32 killed following clashes in Philippines

COTABATO, Philippines - The death toll from the ongoing battle between Muslim rebels and state security forces in southern Philippines has reached 32, a military official confirmed on Friday.

Lt. Col. Prudencio Asto, the Philippine army's 6th division public affairs chief, said at least 27 members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) and five soldiers were killed in hostilities in Maguindanao.

"Eight other (soldiers), two of them junior officers, were (also) wounded. Our operation against the rebels continue," said Asto.

Loreto Rirao, executive director of the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said 7,330 families from eight towns in Maguindanao province were displaced by the ongoing fighting.

The 1,000-strong BIFF led by Ameril Umbra Kato is the armed wing of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Movement (BIFM) which broke away from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in 2010.

Kato, a former commander of the MILF 105th Base Command, was tagged as the mastermind behind the attacks on civilian communities in the southern Philippine province of North Cotabato in 2008.

He launched the attacks following the botched signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain between the government and the MILF peace panels.

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'Habagat' damages less than 'Ondoy' - insurers

MANILA, Philippines - Damages from the massive floods that hit Metro Manila this week appear to be "a lot less" compared with the damage wrought by tropical storm Ondoy in 2009, according to the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association (PIRA).

PIRA chairman Pedro P. Benedicto Jr. said an informal survey of the organization's 83 non-life insurance companies showed the initial reported damage was not as severe as the damage caused by Ondoy.

"It may still be too early to say but so far we can say that the damage is a lot less than that from Ondoy," he said, in a statement.

Benedicto said the damages from the floods caused by "habagat" (southwest monsoon) would be well below the P11 billion in damages from Ondoy.

"Majority of the losses that we expect this time around would come from flooded warehouses, factories and malls. It would take at least another 2 weeks for these losses to be completely adjusted," he said.

While Ondoy caught many Filipinos off-guard, Benedicto noted that this time people learned their lesson and were prepared to deal with the floods. Ondoy made Filipinos more "insurance-conscious," he added.

"Many car owners who live in low-lying areas brought their cars to higher grounds. We saw subdivisions where cars were parked in the highest portion of the village to protect them from the flood. We know of some owners who simply availed of overnight parking in shopping malls just to be safe. For them the parking fee is cheaper than the price of repairing a flood-damaged car," he said.

"More people now are buying AOG (Acts of God) cover than before and more appreciate how important being insured is."

PIRA emphasized the importance of insurance in the Philippines, especially since an average of 20 typhoons hit the country every year.

"In a country like ours, being insured should be mandatory because it allows individuals and families to cope with natural and man-made risks. Without insurance, there can be no stability," Benedicto said.

Around 2.4 million people were affected by the heavy rains and flooding in Metro Manila and nearby provinces. The torrential rains, which began Monday evening and lasted until Wednesday, were caused by the southwest monsoon.

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JBC resets voting on CJ shortlist

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) - The Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) reset anew its voting on the Chief Justice short list.

The JBC met this afternoon supposedly to cast its vote on the short list of candidates most qualified for the top judicial post, however, the voting was moved yet again to Monday, 11am, because the council failed to reach a consensus on the suspension or amendment of its disqualification rule.

Since the time of former Chief Justice Renato Corona, Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. has been proposing for an amendment to the rule that disqualifies candidates to any judicial post and posts in the Office of the Ombudsman with pending criminal and/or regular administrative cases.

This rule is part of the Rules of the Judicial and Bar Council promulgated in October 2000.

Should this rule be relaxed, candidates for the Chief Justice post who will benefit are all public officials appointed by President Benigno Aquino III: Justice Sec. Leila De Lima, Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairperson Teresita Herbosa.

De Lima faces three disbarment cases now pending with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), Jardeleza has a pending administrative case in connection with his former post at the Office of the Ombudsman, and Herbosa faces a pending disbarment case filed in 2005 when she was still a private practitioner.

Tupas said the representative from the Executive Department, Atty. Michael Frederick Musngi, moved for the suspension of the rules which was met by several objections.

"There was a motion from the executive to suspend the rules... what is the decision of the council? Here, there was no censensus," Tupas said.

An issue which also failed to strike an agreement involved questions of integrity. Under Rule 10 of the Rules of the JBC, "[i]n every case where the integrity of an applicant who is not otherwise disqualified for nomination is raised or challenged, the affirmative vote of all the members of the Council must be obtained for the favorable consideration of his nomination."

"Each member has a veto power, meaning, since it was raised by a member, the vote should be unanimous," Tupas said.

"On the motion to suspend the rules and whether these issues involving integrity, there was no consensus. We moved for a break, there was a long break in spite of that, there was no consensus was reached. We decided that it is time for us to reset this on Monday," he added.

The JBC assured the public that there will be no more resetting or extensions of its voting. The JBC initially set the voting on July 30.

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Philippines has 9.5M Twitter users, ranks 10th

PHOTO[/caption] The Philippines has once again been recognized as one of the world’s social media capitals, ranking 10th in the list of countries with the most number of users on website twitter.com. Data from social media monitor Semiocast showed that 9.5 million out of Twitter’s 517 million users were from the Philippines, placing the country in the 10th spot in the worldwide rankings, trailing Spain but ahead of Turkey. The feat was achieved despite the fact that only 30 percent of Filipinos have access to the Internet. The Filipino Internet user’s affinity with social media was nowhere more evident than at the height of torrential rains that inundated most of Metro Manila this week. “At the height of Tuesday’s intense rain and flooding all over the country, hundreds of thousands of Filipinos trooped to Twitter to spread critical flood information, as well as to mobilize rescue and relief operations,” Smart Communications, the country’s leading mobile network, said in a statement. “Even as the torrential rains rendered several families stranded and helpless, with flooded homes and without electricity, we saw how people found their mobile phones–and mobile Internet–especially useful to stay connected,” Smart chief wireless advisor Orlando Vea said. Smart said about 93.9 percent of the country’s Internet users were also active on social network facebook.com. Filipinos are able to access the Internet, Vea said, due to the availability of cheap mobile devices and affordable access rates. “This is certainly good news, but, frankly, not really surprising. Filipinos have always been active in social media and we are increasingly using mobile phones to tweet or post on Facebook,” he said. “With a strong and resilient network like Smart, you’re sure to receive every tweet, every update, and you can rely on your network not dying out on you when you need connectivity the most,” Vea said. The PLDT group, of which Smart is a part of, ended the first half of the year with 3.1 million Internet subscriptions.

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Use Of Seized PNP Rubber Boats

Upon President Benigno S. Aquino III’s request, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales has allowed the use of 75 rubber boats for relief efforts being conducted by the government on victims affected by floods due to heavy rains brought about by South-west monsoon.

President Aquino, in a press conference after presiding over a Cabinet meeting at the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC) in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City on Tuesday, said that Morales had agreed to let the government use said boats even after these had been confiscated by the Ombudsman due to questions raised over their acquisition.

The rubber boats, which the Philippine National Police (PNP) purchased for P131.5 million in 2009, were confiscated after Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo questioned their acquisition.

The boats, together with 93 outboard motors, were found to be incompatible with the needs of the PNP and were thus deemed unusable. (PNA)

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PAGASA: Green warning up over NCR, heavy to intense rainfall expected

After noting heavy rainfall over northern parts of Metro Manila in past hours, state weather forecasters warned of possible "heavy to intense" rainfall over Metro Manila within two hours from its 5:30 a.m. advisory.

The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration issued a green warning for Metro Manila at 5:30 a.m., indicating moderate to heavy rainfall is to be expected.

"Moderate to heavy rainfall (10.0 to 15.0 mm/hr) was recorded over CAMANVA (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela) and the northern portion of Quezon City while light to moderate rainfall (2.0 to 5.0 mm/hr) over the rest of Metro Manila," it said.

But it said moderate to heavy (7.5 to 12.0 mm/hr) rain is expected over Metro Manila "and at times heavy to intense (10.0 to 20.0 mm/hr) rains within the next two hours."

It advised residents in flood- and landslide-prone areas to take precautionary measures and watch out for the next warning.

Earlier, Malacañang ordered the resumption of work in offices after citing PAGASA's "recommendations."

The Palace had ordered work and classes in Metro Manila and nine nearby areas suspended Tuesday due to heavy rain.

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ANNOUNCEMENT:

Governor Espino hereby declares suspension of classes in all levels and work in all government offices in the province of Pangasinan tomorrow, August 8 due to intense and continuous rains in Pangasinan, La Union, and Benguet based on PAG-ASA forecast and relayed personally by DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo. Pls be guided accordingly. - Provl Administrator Raffy Baraan

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