Maniolas

PNoy takes a walk in New York’s concrete jungle. President Benigno Aquino III walks across Park Avenue in New York on Wednesday, September 24, after his meetings with businessmen and members of the Filipino community. Aquino addressed climate change issues in a speech at the UN earlier. With Aquino is Secretary to the Cabinet Jose Rene Almendras (3rd left). Robert Viñas President Benigno Aquino III is back in Manila after a 12-day voyage that took him to key cities of Europe and the United States and to a climate change summit at the United Nations headquarters in New York City. Aquino summed up his foreign mission with highlights on investment pledges, which he said totaled $2.34 billion and would lead to the creation of 33,850 new jobs. “Dalawampu’t dalawa korporasyon ang nakausap natin sa iba’t ibang mga bansang nilapagan natin. Ang sabi nga po natin sa kanila: Kung naghahanap kayo ng paglalagyan ng inyong puhunan, bakit hindi kayo sa amin pumunta, upang makasama nating pakinabangan ang bunga ng pag-unlad?” Aquino said in his arrival statement at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport late Thursday evening. The president said his administration is wooing Volkswagen to build its “global manufacturing hub” in the Philippines. “Ang Volkswagen din po, halimbawa, inengganyo nating dito magtayo ng kanilang global manufacturing hub; malaking bentahe ang lumalaki nating middle class, pati na rin ang maganda nating lokasyon at ang husay ng ating manggagawa, at ipagpapatuloy po natin ang pang-eengganyo sa kanila,” Aquino said. The president also said he Read More …

Hagupit ni bagyong Mario sa Ilocos Norte. Hindi pa naitatala ang halaga ng pinsala sa mga ari-aran at agrikultura na dulot ng pananalasa ng bagyong Mario na nagpamalas ng bagsik sa loob ng 10 oras mula hatinggabi nong Biyernes hanggang umaga nitong Sabado, Setyembre 20. Hadji Rieta Some classes on Monday, September 22, will remain suspended in some areas in the country even as Tropical Storm Mario (International Name: Fung-Wong) moved farther away from the country. Region 1– Ilocos Norte, preschool to high school– Ilocos Sur (All Levels) National Capital Region Classes are also suspended in the following barangays in Valenzuela City:– Wawang pulo– Balangkas– Parancillo Villa– Palasan– Arkong Bato– Pulo– Poblacion– Mabolo– Coloong– Isla– Tagalag– Bisig– Malanday– Pasolo– Rincon– Dalandanan– Pinalagad Elementary School State weather forecasters on Sunday afternoon said that the tropical storm moved farther away from the country, but the Southwest Monsoon (Habagat) continues to threaten Batanes. — Rouchelle Dinglasan/JST, GMA News

President Benigno S.C. Aquino will discuss the Philippines’ territorial dispute with China during his five-day US visit after rallying European support for the use of international arbitration to resolve the issue, Manila’s top diplomat in the US said Sunday. According to Philippine ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia, Aquino will tackle the subject in his scheduled speeches at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in Massachusetts and at Columbia University in New York. “The reason the President is very confident to speak about it [is] not only because he knows the issue very well, but [because] we have very strong grounds for advancing our position,” Cuisia said in a press statement issued by the Presidential Communications Operations Office on Sunday. The Philippines and China have a long-standing territorial dispute over several islands, islets, and atolls in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), which were believed to be rich in natural resources. The tension escalated in April 2012, when Manila and Beijing became locked in a standoff at Scarborough Shoal (Panatag Shoal) after Chinese vessels prevented Philippine authorities from arresting Chinese fishermen allegedly poaching in the shoal. This led to the country’s filing a case against China at the Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration operating under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNLCOS). China, on the other hand, rejected the country’s case filing. Earlier, Beijing turned down multilateral negotiations in resolving the territorial issue, saying it preferred bilateral talks. During his eight-day European trip, Read More …

President Benigno Aquino III arrived in Boston, Massachusetts late Saturday evening (Sunday morning in Manila) to begin his four-day working visit to the US after concluding his four-nation Europe trip. Boston is known to be “home” to the Aquinos as the late Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr, the President’s father, spent his days of exile in the quaint American town during Martial Law. Ninoy was with his family then and President Aquino himself spent some of his formative years in Boston. According to a press release from the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), national president of the Philippine Nurses Association of America Leticia Hermosa admitted that she turned “very emotional” upon learning that PNoy will visit Boston. She added that the Filipino community there has been waiting for the PNoy’s visit since Ninoy’s assassination. Hermosa fondly recalls Ninoy’s passion for serving the Philippines. Also, she told the PCOO: “It’s very, very emotional for me because when Benigno, the father, went home. He really has very, very strong feelings about doing a good job in the Philippines. And… the unfortunate thing happened, so I was very sad… and from then on the Filipino community here in Boston is looking forward to the [Aquinos] visit here.” The Filipino community in Boston has since been looking forward to a visit from the Aquinos, especially when Corazon “Cory” Aquino became president of the Philippines. “[It] started with Cory…, we were looking forward to her coming back here. And of course, now with President Aquino, Read More …

Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. was just 15 and in school in the United Kingdom when he received a call that martial law was declared in the Philippines in September 1972. But unlike many Filipinos, he had nothing to worry about as it was his namesake and father, then President Ferdinand Marcos, who declared Proclamation 1081 which put the entire country under his rule.  ‘Martial law’ did not ring a bell in the young Bongbong Marcos’ mind back in 1972. Senate PRIB photo Asked what his reaction was when he learned about it then, the younger Marcos said it did not ring any bell as he was just a high school student at that time. “Nothing. Nasa eskwelahan ako. Ang tumawag sa akin ‘yung ambassador (to the Court of St. James), it was Jaime Zobel. Tinawagan ako sa eskwelahan ang sabi niya, ‘your father declared martial law.’ ‘Yun lang,” he told GMA News Online in an interview at the Senate session hall. He added that the declaration did not affect him and never became an issue in his school, Worth School in England, much more with his classmates who were, at that time, not even aware where the Philippines is. “Hindi ito naging balita sa UK. Wala(ng epekto), well (at least) dun sa eskwelahan dahil hindi naman masyadong malapit sa Pilipinas. Karamihan nga ng kaklase ko hindi alam kung saan ang Pilipinas e so it was…hindi naging malaking balita,” he said. The senator also did not see anything different when Read More …