Maniolas

In this Feb. 13, 2013 file photo, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, immigration rights activist and self-declared undocumented immigrant Jose Antonio Vargas testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on comprehensive immigration reform. AP McALLEN, Texas — Prominent Phillipines-born immigration activist and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, who has lived and worked in the U.S. for years without legal documentation, was detained Tuesday by U.S. Border Patrol agents at a South Texas airport. Border Patrol spokesman Omar Zamora said Vargas was in custody, but he had no other details about the case. Vargas had been in McAllen, a city along the Mexico border, for several days as part of a vigil drawing attention to the plight of unaccompanied immigrant children and families coming into the U.S. illegally. At the city’s airport, near the border, Border Patrol agents stand beside Transportation Security Administration agents to check documentation, even for domestic flights. On Tuesday morning, Vargas tweeted: “About to go thru security at McAllen Airport. I don’t know what’s going to happen.” His spokeswoman, Maria Cruz Lee, declined immediate comment. She said a statement would be issued later in the day. The security situation at the McAllen airport — and elsewhere in the city — is familiar to the thousands of people living illegally in the U.S. along the Texas-Mexico border. Along highways out of the city, drivers are stopped at Border Patrol checkpoints about an hour’s drive north of the border. And it’s not uncommon for children who entered Read More …

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—In five months since February this year, the Bureau of Customs at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) has intercepted illegal drugs worth P24 million but has not been able to prosecute anybody since senders often use fictitious names and addresses. “We tried tracing the senders. But in most cases, it was either no one with such name lived in the given address, or no such address existed,” Ed Macabeo, NAIA district collector for the BoC, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer over the phone. On Wednesday, customs officials at the NAIA turned over their haul of at least six sacks containing assorted items of prohibited drugs to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency for their disposal. The BOC and the PDEA estimated the value of the haul at P24 million. Among the seized items were packets of methamphetamine hydrochloride, otherwise known as shabu, and regulated addictive substances like valium, ativan, dormicum, rivotril, and ritalin tablets. “Since December, we have made a conscious effort to intercept illegal drugs hidden in outbound cargoes. We had been receiving reports that some recipients who are clueless of the prohibited drugs hidden in shipment coming from the Philippines end up in jail,” Macabeo said. In effect, customs officers, he added, have been nipping the movement of illegal drugs in the bud by stopping them right before they could get out of the country. He explained that some overseas Filipino workers unknowingly fell into the trap and got jailed for a crime they Read More …

Associated Press 8:12 pm | Tuesday, July 15th, 2014 MANILA, Philippines — A Philippine prosecutor says a court has convicted two Indonesians and three Filipino militants of detonating a vehicular bomb that killed a soldier and wounded several bystanders outside a southern airport in 2003. Prosecutor Aristotle Reyes says the handcuffed militants yelled “Allahu Akbar” or “God is great” after a court clerk read out the verdict and life prison sentences each of them received Monday in suburban Pasig city for the attack in front of the Awang domestic airport in Maguindanao province. Reyes told The Associated Press on Tuesday that three other Filipinos were acquitted. Reyes says that the Indonesian and Filipino militants had planned a series of bombings at the time to try to sabotage the government’s peace talks with a large Muslim rebel group in the south. RELATED STORIES Drugs eyed, 3 arrested in Cotabato bombing 2 killed in Zamboanga airport blast Follow Us Other Stories: World Bank president has good words for Aquino DFA reiterates PH sovereignty rights over Recto Bank More than 50 flights cancelled due to ‘Glenda’ Asia fears China military conflict over sea claims–study Recent Stories: Complete stories on our Digital Edition newsstand for tablets, netbooks and mobile phones; 14-issue free trial. About to step out? Get breaking alerts on your mobile.phone. Text ON INQ BREAKING to 4467, for Globe, Smart and Sun subscribers in the Philippines. Short URL: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/?p=107946 Factual errors? Contact the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s day desk. Believe this article violates Read More …

MANILA, Philippines — World Bank President Jim Yong Kim praised the achievements of the Aquino administration and even spoke in Filipino to say how so many things have changed including the large number of Korean tourists in the country. “I’m very happy to be back in Manila. It has been 30 years since my last visit when I was working on my Phd dissertation. The city and country has changed so much over that time,” Kim said during the Daylight Dialogue forum in Malacañang Palace Tuesday. “(Back then) it seemed I was the only Korean in town. Ang daming nagbago, ang dami nang Koreano (So many things have changed, so many Koreans),” he added. Kim said that the Philippines has made “notable gains” which the World Bank can share with the rest of the world so they can learn vital lessons of the Aquino administration. “Around the world, the spread of information technology is converging with grassroot movement for transparency, accountability, and citizen empowerment. Under your leadership President Aquino, the Philippines is absolutely in the forefront of this transformation,” Kim said. “You’ve doubled government budgets to social services and made performance informed budgeting the norm. Citizens increasingly see the Conditional Cash Transfer as instrument to realize their rights to education and healthcare,” he said. Kim also praised how the government streamlined business regulation in order to bring down the cost of doing business which also reduced opportunities for corruption. “Your open data initiative has reinforced accountability in all levels of Read More …