Rappler Newscast | September 29, 2014

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Rappler Newscast | September 29, 2014
Vice President Binay’s lead drops in polls. Toilet fixtures in Makati building way above market prices. Protests in Hong Kong disrupt travel and business

 Today on Rappler.

  • Vice President Jejomar Binay’s lead drops in the latest presidential polls.
  • A Rappler exclusive: Toilet fixtures in a controversial Makati building cost way beyond market prices.
  • Democracy protests in Hong Kong disrupt travel and business.

VP BINAY’S LEAD IN PRESIDENTIAL POLL DROPS
Vice President Jejomar Binay continues to top the latest Pulse Asia survey on the May 2016 presidential elections, but his lead in the September survey drops by 10 percentage points.
31% of survey respondents say they will vote for Binay, down from 41% in June.
This comes in the middle of corruption allegations against the Vice President over an allegedly overpriced government building in Makati where he used to be mayor.
Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, who is leading the Senate probe on the Binays, also saw a decline in support in the survey.
From 5% in June, he’s down to 1% in September.
Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, the administration’s presumptive bet for 2016, is a far second with 13% of voters saying they will vote for him.
This is 6 points higher than his 7% in the June survey.
The other winner is Senator Miriam Santiago, who gained 5 points from 7% in June to 11% in September.

PULSE ASIA POLLS: POE FOR VP, SOTTO NUMBER 1 SENATOR
More on the polls: Neophyte Senator Grace Poe tops Pulse Asia’s vice presidential survey.
Poe leads the September survey, with 31% of respondents saying they will vote for her.
It’s 5 percentage points higher than her 26% in the June survey.
A far second from Poe is close ally Senator Francis Escudero with 19%.
For the senatorial slate, comedian-turned-politician Senator Tito Sotto tops the polls, with 51.6% of voters saying they will vote for him.
Not too far behind is former senator Kiko Pangilinan at 51.5%.
With a 3-point error margin, Sotto and Pangilinan are statistically tied in the top spot.

‘WORLD-CLASS’ PRICES FOR BINAY’S PARKING BUILDING
A Rappler exclusive: The toilet fixtures in the controversial Makati parking building that sparked corruption allegations against Vice President Binay cost far more than current retail prices.
Based on estimates by contractor Hilmarc’s Construction, toilet bowls can go up to P32,000; male urinals, from P12,000 to P31,000; wash basins, up to P25,000; and hand dryers, as much as P62,000.
Most of the fixtures are from American Standard, a mid-range manufacturer whose retail prices are at least 3 to 4 times less than Hilmarc’s cost estimates.
In two years, the difference in prices of those same toilet accessories rose by around 300% per unit.
Labor costs to install these items were also jacked up.
Phases 3, 4, and 5 of the building construction were carried out in 2010, 2011, and 2012.
But changes in the specifications for the building requirements resulted in higher contract prices for all 3 phases.
Phase 3 of the building’s construction has a contract price of almost P600 million; Phase 4, almost P650 million, and Phase 5, P143.8 million.
The entire building cost P2.8 billion.
Apart from the jump in cost per unit, Hilmarc’s Construction also appears to have padded its labor costs for installing the toilet fixtures by 30%.
Hilmarc’s supposedly won the bidding for Phase 1 and was the sole bidder for the 4 remaining phases.
Vice President Binay oversaw Phases 1 and 2 when he was mayor of the city, while his son implemented Phases 3 to 5.
Current Makati Mayor Junjun Binay calls it a “world class building.”
But Senate resource persons who inspected the building said it was average, and not “world-class.”

RH LAW FULL IMPLEMENTATION BY NOVEMBER 30
The health department says the controversial Reproductive Health or RH law can be fully implemented by November 30.
Once the Food and Drugs Authority or FDA certifies the contraceptives to be distributed are safe and will not induce abortion, a “full rollout” can be expected.
The RH bill was signed into law in 2012, after a 14-year struggle led by advocates and lawmakers.
The controversial law faced opposition from religious groups, but the Supreme Court declared the law constitutional in April 2014.
The RH law requires government health centers to provide free contraceptives and mandates schools to teach sex education.
It also legalizes post-abortion medical care, but not abortion itself.

TROOPS DEPLOY AFTER ABU SAYYAF THREATEN GERMAN HOSTAGES
About 1,000 soldiers of the Philippine army flew to Sulu Sunday, where militants from the Abu Sayyaf group are believed to be holding two German tourists.
The group earlier threatened to execute one of the hostages.
Reports say the tourists are an elderly man and a woman.
Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin says the Philippines would not negotiate with the Abu Sayyaf over its $5.62 million ransom demand.
The Abu Sayyaf also demanded Berlin stop its support for the US-led campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or ISIS.
The Abu Sayyaf is a group of Islamic militants originally organized with Al-Qaeda funding in the 1990s.
The group has been blamed for the Philippines’ worst terrorist attacks.

JAPAN VOLCANO RESCUE SUSPENDED AS DEATH TOLL HITS 36
About 36 hikers are feared dead after they were found near the peak of Japanese volcano Ontake Sunday.
Mount Ontake erupted without warning Saturday, spewing ash, rocks and steam.
Around 230 hikers were able to make it to safety soon after the eruption, but rescue workers found the rest in “cardiac arrest” near the summit.
Rescue operations are suspended Monday because of the growing danger from toxic gas.
Mount Ontake’s last significant eruption was in 1979.
Apart from Ontake, volcanoes Mayon in the Philippines and Sinabung in Indonesia threaten to erupt.
Japan, Philippines, and Indonesia are all within the Ring of Fire, a region in the Pacific vulnerable to seismic and volcanic activity.

PROTESTS DISRUPT HONG KONG TRAVEL AND BUSINESSES
Riot police in Hong Kong pull back Monday after thousands of pro-democracy protesters caused travel chaos and widespread disruption in the city.
In a statement, authorities urge protesters to “give up occupied roads as soon as possible” in a bid to restore public transport services.
Crowds of defiant demonstrators took control of at least three major thoroughfares, paralyzing parts of the city after hours of overnight battles with police firing tear gas.
This comes after a week of student-led boycotts against China’s decision to allow only candidates chosen by Beijing to stand in the city’s elections for chief executive in 2017.

THE wRap: YOUR WORLD IN ONE READ
Let’s now look at Rappler’s “wRap” for today…
a list of the ten most important events around the world you shouldn’t miss.
At number 7, Would the proposed merger of AOL Inc and Yahoo spark a revival of the Internet pioneers?
This comes as investors call for Yahoo to merge with AOL.
While analysts say a merger could cut up to $1 billion in costs, it may be harder to build up strong growth in their core advertising businesses.
A Reuters report says some experts believe there is little to gain by combining the two companies.
The two companies have a decreasing share in the digital ad market.

At number 8, New social network Ello goes viral.
Described as the “anti-Facebook” for its stand on privacy and advertising…
Ello’s policy says collecting personal data and mapping social connections for profit is –quote– “creepy and unethical.”
Ello is currently accessible on an invitation-only basis, prompting a surge in demand for invites, with some up for grabs on eBay for $500.

And at number 9, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton now has a new title: grandmother.
Hillary and her husband, former US president Bill Clinton, took to social media to express their joy at the birth of first grandchild Charlotte, sharing photos and calling Charlotte’s birth “one of the happiest moments of our life.”
In June, the former US first lady said she will balance grandmotherhood with preparations for what could be her second presidential campaign in 2016.
For the full top 10 visit Rappler.com’s ‘the wRap.’

NEWLYWED CLOONEYS SHOW OFF THEIR WEDDING RINGS IN VENICE
George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin tied the knot Saturday in Venice.
The newlyweds delighted crowds as they showed off their wedding rings the following day along the Grand Canal.
They got married at a private ceremony in Venice’s palatial Aman Canal Grande hotel before celebrating with a star-studded guest list.
They are expected to spend their honeymoon in Morocco’s former imperial city of Marrakech.
A celebrated Hollywood actor, Clooney’s breakout role in the TV series “ER” propelled him to superstardom.
Alamuddin is a human rights lawyer who represented Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and served as adviser for former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan.

 

– 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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