NEWSCAPS
January 29, 2013
(POLITICAL)
I. HUMAN RIGHTS COMPENSATION BILL
 The House of Representatives and the Senate ratified the final
version of a bill awarding compensation and recognition to martial
law victims following some last minute polishing. President
Aquino is expected to sign the bill into law shortly, possibly before
the anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution that
ousted the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
II. RH ACTIVIST CARLOS CELDRAN: GUILTY OF RELIGIOUS
OFFENSE
 A Manila court found tour guide Carlos Celdran guilty of offending
religious feelings when, dressed like Jose Rizal, he stood in front
of the main altar of Manila Cathedral during an ecumenical
service, shouted and raised a placard with the word “Damaso” on
it in protest against the Church’s opposition to the reproductive
health (RH) bill.
 Celdran was sentenced to a minimum of two months and
maximum of one year in prison for violating Article 133 of the
Revised Penal Code.
III. SENATE SUBMISSION TO COA SCRUTINY
 Senators bowed to the Commission on Audit (COA), effectively
setting aside a resolution that shielded their funds from close
scrutiny by state auditors. Senators will now have to forgo the
long-time practice of issuing mere certifications to liquidate their
funds.
 This means that vouchers, official receipts and other liquidating
instruments will now have to be submitted to the COA instead of
using certifications for audit purposes. “We will abide with the
order of the COA,” Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy
Estrada said after emerging from a caucus that lasted almost two
hours.
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IV. SENATE CEASEFIRE WITH ANTIGRAFT CONFERENCE
 Realizing the irony, some senators called for a ceasefire on the
bitter exchange of words over the selective distribution of
additional maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) as
the Philippines prepares to host a global anticorruption
conference that begins tomorrow.
 Sen. Edgardo Angara, Vice Chairperson of the 5th Global
Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC)
Executive Committee, said that it would be awkward if 429
legislators from 76 countries landed on local shores and
witnessed senators bickering. Senate President Juan Ponce
Enrile appeared relieved at the suggestion.
V. NEGROS AMBUSH
 “We will come after you,” Interior and Local Government
Secretary Mar Roxas warned the gunmen who killed nine people,
including a policeman, and wounded 12 others, mostly civilians,
in an ambush at La Castellana town in Negros Occidental
province early on Sunday. The Police Regional Office (PRO) 6
has ordered the creation of a task force to look into the ambush.
 The police and the military believe the gunmen were communist
New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas. But Negros Occidental Gov.
Alfredo Marañon Jr. doubted that the ambushers were communist
rebels because civilians were not spared in the attack. Marañon
said that the gunmen could be people “high on drugs.”
VI. DEFUELING OF US NAVY SHIP IN TUBBATAHA
 The US Embassy said the US Navy had removed all potential
environmental hazards such as paint, solvents and lubricants,
including 15,000 gallons of diesel fuel, from the ship USS
Guardian.
 The embassy said that they are awaiting the arrival on February 1
of two heavy lift ship-borne cranes, which they have contracted to
support the salvage operations.
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VII. NEW PH MARITIME MAP
 A new Philippine map officially renaming maritime areas in the
western part of the archipelago the West Philippine Sea and
depicting the extent of the country’s exclusive economic zone
(EEZ) is awaiting the approval from the Office of the President.
 The map, produced by the National Mapping and Resource
Information Authority (NAMRIA) and covering islands in the West
Philippine Sea being claimed by China, was “still being
reviewed,” according to the Office of Executive Secretary Paquito
Ochoa Jr.
VIII. FOI BILL
 The Freedom of information (FOI) bill finally reached the plenary,
with public information panel chief Rep. Ben Evardone, its main
sponsor on the floor, pitching for the measure’s approval in his
sponsorship speech. Evardone said that the passage of the
measure “will change governance as we know it—radically and
for the better.”
 Yesterday afternoon, labor groups, media practitioners and youth
organizations converged on the University of Santo Tomas on
España, Manila, and marched to Mendiola to call for the passage
of the FOI bill.
IX. SC PETITION VS POLITICAL DYNASTIES
 A senatorial candidate has joined a petition urging the Supreme
Court (SC) to compel the Commission on Elections (COMELEC)
to implement a law against political dynasties. Ricardo Penson, a
road and building contractor running as an independent, has
asked the high court to order the poll body to enforce the ban on
political dynasties as provided under Article II Section 26 of the
Constitution.
X. POLITICAL DYNASTIES IN SENATORIAL RACE SURVEY
 Political dynasties loom large in the results of a pre-election
survey on the senatorial race. JV Ejercito, Jack Enrile and Nancy
Binay—offspring of the three leaders of the United Nationalist
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Alliance (UNA)—remained in the winning circle of the senatorial
race if elections were held between January 17 and January 19, a
recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey found.
XI. GRACE POE IN SENATORIAL RACE SURVEY
 In the same SWS survey, former Movie and Television Review
and Classification Board chair Grace Poe, daughter of the late
“King of Philippine Movies” Fernando Poe Jr., entered the Senate
“Magic 12” for the first time. Poe and Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV
shared the 10th to 11th places with 45 percent each in the poll.
XII. LP ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN
 The Liberal Party-led administration senatorial ticket launched its
own television and radio advertising campaign. “The coalition
ticket fired off today its TV and radio ad, which clearly defines its
campaign line that this is the team of President Aquino,” Eastern
Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, the ruling party’s spokesman, said.
 In the advertisement, President Aquino presents the
administration coalition candidates with the introduction: “Sa
daang matuwid, marami ang gustong sumali, pero mayroon ding
nagpapanggap lamang.”
XIII. COMELEC RESOLUTION ON ‘PRIOR APPROVAL’
 Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño has called on the
Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to withdraw a resolution
that requires the poll body’s “prior approval” before candidates in
the May elections may be interviewed by broadcasters. Casiño, a
senatorial candidate under the Makabayan coalition, said that
Comelec Resolution No. 9615 promulgated on Jan. 15 was
“impractical and an infringement on press freedom.”
XIV. UNA ON ‘SIPSIPOLITICS’
 The United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) warned President Aquino
against what it described as “pseudo reformists” among his allies
who could undermine his reform programs, as it bucked moves to
paint UNA as an enemy of the President’s anticorruption agenda.
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 UNA Secretary General Toby Tiangco described the practice as
“sipsipolitics,” or sucking up to those in power.
XV. DISQUALIFICATION BID VS ESTRADA
 Former President Joseph Estrada said that the disqualification
case filed to stop him from running for Manila mayor was straight
out of the dirty tricks department of his rival. “This is just one of
their dirty tricks. This is purely harassment. This is not Dirty Harry,
but dirty tricks,” he said, referring to the moniker of incumbent
Mayor Alfred Lim.
 He said that Lim was behind the case filed by lawyer Alicia Vidal
who claimed that Estrada should be disqualified from running for
Manila mayor because he violated the conditions of his pardon
granted to him in October 2007 after he was convicted of plunder.
XVI. CBCP ON LUNCH FOR ANTI-RH LAWMAKERS
 The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)
hosted lunch for legislators who fought against the passage of the
controversial Reproductive Health (RH) law, but clarified this was
not an endorsement for the coming midterm polls. CBCP
President Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma said that they extended
an invitation to the senators and congressmen who opposed the
passage of the RH bill last year “as appreciation for what they
have done.”
XVII. SC PETITIONS VS RH LAW
 Akbayan national chair and administration senatorial candidate
Risa Hontiveros led a group of women health advocates in asking
the Supreme Court to deny six petitions seeking to stop the
implementation of the controversial reproductive health (RH) law.
XVIII. ARRIVAL OF 4 FILIPINOS’ REMAINS FROM ALGERIA
 The remains of the four Filipino workers killed during a hostage
taking incident at a gas field in Algeria are scheduled to arrive
tonight at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA). The
victims were among the eight Filipinos killed by Islamic militants
who attacked the gas field and seized hostages.
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XIX. DONAIRE AS FIGHTER OF THE YEAR
 World super bantamweight king Nonito “the Filipino Flash”
Donaire Jr. captured for the first time the most prestigious boxing
award of all time—2012 Boxing of the Year award from the
Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA).
(ECONOMY)
I. PH STOCKS RECORD HIGH
 The main stock index surged to a fresh all-time high yesterday, its
10th so far this year, as investors positioned ahead of the
corporate earnings season and the trickle of positive news
abroad. The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi)
gained 0.4 percent or 24.78 points to vault to a record 6,192.42,
eclipsing the previous mark of 6,171.70 set on Jan. 21.
II. ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE REPORT BY NSCB
 Among the Philippines’ leaders from 1986 to the present,
President Aquino posted the fastest growth during his first year in
office while President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo posted the best
average economic performance among those who completed
their terms, according to the National Statistical Coordination
Board (NSCB).
 The NSCB noted that the observations were based on gross
domestic product (GDP) growth, which is influenced by external
factors such as regional and global financial crises as well as the
political climate at the time of each presidency. As such, the
NSCB said, GDP growth cannot be fully attributed to a certain
president or his/her economic team.
III. P80-BILLION PPP PROJECTS
 Four big-ticket infrastructure projects under the public-private
partnership (PPP) program totaling more than P80 billion have
been approved. PPP Center Executive Director Cosette Canilao
said that the Plaridel bypass toll road project, Manila-Makati6
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Pasay-Paraaque mass transit system, rehabilitation and
expansion of the Philippine National Railways (PNR) South, and
the Batangas-Manila Natural Gas Pipeline are among the priority
projects of the Aquino administration for 2013.
IV. BIR COLLECTION TARGET
 The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has raised its collection
target from large taxpayers for this year to P768.31 billion, up 14
percent from the P674.82 billion target in 2012. The amount
represents 62.7 percent of the BIR’s total collections goal for
2013 of P1.25 trillion, which was based on the 2013 Medium
Term Revenue Program.
V. INFLATION
 Inflation will likely remain within target this month, the Bangko
Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said, as utility price increases were
offset by lower food prices and a strong peso.
 Consumer prices are seen to rise between 2.5 percent and 3.4
percent in January, falling within the low-end of BSP’s three to
five-percent target for the year, BSP Governor Amando Tetangco
Jr. said. Official inflation data will be released on Feb. 5. Inflation
settled at 3.2 percent in 2012, the lowest in five years.
VI. PESO DEPRECIATION
 The Philippine peso declined for a fourth day, the longest stretch
of losses this year, on concern the central bank will curb
appreciation to support exports and shore up the value of
remittances from overseas workers.
 The currency touched a two-week low of 40.760 per dollar on
Monday as Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Amando
Tetangco Jr. said last week that the monetary authority would
participate in the foreign-exchange market to smooth sharp
movements in the peso.
(END)
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