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The Bureau of Immigration on Thursday arrested 1,269 Chinese nationals suspected to be illegally working in Clark, Pampanga. Citing initial reports, BI commissioner Jaime Morente said the foreigners were apprehended at a popular rest and recreation facility there. The operation was carried out due to a directive from the Department of Justice. Morente said the foreigners’ documents are being verified based on intelligence information that the Chinese nationals illegally entered the country to work here. In an initial report to the BI chief, the agency’s Fugitive Search Unit said the operation was carried out at Fontana in Clark, in cooperation with local police units. The arrested foreigners are being processed and secured by elements of the Special Action Force at the Fontana food center, said BI spokesperson Tonette Mangrobang. CDG RELATED STORIES BI probes foreign traders, firms BI orders expulsion of 155 foreigners working illegally in PH TAGS: Bureau of Immigration, Chinese, Department of Justice, illegal work For feedback, complaints, or inquiries, contact us.

LIMA, Peru — The Philippines will continue to honor its Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca) with the United States. In a meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Leaders Meeting here, Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said he communicated with US Secretary of State Rodrigo Duterte the assurance of President Duterte of the continuation of the Philippines’ defense cooperation with the United States. “The President has assured America we will continue to respect our treaty agreement and the supporting agreements with respect to the Mutual Defense Treaty. We will continue with Edca,” Yasay said in a briefing for Filipino journalists after the Kerry meeting. The country’s top diplomat met with his US counterpart, along with Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez. In October, Duterte threatened to stop the implementation of Edca, saying it was under government review. The President also reminded the US government that it was just an executive agreement. READ: Angry Duterte threatens to end Edca Signed in April 2014 under the Benigno Aquino III administration, Edca allows US troops access to military bases and camps in “agreed locations” in the Philippines. Yasay clarified that Mr. Duterte “never said anything about discontinuing Edca.” “In fact during his inaugural speech, he said he would continue to respect our Mutual Defense Treaty and other supporting documents, including Edca,” the official said. What Duterte had stressed, however, was that the cooperation with the US would no longer be focusing on the area of “joint military exercises that would be demonstrative of preparing ourselves Read More …

The Taiwanese government has eased its visa requirements for qualified Philippine passport holders, according to the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in the Philippines. Based on the new rules, Philippine passport holders who have been granted entry to selected countries may go to Taiwan for up to 30 days without a visa starting last Sept. 1. TECO said applicants who have either a valid entry visa or permanent resident card issued by Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, any of Schengen countries, the United Kingdom and the United States are qualified for visa-free travel to Taiwan. All Philippine passport holders were previously required to apply for visa before they could visit Taiwan. Expired visa or resident card in the abovementioned countries is also valid provided that it had expired less than ten years before the date of arrival in Taiwan, TECO said. To be eligible for the exemption, applicants should also have an onward/return air or ferry ticket and passport with a remaining validity of at least six months before the date of arrival, and should have never been employed as blue-collar workers in Taiwan. Applicants may apply for exemption authorization certificate online. CDG READ: Filipinos among Asia’s top travelers, says Visa TAGS: Passport, Taiwan, Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office (TECO), Travel, visa For feedback, complaints, or inquiries, contact us.

In this Sept. 27, 2016, photo, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte addresses Philippine Marines in suburban Taguig city east of Manila, Philippines. As the body count mounts in the Philippines’ war on drugs, and its combative president’s rhetoric plumbs new depths, the mood in Washington toward the key Asian ally is hardening. Influential U.S. lawmakers are warning that the extra-judicial killings in the drugs war–that Duterte on Sept. 30 compared to the Holocaust–could affect American aid. AP WASHINGTON — As the body count mounts in the Philippines’ deadly war on drugs, and its combative president’s rhetoric plumbs new depths, the mood in Washington toward a key Asian ally is hardening. Influential US lawmakers are warning that the extra-judicial killings in the drug war — President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday compared it to the Holocaust — could affect American aid. And while the Obama administration maintains that its 65-year-old alliance with the Philippines remains “ironclad,” a senior US diplomat is cautioning Duterte against more anti-US posturing. READ: Pentagon: US-PH ties ironclad “I think it would be a serious mistake in a democratic country like the Philippines to underestimate the power of the public’s affinity for the US That’s people power,” Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel told The Associated Press. Russel did not draw a direct comparison, but past Philippine presidents have been toppled by popular protests dubbed “people power,” including former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was ousted in 1986. Duterte has bristled at US criticism of the drug war and repeatedly Read More …

BERLIN, Germany – The German government on Friday told the Philippine ambassador that comments by President Rodrigo Duterte likening his deadly crime war to Hitler’s efforts to exterminate Jews were “unacceptable.” Duterte, 71, won elections in May in a landslide after a campaign dominated by his pledge to eradicate drugs in society by killing tens of thousands of people. In comments Friday, he drew parallels between his campaign to wipe out the drug problem and Adolf Hitler’s genocidal drive. “Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now there are three million drug addicts (in the Philippines). I’d be happy to slaughter them,” Duterte told reporters in his home city of Davao. “At least if Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have,” he said, then paused. “But you know, my victims, I would like to be (sic) all criminals to finish the problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition.” READ: Heil Digong? Nazi Germany slaughtered some six million Jews by the end of World War II. The German foreign ministry said in a statement that it had asked the Philippine envoy “to come to the ministry for a discussion on this issue”. “Any comparison of the singular atrocities of the Holocaust with anything else is totally unacceptable,” ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer told reporters earlier and reiterated in the statement. Germany, Europe’s top economy, has expressed serious concerns about Duterte’s crackdown, which has left more than 3,000 people dead in three months and threatened a breakdown of the rule of Read More …