Maniolas

INQUIRER.net 4:25 pm | Sunday, August 25th, 2013 Filipino migrant workers in Dammam, Saudi Arabia express solidarity with their compatriots in the Philippines who are set to hold a simultaneous nationwide march Monday to protest the graft-tainted pork barrel fund. Photo courtesy of Junar Elmedo MANILA, Philippines—From one of the world’s major centers of international diplomacy, Geneva, to the deserts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, migrant Filipinos are making their voices heard. By simply posting protest photos on Facebook or holding their own “picnic” to coincide with the nationwide march Monday in the Philippines, overseas Filipinos express their indignation over the alleged massive misuse of taxpayers’ money in Congress. Junar Elmedo, supervisor and trainer at Crane and Heavy Equipment Operator, posed with fellow Filipinos at a construction site in Dammam, Saudi Arabia to protest the pork barrel fund. “Even through that photograph we’d like to show our opposition and demand to abolish the pork barrel,” Elmedo told INQUIRER.net, explaining that holding protest actions is banned in the Islamic kingdom. Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia express their demand to scrap the pork barrel fund. Photo courtesy of Almer Casio Almer Casio of the Facebook group Filipino Friends In Saudi Arabia posted a photo too of placard-bearing Filipinos in Riyadh. “As a show of support of our compatriots in Saudi for the widespread call to junk the pork barrel,” the caption of the photograph read. Bangkok-based Filipinos turn a welcome party into a gathering to demand the abolition of the pork Read More …

Agence France-Presse 2:01 pm | Saturday, August 24th, 2013 US and Philippine Marines simulate an amphibious landing as part of RP-US Amphibious Landing Exercise on a beach in San Antonio, Zambales in October 2011. AFP MANILA, Philippines—The United States and the Philippines have vowed to maintain freedom of navigation in a Southeast Asia increasingly beset by maritime territorial rows, the two military allies said. The military chiefs of the two countries made the pledge in the United States on Thursday as their governments held talks on expanding the American military presence in the Philippines, a joint statement said. “We share a common interest in maintaining freedom of navigation, unimpeded lawful commerce, and transit of people and goods across the seas,” said Armed Forces of the Philippines chief General Emmanuel Bautista and General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff. “We resolve to… strengthen the Southeast Asia security environment in a manner that protects the interests of all who value unimpeded commerce transiting through the maritime domain, while deterring those who would restrict it or act in a manner that might place it at risk.” The Philippines has been looking to the United States for military and political support as part of efforts to protect its claims to West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) waters from an increasingly assertive China. Both generals called for a “rules-based approach in resolving competing claims in maritime areas by peaceful means — within the framework of international law”. Though the statement did Read More …