Maniolas

Some of the passengers of PAL flight 9007. Christine O. Avendaño/INQUIRER MALTA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT—A Filipino who arrived here Saturday with over 700 others evacuated by sea from Libya missed his flight to Manila. Rodrigo Andres was supposed to be among the 356 passengers of the last of two Philippine Airlines flights that the government chartered to repatriate them. PAL flight 9007 departed here for Manila at 11 a.m. Saturday (Manila time) without Andres after Maltese airport authorities failed to find him. Andres had just a few hours earlier disembarked along with 766 Filipinos from a ship chartered by the Philippine government to ferry them out of Libya to Malta. He was among the second batch to leave the ship that arrived before two PAL flights landed here about 6 a.m. Manila time. With passengers already seated inside the plane, OWWA welfare officer Mario Antonio was seen in a huddle with Maltese airport officials who had been trying to locate Andres. “(Andres) checked in his luggage but he did not get in the plane and Maltese airport officials are trying to locate him,” Antonio told a media delegation invited to cover the arrival of the evacuees here and repatriation to Manila. Andres’ name was called repeatedly by PAL flight crew members inside the plane but he was not around. The plane had 355 passengers as listed, including Andres. PAL crew members then called Jacinto Abunda, a passenger of the other flight who was seen in the company of Andres. Abunda came Read More …

By INQUIRER.net |INQUIRER.net 7:17 pm | Friday, August 15th, 2014 UN Filipino peacekeepers FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines–The Department of National Defense is considering the pullout of military personnel serving for the United Nations as peacekeepers in Golan Heights and Liberia due to the worsening conflict situation in the Middle East and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. “If they are not given proper equipment and tools for their protection, we should not continue the deployment. We cannot put our soldiers to risk,” Defense Secretary Voltare Gazmin told reporters in Filipino on Friday. A military assessment revealed that the deployment of peacekeepers to Liberia and Golan Heights has become hazardous. The Armed Forces of the Philippines deploys military personnel to Liberia, Golan Heights and Haiti as part of its commitment to help the United Nations.  There are 115 peacekeepers in Liberia, 332 peacekeepers in Golan Heights, and 157 in Haiti. Gazmin said that the recommendation to pull out Filipino peacekeepers does not cover the operations in Haiti. “We will not pull out all the contingents. It may only be done in areas that are risky because of health reasons and conflict,” he said. The recommendation will be upon the approval of President Benigno Aquino III. In Liberia, UN peacekeepers have been ordered to restrict their movements to avoid the Ebola virus, which has already killed over 1,000 people in West Africa. In 2013, 25 members of the 6th Philippine contingent to Golan Heights were seized in two separate incidents by Syrian Read More …

By Nestor Corrales |INQUIRER.net 5:19 pm | Saturday, July 19th, 2014 Department of Foreign Affairs building INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—Amid Israel’s air attacks on Gaza Strip, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has implemented a  mandatory evacuation for Filipinos. “In view of the threats to security posed by the Israel-Hamas conflict to Filipinos in the Gaza Strip, the Department of Foreign Affairs has raised Alert Level 4 (Mandatory Repatriation) in Gaza,” DFA said in statement on Saturday. Meanwhile, alert level 2 (restriction phase) was  raised in areas in Israel within 15 kilometers from the border with Gaza, while alert level 1 (precautionary phase) remains raised in the West Bank and in the rest of Israel. The agency said the Philippine embassies in Cairo, Tel Aviv, and Amman are ready to repatriate Filipinos from Gaza in coordination with concerned authorities of Israel, Egypt, Jordan and the United Nations and other international organizations operating in Gaza. It said the DFA continues to closely monitor developments and called for the cessation of hostilities to prevent further loss of innocent lives. RELATED STORIES Alert level 3 raised, voluntary repatriation of Filipinos in Gaza Strip urged Alerts raised in Kenya, Gaza Follow Us Other Stories: PH urges nations to unite to determine those responsible for ‘brutal act’ on MH17 Troops search for seized Germans ‘Tragedy after tragedy’ makes airline ‘toxic’ Filipino-Indon family also dead Recent Stories: Complete stories on our Digital Edition newsstand for tablets, netbooks and mobile phones; 14-issue free trial. About to Read More …

In this June 24, 2014 file photo, new packs of cigarettes displaying pictorial health warnings are arranged on the counter by a shop attendant for photographers at a convenience store in Jakarta, Indonesia. Tobacco companies on Tuesday largely snubbed an Indonesian law requiring them to put graphic photo warnings on all cigarette packs being sold, marking another setback in a country that’s home to the world’s highest rate of men smokers and a wild, wild west of advertising. AP FILE PHOTO JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia became the newest country to mandate graphic photo warnings on cigarette packs on Tuesday, joining more than 40 other nations or territories that have adopted similar regulations in recent years. The warnings, which showcase gruesome close-up images ranging from rotting teeth and cancerous lungs to open tracheotomy holes and corpses, are an effort to highlight the risks of health problems related to smoking. Research suggests these images have prompted people to quit, but the World Health Organization estimates nearly 6 million people continue to die globally each year from smoking-related causes. The tobacco industry has fought government efforts to introduce or increase the size of graphic warnings in some countries. Here are a few places where pictorial health warnings have made headlines: ____ INDONESIA: THE LAW: 40 percent of pack covered by graphic photos. TIMING: Deadline to be on shelves was June 24. BACKGROUND: Many tobacco companies missed Tuesday’s deadline to comply with the new law requiring all cigarette packs in stores to carry graphic Read More …

DFA spokesman Charles Jose. AP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—Blog posts promoting discrimination against Filipinos in Singapore is isolated and that Filipinos remain an important part of the city-state economy, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Friday. “Our compatriots there know they are important to the eyes of the Singaporean government and their contributions to the Singaporean economy have been recognized,” DFA spokesman Charles Jose told reporters in response to questions about discrimination in the country. “Those kinds of attitudes are likely isolated to a small number of Singaporeans who don’t have the full appreciation or understand of the role of Filipinos there,” he said. A blogger said in a post on May 24, 2014 that “Filipinos have long overstayed their welcome, and they must be advised in no less clearer terms that we are growing intolerant of their presence.” The blogger, who did not identify himself, gave suggestions on how to express displeasure against Filipinos such as: refusing to talk to Filipino service workers and asking for a Singaporean instead and “pushing or nudging” them “when the Peenoise get rowdy or obviously do not observe basic social decorum.” He also recommended not helping any Filipino involved in a serious accident and to make a mess when eating at Jollibee or any Filipino themed restaurant. “Toss food into your mouth, chew thoroughly, then spit it out. Bite another morsel and repeat. Do this till your plate is a masterpiece of regurgitated nastiness. Ask for the bill (pay in cash), scribble ‘Pinoy food fucking tastes like shit’ on Read More …