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Timor Leste premier is Palace guest Thursday

 News
Jun 052013
 
Timor Leste premier is Palace guest Thursday

By TJ Burgonio Philippine Daily Inquirer 5:19 am | Thursday, June 6th, 2013 Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao, President of East Timor (Timor-Leste), shown in this 2003 photo, will confer with President Aquino on Thursday, June 6, 2013. Gusmao is here on a five-day state visit. AFP PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—President Aquino will receive on Thursday visiting Timor Leste Prime Minister Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão before going to Burma (Myanmar) on Friday for the World Economic Forum (WEF). A welcome ceremony at the Malacañang grounds has been laid out for Gusmão, who will proceed to the Palace after laying a wreath at the monument of national hero Jose Rizal at the Luneta. Gusmão, who arrived Wednesday, will sit down with Aquino to discuss bilateral issues. The two will be signing agreements for which no details have as yet been provided. The Timor Leste leader, who will be in Manila until Sunday, is here to forge cooperation on education, trade and investment, infrastructure and defense, foreign affairs officials said. His itinerary includes a lecture at the University of the Philippines College of Law and visit to industrial areas in Subic Bay in Zambales and Clark Field in Pampanga. Timor Leste is campaigning to become a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which the Philippines is a founding member.

Aquino joins 1,000 leaders in Burma forum

 News
Jun 052013
 
Aquino joins 1,000 leaders in Burma forum

Philippine Daily Inquirer 5:17 am | Thursday, June 6th, 2013 Participants gather at a reception of the Myanmar International Convention Center where the three-day World Economic Forum on East Asia is being held in Naypyidaw, Burma, Wednesday, June 5, 2013. President Aquino will join some 1,000 leaders and delegates to the WEF. AP PHOTO/KHIN MAUNG WIN RANGOON, Burma—President Aquino will join some 1,000 leaders and delegates to the 2013 World Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia, which opened Wednesday in Naypyidaw, the new capital of Burma (Myanmar), to discuss how emerging and fast-growing economies in the region such as the Philippines can become better connected through improved infrastructure. The Swiss-based WEF, which brings together powerful world figures to discuss pressing issues, is holding one of its regional summits this year in Burma, until recently a pariah, military-ruled state but which is now opening up to the world, with its challenges and opportunities for the region, particularly Burma’s partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). The three-day 22nd WEF with its themes—inclusive transformation, regional integration, regional solutions for global resilience—highlights the issues facing Burma and its neighbors and sets the stage for re-engagement with the rest of the world. Reform process Sushant Palakurthi Rao, denior director, head of the WEF Asia forum, said the transformation issue is very important as it speaks of what is happening in Burma, with its ongoing reform process, The inclusion part, he said, is the fact that while investments are expected to accelerate in Read More …

Media killings still ‘major concern’

 News
Jun 052013
 
Media killings still ‘major concern’

By Nikko Dizon Philippine Daily Inquirer 4:08 am | Thursday, June 6th, 2013 Elisabetta Polenghi, younger sister of Italian photographer Fabio Polenghi, gives a Thai way ‘Wai” to express thanks in front of Thai media in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 29, 2013, after the court had found that Polenghi, killed while covering the military’s crackdown on anti-government protesters in Thailand’s capital three years ago, was shot by a high-velocity bullet like those issued to soldiers. Journalism remains a dangerous profession, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-Ifra) said Wednesday, June 5, 2013. AP PHOTO/SAKCHAI LALIT BANGKOK—Journalism remains a dangerous profession with 54 media practitioners killed in the line of duty, including one from the Philippines, over the past year, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-Ifra) said Wednesday. “The safety of journalists continues to be a major concern in areas of the world where conflict makes reporting the news dangerous, often deadly,” said WAN-Ifra’s Global Press Freedom Report. The report covered the period June 2012 to May 2013. WAN-Ifra’s recorded incident in the Philippines was the murder of commentator Julius Cauzo of radio station dwJJ in Cabanatuan City in Nueva Ecija province. Cauzo was shot dead on Nov. 8 last year. Cauzo, WAN-Ifra noted, was critical of local politicians and had received death threats. The group emphasized that “impunity remains a bitter issue in the Philippines.” It said that investigations were “still ongoing into the Nov. 23, 2009, ‘Ampatuan massacre,’ which saw 32 journalists tragically killed.” Read More …

PDI president urges newspaper publishers: Embrace new media

 News
Jun 052013
 
PDI president urges newspaper publishers: Embrace new media

By Michael Lim Ubac Philippine Daily Inquirer 1:40 am | Thursday, June 6th, 2013 INQUIRER THRUST Sandy Prieto-Romualdez, Inquirer president and CEO, presents the innovations adapted by the Inquirer to reach out to a wider audience before publishers and editors from all over the world at the 65th World Newspaper Congress on Wednesday. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BANGKOK—Inquirer president and CEO Alexandra Prieto-Romualdez said in a global conference of publishers on Wednesday that the Inquirer would pursue its “strong heritage of being a watchdog of government.” Romualdez conveyed, in effect, a message that the Inquirer’s role as a sentinel of democracy, besides being a newspaper of record, was the heart and soul of the Philippines’ No. 1 national daily. This advocacy has “gotten us into quite (some) burning pots situations,” she said. Coming from this perspective, Romualdez talked about the paper’s success story since its birth 27 years ago, and discussed the larger media trends in the country amid technological innovations that were rapidly changing the media terrain in the print and digital spheres. “Embrace it at a faster pace,” she said of the social media revolution. Romualdez was the only other woman speaker at the plenary sessions of the three-day 65th World Newspaper Congress, which closed Wednesday. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra addressed the group on Tuesday. Romualdez was one of the four speakers during Session 8 of the conference at the Bangkok Convention Center attended by some 1,500 newspaper publishers, editors, advertisers and other media staff from 70 countries to Read More …

PCGG to testify in art theft case vs Imelda Marcos’ ex-aide in New York

 News
Jun 032013
 
PCGG to testify in art theft case vs Imelda Marcos’ ex-aide in New York

By Dona Z. PazzibuganPhilippine Daily Inquirer 6:53 pm | Monday, June 3rd, 2013 PCGG Chairman Andres Bautista AFP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines — The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) will testify in the art theft and tax fraud case brought against former first lady Imelda Marcos’ former social secretary and confidante in New York. The PCGG was summoned by the State Supreme Court in Manhattan to testify when the trial of Vilma Bautista  starts on October 7. Ms. Bautista, 74, was arrested and arraigned last November 20 for trying to sell three valuable artworks, including a Monet masterpiece, which the Philippine government had reported to be part of the Marcos ill-gotten wealth that disappeared after the downfall of the Marcos regime in 1986. PCGG Chairman Andres Bautista, head of the agency tasked to go after the ill-gotten wealth of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, revealed the sending of a representative to testify in the trial. “For sure some people from the PCGG will testify in the trial, might be me,” Mr. Bautista said. “We have been assured by the NYDA (New York District Attorney) they believe these paintings rightfully belong to Filipino people,” Mr Bautista said. The PCGG has been cooperating with the NYDA investigation since mid-2011. “The position of the PCGG is these paintings are part and parcel of our missing paintings therefore should be returned to the Republic,” Mr. Bautista stressed. The New York District Attorney’s Office has charged Ms. Bautista and her nephews Chaiyot Jansen Navalaksana, Read More …

Re-emergence of traditional security threats worries Defense chief

 News
Jun 032013
 
Re-emergence of traditional security threats worries Defense chief

By Frances MangosingINQUIRER.net 5:55 pm | Monday, June 3rd, 2013 Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin. FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines – Territorial disputes, among other traditional security concerns, remain high as it re-emerges in the regional security agenda, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said. Gazmin made the statement on Sunday during his speech at the 12th International Institute for Strategic Studies at the Shangri-la Dialogue held in Singapore. The annual security forum was attended by defense ministers, military chiefs and top defense analysts from 27 countries. “Traditional security concerns, including territorial disputes, issues surrounding the Korean Peninsula, military modernization and arms race, and proliferation of weapons, remain high in the regional security agenda,” Gazmin said, but did not make mention of China, which is locked in a territorial dispute with the Philippines over the hotly-contested West Philippine Sea. The defense chief said that these sensitive issues “placed in the backburner” in the past have “re-emerged to take center stage,” and would be solved if states involved would settle these issues “through mechanisms provided by international law.” “This dispels notions that these issues have become irrelevant in the 21st century with the emergence of non-traditional security challenges,” he said. “Given this, while sensitive issues will not be resolved overnight, it would be timely for states to cooperate in finding means to achieve long-lasting regional stability through mechanisms provided by international law, with the hope of settling these issues with a sense of finality,” he added. At the same time, Gazmin also recognized maritime security, Read More …

De Lima maintains boat shooting happened in PH territory

 News
Jun 032013
 
De Lima maintains boat shooting happened in PH territory

By Tetch Torres-TupasINQUIRER.net 3:27 pm | Monday, June 3rd, 2013 Justice Secretary Leila De Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—Justice Secretary Leila De Lima on Monday maintained that the shooting of the Taiwanese fisherman last May 9 happened inside Philippine jurisdiction. “Our jurisdiction is clear—the incident happened inside our territory which is why we are conducting an investigation,” De Lima told reporters in an interview Monday. Based on the global positioning system record of the Philippine Coast Guard and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, De Lima said the incident occurred within the Balintang Channel, 43 nautical miles east of Balintang Island which is well within the Philippine territory. “Probably you should ask the Taiwanese government why they are conducting their own investigation. They probably have extra-territorial jurisdiction like if the victim is a Taiwanese or the vessel is registered under the Taiwanese name,” she said. The NBI investigators already arrived from Taiwan and are already wrapping up their investigation. On the other hand, Taiwanese probers also finished their probe after inspecting the Philippine vessel, watching the video of the incident and interviewing the Coast Guard officers who were present during the incident. The question of jurisdiction will be crucial to where the criminally liable parties in the case will be tried. The fisherman’s daughter, Hung Tzu Chien, has already filed a murder complaint against Filipino Coast Guard personnel involved in the fatal shooting. She did not name the respondents in the charges filed with the Pingtung prosecutor’s office Read More …

WHO calls for total ad ban as globe marks World No Tobacco Day Friday

 News
May 302013
 
WHO calls for total ad ban as globe marks World No Tobacco Day Friday

By Philip C. TubezaPhilippine Daily Inquirer 5:10 am | Friday, May 31st, 2013 MANILA, Philippines—The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday called for a comprehensive ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship as it marks World No Tobacco Day Friday. The WHO said the ban should include point-of-sale (POS) advertising or store sales promotions, the last refuge of advertisers still allowed in most countries where all other kinds of tobacco advertising have been banned. It said that children were exposed to POS advertising, since cigarettes were often sold near racks of candy and other items aimed at children. “As called for in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, governments must comprehensively ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship,” said Shin Young-soo, WHO Western Pacific regional director. Aggressive “We must halt the tobacco industry’s aggressive marketing of its products, which cause addiction, suffering and millions of deaths each year,” he said. The WHO noted that after Hong Kong banned tobacco advertising in broadcast media, billboards and print media, it was found that brand recognition remained high at 30 percent to 64 percent among children whose families were nonsmoking because POS advertising and sponsorship were not controlled. To subvert marketing bans, the tobacco industry has shifted to forms of indirect advertising, such as sponsorship of sports or cultural events and viral marketing, including word-of-mouth, the WHO said. Leading cause The global organization warned that tobacco use was a leading cause of preventable death, killing nearly six million people every year around Read More …

Watching video, Taiwan probers weep

 News
May 302013
 
Watching video, Taiwan probers weep

By Nancy C. CarvajalPhilippine Daily Inquirer 4:53 am | Friday, May 31st, 2013 Taiwanese investigators look at a portion of a ship involved in the alleged shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman as they ride a rubber boat with Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) members on Tuesday May 28, 2013. They reportedly became emotional while watching a video of the encounter between the PCG and a Taiwanese fishing vessel in the waters off the northern Philippines that resulted in the shooting death of a Taiwanese fisherman. AP PHOTO/AARON FAVILA MANILA, Philippines—Taiwanese investigators in Manila reportedly became emotional while watching a video of the encounter between the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) and a Taiwanese fishing vessel in the waters off the northern Philippines that resulted in the shooting death of a Taiwanese fisherman. “Some of them cried and others uttered ‘it’s excessive,’” said the source who asked not to be named for lack of authority to speak on the parallel probe of the May 9 incident by Taiwanese and Philippine investigators working in both Taipei and Manila. The source said several PCG personnel were shown in the video shooting at the Taiwanese vessel, the Kuang Ta Hsing No. 28. Fisherman Hung Shih-cheng, 65, was killed. The source described the video as close to two hours and showing the earlier activities of the boat, the MCS-3001, jointly manned by the PCG and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR). The footage, taken by one of the PCG personnel, showed that the Taiwanese fishing Read More …

Group calls for support of CA domestic workers bill

 News
May 302013
 
Group calls for support of CA domestic workers bill

By Joseph PimentelAJ Press/INQUIRER.net News Partner 4:41 am | Friday, May 31st, 2013 LOS ANGELES–Fil-Am organizations are urging the public to call their local state assembly member and ask them to support AB 241, the California Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. Filipino Migrant Center officials sent out a mass email to their supporters, asking them to support the bill, which would provide labor protections to household workers, caregivers and childcare providers working in private homes. These include the right to overtime pay, meal and rest breaks, uninterrupted sleep for live-in workers and use of kitchen facilities, FMC officials said. The bill will be voted on the assembly floor this week before it moves to the senate labor committee. “The Filipino Migrant Center works with Filipino caregivers to fight for fair wages, a safe and healthy work environment and dignity and respect and the right to organize,” officials wrote on the email. There are around 200,000 domestic workers in the state, tens of thousands of whom are Filipinos. This is the third time the issue has been brought up to the state legislature, each time the bill reached the governor, only for the governor to veto it. Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a similar bill, AB 889, because he believed a possible “drafting error” and that it could cost the state nearly $200 million in uncertainties. Brown asked for the State Department of Industrial Relations to look into the matter further, before he would consider signing a similar bill again. Read More …

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