00:01The House Justice Committee declares two impeachment complaints against Sara Duterte
00:05sufficient in substance. Chinese operations successfully recruit Philippine government
00:10workers to gain access to the country's top security and defense documents.
00:15Sorry, not sorry. Congressman Bong Suntai regrets the pain caused by his Anne Curtis
00:20remark but does not regret the analogy. Asian markets drop as investors worry that a wider
00:25Middle East war could deliver an energy shock. And AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio and 2021 Nobel Peace
00:32Prize laureate Maria Ressa are named co-chairs of the UN Panel on Artificial Intelligence.
00:45Two impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte pass a crucial second preliminary
00:50test at the House of Representatives. The House Justice Committee votes 54 to 1 to declare the
00:56two active complaints sufficient in substance. Quezon City Congressman Bong Suntai is the lone
01:02no vote. In declaring both complaints sufficient in substance, the committee determined that the
01:07document cited constitutional grounds for impeachment that are supported by factual allegations.
01:13Filipinos are now a step closer to seeing a public hearing that will examine witnesses and
01:17evidence in the impeachment proceedings against Duterte. The Justice Committee will send Duterte copies
01:23of the complaints and give her 10 session days to respond. If she does not file an answer, she will
01:27be deemed to have denied the allegations. Both sides will then exchange pleadings before the panel decides
01:33if a public hearing is needed. The committee has 60 session days from the start of proceedings on
01:37February 23 to rule on the impeachment bid. Since 2023, Chinese nationals have successfully
01:45recruited young and capable workers in the Philippine government or people close to them to gain access
01:50to the country's top security and defense documents. In some cases made known to Rappler, civilian staff
01:56of the Defense Department were found to have submitted to their Chinese handlers analyses called from
02:01insider information, open source intelligence, and classified files. The common thread among these
02:07recruits who are in their mid to late 20s is that they all had financially unstable families.
02:12The Chinese bosses use social media scanning and social engineering to determine which Filipinos are
02:18most susceptible to doing the information leak. The breach happened as the Philippines started
02:22implementing its transparency initiative to expose China's aggressive actions in the West
02:27Philippine Sea. The Philippines' outdated laws make it difficult for security and defense agents
02:32to prevent and stop spying operations. In a statement to Rappler, the Chinese embassy in the
02:37Philippines says allegations of China's espionage activities in the country are baseless accusations
02:42meant to smear the image of China. Read the exclusive report on Rappler.com.
02:49Quezon City 4th District Representative Bong Suntai has apologized to all those who got hurt by his
02:55sexually suggestive remarks about actress Anne Curtis during a house hearing. But he does not regret
03:00making the analogy that has finally, he said, got him noticed by the media.
03:04Well, I regret na may nasaktan. But I don't regret making that analogy. Kasi ngayon, napansin nyo,
03:11ang statement ko na dapat ang mga miyembro ng committee should remain impartial.
03:17He came up with what has been seen as the insensitive analogy in defense of Duterte. The committee
03:22immediately removed the statement from the record after a motion raised by the vice chair of the panel,
03:27San Juan Representative Bel Zamora. It is just the start of the Women's Month. And I don't think that
03:34we should be hearing such comments from our dear colleagues. Suntai's remarks drew criticism from
03:41different personalities. Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte decries the congressman's casual display
03:46of objectification on Women's Month no less and urges him to apologize. Senator Risa Ontiveros also says,
03:53Suntai must apologize and make necessary amends to the actress. Actress Jasmine Curtis-Smith also
03:59comes to the defense of her sister. She says on X, what a disgusting man, a father, a husband.
04:08Asian markets skid with investors cutting crowded positions in gold and chip makers.
04:12This amid worries that a wider Middle East war could deliver an energy shock,
04:16raising inflation and delaying rate cuts. Shares in Seoul fell 4%, extending two-day losses to more
04:22than 11%, as foreign and fast-money investors pulled out of a market that had soared on memory
04:27chip makers' vast AI-driven profits. Japan's Nikkei drops 2.5% for a third straight day of losses.
04:34Both South Korea and Japan rely heavily on energy imports.
04:38Benchmark Brent crude oil rose more than 12% this week to $81.40 per barrel.
04:44Damien Bowie, portfolio strategist at Wilson Asset Management in Sydney, says,
04:48oil infrastructure seemed to be under attack, so people are having to think about the duration of
04:52all of that. But prices eased after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered an insurance guarantee for
04:57Gulf shipping and said the Navy could escort oil tankers through the state of Hormuz if needed.
05:03Gold fell 4.5% overnight while the Australian dollar slipped 0.8% as traders sold profitable
05:09positions to cover losses in a volatile week.
05:13Rattler CEO and 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa is named co-chair of the United Nations'
05:19Independent International Scientific Panel on Artificial Intelligence, alongside renowned
05:24computer scientist and Canadian AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio. The panel is the first global scientific
05:29body dedicated entirely to artificial intelligence. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in his initial
05:36remarks on the first virtual meeting of the panel, says, like AI itself, the panel is, quote,
05:40in a race against time. The panel is mandated to produce an annual report on opportunities,
05:46risks, and impacts of artificial intelligence, the first of which will be presented at the UN
05:50Global Dialogue on AI Governance in July. Members of the panel come from different backgrounds,
05:55including the academe, the private sector, civil society, government or international organizations,
05:59organizations, and the technical community.
06:03And that's today's wrap. I'm JC Gutinga.
06:05Thank you for watching. Click the link below for the full story. For more updates, download the Rappler app.
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