Rappler Newscast | July 11, 2014

Rappler.com

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Cebu police arrest jihad evangelist Musa Cerantonio. President Aquino rejects Budget Secretary Abad’s resignation. Indonesia’s Jokowi plans to end fuel subsidies

Today on Rappler.

  • Police arrest jihad evangelist Musa Cerantonio in Cebu.
  • President Benigno Aquino rejects the resignation of Budget Secretary Butch Abad.
  • Indonesia’s Jokowi plans to end fuel subsidies in phases.

 

POLICE ARREST JIHAD EVANGELIST CERANTONIO

Cebu police arrest Australian jihad evangelist Musa Cerantonio Friday.
Cerantonio is named as one of the top two most influential jihadist “inspirations” for fighters in Syria and Iraq.
Police note Cerantonio as “a person of interest to the intel community.”
Police say Cerantonio did not resist arrest.
He reportedly lifted his hands in surrender, as SWAT team members broke one of the windows to his apartment.
However, Cerantonio refuses to speak to the police.
The 29-year-old Cerantonio is a Christian convert to Islam who uses social media effectively to encourage terrorism…
urging Muslims to join the jihad in Syria and Iraq.
Philippine and Australian sources earlier told Rappler that Cerantonio has been in the Philippines for nearly a year.
He earlier tweeted he would join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS, a terrorist group that traces its roots to al-Qaeda in Iraq.
In early June, ISIS militants began their march to capture Baghdad.
Police Senior Superintendent Conrad Capa says Cerantonio was served a warrant for deportation dated July 10.
Cerantonio transferred to Manila Friday.

JOKOWI TO ELIMINATE FUEL SUBSIDIES

How does candidate Joko Widodo or Jokowi plan to jumpstart the economy, as well as confront problems like traffic and fuel subsidies?
Maria Ressa tells us more in this video blog.

MARIA RESSA, REPORTING: Macet sekali – the traffic is bad.  
It’s a phrase you hear often in Jakarta.  
Just two days ago, we were stuck for more than 6 hours in start and stop traffic like the one you see behind me.
It’s something you think about that is personally inconvenient but the traffic has become so bad that it’s now an issue of national concern.
Part of the problem now is that traffic in Jakarta alone is estimated to cost 0.6% of Indonesia’s GDP.
One of the reason’s it’s so bad is not just because of the infrastructure, the state of its roads and highways, also because gas is so cheap!
A liter of fuel costs about P24, half what it costs in the Philippines or about 50 cents, far cheaper than what it is in the United States.
The Indonesian government subsidizes the fuel.
About 27% of the 2014 budget goes to  fuel subsidies – that is more than all of the its capital expenditure, including what it spends on infrastructure.
This is one of the biggest challenges for Indonesia’s next leader.

MARI PANGESTU, TOURISM MINISTER: “Transportation logistics are the big challenge of Indonesia.  All the studies show our lack of competitiveness is because of the infrastructure and the logistics.  Traffic, and just getting people, getting goods to move efficiently and effectively … and telecommunications even.  These are the big challenges for the incoming government.”

The man  leading in the presidential quick count, Joko Widodo, says he plans to cut subsidies, but there are political costs so he plans to stop the subsidies in phases.

ANIES BASWEDAN, JOKOWI SPOKESMAN: Part of the large portions of the subsidy goes to electric generating activities.  So Indonesian power plants are also using subsidized fuel.  And that is an issue. And the idea is to convert that into coal base.  Or natural gas base.  Instead of using fuel. And stop the subsidy.  We still need to retain subsidy to the low income families.”

Indonesia’s 250 million people, the world’s largest Muslim population, is an economic lynchpin for Southeast Asia.
It’s important that the next leader gets its policies right. That leader will be announced officially announced on July 22.
Meanwhile, don’t expect the traffic in Jakarta to get better any time soon.
Maria Ressa, Rappler, Jakarta.


JAKARTA VENDORS TO NEXT PRESIDENT: LOWER PRICES, PROTECT US

The next president of Indonesia will face a host of challenges — both in the international arena and at home.
Many Indonesians have a simple wish: for their next leader not to forget the masses who voted him.
Ayee Macaraig files this video blog.

These are the street vendors of Jakarta.
Some of them voted for Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo…
while others went for former general Prabowo Subianto.
Others did not vote.
Despite the uncertainty on the election winner…
these are simple people living simple lives.
They say they only have simple hopes for the next president.

KASIYEM, STREET VENDOR: Pak Jokowi, we hope he can lead the ordinary people to prosperity, a safe and peaceful society for all, that he can lead the ordinary people to a happy and noble life.

JONI, STREET VENDOR: For small people like us, we hope that prices of food won’t shoot up. We hope it would remain affordable, and we hope we can still send our children to school, that tuition fee will not go up as well, that it will remain affordable for people like us.

These are the drivers of Jakarta’s ubiquitous ojek or motorcycle.
They say whoever wins, things will remain the same and they will still be ojek drivers.
Despite the many challenges the next president faces in the economic, domestic and international fronts…
the people here hope their leader will not forget them…
especially for a man who might sit on the Palace on a promise to represent the masses.
Ayee Macaraig, Rappler, Jakarta.


PRABOWO’S COALITION MOVES TO CONTROL LEGISLATURE
As Indonesia waits to see whether Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo or Jokowi will be declared Indonesia’s new president later this month, allies of his rival Prabowo Subianto are poised to take control of the legislature.
The 6 political parties supporting Prabowo created a so-called permanent coalition in the House of Representatives or DPR Tuesday and passed amendments to the 2009 law on legislatures.
Prior to the amendments in choosing the DPR’s leadership, the position was automatically given to the party with the most number of seats.
It will now be an elected post.
Jokowi’s Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle coalition is the minority in the new DPR with only 4 parties.
Prabowo’s party Gerindra leads a faction of 6 parties, dominating 353 of the 560 seats in the legislature.
Holding the majority, Gerindra has the numbers needed to choose the House leadership
and possibly derail Jokowi’s programs in case he is declared president.


AQUINO REJECTS ABAD’S RESIGNATION

President Benigno Aquino rejects the resignation of Budget Secretary Butch Abad over the government’s controversial spending program.
There has been a clamor for Abad to resign over the Disbursement Acceleration Program or DAP, after the Supreme Court declared parts of the program unconstitutional.
While the President is empowered to use the savings of any executive agency to fund other projects within that same agency,
the DAP moved funds from one agency to another even before fiscal years were over – pulling out allocation from supposedly slow-moving funds.
A senior Supreme Court justice pointed out, the budget chief did this without the President’s written approval.
The government defends the DAP, saying it benefited Filipinos and helped boost the country’s economy.

COURT ENTERS ‘NOT GUILTY’ PLEA FOR ENRILE

Senator Juan Ponce Enrile refuses to enter a plea with the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan in relation to the plunder case against him.
He is the third senator to do so in the biggest corruption case in the country’s recent history.
The Sandiganbayan entered a not guilty plea for him.
Enrile is accused of pocketing public money intended for development projects.
Enrile’s lawyers say the court has not acquired jurisdiction over the accused and his cases.
The Enrile camp is challenging the sufficiency and validity of the charge sheets against him in the first place.
Enrile’s co-accused and former chief of staff Gigi Reyes skips her scheduled arraignment upon the doctors’ advice.
On Friday, her lawyer signs an urgent motion seeking Reyes’ transfer to either the Philippine Heart Center or the Sta Ana Hospital.
Her attending doctor at the Taguig-Pateros District Hospital, where she is currently confined, says Reyes suffers from hypertensive urgency and neurocirculatory asthenia.

PHIVOLCS, RAPPLER PARTNER FOR INCREASED DISASTER AWARENESS

Located along the Pacific Ocean’s “Ring of Fire,” the Philippines is vulnerable to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other geohazards as much as typhoons and floods.
To improve the way critical information is communicated to the general public, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology or PHIVOLCS and Rappler agreed to combine efforts via Project Agos.
Project Agos is a platform that combines top-down government action and bottom-up civic engagement to help communities deal with climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction.
It harnesses technology to maximize the flow of critical data before, during, and after a disaster.
Phivolcs agreed to share data on geohazards with Rappler for dissemination to the public via Project Agos.
Project Agos is operated by MovePH, Rappler’s civic engagement arm.

MYANMAR JAILS REPORTERS FOR 10 YEARS

A Myanmar court sentences 4 reporters and the chief executive of the Unity Weekly News to 10 years in prison with hard labor.
The journalists are imprisoned after they reported the military is operating a chemical weapons factory…
under the instructions of former strongman junta chief Than Shwe.
The journalists were arrested in February, days after the article was published.
Myanmar’s military ruled the country with an iron fist for nearly 5 decades, imprisoning critics and journalists.
A new quasi-civilian regime came to power in 2011 and instituted reforms that included freeing political prisoners and lifting censorship.
But rights groups are concerned about press freedom, after several cases of criminal

US, CHINA FAIL TO RESOLVED ISSUES

The United States and China fail to resolve issues on cyber-spying and maritime disputes after two days of high-stakes talks.
The two countries met for the sixth annual Strategic and Economic Dialogue.
US Secretary of State John Kerry hits China with what he describes as the “chilling effect” of Internet hacking on US businesses.
Washington earlier indicted five Chinese military officers for hacking into US companies.
Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi says cybersecurity is a “common threat and challenge facing all countries.”
Beijing also insists it is a victim of hacking, and accuses Washington of hypocrisy since it conducts sweeping surveillance around the world.
The two sides also disagree on how to resolve tensions in the South and East China Seas despite Washington’s warnings that Beijing risks triggering conflict.
Yang insists: “China is committed to upholding its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights.”
Despite differences in opinion, Kerry says the two sides agreed on achieving a “denuclearized, stable and prosperous Korean peninsula” and fighting climate change.


VATICAN SAYS NO ‘TWO POPES FINAL’ FOR WORLD CUP

Football-fan Pope Francis might watch the World Cup final between his native Argentina and Germany on Sunday, Monday morning in Manila.
But the Vatican says it’s unlikely he’ll watch the game beside his German predecessor Benedict XVI.
Pope Francis is said to be a fan and card-carrying member of the San Lorenzo de Almagro football club since childhood.
Benedict XVI, whose interest lies in classical piano, is not a football fan.
Vatican officials say he has never sat through a football game in his life.
But this hasn’t stopped a few jokes from doing the rounds ahead of the big game in Brazil.
Italy’s RaiNews made a photomontage with an image of the two popes kneeling side by side – except that each is depicted praying for his team.
Conscious of his role as head of the Catholic Church, Francis has been careful not to make any predictions about the World Cup but according to one news agency, Francis reportedly declined an offer from the Swiss guards to watch the Argentina-Switzerland game, saying: “There would be a war!”

 

THE wRap: YOUR WORLD IN ONE READ

wRap #6: US INTELLIGENCE CHIEF EXPELLED FROM GERMANY

Germany expels the chief of the United States secret services station in Berlin after uncovering two cases of spying by the Americans.
The discovery happened as public anger simmered following the allegations by fugitive Edward Snowden that the US National Security Agency wiretapped the phone calls of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

wRap #9: NOMINEES FOR 2014 EMMYS ANNOUNCED

The 2014 Emmy Awards nominees are announced, delighting TV fans and disappointing some.
Popular series like Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, and House of Cards are nominated for Outstanding Drama Series while The Good Wife was left out.

For the full top 10 visit Rappler.com’s ‘the wRap.’

DANI GIRL: A MUSICAL FOR THE SOUL

The newest performing arts collective in Manila, The Sandbox Collective, presents Dani Girl – a musical about the battle against cancer. Through the eyes of child, the musical asks important questions about God, family and the brutalities of disease.
G Töngi reports.

There’s a new musical in town, one that’s told from a young girl’s perspective that questions, why cancer?
Nine-year old, Dani Girl is battling leukemia. But instead of giving up, she goes on a fantastical journey to find her hair!
Dani Girl is an off Broadway musical with book and lyrics by Christopher Dimond and music by Michael Kooman.
Director Toff De Venecia tells us about the The Sandbox collective, the newest theater company in town and why it’s doing Dani Girl.

TOFF DE VENECIA, DIRECTOR: Well the thrust of the sandbox collective is to procure and develop new groundbreaking and cutting edge theatrical work. What does that mean? It’s doing materials that producers would be afraid of, or reimagining existing material and using different modes of production to just give the audiences a new kind of theatrical experience. So that’s the sandbox collective.
I notice now that there’s a lot of catering to  audiences that’s been going on, and if you cater or spoon-feed, then what exactly are you adding to the conversation? If you replicate then how are you progressing not just as a community but also as a nation. So it’s these things we took into consideration. And the music’s beautiful.

Theater Actor Reb Atadero who plays fourteen characters in the musical says the story strikes a chord in modern society. To him, Dani Girl is very personal.

REB ATADERO, THEATER ACTOR: You know this hits very close to home because I lost my grandmother to cancer, that was 13 years ago.
That Dani being naive is actually what drives it, even, you know, further home. You know that when a child is experiencing this, how does she deal with it? You know instead of thinking, “Oh my God I’m gonna die. Oh my God.” No. She’s looking for her hair. Because to a child, the first impulse is always, “Oh no I’m not gonna get to play anymore”, instead of you know, to an adult it’s “Oh I’m gonna die.” it’s very very different.

The musical explores universally salient themes such as life in the face of death and the power of a child’s imagination.
It’s Dani Girl’s positive perspective that will leave audiences with an uplifting experience at the theater.
Dani Girl- A musical good for the soul!
G Töngi, Rappler Manila.

– 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
  Marga Deona
MASTER EDITOR / PLAYBACK Exxon Ruebe
  Emerald Hidalgo
  Jaene Zaplan
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR / CAMERAMAN Charlie Salazar
  Adrian Portugal
  Francis Lopez
  Naoki Mengua
GRAPHICS Jessica Lazaro
  Raffy de Guzman

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