Rappler Newscast | August 21, 2014

Today on Rappler.

• Edgar Erice says President Aquino is the best argument for term extensions
• Sherwin Gatchalian says the constitution prevents a president from perpetuating himself in power
• An American doctor given an experimental drug is now Ebola-free

THE PROS AND CONS OF CHARTER CHANGE
Two lawmakers clash on President Aquino’s shift on Charter change– one argues for continuity; the other says perpetuating himself in office is abuse of power.
Valenzuela representative Sherwin Gatchalian defends the single six-year term for presidents enshrined in the charter, saying it prevents an incumbent from abusing power and perpetuating himself in office.

SHERWIN GATCHALIAN, VALENZUELA REPRESENTATIVE: But I think the framers also took note of the institutional imbalances and integrity of our country, that’s why they limited it to 6 years. In the US, they allowed to have 4 years and election again after 4 years because the institutions there are very strong. The president cannot abuse his power to perpetuate again, and use the funds of the government to campaign. Well here in our country, sad to say, and this is a reality, the institutions here are very weak. And it’s prone to politics.

Gatchalian also slams President Aquino’s reason for wanting Charter change — to curb the Supreme Court’s alleged “judicial overreach.”
He says tinkering with the checks and balances of political power is dangerous, with re-election a potential cause for power abuse.

SHERWIN GATCHALIAN, VALENZUELA REPRESENTATIVE: One is the balance of power. And this reason came about after the ruling of the Supreme Court on the DAP, which I think is really a very – a knee-jerk reaction to what the Supreme Court ruled. And for me, if this will be a reason, it’s a very scary reason. because you’re now tinkering with the checks and balances of the constitution.

In contrast, Caloocan Representative Edgar Erice urges Charter change, saying reelection will continue Aquino’s brand of leadership – selfless and dedicated to reforms.

EDGAR ERICE, CALOOCAN REPRESENTATIVE: The president is only 4 years in office. Pero ang binabaligtad nya, what he’s reversing is 21 years of corruption of Marcos, 10 years of Gloria, and 2 years of Erap.
I think President Aquino is the best president that we ever had. And he’s too young to retire, he’s only 54 years old.

The opposition’s presidential aspirant, Vice President Jejomar Binay leads surveys, with the ruling Liberal Party’s main bet Interior Secretary Mar Roxas trailing far behind.
Erice says if the people reject charter change, the President’s party will still prevail in 2016.

EDGAR ERICE, CALOOCAN REPRESENTATIVE: So palagay ko pwede pa siya. Kung talagang ayaw ng mga boss, ayaw ng mga mamamayan na Pilipino, we still have the second best – secretary Mar Roxas. Palagay ko naman, hindi mananalo ang UNA sa Liberal Party sa next 2016 elections.

(So I think he can still get things done. If the bosses don’t want him anymore, we still have the second best – secretary Mar Roxas. I think UNA will not win against the Liberal Party in the 2016 elections)

There’s only one argument for another term. And that is the integrity, selflessness, and dedication of President Aquino.

Kasal sa bayan si Presidente. At wag muna natin hiwalayan ang isang magaling na pangulo.

(The president is married to the nation. Let’s not divorce ourselves from a great president.)

CADAPAN: PALPARAN, COME CLEAN
Linda Cadapan, mother of missing student Sherlyn Cadapan, wants retired Major General Jovito Palparan to come clean and stop denying his involvement in her daughter’s disappearance.
It’s been 8 years since the disappearance of Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno.
Witnesses said the two were tortured upon Palparan’s orders.
He was finally arrested on August 12…
but the search for the missing girls is still not over.

LINDA CADAPAN, MOTHER OF SHERLYN CADAPAN: Alam ko sinasabi niya na ginagawa lang niya ang kanyang misyon, pero alam mo naman maraming nasasaktan na nanay, magulang, mga kapatid at mga anak na nawawalan ng magulang.

(I know he says he was only doing his mission, but there are many mothers, parents, siblings, and children who have suffered.)

Sana naman tinitingnan mo rin ang ganoong magiging kahihinatnan ng buhay nila.

(I hope you consider what will happen to their lives.)

Sana wag ka na magpatuloy sa pag-sinungaling, na in complete denial ka, na hindi mo kilala sina Sherlyn at Karen. Alam na alam naming may alam ka.

(Stop lying. You are in complete denial, you say you didn’t know Sherlyn and Karen. We know for a fact that you know about them.)

Kung siya ay talagang pusong demonyo, wari ko hindi niya maiintindihan iyan. Pero pipilitin ko sa kanya na sana kung nakikinig ka, talikuran mo na ang pusong demonyo dahil wala ka ring mararating at matutuwa ang mga kaanak ng biktima na ikaw ay mabubulok sa kulungan.

(If he truly has the heart of a demon, I think he would not understand. But I urge Palparan, turn away from having the heart of a demon because you will gain nothing from that, and the relatives of your victims will be happy that you will rot in jail.)

Cadapan says many others suffered because of Palparan, who has been infamously tagged as “the butcher” by activists.
She says Palparan’s victims are afraid to testify, but Cadapan says she won’t give up fighting for justice.

LINDA CADAPAN, MOTHER OF SHERLYN CADAPAN: It’s not only for my Sherlyn.
Maraming mga kaanak ng biktima, iyakan, ganito nangyayari sa anak, sa asawa, sa mga magulang.
(There have been many relatives of victims, crying, narrating what happened to their children, husbands, wives, and parents.)
So ang tinuturo lahat si dating heneral Jovito Palparan
(They are all pointing at Major General Jovito Palparan.)
So iniisip ko, ‘yung mga natatakot na mga nanay, mga kapatid na ‘yun, may ebidensya sila pero hindi pwedeng lumaban sa korte kasi takot na ma-harrass.
(The scared mothers, the scared siblings, they have evidence but they do not fight in court because they are afraid of being harassed.)
Pero sabi ko kailangan talaga hahanapin dahil katungkulan ng isang ina para hanapin ang kanyang nawawalang anak.
(I need to keep looking for her because it is a mother’s duty to look for her missing child.)

Despite the long years of waiting, Cadapan says she has not given up on the hope that she will see her daughter alive and well.

LINDA CADAPAN, MOTHER OF SHERLYN CADAPAN: I still believe na isang araw, makakasama muli namin ‘yung aking anak. Since nang inalis nila na buhay na buhay, ang dapat hinihiling ko sa kanila ay ibalik din sa amin na buhay na buhay.
(I still believe that one day, I will be reunited with my daughter. She was taken from us alive. I am asking that she be returned to us alive too.)

2ND BANGSAMORO LAW DRAFT SUBMITTED TO AQUINO
Negotiators from the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front or MILF submitted the 2nd draft of the Bangsamoro Basic Law to President Benigno Aquino Wednesday night.
The proposed law is a product of the final peace deal signed between the government and the MILF on March 27…
which aims to end 4 decades of war in the Southern Philippines.
The law seeks to replace the present Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao…
with a parliamentary form of government with greater political and fiscal powers.
The process reached a roadblock when the MILF accused the government of diluting the first draft of the proposed law submitted for review.

GOV’T OFFICES TO SPEND P13B ON ELECTRICITY, WATER IN 2015
For the government to cut costs, Senator Ralph Recto suggests installing solar panels in government offices.
Based on the proposed 2015 national budget, government offices are allocated P12.9 billion or $294 million for electricity and water bills.
To keep government from spending this much money, Recto proposed using renewable energy.
On August 12, he filed the proposed “Green Energy Government Offices Act,” which prescribes measures to reduce the carbon footprint of government buildings.
If passed, the bill will require the installation of green energy systems and the creation of energy conservation guidelines.
The projected P12.9-billion budget is only the latest peak in a trend of increased spending on utilities.
In 2012, national government offices spent P9.2 billion or $210 million.
In 2014, it went up to P12.2 billion or $278 million.

Power transmission towers image from Shutterstock

PALACE POSTS NINOY AQUINO’S UNDELIVERED ARRIVAL SPEECH
On this date in 1983, former senator Ninoy Aquino was killed.
Malacanang commemorates the life of the martyred senator by posting his undelivered speech from 31 years ago.
On his return to the Philippines on August 21, 1983, Aquino had planned to deliver a speech after years of exile in the United States.
He wrote, “I am prepared for the worst, and have decided against the advice of my mother…
my spiritual adviser, many of my tested friends, and a few of my most valued political mentors.
A death sentence awaits me.”
He never got to deliver this speech.
Upon stepping out of the plane, he was shot in the head…
an assassination that triggered the People Power Revolution, three years later.

ASEAN RAISES ‘SERIOUS CONCERNS’ ABOUT CHINA
A new study warns inequality and labor issues could worsen under the ASEAN Economic Community or AEC unless countries started taking decisive action.
The AEC, set to come into force in December 2015, is an ambitious plan to create a single market comprising the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The AEC could lead to 14 million additional jobs and increase overall growth by 7.1% by 2025.
But the International Labor Organization and the Asian Development Bank say the gains won’t be distributed evenly.
Cambodia and Vietnam stand to gain most in terms of job generation, while the Philippines comes up third.
While there will be a net job gain under the AEC, it will also destroy jobs.
The food processing industry will be the worst hit in terms of job losses in Cambodia, Indonesia and Laos…
while the sector will see gains in the Philippines and Thailand.

THAI ARMY CHIEF CHOSEN AS PRIME MINISTER
Thailand’s national assembly chooses coup leader General Prayut Chan-O-Cha as prime minister…
in a move seen as cementing the military’s control of the politically turbulent country.
Nobody opposed the selection of the army chief, who ousted an elected government in a bloodless takeover on May 22.
Prayut is seen as an opponent of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra…
whose overthrow in a 2006 coup triggered Thailand’s long-running political crisis.
Since seizing power, the junta imposed martial law and summoned hundreds of opponents and activists for questioning.

AMERICAN DOCTOR DECLARED NEGATIVE FOR EBOLA VIRUS
An American doctor who contracted the Ebola virus will be released from the Emory Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia – Thursday.
NBC News reports Dr. Kent Brantly was a missionary in Liberia when he contracted Ebola.
Before being flown back to the US in early August…
Brantly and fellow aid worker Nancy Writebol received the experimental drug ZMapp.
Writebol will be discharged from the isolation unit but it’s unclear if she’ll be released from the hospital.
The World Health Organization says more than 1,300 people have died from the Ebola epidemic.

OBAMA WARNS OF JIHADIST ‘CANCER’ AS US REVEALS FAILED RESCUE
US President Barack Obama warns against what he calls the “cancer” of jihadist extremism in Iraq…
as Washington revealed it failed in an operation to free US hostages in neighboring Syria.
Obama urged global action against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS…
a day after the terrorist group released a video showing a masked militant beheading US reporter James Foley.
In the video, a black-clad man said Foley was killed to avenge US air strikes against ISIS.
The group threatened to kill another reporter, Steven Sotloff, unless Obama changes course.
The White House and the Pentagon said US military forces had “recently” tried to rescue “a number” of American hostages held in Syria, but had failed.
Obama said ISIS must be defeated, citing the group’s attacks against innocent civilians.
He adds, “No just God would stand for what they did yesterday and what they do every single day.”

THE wRap: YOUR WORLD IN ONE READ

DON’T FLY INTO ISRAEL, HAMAS WARNS AIRLINES
Hamas’s armed wing Abu Obeida warns foreign airlines against flying into Israel’s capital Tel Aviv, and declares the truce talks in Cairo are over.
Israeli warplanes carry out dozens of air strikes across Gaza Thursday in response to multiple rocket attacks on southern Israel, as 9 days of calm exploded into bloodshed.
Last month, many international airlines briefly suspended flights into Tel Aviv…
after a Hamas rocket struck close to the airport.

ÜBER NOT COOL IN JAKARTA
Jakarta is the latest country to hit private car service app Uber.
Citing licensing issues, Jakarta authorities threatened to shut down the app after it officially launched in the city on August 13.
Authorities fear Uber will undercut the current taxi market and may evade tax if not registered legally.
Uber already sparked protests from taxi drivers in other countries for similar reasons.

ALS ICE BUCKET CHALLENGES GOES VIRAL
There’s a new outrageous trend on social media these days, and it’s called the “Ice-Bucket Challenge.”
Challengers dump ice-cold water over their heads – and tag friends to respond to the dare in 24 hours.
It’s all for a good cause– money raised goes to ALS Association in the United States…
a group dedicated to awareness and treatment of the degenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Vogue editor in chief Anna Wintour took part in it…
so did former US president George W Bush.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates took on the challenge, too…
as he got tagged by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.

 

 

– 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