At least six domestic flights were canceled as of Sunday afternoon due to bad weather, the Manila International Airport Authority said. The MIAA said the flights belonged to Cebu Pacific, Philippine Airlines Express and Tiger Air. It said the flights included: 5J 625 and 626: Manila to Dumaguete and back2P 5545 and 5546: Manila to Dumaguete and backDG 5543 and 5544: Manila to Tacloban and back — Joel Locsin/LBG, GMA News
Two killed in Zamboanga City explosion. At least two people were killed while 52 were injured following an explosion near a bus terminal in Zamboanga City Friday afternoon. YouScoop/Mervinne Minano President Benigno Aquino III arrived Sunday morning in Zamboanga City to check the security there after the deadly car blast last friday that left two people dead and hurt 52 others. The airplane carrying the President landed at 10:30 a.m. at the Edwin Andrews Air Base in Zamboanga City, according to a report on dzBB by Jayvee Francisco. According to the report, Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II and Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman were with the President upon arrival in the city. Aquino will proceed to the blast site, the report said, adding that the President is being briefed by local authorities regarding findings of the investigation on the attack. The President is expected to pay his respects to the two poeple killed in the explosion in front of the Guiwan bus terminal and Red Palm Inn last Friday. He is also expected to visit the 52 people who were injured. On Saturday morning, police said the death toll had risen to two, with 52 wounded, and that the explosives used in the incident was a car bomb. Security was tightened in the city after the bombing, with police and military forces conducting checkpoints and paneling operations. Full alert Philippine National Police Region 10 OIC director Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr on Saturday said he issued a directive to all Read More …
Yellow flowers on Sunday adorned the tomb of former President Corazon Aquino on what would have been her 82nd birthday. Many Filipinos also went to the Manila Memorial Park to pay their respects to the former leader, radio dzBB’s Mao dela Cruz reported. Photos tweeted by dzBB’s dela Cruz showed people leaving flowers or standing briefly in front of the tomb. Mrs. Aquino is the mother of incumbent President Benigno Aquino III. She is best remembered for helping restore democracy after being catapulted to the presidency following the EDSA revolution ousted then strongman Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. The former leader died after a bout with cancer on Aug . 1, 2009. — Joel Locsin/LBG, GMA News
The Department of Education has issued guidelines on activities and materials involving indigenous peoples’ culture. In a news release, the DepEd said this came after consultations with indigenous peoples communities, educators, and civil society support groups nationwide. “Kami po sa Kagawaran ng Edukasyon ay patuloy na pinag-aaralan ang mga katutubo nating kaalaman. Kami po ay mga guro pero alam ko po na sa larangan ng katutubong kultura ay marami pang dapat malaman. Hindi po kami mga eksperto sa mga bahaging ito. Kaya hinihiling namin… na huwag po ninyo ipagkait sa amin ang mga katutubong kaalaman, bagkus, patunayan po ninyo na kayo ang tunay na nangangatawan sa pinapahalagahan ng ating mga katutubong komunidad,” DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro said. The guidelines provide guidance on the ethical assessment of learning activities and related engagements of schools, DepEd offices, and other education initiatives that involve aspects of indigenous peoples’ culture. DepEd credited IP community representatives for being instrumental in crafting the guidelines. Luistro emphasized the importance of cultural exchange in better understanding indigenous culture in education. Meanwhile, the DepEd has also been recognizing private educational institutions serving IP learners to promote the right of IP communities to cultural integrity and due recognition of “katutubong kaalaman” in the education system. — Joel Locsin/LBG, GMA News
Citing high demand, the Philippine Postal Corp. (PHLPost) is making available online the commemorative stamps of Pope Francis’ recently concluded visit to the Philippines. PHLPost said it will accept orders and purchase transactions for commemorative stamps and the rare coinage souvenir sheets through its official shopping portal. “To protect the public’s interest, we encourage the public who want a piece of a Pope Francis memorabilia in the form of stamps to purchase online through the PHLPost web portal, at face value,” Postmaster General Josie dela Cruz said. But she encouraged buying the commemorative items from the Pinoy eMall site, where they are sold at their actual prices. PHLPost cited reports that copies of the commemorative stamps are now being sold in the black market at price twice or even higher. To buy the stamps, people can log on to www.phlpost.gov.ph and click the Pinoy eMall icon. They will be directed to the website, Pinoy e-Mall. Payments may be in the form of Electronic Postal Money Order (E-PostMO) and Visa Card. Fastest-selling PHLPost said the 7,000 souvenir sheets featuring the first ever coinage stamp were sold out during the first day of issuance last Jan. 13. Another set of 10,000 copies had been printed to address high demand. “The Pope Francis stamps and souvenir sheet are considered as among the fastest selling stamps in the postal service history,” dela Cruz said. — Joel Locsin/LBG, GMA News
To make sure the faithful remember Pope Francis’ messages during his visit to the Philippines, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines is eyeing distributing reading materials containing such messages. CBCP president and Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said such materials will be distributed to parishes, schools and communities. “The Holy Father spoke to us with his heart, in his beloved language. In the following days we will collate all these words in very readable form and send them out to all parishes, schools and communities, where, led by their pastors, the faithful can reflect on them as a community or with their families and friends,” he said. He said the reading materials could contain what it means to “cry”; to be open to surprises; to love; to dream; to have no words to say; to be silent. But he also said the CBCP will encourage the faithful to come up with “actions” based on their reflection. “Pope Francis was very emphatic, he would often say, to priests at the Cathedral, and to the people in other events, ‘act!’ “Acts’ are important he said,” Villegas said. Meanwhile, Villegas urged Filipinos to pray for the pope, who during his visit had asked the people to “Pray for me.” “We all promised to pray for him, but in the days and weeks ahead we will pray as the Church of the Philippines, through this prayer for Pope Francis, that we will request to be prayed in all Masses in all parishes, shrines, chaplaincies, Read More …
Is he gone? Is the news cycle still all Pope all the time? Can we come down now from our collective Rapture and clear up certain misconceptions that Lolo Kiko unwittingly left in his trail? For example, did he or didn’t he say, “Catholics don’t have to breed like rabbits”? The wise statesman Sen. Tito Sotto angrily claimed that the Pope never said that. It was an invention, he asserted. Okay, for once I agree with Senator Sotto. A confidential source in the Pope’s airplane entourage emailed me what the Holy Father actually said, and said in good taste. My source confided that the pontiff made sure he used familiar euphemisms so that conservative Filipinos, like Sen. Sotto, would understand him clearly. My source swears this was His Holiness’ actual statement to a reporter on the plane back to Rome: “There are natural ways of preventing non-immaculate conception. For example, when the waves start crashing on the shore, or when the moon starts hiding behind dark clouds, just quickly put that chug-chugging locomotive in reverse and get it out of the dark tunnel fast. Catholics don’t have to go forth and multiply Malthusianly.” Unlike “breeding like rabbits,” that more refined statement presumably wouldn’t have raised Sir Tit’s hackles. But it was great to see millions of Filipinos turn out for Pope Francis, especially if they did so because of his refreshingly compassionate and populist voice. None of the deadening dogma most of his predecessors were fond of. I do hope Read More …
AP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—Security experts believe China is pushing the region to the “brink of miscalculations” in the South China Sea with its expansive land reclamation in disputed territories as the Philippines anticipates more blockades by the Chinese in the West Philippine Sea once their facilities become fully operational next year. “The bases are being constructed very fast, done rapidly, that it’s estimated that they would be operational by next year,” military historian Jose Antonio Custodio told the Inquirer in a recent interview. Custodio said the airfields and naval facilities built by China on reclaimed land on the reefs and atolls along the so-called nine-dash line would allow them to execute more blockades against other claimants in the South China Sea. Custodio said the Philippine military would have a more difficult time resupplying the Marine platoon posted at Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Shoal), which China also claims. Chinese coast guard vessels drive away Philippine ships dispatched on resupply missions. Last year, the Marines on the grounded ship BRP Sierra Madre, the Philippines’ symbol of ownership of the shoal, stayed at the garrison for nearly five months because the foreign vessels blocked the Philippine ships that attempted to resupply and rotate the troops. Nine-dash line “China is consolidating its nine-dash line and they are succeeding in this mission. Their intention is up to a certain point, they will deny or cut the resupply missions of the other claimant countries,” Custodio said. China has continued its reclamation activities at Gavin Reef Read More …
MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has warned overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) against taking out loans or making credit card charges they may not be able to repay, citing an alarming increase in the number of Filipinos detained in the emirates due to unpaid loans. In a statement, the DFA said many OFWs were tempted to apply for loans in the UAE for various reasons, one of which is the low interest rates. “They however don’t pay much attention to the other charges which appear in the fine print, and the prospect of taking as much as 18 months of one’s salary. Usually, banks require only a certificate of employment to approve a loan application,” it said. The DFA explained that debt-related cases were extraordinarily difficult to handle in the UAE, especially if the lenders—banks and individuals—had filed criminal or civil cases against the borrowers. Once a civil case has been filed against a delinquent borrower, a travel ban is automatically imposed and he or she would be unable to leave the country. Issuing a bounced check is a criminal offense in the UAE. Lenders usually require borrowers to affix their signature to a blank check as a security measure. “When the borrower defaults on his or her obligation, the check will bounce and criminal charges would ensue. If the signature on the check is proven original and authentic, the case against the borrower is upheld in court,” it said. The cases would Read More …
FRANCIS-TAGLE DYNAMICS were such that the so-called “Francis effect” was enhanced and enriched by the Tagle charm. EDWIN BACASMAS VATICAN CITY—When he was elected in the extraordinary papal conclave of March 2013, Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina, was considered an enigma. Hardly on the list of papabile, or papal prospects, drawn up by the hard-nosed press pretending to divine the workings of the Holy Spirit, Bergoglio naturally surprised everyone for having been elected at all. Just as surprising was his choice of papal name, Francis, after the very popular saint of Assisi who, together with St. Dominic, pioneered and led the mendicant movement that reformed the Church in the high medieval era by embracing poverty. It is said that Cardinal Claudio Hummes of Sao Paulo, Brazil, himself a Franciscan, was beside Bergoglio after he was elected, and giving the new Pope a fraternal embrace, was said to have whispered, “Remember the poor.” That he took his name from a saint of the Middle Ages should already signaled the confusion that his papacy was bound to cause. After all, who among the press and much less the general public fed on a steady diet of soft-porn and gory episodes of “Game of Thrones,” “The Tudors” and “The Borgias” could really understand the Middle Ages and distinguish that period from, say, the Dark Ages? What does religious poverty mean? What’s the mendicant movement? How could enhanced religious poverty reform the Church? How could it overhaul society? How could “mercy and Read More …