FOR EARTHQUAKE-HIT BOHOL
President Benigno Aquino promises Boholanons recovering from a magnitude 7.2 earthquake a bright Christmas without brownouts.
During the inauguration of Abatan Bridge in Maribojoc, Bohol, Aquino says in Filipino, “By December, we expect the brownouts to end. This is probably Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla’s early Christmas gift.”
Bridges and power lines were damaged during the strong quake, affecting communication and transportation in the province.
Power lines in Bohol were already being repaired when Typhoon Haiyan ripped through the Visayas.
Since then, Bohol has been experiencing rotating brownouts.
Haiyan also damaged a Leyte geothermal plant and over 200 transmission towers of the Visayas grid.
Lines connecting the Luzon and Visayas grid were also damaged.
Petilla has appeals to Luzon power consumers to cut down on their consumption to help power the Visayas in December.
The energy secretary earlier said he would resign if Yolanda-ravaged areas remained power-less by December.

Story 4: P38.8B: GOVT’S 5 IMMEDIATE PRIORITIES POST-YOLANDA
The Aquino Cabinet identifies 5 immediate priorities in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Haiyan costing the government P38.8 billion.
Abad tells the Senate finance committee in a hearing on Thursday the P38.8 billion will be needed for continuing relief, provision of shelter assistance, restoration of livelihood, restoration of water and electricity services and, rehabilitation of critical infrastructure.
The Senate finance committee approves the P14.6 billion supplemental budget for 2013 — one of the sources of the needed P38.8 billion.
The chamber also passes the joint resolution extending the validity of funds in the 2013 budget for use in calamity-related purposed until Dec 31, 2014.
Abad says the balance of the P38.8 billion will be sourced from the calamity fund, quick response funds, and unreleased appropriations for 2013.
Other funds needed for reconstruction will come from the 2014 budget.
The budget secretary says the team headed by the National Economic and Development Authority will finalize the plan Thursday and present again to the President on Friday.

Story 5: NEW HOSPITALS TO RISE IN BOHOL AFTER QUAKE
Health Secretary Enrique Ona’s new hospital will soon rise in Bohol’s capital Tagbilaran City, while existing hospitals in the province will be modernized.
In October, 14 hospitals in the province were damaged when the magnitude 7.2  quake hit Central Visayas.
In Loon, one hospital was completely wrecked.
Loon registered one of the highest death tolls from the quake.
Ona says the proposed new hospital in Tagbilaran is why money will not be poured into modernizing the Celestino Gallares Memorial Medical Center.
He says, “We are going to use that money for a brand new hospital and this is going to be an almost 500-bed hospital.”
Around P289 million will be needed to repair damaged
The amount includes P163 M for hospitals, P80 M for rural health units and P45.3 M for barangay health centers.
A total of 169 health facilities were partially damaged after the quake, while 21 were completely damaged.

Story 6: ‘CHINA THREATENING STATUS QUO’ – DFA
The Department of Foreign Affairs slams China’s move to send it’s sole aircraft carrier to the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea.
Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez says the move raises tension and violates the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea.
Hernandez says “Its deployment does not contribute to regional stability.”
He says “Instead it serves to threaten the status quo.”
Beijing’s newly commissioned aircraft carrier Liaoning was accompanied by two destroyers and two missile cruisers.
The deployment follows China’s recent establishment of an Air Defense Identification Zone or ADIZ over the East China Sea, an area that contains disputed islands Diaoyu to the Chinese and Senkaku to the Japanese.
In an interview on ANC, Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario says the ADIZ poses a threat to the Philippines.
Del Rosario says he fears China “will control the air space” in the disputed South China Sea.
Beijing is requiring all international aircraft passing through the ADIZ to issue a flight plan with the Chinese government – an order that Japan and the US reject.
But President Aquino contradicts the Foreign Affairs spokesman and secretary saying “Why should anybody consider it a threat?”
Downplaying the deployment, the President tells reporters “Let’s not play it up.”
He says it will take up to 3 years for the carrier to run full steam, adding the Chinese are learning carrier operations.
The comments follow a shift in the President’s stance from last year’s hard hitting stance that culminated in filing of a case with an International Tribunal.

Story 7: UN WOMEN’S RIGHTS RESOLUTION PASSED DESPITE BACKLASH
A UN General Assembly committee agrees on a landmark first resolution on women’s rights defenders like Malala Yousafzai.
The resolution calls on all states to publicly condemn violence against women human rights defenders, amend legislation that hinders them and give activists free access to UN bodies.
The victory was hard fought in the face of efforts to weaken the measure.
A Norwegian-led coalition had to delete language that condemns “all forms of violence against women” to get the text passed by consensus late Wednesday.
Diplomats and activists say African nations, the Vatican, Iran, Russia, China and conservative Muslim states sought to dilute the resolution.
The campaign for women’s rights defenders has been given a boost in recent months by the likes of Malala, the Pakistani teenager shot in the head by the Taliban…
and Denis Mukwege, the Democratic Republic of Congo doctor briefly forced into exile for his work helping rape victims.
Both were named as Nobel Peace Prize candidates this year.

Story 8: THE wRap

At number 3, The Italian Senate expels former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi Wednesday over his tax fraud conviction in October 2012.
The tax fraud was committed in connection with the purchase by his company Mediaset of TV rights to American films.
Berlusconi’s expulsion means he has lost immunity from prosecution and may face possible arrest over other criminal cases.

At number 5, A crane collapses at the Arena Corinthians stadium which is set to host the 2013 World Cup in Brazil.
The accident kills two workers aged 44 and 42.
Brazils’ civil defense coordinator says, The accident might have been caused by “an error in the operation of the crane or by the weight of the structure which was being lifted.”
Football’s governing body FIFA has given Brazil a December 31 deadline to complete work at the stadium.

And at number 7, Belgium, one of only a few countries to allow euthanasia, moves a step closer to extending mercy-killing to terminally-ill children.
Some experts say the practice already takes place outside the law.
The Senate’s justice and social affairs committee approves a proposed draft bill November 27 after months of discussion held alongside a heated public debate.
A recent poll shows three quarters of Belgians approve the move.

Story 9: PACQUIAO TO VISIT SAMAR TOWNS, TACLOBAN SATURDAY
Fresh from his WBO International Welterweight victory – and currently facing a tax evasion case that froze his accounts – Sarangani Representative Manny Pacquaio will visit survivors of Typhoon Haiyan Saturday.
Pacquiao will be distributing relief goods in Eastern Samar, Samar and Leyte.
Eastern Samar Representative Ben Evardone says, “Pacquiao’s visit will definitely lift the morale of typhoon victims who are struggling to bounce back. Manny symbolizes hope to our people.”
Before his November 24 match with American boxer Brandon Rios Pacquiao promised to visit the typhoon victims, to whom he dedicated his fight.
The bout was shown live in evacuation centers.

Story 100: THE DO MORE AWARDS
The 8 winners of the The Do More Awards is unveiled Thursday at the Rizal Ballroom of Shangri-La Makati.
The Do More Awards is Rappler and Rexona’s first-ever search for “Ultimate Doers.”
More than seeking achievers or innovators, it’s about honoring individuals who strive to change society for the better.