WASHINGTON, D.C. (The Adobo Chronicles, Washington Bureau) – Do you owe IRS some money for your 2018 income return? Worry no more.

Because of the continued government shutdown which has all but paralyzed essential Federal services, the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) announced today that U.S. taxpayers will get an automatic across-the-board refund when they file their 2018 returns.

Calling this the “nuisance tax incentive,” IRS said each taxpayer will receive $10,000 in tax refunds over and above their actual, computed tax refund. For example, if a taxpayer is set to receive $2,000 in tax refund, he or she will get back a total of $12,000.

Taxpayers who owe IRS from their 2018 returns can automatically deduct $10,000 from the total amount due. So a taxpayer owing IRS $15,000 will only have to pay 5,000. If the tax due is less than $10,000, the taxpayer will receive the difference as a refund.

IRS said this is its way of ‘compensating’ taxpayers for the inconvenience they are experiencing because of lapses in airport security, closure of government parks, difficulty in receiving appropriate healthcare from public hospitals and clinics, and delays in securing business permits, licenses and other required documents from various government offices.

So, after all, a government shutdown has its perks, and taxpayers have President Donald Trump and our legislators to thank for this financial benefit.

QUEZON CITY, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Quezon City Bureau) –  Senator Antonio Trillanes, whose term ends this year, will soon be called Professor Trillanes, thanks to a new class that he will be teaching at the University of the Philippines Diliman Campus starting next semester.

Trillanes, a staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte, is notorious for the two coup attempts he and his military colleagues staged during the presidency of Glorica Macapagal Arroyo — the Oakwood Mutiny in 2003, and the Manila Peninsula Siege in 2007.  Both attemps failed.

The U.P. Diliman Board of Regents formally approved Trillanes’ teaching stint.  His class, which will be open to all U.P. students, is titled “How to stage a Coup 101.”

Hundreds of U.P. students have already expressed interest in enrolling in the class.

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – In an effort to do a better job fact-checking fake news and information on social media, Rappler announced today that starting immediately, it will be closely monitor the Facebook accounts of senior citizens and the Yellowsl

Rappler’s move came in the wake of a new study that showed Facebook users aged 65 plus and conservatives were more likely to share fake news on the platform than younger or more liberal counterparts.

The study, published on Wednesday, was conducted by researchers from Princeton University and New York University. They analyzed the Facebook posts of nearly 1,200 people who agreed to share their data in the aftermath of the 2016 US presidential election.

”This is an eye-opener for us, “ Rappler CEO Maria Ressa told The Adobo Chronicles, adding “All this time we thought the millennials and DDS (Duterte supporters) were the ones spreading fake news and information on Facebook.

Ressa also took the opportunity to apologize to The Adobo Chronicles for previously tagging the satire news site as “fake news.”

Rappler is one of Facebook’s Philippine partners in fact-checking news and information posted and shared on social media.  The other partner is Vera Files.