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Aussie sent back after causing plane ruckus

 News
Jul 062013
 
Aussie sent back after causing plane ruckus

By Jerome AningPhilippine Daily Inquirer 2:31 am | Sunday, July 7th, 2013 MANILA, Philippines—For his allegedly unruly behavior on board a Qantas Airlines flight to Manila, an Australian man was shipped back to Sydney on the same plane after it arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) on Thursday evening. Mamudu Kamara, 33, was detained by Australian Federal Police (AFP) air marshals who were on board Qantas flight QF-019 after he reportedly tried to enter the cockpit about two and a half hours into the eight-hour flight. An AFP agent detailed at the Australian Embassy in Manila notified the Naia-based Philippine National Police-Aviation Security Group (PNP-ASG) about the incident. On the plane’s arrival at Naia Terminal 1 at around 7 p.m., the handcuffed Kamara was escorted off the plane by the four air marshals who had arrested him. The Australian underwent documentation at the Naia immigration office and a medical checkup at the PNP-ASG clinic. He was sent back to Sydney on the Qantas flight’s return trip about an hour later. Chief Insp. Felindo Navarro of the ASG, who responded to the Australian embassy’s advisory, said Kamara became abusive to cabin crew members after finding out that the video screen in front of his seat wasn’t working. When the crew could not fix the monitor, Kamara became angry, rushed toward the cockpit and tried to open the door, apparently to personally complain to the captain. Kamara was restrained by the air marshals with help from the crew. The captain Read More …

Philex gets reprieve

 General
Jul 052013
 
Philex gets reprieve

By Ronnel W. DomingoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 4:44 am | Saturday, July 6th, 2013 ON AUG. 1 last year, Tailings Storage Facility No. 3 of Philex Mining Corp. in Itogon, Benguet, leaked and spilled 20 million metric tons of silt into the Balog Creek and Agno River. As of late April, Philex officials said cleanup in the creek was 98-percent complete. RICHARD BALONGLONG MANILA, Philippines—The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) has allowed Philex Mining Corp. to operate the Padcal mine in Benguet beyond July 7 or when the four-month temporary resumption of operations ends following the breach of a tailings pond in August last year. In a notice issued on Friday and addressed to Philex president and chief executive Eulalio B. Austin Jr., MGB Acting Director Leo L. Jasareno said the mining company was authorized to continue remediation works on Tailings Storage Facility No. 3 (TSF3). But Jasareno said the go-ahead was only temporary in that Padcal’s continued operation was allowed while the MGB “is thoroughly reviewing the pertinent technical details” of the repair works. He added that Philex’s request for permission to continue the production and storage of fresh tailings at TSF3 would be referred to the interagency and Cabinet-level Mineral Industry Coordinating Council. Jasereno also said that Philex should continue complying with requirements on the “submission of weekly reports by the third-party monitoring team regarding the structural integrity of TSF3 and the status of the remediation measures being implemented.” Excessive rainfall spawned by a typhoon in August 2012 caused Read More …

PH keeps troops in Golan Heights

 News
Jul 052013
 
PH keeps troops in Golan Heights

Philippine Daily Inquirer 4:32 am | Saturday, July 6th, 2013 Foreign Affairs secretary Alberto del Rosario. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO The Philippines said on Friday it would keep its 340 peacekeepers in the Golan Heights at least until Aug. 11 while it reviews the provision of heavier weapons and enhanced protection for the troops. Despite the recent abduction of Filipino peacekeepers,  President Benigno Aquino III said he would reject a proposal to pull the Filipinos out if the United Nations (UN) met his requests to boost security, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said in a statement. The UN Security Council recently approved the provision of machine guns and other enhanced security provisions for the Golan Heights peacekeepers, members of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) tasked to enforce a 1974 truce between Syria and Israel.  Recently, the spillover of fighting between Syria and its internal rebel groups has posed new threats to the UNDOF. Recommendation The brief abduction of 25 Filipino members of the UNDOF by Syrian rebels this year as well as the wounding of a soldier at a UN outpost prompted Del Rosario to recommend to Aquino that all the country’s troops be withdrawn. “The President has agreed to continue with the deployment of our 340-man contingent until Aug. 11, 2013, at which time the rotational process will be determined. Subject to meeting considerations which the Philippines has made to enhance the security and safety of our peacekeepers, the President has expressed the Philippines is prepared to continue its Read More …

WHO urges gov’t to regulate sale of e-cigarettes

 News
Jul 022013
 
WHO urges gov’t to regulate sale of e-cigarettes

By Jocelyn R. UyPhilippine Daily Inquirer 4:42 am | Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013 The World Health Organization on Tuesday, July 2, 2013, urged the government to regulate the sale of e-cigarettes, citing a trend in other countries where people who started using it ended up smoking the real thing. Electronic cigarettes are battery powered devices that vaporizes a nicotine laced liquid solution into an aerosol mist which simulates the act of tobacco smoking. SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES/AFP MANILA, Philippines—Beware of e-cigarettes. The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday urged the government to regulate the sale of e-cigarettes, citing a trend in other countries where people who started using it ended up smoking the real thing. Dr. Susan Mercado, director for Building Healthy Communities and Populations of the WHO-Western Pacific office, said there was no proof that the use of electronic cigarettes was safe and that it could help people kick the habit of smoking. “In 2010, the WHO organized a global panel of experts to review the evidence and there is no evidence to show that it can help you quit smoking,” Mercado said at a press conference following the Red Orchid Awards ceremonies at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City. The Red Orchid Awards is a recognition given by the Department of Health (DOH) to government offices, state hospitals and local government units that have been consistent in promoting a “100-percent tobacco-free” environment. At the event, the WHO also awarded a medal of honor to President Aquino, Sen. Read More …

DOJ: Sex-for-flight probe to include Filipina’s suicide

 News
Jul 022013
 
DOJ: Sex-for-flight probe to include Filipina’s suicide

By Christine O. AvendañoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 4:42 am | Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013 Justice Secretary Leila de Lima: Own probe INQUIRER file photo MANILA, Philippines—Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Tuesday said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) was conducting its own probe into the alleged sexual exploitation of Filipino women in the Middle East by Philippine officials, including one reportedly involving a Filipino woman who committed suicide. De Lima said she met with Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello on Monday on the Department of Justice’s role in the investigation of the “sex-for-flight” cases. She said that following the investigations by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Department of Labor and Employment, the DOJ could come in if it is determined that criminal charges are warranted against certain Filipino overseas officials. She said the Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking (Iacat) could also come in to help in the investigation since the cases “had elements of human trafficking.” De Lima said the NBI was conducting a similar trafficking investigation and some agents had gone abroad to investigate another case, this one involving a Filipino woman who was allegedly raped by “an official involved from an embassy.” The NBI was also set to investigate the case of another Filipino woman who allegedly committed suicide in a Philippine halfway center, she said. “It’s supposed to be an incident of reported suicide but there are indications that this may not be the case,” said De Lima, declining to give details or the identities of the Read More …

Nov. 3 is new deadline for illegals in Saudi

 News
Jul 022013
 
Nov. 3 is new deadline for illegals in Saudi

By Tarra Quismundo and Tina G. SantosPhilippine Daily Inquirer 3:21 am | Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013 Foreign illegal laborers wait in a queue at the Saudi immigration offices at al-Isha quarter in al-Khazan district west of Riyadh, on June 30, 2013. Some 1.5 million illegal foreign workers in Saudi Arabia were in a race against time to take advantage of an amnesty ending July 3—but which was extended to Nov. 3—that would allow them to stay or return home without prosecution. AFP PHOTO/FAYEZ NURELDINE MANILA, Philippines—A massive relief for thousands of undocumented overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who fear expulsion from Saudi Arabia. That was how ordinary Filipinos as well as officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) described the announcement in Riyadh that Saudi Arabia had given foreign workers four months to obtain a legal status in that country. Illegal foreign workers will now have until the end of the Islamic year on Nov. 3 to regularize their status or return home without prosecution, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency. According to the Saudi labor ministry, more than 1.5 million illegal foreign workers have come forward so far. Of these, some 180,000 have left the kingdom in addition to more than 200,000 unregistered workers expelled at the start of the year under new regulations to stamp out illegal immigration. The Saudi announcement provides relief for thousands of undocumented Filipinos cramming to fix their Read More …

Militant groups ask SC to stop US war games

 News
Jul 022013
 
Militant groups ask SC to stop US war games

By Christine O. AvendañoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 3:18 am | Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013 lipino students burn a mock US flag during a rally in Manila on Tuesday, July 2, 2013. Militant groups on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to stop the United States from holding war games in the country, as well as from making port calls, following the damage wrought in the Tubbataha protected area by one of its Navy warships, the USS Guardian, when it ran aground in January. AP PHOTO/AARON FAVILA MANILA, Philippines—Militant groups on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to stop the United States from holding war games in the country, as well as from making port calls, following the damage wrought in the Tubbataha protected area by one of its Navy warships, the USS Guardian, when it ran aground in January. Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), Kalikasan and other groups filed an urgent motion for a temporary environmental protection order (Tepo) in the high court. In April, they asked for a writ of “kalikasan” on the same case against the US government for the damage in Tubbataha. In an 87-page petition, the groups sought for an ex-parte Tepo or a writ of kalikasan aimed at ordering the respondents led by Scott Swift, commander of the US 7th Fleet, and Mark Rice, commanding officer of the Guardian, “to stop port calls and military exercises in the absence of clear environmental guidelines, duties and liability schemes for breaches of those duties.” The Guardian ran aground in Tubbataha on Read More …

Aquino defends use of bases by US, Japan

 News
Jul 022013
 
Aquino defends use of bases by US, Japan

‘Our strategic partners need knowledge of PH terrain’ By Michael Lim UbacPhilippine Daily Inquirer 12:05 am | Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013 President Aquino said for the first time on Tuesday that the United States and Japan would have access to the former US bases in the Philippines to be able to forge a “credible alliance” but dismissed Chinese claims that Manila was provoking Beijing. In an ambush interview in Camp Crame, Aquino stressed that giving the two countries access to the installations was “not permanent.” The United States had maintained Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Base—America’s largest overseas military facilities—until Mt. Pinatubo erupted in June 1991 and forced the shutdown of the installations. Three months later, the Senate voted 12-11 against renewing the Philippines-US Military Bases Agreement. In 1999, the Philippines ratified the Visiting Forces Agreement allowing the United States to conduct joint exercises with Philippine forces in the country. “Let’s clarify the access. They will not be a permanent fixture in the bases—but they are our allies. There are only two strategic partners that we have—it is America and Japan,” he said, explaining that “interoperability” was key to prepare forces allied with each other for any conflict. This explains why the country has regular Balikatan exercises, which calls for “joint or shoulder-to-shoulder” military exercises, he said. He stressed that failure to “coordinate” or “synchronize” the military deployment systems between forces of allied countries in case of a conflict “in my view is a wrong way to prepare, Read More …

US temporary access to PH military bases might violate Constitution

 News
Jun 282013
 
US temporary access to PH military bases might violate Constitution

SENATORS SAY By Maila AgerINQUIRER.net 1:50 pm | Friday, June 28th, 2013 Sen. Gregorio Honasan and Sen. Panfilo Lacson INQUIRER file photo MANILA, Philippines—Two senators  have raised  an  alarm over  the  Philippines’ plan to  allow the  United States and other allies  “temporary access” to  its military bases, one saying  it might be a violation of the Constitution. “Technically, I think it may be a violation of the Constitution,” Senator Gringo Honasan said in a text message on  Friday. “But if our national interest and  security are at stake, we have limited choices because we are still a developing country at the mercy of and dependent on powers like the US and China,” he said. Honasan said the  “temporary access” might be  a violation of the 1987 Constitution, which prohibits foreign military bases in the country. Despite this,  the senator  said he would back  the plan if  only  to stop  China  from “bullying” the  Philippines on  the issue of the West  Philippine Sea (South China Sea). “For practical purposes, our national security is an urgent matter given the fact that China is not moving away. It’s only with the US that China could be cowed,” Honasan said in Filipino in a phone interview. Senator Panfilo Lacson said  the Department  of National Defense should exercise prudence  by consulting first the Senate. “There is a wide gray of area of interpreting the planned move of allowing temporary access to our military bases by the US and other allies. Having  said that, the DND Read More …

UN Council backs machine guns for Golan peacekeepers

 News
Jun 282013
 
UN Council backs machine guns for Golan peacekeepers

Agence France-Presse 1:17 pm | Friday, June 28th, 2013 An Israeli army Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) maneuvers during a military exercise near the northern border with Syria on June 25, 2013 in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. INQUIRER file photo UNITED NATIONS—The UN Security Council on Thursday backed UN peacekeepers in the Golan Heights carrying machine guns, as fallout from the Syria war increases in the ceasefire zone. The council passed a resolution to extend the mandate of the force, where the Philippines has the biggest contingent, until the end of the year. It also called on Syrian government and opposition fighters to stay out of the zone where peacekeepers monitor a three-decade-old ceasefire between Syria and Israel. The 15-member council strongly condemned three abductions of UN peacekeepers in the Golan since March and expressed “grave concern” at violations of the 1974 ceasefire accord. Members of the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) and the UN Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) were kidnapped by different opposition groups between March and May. Two peacekeepers have been wounded in shelling as President Bashar al-Assad’s forces attack rebels in the ceasefire zone. The council stressed the “need to enhance the safety and security” of peacekeepers, and endorsed UN leader Ban Ki-moon’s changes to the mission’s operations to “enhance the self-defense capabilities of UNDOF.” The council resolution did not set out the measures. But UN officials and diplomats say that UNDOF peacekeepers, who traditionally only carry very light arms, will get machine guns, extra body armor and Read More …

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