Maniolas

Security forces are keeping an eye out against security threats, including possible retaliation by allies of Malaysian terrorist and bomb maker Zulkifli bin Hir alias Marwan who was killed during an operation of the Philippine National Police-Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) in Mamasapano town last month, a Palace official said Sunday. “Patuloy ang mahigpit na pagmamanman at pagbabantay ng ating mga security authorities sa anumang banta sa seguridad ng buong bansa, kabilang na po rito ang Sandatahang Lakas, Pambansang Kapulisan, NBI at iba pang bahagi ng ating security authorities,” Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said on government-run dzRB. “Nananatiling naka-alerto ang buong Sandatahang Lakas at ang Pambansang Pulisya upang mapangalagaan ang katahimikan at kaligtasan ng ating mamamayan,” Coloma added. According to a report on GMA News’ “24 Oras,” two of Marwan’s students tried to detonate a bomb in Pikit, North Cotabato two days after the SAF reportedly killed Marwan during the Jan. 25 operation.  The elite police commandos went to Mamasapano town in Maguindanao last month to serve arrest warrants on Marwan and Filipino bomb maker Basit Usman. The Federal Bureau of Investigation earlier this month said the DNA sample it received from Philippine authorities showed it came from Marwan. Security forces are hunting down Usman, who managed to escape during a clash between SAF troopers and members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the splinter group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, and private armed groups. Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu said Usman was reportedly wounded after the police operation, Read More …

DOH, WHO give update on MERS-CoV. Acting Health Secretary Janette Garin (left) gives an update on the first confirmed MERS-CoV case in the Philippines during a press conference at the DOH building in Sta. Cruz, Manila on Friday, February 13. She said at least three tests should be done to determine if the patient is positive of the dreaded virus. Also in photo are Dr. Julie Hall, country representative of the World Health Organization, and Lourdes Cataquis, mayor of San Pedro, Laguna, where the patient resides. Danny Pata At least two more people are being monitored for showing symptoms of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus, the Department of Health said Sunday. GMA News reported the DOH indicated the two are co-passengers of the Filipino nurse who tested positive for MERS-CoV. It did not immediately provide further details on the two co-passengers. A separate report on dzBB radio said 11 people the nurse came into contact with tested negative for symptoms of the disease in the second round of tests. The MERS-CoV case had caused a scare last Friday in a Laguna hospital where the nurse was initially brought. It also caused alarm in a nearby school.   Also, last Friday the DOH asked the remaining 128 passengers abroad the Saudi Airlines flight 860 to come forward and agreed to be tested for precaution.   Moreover, it said 96 of the 220 passengers on the flight that the Filipina nurse was in had been located and all agreed to undergo Read More …

NEW YORK—More global journalism organizations on Friday signed on to protections for freelance and local correspondents who face increasingly deadly dangers in the field. The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, the Guardian News and Media group and Newsweek were the latest to agree to a set of “principles and practices” that was launched on Thursday evening at the Columbia University School of Journalism. Media and advocacy groups including The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Bloomberg, the BBC and the Committee to Protect Journalists all say “news organizations have a moral responsibility to support journalists to whom they give assignments in dangerous areas.” The recent beheadings of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto and American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff by Islamic State extremists are some of the most visible examples of the risks to correspondents on the ground. Creators of the principles said the list of organizations signing on, now numbering about 30, should grow steadily as word of their global campaign spreads. “Everyone who signed understands what we see day in and day out, that dangers to freelancers on assignment is actually a danger to the press to do its job,” said Bruce Shapiro, executive director of the New York-based Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma. Of the 61 journalists killed around the world last year because of their work, 13 were freelancers, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. Reporters without Borders, which signed on to the new guidelines, listed at least seven freelancers among its count of Read More …