Maniolas

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—“It’s not a problem, so why fix it?” Akbayan Party-list Rep. Walden Bello told reporters on Thursday that travelers experience no discomfort paying the terminal fee over the counter before boarding their flights. Bello made the statement after he and OFW Family Club Partylist Rep. Roy Señeres led an ocular inspection of the current process of paying the terminal fee, formally known as the International Passenger Charge, at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Terminal 1. The two lawmakers also went to the Naia 1 to meet the officials of the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) and discuss the integration plan which was halted by a Pasay court order. Earlier, the Pasay Regional Trial Court Branch 109 found the memorandum circular of the Miaa and the Department of Transportation and Communication that sought to include the terminal fee in the tickets as “unenforceable” due to its lack of publication. The petition for temporary restraining order and injunction was filed by the protesting overseas Filipino workers party-list OFW family Club. The new scheme, which was scheduled to start on Oct. 1, was aimed at getting rid of long lines of passengers and terminal fee counters. “The refund system is an added burden to the OFWs. Is there a major discomfort among the non-OFW travelers? We don’t see that because the payment of the terminal fee is the fastest point in the airport processes,” Bello said. Under the proposed system, the OFWs who are exempted from paying the Read More …

In this undated photo, South Korean fishing boat Oryong 501 is seen in a port. South Korean officials expressed fear Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014, of a huge death toll after rescuers failed to find any of the more than 50 fishermen missing after their ship sank amid high waves in the freezing waters of the western Bering Sea on Monday, Dec. 1. AP/Yonhap SEOUL, South Korea—South Korean officials expressed fear Tuesday of a huge death toll after rescuers failed to find any of the more than 50 fishermen missing after their ship sank amid high waves in the freezing waters of the western Bering Sea on Monday. Authorities rescued seven crew members and recovered one body, but weather and water conditions complicated the search for the others, an official from the South Korean fisheries and oceans ministry said on condition of anonymity because of office rules. The crew included 35 Indonesians, 13 Filipinos, 11 South Koreans and one Russian inspector, the official said. Russian authorities said there were 62 people aboard the ship, which sank in the western part of the Bering Sea, near Russia. The South Korean ministry official said it’s believed that the ship, which was catching pollock, began to list after stormy weather caused seawater to flood its storage areas. Kim Kang-ho from Sajo Industries, the canned tuna company that owns the ship, said the 2,000-ton vessel was 36 years old. An official from South Korea’s foreign ministry, who refused to be named citing office rules, said Read More …

President Benigno Aquino III. AP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines–President Benigno Aquino III will lead the kick off ceremony of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) 2015 on Monday. Aquino, together with his Cabinet secretaries, will attend the launching ceremony at the Green Sun Hotel in Makati City on Monday evening. As the host of next year’s Apec CEO summit, the Philippine government is set to hold a series of meetings in preparation for the conference. Among the officials who will be present at the launch are Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo, Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr. Domingo said local businessmen will also be present. “While the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has lined up several activities as the country chairs Apec in 2015 and hosts the 23rd Apec Economic Leaders’ Meeting, we aim to spur greater private sector participation and generate new prospects for local and foreign businesses to flourish,” Domingo said in a statement. He said next year’s series of summits will offer opportunities for local enterprises. “In the country’s hosting next year, we seek to underscore the significance of the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the country’s economy, and their role and integration in global supply chains,” Domingo said. The Apec is a forum for 21 member economies with coastlines along the Pacific Ocean. It aims to promote free trade and economic cooperation in the region. The Philippines is among the founding members that acceded Read More …

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle: Appeal for support. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA MANILA, Philippines–Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle is appealing to the Catholic faithful to support a global campaign to raise funds and refurbish the crumbling Pontifico Collegio Filippino, the “Home in Rome” to Filipino diocesan priests. “The restoration of the Collegio will help preserve the environment of excellence it has established through the years, a quality that would redound to the entire Catholic community,” Tagle said in a statement. Inaugurated in 1959, the four-story structure outside the Vatican walls—known officially as the Pontifical College Seminary of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage—on Via Aurelia in Rome “is in pretty bad shape,” according to CBCP News, the official news service of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines. Quoting the Collegio’s rector, Fr. Gregory Ramon Gaston, the CBCP said the building’s pipelines and heating system were in bad need of an upgrade, while its dilapidated walls and cracked floors were in need of major repair. The high construction cost in Europe, however, was a “major concern,” said Gaston, who added that the subsidy the Collegio received from residents’ lodging fees and guests’ donations were just enough to cover its daily operations. Highlighting the importance of the Collegio and how it helped support the life of the Church, Gaston said it had produced more than 500 alumni, many of whom were bishops, archbishops and papal nuncios who later became professors and members of the Diocesan Read More …

A building is constructed from a village which was almost totally wiped out by Super Typhoon “Yolanda” (Haiyan) last year in Tacloban City on Nov.7, 2014. When the UNDP Asia-Pacific director, Haoliang Xu, returned to typhoon-ravaged Eastern Visayas last weekend, he noticed not just the buildings and homes that have risen again. He also saw the lives rebuilt a year after Super Typhoon “Yolanda” smashed through the region. AP MANILA, Philippines–When the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Asia-Pacific director returned to typhoon-ravaged Eastern Visayas last weekend, he noticed not just the buildings and homes that have risen again. He also saw the lives rebuilt a year after Super Typhoon “Yolanda” smashed through the region. Haoliang Xu, the UNDP’s assistant administrator and regional director for Asia and the Pacific, saw the “enormous” recovery when he visited Tacloban and Palo in Leyte province, among the worst-hit areas when Yolanda (international name: Haiyan) struck on Nov. 8, 2013. “Of course, the scars of the disaster are still there, it’s not as if everything is perfect,” Xu told the Inquirer. “The scars are still visible but the changes are enormous.” “Buildings have been repaired, businesses have opened. Life has come back, not fully to normal, but you can see that a lot has come back,” he said in an interview on Monday, the eve of his departure after an eight-day visit. From the air and on the ground, Xu saw how far the affected communities had come a year since they lost their loved Read More …