Maniolas

In this Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2016 file photo, a worker from the Ministry of Health sprays mosquito insecticide fog in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a day after two new Zika virus infection cases were detected in the country. On Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016, U.S. health officials are advising pregnant women to postpone travel to 11 countries in Southeast Asia because of Zika outbreaks in the region. The advisory targets travel to Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Maldives, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. AP FILE PHOTO NEW YORK — US health officials are advising pregnant women to postpone travel to 11 countries in Southeast Asia because of Zika outbreaks in the region. The advisory issued Thursday targets travel to Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Maldives, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. READ: DOH tells pregnant women: Abstain from sex until after delivery to avoid Zika The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Zika has been in some areas of Southeast Asia for years, and some residents may be immune. But a number of US travelers have become infected there in the last year, so there is a danger to visitors. Most infected people suffer a mild and temporary illness, at worst. But infection during pregnancy can causes severe brain-related birth defects. The virus is spread primarily by bites from infected mosquitoes. READ: IN THE KNOW: Zika virus Latest We were shut out of Bilibid–CHR ‘Abus high in battle’ State opposes Ejercito bid to junk Read More …

Filipino activists are blocked by police during a rally near the US Embassy in Manila, Philippines, Friday, Sept. 16, 2016. Left-wing activists held the protest to mark the 25th anniversary of the Philippine Senate’s rejection of the renewal of a lease agreement that lead to the closure of major US bases in the Philippines and to urge Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to oppose existing security agreements that allow temporary US military presence in the country. AP MANILA, Philippines — Philippine military officials on Thursday announced the first large-scale combat exercises between US and Filipino forces under President Rodrigo Duterte, who has been critical of American security policies. Military officials said the annual maneuvers by about 1,400 US military personnel and 500 Philippine marines will involve amphibious landing and live-fire exercises at a northern gunnery range from Oct 4 to 12. Describing himself as a socialist, Duterte has had an uneasy relationship with the US He has said he is charting a foreign policy not dependent on the US, a treaty ally, and has taken steps to revive ties with China, which had been strained under his predecessor over longstanding territorial conflicts. He repeated in a speech Thursday that he would not allow Filipino forces to conduct joint patrols with the US military in the disputed South China Sea because that could spark an armed conflict in Philippine territory. He has also said he wants US forces out of the country’s south, where he said minority Muslims resent the presence of Read More …

Senator Leila De Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO Senator Leila de Lima wants the United Nations to come to the Philippines and look into what she called “unprecedented phenomenon of extrajudicial killings and summary executions” in the country in the midst of the government’s intensified fight against illegal drugs. In Senate Resolution No. 153 filed on Monday, de Lima is urging the executive branch through the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to extend an invitation to the United Nationals Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killing and Summary Executions to visit the country and look into the rampant killings here. It was on the day she filed the resolution that De Lima was also removed as chair of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, investigating on the issue. READ: De Lima ousted as Senate justice committee chair “It is hereby resolved, in view of the foregoing reasons and circumstances, the Senate respectfully urges the Executive Department, through the Department of Foreign Affairs, to extend an invitation to the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Ms. Agnes Callamard, to conduct a visit to the country and perform inquiries or investigation on the unprecedented phenomenon of extrajudicial killings and summary executions that has arisen during the aggressive enforcement of the administration’s war on drugs,” the resolution said. In calling for the UN probe, De Lima cited in the resolution the official data from the Philippine National Police (PNP), which showed that as of September 14, 2016, there are a total of Read More …

US Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton, detained at Camp Aguinaldo , is guarded by Filipino soldiers and not US troops, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana assured lawmakers on Wednesday. Lorenzana made this assurance before the House of Representatives appropriations committee hearing the Department of National Defense’s proposed P178.2 billion budget for 2017. “Nasa loob ng Camp Aguinaldo ngayon. Nakakulong siya doon at siya ay ginagwardiyahan ng mga gwardya ng Bureau of Prison (Correction),” Lorenzana said when asked by Kabayan Rep. Harry Roqie, who was the lawyer who secured the homicide conviction of Pemberton for killing transgender Jennifer Laude in 2014. (He’s in Camp Aguinaldo now. He’s detained there and is being guarded by Bureau of Prison Correction guards.) Roque said he asked the question because the last time he heard when he was handling the case was that Pemberton was detained at the detention facility of the Joint US Military Assistance Group after his conviction by the Olongapo Regional Trial Court in December 2015. The murder charge was downgraded to homicide absent the aggravating circumstances of treachery and abuse of superior strength, after the jury found that Pemberton was under the influence of alcohol and that Laude did not disclose her gender from the US Marine when they had sex. After a night of drinking at a bar in Subic, Pemberton and Laude checked in at a motel. Pemberton shoved Laude’s head on the toilet where she drowned after Pemberton found out that Laude was a transgender. READ: Pemberton found guilty of homicide When Roque Read More …

DAVAO CITY – President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday said his administration will pursue an “independent foreign policy” and will reject any attempts at meddling by foreign governments. This meant that the government will adopt and implement policies that would safeguard its national interests and to achieve goals within its international relations environment. The 1987 Constitution states that “The State shall pursue an independent foreign policy. In its relations with other states, the paramount consideration shall be national sovereignty, territorial integrity, national interest and the right to self-determination.” “We will observe and I must insist – I repeat, I must insist – on the time honored principles of sovereign equality, non-interference and commitment to the peaceful settlement of disputes to best serve our people and protect the interests of our country,” Duterte said in his arrival speech at the Davao International Airport here. The President – accompanied by Cabinet secretaries and other officials – arrived in Davao from Jakarta aboard a chartered Philippine Airlines plane around 12:50 a.m., where he was afforded foyer honors by the Tactical Operation Group 11. Former senator Leticia Ramos-Shahani wrote in an article in 2015 that the pursuit of an independent foreign policy was “not a ‘go-it-alone’ foreign policy. Neither does it mean the absence of any alliances.” “Rather, it means a long-term, deliberate government policy sustained and adjusted by several administrations aimed at making the government and its people responsible for containing and responding to internal and external threats to ensure the nation’s security,” Shahani Read More …