Maniolas

President Rodrigo Duterte. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/JOAN BONDOC LIMA, Peru — President Rodrigo Duterte arrives here for his first Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Economic Leaders Meeting before midnight Thursday under the gaze of a curious foreign press, many of whom may be wondering what controversial thing he will say next. There’s been a marked interest in the Philippine president among foreign journalists, according to Malacañang insiders privy to requests for media coverage of Mr. Duterte’s activities in this annual trade summit featuring the leaders of 21 Pacific Rim economies. “Our past presidents don’t usually get that much attention from the foreign press,” said one source, who disclosed that at least one international media agency and a Peruvian news organization were seeking an opportunity to cover or interview the firebrand Mr. Duterte. The requests have been forwarded to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), though it is not believed he will have time to speak to media during the two-day event. The Philippine leader, who will be departing from the Philippines on Nov. 17 (Manila time) with a short layover in New Zealand, is expected to land in this South American country at about 11:30 p.m. Thursday (Lima time). Lima is 13 hours behind Manila. READ: Duterte flies to Lima, Peru this week One Philippine official earlier said Mr. Duterte, whose propensity for making outrageous declarations such as “separating” from the United States or cursing out US President Barack Obama and the European Union, would have a bigger stage in the Apec Read More …

OFWs arrive in NAIA 1. LYN RILLON The Justice Ministry of Japan plans to encourage foreign nationals with expertise in sectors that are expanding to settle in Japan by including them in a special scheme that shortens the required period of stay to acquire permanent residence status. The ministry is scheduled to revise its guideline as early as next year in the hopes the measure will increase Japan’s competitiveness. Currently, foreign nationals whose contribution to Japan can be approved will be allowed to apply for permanent residency if they stay in Japan for five consecutive years. Permanent residency usually requires 10 consecutive years. The main fields of contribution are diplomacy, economy and industry, culture and arts, and sports. With the upcoming revision, the ministry plans to add sectors that are expanding to the list. The ministry exemplifies these as regenerative medicine, the internet of things, or IoT, where everything is connected via the internet, and others. There are currently some cases in which foreign nationals are eligible for a special scheme in the economy and industry sector. “By specifying the sectors that are growing, we’d like to promote our stance to welcome foreign nationals in these sectors to settle in Japan,” said a senior official at the ministry. The government introduced accepting highly skilled foreign nationals in its growth strategy and adopted a point-based system for highly skilled professionals in 2012. The system converted a foreign national’s academic background, job history, annual income and other aspects into points. Those who Read More …

A US air force V-22 Osprey unloads Philippine marines during live fire drills of the annual US-Philippine joint military exercise at the former US target range in Crow Valley, Capas, Tarlac, on May 15, 2014. US Pacific Command chief Harry Harris says the US is eyeing bigger military drills in the the Philippines despite a pronouncement of President Rodrigo Duterte that he was ‘separating’ from the States. AFP FILE WASHINGTON, United States — Military cooperation between the US and the Philippines is unchanged for now despite inflammatory statements from the Filipino president directed at US President Barack Obama, a top American commander said Tuesday. President Rodrigo Duterte has voiced willingness to request the withdrawal of American troops from his country. READ: Duterte announces military, economic split with US | Duterte: Separation with US doesn’t mean cutting diplomatic ties “Despite what he has said, there has been no change in anything with the Philippines,” said Harry Harris, commander of the US Pacific Command, during an event in Washington. Harris was slated to participate Tuesday in high-level meetings between the two countries to schedule joint military exercises for 2017 and after. “I am optimistic,” he said of the meetings, adding that thus far the exercises program has been on track. Harris said there could be “a refocusing or a rescoping of some of the bigger exercises in 2017.” Harris said there could be “a refocusing or a rescoping of some of the bigger exercises in 2017.” Until Duterte came to power in June, Manila was one Read More …

WASHINGTON—President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to deport up to 3 million immigrants who have committed crimes suggested that he would dramatically step up removals of both people in the United States illegally and those with legal status. If carried out, the plan potentially would require raids by a vastly larger federal immigration force to hunt down these immigrants and send them out of the country. Addressing the issue in an interview broadcast on Sunday on the CBS program “60 Minutes,” Trump adopted a softer tone on immigrants than he did during his campaign, when he called many of them rapists and criminals. He instead referred to them as “terrific people,” saying they would be dealt with only after the border had been secured and criminals deported. But by placing the number of people he aims to turn out of the country as high as 3 million, Trump raised questions about which immigrants he planned to target for deportation and how he could achieve removals at that scale. Dividing communities “If he wants to deport 2-3 million people, he’s got to rely on tactics that will divide communities and create fear throughout the country,” said Kevin Appleby, the senior director of international migration policy at the Center for Migration Studies of New York. “He would have to conduct a sweep, or raids or tactics such as those, to reach the numbers he wants to reach. It would create a police state, in which they would have to be aggressively looking for people,” Read More …

I am absolutely confident that Pres. Rodrigo Duterte will not declare martial law. This confidence is based on the bountiful evidence that the Filipino people seem entirely too willing to voluntarily surrender their fundamental constitutional rights; so there would be no need to formally declare martial law. This conclusion is drawn from the public reaction to a speech Pres. Duterte delivered at the regional convention of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) on Nov. 4. In that Manila Hotel speech, Duterte informed his audience of lawyers that there will be a massive demonstration against him in the United States next year and that the moving force behind this protest is Filipino American Loida Nicolas-Lewis. “Meron next year, a certain financier, mayaman na babae who married a black and is now a millionaire and she is planning to do massive demonstration,” he said. An online publication, politics.com.ph, reported Duterte’s speech in its Nov. 4, 2016 issue with this sensationalized banner headline: “Duterte ‎unmasks Loida Nicolas Lewis’ plot to launch massive protests to oust him.” If that report is true, is that a crime? If not, why did Duterte feel the need to “unmask” Loida?   Is organizing a protest rally a crime? The Philippine lawyers in that convention, as well as Duterte himself, who was a former government prosecutor, are all aware of Article III Section 4 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, which states that “No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the Read More …