Rappler Newscast | August 18, 2014

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Today on Rappler.

• A Rappler exclusive: 53 face corruption charges for anomalous multi-million-peso irrigation projects.
• Retired Major General Palparan is moved to a jail in Bulacan.
• After more than 2 years, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will leave the Ecuadorean embassy.

CORRUPTION CASES FILED VS IRRIGATION OFFICIALS

A Rappler exclusive.

At least 53 people face corruption cases for anomalous multi-million-peso projects of the National Irrigation Administration or NIA.
Among those charged at the Ombudsman are:
former NIA Caraga regional managers Modesto Membreve…
Dexter Patrocinio…
current regional manager Encarnacion Soriano…
and construction supplier Gardinel Jimenez.
The case involves 3 NIA-funded projects in Caraga worth P53.6 million or around $1.2 million.
In 2012, bids for 7 projects were awarded to contractors during Membreve’s term.
5 were proven to be under the control of Jimenez, although on paper, these were awarded to 5 different contractors. Cases were filed on 3 of these projects.
Onsite inspection of the 5 projects in April showed “a gross discrepancy” between reported progress and the actual status.
The projects were supposed to build canals and irrigation works in the province of Agusan del Norte.
The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group says the projects should have been finished late 2012 or early 2013, but are not yet finished August 2014.
The delay affects more than 240,000 farmers in Caraga.

PALPARAN JAILED IN BULACAN

Retired Major General Jovito Palparan is now in a Bulacan jail.
A Bulacan court rejects Palparan’s plea to remain in the custody of the National Bureau of Investigation or NBI in Manila.
Judge Teodora Gonzales ordered Palparan’s immediate transfer.
He was brought to the Bulacan jail at around 11 am.
Activists and families of Palparan’s alleged victims scream and cry as police escort the former general.
Palparan, called the “butcher” by human rights groups, was arrested August 12 after nearly 3 years in hiding.
He faces charges of kidnapping and serious illegal detention for the 2006 disappearance of student activists Karen Empeno and Sheryl Cadapan.
Palparan’s counsel Eduardo Millares asked the court for leniency, saying his client “risked his life for this country.”
Between 2005 and 2006, Palparan was the commanding general of the military’s 7th infantry division based in central Luzon.
Activists say he ordered the kidnapping, torture and murder of leftist activists and militants.

ESTRADA: LET ME HEAR 12 PRIORITY BILLS WHILE IN DETENTION

Detained Senator Jinggoy Estrada wants to deliberate on 12 bills while in custody.
Estrada is the chairman of the Senate committee on labor, employment, and human resources development.
He made the request to the anti-graft court, Sandiganbayan.
He says this will expedite passage of “much-needed laws.”
Estrada’s request has a precedent — another court granted Senator Antonio Trillanes IV request to do his work while in detention for rebellion charges in 2007.
Estrada, along with Senators Bong Revilla and Juan Ponce Enrile,
is detained for plunder and graft charges for the illegal diversion of public funds to bogus organizations…
controlled by alleged mastermind Janet Napoles.

AQUINO HITS CHINA OVER 2 SHIPS IN RECTO BANK

President Benigno Aquino slams China after 2 Chinese ships were spotted in Reed Bank, also known as Recto Bank.
In a TV interview Sunday, Aquino says the Philippine military reported seeing the ships in disputed South China Sea.
Reed Bank is 80 nautical miles from Palawan inside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone or EEZ.
A 2013 report by the United States Energy Information Administration said…
Reed Bank could contain 5.4 billion barrels of oil and 55.1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Last July, the Philippines extended a British firm’s permit to drill oil in Reed Bank.
China denounced the move as “illegal and invalid”–
consistent with its claims to all of the South China Sea.
Filipino businessman Manny Pangilinan, who runs British firm Forum Energy, says he’s negotiating with the state-run China National Offshore Oil Corporation or CNOOC for the joint exploration of Reed Bank.
Pangilinan says his only condition was for CNOOC to respect the Philippines’ rights over Reed Bank.
Aquino said he is willing to jointly develop Recto Bank as long as the Philippine claim is respected.

DOE: NO PLANT SHUTDOWNS IN SUMMER 2015

The Energy Department or DOE says no power plants will be allowed to schedule their maintenance shutdown during the summer of 2015.
The DOE is formalizing an order to prevent shortage and power outages which could lead to a potential power crisis.
Based on projections, the Philippines will face an energy deficit of 200 megawatts in 2015.
The DOE adds an additional 400 to 500 megawatts will be needed in March to May 2015.
Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla says some power firms will likely ask to be excluded from the directive.
To augment Luzon’s power requirements, Petilla proposes contracting additional capacity from power generators.
He adds there will be no need to grant emergency powers to the President.

WIKILEAKS’ ASSANGE TO LEAVE EMBASSY IN LONDON ‘SOON’

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Monday says he will soon leave Ecuador’s embassy in London, where he’s had asylum for more than two years.
Assange denies his departure is due to reasons “reported by the Murdoch press.”
British media reported over the weekend Assange was suffering a life-threatening heart condition, a chronic lung complaint, and dangerously high blood pressure.
He says the Ecuadorean embassy will continue to offer Assange protection and help find a solution to a “serious breach of Julian Assange’s human rights.”
Wikileaks played down Assange’s comment, saying he would not depart until there was an agreement with Britain’s government.

EBOLA PATIENTS FLEE ATTACK ON LIBERIA ISOLATION CLINIC

In Liberia, 17 patients infected with Ebola fled after an armed raid on a quarantine center in Monrovia.
The raiders claim the epidemic is fiction.
The quarantine unit housed 29 patients who all tested positive for Ebola and were receiving preliminary treatment.
A health worker said 9 of the 29 died earlier.
3 others were taken by force by relatives before raid.
The attackers, mostly young men armed with clubs, shouted “there’s no Ebola.”
Aid workers’ earlier said denial and ignorance among poorly educated traditional communities help spread the virus.
About 1,500 police and soldiers have been deployed in the worst-hit areas of Sierra Leone to prevent raids.
The current Ebola outbreak is the worst since the virus first appeared in 1976.
It claimed more than 1000 lives in five months.

13 CHILDREN AMONG AFGHAN SIKHS FOUND IN UK SHIPPING CONTAINER

A shipping container at a British port was discovered Saturday carrying 34 undocumented immigrants and a dead man.
Port workers found the frail survivors after hearing banging and screaming from the container at Tilbury Docks, east of London.
The survivors were taken to nearby hospitals and were treated for hypothermia and dehydration.
Police on Sunday said the survivors are Sikhs from Afghanistan and include 13 children.
Four people are still in hospital.
The local Sikh community are helping the survivors.
Police want to interview the survivors to find out how they got to London.
Concerned groups say criminal gangs are behind the trafficking of people in Britain.

MISSOURI GOVERNOR DEPLOYS NATIONAL GUARD TO FERGUSON

Missouri governor Jay Nixon on Monday orders National Guard troops to help restore order in the town of Ferguson.
Nixon gave the order hours after police hurled tear gas to disperse violent protesters.
Ferguson endured days of violence after a white police officer shot black teen Michael Brown August 9 .
Police moved into Ferguson Sunday night with armored vehicles to disperse a mob hours before the midnight curfew.
The state highway patrol captain said police responded with tear gas after the mob threw Molotov cocktails …
calling it “disobedience, pre-planned aggression.”

THE wRap: YOUR WORLD IN ONE READ

THOUSANDS MOURN BRAZIL’S PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
More than 130,000 mourners attended the funeral of  Brazilian presidential candidate Eduardo Campos Sunday.
Campos died in a plane crash in August 13.
He was 49.
Campos was a popular governor of Pernambuco state…
and had been running third in opinion polls for the October election.

SCOTLAND’S SELFIE GENERATION AND THE BID FOR INDEPENDENCE
Young Scots aged 16 and 17 are getting the vote for the first time in Scotland’s independence referendum.
Both pro-independence and pro-union sides ran campaigns on social media to get as many young people involved as possible.
Opinion polls suggest the youth are not keen on Scotland’s independence from Britain.

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

DUBAI BARS WORLD’S MOST PIERCED MAN: REPORT

The world’s most pierced man is barred from Dubai.
A local newspaper on Sunday reported Rolf Buchholz was turned back at the airport on his way to a hotel.
Airport officials gave no reason for refusing Buchholz entry…
and put him on a flight to Istanbul.
Buchholz is recognized by the Guinness Book of Records in 2012 as the world’s most pierced man.
He has 453 piercings plus two horns on his forehead.
A spokesman for the hotel where Buchholz was scheduled to appear says its management failed to get permission for the 53 year-old German to enter the emirate.
Buchholz vows to never return to Dubai.
He posts on Twitter: “At the end I got an answer why I can’t enter Dubai. The immigration thought I am Black Magic.”

– 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