SEOUL, South Korea (UPDATED) – North and South Korea agreed Tuesday, September 8, to hold a reunion in October for families separated by the Korean War, following all-night talks between their respective Red Cross branches.

The reunion – only the second to be held in 5 years – will take place between October 20-26 in North Korea's Mount Kumgang resort, the South's Unification Ministry said.

Seoul was understood to have been pushing for an earlier date – before North Korea celebrates the 70th anniversary of the founding of its ruling Worker's Party on October 10.

There are concerns Pyongyang might use the occasion to engage in a provocative act that could scupper the reunion altogether.

The Red Cross talks began Monday morning, September 7, in the border truce village of Panmunjom and, according to the South's Unification Ministry, ran through the night with only occasional breaks.

The chief South Korean delegate, Lee Duk-Haeng, confirmed that his side had requested a reunion at the "earliest possible date", but the North side demurred, citing the lengthy Chuseok holiday in late September and preparations for the ruling party anniversary.

According to the agreement, 100 people will be selected by each side to take part in the week-long event.

The effort to organize a reunion was the product of an accord the two Koreas reached two weeks ago to end a dangerous military standoff and reduce cross-border tensions.

Lingering tensions

Pyongyang has already accused Seoul of spinning the settlement as a North Korean climbdown, and warned that it would tear up the entire deal – including the family reunion – if the South continued making "wild remarks".

North Korea is planning a massive military parade on October 10 to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of its ruling Workers' Party.

There has been speculation that it might also launch a long-range rocket – a move that would trigger fresh UN sanctions and raise tensions on the divided peninsula.

Millions of people were separated during the 1950-53 Korean War conflict that sealed the division between the two Koreas.

Most died without having a chance to see or hear from their families on the other side of the border, across which all civilian communication is banned.

About 66,000 South Koreans – many of them in their 80s or 90s – are on the waiting list for an eventual reunion, but only a very limited number can be chosen each time.

The reunion program began in earnest after a historic North-South summit in 2000, and was initially an annual event.

But strained cross-border relations have allowed only one reunion in the past five years, with several being cancelled at the last moment by North Korea.

Tough selection process

For those on the waiting list, the reunion selection process is an emotional roller-coaster – raising hopes of a meeting they have longed for but which, statistically, they are very unlikely to experience.

For the last event in February 2014, a computer was used to randomly select 500 candidates, after taking age and family background into account.

That number was reduced to 200 after interviews and medical exams, and the final list of 100 was drawn up after checking if relatives were still alive on the other side.

And even after all that, the reunion almost never happened, with 11th-hour, high-level negotiations required to prevent the North canceling over South Korea's refusal to postpone annual military drills.

Lee Duk-Haeng said the South planned to hand over the names of 50 South Koreans believed to have been held as prisoners of war in the North.

If any are found to be alive, their relatives in the South will be given a priority slot in Seoul's final list of 100 participants, he said.

For the lucky ones who do take part, the reunions are hugely emotional – almost traumatic – affairs, with many of the elderly participants breaking down and sobbing as they cling to each other.

They typically last several days and the joy of the reunion is tempered by the pain of the inevitable – and this time permanent – separation at the end.

Because the Korean War concluded with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, the two Koreas technically remain at war and direct exchanges of letters or telephone calls are banned. – Park Chan-Kyong, AFP / Rappler.com

YANGON, Myanmar – Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi called on the international community Tuesday, September 8, to help ensure November polls bring “genuine political and governmental change” as campaigning officially kicked-off in the former junta-run country.

Some 30 million people will have the chance to vote – many for the first time in their lives – in the elections, the only nationwide polls contested by Suu Kyi’s party in a quarter of a century as the nation emerges from decades of stifling military rule.

The veteran democracy activist hailed the November 8 vote as a “turning point” for Myanmar, which has been ruled by a quasi-civilian government since the junta loosened its grip on outright power in 2011.

“For the first time in decades, our people will have a real chance of bringing about real change. This is a chance that we cannot afford to let slip,” she said in an English-language video message released by her National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

Suu Kyi, who was locked up for some 15 years by the junta, urged the international community to monitor the elections and ensure “our people feel that their will has been respected, and that their will has been respected in the way of genuine political and governmental change”.

In a separate Myanmar-language message, she urged voters to think of future generations as they prepare to cast their ballots, adding that the party believes it can succeed with “the driving force of people’s desire”.

Some 90 political parties are contesting the polls in Myanmar, which is in the throes of a dramatic metamorphosis as reforms sweep investment and opportunity into the long isolated Southeast Asian nation. 

The NLD is fielding over 1,000 candidates for the elections, slightly more than its main rival, the army-backed ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

The elections are for seats in the country’s legislature, with a president selected by the combined houses of parliament in the months after the vote.

But Suu Kyi herself is ineligible for the top political job because of a rule in the country's junta-drafted constitution that bars those with a foreign spouse or children – her sons are British.

She has said the party will choose a candidate from within its ranks after the election.

The lack of an obvious heir within the NLD has led to months of fevered speculation that she could throw her support behind the parliament speaker Shwe Mann, who was until recently the head of the USDP. 

He was ousted from his party leadership role in a dramatic late night internal putsch using security forces by President Thein Sein last month, in a move seen as a way for the army and its allies to tighten their grip on the party ahead of the polls.

The USDP won a majority in flawed 2010 elections, which were boycotted by the NLD and held while Suu Kyi was still under house arrest. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – With a little more than a month to go before 2016 poll bets make their bids official, supporters of Camarines Sur Representative Leni Robredo launched a "one million signatures" campaign in hopes of convincing the neophyte legislator to run for vice president.

Robredo, widow of former interior secretary Jesse Robredo, is among those being eyed as a possible running mate of Liberal Party (LP) presidential bet Manuel Roxas II.

Robredo has dismissed the idea, saying it was "too soon" for her to run for the second highest post of the land.

But this has not stopped a group of supporters from launching the "Leni Robredo for Vice President" movement to convince her to change her mind.

"We still feel that she has a lot to contribute as a vice presidential candidate and a partner of Secretary Mar. So we're not yet packing our bags and leaving, we still believe that there's an opportunity and a chance to convince her to run for Vice President," former Quezon representative Erin Tañada said at the launch of the signature campaign on Tuesday, September 8.

Around 150 residents of Baseco Compound in Manila, some sporting "Roxas" wristbands, crowded around the Kabalikat office to sign their names.

Tañada said the signature campaign was meant to show Robredo that there was clamor for her to run, not only in Bicol, her home region, but in other parts of the country as well.

The former congressman said Robredo would be an ideal complement to Roxas and the administration's tagline of "Daang Matuwid (straight path)."

The launch of the signature campaign came a day after Roxas said it was "possible" for Robredo to be his running mate. (READ: Who will be Mar Roxas' VP? List: Poe, Robredo, Cayetano)

Robredo an 'easy sell'

In previous interviews, Robredo has dismissed notions of a vice presidential run, saying she was hoping for the tandem of Roxas and Senator Grace Poe.

While Roxas has made offers for Poe to be his running mate, the senator is already being seen by some analysts as a presidential candidate. Poe has been visiting vote-rich provinces and talking about her possible platform if she decides to run for the top post.

Tañada believes Robredo would be an indispensable candidate for the LP and an ideal complement to Roxas, citing the rapport between the two.

"In Naga, during the death anniversary of Secretary Jesse, you would see that they're very comfortable, it's easy to bounce issues off each other, they already have rapport. That's important for a team running for the highest position," he said.

But he conceded that the public's awareness of Robredo, and her exposure in the public limelight, could affect her prospects of getting elected – a concern earlier raised by Senator Sergio Osmeña III, who said there was a need for the Camarines Sur representative to be "exposed to the national audience."

For Tañada, Robredo's track record and perception of being credible and honest can boost her chances.

"In any elections, to be realistic you'll look at numbers. You will look at possibilities. Of course we will admit, at this point Leni may not yet be that popular in terms of awareness, but it's not hard to sell her," Tañada said.

"She has no baggage. It's very easy to campaign for her. The things that she fought for are the things Jesse fought for, [which] are the things also that [President Benigno Aquino III] fought for, so it's easy. It's a fit," he added.

Tañada believes that once Robredo makes up her mind to run for vice president, her awareness among the public will also increase.

"Right now, we can't deny the fact that most people know her only as the wife of Secretary Jesse, but people need to know what she has done as representative of Camarines Sur, and her various projects there," he said.

Awareness campaigns

While Robredo has not changed her tune on questions of a possible vice presidential run, her supporters said they will continue organizing events to raise awareness and promote her public image.

Tañada said the one million signatures campaign will also be held in other areas, such as Davao, La Union, Nueva Ecija, Quezon, Bicol, Bukidnon, Surigao, and Ifugao.

Tañada said he will also push for Robredo's nomination when the LP's National Executive Council convenes to discuss Roxas' running mate.

Aside from Robredo, Batangas Governor Vilma Santos-Recto and Senators Antonio Trillanes IV and Alan Peter Cayetano of the Nacionalista Party are reportedly being considered as the administration's vice presidential candidate. –with reports from Bea Cupin/Rappler.com

MEXICO CITY, Mexico – A court in Mexico on Monday, September 7, formally charged 4 criminal justice workers for their alleged role in the July prison escape of drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

A federal judge in the central state of Toluca said the 4 security workers failed to follow "protocols and norms" and did not notify higher-ups about the jailbreak in a timely way.

Two of the men charged were were prison employees tasked with video monitoring of El Chapo's cell. The other two worked for the Mexican intelligence service.

Three other workers were charged several weeks ago with aiding Guzman, 58, in his daring prison escape.

Guzman managed to flee the Altiplano maximum-security prison outside Mexico City, just 17 months following his capture after years on the run.

He slipped out of his cell through a 1.5-kilometer (one-mile) tunnel dug under his private shower in the prison some 90 kilometers west of Mexico City, and has vanished without a trace.

El Chapo's escape has dealt a heavy blow to the government of President Enrique Pena Nieto, which had pointed to Guzman's arrest last year as its biggest victory yet in its war on drugs.

The government has offered a $3.8 million reward for information leading to his capture.

It was the second time that that the drug lord has succeeded in escaping prison.

He busted out of another maximum security penitentiary in 2001. – Rappler.com

BRASILIA, Brazil – Brazil will welcome Syrian refugees with "open arms," President Dilma Rousseff said Monday, September 7, as various Latin American nations sought to help with the human tidal wave fleeing the war-torn country.

In a video message marking Brazil's Independence Day, Rousseff said she wanted to "reiterate the government's willingness to welcome those who, driven from their homeland, want to come live, work and contribute to the prosperity and peace of Brazil." 

"Especially in these difficult times, these times of crisis, we have to welcome refugees with open arms," she added.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered his foreign ministry to take steps to receive 20,000 Syrians in the country.

Chile's President Michelle Bachelet, meanwhile, said her country also would be willing to accept refugees, without specifying a number or nationality.

"Throughout our history, we have always had our doors open to those, sometimes coming from far away places, bringing their history and cultural to the construction of our nation," Bachelet said. 

Leaders of Chile's Arab community, which numbers around 300,000 people, approached the government recently with a plan to offer shelter and support to about 100 refugee families from Syria.

Brazil has taken in more than 2,000 Syrian refugees since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011, more than any other country in Latin America.

Currently, Syrians are the largest refugee group in Brazil. In 2014 alone, 1,405 were given refuge.   

Two years ago, Brazil streamlined the process of taking in such refugees under a program originally set to end this month. 

Attorney General Beto Vasconcelos, quoted in local media, reportedly said the the government is considering extending the measure. 

Rousseff also referenced the photo of a lifeless little Syrian boy washed up on a Turkish beach that went viral last week and has since become a symbol of the migrant crisis.

"The image of the child, Aylan Kurdi, barely 3 years old, touched us all, and presented the world with a great challenge," she said.

European leaders are scrambling as bloody conflicts not only in Syria but also in Iraq and beyond send hundreds of thousands on dangerous treks through the Balkans and across the Mediterranean to the 28-nation EU.

On Monday, Britain and France joined Germany in pledging to take in tens of thousands. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – With Congress aiming to pass the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) before October 10, Senator Loren Legarda reminded the public about another measure that will allow Filipinos to better understand the Moro people.

Senate Bill 2685 mandates the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) to include the subject "Moro History, Culture, and Identity Studies" as an elective in the country's higher education curriculum – a move that, according to Legarda, will promote national unity.

"The goal of this measure is to provide the youth a broader perspective of their past, reinforcing Filipino identity," the senator said in a statement Tuesday, September 8.

She added: "It also aims to provide deeper knowledge and understanding of the centuries-long historical and cultural heritage of both the Moro people and the indigenous peoples or what we call the Lumads in Mindanao."

In crafting the college course and other learning materials, CHED must consult with recognized experts on Moro history, culture, and identity, as well as recognized resource persons on the Mindanao peace process and the Muslim-Christian dialogue.

Aside from supporting the peace process, the course will provide students a better understanding of the history of Muslims in the Philippines, as well as the roots of the "Mindanao problem," the "Moro problem," and how the conflict impacts the rest of the country. 

It will also look into the positive relations of the Moros with Christian settlers and the Lumad or indigenous highlander tribes in Mindanao, appreciating their commonalities, their differences in cultures and identities, and the ideal of their equality, co-existence, and unity. 

"The history of the Bangsamoro people forms part of the backbone of the historical development of our country. It is about time that we recognize the rightful place of the history and identity of the Bangsamoro in the fabric of our national history," Legarda said.

Meanwhile, at the House of Representatives, a similar bill introduced by Lanao Del Sur 2nd District Representative Pangalian Balindong was already approved on third and final reading last October 2014 and transmitted to the Senate a month after. – Rappler.com

After a year of seeming inability to get much traction on the country’s problems, Indonesian President Joko Widodo has exploded into action, naming an anti-corruption activist as his chief of staff, firing a controversial police general and vowing quick and “massive deregulation” in manufacturing, trade and agriculture.

A slowing economy, falling rupiah, sluggish growth and fears that it will all get worse seem to have motivated the president and his advisors to finally get serious about changing the investment climate. It may be an uphill battle against a bureaucracy that can be maddeningly complex and corrupt.

Since his inauguration in October 2014, Jokowi, as he is universally known, has seemingly disappointed the millions who voted for him in the hope that he could replicate on a national level the success he enjoyed in his brief term as governor of Jakarta.

After taking the bold decision early in his term to largely do away with budget-draining fuel subsidies, his ministers have been blamed for often contradictory policies that hamper rather than attract investment. It has seemed as if nobody was manning the ship as headlines were grabbed by everything from banning beer sales in mini-markets to police attacks on the government anti-corruption agency. None of it helped the private sector gain confidence.

In addition, he has had to cope with the behind-the-scenes power of former President Megawati Sukarnoputri, the head of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to which Jokowi belongs. Megawati reluctantly endorsed his July 2014 run for president but she has since seemed an obstacle to good governance.  

Jokowi’s hand was also strengthened last week when he completed a political deal to bring the moderate Islamist National Mandate Party (PAN), which has at least some reformist credentials and holds 49 of the 560 seats in the legislature, into the ruling coalition. The move gives the government a majority and leaves the once-fearsome opposition led by Jokowi’s presidential campaign opponent Prabowo Subianto and the Gerindra Party floundering.

Cabinet messes

In addition, many of the president’s initial cabinet appointments were dictated by the PDI-P with an apparent eye to the spoils of government.

A battle several months ago over Megawati’s desire to name her former aide Gen. Budi Gunawan as national police chief led to open warfare with the independent Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), which was left weakened after it named Budi a corruption suspect and became a target of police wrath.

In the end, Budi became deputy chief and according to most sources he effectively leads the force from the No 2 position. It remains to be seen how Gen. Anang Iskandar's appointment as new National Police detective chief will affect Budi's influence.

Perhaps more damaging, top government officials continued the push towards economic nationalism that began in the last administration, making it more difficult for multinationals to operate and dragging down investor sentiment. To make the storm worse, as the nationalists narrowed opportunity, the economy, still largely dependent on commodity exports including coal and crude oil, began to follow the rest of the world downhill.

Tight monetary policy, delayed infrastructure spending and other problems have pushed real GDP down from 5.1 percent in 2014 to just 4.87 percent forecast for 2015, a six-year low. The rupiah fell in August to RP14,146:US$1, levels not seen since the Asian financial crisis in 1998 .

An August 12 cabinet reshuffle brought in new blood, including Darmin Nasution, an ally of ousted reformer and current World Bank No. 2 Sri Mulyani Indrawati, as coordinating economics minister and Thomas Lembong, a Harvard-educated former chief executive of Quvat Management, a private equity firm, who also worked previously at Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley, as trade minister.

Signs and signals

Some observers believe Jokowi’s new clout was signaled by court decisions in mid-August nullifying a US$125 million lawsuit against the prestigious Jakarta Intercultural School and freeing on appeal two educators who were found guilty in April in a bizarre case charging them with repeatedly abusing kindergarten students sexually.   

The case gained widespread notoriety outside of Indonesia because of its blatant unfairness and the important role the school plays in the international business and diplomatic community in Indonesia. The charges were believed to have been engineered by an unnamed but powerful tycoon who was trying to take over the school’s lucrative property.

The president is also preparing for an October visit to Washington and officials have been quietly removing roadblocks for selected US companies that have indicated a willingness to increase investment if conditions improve. “The president wants the US trip to be a success,” said one of the event’s planners. “And that means getting a number, a big dollar figure, for incoming investment deals.”

In any case, Jokowi has installed as chief of staff Teten Masduki, a well-known former anti-corruption activist and lawyer, who replaces retired Gen. Luhut Pandjaitan, a close Jokowi confidante who has moved to become the Coordinating Minister for Politics, Legal and Human Rights. Teten is the former chairman of Indonesia Corruption Watch and an adamant backer of the KPK.

Jokowi also has fired Police Cmdr. Gen. Budi Waseso, a Budi Gunawan ally and the powerful National Police detective chief, who has doggedly pursued the KPK with nuisance charges. Former National Narcotics Agency (BNN) head Iskandar has replaced Waseso.

Knocking heads

In a significant public action, Jokowi bustled top administration officials off to the city of Bogor, 60 km south of Jakarta, for a pressure-filled meeting last week to push through dramatic new reforms including a stimulus package and doing away with 160 restrictions on investment, according to new economic czar Darmin Nasution.

Darmin told reporters, “If we need to sleep overnight there, we will sleep overnight there.”

The stimulus package is expected to include tax holidays and a new import policy for beef, which has been dogged by quotas and enormously high prices fueled by a desire to achieve food self-sufficiency by restricting numerous products that cannot be adequately produced in Indonesia. The system has led to massive corruption and consumer anger.

The mining sector is not among the industries targeted for deregulation, Darmin said. The sector has been hampered by a demand that virtually all companies mining minerals build smelters to process ore domestically instead of shipping it overseas. Foreign companies have also faced demands to divest large percentages of their holdings as the government seeks to build a “value added” domestic mining industry. Billions have been lost in export revenue but Darmin said he government is looking at how to provide incentives to accelerate smelter development.

The overall problem for investors has been that Jokowi tirelessly tells foreign governments and companies on his overseas trips that Indonesia welcomes investment only to have officials countermand those promises with more restrictive laws, difficulties securing work permits for expatriates, red tape and corruption.

“I want there to be revisions to laws that hinder anything, be it goods, services, procurement or the investment climate,” Jokowi said this week.

“We’ll see,” said one investor. “We have heard these promises before.”

The investment board has estimated the country needs about US$250 billion of investment from both domestic and foreign sources to achieve its 7% annual economic growth target.

The government is set to announce its economic policy package on Wednesday, September 9. – Rappler.com

This story was first published in the Asia Sentinel, a platform for news, analysis and opinion on national and regional issues in Asia.

MANILA, Philippines – Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle on Tuesday, September 8, said there was "no political discussion" in his prayer meeting with the Philippines’ top 3 presidential bets in his official residence.

The leading presidential aspirants – Vice President Jejomar Binay, Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, and Senator Grace Poe – joined the prayer meeting on Monday evening, September 7. 

The prayer meeting was convened by the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) chaired by former Philippine ambassador to the Vatican Henrietta de Villa.

“It was organized by PPCRV as part of pastoral care, not only of voters, but also of potential candidates,” Tagle said in a statement released by his office on Tuesday.

“The program was simple: evening prayer, dinner, meditation on humble servant leadership in the Bible, and the role of servant leaders in promoting the common good. No political discussion,” the cardinal added.

De Villa told reporters, “Masaya ‘yung atmosphere.” (The atmosphere was light.)

She even recalled a light moment between Roxas and Poe, whom the interior secretary has been courting to be his vice-presidential running mate.

Roxas: ‘First should be last’

De Villa said that at one point, “Mar would let Grace go ahead” during the picture-taking. At that time, Poe was beside Tagle, and was telling Roxas to take her place beside the cardinal: “Ikaw naman dito.” (You can take this spot.)

Laughing, De Villa said, “Sabi ni Mar, ‘No, no, no. Kasi ‘di ba, he who would be first should be last?’” (Mar said, “No, no, no. Because isn’t it that he who would be first should be last?”)

A photo obtained by Rappler showed Binay, Roxas, and Poe posing with Tagle and De Villa in the Manila archbishop's residence in Intramuros, Manila. 

Tagle, the most prominent leader of the Catholic Church in the Philippines, is known to avoid talking about politics.

He is also less outspoken about national issues compared to other Catholic bishops.

Tagle’s predecessor, the late Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, was more involved in politics. Sin helped in leading popular movements that ousted Philippine presidents – dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and actor-turned-politician Joseph Estrada in 2001. 

The Catholic Church remains an influential force in the Philippines, as 8 out of 10 Filipinos belong to this religious group.

The church has often lobbied for or against certain laws, such as the reproductive health law that it opposed.

Still, it does not openly endorse political candidates unlike the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), a century-old Christian church that practices bloc voting. – Rappler.com

SYDNEY, Australia – Australia's hardline policy on asylum-seekers, who have been pushed back by the boatload and incarcerated in offshore camps, is under pressure as public sympathy for Syrians escaping conflict swells in a nation built on migration.

While Europe opens its doors, at least temporarily, in the face of its worst refugee crisis since World War II, Prime Minister Tony Abbott has successfully closed Australia's borders to refugee boats, with no arrivals in more than a year.

From a handful that made it in 2008, boatloads of people from war-torn Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and the Middle East were coming almost daily by 2013, with hundreds of people drowning in the treacherous northern waters.

Refugees still come to Australia, via an orderly resettlement program. But turning back the boats, strict secrecy about operations on the high seas, and banishing asylum-seekers who do make it to two remote Pacific islands are the hallmarks of the policy that ended the crisis.

Although the policy stopped the drownings, human rights organizations have slammed the prolonged detention of asylum-seekers, including children, in wretched camps as cruel and in breach of Australia's legal obligations.

The controversy, including reports of suicide and child molestation in the centers, has played out far from the public eye. But the image of a drowned Syrian toddler that moved Europeans has also shifted the debate in Australia.

'Open the doors'

Thousands gathered across the country Monday, September 7, for "Light the Dark" rallies in memory of Aylan Kurdi, calling for more refugees to be welcomed into a country that over the decades has ushered in waves of migrants and created a vibrant multicultural society.

Abbott admitted in parliament that "all of us were moved to tears by that poignant image of the drowned child" and said that Australia would "play our part".

"It is the government's firm intention to take a significant number of people from Syria this year," he said, without specifying how many.

There will be no budging on the policy of "pushing back" the boats, but one option may be an emergency intake similar to the evacuation of Kosovo refugees in 1999.

Australia could also lift its current annual humanitarian refugee intake from 13,500 people, with aid agencies urging this be raised to 30,000 places in response to the global crisis.

Pamela Curr from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre told the rally in Melbourne that advocates would continue to raise the issue "until our government opens its heart, opens its mind and opens the doors of Australia".

Even within Abbott's conservative Liberal Party, which has been in lockstep behind the asylum-seeker policy, there are now calls for a greater humanitarian response, with one lawmaker calling for up to 50,000 Syrian refugees to be accepted.

Mike Baird, the premier of Australia's most populous state, New South Wales, acknowledged Saturday, September 5, that "stopping the boats can't be where this ends".

"We cannot see the images we have seen, and feel the things we have felt, and then go back to business as usual," he said in comments that represent a new tone in the debate.

No end to 'pushback'

Despite the outpouring of sympathy, there is no indication that Australia will dismantle the policies for "stopping the boats", with Immigration Minister Peter Dutton last week defending them as crucial to preventing more disasters at sea.

"Our policies are lawful. They are safe. And they work. They save lives," he said.

But critics say the policy of turning back boats and the offshore detention of asylum-seekers, while effective in preventing flows to Australia, simply shifts the problem elsewhere.

Refugee law expert Michelle Foster from the University of Melbourne said that asylum-seekers coming to Australia on unauthorized vessels were overwhelmingly found to be genuine refugees.

"If a government chooses to turn back boats it does nothing to solve the global refugee problem... you are simply requiring them to seek protection elsewhere," she said. 

Sarah Joseph, director of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law at Monash University, said that while the government has applauded its policies as effective – "whether we've actually saved lives... that's actually impossible to know".

She noted that the detention centers on the Pacific islands of Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus island, where some 1,500 people are held, are by all accounts "appalling places for people to actually live".

Joseph said Australia's method of regulating flows of asylum-seekers could never be applied to Europe, which is much closer to the conflict zones and faces an unmanageable number of people and boats.

"And where are you going to send them back to? Are you telling people, 'Look, don't worry, just stay in Syria?'" – Madeleine Coorey, AFP / Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Western Samar Representative and Liberal Party (LP) secretary-general Mel Senen Sarmiento will take over the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), President Benigno Aquino III confirmed on Tuesday, September 8.  

"I offered the job to him....The transition is being worked out so that he is not thrown into the deep end right away, and there's a smooth transition between Secretary Roxas and Representative Sarmiento," Aquino said in a Q&A with the Philippine Daily Inquirer, broadcast live over state-run PTV4.

He said the Sarmiento's appointment is "subject to the confirmation of the Commission on Appointments."

The DILG oversees the country's local governments, the Philippine National Police, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, and the Bureau of Fire Protection. 

Early August, current DILG Secretary Manuel Roxas II handed in his resignation letter to the President, a few days after he announced his plans of running for president in 2016. Aquino, however, said he would not accept Roxas' resignation until a suitable replacement is found and there is a smooth transition of work.

In the weeks between Aquino's Tuesday pronouncement and Roxas' resignation, there was much speculation as to who would take over the much-coveted post. Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr and DILG Undersecretary Austere Panadero were both reportedly considered for the post.

A source close to both the Palace and the ruling LP earlier said it would be in the party's interest to have a clear ally appointed as the next DILG chief. Ochoa is associated with the so-called "Samar Group" in Malacañang, or personalities who supported Aquino in 2010 but rooted for Vice President Jejomar Binay instead of Roxas, who was Aquino's running-mate. 

Those allied with Roxas and the LP are tagged members of the "Balay Group."  

'Colossal task'

In a statement, Sarmiento said, "I am ready to accept any new challenge to be able serve our people better and advance the cause of good governance and Daang Matuwid."

He also made a pledge as incoming DILG chief, in relation to the 2016 polls: "We will continue to uphold the high standards of the institution in public service and guarantee that the national police and the entire uniformed service under the DILG will be neutral in ensuring a peaceful, honest and orderly election in 2016."

Sarmiento recognized the "colossal task" that has been placed on his shoulders, and said that under his helm, "we will continue to modernize the PNP, the Bureau of Fire Protection, the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology and the other agencies under the DILG, and we will remain steadfast in our fight against corruption."– Rappler.com 

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia – A long-ruling leader with massive corruption scandals and human rights violations manages to evade justice. It is a storyline familiar not just to Filipinos who recall the days of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. 

From Indonesia's Suharto to Ukraine's Viktor Yanukovych to Malaysia's former chief minister of Sarawak Abdul Taih Mahmud, impunity for corruption is a universal experience. At the world's top anti-corruption conference held here from September 2 to 4, Filipinos drew lessons from the wealth of global case studies and models.  

“The key issue that persists in the Philippines is impunity. Corruption remains low risk and high reward. We need to see how other countries made corruption low reward and high risk, and that means stolen assets returned and jail time served,” Transparency International-Philippines executive director Cleo Calimbahin told Rappler. 

Under the Aquino administration, the Philippines improved in the annual Corruption Perceptions Index of the Berlin-based group, a finding local surveys support. President Benigno Aquino III touts the gains of his anti-corruption campaign but highlights the need for continuity as he steps down in 2016. 

Beyond sustaining top-level anti-graft efforts, Filipino delegates at the International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) pointed to the need to strengthen institutions, to reform campaign finance, and to address blunders like the controversial Supreme Court decision to grant bail to Senator Juan Ponce Enrile. 

How can the Philippines make deeper strides in fighting corruption? Here are 4 key lessons from the summit.  

1. Judicial reform: Clean the appointments process

To Filipino participants, the unprecedented High Court ruling granting bail to the 91-year-old Enrile was Exhibit A of impunity, the conference's theme. Accused of plunder by funneling development funds for the poor to fake NGOs, Enrile was freed on humanitarian grounds and not on the basis of evidence. (READ: SC's grant of Enrile bail 'political accommodation?') 

Vince Lazatin, executive director of the Transparency and Accountability Network, said that the decision shows the urgency of judicial reform. He said the problem is rooted in the appointments process, and the body that vets nominees: the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC). 

“Many fear that to give the next president 12 out of 15 appointments to the Supreme Court is a dangerous thing. The only safeguard we have is the JBC. If the JBC comes up with excellent names, no matter who is sitting as president, they will have no choice but to choose a high quality name,” he told Rappler.

Lazatin said that civil society should press the JBC to make its processes more open, and to put its decisions under greater scrutiny. The council already had two of its choices impeached: former chief justice Renato Corona, and ex-Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez. 

As for justices and judges, the Philippines adopted universal practices like filing asset declarations, and setting a code of conduct. The pitfalls are in disclosing what justices own, and enforcing ethical guidelines.  

2. Political party financing: Single-donor limits? 

Political party and electoral reform are areas where the Philippines is just scratching the surface. Aquino endorsed the anti-political dynasty bill but is silent on other reform measures. 

Lazatin credited the Commission on Elections for removing officials like former Laguna Governor ER Ejercito for overspending. Still, campaign finance entails more in a country where big businesses are known to secretly finance candidates in exchange for favors, and where donations and expenditures are underdeclared or unreported. 

In the United States, there are single-donor limits. Lazatin said Philippine law has no such restrictions. 

“The bigger issue here is the influence that money has on our candidates. In theory, a single donor can fund 100% of the campaign of a candidate. It's a problem around the world: in the US, the UK, here in Malaysia. It's not a developing country or a maturing democracy problem. It's a problem even in maturing democracies,” he said.  

“More than judicial reform, it's political finance that I think we're still groping for solutions.” 

3. Access to information: make data useful 

Participants mourned what civil society groups declared in August as the “death” of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill, an acknowledgment that Congress will not pass the law even after 15 years of lobbying. 

#FOIisDeadpic.twitter.com/fF5QV8SqZt

— Vincent Lazatin (@vtlazatin) August 26, 2015

Atty Nepo Malaluan giving a eulogy for the dead FOI bill. #FOIisDeadpic.twitter.com/1ALGoNW835

— Vincent Lazatin (@vtlazatin) August 26, 2015

Michael Cañares of Open Data Labs Jakarta said even without legislation, activists, researchers, and journalists in countries like Malaysia and the Philippines can extract and mine data. Beyond access, what is important is coverting information into formats people can understand and use. 

One crucial area is the procurement process. The Construction Sector Transparency Initiative, for instance, works with the Philippine public works, transportation and agriculture departments to make procurement data from the construction industry available online. 

“Even if the law provides that civil society organizations are participants in the procurement process, I just don't think that's enough,” said Cañares, the Open Data Lab's regional research manager for Asia. 

“Not all national areas have strong civil society organizations with a very high competency for understanding procurement contracts. The complexity of our procurement law even makes it impossible for local CSOs to understand how things work.”

Another challenge is integrating the efforts of follow-the-money communities, which tend to focus on their own niches like social audits, and participatory budgeting. 

Kidjie Ian Saguin, a researcher at Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, believes bureaucratic reforms cannot be overlooked. 

“There's still a need to pass the FOI bill. Whistleblowers protection still needs to be improved. Matuwid na daan (straight path) is actually just a slogan but it doesn't have a legal framework.” 

4. Business integrity: craft anti-bribery policies

Delegates warned against focusing too much on the government, and ignoring corruption in business. The private sector, after all, accounts for the supply side of the problem. 

Jerry Bernas, program director of the Singapore-based ASEAN CSR Network, said it is not just foreign companies, but even local SMEs that resort to corruption to secure permits, and to run businesses. 

Bernas' group works with national associations and programs in the region like the Philippines' Integrity Initiative to ensure that they operate ethically, meet global standards, and learn from each other.

He urged companies to come up with their own policies against corruption and bribery. 

“Make it clear to employees, agents, intermediaries that corruption is not acceptable. Often, a corporation justifies corruption by saying it didn't authorize the employee to do that but where did the money come from? It's not the employee's personal money.” 

Bernas added that the Philippines must follow through with its improved reputation in fighting corruption by passing a law similar to the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. An anti-foreign bribery law covers corrupt acts Filipino firms commit overseas. 

Elections and entrenching reforms

While working in different fields and countries, the Filipino attendees all looked to the 2016 elections as a crucial moment for the anti-corruption movement. 

Transparency advocates commended Aquino for setting the tone, filing high-profile cases against political rivals, and appointing credible personalities to head sensitive agencies.

Yet questions about the sustainability of the reforms point to the very nature of the changes under his watch. 

“All this apprehension about the results of the next elections actually speaks of the fact that probably, the reforms are not that deeply entrenched,” said Cañares.  

“The reforms must be deeply entrenched in such a way that the institutions themselves are actually strong. If the Supreme Court was really independent, if the Office of the Ombudsman is a strong institution, then no president can potentially frustrate a person leading that institution.” – Rappler.com  

Rappler multimedia reporter Ayee Macaraig was chosen to be part of the Young Journalists Initiative of the IACC. She covered the anti-corruption conference of Transparency International in Malaysia.

MANILA, Philippines – President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday, September 8, reiterated the need for Senator Grace Poe to gain more experience in government before gunning for the country's highest elective post in 2016.

Responding to questions in a Q&A with the Philippine Daily Inquirer aired live on state-run PTV4, Aquino said he chose Roxas over Poe to be the administration standard-bearer because he is “sure” that Roxas has the "track record and experience" to continue what he started.

"At the end of the day, is she as prepared as Mar? I don't think anybody can argue that she is as prepared as Mar at this point in time,” the President said. 

In a game prepared by PDI, Aquino was asked to choose a hashtag from a list, to match a name or issue. When Poe's name was mentioned, he chose "#SaTamangPanahon (at the right time)" – consistent with his belief that the neophyte senator needs more experience to gun for the presidency.

Despite the jabs at Poe, Aquino said they the ruling party will continue to woo her to be the administration's vice presidential bet. "Until the end of filing, I don't think we're giving up. Iba pa rin (It's still better) that we get united."

"I hope there will be less division of forces that are allied in Daang Matuwid (Straight Path) and thereby ensure that there is continuity," the President added.

Mar's choice

If Poe decides to run for president, Aquino said there are at least two potential candidates he has in mind to be Roxas' running mate, one of whom he is "really pushing for."

He declined to name the two, and later said that Roxas would make the final decision, as the President had mentioned in his speech endorsing Roxas as the administration's standard bearer.

Asked about Camarines Sur Representative Leni Robredo, one of those being eyed as Roxas' running mate, Aquino said that if Roxas so decides, then they will talk to Robredo. He  said he wouldn't want to make any statement until then so as not to put any undue pressure on the neophyte lawmaker.

Other potential vice presidential candidates reportedly being eyed by the ruling party are Batangas Governor Vilma Santos, and Senators Alan Peter Cayetano and Antonio Trillanes.

It was not the first time the President criticized Poe’s inexperience in government service. He had earlier referred to Poe, a first-time lawmaker, as “unripe” for the presidency.

Poe, the current front runner in presidential preference polls, is widely believed to be eyeing the presidency. She has been going around the country to  as she maintained she is qualified to run for president. (READ: Grace Poe to Aquino: 'Unripe' ones last longer) – Rappler.com

SINGAPORE - For investors and entrepreneurs, following the crowd can be an irresistible instinct. Indeed, going against the grain requires a great deal of discipline and courage.

But here’s the problem: investing in startups has never been more popular in Asia, resulting in a lot of noise as to which opportunities are best for investment, says David Corbin, director of content strategy at Tech in Asia, at its annual Tokyo conference.

Citing Tech in Asia data, David describes how the region is seeing massive increases in funding. At just US$6 billion in 2013, the aggregate amount rose to US$25 billion in 2014. It’s on track to hit US$45 billion in 2015.

The number of industries with more than US$1 billion in funding has soared too. Only e-commerce surpassed that amount two years back, but in 2015, 12 industries are slated to surpass that ceiling.

What’s staggering is how many of Asia’s unicorns – startups with over US$1 billion in valuation – arose soon after the financial crisis in 2008.

Tokopedia and Flipkart, ecommerce leaders in Indonesia and India respectively, were started in 2009. Korea’s online shopping leader Coupang, transportation app Ola, and Japanese news aggregator SmartNews got off the ground the year after. Then, 2011 saw the launch of taxi app GrabTaxi, online groceries site RedMart, and WeChat.

These companies saw their growth accelerate and their valuations soar in subsequent years.

Industries in Asia benefitting most from the funding boom are payments, media, and education. Payments was at US$29 million in 2013. It’ll reach US$248 million in 2015. Media is set to soar from US$20 million to US$456 million this year. Education will see growth from US$57 million to an expected US$1.5 billion.

Let’s turn to sectors that aren’t so hot anymore. Virtual currency is stagnant, while productivity software is expected to get only US$7 million this year.

“There are a million Slack clones out there, many of which are annoyed at being Slack clones because they’ve existed for five years already,” says David.

While gaming has grown from US$161 million in 2013 to a projected US$436 million this year, it has actually slid from the seventh most-funded vertical in 2013 and could wind up 21st this year.

“Gaming is hard. It’s hard to create hit after hit after hit,” says David.

Keys to success

So here’s the dilemma: with all these data in our hands, how do we decide which verticals to back, and hence increase our chances of creating or backing an impactful startup?

Speaking of hot sectors like media, education, and payments, blindly getting into these industries may not be a good idea since there’s a likelihood of falling into the trap of conventional wisdom.

So the best way to go about it would be to follow what Tokopedia or GrabTaxi did: get into an industry just early enough to ride on a rising wave.

While that alone may be sufficient in the past, things are changing. More Silicon Valley companies are seeing Asia as a lucrative market, and are making concerted efforts to tackle it early. Uber, Stripe, and Github are just some examples.

The trick is to seize opportunities that put a premium on localization, giving Asia-first startups a huge advantage over Silicon Valley. Defensibility and secret knowledge is the name of the game.

Logistics and healthcare are examples of industries that will see the next Asian unicorns, given how the environments in Asian countries differ from the US and from each other. In Southeast Asia, we’re seeing companies big and small rising up to meet the demand spike for e-commerce deliveries. Due to the regulatory and infrastructure challenges in the region, it’ll be hard for competitors from the West to make a dent.

The goal, therefore, isn’t just to build a unicorn. “It’s to build a unicorn that can go to war,” says David. – Rappler.com

This story first appeared in Tech in Asia, the online community for Asia’s technology and startup ecosystem.

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – Those hoping Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte will be part of the national government in 2016 are in for a disappointment.

The popular mayor, who has announced he is not running for president, said he won't accept any other national government posts.

Asked if he would accept an offer to run as vice president, or take posts in the Department of the Interior and Local Government or Metro Manila Development Authority, he said: 

“No, I will not. I am going to retire after my term. Ayoko nga magtrabaho ng barangay captain (I don't even want to work as barangay captain)."

Duterte said this during a visit to Navotas and Malabon on Tuesday, September 8, a day after he clarified he was not running for Philippine president in 2016.

He laid to rest any hope he could be convinced otherwise. (READ: Netizens on Duterte's decision: He was our last hope for a better PH)

“I’m out of the race. I will retire after my term. I’ve been mayor of Davao for 22 years and I think it’s time for me to go. I never said in any forum that I’m interested to run,” he told reporters after he landed at the Navotas City Hall helipad.

Things won't change even if future political surveys show he is still a favorite among voters.

“Maski dayaan nila at ilagay akong number one, eh kanila na. Maski nga paupuin ako doon ayaw ko,” he said. (Even if they cheat and make me number one, they can have it. Even if they let me have it, I don't want it.)

The popular Davao City mayor so far won’t be endorsing any other presidential candidate, saying he would rather “be friends with them.” 

But things will be different if a candidate decides to support federalism, a cause Duterte is passionate about.

“We would maybe support the candidate who will embrace it with passion. Otherwise, I don’t think federalism will take off.”

He also confirmed he was invited to the meeting with Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, along with top presidential aspirants Interior Secretary Manuel "Mar" Roxas II, Senator Grace Poe and Vice President Jejomar Binay. He declined.

“I was extended an invitation but I responded saying, ‘I cannot join you’ because ang pinapatawag doon ang tatakbo ng presidente. Sinabi ko doon sa tumawag sa akin sa office niya, I am not a candidate so hindi ako kailangan doon (because the ones invited are running for president. I told the person who called me from his office, I am not a candidate so I am not needed there),” he said. 

Sortie?

Speaking in front of City of Malabon University students, Duterte gave a more detailed explanation of his reasons for not running for president. 

He placed emphasis on his lack of funds to pull off a nationwide campaign. Some would-be financial backers had approached him before, but he could not accept their help. 

“Pinatawag ako ng 5 ng malaking spenders sa pulitika (I was called by 5 big spenders on politics). If there is one thing I cannot do is to ask for money from other people. That’s why I cannot be president,” he explained.

He said his two wives and daughter Sara objected to a presidential bid. He repeated previous statements that he was “too old” and had medical issues to deal with, including back pains due to a motorcycle accident years ago. 

Duterte explained that his events in Navotas and Malabon had nothing to do with any 2016 aspirations.

They were, instead, previous commitments with the local officials there who invited him to visit “a long time ago.”

But the visit could not help but take on the mood of an electoral sortie.

Duterte was welcomed by throngs of supporters wearing shirts emblazoned with pro-Duterte slogans. They wore matching bracelets and rushed to take selfies with him. Chants of “Duterte! Duterte!” followed him.

After his speech, most of which was about federalism, a motorcade was conducted in his honor.

The Duterte students saw was in full form, far from the teary-eyed mayor in the previous day’s 14-minute press conference.

On stage, he was making jokes and playful “advances” to pretty girls in the crowd. He even sang. It seems that even if his ardent supporters are not yet ready to move on, he – at least – is.

Aquino to talk to Duterte

In a Q&A with the Philippine Daily Inquirer aired live on PTV4 on Tuesday, President Benigno Aquino III said he would talk to Duterte following his announcement that he would not seek the presidency.

Asked if Duterte's decision would benefit Vice President Jejomar Binay or Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, Aquino said: "I think he is allied with us. He has endorsed me in my various endeavors into national politics. Perhaps, I think I better reserve some comments. We haven't really talked. Can we get him on board really, fully in Sec Mar's campaign."

"So I might be premature in saying anything at this point in time.  Because I didn't have advance knowledge as to what he would say...I just read it in today's papers. I think it would be best for me to talk to him at some point in time at his convenience as to how we can get together, if possible, towards continuing the progress of this country," he added.

Duterte is also known to be a good friend of Roxas. The two are known to meet when Roxas is in Davao, leading to earlier suspicions that they were being considered as a tandem, which both camps dispelled. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – The charges filed by an expelled Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) minister two weeks ago against members of the powerful church's highest administrative body has yet to undergo preliminary investigation before the Department of Justice (DOJ).

This was confirmed by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Tuesday, September 8, saying the delay is due to an incomplete set of complaints.

"Dahil hindi naman puwedeng magsimula ng proseso na kulang pa ang number of complaints (Because we cannot start the process if the number of complaints is still lacking),” De Lima said in a chance interview.

"There is a required number of complaint-affidavits, which should be complete, including yung mga (the) attachments,” she added.

This was confirmed by Prosecutor General Claro Arellano by telephone.

A prosecutor or a panel of prosecutors has yet to be assigned or formed for the harassment, coercion, grave threats and illegal detention complaints filed by former INC minister Isaias Samson Jr. 

Consequently, no hearing dates have been set yet.

No interference

INC Sanggunian members Glicerio Santos Jr, Radel Cortez, Bienvenido Santiago Sr, Mathusalem Pareja, Rolando Esguerra, Eraño Codera, Rodelio Cabrera, and Maximo Bularan Jr were named respondents in Samson's criminal complaints.

INC leaders have slammed De Lima's alleged special attention given to Samson's complaints, citing her appearance during the television news coverage of the filing.

Branding this so-called special favor as state interference in religious affairs, INC leaders mobilized thousands of its flock to a 5-day mass action which started in front of the Department of Justice in downtown Manila and ended along the historic Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue.

De Lima on Tuesday explained she will let the DOJ prosecutors handle the case as protocol dictates.

“So the Secretary of Justice cannot interfere, cannot dictate on how the case is disposed off by the prosecutor. But as I said, I monitor, because I want to make sure na tama ang ginagawa ng prosecutor alinsunod sa (that what the prosecutor is doing is consistent with) established procedure,” she added.

If the charges are resolved by members of the National Prosecution Service (NPS) headed by Arellano and the resolution is appealed, that is the time the resolution of the charges is elevated to the justice secretary.

A preliminary investigation to be conducted by the NPS provides the INC leaders a chance to be heard through the filing of counter-affidavits.

Once a prosecutor or panel of prosecutors is assigned to Samson's complaint, a hearing will be set. The respondents will be issued a subpoena or summons to appear before the hearing. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday, September 8, said it is set to “clean” and reuse at least 5,000 old vote-counting machines in the Philippines' presidential elections in 2016. 

Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon used a Spanish word – “disponer” – to describe the poll body's plans for the old precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines.

Disponer means "to prepare," "to bring order to," or "to improvise." 

“The commission en banc has decided that we will have the old PCOS cleaned – not all of them but several thousands – and part of these will be used as voting machines for persons with disabilities, among other groups,” Guanzon said in a news conference.

The Comelec is also planning to make the cleaned PCOS machines available for local absentee voters. Because these voters – including media personnel, teachers, and soldiers – have to work on election day, the Comelec allows them to vote on earlier dates. 

This plan comes weeks after the Comelec, in a unanimous decision, junked its initial option to refurbish the 82,000 old PCOS machines that the Comelec already bought from technology provider Smartmatic.

The Philippines used these PCOS machines in its first two automated elections in 2010 and 2013. 

Instead of refurbishing these machines, the Comelec decided to lease 93,000 new vote-counting machines from Smartmatic. In making this decision, the poll body cited time constraints. (READ: Poll exec hits Smartmatic for refusing to fix PCOS)

‘We cannot really clean all’

When asked why the Comelec couldn’t just clean all the old PCOS machines, Guanzon said: “There are just so many days till election day, and our hands are very full…. We cannot really clean all because we do not have the parts and we do not have the time.”

In Tuesday’s news conference, Guanzon also gave other details about cleaning the PCOS machines. 

Guanzon, a former Commission on Audit commissioner, pointed out it would likely take around two hours to clean each PCOS machine. 

She said that once the materials become available, the Comelec can clean at least 5,000 PCOS machines in 3 weeks. The Comelec can also clean as many as 10,000 old PCOS machines.

She added that the Department of Science and Technology will help the Comelec “find or produce the basic parts” of the PCOS, such as the film, the battery, and the roller.

The cleaning will happen in the Comelec’s warehouse in Santa Rosa, Laguna. 

Guanzon, a former mayor of Cadiz City in Negros Occidental, explained to reporters: “This is like: you have 80,000 machines, you’re gonna clean maybe one-third of them and see which batteries are still working, which rollers are still working. For those batteries that are working well, we can transfer them to better functioning machines.”

Eliciting laughter, Guanzon said, “Kung sa Ilonggo po, disponer.” (As we say it in Ilonggo, it’s to improvise.) – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – Justice Secretary Leila de Lima proposed on Tuesday, September 8, that an inter-agency body be formed to investigate the killings of indigenous people or lumad in Mindanao, allegedly by government forces.

While she said she’s considering sending National Bureau of Investigation agents to conduct a parallel probe into reports that pointed to Army officers and their paramilitary forces to be behind the killings, she said the NBI team cannot do it alone.

“But it cannot be just purely an NBI probe because these are no ordinary criminal offenses. These have complexities,” De Lima said. “We will be monitoring also the congressional hearings. There was a proposal on the congressional hearings to tap the NBI for the probe.” 

Senator Grace Poe on Monday already filed a resolution calling for an investigation into the lumad killings.

Last Saturday, the National Council of Churches in the Philippines said in a statement: “We call on authorities to bring to justice the death of our Lumad brothers, the victims of these two horrendous massacres, and permit the conduct of independent fact finding missions.”

The justice secretary said the inter-agency body, should one be formed, must have prosecutors, state counsels, and representatives of agencies that are not attached to the justice department. That way, she said, the probe will be more effective.

De Lima backs the move of the Commission on Human Rights, an agency she used to chair, to look into the lumad’s cases. They will be looking into reports that the Philippine Army’s 36th Infantry Battalion and Special Forces are working with paramilitary forces called “Magahat” or “Bagani” in harassing or attacking the lumad.

Among the allegations that the justice secretary wants to look into are the reasons  the military has a presence in the communities to begin with. There are also complaints pending with the Davao Prosecutor’s Office for illegal detention, coercion, threat, and human trafficking against lumad leaders.

“There must be a good reason why there is military presence. But does that mean there is militarization? Does it mean there’s encampment and what is being prohibited? These should be looked into,” De Lima said.

“I told PG (Prosecutor General Claro Arellano) to check specifically on the allegations in support of the charges for trafficking in persons because this is really the first time I’m hearing of trafficking in persons charged in an internal displacement situation,” she said. – Rappler.com

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – Two teenage boys mauled a police officer who caught one of them picking the lock of the door of a police station over the weekend.

On Sunday, September 6, Police Officer 3 Carlito Esnara saw a 16-year-old male picking the lock of the door of the second floor of Station 6 in Aurora Hill. When Esnara confronted the young man, the latter brought out a brass knuckle and challenged the cop to a fistfight, police said.

The 16-year-old reportedly struck the police officer first. The two were exchanging blows when the  boy's companion, a 17-year-old, arrived to back up his friend. Concerned citizens broke up the fight.

The suspects, reportedly residents of Bayan Park village in Aurora Hill, are being investigated.

Also last week, another Baguio cop was attacked by a suspect that he was about to nab.

Police Officer 2 Danny Bomogao was about to arrest Rowel Ramirez, 29, at the city's public market, when the latter stabbed him with an ice pick.

Bomogao was reportedly stabbed 5 times but his laminated ID and ATM cards helped deflect the attack.

Despite his state, the cop managed to arrest Ramirez and bring him to the police station, before he was brought to the hospital. – Rappler.com

MANILA, Philippines – The Nacionalista Party will soon break away from the administration coalition, as the 2016 presidential election nears. 

NP senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos said the party would be formalizing this but stressed it is already the situation “informally.”

“But informally ganun naman talaga dahil nung 2013 hindi naman nasunod ang aming usual party agreement. Marami pa ring NP na kandidato na nilagyan ng kalaban ng LP [Liberal Party] nung 2013,” Marcos told reporters on Monday, September 7.

(But informally, that's how it is because in 2013 our usual party agreement was not followed. LP still put candidates against NP members in 2013.)

Despite being allies in the national elections in 2013, for example, LP and NP candidates in the province of Cavite were bitter rivals in the local polls.

With all this, the senator said the alliance resembles a “very loose coalition.”

“I think that we are moving farther and farther away from that,” Marcos said.

Marcos to run for higher post

At least 3 NP senators are eyeing a higher post in 2016 – Senators Alan Peter Cayetano, Antonio Trillanes IV, and Marcos himself.

Marcos admitted his own intention to run either for president or vice president, saying he would announce it once everything is “clear." 

Vice President Jejomar Binay earlier said he is considering Marcos as his running mate, even as he was a human rights lawyer during the Martial Law regime of Marcos's father, the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The senator said he is hoping that the party would choose a single standard-bearer in the elections to show party unity.

“Ang sinasabi ko lang, I hope na makakapag-pili ng standard bearer para sa national ang Nacionalista Party dahil sayang naman kasi kung magiging sona libre syempre yung bawat miyembro mamimili ng kanilang sariling kandidato. Baka magkawatak-watak ang NP. Ayaw natin yun” Marcos said.

(What I’m saying is, I hope the Nacionalista Party would choose a standard-bearer for the national level because everything will be put to waste if it will just be (free zone), if each member will choose his or her own candidate. The NP might fall apart and that’s what we don’t want.)

While NP is not the biggest party, Marcos maintained that the Villar-led NP is the “most cohesive” one in the country. – Rappler.com

NOORDWIJK, Netherlands – European experts have pulled off a major advance that might one day help build new worlds in space after an astronaut in the International Space Station remotely guided a robot on Earth by feel.

Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen performed the breath-taking experiment in which he placed a peg into a very tight hole on Monday under the careful control of the European Space Agency.

While orbiting some 400 kilometers (250 miles) above Earth, Mogensen took control of the Interact Centaur rover which has a pair of arms for delicate, high-precision work.

The blue-and-white fiberglass robot, which cost less than 200,000 euros ($224,000) to build, also has a camera on its head which allows the controller to directly see the task it is performing.

But sight is not the most important sense in this project. It is touch.

In real-time, thanks to super swift signals bouncing off a dedicated complex system of satellites working in synchronisation, the astronaut maneuvered the robot into place.

He then very slowly lowered a metal pin held by the robot into a tight hole in a task board with less than a sixth of a millimetre of wriggle room.

Using a joystick

For the first time –thanks to force-feedback technology – when the pin was not aligned correctly Mogensen felt it hit the sides of the hole via the joystick he was operating on the space station.

Cheers erupted when after several long nail-biting minutes the rover – which slightly resembles Disney's WALL.E cartoon character – dropped the pin successfully into place. 

Scientists and engineers believe applications of this kind of tactile technology are huge – allowing humans to guide robots in delicate tasks by feeling their way.

The technology will allow people "to project a human-like presence into the robots, to do human-like tasks on the surface" of a planet, Andre Schiele, head of ESA’s Telerobotics and Haptics Laboratory, told the Agence France-Presse.

With space engineers hoping at some point to fly people to Mars, "we have to bring them back" which means before they first step foot on the planet "you would have to build an entire launch-platform on the planet."

Robots like the Centaur – also affectionately dubbed the "blue bug" by some of its designers – could be put in place first to do the building.

"There's going to be a need for a set-up, some building before a human even sets foot on the planet and for that we could send down robots and control them from a space station," said industrial designer Emiel den Exter.

The 18-month project was a collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and students from Delft University of Technology.

"Even something like lacing your shoe is something you rely entirely on your tactile senses" for, Schiele told journalists gathered at the ESA headquarters in the Dutch town of Noordwijk.

Earthly uses 

On Earth this cutting-edge technology known as haptics could also be used "everywhere where you basically don't want to send humans," said Schiele.

"Feeling" robots would have been useful to cap the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, or help seal the reactors at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant after the 2011 meltdown.

Professor Frans van der Helm, from Delft University's mechanical engineering unit, said one scheme was looking at using  such robots to work in a massive nuclear fusion project in France.

Inside the costly, multipartner International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) -- if it is built -- "the heat will be about one million degrees," Van der Helm told AFP.

"So everything starts to deform" making it hard for robots to complete a task which they have been programmed for, he said.

In this case, telepresence technology would allow a human to feel their way through and fix a problem.

For 27-year-old Turkish student Doga Emirdag, who helped design the Centaur's exo-skeleton as part of his masters degree, Monday's demonstration was a big day.

"The robot as it is wouldn't go into space. But the technology being developed will go to space," he said with a broad smile. – Rappler.com