US opposes bullying by China in disputed seas

 News
Jun 202013
 
US opposes bullying by China in disputed seas

Associated Press 9:37 am | Friday, June 21st, 2013 In this May 7, 2013 photo, a Filipino fisherman places ice on containers for fish before they are delivered to the market in the coastal town of Infanta, Pangasinan province, northwestern Philippines. Since China took control of the Scarborough Shoal last year, which Beijing calls Huangyan Island, Filipino fishermen say Chinese maritime surveillance ships have shooed them from the disputed waters in the South China Sea and roped off the entrance to the vast lagoon that had been their fishing paradise for decades. Now, they say, they can’t even count on the Chinese to give them shelter there from a potentially deadly storm. AP WASHINGTON— The nominee to become the top U.S. diplomat in East Asia delivered pointed comments about China in his confirmation hearing Thursday, saying there’s no place for “coercion and bullying” in the region’s seas. Danny Russel told a Senate panel that he will do everything in his power to “lower the temperature” in territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas and push claimants including China toward diplomacy. He also said it was “unacceptable” for China to demand only bilateral negotiations with the other claimants, and voiced strong U.S. support for efforts by Southeast Asia to negotiate as a bloc and frame a “code of conduct” to manage the disputes — an issue to be taken up at regional security talks in Brunei later this month. Russel is currently White House senior director for Asian affairs. Read More …

Britain rejects involvement of pope in Falklands dispute

 News
Jun 202013
 
Britain rejects involvement of pope in Falklands dispute

UNITED NATIONS – Britain and a representative of the Falkland Islands on Thursday rejected the idea of Pope Francis intervening in the long-running dispute with Argentina over the islands, which Buenos Aires claims are Argentine territory. In 1982 Britain sent its armed forces to the Falklands to repel an Argentine invasion of the contested South Atlantic archipelago, which Argentina calls Las Malvinas. Just over 30 years later, memories of the conflict remain and Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has mounted a campaign to renegotiate the islands’ sovereignty, lobbying Pope Francis on the issue and rejecting a March referendum in which Falkland residents voted to remain a British Overseas Territory. “I think the last thing we need is religion inserted into this,” said Mike Summers, a member of the Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly. Mark Lyall Grant, Britain’s U.N. ambassador, echoed his remarks, saying: “I certainly share the view that religion is not likely to solve anything.” Pope Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, said in 2012 when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires that Britain had “usurped” the disputed islands from Argentina. In 2011, he said the islands were “ours,” a view most Argentinians share. Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman told reporters that London should engage in direct talks with Buenos Aires on the dispute. Lyall Grant said Britain was open to dialogue with Argentina, but only if the Falklanders are involved, a position Timerman dismissed. “I am the foreign minister of Argentina,” Timerman said. “I want to talk with the foreign Read More …

‘Pablo’ victims still need help–UN

 News
Jun 202013
 
‘Pablo’ victims still need help–UN

By Tarra QuismundoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 5:36 am | Friday, June 21st, 2013 MANILA, Philippines—A United Nations humanitarian agency has called for urgent help from the international community for the Mindanao provinces devastated by Typhoon “Pablo” and decades of conflict, saying the region still needed some $47 million (around P2 billion) for shelter and livelihood requirements this year. Top officials of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Unocha) also said it was downsizing its presence on the ground in the typhoon-devastated parts of Mindanao as operations had shifted from immediate relief to long-term rehabilitation. David Carden, the head of Unocha Philippines, said the $47 million, part of the $91 million call for aid that the agency made under its revised humanitarian action plan for central and western Mindanao, had remained unfilled as of this month. “This revised plan will help us to meet the ongoing needs of those affected by Pablo, particularly in the areas of shelter, because people need shelter and livelihood,” Carden told a press conference on Thursday. “The requirements are still there in the areas of shelter, education, sociopsychological rehabilitation. A lot of people who lost relatives, friends, they are recovering now and I’d say we don’t have much time… We have to move rather quickly,” said Rashid Khalikov, the Geneva-based Unocha director who headed a high-level team of aid officials and international donors who visited Maguindanao this week. Carden said the revised call for aid aimed to “meet the humanitarian and protection needs of Read More …

PH failed to restrain human trafficking–US

 News
Jun 202013
 
PH failed to restrain human trafficking–US

By Tarra QuismundoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 5:29 am | Friday, June 21st, 2013 US Secretary of State John Kerry. AP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines retained its Tier 2 status in the United States’ annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report as US authorities noted a “paucity of arrests and convictions” despite the country’s strong resolve to arrest trafficking incidents. In a report released in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, the US Department of State said the Philippines had failed to comply with standards for curbing trafficking, particularly with the country’s poor judicial system. “As both a source country and, to a lesser extent, a destination and transit country for sex trafficking and forced labor, the Philippines remained at Tier 2 on the state department’s three-tier ranking system. Despite making significant efforts to combat trafficking, the government of the Philippines does not yet fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking,” the TIP report said. The report, released by Secretary of State John Kerry on June 19, is considered “the most comprehensive report” on efforts of the world’s governments to stop human trafficking. The Philippines was first upgraded to Tier 2 in June 2011, considered an improvement after the country’s initial convictions of individuals involved in human trafficking. It had been at risk of being downgraded to Tier 3, which would have led to sanctions on US aid to the Philippines. In retaining the country at its current rating, the state department noted the Philippines’ “weaknesses in its judicial system,” Read More …

US prof held for sex with Filipino kids

 News
Jun 202013
 
US prof held for sex with Filipino kids

Associated Press 4:35 am | Friday, June 21st, 2013 This 2011 image provided by the FBI shows Walter Lee Williams, 64, one of the U.S. FBI’s 10 most wanted fugitives has been arrested in the resort city of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Tuesday June 18, 2013. Prosecutor Gaspar Armando Garcia Torres says Williams is wanted on charges of sexual exploitation of children and traveling abroad for the purpose of engaging in sexual acts with children. AP LOS ANGELES—A former professor of the University of Southern California (USC) accused of sex crimes involving two children in the Philippines has been deported to the United States after a Mexican citizen recognized his picture in a newspaper and informed the US Embassy. Walter Lee Williams, 64, will appear in a Los Angeles federal courtroom on Thursday to face charges of sexual exploitation of children and traveling abroad for the purpose of engaging in sexual acts with children. He had been placed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list. The indictment alleges Williams traveled from Los Angeles to the Philippines to engage in sex acts with two 14-year-old boys he met online in 2010, the Department of Justice said in a statement. “He allegedly engaged in sexual activity via Internet webcam sessions with these boys and expressed a desire to visit them in the Philippines to have sex,” the indictment stated. A tip from a Mexican citizen who saw a photograph in a local newspaper and contacted the US Read More …

DepEd sending 590 math teachers for enhancement training

 News
Jun 202013
 
DepEd sending 590 math teachers for enhancement training

Some 590 mathematics teachers will be going back to school to improve their ability to teach “interactive mathematics” to Grade I pupils, the Department of Education said Thursday. The DepEd said the three-day training seminar, under the Improving Technology-Enhanced Activities for Creative Honing of Mathematical Skills (iTEACH) program, will be conducted by experts from the University of the Philippines-National Institute for Science and Mathematics Education Development (UP-NISMED). “Our goal here is to strengthen the capacity of teachers in learning and applying the contents of the interactive Grade 1 Mathematics courseware,” said DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro. The four trainers from UP-NISMED will facilitate the sessions on teaching 10 lessons with 16 activities using the Grade 1 Mathematics courseware. Luistro said this “enhancement or enrichment” in teaching Grade 1 Math is part of the DepEd’s “continuing thrust to upgrade Math instruction in public schools.” The latest training seminar is an expansion of the DepEd’s earlier pilot run of iTEACH. The pilot run, which the DepEd characterized as successful, was conducted in 10  selected public elementary schools. iTEACH is a joint project of DepEd, the Department of Science and Technology’s Science Education Institute, Advanced Science and Technology Institute, Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and emerging Technology Research and Development and the UP-NISMED. — DVM, GMA News

Buhay party-list gets 3rd seat, Magdalo its 2nd

 News
Jun 202013
 
Buhay party-list gets 3rd seat, Magdalo its 2nd

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has given back to Buhay and Magdalo party-list groups the seats that were initially taken from them as a result of a Supreme Court order regarding the cases of two disqualified party-list groups.   Buhay was initially guaranteed three seats at the House of Representatives after garnering more than two percent of total votes in the May 13 elections. Magdalo, on the other hand, has two seats. The Comelec, however, took one seat each from the two groups after the Supreme Court ordered the poll body to reserve two seats for Senior Citizens and one seat for Abang Lingkod party-lists, which have pending appeals before the high court. For its third nominee, Buhay will have William Irwin Tieng, whose family owns Solar Entertainment Group, while for Magdalo it would be Francisco Ashley Acedillo, a former Cebu City representative who was involved in the November 2007 Manila Peninsula siege. The other nominees who were not in danger of losing their seats are Mariano Michael Velarde, son of El Shaddai founder Mike Velarde, and former Environment secretary Lito Atienza for Buhay; and Gary Alejano, who was also involved in the Manila Pen siege, for Magdalo. The party-list system is a proportional mode of representation in Congress, which means the number of seats is based on the number of votes per party-list. Party-lists that got two percent of total votes cast are guaranteed a seat. Those that got more than two percent may get additional seats, based on Read More …

Comelec to fine 11 senators-elect who erred in filing expense reports

 News
Jun 202013
 
Comelec to fine 11 senators-elect who erred in filing expense reports

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will slap fines on 11 of the 12 senators-elect who failed to comply with the requirements regarding the filing of their statements of contributions and expenditures (SOCE). In Minute Resolution No. 13-0775, the poll body en banc approved the memorandum of commissioner Christian Robert Lim that specified the violations of each senatorial bet in the 2013 elections, and the subsequent penalties. Lim is the poll body’s campaign finance unit head. Strict implementation, steep fines  Among the 12 senators-elect, only Alan Peter Cayetano has no deficiency in his expenditure report. Poll chief Sixto Brillantes Jr. urged the candidates to submit their deficiencies before June 30, the start of the term for the new senators. “We will be very strict in its implementation. Kailangang i-comply nila on or before June 29,” he said. According to Lim’s memorandum, the penalties shall amount to “P1,000 per day (not exceeding June 29, 2013) until they have corrected the deficiency in their submissions.” Brillantes said they would implement their memorandum of agreement with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), which prohibits local officials from assuming office without submitting their expense reports.  Up to Senate or House to bar non-compliants  Meanwhile, Comelec will submit a list of complying and non-complying candidates to the Offices of the Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and DILG Secretary.  But Brillantes admitted they have no power to compel the Senate or the House to bar non-compliant officials from taking their posts. “Hindi Read More …

Comelec revises protest rules, allows ballot images as evidence

 News
Jun 202013
 
Comelec revises protest rules, allows ballot images as evidence

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has revised its rules on protest cases to allow the using of ballot images as primary evidence. Poll chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said Thursday this would be cheaper than using the paper ballots—which will have to be shipped from the protested precincts and stored at the Comelec warehouse in Cabuyao, Laguna—for manual recount. “Ang matagal noon ‘yung retrieval of ballot boxes and then ang storage,” Brillantes said. “Ngayon you can dispense from all these by simply choosing decryption. You now waive the physical examination of the ballot.” The Comelec so far has received 69 poll cases in connection with the May 13 midterm elections. Every ballot-reading Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machine has a removable storage device that stores an image of every ballot inserted by the voters. According to Resolution No. 9720, which amends Resolution No. 8804, “the protestant may… waive the recount of the paper ballots and instead resort to either the decryption and recount of the ballot images.” The protested and counter-protested precincts should be at most 20 percent of total number of precincts “to best illustrate the merits of the protest,” the amended resolution states. Meanwhile, another option for protestants is to “read the rejected ballots only of the entire protested or counter-protested precincts,” the Comelec’s new rules said. The rejected ballots, stored in envelopes after being spoiled, do not have PCOS images. “It’s very possible that these rejected ballots can determine the intent of the voter,” Brillantes said.    For Read More …

DFA creates body to probe sexual exploitation in PH foreign missions

 News
Jun 202013
 
DFA creates body to probe sexual exploitation in PH foreign missions

By Tarra QuismundoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 7:07 pm | Thursday, June 20th, 2013 Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario. AP FILE PHOTO MANILA—The Department of Foreign Affairs  set up Thursday a fact-finding body to investigate alleged sexual exploitation of distressed Filipino workers in at least  three Philippine diplomatic posts in the Middle East as it asked eight more of the country’s ambassadors in the region to come home “for consultations.” Foreign Secretary Albert Del Rosario ordered the ambassadors home to discuss the alleged cases and draw up measures to prevent such offenses from occurring in Philippine foreign missions. The Philippine envoys to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, Libya and Lebanon were summoned a day after Del Rosario called on the ambassadors to Jordan, Syria and Kuwait and officials linked to the alleged prostitution rings to take the next flight home to give their side of the issue. “To be as thorough as possible in addressing the issue on the alleged sex-related offenses, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario has instructed the ambassadors of 11 of our embassies in the Middle East (including the three earlier called home) to come home immediately for consultations and to discuss related issues,” Hernandez said at a news briefing. “We need to have our ambassadors participate in the fact-finding initiatives that the DFA has started, We need to find ways to collectively encourage victims and witnesses to come forward and submit formal complaints and testimonies,” he added. Hernandez said the envoys in the Read More …

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