Maniolas

The Philippines earned praises for its “exemplary performance” in leading the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), an international partnership of developing countries that are highly vulnerable to global warming. Member states of the CVF lauded the Philippines for serving as head of the group of nations in the past 19 months, citing the country’s “exemplary performance” during the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in France, December last year. READ: Aquino rallies 20 most vulnerable countries “The Philippines has set the bar very, very high. This forum has achieved a huge momentum and the Paris Agreement session, the COP21 has been exemplary to demonstrate what the Philippines and the CVF have achieved,” said Shiferaw Teklemariam Menbacho during the CVF Seminar Retreat in Tagaytay Friday. Menbacho is the Minister of Environment, Forestry and Climate Change of Ethiopia and the incoming CVF chair. The Philippines has been the CVF chair since January 2015 and is scheduled to turn over the position to Ethiopia at the end of the Climate Policy Forum at the Philippine Senate in Pasay City on Monday, August 15. “In taking forward the work of this important group, we will strive to continue to strengthen our impact. The lives and livelihoods of our people are at stake and we cannot gamble that away,” Menbacho added. Included in the CVF’s agenda is the campaign for to limit the threshold of global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the recognition and accountability to Read More …

JAPAN on Friday said the international community should remain firm in its support to an arbitration ruling in favor of the Philippines to stop China’s incursions into other countries’ waters in the South China Sea. Masato Ohtaka, deputy press secretary of the Japanese government, said countries around the world should continue to push for the implementation of the ruling, including parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) and those who follow and respect it. “The international community will have to stay firm on this, any weakness can be another message to the other side,” Ohtaka told reporters in an interview at a hotel in Manila.   Int’l position China has rejected the ruling of the UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, insisting it has “undisputed sovereignty” over the South China Sea, but Ohtaka said “the international community needs to stick to its position, no matter how long it takes.” Ohtaka said the Philippines, Vietnam and other claimants needed to find a peaceful solution to the disputes in the South China Sea but without pressure from the international community, “I don’t think anything [will] happen.” He said Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, who  met with President Duterte in Davao City on Thursday, had given assurance that Japan would stand united with the Philippines in the search for a  peaceful resolution of disputes in the South China Sea in accordance with the rule of law.   Asean centrality   Ohtaka also said Japan remained Read More …

ON PRESIDENT Duterte’s orders, the Philippine government will be conducting forced repatriation operations involving 11,000 Filipino workers left jobless in Saudi Arabia. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) made the disclosure as Secretary Silvestre Bello III prepared to fly back to the Middle Eastern country on Monday to supervise the repatriation. Overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who manage to find new employment there can stay behind, Bello said. “It will be a forced repatriation. It will be an involuntary repatriation. We cannot afford to let them stay and become a burden to the host country since it will involve feeding thousands of migrant workers and other necessities,” Bello said yesterday. He said the President even allocated P249 million from his contingency fund to finance the repatriation of the OFWs, who lost their jobs in nine construction firms there. “He is very precise. Get them back at any cost. That demonstrates the concern of our President for the plight of our migrant workers,” Bello said. The DOLE chief said the king of Saudi Arabia reportedly offered to pay for the plane fare of the jobless Filipinos. The Philippine government wants to complete the repatriation process as soon as possible. So far, only 1,700 Filipinos have managed to return home. Latest Maraño stills believes unsuccessful challenge touched the defense Austria expects war as San Miguel faces Ginebra PBA: Rain or Shine bucks Guiao ejection to trip Alaska Domestic flight cancelled due to mishap at Naia Recommended Disclaimer: Comments do not represent the Read More …