besguerra

One Billion Rising on Valentine’s Day

News

Feb 072013

INQUIRER.net U.S. Bureau 10:25 am | Friday, February 8th, 2013 SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco women’s rights supporters will join activists in193 countries on the largest day of action in the history of V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls. “One Billion Rising,” began as a call to action based on the staggering statistic that 1 in 3 women on the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime. On February 14, 2013, the City of San Francisco will welcome One Billion Rising to the steps of City Hall from 4-6 p.m. Joining them will be Mayor Edwin M. Lee, District Attorney George Gascón, Board of Supervisors president David Chiu, V-Day executive director Susan Celia Swan, Commission on the Status of Women president Julie Soo, Filipina Women’s Network president Marily Mondejar and other city leaders. The Event will feature DJs spinning, flash mobs dancing, and special guests (to be announced). To support One Billion Rising to end violence, signing up online:www.onebillionrisingsf.org/join . Follow Us Recent Stories: Complete stories on our Digital Edition newsstand for tablets, netbooks and mobile phones; 14-issue free trial. About to step out? Get breaking alerts on your mobile.phone. Text ON INQ BREAKING to 4467, for Globe, Smart and Sun subscribers in the Philippines. Tags: flash mob , San Francisco officials , V-Day , Valentine’s Day , violence against women , Women’s Rights Factual errors? Contact the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s day desk. Believe this article violates journalistic ethics? Contact the Inquirer’s Reader’s Read More …

China accuses Japan of ‘smear’ over radar incident

News

Feb 072013

China accuses Japan of ‘smear’ over radar incident

Agence France-Presse 5:34 pm | Thursday, February 7th, 2013 BEIJING—Beijing on Thursday accused Japan of seeking to “smear” it after Tokyo said a Chinese frigate locked its weapons-targeting radar on a Japanese warship, as the Asian giants are locked in a maritime row. Asked to respond to Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera’s description of the radar incident as a “threat of force”, Beijing foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said: “Recently Japan has been hyping up crisis and deliberately creating tension to smear China’s image.”

Congress approves new overseas voting bill

News

Feb 072013

Congress approves new overseas voting bill

By Leila B. Salaverria Philippine Daily Inquirer 2:57 pm | Thursday, February 7th, 2013 Representative Walden Bello MANILA, Philippines—Before adjourning for the campaign, Congress approved a bill that would make it easier for overseas Filipinos to cast their vote, and change the way that the country recognizes its voters who are not in the country. The House of Representatives ratified Wednesday night the amended overseas voting bill, which means it could now be sent to the President for his signature so that it could be enacted into law. The Senate ratified the bicameral report earlier. Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello, the bill’s author in the House, said the measure will improve the way the country recognizes the role and contribution of overseas Filipinos to nation-building. The bill will no longer give them the tag “overseas absentee voters” and instead recognize them simply as “overseas voters,” Bello said in a statement. This was an important, emotional matter for the Filipinos abroad, he said. The bill will also make it easier for immigrants to join the electoral exercise, he said. The bill would remove the provision in the law that requires Filipino immigrants or permanent residents abroad to execute an affidavit stating that they intend to resume physical permanent residence in the Philippines in three years before they could register as overseas voters. The new registration rules, however, are expected to be applicable for the 2016 elections because the registration period for the 2013 elections ended last year. “Removing the return requirement will Read More …

Chinese warships enter West Philippine Sea

News

Feb 042013

Chinese warships enter West Philippine Sea

By Tarra Quismundo Philippine Daily Inquirer 4:12 am | Tuesday, February 5th, 2013 MANILA, Philippines—Chinese naval vessels entered Philippine waters on Feb. 1 amid efforts by the Philippines to peacefully resolve its territorial dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea through arbitration in the United Nations. China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday that a naval fleet of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) entered the West Philippine Sea “for patrol and training missions” this week. Xinhua said the three ships from the PLA Navy’s North China Sea fleet—the missile destroyer Qingdao and missile frigates Yantai and Yancheng—traveled through the Bashi Channel, an international sea route between Luzon and Taiwan, before entering the West Philippine Sea at 11:40 a.m. on Friday. The report said the training exercises would be held within Chinese “territorial waters.” China claims almost all of the West Philippine Sea, including parts close to the shores of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. UN arbitration The Philippines has protested Chinese incursions into waters within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), but China insists those waters are part of its territory. Last month, the Philippines took its dispute with China to the United Nations for arbitration. The Philippines asked the United Nations to declare invalid China’s claim to parts of the sea that are within the Philippine EEZ. Manila also asked the United Nations to stop Beijing’s incursions into Philippine territory in the sea. It is not clear whether the Philippine action can proceed without China’s participation Read More …

Fil-Am bishop joins Calungsod musical

News

Feb 042013

By Nimfa U. Rueda Philippine Daily Inquirer 3:22 am | Tuesday, February 5th, 2013 LOS ANGELES—First, he made history as the first Filipino to become bishop in the United States. Now, he scores another first—this time as the first Catholic bishop in America to perform in a theater musical. Oscar Solis and members of the Filipino Priests of Los Angeles—also the first group of priests to perform on stage—have joined the cast of “Fides Ecclesiae (Faith of the Church),” a musical about the lives of Pedro Calungsod, a newly canonized Filipino saint, and St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American saint. “Bishop Solis is the first member of the (US) Conference of Catholic Bishops to sing on stage,” said Fr. Robert Victoria, who wrote the script. “Fides Ecclesiae” is also the first Filipino production, as well as the first musical about the Catholic faith, to be staged at the Pantages Theater, a famous Los Angeles landmark known as the go-to venue for blockbuster Broadway entertainment. Victoria said the musical was not only historic but had also been marked by so many “miracles,” which were attributed to Saints Calungsod and Kateri—the two youngest among the seven saints canonized by Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican last October. He cited the stories of a lupus-stricken cast member who experienced a miraculous recovery and the mother of a production crew member who was healed of cancer. “The fact that we were able to get people from different nationalities—Filipinos, Chamorros, Chinese and Americans—to come Read More …

US to compensate PH for damage to Tubbataha Reefs

News

Feb 042013

US to compensate PH for damage to Tubbataha Reefs

By Christine O. Avendaño Philippine Daily Inquirer 1:21 am | Tuesday, February 5th, 2013 PROTEST AT US EMBASSY Activists protest the destruction of Tubbataha Reefs as a result of a US Navy minesweeper getting stuck at the World Heritage Site. NIÑO JESUS ORBETA The US government has apologized and pledged to provide “appropriate compensation” to the Philippines for the damage caused by the grounding of a US warship at the protected Tubbataha Reefs in the Sulu Sea. The US compensation will come in a package that includes a joint scientific assessment of the reefs for rehabilitation, a P4.1 million ($100,000) grant for coral restoration on the reefs, and funding for improvements in the communications system within and around the natural park. In a statement released by the US Embassy in Manila on Sunday, the US government said it had been committed over the past decade to help the Philippines protect its marine ecosystems, including coral reefs. “In view of the damage caused by the USS Guardian accident at Tubbataha Reefs, the US has expressed it regrets and is prepared to provide appropriate compensation to the Republic of the Philippines. In addition to compensation, the US government is planning a number of other activities which will underscore its commitment to Tubbataha’s recovery and the protection of the marine resources of the Philippines,” the statement said. No comment was immediately available on Monday from the Tubbataha Protected Area Management, which had been talking about going after the US Navy for the damage Read More …

Gov’t to resort to diplomacy to bring back Amalilio to PH—De Lima

News

Jan 272013

Gov’t to resort to diplomacy to bring back Amalilio to PH—De Lima

By TJ BurgonioPhilippine Daily Inquirer 4:59 am | Monday, January 28th, 2013 MANUEL AMALILIO Contributed photo The government will employ diplomacy to bring back to the Philippines fugitive Manuel Amalilio, alleged brains of the Ponzi scheme that last year duped some 15,000 Filipinos of P12 billion, to face prosecution, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said Sunday. It has emerged that complaints of Malaysian scam victims in Kota Kinabalu—not Amalilio’s possible ties with Sabah’s chief minister—prompted Malaysian police to stop Amalilio’s repatriation to Manila from Kota Kinabalu on Friday night, De Lima said. “It’s more of diplomacy,” she told the Inquirer when asked if the options included diplomacy or invoking the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT). “Steps are being undertaken. We’re exerting efforts to bring him back. But we can’t be disclosing what these steps are to ensure that, this time, his repatriation pushes through,” she later told reporters in an ambush interview at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia). When pressed for details of the diplomatic tack, De Lima pointed to a “police-to-police cooperation” of both countries. She said it was the cooperation of the Malaysian police that led to Amalilio’s arrest in the first place. “It has always been through mutual police cooperation,” she said. “We’re working on it so that this time it pushes through.” Amalilio is the founder of Aman Futures group that defrauded thousands of investors in the Visayas and Mindanao in a fraudulent investment scam. A Cabinet official, who asked not to be named, said Read More …

Democrats in PH celebrate Obama reelection

News

Jan 272013

Democrats in PH celebrate Obama reelection

By Tarra QuismundoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 4:31 am | Monday, January 28th, 2013 US President Barack Obama. AP PHOTO While thousands of miles away from their homeland, American Democrats in the Philippines celebrated the reelection of President Barack Obama. Democrats Abroad, an organization of Americans based in the Philippines, marked the second inauguration of Obama in a modest gathering on Saturday at a pub in Makati City. “Someone asked me during the elections ‘Why do you care [when] you live here?’ I said, well, it’s actually close to me, I have family there and I keep in touch and care about my family,” said Democrats Abroad vice chairperson Lisa Kircher Lumbao. A Philippine resident for 20 years now, Lumbao has been participating in US polls from the Philippines for the last four elections. For Lumbao, Obama’s reelection bodes well for both her birthplace and her current residence, citing the close relationship between the Philippines and the United States. “The Philippines is very affected by the US economy. The whole world is affected by the US economy. And having Obama elected is really good for the economy, compared to what the Republicans were proposing,” said Lumbao of the opposing party’s proposals on tax and spending cuts. More than 20 members showed up for Saturday’s inauguration party, where the group watched the Jan. 21 inaugural ceremonies at the National Mall in Washington D.C. Asked about international interest in the Democratic president, Lumbao said: “I think a lot of people are interested in the Read More …

BI seeks help of mortuary operators

News

Jan 272013

Philippine Daily Inquirer 4:12 am | Monday, January 28th, 2013 The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has sought the help of funeral service operators in keeping track of the death of foreigners in the country and retrieve their alien certificate of registration identity cards (ACR I-Card). In an advisory, Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. reminded mortuary owners of a bureau regulation requiring them to surrender the ACR I-Cards of deceased foreigners before they are buried or cremated. “It’s the funeral parlors that ask the relatives to produce the ACR of the departed foreigner because we in the bureau cannot monitor the deaths without their cooperation,” said Ma. Antonette Mangrobang, BI spokesperson and acting intelligence chief. Jocelyn R. Uy Follow Us Recent Stories: Complete stories on our Digital Edition newsstand for tablets, netbooks and mobile phones; 14-issue free trial. About to step out? Get breaking alerts on your mobile.phone. Text ON INQ BREAKING to 4467, for Globe, Smart and Sun subscribers in the Philippines. Tags: ACR I-Cards , Bureau of Immigration , Death , Foreigners , Global Nation Factual errors? Contact the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s day desk. Believe this article violates journalistic ethics? Contact the Inquirer’s Reader’s Advocate. Or write The Readers’ Advocate: c/o Philippine Daily Inquirer Chino Roces Avenue corner Yague and Mascardo Streets, Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines Or fax nos. +63 2 8974793 to 94

No haggling over reef fine–Abaya

News

Jan 272013

By TJ BurgonioPhilippine Daily Inquirer 1:40 am | Monday, January 28th, 2013 Tubbataha Reefs. YVETTE LEE/CONTRIBUTOR The penalty for the damage caused to the Tubbataha Reefs by a US Navy minesweeper is non-negotiable, Transportation Secretary Joseph E.A. Abaya said Sunday. But to be able to conduct a thorough investigation, the Philippine government should have access to the commanding officer and crew of the USS Guardian which has been stuck in the marine park since Jan. 17, Abaya said. “Well, there are laws in place. I don’t think this is subject to tawaran (haggling) or negotiation. I heard of the figure of $300 [fine] per square meter. If that is really engraved in the law then there’s no room for negotiation whether this is high or low,” he told reporters at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Abaya said he had yet to look into whether there would be a need to impose an additional fine for the damage left by the minesweeper on the world-renowned reefs pending its extrication. On the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, President Aquino told reporters the US Navy would be held liable and be made to pay for the damage. The 63-meter, 1,300-ton ship, part of the US naval fleet stationed in Japan, docked at the former American naval base in Subic Bay on Jan. 12 for routine refueling, resupply and rest and recreation. Palawan stop It was scheduled to make a brief stop at Puerto Princesa City before heading off to Read More …

Older Entries Newer Entries