Sa episode na ito, hihimayin ni Rappler editor-at-large Marites Vitug ang insidenteng nakunan ng cellphone video sa Scarborough Shoal (na tinatawag din na Bajo de Masinloc o Panatag Shoal) sa karagatan ng Zambales. Sinubukan ng ilang miyembro ng China Coast Guard na agawin ang nahuling lamang-dagat ng ilang Pilipinong mangingisda at itaboy sila, pero nanindigan ang mga kababayan natin. At dahil may video sila ng pangyayari, hindi maikakaila ng sinuman ang panghihimasok at pang-aabuso ng China Coast Guard sa kanila. – Rappler.com

Presenter, writer: Marites Vitug
Video editor: Jen Agbuya
Videographer: Jeff Digma
Producer: JC Gotinga
Supervising producer: Beth Frondoso

The Philippines is not the only country that uses this term to refer to its House of Representatives and “upper house” to call its Senate.

We explain more in this short video. – Rappler.com

At least, that’s his son, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s logic, in deciding not to make the anniversary of the revolution that toppled the dictatorship a special day. 

The People Power Spirit is alive – the numbers say as much. But why does it stay alive and why should it stay alive? – Rappler.com

Reporter: Bea Cupin
Producer: Cara Angeline Oliver
Videographers: Franz Lopez, Jeff Digma
Video editor: Emerald Hidalgo
Graphics: Alejandro Edoria, Raffy De Guzman, Guia Abogado
Supervising producer: Beth Frondoso

In this episode, Rappler editor-at-large Marites Vitug examines the Philippine military’s claim that a ‘decisive victory’ over the NPA is around the corner, and the shifting of its focus to external threats like China’s maritime fleet in the West Philippine Sea. How have the Armed Forces of the Philippines evolved with the times? – Rappler.com

Host, writer: Marites Vitug
Producer: JC Gotinga
Video editor: Jen Agbuya
Videographer: Jeff Digma

Pero may isa pang tambalan na nasa proseso na rin ng paghihiwalay, pero hindi (pa) sila umaamin.

Ang ‘Uniteam’ nina President Bongbong Marcos at Vice President Sara Duterte ay dinulot ng pangangailangang pampulitka – isang pagsasanib ng matutunog na apelyidong suportado ng malalawig na makinarya at naglalakihang pondo.

Mabenta ang kanilang “love team” dahil magkahawig ang kanilang mga karakter at branding. Sa episode na ito, iisa-isahin ni Rappler editor-at-large Marites Vitug ang mga pagkakapareho ng dalawang politiko, at ang mga pagkakaibang sa simula pa lang ay nagsilbi nang taning sa kanilang tambalan. – Rappler.com

Presenter, writer: Marites Vitug
Producer, writer, video researcher: JC Gotinga
Video editor, video researcher: Jen Agbuya
Videographers: Errol Almario, Ulysis Pontanares
Artists: Marian Hukom, Nico Villarete, David Castuciano

Lawmakers at the House of Representatives said charter change will be among their priorities for 2024, but their counterparts at the Senate are not as enthusiastic about it.

So a “people’s initiative” has been rolled out instead – but even that is clouded by rumors of bribery.

Watch as Rappler’s House reporter Kaycee Valmonte gives a glimpse of what can happen when lawmakers attempt to push for changes in the country’s charter. – Rappler.com

Ngayong taon, nanumbalik ang joint maritime patrols ng Pilipinas at Estados Unidos, at nagsimula naman ang sa pagitan ng Pilipinas at ng Australia. Sa gitna ng patuloy na pangha-harass ng China sa mga bangka at barko ng Pilipinas sa naturang dagat, malinaw ang mensahe ng Pilipinas at mga kaalyado nitong bansa: “Dahan-dahan ka lang; ‘wag kang agresibo.” – Rappler.com

Bilang architect ng foreign policy ng bansa, trabaho ng pangulo na makipag-ugnayan sa mga pinuno ng iba’t-ibang bansa. Kaiba kay dating pangulong Rodrigo Duterte, may pagka-lagalag si Marcos, at hindi lamang China ang bukambibig niya kapag foreign policy ang pinag-uusapan.

Sa episode na ito ng Hindi Ito Marites, susuriin ni Rappler editor-at-large Marites Vitug ang istilo ng diplomasya ni Marcos, at magbabahagi siya ng trivia mula sa kanyang interviews, newsletter na Sui Generis, at iba pang verified information.

Para makatanggap ng Sui Generis newsletter, magsubscribe para maging Rappler+ member. – Rappler.com

“Nowhere is safe in Gaza…The situation is fast deteriorating into a catastrophe with potentially irreversible implications for Palestinians as a whole and for peace and security in the region,” said Guterres, his letter reflecting the urgency, and to some extent, the desperation to stop the crisis in Gaza.

But Guterres does not, and will not, call the situation a genocide.

“It is a legal position that the Secretary-General does not have the authority to designate an event a genocide,” said his spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric in a press briefing on November 1.

Genocide is a legal concept developed more clearly after the World War II, when international law projects were also crystalized. Genocide is a systematic oppression that results in death or other physical destruction of a mass of people, with an intent to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

For Gazans, what’s happening to them, including the whole 75 years of Israeli occupation, is genocide.

Getting judicial declaration that it is genocide is another thing. So far, only a few cases have been recognized as one such as the Cambodian Khmer Rouge regime, the Rwandan civil war that killed the ethnic Tutsis, and the massacre of Muslim boys in Srbrenica in Bosnia.

The two rules that have to be violated to meet the genocide standard are the rules of distinction and rules of proportionality. Rules of distinction mean you distinguish between military targets and civilians that you must spare. But if it cannot be helped that civilians will be attacked too, the rule of proportionality requires that your military gain must be proportionate to justify the civilian casualty.

Another standard introduced by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is the “reasonable military commander.” In this test, you look at whether the military was reasonable when it was calling the shots, that it took all reasonable steps to spare civilians.

New reporting by the The Guardian says Israel uses artificial intelligence they called “The Gospel” to select bombing targets in Gaza.

Several foreign governments have already called it a genocide. Craig Mokhiber, the New York director of the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR), called it “text-book genocide” when he resigned from office, decrying the diplomatic failure in the war. High Commissioner on Human Rights Volker Türk said in November that “we have serious concerns that these are disproportionate attacks that could amount to war crimes.”

UN Special Rapporteurs have gone as far as warning lawyers of the Israeli military that they are accountable to potential war crimes for the advise they gave.

It’s an example of diplomats stretching the power of rhetoric, but stopping short of calling it a legal term, following the tradition of letting judicial agencies declare it as crimes.

Even before the October 7 Hamas attack that started the Israeli retaliation, there were already two pending cases that investigated whether Israel’s occupation of Palestine was illegal. One in the UN court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the other at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

What’s the ICC doing?

But since the latest war, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said his investigation covers the latest bombing, but that his jurisdiction extends from Israel’s possible crime, to Hamas’ potential crimes.

Only Palestine is an ICC member. But under jurisdiction rules, ICC can investigate crimes by a non-member if it happens on the territory of a member (Israel’s alleged crimes in Palestine); and crimes in a non-member area if it was committed by actors of a member state (Hamas’ alleged crimes in Israel).

The Rome Statute allows third parties to submit evidence, and Khan’s Office has already put out a public call for third party submissions. There’s mounting pressure on Khan to act fast, comparing the one year it took him to request for a warrant of arrest against Russian President Vladimir Putin in the war in Ukraine.

“Let them do that, apply international law, why international law is applied to everybody but Israel,” said Mustafa Barghouti, a West Bank-based politician of the Palestinian National Initiative.

This latest war in Gaza has renewed criticism that international law as a mechanism has always been biased in favor of Western powers, especially because the formative concepts of it were invented by the Western victors of World War II.

Must Read

In Gaza, their revolution is not televised, it’s Instagrammed

Reporter: Lian Buan
Producers: Cara Angeline Oliver, JC Gotinga
Production specialists: Jeff Digma
Video editor/animator: Cara Angeline Oliver
Graphics: Nico Villarete, Raffy De Guzman, Marian Hukom, David Castuciano
Supervising producer: Beth Frondoso

– Rappler.com

Kamakailan din ay binago ang mga pamantayan ng kumpanyang magpapalakad ng investment fund na ito, at kabilang si Consing sa lupon na gumawa ng mga pagbabago – hindi pa man siya nauupo sa puwesto bilang PCEO. Alamin ang mga implikasyon nito sa video report ni Ralf Rivas. – Rappler.com

Reporter: Ralf Rivas
Producer & video editor: JC Gotinga
Supervising producer: Beth Frondoso