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American pastor laments ‘military harassment’ in Mindanao disaster areas

News

Jul 172013

American pastor laments ‘military harassment’ in Mindanao disaster areas

By Germelina LacorteInquirer Mindanao 11:23 am | Thursday, July 18th, 2013 Armed Forces of the Philippines. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO DAVAO CITY, Philippines—Americans joining a four-day international solidarity mission to disaster areas in Mindanao said they were appalled by the “military harassment” suffered by people even in communities worst-hit by Typhoon Pablo last December. The Rev. Frank Wulf, a pastor of the United Methodist Church in Los Angeles, California, said they would pressure the US government to stop sending military aid to the Armed Forces of the Philippines because they observed that civilians were being made to suffer in communities with a heavy presence of soldiers. Follow Us Recent Stories: Complete stories on our Digital Edition newsstand for tablets, netbooks and mobile phones; 14-issue free trial. About to step out? Get breaking alerts on your mobile.phone. Text ON INQ BREAKING to 4467, for Globe, Smart and Sun subscribers in the Philippines. Tags: Disaster , Military Harassment Factual errors? Contact the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s day desk. Believe this article violates journalistic ethics? Contact the Inquirer’s Reader’s Advocate. Or write The Readers’ Advocate: c/o Philippine Daily Inquirer Chino Roces Avenue corner Yague and Mascardo Streets, Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines Or fax nos. +63 2 8974793 to 94

3 abducted PH nurses safe

News

Jul 122013

Philippine Daily Inquirer 5:22 am | Saturday, July 13th, 2013 MANILA, Philippines—Three Filipino nurses who were reported abducted on the night of July 9 are now safe and are resting at company-provided accommodations in Sebha, southwestern part of Libya, according to the Filipino migrants rights group Migrante. The three, one female and two male nurses, were victims of an apparent robbery attempt by a local taxi driver but were able to escape and call the Libyan police. They were shaken but unharmed, the Department of Foreign Affairs reported. According to the Libya Herald online, the “quick thinking of one Filipino nurse foiled an abduction attempt on three expatriate hospital workers in Sebha.” The report by Houda Mzioudet said: “A taxi, supposed to be taking the nurses home after a pre-Ramadan evening shopping trip, instead drove the three Filipinos, two men and one woman, to the outskirts of Sebha.” “It was an attempted abduction,” the Libya Herald quoted Filipino Consul General in Tripoli, Renato N. Duenes, as saying. “One of the nurses challenged the driver, threw a stone at him and was able to escape,” Duenes said, “and then the other two were also able to get away.” The report also said “an eyewitness, recognizing the nurses as staff from the Sebha General Hospital, called the clinic. A colleague alerted the police but, by the time they arrived, the nurses had already escaped and were hiding, and the taxi had driven away from the scene.” The nurses, all in their midtwenties, Read More …

The metamorphosis of Yaya

General

Jul 062013

By Monserrat C. GomezPhilippine Daily Inquirer 12:19 am | Sunday, July 7th, 2013 Margarita was 30 years old when she came into our household. I had just delivered my first child and was in need of a nanny. She was the cousin of a friend’s maid and had previously worked in a hospital nursery in Cebu, assisting senior nurses caring for newborns. She was just 4’8” tall. She was typically promdi (from the province) and spoke no English and very little Tagalog. Margarita came from Misamis Occidental. So, our first challenge was communication. Hard as it was to talk to each other—me in my hybrid English and Tagalog or Taglish, she in her heavily accented Visayan-Tagalog—we somehow managed and famously got along. She was great with the baby and a happy soul, always singing and laughing, and talking to herself, as she went about her chores. Soon after my second daughter was born, Margarita was adamantly against our getting another nanny to look after the new baby, insisting that she was fully capable of taking care of both the new arrival and our other three-year-old. My daughters grew to love her because she was fun and playful, and so protective of them. As they learned to talk, she became Yaya to them. When the kids were six and three, we were presented with an opportunity to move to the United States. Great as the offer was, I told my husband that we would only go on the condition that we Read More …

Coast Guard to acquire 10 patrol ships from Japan

News

Jul 042013

Coast Guard to acquire 10 patrol ships from Japan

By Jerry E. EsplanadaPhilippine Daily Inquirer 1:51 pm | Thursday, July 4th, 2013 This image received from Taiwan’s CNA and taken on September 25, 2012 shows a Japan Coast Guard patrol boat with a (neon) sign reading “Japanese territorial waters” as they monitor a flotilla of Taiwanese fishing boats which are headed to the Diaoyu / Senkaku islands disputed in the East China Sea, in territorial waters. AFP PHOTO/CNA MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Coast Guard expects to wrap up talks with the Japan International Cooperation Agency within the next few months for the acquisition of 10 brand-new patrol boats from Japan in late 2014 or early 2015. This was disclosed to the Inquirer on Thursday by Cmdr. Armand Balilo, PCG spokesperson, who said “the talks are ongoing.” Quoting Rear Adm. Rodolfo Isorena, the Coast Guard commandant, Balilo said, “Hopefully, the talks will be completed by the last quarter of the year so that actual construction of the vessels could be started.” “The two sides have agreed that all 10 patrol boats will be 40 meters (131 feet) long. But they are still talking about other specifications,” added Balilo, chief of the Coast Guard’s public affairs office. The JICA, he said, proposed that five of the vessels be built in the Philippines and the five others in Japan, but the Coast Guard “prefers that all 10 patrol boats be built in Japan.” Established in 1974, the JICA is the primary Japanese government agency engaged in technical cooperation and other forms of aid Read More …

‘Cook’s Illustrated’ editor Doc Willoughby, Filipino food’s secret champion

News

Jul 022013

‘Cook’s Illustrated’ editor Doc Willoughby, Filipino food’s secret champion

By Amy BesaINQUIRER.net US Bureau 6:57 am | Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013 NEW YORK—John “Doc” Willoughby was managing editor of Gourmet magazine from 2000 to 2009 when he fell in love with Philippine food and decided he would be one of its secret champions. He became a good friend of ours and brought many of the magazine’s editors and food writers to sample Philippine dishes in our first restaurant, Cendrillon (1995-2009), in SoHo. But no matter how much Doc tried, the unwritten rule for mainstream magazines then was to focus on Europe, and no one wanted to take the risk of promoting an unknown Southeast Asian cuisine to its readers. Philippine food was still outside of their comfort zone. A decade later, in 2011, Doc was back as executive editor at Cook’s Illustrated (CI) after the print version of Gourmet folded. Cook’s Illustrated is a monthly US-based recipe-driven food magazine he co-founded with Christopher Kimball in the early 1990s. CI does not devote any of its pages to ads and relies purely on its subscription base of 900,000 for sustenance. Doc had an inspired idea. His instincts told him that in the previous three or four years, Americans had significantly broadened their range of culinary interests. People were now more adventurous and were hankering to discover lesser-known cuisines. So he thought, why not feature Philippine adobo and get one of their in-house chefs, who had spent a few years in the Philippines, to come up with his own recipe for Read More …

PH, US end naval exercises near disputed sea

News

Jul 022013

PH, US end naval exercises near disputed sea

By Frances MangosingINQUIRER.net 7:25 pm | Tuesday, July 2nd, 2013 USS Fitzgerald (C). INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine-US joint military exercise, Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training, concluded on Tuesday after six days of a series of shore-based and at sea events. The ceremony was held on board the guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62), the United States Embassy said in a statement. Shore-based training events covered several naval competencies, including jungle warfare and marksmanship; tactical combat casualty care; riverine small boat operations; visit, board, search and seizure; and diving and salvage. In the exercises 60 nautical miles east of Panatag, an area claimed both by China and Philippines, the Fitzgerald conducted maneuvering, communications and gunnery exercises with the Philippine Navy flagship BRP Gregorio del Pilar (PF 15) and the Philippine coast guard salvage and rescue vessel BRP Edsa (SARV 02). Panatag Shoal, an area contested by Philippines and China, is located 124 nautical miles off Zambales, but is well within the country’s 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone. The dispute led to a maritime standoff between the Philippines and China last year. The incident prompted Manila to seek the United Nations’ arbitration. Participating ships included the guided missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) with embarked Commander, Task Group 73.1/ Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 7 staff, and the diving and salvage ships, USNS Safeguard (T-ARS 50) and USNS Salvor (T-ARS 52). A company of Marines from India Company, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment participated in the shore-based events. “It was a Read More …

Palace defends access plan

News

Jun 282013

US troops’ use of PH bases to be temporary By TJ Burgonio, Nikko Dizon and Norman BordadoraPhilippine Daily Inquirer 12:51 am | Saturday, June 29th, 2013 Malacañang on Friday defended a plan to give the United States, Japan and other allies access to military bases in the Philippines, saying the country was free to do anything within its territory. But the plan, which coincides with the United States’ “pivot” to Asia, a strategy that would see 60 percent of America’s warships shifting to the region by the end of the decade, has yet to be approved by President Benigno Aquino III, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said. Several senators acknowledged that the Philippines needs the assistance the United States and other allies can bring by their presence in the country, but they said the proposed access agreements under the plan would need Senate approval. The Senate voted to expel US military bases from the Philippines in 1991, but ratified the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) in 1999 to allow US forces access to the country through joint exercises with Philippine forces. No longer visiting Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, one of the 12 senators who voted to expel the US military bases, said the VFA allowed only a temporary stay of US forces in the country. “They cannot establish any military base in the Philippines,” Enrile said. “Temporary or whatever term they use, no military bases. If it assumes a certain degree of permanence or stability, then it’s no longer visiting forces,” Read More …

Amnesty appeals to Filipino captors of 2 sisters

News

Jun 262013

Amnesty appeals to Filipino captors of 2 sisters

Associated Press 12:19 pm | Thursday, June 27th, 2013 Nadjoua Bansil (left) and sister Linda (right). AP MANILA, Philippines—Amnesty International and the family of two Filipino-Algerian sisters called for suspected Islamic extremists to release the women immediately, saying Thursday that they are human rights defenders and filmmakers who focused on the plight of impoverished Muslims in Mindanao. Nadjoua and Linda Bansil were taken by about 10 suspected Abu Sayyaf members Saturday in southern Sulu province’s Patikul town while working on a short film about Muslim coffee farmers. At least three companions of the sisters, who were seized from a van, were left behind by the gunmen, police said. Their brother, Mohammed Bansil, noted that his sisters were seized while tackling the very issues at the root of the decades-old minority Muslim unrest in the southern Philippines. “Instead of filming, they now have become the story,” he told The Associated Press. Ritz Lee Santos, who heads Amnesty International Philippines, said that the sisters have been longtime human rights volunteers. “It’s sad that they were taken because they went to Sulu to tell the whole country about the struggles of poor Muslims,” he said. Linda Bansil, 37, wrote for Amnesty International publications in the Philippines and her 39-year-old sister volunteered work on films about the travails and culture of Filipino tribesmen. They also worked together to produce low-budget, independent films showcasing Filipino Muslim life and culture, their family said. “Even on the streets, they’ll pick up homeless children or intervene when somebody’s Read More …

PAL offers business class special from San Francisco and LA to 14 Asian cities

News

Jun 262013

PAL offers business class special from San Francisco and LA to 14 Asian cities

INQUIRER.net US Bureau 7:17 am | Thursday, June 27th, 2013 SAN FRANCISCO—Business class travel for two from San Francisco and Los Angeles to 14 Asian destinations is now available from Philippine Airlines for as low as US$5,388 for a limited period. Included destinations are Manila, Cebu, Macau, Hong Kong, Taipei, Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen, Singapore, Bangkok, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Denpasar (Bali) and Kuala Lumpur. Roundtrip airfare for two must be purchased between June 24 and July 15, 2013. The special offer requires a minimum stay of three days and a maximum stay of one month. Outbound US travel period is July 16 to Nov. 30, 2013, and travel must be completed by Dec. 14, 2013. Not included in the fare price are fuel surcharge, US government taxes and fees, airport fees and charges, which may all vary according to destination. Fare rules strictly apply. Tickets are valid for sale at PAL ticket offices and travel agents. Follow Us Recent Stories: Complete stories on our Digital Edition newsstand for tablets, netbooks and mobile phones; 14-issue free trial. About to step out? Get breaking alerts on your mobile.phone. Text ON INQ BREAKING to 4467, for Globe, Smart and Sun subscribers in the Philippines. Tags: air travel , Airlines , business class fares , special fares Factual errors? Contact the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s day desk. Believe this article violates journalistic ethics? Contact the Inquirer’s Reader’s Advocate. Or write The Readers’ Advocate:

Pay taxes in anticipation of immigration reform

News

Jun 262013

Pay taxes in anticipation of immigration reform

By Edgardo M. LopezINQUIRER.net US Bureau 6:37 am | Thursday, June 27th, 2013 UNITED STATES, New York : NEW YORK, NY – JUNE 14: Immigration reform advocates stage a demonstration, organized by the New York Immigration Coalition, outside a detention facility run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on June 14, 2013 in New York City. Demonstrators staged the event ahead of Fathers’ Day to draw attention to the thousands of undocumented immigrant fathers deported by ICE and separated from their families in the United States. John Moore/Getty Images/AFP While 11 million undocumented immigrants are nervously anticipating the immigration reform bill pending in the US Congress, the government is happily anticipating the addition of 11 million new taxpayers. A study by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the passage of the bill would reduce the US deficit by an estimated $200 billion in the first 10 years and another $700 billion in the second decade. The CBO study indicates that with 11 million new taxpayers, the United States could substantially reduce its budget deficit in the next 20 years after the law is implemented. An expected stipulation in the immigration reform bill is the requirement for immigrants to pay back taxes before being allowed to acquire permanent legal status. Therefore, it would be wise for affected immigrants to start filing returns and paying the corresponding taxes, for past years and in tax years to come. You do not want to be caught in a situation where your tax Read More …

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