NEWSCAPS
March 18, 2013
(POLITICAL)
I. PRESIDENT AQUINO ON SABAH
 President Aquino pitched for peace, saying that negotiations were
the only way to resolve the Sabah crisis. President Aquino told
the 124 graduating cadets of the Philippine Military Academy
(PMA), “earnest dialogue is more effective, more productive and
more beneficial to all, as opposed to pointing weapons at each
other.”
II. SLAIN FOLLOWER OF THE SULTAN OF SULU
 Another Filipino fighter was killed on Sunday in a skirmish
between Malaysian security forces and remnants of the so-called
royal army of the sultanate of Sulu in Sabah.
 The death of the fighter from the group led by Agbimuddin Kiram
in the fire fight in Tanjung Batu village brought to 62 the number
of Filipinos killed in Sultan Jamalul Kiram III’s attempt to retake
Sabah from Malaysia.
 The Malaysian security forces have lost 10 of their own since
violence began on March 1.
III. 330 JAILED FILIPINOS IN SABAH
 Malaysia has detained over 330 Filipinos in Sabah suspected of
aiding or supporting a rag-tag army of the sultanate of Sulu,
which is claiming historical and legal rights over the oil-rich island
near the Philippine province of Tawi-Tawi.
IV. SULTAN: LEAVING SABAH IS NOT AN OPTION
 Followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III are not withdrawing
from Sabah, and he has instructed them to conduct guerrilla
warfare against Malaysian forces. Kiram said that the withdrawal
of his army led by his brother Agbimuddin from Sabah was not an
option.
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V. RETURNEES FROM SABAH
 A Navy ship with 30 Filipino evacuees from Sabah was expected
to arrive in Tawi-Tawi late yesterday afternoon. Since the 30
evacuees have yet to be processed, they are not included in the
list of 2,631 evacuees that have returned from Sabah since the
conflict started last February.
VI. SENATOR SANTIAGO ON MALAYSIA’s VIOLATION OF PRESS
FREEDOM
 Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago warned that Malaysia might
be violating certain freedoms of Filipino journalists covering the
Sabah crisis with its continued refusal to allow them access to
persons they want to interview.
VII. PRESIDENT AQUINO AT PMA GRADUATION RITES
 President Aquino confessed to graduating cadets of the
Philippine Military Academy that running the country, attended by
countless problems like the still unresolved Sabah crisis, had
caused him severe hair loss.
 The President cracked jokes in his speech that dwelt on
leadership and responsibility during this year’s graduation
ceremonies for the 124 members of PMA Pudang Kalis Class of
2013.
VIII. JABIDAH MASSACRE RITES
 The commemoration of the infamous Jabidah Massacre must be
seen in the light of the government initiative to bring lasting peace
in Mindanao. President Aquino will speak on Corregidor Island
this afternoon at rites marking the 45th anniversary of the
slaughter of Muslim recruits training for a purported plan to invade
Sabah in 1968.
IX. PH AS 114TH IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX
 The Philippines ranked 114th out of 186 countries in the Human
Development Index (HDI) and remained at the medium human
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development category, according to the recent report released by
the United Nations Development Program.
 HDI is a composite index measuring average achievement in
three basic dimensions of human development— long and
healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living.
X. 19 MILLION FILIPINOS WATERLESS
 Summer is near and taps may run dry. But an even sadder reality
is that 19 million Filipinos do not have access to water,
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
Undersecretary Demetrio Ignacio said.
XI. MINDANAO BROWNOUTS
 Apart from being the start of the work week, Mondays in many
areas of Mindanao also signal the start of another episode of
frequent brownouts. A weekly outlook of the National Grid Corp.
of the Philippines (NGCP) from March 15-21 showed that power
generation capacity is expected to fall short of demand by 207
megawatts today.
XII. COAST GUARD ON INFLUX OF TRAVELERS DURING HOLY
WEEK
 The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) is ready for the expected
influx of travelers during the Holy Week break. PCG commandant
Rear Admiral Rodolfo Isorena has ordered all officials and
personnel of the agency to beef up security measures at all ports
and ferry terminals in the country.
XIII. MARITIME SECURITY DISCUSSIONS
 Officials from six countries will join the maritime security
discussions alongside the Balikatan exercises between Filipino
and US troops next month. Armed Forces Spokesperson Col.
Arnulfo Burgos Jr. said that representatives from Australia,
Brunei, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Thailand will join US
and Filipino officials in the Multinational Maritime Security
Roundtable.
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XIV. POPE FRANCIS: CHURCH SHOULD BE POOR AND FOR THE
POOR
 Pope Francis, giving his clearest indication yet that he wants a
more austere Catholic Church, said that it should be poor and
remember that its mission is to serve the poor.
XV. UP MANILA’s DAY OF MOURNING
 Classes at the University of the Philippines-Manila will be
suspended today as it observes a day of mourning for Kristel Pilar
Mariz Tejada, the student who committed suicide after she was
reportedly forced to take a leave of absence from her studies for
failing to pay her tuition.
XVI. POLITICAL DEBATES ON TV
 Some politicians are appalled not only by how much mud has
been tossed between candidates during this campaign season
but where these character assassinations have taken place—on
news and public affairs shows on national television.
XVII. REP. LAGMAN:
CONFESSIONS
PRIESTS
VIOLATING
SECRECY
OF
 Catholic priests have taken to violating the seal of the
confessional just to demonize the reproductive health (RH) law,
according to one of its principal authors, Albay Rep. Edcel
Lagman, who deplored the “malevolent propaganda” against the
law.
 Lagman was commenting on the statement of CBCP executive
secretary Fr. Melvin Castro that “many priests had noticed a
general trend among young Catholics to seek forgiveness
through confession for using artificial contraceptives.”
XVIII. BAGUIO SORTIES / TEAM PNOY VS UNA
 President Aquino’s candidates attracted a crowd of less than a
thousand on the Melvin Jones Open Field in Baguio City. The
United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) crowd at the Baguio Convention
Center was estimated at around 1,000.
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XIX. SENATORIAL CANDIDATES’ PORK BARREL
 Senatorial candidates of the administration Team PNoy coalition
and the opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) have been
receiving their pork barrel funds ahead of the May 13 elections.
XX. UNA ON SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETERS
 The United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) announced a sensible
addition to its coming sorties—sign language interpreters. Rep.
Toby Tiangco, UNA’s campaign manager, said that the plan was
to make them a regular feature of the UNA campaign.
XXI. AMAN SCAM CASE
 Pagadian City Mayor Samuel Co has questioned his indictment
for the P12-billion investment scam involving Aman Futures
Group Phils. Inc. Co filed a motion for judicial determination.
XXII. BATASAN BOMBING CASE
 The Supreme Court has upheld the Department of Justice’s
(DOJ) decision to exclude former Basilan Rep. Gerry Salapuddin
from among those indicted in connection with the Nov. 13, 2007,
Batasang Pambansa bombing.
XXIII. WEATHER
 The state weather bureau has yet to announce the official start of
summer, but it advised the public to brace for hot weather in the
next three days.
(ECONOMY)
I. SOLAIRE OPENING
 With President Aquino as guest of honor, the opening of the $1.2billion Solaire Resort & Casino is seen as a signal of the
Philippines’ inclusion in the list of biggest gambling centers in the
world, next to Macau, Singapore, and Las Vegas.
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II. BELLE GRANDE OPENING
 The upscale leisure developer of mall and banking conglomerate
SM Investments Corp. (SMIC) will join the party at the
Entertainment City in the middle of next year.
 The $1.3-billion Belle Grande Manila Bay of SM Group and
Macau casino giant Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. will beef up
the country’s entertainment portfolio for tourists.
III. MALAMPAYA EXPANSION
 The Shell-led consortium behind the Malampaya deep water-togas power project is now preparing for the second and third
phases of the landmark natural gas facility.
 Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. country chairman Ed Chua said
the consortium is investing an additional $1 billion for Malampaya
2 and 3, most of which would be “in-country” investments.
IV. BSP FLEXIBILITY TO HANDLE CAPITAL FLOWS
 The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has “flexibility” to deal with
capital inflows—including keeping rates low to shun speculative
investors—with manageable inflation and healthy growth, an
investment bank said.
 “The central bank has relatively more flexibility to deal with
inflows than many of its Asian counterparts,” DBS Ltd. said in a
report.
V. SETTLED GOVERNMENT DEBT OBLIGATIONS
 The government settled P729.77 billion worth of debt obligations
last year, according to data from the Bureau of Treasury. This
was P7.02 billion or nearly one percent more than the previous
year’s P722.75.
VI. EXPORTERS’ TARGET
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 Philippine exporters are keeping export growth target at 11
percent this year until 2015 amid worries over the continued
weakness in the performance of electronic shipments.
VII. KOREAN FIRM ON SCRAPPING AFCS BIDDING
 The government’s proposed P1.72-billion single contactless
ticketing system for the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and Light Rail
Transit (LRT) could hit a snag after a Korean consortium asked
the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC)
to cancel the bidding.
 Kystek Corp. vice president Dong-ho Yu said in a statement that
the DOTC should cancel the bidding for the proposed P1.72billion Automated Fare Collection System (AFCS) as the
company has a pending proposal before the agency.
VIII. ALBAY’s TOURISM BRAND
 Albay has adopted its own tourism marketing brand, just as the
Department of Tourism has its “It’s more fun in the Philippines”
campaign line.
 Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said that their adopted new sales pitch
is “Indulge yourself in warm Albay!” through which they hope to
further consolidate their recent tourism gains.
IX. PRICES OF CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS
 Wholesale prices of construction materials in Metro Manila went
up at a slower rate in February from the previous month due to
slower gains in prices of most commodity groups, the National
Statistics Office (NSO) said.
X. CUSTOMS’ TARGET
 The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has exceeded its P70-billion
collection target by about P200 million in January as it sees an
overshoot of P2 billion in revenues next year.
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 Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon said that the increase in
collection was due to its all-out-war against smuggling, especially
of agricultural products.
XI. E-10 COMPATIBILITY IN VEHICLES
 Environmental group Kaibigan ng Kaunlaran at Kalikasan (KKK)
has asked the government, specifically the National Biofuels
Board (NBB), to show studies to prove E-10 compatibility in
vehicles under Philippine driving conditions.
 The group cautioned that the government may be misdirected in
enforcing a 10 percent ethanol blend in all gasoline fuels
beginning April 1, 2013.
XII. CHINESE BUSINESS MISSION
 A Chinese business delegation is set to visit the country next
month to explore opportunities here despite the territorial dispute
over the West Philippine Sea, the Philippine Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (PCCI) said.
(END)
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