PCGG to testify in art theft case vs Imelda Marcos’ ex-aide in New York

 News
Jun 032013
 
PCGG to testify in art theft case vs Imelda Marcos’ ex-aide in New York

By Dona Z. PazzibuganPhilippine Daily Inquirer 6:53 pm | Monday, June 3rd, 2013 PCGG Chairman Andres Bautista AFP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines — The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) will testify in the art theft and tax fraud case brought against former first lady Imelda Marcos’ former social secretary and confidante in New York. The PCGG was summoned by the State Supreme Court in Manhattan to testify when the trial of Vilma Bautista  starts on October 7. Ms. Bautista, 74, was arrested and arraigned last November 20 for trying to sell three valuable artworks, including a Monet masterpiece, which the Philippine government had reported to be part of the Marcos ill-gotten wealth that disappeared after the downfall of the Marcos regime in 1986. PCGG Chairman Andres Bautista, head of the agency tasked to go after the ill-gotten wealth of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, revealed the sending of a representative to testify in the trial. “For sure some people from the PCGG will testify in the trial, might be me,” Mr. Bautista said. “We have been assured by the NYDA (New York District Attorney) they believe these paintings rightfully belong to Filipino people,” Mr Bautista said. The PCGG has been cooperating with the NYDA investigation since mid-2011. “The position of the PCGG is these paintings are part and parcel of our missing paintings therefore should be returned to the Republic,” Mr. Bautista stressed. The New York District Attorney’s Office has charged Ms. Bautista and her nephews Chaiyot Jansen Navalaksana, Read More …

Re-emergence of traditional security threats worries Defense chief

 News
Jun 032013
 
Re-emergence of traditional security threats worries Defense chief

By Frances MangosingINQUIRER.net 5:55 pm | Monday, June 3rd, 2013 Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin. FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines – Territorial disputes, among other traditional security concerns, remain high as it re-emerges in the regional security agenda, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said. Gazmin made the statement on Sunday during his speech at the 12th International Institute for Strategic Studies at the Shangri-la Dialogue held in Singapore. The annual security forum was attended by defense ministers, military chiefs and top defense analysts from 27 countries. “Traditional security concerns, including territorial disputes, issues surrounding the Korean Peninsula, military modernization and arms race, and proliferation of weapons, remain high in the regional security agenda,” Gazmin said, but did not make mention of China, which is locked in a territorial dispute with the Philippines over the hotly-contested West Philippine Sea. The defense chief said that these sensitive issues “placed in the backburner” in the past have “re-emerged to take center stage,” and would be solved if states involved would settle these issues “through mechanisms provided by international law.” “This dispels notions that these issues have become irrelevant in the 21st century with the emergence of non-traditional security challenges,” he said. “Given this, while sensitive issues will not be resolved overnight, it would be timely for states to cooperate in finding means to achieve long-lasting regional stability through mechanisms provided by international law, with the hope of settling these issues with a sense of finality,” he added. At the same time, Gazmin also recognized maritime security, Read More …

De Lima maintains boat shooting happened in PH territory

 News
Jun 032013
 
De Lima maintains boat shooting happened in PH territory

By Tetch Torres-TupasINQUIRER.net 3:27 pm | Monday, June 3rd, 2013 Justice Secretary Leila De Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—Justice Secretary Leila De Lima on Monday maintained that the shooting of the Taiwanese fisherman last May 9 happened inside Philippine jurisdiction. “Our jurisdiction is clear—the incident happened inside our territory which is why we are conducting an investigation,” De Lima told reporters in an interview Monday. Based on the global positioning system record of the Philippine Coast Guard and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, De Lima said the incident occurred within the Balintang Channel, 43 nautical miles east of Balintang Island which is well within the Philippine territory. “Probably you should ask the Taiwanese government why they are conducting their own investigation. They probably have extra-territorial jurisdiction like if the victim is a Taiwanese or the vessel is registered under the Taiwanese name,” she said. The NBI investigators already arrived from Taiwan and are already wrapping up their investigation. On the other hand, Taiwanese probers also finished their probe after inspecting the Philippine vessel, watching the video of the incident and interviewing the Coast Guard officers who were present during the incident. The question of jurisdiction will be crucial to where the criminally liable parties in the case will be tried. The fisherman’s daughter, Hung Tzu Chien, has already filed a murder complaint against Filipino Coast Guard personnel involved in the fatal shooting. She did not name the respondents in the charges filed with the Pingtung prosecutor’s office Read More …

China’s cabbage strategy to recover Chinese islands, reefs illegally occupied by PH

 News
Jun 032013
 
China’s cabbage strategy to recover Chinese islands, reefs illegally occupied by PH

Global Networking By Rodel Rodis 3:14 pm | Monday, June 3rd, 2013 While the attention of the Philippines has been focused on its conflict with Taiwan over the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by the Philippine Coast Guard on May 9, little notice has been given to the arrival, just the day before, of three Chinese naval ships at the Ayungin Reef (Second Thomas Shoal), the gateway to the oil and mineral rich Reed Bank, just 105 nautical miles from Palawan Island, within the 200 mile exclusive economic zone of the Philippines. This undated handout photo released by the Philippine Government on May 23, 2013 shows an aerial view of BRP Sierra Madre, a 100-metre (328 foot) amphibious vessel built for the US in 1944 and acquired by the Filipino navy in 1976, grounded at Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands. A handful of marines living on a World War II-era ship that is grounded on a remote, tiny reef is the Philippines’ last line of defence against China’s efforts to control most of the South China Sea. The soldiers are stationed on Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands aboard a former US tank-landing vessel that was deliberately abandoned there to serve as a base, according to their former commander, Juancho Sabban. AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE PHOTO / Philippine Government Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei confirmed the presence of the Chinese government vessels – two marine surveillance ships and one naval frigate – in the Ren’ai Reef (Ayungin Read More …

Myanmar democracy ‘not as good as you think’, says ‘Pen’ awardee

 News
Jun 032013
 
Myanmar democracy ‘not as good as you think’, says ‘Pen’ awardee

By Lynette Ordonez-LunaINQUIRER.net 2:01 pm | Monday, June 3rd, 2013 President of WAN-IFRA, Jacob Mathew, (R), alongside delegates from local newspapers, addresses the 65th World Newspaper Congress at a hotel in Bangkok on June 2, 2013. More than 1,000 publishers, editors and other figures from the media gathered for the World Newspaper Congress taking place between June 2-5. AFP PHOTO / PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL BANGKOK, Thailand — Dr. Than Htut Aung from Myanmar was presented the Golden Pen of Freedom Laureate 2013 here at the World Association of Newspapers and Publishers Monday. Dr. Aung, chairman and CEO of the Eleven Media Group in Yangon, accepted his award for his “struggling people” who continued to live in “fear”. In his speech before over 1,000 delegates to the 2013 World Newspaper and Publishers Congress, Aung said that as a journalist, he has a responsibility and admitted that while “freedom was in front of me after five decades of my life, our transition from a dictatorship to a democracy wasn’t as good as you think”. Aung, who was imprisoned under the dictatorship, alongside another freedom icon, Aung San Suu Kyi, said that accepting the award from his international colleagues meant that he wasn’t alone in this struggle. Erik Bjerager, president of the World Editors Forum, presented the award to Aung. Earlier in the day, Deputy Prime Minister Kittirat Na Ranong, welcomed the participants with his opening address focusing on the challenge of new technology and accountability of freedom of the press. The June 2-5 Read More …

OVERSEAS VOTING TURNOUT VERY LOW

 News
Jun 022013
 
OVERSEAS VOTING TURNOUT VERY LOW

Overseas absentee voting (OAV) turnout in the last May 13 mid-term elections was way below the Commission on Elections’ hoped-for 60 percent in major precincts around the globe. Based on available reports, the overseas vote may be even less than the 26 percent achieved in 2010 despite the stepped-up OAV campaign, with some major areas logging only five to eight percent voter turnout. The troubling development prompted Senator Franklin Drilon to demand an explanation from the Comelec and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). Drilon, tipped as the incoming Senate president, wanted to know how the poll body and the DFA spent the additional funds they received to ensure that the overseas voting turnout in the last elections would surpass that in the 2010 presidential polls. Through Drilon’s efforts as chairman of the Senate finance committee, Comelec received P105-M from the 2013 national budget, while the DFA was granted P43-M to implement the absentee voting law and “influence the result of the election by electing qualified leaders,” Drilon said. But the turnout of only 113,209 overseas Filipinos means each absentee vote costs P1,310 per vote. “This is outrageous. I wonder how the Comelec and the DFA can justify these numbers,” said Drilon, one of the principal sponsors of Republic Act No 9189, or the Overseas Absentee Voting Act enacted in February 2003. “I hate to sound like a broken record, but I again deplore the dismal implementation of the absentee voting law in the just-concluded midterm elections,” Drilon said in Read More …

3 PHILIPPINE BEACHES ON CNN’S ‘100 BEST BEACHES’

 News
Jun 022013
 
3 PHILIPPINE BEACHES ON CNN’S ‘100 BEST BEACHES’

Three beaches in the Philippines landed on CNN’s “100 Best Beaches” list. These are Palaui Island in Cagayan Valley (No. 10), El Nido in Palawan (No. 14) and Puka Beach in Boracay (No. 84). CNN cites Palaui’s “raw beauty’, calls El Nido “the gateway to adventure”, and bills Boracay “a tropical paradise”. READ FULL STORY

PCG: Video doesn’t show coast guards laughing

 News
Jun 022013
 
PCG: Video doesn’t show coast guards laughing

By Jerry E. EsplanadaPhilippine Daily Inquirer 12:45 am | Monday, June 3rd, 2013 “Laughing” and “smiling” are completely different, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said Sunday as it rejected the Inquirer’s report that six coast guards were seen in a video laughing as they fired at a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Coast Guard took the video of the encounter between the coastal patrol vessel MCS-3001 and the Taiwanese fishing boat Guan Ta Hsin 28 in waters off Balintang Island in northern Philippines on May 9. The video was submitted to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) for the investigation of the fatal shooting of Taiwanese fisherman Hung Shih-chen, 65, during the chase. Cmdr. Armand Balilo, spokesperson for the Coast Guard, said Sunday he had seen the video and dismissed the Inquirer report as “inaccurate” and “hearsay.” Malacañang and the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (Meco), the Philippines’ de facto embassy in Taiwan, declined to comment on the Inquirer report. The Palace, however, gave assurance that the outcome of the government investigation will be solely based on evidence. The report was based on an interview by reporter Nancy C. Carvajal with a source who had seen the video and whose statements were confirmed by two other sources. “The video showed the soldiers acted unprofessionally. They were laughing while they were shooting the boat,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. “It is disturbing and embarrassing for Philippine law enforcers,” the source said. Balilo said there was no footage from Read More …

DOLE pushes 'social protection floor' for informal sector workers

 News
Jun 012013
 
DOLE pushes 'social protection floor' for informal sector workers

The Department of Labor and Employment is pushing for a “social protection floor,” or a basic set of protection measures, for workers in the informal sector. DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the informal sector includes the underemployed, self-employed, and unpaid family workers in five priority occupational groups. “Social protection is integral to achieving a better and improved quality of life for the workers in the informal sectors by equalizing access to development opportunities and by reducing vulnerabilities of these workers and their families against risks, particularly in times of crisis, that can push them down to poverty,” she said. “The DOLE, in convergence with other agencies, is looking at the underemployed, self-employed, and unpaid family workers who are a big part of the informal sector and who constitute workers in vulnerable employment,” she added. She added the social protection floor provides a set of guarantees, “either universal or targeted and contributory or non-contributory.” The DOLE plans to hold a Strategic Planning Workshop this June to develop a results-based project monitoring evaluation system for the social protection floor (SPF) system for informal sector workers. Expected to attend the workshop are representatives from government agencies and informal sector groups. Baldoz said the workshop is part of the Labor Day Celebration for Informal Sector Workers, to be held Occupational Safety and Health Center’s Ichikawa Hall in Quezon City on May 30. The DOLE said the Philippines was among the International Labor Organization’s member states that adopted in June 2011 the ILO recommendation on Read More …

VP Binay off to Germany for Asia-Pacific weeks

 News
Jun 012013
 
VP Binay off to Germany for Asia-Pacific weeks

Vice President Jejomar Binay leaves for Germany on Sunday to represent the Philippines in the Asia-Pacific Weeks 2013 in Berlin. Binay, whose visit to Germany will last until June 9, is expected to keynote the opening of the event, dzBB reported. Asia-Pacific Weeks is an event that seeks to help developing nations in social urban development. Binay, the presidential adviser on overseas Filipino worker concerns, is expected to meet with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and Federal Labor Minister Ursula von der Leyen. He will also meet with key German business leaders, and preside over a presentation on “Makati City as Smart City Portal to Business in the Philippines.” Also, he will meet with Filipino communities in Germany before returning to the Philippines. “I look forward to sustain the momentum created by the earlier exchange of visits between Secretary Albert del Rosario to Germany in 2011 and German Minister Guido Westerwelle to Manila last February,” a report on Bombo Radyo quoted Binay as saying. — LBG, GMA News

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