Philippines at UN tells world not to interfere

 News
Sep 242016
 
Philippines at UN tells world not to interfere

Perfecto Yasay, Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, addresses the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York on September 24, 2016. AFP UNITED NATIONS, United States — The Philippines’ foreign secretary on Saturday pushed back against criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, telling the United Nations not to interfere. “We urge everyone to allow us to deal with out domestic challenges in order to achieve our national goals, without undue interference,” Perfecto Yasay told the UN General Assembly. There has been growing international alarm over the rising death toll from Duterte’s crackdown on crime, with human rights groups saying that security forces are engaging in extrajudicial killings. READ: Duterte hits ‘stupid’ UN criticism of PH anti-drug campaign |  Duterte won elections in a landslide in May after vowing to eradicate the illegal drug trade in six months, and promising that 100,000 criminals would be killed in the process. Since he took office on June 30 about 3,000 people have been killed, about a third of them suspects shot dead by police and the rest murdered by unidentified attackers, according to police statistics. “We have not and we will never empower our law enforcement agents to shoot-to-kill individuals suspected of drug crimes,” the foreign secretary told the General Assembly. “Extrajudicial killings have no place in our society, and in our criminal justice system.” READ: DFA: UN, EU envoys should follow PH protocols in drug slays probe The top diplomat told the General Assembly that Read More …

Despite tiff, Chinese tourists make cruise stop at Boracay

 News
Sep 242016
 
Despite tiff, Chinese tourists make cruise stop at Boracay

ILOILO CITY—Ati-atihan dancers with their rhythmic drumming welcomed more than 2,700 Chinese tourists and crew of a cruise ship that stopped over briefly on Boracay yesterday. The passengers and crew of the MS Legend of the Seas, operated by Royal Caribbean Cruises, stayed on the world-famous resort island about seven hours before departing for Xiamen City in China, according to Helen Catalbas, Department of Tourism (DOT) Western Visayas director. The Legend of the Seas was the first cruise ship to visit the Philippines since President Duterte took office on July 1. It was also the first visit of a big Chinese tour group since a United Nations arbitral tribunal ruled in July that the Philippines had exclusive sovereign rights over disputed portions of the South China Sea. China protested the ruling which invalidated its “nine-dash line” claim covering nearly the entire South China Sea, including parts of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. President Duterte has said he is open to bilateral talks with China to settle the territorial dispute. Tourism officials welcomed the Chinese tourists. “Tourism goes beyond politics,” Catalbas told the Inquirer, adding the DOT was glad the Chinese came to visit. She said the number of tourists from China dropped slightly in August after the ruling of the international tribunal but it soon recovered and has continued to grow. The cruise ship, which also visited Manila on Friday, arrived in Boracay early on Saturday and docked between Boracay island and the Aklan mainland. The passengers and crew started Read More …

Fr. Tritz: He served the last, the least, the lost

 News
Sep 242016
 
Fr. Tritz: He served the last, the least, the lost

FATHER TRITZ and the underprivileged: A living reminder of the Christian and Jesuit vocation to take care of those left behind by society.CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Nine days after Fr. Pierre Tritz, SJ, passed away on Sept. 10, a memorandum of agreement was signed between Erda Tech Foundation and First Philippine Industrial Park (FPIP), represented by its founder and chair emeritus, Oscar M. Lopez.  Father Tritz was scheduled to be present at the signing of the agreement that would turn 5 hectares of land in Sto. Tomas, Batangas province, into the future home of Tech-Voc Senior High School, but the Lord had already called him home. The senior high school that now bears the name of Father Tritz will, however, continue the legacy of this priest who was born in France in 1914, but aspired to be a missionary in China as a 19-year-old Jesuit. After three years of basic formation, the priest was granted  his request and he arrived in China to continue his Jesuit formation that included four years of handling sports and discipline at Tsinku University in Tianjin. He had a long period of formation, probably due to the need to study Mandarin and the Sino-Japanese War that raged from 1937 to 1945. Father Tritz was ordained when he was 33 at Xujiahui Cathedral in Shanghai in June 1947, 14 years after he entered the Society of Jesus.   High dropout rate Just as Jesus Christ was crucified at the age of 33, Father Tritz similarly suffered a crucifixion Read More …

Globe completes TV white space trial for broadband

 Economy
Sep 242016
 
Globe completes TV white space trial for broadband

In a statement yesterday, Globe said it is the first telco in the Philippines to adopt the TV white space frequency for broadband use. File photo MANILA, Philippines – Globe Telecom Inc. has successfully completed a TV white space trial for broadband use, a move that is seen to help the telco provide internet connectivity even in hard to reach rural areas. In a statement yesterday, Globe said it is the first telco in the Philippines to adopt the TV white space frequency for broadband use. “The TV white space provides us with another means to bridge the Digital Divide in remote rural  areas where traditional means of backhaul such as fiber or multi-hop microwave terrestrial backhaul does not make it economically viable for telecommunication providers to deploy broadband facilities,” Emmanuel Estrada, Globe senior vice president for network technologies strategy, said. TV white space refers to the unused TV channels between the active ones in the VHF (very high frequency) and UHF (ultra high frequency) spectrum. While these channels were typically referred to as buffers placed between active TV channels to protect broadcasting interference, it has been found such can be used to provide broadband internet access while operating harmoniously with surrounding TV channels. Utilizing TV white space for internet service is a relatively new technology as TV broadcast began transitioning from analog to digital. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Estrada said the TV white space trials were conducted to allow the Ayala-led telco to maximize Read More …

Semirara compliant with environmental rules – DOE

 Economy
Sep 242016
 
Semirara compliant with environmental rules – DOE

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Energy (DOE) has cleared Consunji-led Semirara Mining and Power Corp. of all environmental-related issues based on audits it conducted with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). Semirara said a copy of the report was provided by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi to company chairman Isidro Consunji on Sept. 21. In the report, the DOE said the mining firm was not found guilty of the alleged violations committed based on complaints of the local communities in Antique. “The DOE audit team verified that the mining operation of SMPC does not discharge toxic materials to the mangroves, the sulfur content of the coal if below one percent, there is no seaweed farm affected, and the dumping of overburden materials does not affect the nearby housing communities,” the report read. The DOE report followed the environmental audit by the DENR-Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) that found the company in compliance with all required metrics meant to protect the environment in and around Semirara island. The EMB report also said Semirara was fully in compliance with its commitments to the community on the island through various programs including education and skills training, livelihood, economic empowerment, inland and mangrove reforestation, among others. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Earlier this week, Semirara disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange the EMB Region VI audit report on its Molave expansion project, saying the company fully complied with all the conditions of the environmental compliance certificate (ECC) including proper Read More …

Payoneer opens Philippine office

 Economy
Sep 242016
 
Payoneer opens Philippine office

MANILA, Philippines – After seven years of serving Filipino entrepreneurs and freelancers in the country, online and cross-border payment solutions provider Payoneer Inc. has finally opened its Philippine office in Taguig City. Patrick de Courcy, head of Asia-Pacific for Payoneer Inc., told reporters the company has decided to expand its footprint into the country to take advantage of its growing freelancing, outsourcing and e-commerce industry. “In the Philippines, we see a huge potential in the freelance, business processing outsourcing (BPO), and small businesses to become global businesses, and we help them to get paid on a cost efficient, easy, simple manner,” De Courcy said on the sidelines of the company’s Manila office launching. According to de Courcy, the Philippines is one of Payoneer’s fastest growing markets, with 230 percent growth in registration, and 307 percent growth in payment volume from 2010 to 2015. Payoneer services has been present in the Philippines since 2009. Payoneer country manager Miguel Warren, for his part, said the Philippine office of Payoneer seeks to create a better relationship between the company and its local clients, enabling it to understand better and adapt to the needs of the market. “We’re starting to build out our local team…We understand that in order to be able to grow the business, we are gonna need to become more local, to understand the costumers better,” Warren said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Citing no figures, the company official said there is still a lot of potential Read More …

Pat answers

 Economy
Sep 242016
 
Pat answers

Here is an old story credited to anonymity. An old man was seated at the doctor’s waiting room. When called in to see the doctor, the old man, grasping his cane and hunching over, slowly got up and made his way into the examining room. After only a few minutes, the man, walking completely upright, emerged from the room. A patient, who had watched him, hobbled into the room, fully hunched over and stared in amazement. “That must be a miracle doctor in there!” he exclaimed. “What treatment did he give you? What’s his secret?” The old man looked at him and said, “Well, the doctor looked at me from top to bottom, analyzed the situation, and gave me a cane that was four inches longer than the one I had been using.” How often do we give everyone the same length cane, that is, the same answer for every problem? Then, there are those people who see every problem as a nail for which they have only one cure—a hammer! Event organizers get me to be keynote speaker for their client’s events and I am so thankful for the businesses they bring me. But the good event organizer will make sure that there is an alignment between what their clients want and what I have to say. I love doing TNA (Training Needs Analysis) with clients. I have so many ideas to share but if the message provided does not meet their needs, then they are mere rhetoric and Read More …

Sta Lucia expanding tourism-related projects

 Economy
Sep 242016
 
Sta Lucia expanding tourism-related projects

MANILA, Philippines – The Sta. Lucia Group is expanding its tourism-related projects as it hopes to hitch on the Duterte administration’s plan to boost tourism activities in the country. “We will continue to do more to support this buoyant sector as we implement in full swing our projects on tourism-related assets,” said Sta. Lucia executive vice president and chief finance officer David dela Cruz. Among the company’s tourism expansion plans now in full swing are its SotoGrande projects in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. One such project is SotoGrande in Katipunan, Quezon City, which is a 23-story mixed-use tower. Its prime location offers the advantage of being close to Metro Manila’s key thoroughfares – EDSA, C5, Marcos Highway, Aurora Blvd. and Katipunan Ave. Another SotoGrande project is in Fairview, also in Quezon City, which is an eight-story, full hotel development with a total 198 units located in the 22-hectare Neopolitan Business Park near the site of one of the proposed stations of MRT 7. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Another project is SotoGrande in Iloilo, which is a six-story full-hotel development with a total 149 units rising within the 172-hectare residential community called Green Meadows with Iloilo’s first residential lake community. SotoGrande in Davao, meanwhile, is a 20-story condominium hotel development which is located in the premiere 60-hectare Davao Riverfront Business Park. The Sta. Lucia Group has previously developed quality hotel accommodations nationwide. These include La Breza in Quezon City, Splendido Tower 1 in Tagaytay, Sta. Lucia Read More …

De Lima questions parameters on UN probe

 News
Sep 242016
 
De Lima questions parameters on UN probe

Senator Leila De Lima. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO Sen. Leila de Lima on Saturday questioned parameters that the Department of Foreign Affairs set in welcoming an independent United Nations investigation of the spate of deaths amid President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal drug war. In a statement, De Lima, among the fiercest critics of the anti-drug campaign, likened the parameters to “censorship and control.” “While it is within the prerogatives of the Philippine government as the host country, through the DFA, to set reasonable parameters for the visit of the UN special rapporteurs and other UN probers, I find questionable the announced rule that it is the government that will decide the places to be visited and the persons to be interviewed by these probers,” De Lima said in a text message. “What kind of investigation do we expect if the government is going to decide how the investigation is going to be conducted by the UN rapporteur’s team?” she told the Inquirer when sought for comment. READ: Gov’t lays down rules for UN, EU probers Duterte had invited the UN, the European Union and, most recently, United States President Barack Obama to come to the country and investigate the slays. READ: Duterte: UN chief, EU may come to PH, but… The deaths have exceeded 3,000, but police and Malacañang officials have repeatedly explained that not all the deaths could be attributed to stepped up anti-drug operations. In remarks in General Santos City on Friday, Mr. Duterte explained that extrajudicial slays were not Read More …

UN body to review PH implementation of rights treaty

 News
Sep 242016
 
UN body to review PH implementation of rights treaty

A United Nations (UN) committee in Geneva, Switzerland is set to review the Philippines’ observance of economic, social and cultural rights this month. In a statement on Friday, the UN said its Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights would look into the country’s compliance to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The UN said the Philippines, being one of the 164 nations that ratified the ICESCR, was “required to undergo regular review by the Committee” on September 28 and 29 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The last review of the Philippines’ implementation of the ICESCR was in 2008. “The Committee, which is composed of 18 independent human rights experts, will discuss a range of issues relating to the Philippines’ implementation of the ICESCR with a Philippine delegation,” the statement read. The UN said the Philippines has already submitted a report to the committee. The findings would be released  on October  10. The review by the UN committee will take place amid President Rodrigo Duterte’s invitation to UN chief Ban Ki-Moon, the European Union and even United States President Barack Obama to come to the Philippines and investigate the alleged extrajudicial killings amid the bloody war on illegal drugs. READ: Duterte: UN chief, EU may come to PH, but…The no-nonsense crackdown of the Duterte administration on illegal drugs has gained criticisms from various local and international human rights groups, including the UN. Duterte earlier cursed the United Nations, Ban, and the European Union for criticizing Read More …

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