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Gov’t, MILF to tackle Bangsamoro law in Malaysia

 General
Jul 072014
 
Gov’t, MILF to tackle Bangsamoro law in Malaysia

GPH panel chair Miriam Coronel-Ferrer. AFP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines — With the filing of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) before Congress stalled, the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) will meet again in Malaysia to discuss problems faced during Malacañang’s ongoing review. Government peace panel chairperson Miriam Coronel-Ferrer on Monday announced that the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) voted to elevate the matter to the peace panels “for clarification, discussion and resolution of issues that may have been affected by the proposed revisions in the proposed BBL.” “Together with the MILF Panel, Malaysian Facilitator Tengku Ghafar and the members of the International Contact Group, we will be meeting in Kuala Lumpur this week in a workshop that would thresh out the various substantive matters that have arisen from the BTC submission and the subsequent OP (Office of the President) review,” Ferrer said in a statement. She assured the public that there is “no backtracking on either side.” “If we are going through this difficulty now, it is because we want the next stages to be less difficult not only between the government and the MILF, but among all the institutions and actors that will be or have been playing a role in the process,” Ferrer added. The BBL, drafted by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission, is supposed to pave the way for the creation of the Bangsamoro political entity, which will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). It was submitted to Malacañang on April 14 and Read More …

BDO acquires Real Bank

 General
Jul 062014
 
BDO acquires Real Bank

By Paolo G. Montecillo |Philippine Daily Inquirer 12:29 am | Monday, July 7th, 2014 BDO Unibank Inc., the banking arm of Henry Sy’s retail and real estate empire, has signed a deal to buy Real Bank, a 24-branch thrift lender with operations mainly in Southern and Central Luzon. The bank said it would acquire all of Real Bank’s “recorded assets and assumption of all recorded liabilities.” Real Bank has a deposit base of P7.2 billion. No other details of the transaction were disclosed. The Real Bank buyout is the latest in a recent string of BDO’s acquisitions, which have allowed the company to secure its position as the country’s largest bank in terms of assets, deposits, capital, and trust funds under management. Last November, BDO sealed a deal to buy the local thrift banking unit of American financial giant Citigroup. The transaction to buy Citibank Savings was completed last March. BDO also recently acquired the Philippine trust business of Deutsche Bank AG, expanding its assets under management by over P70 billion. This comes ahead of the integration of Southeast Asia’s banking system in 2015, when BDO and other major local players will have to compete for market share with their larger regional peers. BDO has one of the largest distribution networks, with more than 800 operating branches and over 2,300 ATMs nationwide.  It also has a branch in Hong Kong as well as 13 remittance and representative offices in Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East. BDO’s net profit Read More …

200 Filipinos tagged as drug mules in China’s jails—PDEA

 News
Jul 062014
 
200 Filipinos tagged as drug mules in China’s jails—PDEA

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines — More than 200 Filipinos are languishing in jails in China for drug-smuggling offenses, according to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency. The PDEA has said that almost three-fourths of the number are women caught transporting illegal drugs there. Of the 220 Filipinos held in China jails as of May this year, 161 are women while 59 are men. PDEA Director General undersecretary Arturo Cacdac Jr. warned Filipinos on the recruitment, arrest, detention and conviction of Filipinos being used as drug couriers. In a statement, Cacdac lamented the alarming rate of Filipinos arrested for drug trafficking in Guangzhou province, China. “Do not accept offers to become drug mules even if they are very tempting,” the PDEA director general said. According to Cacdac, almost half of the 220 Filipinos caught in China for drug smuggling were detained in Guangzhou. Most of them were sentenced either with death with a two-year reprieve, life imprisonment or fixed-term imprisonment while the others’ cases were still pending or under investigation. He reminded Filipinos anew that mere possession and transportation of illegal drugs would net harsh penalties in foreign countries, especially in China. “Be vigilant of the modus operandi of drug syndicates. Before you know it, you are already caught in the web of drug trafficking activities,” he said. Meanwhile, the PDEA expressed hope that member agencies of Task Force Drug Courier, such as the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Labor and Employment, Bureau of Immigration, Bureau of Customs, National Bureau Read More …

DFA satellite consular office opens in Cagayan de Oro mall

 News
Jun 302014
 
DFA satellite consular office opens in Cagayan de Oro mall

By Matikas SantosINQUIRER.net 4:42 pm | Monday, June 30th, 2014 Department of Foreign Affairs building INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced Monday the opening of its Consular Affairs office in a mall in Cagayan de Oro province. “The DFA Office of Consular Affairs, in partnership with Ayala Land Inc., has successfully moved its satellite office in Cagayan de Oro (DFA Cagayan de Oro) to a new location at the Ayala Centrio Mall,” DFA said in a statement. “DFA Cagayan de Oro is the 16th mall-based DFA consular office established under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement intended to help the DFA provide better services to the public by upgrading its consular facilities in strategic locations at minimum or no cost to the government,” it said. “DFA Cagayan de Oro started operations at its new location last June 23. It is open from Monday to Friday, from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., and from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. every Saturday,” the statement added. In the National Capital Region (NCR), the DFA has opened several satellite consular offices in malls that offer passport services. These include the DFA NCR-East in Megamall, DFA NCR-Central in Robinsons Galleria, DFA NCR-West in SM City Manila, and the latest, the DFA NCR-Northeast in Ali Mall Araneta Center. Other DFA satellite consular offices in located in malls are in Pampanga, Baguio, Cebu, Davao, General Santos, Lipa City in Batangas, Lucena City in Quezon, and Legazpi City, Albay. Follow Us Other Read More …

Asia shares rebound after Wall St. rally

 General
Jun 262014
 
Asia shares rebound after Wall St. rally

People walk by an electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo on June 19, 2014. Asian markets climbed Thursday, June 26, boosted by bargain hunting and a positive lead from Wall Street that came despite a worse-than-expected first-quarter contraction in the US economy. AP PHOTO/KOJI SASAHARA HONG KONG–Asian markets climbed Thursday, boosted by bargain hunting and a positive lead from Wall Street that came despite a worse-than-expected first-quarter contraction in the US economy. Tokyo rose 0.27 percent, or 41.88 points, to 15,308.49, Sydney jumped 1.15 percent, or 62.29 points, to 5464.3 and Seoul added 0.67 percent, or 13.28 points, at 1,995.05. Shanghai ended 0.65 percent, or 13.18 points, higher at 2,038.68 and Hong Kong rallied 1.45 percent, or 331.13 points, to 23,197.83. With little to drive business, investors picked up cheap stocks after Wednesday’s sell-off, with sentiment buoyed by a batch of healthy data this week, including Chinese manufacturing and US homes sales and consumer confidence. In the United States, the Commerce Department said the world’s No. 1 economy shrank a steep 2.9 percent in the first three months of 2014, sharply worse than the previous estimate of 1.0 percent. The figure is the worst since the height of the global financial crisis five years ago. But it was widely brushed off by economists, who described it as a blip caused by the severe winter at the start of the year which hammered, among other things, jobs growth and retail sales. Most expect a strong rebound over the Read More …

Families honor Filipino and US soldiers who died in WWII

 News
Jun 102014
 
Families honor Filipino and US soldiers who died in WWII

INQUIRER.net US Bureau 11:38 am | Wednesday, June 11th, 2014 SAN FRANCISCO, California — Family members of Filipino and American soldiers who died during World War II came together last Memorial Day at the Philippine Consulate for a simple gathering to commemorate all those who served during the war. Joining them at the event organized by the Bataan Legacy Project were surviving WWII veterans as well as other special guests. It was also a gathering for ordinary citizens and guerilla fighters who selflessly served to defend their country. WWII Veterans with members of the Bataan Legacy Project CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Deputy Consul General Jaime Ramon T. Ascalon, in his welcome remarks, expressed deep appreciation for the efforts of the Bataan Legacy Project and cited his own family members’ experience as veterans. Among the distinguished panel of speakers were Dan Crowley and Consuelo Hall McHugh, who recounted tales of WWII. Crowley was a member of the 17th Pursuit Squadron and described how they fought alongside Filipino soldiers. Hall McHugh related her experiences as a young girl living in Manila while the city was engulfed in battle between the Allied and Japanese forces. Major General Eldon Regua (Ret.) of the US Army and Colonel Michael Wells, Undersecretary of Operations of the California Department of Veterans Affairs, also spoke. Both stressed the significant contributions of all those who served during WWII, especially the Filipino and American soldiers who fought together. Cecilia Gaerlan, founder of the Bataan Legacy Project, reiterated the importance of AB199, a Read More …

Labor team off to Libya to aid OFWs

 News
Jun 082014
 
Labor team off to Libya to aid OFWs

Philippine Daily Inquirer 5:22 am | Monday, June 9th, 2014 Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz (in photo) has approved the deployment to Libya of a two-man contingency team that would augment the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (Polo) staff in Tripoli. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines–Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has approved the deployment to Libya of a two-man contingency team that would augment the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (Polo) staff in Tripoli. “I have approved the composition of the contingency team. Labor Attaché Nasser Mustafa and Welfare Officer Eduardo Mendoza Jr. will travel to Libya mainly to establish a network with overseas Filipino workers and their employers, assess the actual security situation, and recommend a plan of action to facilitate the evacuation of Filipinos when it becomes necessary,” Baldoz said in a statement. Mustafa and Mendoza were part of the ground team in Libya who helped handle the evacuation of OFWs there during the 2011 Libyan crisis. Baldoz said the Polo, in coordination with the Philippine Embassy, was closely monitoring the situation in Libya and was coordinating the appropriate action to ensure the safety and welfare of the OFWs there. “The DOLE (Department of Labor and Employment) augmentation team should form part of the country’s rapid response team in Libya, together with the team from the Department of Foreign Affairs, under the one-country-team approach,” Baldoz said. POEA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac, chair of the DOLE’s Libya crisis quick response team, had told Baldoz that there had been violent disturbances reported in Benghazi, Read More …

Filipino joins Cousteau-backed team to document plastics pollution of Bermuda coasts

 News
Jun 082014
 
Filipino joins Cousteau-backed team to document plastics pollution of Bermuda coasts

Julian Rodriguez CONTRIBUTED PHOTO MOUNTAIN VIEW, California — You may have already seen Julian Rodriguez as host #16 in the distinguished line of “GAMEPLAN” TV hosts, or you may have seen his name flash among the credits of the international reality TV show “Survivor,” where he worked for four seasons, starting as a challenge tester and eventually working his way up to Assistant Cameraman. You’ll be hearing more about him soon. The 26-year-old Filipino starting June 8 will join a four-person expedition of adventure-driven individuals on a platform called Plastic Tides. The Plastic Tides expedition will last 10 days around the island of Bermuda. The team will camp from beach to beach while paddling around solely on stand up paddleboards to document the natural beauty threatened by the ever-growing coastal plastic pollution. This dream mission was conceived in the fall of 2012 at a National Geographic Young Explorers workshop at Cornell University, when Americans Gordon Middleton, Christian Shaw and Plant Scientist Celine Jennison started talking about the plastic problem that plagues the oceans. Shaw, who is a professional kiteboarder and avid waterman from New York knew that he wanted nothing more than to raise awareness about ocean plastic pollution through his passion for water sports. After a year of contemplation on how to fulfill this dream, the idea of a paddleboard expedition was set in motion, and Middleton and Jennison were quick to join the team. Middleton, who had worked side by side with Rodriguez on the set of “Survivor Read More …

Incumbent Democrats take the lead for Nov. ballot

 News
Jun 082014
 
Incumbent Democrats take the lead for Nov. ballot

Rob Bonta SAN BRUNO, California — Gov. Jerry Brown in June 3’s primary election easily paved the way for re-election to a second consecutive term in office this November. Other state-level Democratic incumbents did too. Statewide results as of June 4 reported that Brown received 1,716,920 votes (54.4 percent). He will be running against Republican candidate Neel Kashkari, who got 599,543 votes (19 percent). Assemblymember Tim Donnelly, (who is married to Fil-Am Rowena Donnelly), landed third with 467,655 votes (14.8 percent). Other Democratic incumbents who got their names on the November ballot were Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Kamala Harris, and Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. The three will face Republican challengers Ron Nehring, Ronald Gold and Ted Gaines respectively in the general election. Another incumbent who secured his seat is Filipino-American District 18 Assemblymember Rob Bonta, who took the lead at 84.9 percent of the vote or 27,591; against only opponent Republican David Erlich who only got 4,903 votes or 15.1 percent. Daly City Councilman Ray Buenaventura, 49, lost in the race to be San Mateo County’s Superior Court Judge to Court Commissioner Stephanie Garratt, 46. Garratt received 62.9 percent of 36,393 votes, while Buenaventura received 37.1 percent or 21,430 votes. The two, along with another candidate Christopher Shenfield, 51, were vying for the seat of retiring Judge Craig Parsons. Buenaventura is in private practice, works with the county’s private defender program for indigent defendants and is a Daly City councilman. Garratt was on the bench as a commissioner Read More …

Star-studded ‘Sama Saya’ goes on through summer from Alaska to Toronto

 News
Jun 082014
 
Star-studded ‘Sama Saya’ goes on through summer from Alaska to Toronto

REDWOOD CITY, California –– After supporting the successful 36th Santacruzan and Flores De Mayo in Jersey City, New Jersey, last May 25, the longest-running Filipino celebration of that kind in the East Coast, The Filipino Channel’s “Sama Saya 2014” will continue throughout the summer. “What we started last April with our TFC 20th anniversary gala with the promise of celebrating the ‘galing’ or innate greatness of the Filipino continues throughout various states, provinces, cities in North,” said ABS-CBN North America Managing Director Olivia De Jesus. TFC is reaching out to “more states and organizations where there is a robust Filipino presence as part of our mission to serve the Filipino wherever he or she may be,” said ABS-CBN North America Marketing Director Jun Del Rosario, also concurrently ABS-CBN Global Head for Carriage. TFC will join Filipino events, several of which celebrate Philippine Independence and Fil-Am Friendship, on the following schedule: June 14 Philippine Independence Day Fiesta at Cooper River Park in Cherry Hill, New Jersey by the Philippine Community of Southern New Jersey, Inc. with Don Tagala of Balitang America, Monette Rivera of Adobo Nation, TFCK at Finalist Damie Juat and classical singer Jared Martin; June 21 Pista Sa Nayon in Delaney Park, Anchorage, Alaska by the Filipino Community of Anchorage, AK, Inc.; Kalayaan SF 2014, Union Square in San Francisco by Filipino American community leaders and the Philippine Consulate General of San Francisco with Adobo Nation’s Michi Salta & Lee Robin Salazar and the Prince of Pop of the Read More …

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