12M devotees to join feast of the Black Nazarene, say organizers

 News
Jan 012014
 
12M devotees to join feast of the Black Nazarene, say organizers

Catholic devotees gather on Wednesday for a procession of the Black Nazarene in the streets of Quiapo, Manila, on New Year’s Day as a prelude to the January 9 feast. Danny Pata Around 12 million devotees from all over the country are expected to join in the nine-day celebration culminating in the Feast of the Black Nazarene from Wednesday, January 1, to Thursday, January 9, the feast proper. The figure encompasses those who will visit Quiapo Church from January 1 up to January 9. The Black Nazarene is a wooden sculpture of a dark-skinned Jesus Christ, adorned in heavy velvet embroidered with gold thread and carrying the Cross. Originally one of two statues of Christ brought on a galleon from Mexico, it was believed to have been fair-skinned until a fire that broke out in the ship blackened the wood. The other, more popular statue was destroyed in the Liberation of Manila at the close of World War II. The highlight of the pilgrimage is the procession on Thursday, (January 9), called the Traslacion, in which the supposedly miraculous image of the Black Nazarene will be transferred from the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta to Quiapo Church. Barefoot devotees will be walking with the image, as a sign of penance and thanksgiving for favors received. In article posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) news website, it was stated that Quiapo Church Rector Rev. Msgr. Clemente F. Ignacio met with the Metro Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Read More …

Thousands rally on New Year’s Day for Hong Kong democracy

 News
Jan 012014
 
Thousands rally on New Year’s Day for Hong Kong democracy

Thousands of protesters march during a demonstration demanding universal suffrage for the people of Hong Kong on New Year’s Day in Hong Kong Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014. The white banner, right, reads “Real universal suffrage, No filtering.” (AP Photo/Kin Cheung) HONG KONG – Thousands marched in Hong Kong Wednesday to demand a greater say in how their future leaders will be chosen, expressing fears that China will limit long-awaited political reforms. “Democracy will prevail” read some banners as protesters sang and shouted slogans against the government of the semi-autonomous Chinese city, less than one month after the start of an official public consultation on a future electoral system. “Because we are Hong Kong citizens, we must vote,” said Sharon Tang, a 49-year-old trading company employee, adding that residents of the former British colony have the intelligence to choose their leaders. Mainland Chinese tourists took pictures of the march as protesters chanted “End one-party rule!” China, which took back Hong Kong in 1997, has promised that its people will be able to vote in 2017 for their next chief executive. Currently the leader is elected by a 1,200-strong pro-Beijing committee. But many fear that China will control the choice of candidates to secure the election of a sympathetic official. “Hong Kong people have been on the streets over the years to strive for what we deserve, and what the Chinese government has not given us,” Charles Tam, 25, told AFP. One protester had red tape wrapped around her arms and covering Read More …

DOH: 599 injured in New Year revelries

 News
Jan 012014
 
DOH: 599 injured in New Year revelries

For one simple mistake, 15-year-old Christian Tupaz will spend the rest of his life incomplete, specifically without a thumb and an index finger. A report on GMA News TV’s “Balitanghali” on Wednesday said Tupaz’s two fingers had to be amputated after a pla-pla, an illegal firecracker, exploded in his hand during the New Year’s Day revelry. Tupaz was among the 93 patients with firecracker-related injuries brought to Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center in Manila, the hospital that accommodated the most number of patients with revelry-related injuries during the New Year celebrations, according to the Department of Health. Aside from firecracker-related injuries, the hospital also attended to cases of vehicular accidents, stabbing, and indiscriminate firing. None of the six victims of stray bullets brought to the hospital died, the “Balitanghali” report said. As of 6 a.m. Wednesday, the DOH has reported 599 cases of fireworks- and firecracker-related injuries during the celebrations. The number was 29 percent higher than the injuries recorded in the same period last year, said DOH assistant secretary Eric Tayag at a press conference. The highest number of firecracker-related injuries was recorded in the National Capital Region, followed by Region I (Ilocos Region). Manila was named as the most dangerous city as it posted the most number of revelry-related injuries. The DOH said children up to 15 years old were the usual victims, most of them by “piccolo,” another illegal firecracker. — Rouchelle Dinglasan/KBK, GMA News

Ball drops in NYC’s Times Square, ushering in 2014

 News
Dec 312013
 
Ball drops in NYC’s Times Square, ushering in 2014

Revelers pose for a photograph as they wait for midnight during the New Year’s Eve celebrations in Times Square, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2013, in New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) NEW YORK — A sea of horn-tooting, hat-wearing revelers cheered and some even kissed as the famed crystal ball dropped in a freezing New York City’s Times Square to ring in 2014, capping a world-wide wave of celebrations that included a dazzling 30-minute fireworks show in Dubai and a deluge of confetti in London that tasted as good as it looked. Bronx-born U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor led the 60-second countdown and pushed the button that unleashed the shimmering orb with 2,688 crystals, a role usually filled by the New York City mayor. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, on his last day in office, was sitting the celebration out after 12 years on the job, while newly elected Mayor Bill de Blasio took the oath of office just after midnight at his Brooklyn home. Kerrie McConaghy, 20, a university student visiting Times Square from Armagh, Ireland, was dancing and jumping up and down, donning a big blue top hat. “It’s unbelievable here,” she said. “The lights, seeing the ball, hearing the music, all the people. It’s amazing.” “TV doesn’t do this justice,” she said. “You have to be here to believe it.” The annual New York celebration, which this year featured performances from artists such as Miley Cyrus, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Blondie, has become part endurance sport because post-Sept. 11, Read More …

Audit finds lax monitoring of CHED scholarship grants

 News
Dec 302013
 
Audit finds lax monitoring of CHED scholarship grants

The Commission on Audit (COA) has found alleged anomalies in the Commission on Higher Education’s (CHED) student financial assistance program (StuFAP), which used to be funded by the now-discontinued Priority Development Assistance Fund and Disbursement Acceleration Program. According to a “24 Oras” report aired Monday evening, COA’s 2012 audit findings, released Friday, showed CHED gave a disproportionate amount to students under their “Study Now, Pay Later” plan, and collected only a fraction of it from students. It found that study grants were given in violation of CHED guidelines. “The selection, screening, awarding and determination of the amount of the grant to each student beneficiary,” according to the report, “were entrusted to the Office of the Legislator through a [memorandum of agreement].” Because of this, student were given financial assistance ranging from P16,000 to P110,000, exceeding the P15,000 limit per semester for CHED’s Full Merit scholars. Despite the selection, some P112,638,412 in claims listed by CHED were found to lack proper documentation such as student grades and ITR.  Nine CHED regional offices reported a due amount of P138,591,978.43 from student borrowers, but only P2,469,242.65 was collected from these regions. The COa report cited a “collection efficiency ranging from 0.07 percent to 4.68 percent, due to lack of manpower, non-enforcement of the terms of the contract, inadequate monitoring system, and the absence and non-updating of [subsidiary ledgers].”  Meanwhile, checks amounting to P18,840,038.60 were released by CHED’s Central, NCR, and Region IV-A offices to people other than the registered beneficiaries. The anomalies spotted Read More …

DFA: No Pinoys among injured in Russia blasts

 News
Dec 302013
 
DFA: No Pinoys among injured in Russia blasts

No Filipino has so far been reported among the injured in two deadly blasts that hit the city of Volgograd in Russia, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Monday. DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said on his Twitter account Monday evening this was the initial report of the Philippine embassy in Moscow. “Our Embassy in Moscow reports that there are no Filipinos among those killed and injured in the Volgograd (Russia) blasts,” Hernandez said in his 6:31 p.m. tweet. The first blast killed at least 17 people in the city’s main railway station on Sunday. Less than 24 hours later, a second explosion killed at least 14 people on a trolley bus. — BM, GMA News

Report: 70 journalists died on the job in 2013

 News
Dec 302013
 
Report: 70 journalists died on the job in 2013

Mourners pray over the body of Somali journalist Mohamed Mohamud at his burial in the capital Mogadishu, Somalia. AP NEW YORK—At least 70 journalists were killed on the job around the world in 2013, including 29 who died covering the civil war in Syria and 10 slain in Iraq, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. The dead in Syria included a number of citizen journalists working to document combat in their home cities, broadcasters who worked with media outlets affiliated with either the government or the opposition, and a handful of correspondents for the foreign press, including an Al-Jazeera reporter, Mohamed al-Mesalma, who was shot by a sniper. Six journalists died in Egypt. Half of those reporters were killed while reporting an Aug. 14 crackdown by Egyptian security forces on demonstrators protesting the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi. “The Middle East has become a killing field for journalists. While the number of journalists killed for their work has declined in some places, the civil war in Syria and a renewal of sectarian attacks in Iraq have taken an agonizing toll,” the committee’s deputy director, Robert Mahoney, said in a statement. “The international community must prevail on all governments and armed groups to respect the civilian status of reporters and to prosecute the killers of journalists.” The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has been tracking deaths among reporters and broadcasters since 1992. Most of the killings it has documented over the years involve people who are covering news in Read More …

Worker abuse by diplomats a problem, advocates say

 News
Dec 302013
 
Worker abuse by diplomats a problem, advocates say

Members and supporters from a coalition of organizations supporting domestic workers, rally outside the Indian Consulate in New York where Devyani Khobragade, India’s deputy consul general was believed to be staying after she was arrested and charged with lying on a visa form. AP NEW YORK—The prosecution of an Indian consular official in New York for allegedly forcing her maid to toil for little pay highlights a problem advocates say is all too common — workers for foreign governments who bring along the baggage of human trafficking to the US. Because of the complications surrounding immunity laws, many abuse cases often go unreported or uncharged, advocates say. Victims’ claims often end up in civil court for that reason, they say. There have been at least 20 cases in the past decade filed by workers who said they were brought to the US by diplomatic officials and threatened with abuse, forced to work endless hours and kept isolated, with their employers not charged criminally. “We’ve seen it across the board, we’ve seen it with country missions to the UN, we’ve seen it with consular officials, diplomats of all levels,” said anti-trafficking attorney Dana Sussman, who is representing the maid in the Indian case. The case against Devyani Khobragade, India’s deputy consul general in New York, is unusual in part because the US State Department has said she does not have immunity, a claim her attorney and the Indian government are disputing. Khobragade, 39, was charged with visa fraud and accused of Read More …

PNP chief to public: Report cops who fire weapons on New Year’s Eve

 News
Dec 302013
 
PNP chief to public: Report cops who fire weapons on New Year’s Eve

The Philippine National Police on Monday reminded the public to report any of its personnel using firearms to ring in 2014. PNP chief Director General Alan Purisima issued the last-minute reminder on his Twitter account as he inspected firecracker stalls in Bulacan province. “I encourage everybody to report to PNP, those who have the tendency to use their firearms in celebrating New Year’s Eve,” he said. “For your reports, you need not give your identity, just the information regarding the would be law breakers during New Year’s celebration,” he added. Earlier, the PNP had the muzzles of police officers’ firearms taped to make sure the guns are not fired indiscriminately during the holidays. The muzzles will be checked again after New Year’s Day to see if the guns had been fired. Also on Monday, Purisima personally checked on police operations against illegal firecrackers and pyrotechnic devices in Bulacan. A separate report by radio dzBB’s Glen Juego also said the Bureau of Fire Protection conducted surprise inspections on fireworks stalls in White Plains in Quezon City. In past weeks, the government had been appealing to Filipinos not to welcome the New Year with fireworks, which it said can be harmful and even deadly in some cases. — BM, GMA News

PH team tops int’l math contest in Indonesia

 News
Dec 302013
 
PH team tops int’l math contest in Indonesia

RP math team photo taken during the awarding ceremonies of the 2013 Asian Intercities Teenagers’ Mathematics Olympiad (AITMO), held on Dec. 29 in Sentul City, Bogor province in West Java, Indonesia.(Photo courtesy of the Mathematics Trainers Guild-Philippines) MANILA, Philippines—A group of mostly high school students from Metro Manila topped the just-ended 2013 Asian Intercities Teenagers’ Mathematics Olympiad held in West Java, Indonesia, the Inquirer learned Monday. The news was relayed to the Inquirer by Dr. Simon Chua, president of the Mathematics Trainers’ Guild-Philippines (MTG) and head of the Philippine delegation to the 10-nation competition held Dec. 28. The MTG trained the Filipino math wizards, who won three gold, four silver and one bronze medals, as well as eight merit awards, in the contest, Chua said. “The Philippine math team has been declared overall champion by AITMO contest organizers here in Sentul City in Bogor province,” Chua said in his e-mail. He cited the team for “another job well done,” noting “these kids and other team members have bagged a number of medals in about a dozen foreign math contests this year.” The teams from Taiwan and Thailand placed second and third, respectively, Chua said. Other countries represented in the contest were China, India, Bulgaria, Malaysia, Iran, Kazakstan, and host Indonesia. The Philippines’ gold medals were won by Adrian Reginald Sy from St. Jude Catholic School in Manila; Clyde Wesley Ang from Chiang Kai Shek College, also in Manila; and Kelsey Lim Tiong Soon from Grace Christian College in Quezon City. Read More …

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