News – Page 444

Filipinos hold ‘hala bira’ Independence Day Fete in NYC

News

Jun 062013

Filipinos hold ‘hala bira’ Independence Day Fete in NYC

By Elton LugayINQUIRER.net US Bureau 1:17 pm | Thursday, June 6th, 2013 Iloilo’s dinagyang dancers strut their stuff. Photo by Elton Lugay NEW YORK—The city was having one of those hot and humid Sundays when the air was at its driest and the heat of the sun was punishing, unless you were in a park under a shady elm tree waiting for the big Philippine Independence Day parade. Marian Rivera and Sen. Bong Revilla greet throng. Photo by Elton Lugay Schoolteacher Catherine Ranili from Brooklyn didn’t mind the heat at all last Sunday, June 2. She was on Madison Avenue to watch her idol Sharon Cuneta perform live for what seemed to be the largest Philippine Independence Day celebration ever, with a crowd that at times grew to more than 80,000. “I grew up with her songs,” she told the INQUIRER.net. Cuneta of TV 5 was among the showbiz celebrities that graced the event and gave it luster. With her were Aga Muhlach and Derek Ramsay. Wearing a black suit, the Megastar was all sweat as she sang Rey Valera’s “Kahit Maputi Na Ang Buhok Ko.” Senator Bong Revilla of GMA Pinoy TV performed the same song after TV 5’s segment. The three networks shared one stage and had their show one at a time. Thousands cheered as Cuneta kicked off the parade’s four-hour musical program. She apologized for causing the parade’s delay, saying her limo was snarled in traffic as they headed to the assembly area. Marian Rivera and Read More …

Timor Leste premier is Palace guest Thursday

News

Jun 052013

Timor Leste premier is Palace guest Thursday

By TJ Burgonio Philippine Daily Inquirer 5:19 am | Thursday, June 6th, 2013 Kay Rala Xanana Gusmao, President of East Timor (Timor-Leste), shown in this 2003 photo, will confer with President Aquino on Thursday, June 6, 2013. Gusmao is here on a five-day state visit. AFP PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—President Aquino will receive on Thursday visiting Timor Leste Prime Minister Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão before going to Burma (Myanmar) on Friday for the World Economic Forum (WEF). A welcome ceremony at the Malacañang grounds has been laid out for Gusmão, who will proceed to the Palace after laying a wreath at the monument of national hero Jose Rizal at the Luneta. Gusmão, who arrived Wednesday, will sit down with Aquino to discuss bilateral issues. The two will be signing agreements for which no details have as yet been provided. The Timor Leste leader, who will be in Manila until Sunday, is here to forge cooperation on education, trade and investment, infrastructure and defense, foreign affairs officials said. His itinerary includes a lecture at the University of the Philippines College of Law and visit to industrial areas in Subic Bay in Zambales and Clark Field in Pampanga. Timor Leste is campaigning to become a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which the Philippines is a founding member.

Aquino joins 1,000 leaders in Burma forum

News

Jun 052013

Aquino joins 1,000 leaders in Burma forum

Philippine Daily Inquirer 5:17 am | Thursday, June 6th, 2013 Participants gather at a reception of the Myanmar International Convention Center where the three-day World Economic Forum on East Asia is being held in Naypyidaw, Burma, Wednesday, June 5, 2013. President Aquino will join some 1,000 leaders and delegates to the WEF. AP PHOTO/KHIN MAUNG WIN RANGOON, Burma—President Aquino will join some 1,000 leaders and delegates to the 2013 World Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia, which opened Wednesday in Naypyidaw, the new capital of Burma (Myanmar), to discuss how emerging and fast-growing economies in the region such as the Philippines can become better connected through improved infrastructure. The Swiss-based WEF, which brings together powerful world figures to discuss pressing issues, is holding one of its regional summits this year in Burma, until recently a pariah, military-ruled state but which is now opening up to the world, with its challenges and opportunities for the region, particularly Burma’s partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). The three-day 22nd WEF with its themes—inclusive transformation, regional integration, regional solutions for global resilience—highlights the issues facing Burma and its neighbors and sets the stage for re-engagement with the rest of the world. Reform process Sushant Palakurthi Rao, denior director, head of the WEF Asia forum, said the transformation issue is very important as it speaks of what is happening in Burma, with its ongoing reform process, The inclusion part, he said, is the fact that while investments are expected to accelerate in Read More …

Media killings still ‘major concern’

News

Jun 052013

By Nikko Dizon Philippine Daily Inquirer 4:08 am | Thursday, June 6th, 2013 Elisabetta Polenghi, younger sister of Italian photographer Fabio Polenghi, gives a Thai way ‘Wai” to express thanks in front of Thai media in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 29, 2013, after the court had found that Polenghi, killed while covering the military’s crackdown on anti-government protesters in Thailand’s capital three years ago, was shot by a high-velocity bullet like those issued to soldiers. Journalism remains a dangerous profession, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-Ifra) said Wednesday, June 5, 2013. AP PHOTO/SAKCHAI LALIT BANGKOK—Journalism remains a dangerous profession with 54 media practitioners killed in the line of duty, including one from the Philippines, over the past year, the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-Ifra) said Wednesday. “The safety of journalists continues to be a major concern in areas of the world where conflict makes reporting the news dangerous, often deadly,” said WAN-Ifra’s Global Press Freedom Report. The report covered the period June 2012 to May 2013. WAN-Ifra’s recorded incident in the Philippines was the murder of commentator Julius Cauzo of radio station dwJJ in Cabanatuan City in Nueva Ecija province. Cauzo was shot dead on Nov. 8 last year. Cauzo, WAN-Ifra noted, was critical of local politicians and had received death threats. The group emphasized that “impunity remains a bitter issue in the Philippines.” It said that investigations were “still ongoing into the Nov. 23, 2009, ‘Ampatuan massacre,’ which saw 32 journalists tragically killed.” Read More …

US eyes progress on South China Sea tensions

News

Jun 052013

US eyes progress on South China Sea tensions

WASHINGTON – A US official on Wednesday voiced hope that China and Southeast Asian nations will start talks soon on a code of conduct to resolve disputes over the South China Sea after repeated flare-ups. Joe Yun, the acting assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said that China and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) made apparent progress during a working-level meeting last week in Bangkok. “I think there seems to be an understanding that at a future date, maybe sometime this year, they will announce a formal beginning of negotiations” on a code of conduct, Yun told the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “If that’s the case, we would genuinely welcome it because we see CoC as a key piece of the puzzle that would bring peaceful resolution” to rival claims in the South China Sea, Yun said. Tensions have soared in recent years as Vietnam and the Philippines accuse China of increasingly assertive claims to territories in the South China Sea, through which around half of the world’s cargo passes. The broader region is also rife with maritime disputes, with the Philippines and Taiwan recently at loggerheads and China and Japan embroiled in a bitter dispute over islands in potentially energy-rich waters of the East China Sea. Yun reiterated that the United States does not take sides in territorial disputes and that a code of conduct, which would formalize rules of behavior, offered the best way to prevent further conflict. “To be frank with Read More …

PDI president urges newspaper publishers: Embrace new media

News

Jun 052013

By Michael Lim Ubac Philippine Daily Inquirer 1:40 am | Thursday, June 6th, 2013 INQUIRER THRUST Sandy Prieto-Romualdez, Inquirer president and CEO, presents the innovations adapted by the Inquirer to reach out to a wider audience before publishers and editors from all over the world at the 65th World Newspaper Congress on Wednesday. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO BANGKOK—Inquirer president and CEO Alexandra Prieto-Romualdez said in a global conference of publishers on Wednesday that the Inquirer would pursue its “strong heritage of being a watchdog of government.” Romualdez conveyed, in effect, a message that the Inquirer’s role as a sentinel of democracy, besides being a newspaper of record, was the heart and soul of the Philippines’ No. 1 national daily. This advocacy has “gotten us into quite (some) burning pots situations,” she said. Coming from this perspective, Romualdez talked about the paper’s success story since its birth 27 years ago, and discussed the larger media trends in the country amid technological innovations that were rapidly changing the media terrain in the print and digital spheres. “Embrace it at a faster pace,” she said of the social media revolution. Romualdez was the only other woman speaker at the plenary sessions of the three-day 65th World Newspaper Congress, which closed Wednesday. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra addressed the group on Tuesday. Romualdez was one of the four speakers during Session 8 of the conference at the Bangkok Convention Center attended by some 1,500 newspaper publishers, editors, advertisers and other media staff from 70 countries to Read More …

Congress retains 15-years-old minimum age for criminal liability

News

Jun 052013

Congress retains 15-years-old minimum age for criminal liability

Congress on Wednesday ratified proposed amendments to the country’s law on youth offenders without lowering the minimum age of criminal liability, which the existing legislation pegs at 15 years old. The ratified committee report on House Bill 6052 and Senate Bill 3324 proposed that children aged 12 to 15 who commit heinous crimes or repeatedly violate the law undergo community-based intervention programs in a residential facility. The House version of the bill originally proposed the lowering of the minimum age of criminal liability to 12 years old, but the Senate version prevailed. The amendments to Republic Act 9344 also provides the maximum penalty for those who exploit children for the commission of criminal offenses. The ratified bills also transfer the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Council from the Department of Justice to the Department of Social Welfare and Development. The council is the primary body in charge of implementing the country’s legislation on children in conflict with the law. — DVM, GMA News

Two Serendra probe focuses on LPG angle; Unit 501-B occupant's account may be crucial

News

Jun 052013

Two Serendra probe focuses on LPG angle; Unit 501-B occupant's account may be crucial

Probers looking at gas leak as cause of Two Serendra blast. In this photo taken on Sunday, June 2 and released to GMA News on Tuesday, June 4, debris litter the area surrounding Unit 501-B of Two Serendra at the Global City in Taguig. A huge blast which probers said could have been caused by a gas leak in Unit 501-B on Friday, May 31, blew away a concrete slab which landed on a delivery van, killing the driver and his two helpers. GMA News/HO The May 31 explosion at the Two Serendra condominium complex damaged not just Unit 501-B. Investigators have learned that Building B of the complex sustained extensive damage from the ground floor to the eighth floor as their probe now focuses on the angle that some sort of problem in the centralized liquefied petroleum gas piping system may have caused the explosion that killed three people. Interior Secretary Mar Roxas met with the investigators from various agencies and groups Wednesday, but he did not speak to media about what that meeting took up. As this developed, initial information originating from the occupant of Unit 501-B indicate that the victim did not smell any gas while he was at the doorway of the condo unit when the explosion happened. In an interview with GMA News, Atty. Raymund Fortun, legal counsel of the victim and unit occupant of 501-B Angelito San Juan, said San Juan did not smell any gas at 501-B. Fortun said San Juan felt Read More …

Senate OKs anti-bullying bill

News

Jun 052013

The Senate on Wednesday approved a bill that seeks to curb incidents of bullying in schools in the country. The approved measure directs elementary and secondary schools in the Philippines to put in place policies that will address bullying. “The heart of this measure is the education of parents on bullying and to familiarize them with the anti-bullying policies of the school. With that information, parents would have better choices which schools to send their children,” said Senator Edgardo Angara, one of the authors of the bill, in a statement. The measure also tasks the Department of Education to propose administrative sanctions for schools who will not have anti-bullying policies. In the House version of the bill, which was approved last December, bullying may be in the form of “any severe or repeated use by one or more students of a written, verbal or electronic expression, or a physical act or gesture, or any combination thereof.” The House bill added that these actions should be “directed at another student that has the effect of actually causing or placing the latter in reasonable fear of physical or emotional harm or damage to his property” to be considered as bullying. The Senate committee on education, arts and culture opted to use the House version as its working document, take two similar Senate bills into consideration (SB 413, SB 2677) and approve the bill with five specific amendments. A bicameral conference committee will convene soon and its output will then ratified by both Read More …

All PH missions on alert for coronavirus

News

Jun 052013

All PH missions on alert for coronavirus

By Tarra QuismundoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 8:33 pm | Wednesday, June 5th, 2013 DFA spokesman Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines — All Philippine missions overseas are now on alert for the coronavirus, a deadly respiratory disease known to have originated in the Middle East but has spread to parts of Europe. No Filipino has so far been reported to have contracted the disease, but all Philippine embassies and consulates around the world are now closely watching developments relating to the virus, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday. “As you know, this has already spread to other countries, so all of our embassies and consulates around the world are closely monitoring developments in their respective jurisdictins and they regularly seek updates from their host governments,” said DFA spokesperson Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez in a briefing. He also reiterated the government’s advice to Filipinos in Saudi Arabia, the country currently worst-affected by the virus, with 25 known deaths out of 39 reported cases. There are some 1.5 million Filipinos currently in Saudi Arabia as workers or residents. “The personnel of our embassy and consulate in Saudi Arabia can effectively relay relevant information regarding the virus to our compatriots, and they have already done this,” said Hernandez. “What we really need now is our citizens’ cooperation. Filipinos should heed the advice of our embassy and consulate and relevant authorities of the host country,” he added. He said Filipinos in affected countries–now including France, Germany and Great Britain–should immediately consult Read More …

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