Rappler Newscast | January 2, 2014

Rappler.com

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The government speeds up the burial of 1,400 bodies. Meralco tells customers to disregard their December bills. New Year firecracker injuries reach 804.

Today on Rappler.

  • 1,400 bodies are still unburied almost 2 months after Typhoon Yolanda – the government says it’s speeding up the burial.
  • Meralco tells customers to disregard their December bills after the Supreme Court temporarily stopped its power rate hike.
  • Injuries from firecrackers during the new year celebrations rise to 804.

Story 1: PALACE: GOV’T AGENCIES WORKING ON BURIAL OF 1,400 CADAVERS
Nearly two months after Super Typhoon Haiyan – Yolanda in the Philippines – hit Central Visayas, the government says it is working to speed up the burial of 1,400 bodies still lying in the farming village of San Isidro in Tacloban City.
Communications Secretary Sonny Coloma says the National Bureau of Investigation, the health department, and the public works department are working with the Tacloban City government to organize the burial.
Coloma says identifying the bodies is causing the delay.
The super typhoon killed at least 6,155 people when it hit the Philippines on November 8.

Story 2: MERALCO TO CUSTOMERS: DISREGARD DEC BILLS
Power distributor Manila Electric Company or Meralco asks its customers to disregard their December 2013 bills after the Supreme Court temporarily stopped its power rate hike.
The Court stopped the planned P4.15 per kilowatt hour rate hike following charges of collusion among power plants that went on unscheduled outages.
The shutdowns forced Meralco to source power from plants that run on diesel, which is more expensive than natural gas.
For unpaid bills dated December 4 to 22, customers have two options: they can pay the amounts they were billed in November or they can pay their December bill if it is lower than the November amount.
Meralco says the rates in bills dated December 23 onwards already comply with the temporary restraining order.
The company says it will make adjustments for customers who already paid their December bills.
Meralco says 70% or about 3.5 million of its customers already got their December bills when the Supreme Court issued the TRO.
The price hike prompted lawmakers to call for a review of the energy industry.
The Department of Energy, Department of Justice, and Congress are investigating the power rate hike.

Story 3: FIREWORKS-RELATED INJURIES REACH 804
Fireworks-related injuries during the New Year celebrations reach 804 cases as of Thursday.
So far, the tally is about 10% lower than the 894 injuries recorded in the same period last year.
Assistant Health Secretary Eric Tayag says that of the cases, 306 cases were caused by the banned firecracker piccolo.
The Philippine National Police says at least 30 people are hit by stray bullets.
Among the victims of the New Year celebrations is a 16-year-old male bystander from Quezon City, who lost his left eye because of the firecracker kwitis.
Earlier, a 3-month old baby from Ilocos Sur was killed by stray bullets.
The health department is expected to provide the final tally of New Year injuries on January 5.
With the increasing number of cases, Malacanang backs the proposal of Health Secretary Enrique Ona to ban the individual use of firecrackers.
Communications Secretary Sonny Coloma says the Palace is exploring alternative solutions, like holding community fireworks displays and allowing only the production of safe firecrackers.

Story 4: AQUINO SIGNS P14.6-B SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET
President Benigno Aquino signs a P14.6-billion supplemental budget for disaster rehabilitation and reconstruction programs.
This is in addition to the calamity funds approved in the P2.265-trillion budget for 2014.
The amount will be used to rehabilitate areas affected by Typhoon Yolanda and previous disasters like the earthquake in Bohol and Cebu and the Zamboanga City siege.
Communications Secretary Sonny Coloma says the government continues to help areas hit by Yolanda through its recovery and rehabilitation plan.
The amount will come from lawmakers’ remaining pork barrel for 2013, which effectively turned into savings after the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional.

Story 5: MYANMAR PRESIDENT BACKS SUU KYI CHARTER CHANGE PUSH
Myanmar President Thein Sein supports moves to change the country’s constitution to allow opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to run for president.
On Thursday, he says debate about revising the charter shows increasing “political maturity.”
He adds, “I believe that a healthy constitution must be amended from time to time to address the national, economic, and social needs of our society.”
Thein Sein says he supports amending provisions which exclude anyone whose spouse or children are overseas citizens from becoming president – a clause widely believed to be targeted at Suu Kyi whose two sons are British.
Myanmar is preparing for the 2015 parliamentary elections, seen as a definitive test of whether the military is willing to loosen its grip on power.
The country’s president is selected by the legislature.
Suu Kyi spent 15 years in house arrest under military rule, before she was freed after elections in 2010.
A parliamentary panel is reviewing the constitution and is expected to report its recommendations at the end of January.

Story 6: SYRIAN GROUP HACKS SKYPE
The Syrian Electronic Army group hacks Skype’s social media accounts Wednesday to accuse Microsoft of spying on user data.
The group posts a message on the Twitter account of Microsoft-owned Skype, telling users not to use Microsoft email services like Hotmail and Outlook.
It adds, “They are monitoring your accounts and selling the data to the governments. More details soon.”
It was posted around 1030 GMT but removed less than two hours later.
Tech blogs also report the Skype blog had the headline: “Hacked by Syrian Electronic Army…Stop Spying!”
The Syrian Electronic Army previously hacked accounts of The New York Times, Agence France-Presse and other media organizations.
The group’s latest attack appears to be linked to the PRISM surveillance program of the US National Security Agency or NSA.
The program allegedly gave the NSA access to the world’s top internet companies, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Apple, Yahoo and Skype.

Story 7: THE wRap: YOUR WORLD IN ONE READ
At number 3, The Palestinian ambassador to the Czech Republic, Jamal al-Jamal, is killed by an explosion in his Prague residence.
The Palestinian foreign ministry says the blast happened Wednesday morning as Jamal opened a safe which was brought from the previous embassy building.

At number 8, Marijuana users celebrate Wednesday as Colorado becomes the first US state to allow retail cannabis sales.
Colorado issues 348 retail licenses, allowing shops to sell up to 28 grams of pot to people aged 21 or older.
Washington state on the Pacific Coast will follow Colorado several months from now, when it also allows stores to begin selling cannabis.
Colorado and Washington legalized recreational consumption of the drug in November 2012 referendums.

And at number 9, German racing legend Michael Schumacher is in “stable” condition Wednesday, but remains in an induced coma.
He spends a third night in a hospital after sustaining severe injuries when he fell and hit his head on a rock in a skiing accident in the French Alps on Sunday.
Doctors say he remains in intensive care but shows signs of improvement.

– Rappler.com

Newscast Production Staff

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER / WRITER Lilibeth Frondoso
DIRECTOR Rupert Ambil
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER / PUBLISHER Rodneil Quiteles
  Dindin Reyes
HEAD WRITER / PROMPTER Katerina Francisco
MASTER EDITOR / PLAYBACK Vicente Roxas
  Exxon Ruebe
  Jom Tolentino
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR / CAMERAMAN Charlie Salazar
  Adrian Portugal
  Francis Lopez
  Naoki Mengua
GRAPHICS Jessica Lazaro
  Matthew Hebrona
3D GRAPHICS Sten Bautista

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