Rappler Newscast | January 17, 2014

Story 1: PH RALLIES ASEAN VS CHINA'S FISHING AND ADIZ LAWS
Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario urges the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN to exercise “regional solidarity” in the face of China’s fishing law and air defense identification zone or ADIZ.
Del Rosario criticized China’s rules during the ASEAN meet in Myanmar Friday.
China’s fishing law requires foreigners to seek permission before fishing in the disputed South China Sea.
The ADIZ in the East China Sea subjects aircraft to China’s laws and imposes “defensive emergency measures” on violators.
Del Rosario says China's fisheries and airspace laws -quote- “violate the legitimate rights of coastal and other states under international law.”
The Philippines, China, Brunei, Malaysia, and Vietnam all have maritime claims over the South China Sea.

Story 2: AT LEAST 34 DEAD, THOUSANDS DISPLACED FROM MINDANAO FLOODS
Rising floodwaters in Mindanao force nearly a hundred thousand families to leave their homes Friday.
Heavy rain triggered by a low pressure area last week hit areas still recovering from 2012’s Typhoon Pablo.
The rains displace nearly half a million people across 14 provinces in regions 9, 10, 11 and CARAGA.
The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council or NDRRMC says 34 people are killed.
At least 65 people are injured and 7 remain missing.
Officials say parts of Butuan city and more than 200 villages and districts lining the banks of the Agusan are flooded.
On Friday, state weather bureau Pagasa says Tropical Depression Agaton is spotted at 165 kilometers northeast of Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur.
Signal no. 1 is up over 8 areas: Southern Leyte, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Dinagat Islands, Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Davao Oriental, and Compostela Valley.

Story 3: HAIYAN CASH PLEDGES: PH GETS ONLY 20%
It’s been more than two months since typhoon Yolanda, known internationally as Haiyan, ravaged the Philippines.
At least 58 countries pledged a total of almost P23.8 billion pesos or $539 million in aid.
Of these, cash pledges total P2.8 billion or $63.4 million.
But help is coming in trickles.
As of Friday, the Philippines only received nearly P600 million or $12.3 million in cash, which is roughly 21% of the total amount pledged.
The situation is similar to Haiti’s after a magnitude-7 earthquake shook the country.
Only 53% of aid reached Haiti two years after the quake.
A United Nations official said countries tend to “forget."
Budget Secretary Butch Abad says, “What we heard them say at the height of the Yolanda relief operations versus what you see them now delivering by way of cash, there's a big disparity.”
Abad adds it might also be possible that most of the countries’ funds have already been committed to other priorities toward the end of 2013.

Story 4: PETILLA PROMISES FULL POWER RESTORATION BY MARCH
Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla promises to restore power to all homes affected by the typhoon by March.
The aftermath of the storm left affected areas without electricity for weeks.
Two months after Yolanda, Petilla says the department prioritized restoring power in town centers.
But he says some homeowners were not prepared to connect to the grid and receive electricity.

JERICHO PETILLA, ENERGY SECRETARY: What we're doing right now is making sure the electricity is now going to the household…So status, by the end of February we should be able to connect about 80% of all households in the Visayas and a 100% by end of March.

With the weather expected to get hotter this summer, Petilla says the department is preparing for the energy demand.

JERICHO PETILLA, ENERGY SECRETARY: The demand for electricity this coming summer is a bit tricky and that's why we're trying to come up with proper projection because that's the only way we can see whether we have enough supply. So our supply may have gone down but the demand has gone down as well.

Petilla also says local politics did not get in the way of power restoration.

JERICHO PETILLA, ENERGY SECRETARY: I think the power restoration is the least political of them all because everybody wants it. Nobody else is able to do it…When it comes to electricity, nobody wants to take it. Nobody can take it, it's only us. To some extent we were spared politics when it comes to restoration on the power.

In November, Petilla promised to resign if he failed to restore power by Christmas.
Petilla made good on his promise, but the President rejected his resignation.
The energy secretary admits putting his job on the line was a reckless move.

JERICHO PETILLA, ENERGY SECRETARY: Dec 24 was pretty tight at the time but the biggest fear I had was media was going to report along this line: The secretary promised, but best effort. No assurance, and then some Twitter, bloggers will say impossible. And that's the last thing you want to tell the people in Leyte when they are totally devastated 8 to 10 days from day 0. It's a bit reckless but if you weigh recklessness and hopelessness, it's a no brainer. You have to bring up the high hopes of the people because you can be reckless, you can still do rehab. You lose hope, there is no rehab.

Story 5: DE LIMA: RESOURCES LACK IN ANTI-CYBERSEX EFFORT
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima says anti-trafficking officials constantly conduct raids to rescue victims of cash-for-cybersex schemes, but adds authorities need more resources.
This comes following reports of an international probe into cybersex operations in the Philippines.
Senator Loren Legarda urges the justice department and the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking to ramp up their efforts, citing the growing cybersex industry as --quote-- “another storm brewing in the country.”
On Thursday, Communications Secretary Sonny Coloma says the sex abuse ring highlights the importance of the Cybercrime Prevention Law, which penalizes cybersex and child pornography.
The Supreme Court stopped its implementation following controversial provisions on online libel.
In a related story, police in Taiwan bust a human smuggling ring and rescue 35 Filipino women forced into the sex trade.
The women were rescued after investigators raided two pubs in southern Taiwan Thursday.
Police arrested the suspected ring leader identified only as Mr. Hung.
Hung was accused of recruiting women and promising them professional dancing jobs.
He took away the victims’ passports upon arriving in Taiwan and forced them to work as sex slaves.
Prosecutors say Hung was later released on bail.

Story 6: 'UP TO A YEAR' TO HEAR NAPOLES DETENTION CASE
It might take over a year for the Makati regional trial court to hear the serious illegal detention case filed against alleged pork barrel queen Janet Lim Napoles.
The Makati RTC clerk of court says, “With the number of witnesses, the hearing might take up to a year.”
The defense plans to present over 17 witnesses, including Napoles and her brother and co-accused Reynald Lim.
Napoles is currently detained at Fort Santo Domingo in Laguna for serious illegal detention charges, filed by her former aide turned whistleblower Benhur Luy.
The prosecution says it may add more witnesses before the first trial day on February 18.

Story 7: COA: PHILHEALTH PERKS ILLEGAL, UNREASONABLE
The Commission on Audit or COA says the perks paid by the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation or Philhealth to its employees are “illegal and unreasonable.”
On Thursday, COA junks Philhealth’s appeal to reverse the disallowance of bonuses and allowances paid from 2003 to 2004.
COA says Philhealth paid its own officials and employees almost P88 million in perks.
In its decision, COA calls the illegal payments a “betrayal of trust…” and “grave abuse of authority.”
COA earlier ordered other government-owned and controlled corporations to return P2.3 billion in perks.

Story 8: VATICAN GRILLED ON CHILD ABUSE BY UN WATCHDOG
The United Nations’ child rights watchdog in Geneva grills the Vatican to flesh out its commitment to stop child sex abuse by priests.
Pope Francis promised zero tolerance of abuse, but members of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child says the Vatican has not established mechanisms to investigate and prosecute priests accused of sex crimes.
Past cases were often covered up by superiors, who transferred offenders to new parishes instead of turning them over to police.
A former Vatican prosecutor says the Vatican does not cover up the abuses, but adds the Holy See is legally responsible only for implementing the UN Convention on children's rights within the Vatican City.

Story 9: BLAST HITS OPPOSITION RALLY IN BANGKOK
A bomb blast injures at least 28 people in Bangkok during the latest opposition protest attempting to shut down the Thai capital.
On Friday, TV footage shows several people on the ground as ambulances whisk away the wounded.
Police are still investigating what device caused the blast.
For the past two months, the Thai government faced several opposition rallies clamoring for the ouster of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
8 people have been killed and hundreds injured since the start of the rallies.
The protesters want to cut the political dominance of Shinawatra’s brother Thaksin, whom they claim exerts authority despite his self-exile.

Story 10: THE wRap: YOUR WORLD IN ONE READ
At number 4, The World Economic Forum or WEF says the growing gap between the rich and the poor is the biggest global risk this year.
In its annual Global Risks survey, the institution says the next most likely risk is extreme weather, followed by unemployment and underemployment, climate change, and cyberattacks.
The WEF also says respondents were highly concerned about the possibility of more fiscal crises.

At number 7, Initial tallies by state media show more than 90 percent of voters approved the new Egyptian constitution following a two-day referendum.
The official results are expected by Saturday.
The government says the referendum is a strong show of approval of the army’s ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.
Officials say army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led Morsi’s ouster, is monitoring the vote as he considers running for the presidency.
Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood claims the referendum is a "farce" and promises more protests.

And at number 8, Five-division boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr shoots down questions about a potential fight with Manny Pacquiao, saying he didn’t need to fight the Filipino boxer because his recent fights have been high-grossing events.
He also says Pacquiao’s tax situation plays a role in the Filipino’s desire to fight him.
Pacquiao reportedly owes 68 million dollars in the Philippines and the United States.
Mayweather adds, “Pacquiao is really saying, 'Floyd, can you help me solve my tax problems, get me out of debt?'"

Story 11: 10 OSCAR NODS EACH FOR 'AMERICAN HUSTLE' AND 'GRAVITY'
Crime caper "American Hustle" and 3D space saga "Gravity" top the Oscar nominations list with 10 each, followed by historical drama "12 Years a Slave" with 9.
They are among nine movies nominated for best picture for the March 2 Academy Awards.
The announcement of nominees includes several surprises, like the multi-nominations for “The Wolf of Wall Street,” which divided critics over the portrayal of pleasure-seeking financial traders.
CNN reports the “biggest shocker” was the snub of Tom Hanks for "Captain Phillips."
Pixar was also left out again for animated feature.