US warship docks at Manila port for five-day goodwill visit

 News
Feb 082014
 

USS Pinckney docks at Manila harbor

USS Pinckney docks at Manila harbor . Destroyer USS Pinckney docks at Manila South Harbor on Saturday February 8, 2014, for a routine port call and a five-day goodwill visit to highlight strong ties between the US and the Philippines. Danny Pata

The USS Pinckney, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer docked at the South Habor in Manila for a routine port call according to a report from GMA’s Balitanghali program on Saturday.

Commanding officer Frank Okata said this is the first time the warship visited the Philippines and the South East Asian region.

Its crew members will be staying for a five-day goodwill visit which Okata said will give the US Navy crew a chance to interact with Filipinos and visit Metro Manila.

Also he said their crew members meticulously prepared for their visit to the country to avoid a repeat of an incident last year when the USS Guardian ran aground at the Tubbataha Reef, a World Heritage Site.

Among USS Pinckney’s crew members is Filipino-American US Navy seal Geraldine Igualdo who originally hails from Benguet province, the report said.

According to Igualdo, there were a dozen Pinckney sailors of Filipino descent.

The USS Pinckney is home-ported at San Diego, California, and traveled a month to reach the Philippines. — Andrei Medina /LBG, GMA News

12M devotees to join feast of the Black Nazarene, say organizers

 News
Jan 012014
 
12M devotees to join feast of the Black Nazarene, say organizers

Catholic devotees gather on Wednesday for a procession of the Black Nazarene in the streets of Quiapo, Manila, on New Year’s Day as a prelude to the January 9 feast. Danny Pata Around 12 million devotees from all over the country are expected to join in the nine-day celebration culminating in the Feast of the Black Nazarene from Wednesday, January 1, to Thursday, January 9, the feast proper. The figure encompasses those who will visit Quiapo Church from January 1 up to January 9. The Black Nazarene is a wooden sculpture of a dark-skinned Jesus Christ, adorned in heavy velvet embroidered with gold thread and carrying the Cross. Originally one of two statues of Christ brought on a galleon from Mexico, it was believed to have been fair-skinned until a fire that broke out in the ship blackened the wood. The other, more popular statue was destroyed in the Liberation of Manila at the close of World War II. The highlight of the pilgrimage is the procession on Thursday, (January 9), called the Traslacion, in which the supposedly miraculous image of the Black Nazarene will be transferred from the Quirino Grandstand in Luneta to Quiapo Church. Barefoot devotees will be walking with the image, as a sign of penance and thanksgiving for favors received. In article posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) news website, it was stated that Quiapo Church Rector Rev. Msgr. Clemente F. Ignacio met with the Metro Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Read More …

US sending $25M in new typhoon aid to Philippines

 News
Dec 172013
 
US sending $25M in new typhoon aid to Philippines

US committed to helping PHL in security – Kerry. US Secretary of State John Kerry answers questions during a joint press conference with Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario after their bilateral meeting in Pasay City on Tuesday, December 17. Kerry, in the country for a two-day visit, said the US is committed to helping the Philippines address its most pressing security challenges. Danny Pata TACLOBAN — The United States is providing nearly $25 million in additional humanitarian aid to help the Philippines deal with the enormous devastation and deaths wrought by Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) last month, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday after touring the worst-hit region. Kerry flew to central Tacloban City, where he was overwhelmed by the vast landscape of wrecked villages that he saw. He visited a food-distribution center run by USAID and government welfare officers, talked with officials and consoled survivors. “This is a devastation unlike anything that I have ever seen at this scale,” Kerry said at a temporary USAID headquarters in Tacloban. “It is really quite stunning,” he said. “It looks like a war zone and to many people it is.” The new food aid, shelter materials, water and other supplies he announced for typhoon-lashed families bring the total US assistance package to $86 million to one of its closest Asian allies. One of the most ferocious typhoons to hit on record, Yolanda left more than 6,000 people dead and nearly 1,800 others missing. It damaged or swept away more than 1.1 million Read More …

Kerry arrives in Tacloban, media kept away

 News
Dec 172013
 
Kerry arrives in Tacloban, media kept away

US committed to helping PHL in security – Kerry. US Secretary of State John Kerry answers questions during a joint press conference with Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario after their bilateral meeting in Pasay City on Tuesday, December 17. Kerry, in the country for a two-day visit, said the US is committed to helping the Philippines address its most pressing security challenges. Danny Pata US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived before noon in Tacloban City, one of the areas hit hardest by super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) last month. Security was tight at the Tacloban City airport as Kerry and his aides alighted from the plane, radio dzBB reported. Media representatives were kept at a distance and could not follow Kerry and his party, the report said. Kerry and his party proceeded to the Department of Social Welfare and Development hub in Tacloban after arrival, state-run Philippine Information Agency reported. The Department of Foreign Affairs on Monday said Kerry will oversee Washington’s ongoing relief efforts in Tacloban in the Visayas. Kerry will also meet the victims of Yolanda as well as those involved in the relief effort, Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said. Kerry arrived in the Philippines Tuesday and met with Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario. He also paid a courtesy call on President Benigno Aquino III in Malacañang. —KG, GMA News

Cemeteries showcase close PHL-US ties – Kerry

 News
Dec 172013
 
Cemeteries showcase close PHL-US ties – Kerry

US committed to helping PHL in security – Kerry. US Secretary of State John Kerry answers questions during a joint press conference with Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario after their bilateral meeting in Pasay City on Tuesday, December 17. Kerry, in the country for a two-day visit, said the US is committed to helping the Philippines address its most pressing security challenges. Danny Pata US Secretary of State John Kerry laid a wreath Tuesday at a cemetery for US and Filipino war dead, and said it symbolized the countries’ close ties.  Kerry, a Vietnam war veteran, said he was “honored” to lay the wreath at the American Cemetery in a Manila suburb, which contains the remains of over 16,600 Americans and 570 Filipinos who died fighting the Japanese during World War II. “That is the largest cemetery in which Americans are buried from World War II. It is a remarkable place and it is a humbling tribute to the links between us in our struggle for freedom,” he said during a two-day visit to the Philippines. Kerry also cited a newly signed agreement under which the two countries will cooperate to upgrade and maintain a run-down veterans’ cemetery at the former US Clark airbase north of the capital. Under the agreement, the United States will provide five million dollars to rehabilitate the Clark Veterans’ Cemetery, which holds the remains of about 8,600 Filipinos and Americans who died fighting under the US flag from the turn of the century to Read More …

Toll body to review Skyway design, records after bus crash

 News
Dec 162013
 
Toll body to review Skyway design, records after bus crash

At least 20 dead in Skyway crash. Bodies of passengers killed in a bus accident are covered on the ground in Bicutan on Monday. A bus fell off the Skyway early morning, killing 18 people. Police initially reported 21 dead. Danny Pata The design, history and maintenance record of the South Metro Manila Skyway will be reviewed, the Toll Regulatory Board said Monday, after a passenger bus fell from the roadway killing at least 18 people.  The fatal incident before sunrise Monday is the fourth since October 2006 involving vehicles that sped off the Skyway and dropped on the road below. In an interview with GMA News’ Ian Cruz, TRB executive director Atty. Edmund Reyes said in a report on the late evening newscast “Saksi” that  the probe will “revisit the design” of the Skyway to check for any problems.  The review will also cover the roadway’s history and maintenance works.  Reyes also said the TRB will take also review the recommendation of the Highway Patrol Group of the Philippine National Police, which said buses should not be allowed to run on the elevated sections of the Skyway considering the previous serious mishaps. In October 2006, a sports utility vehicle crushed a passenger jeepney after falling on it at the Skyway’s Magallanes section. In January 2007, an armored van fell on a car at the Pasay Road portion of the Skyway. In July 2011, a Dimple Star Transport bus also fell from the Skyway but did not hit any other Read More …

5 more complaints on govt fund misuse set to be filed – lawyer

 News
Nov 292013
 
5 more complaints on govt fund misuse set to be filed – lawyer

De Lima: 34 others to face raps in connection with ‘pork’ scam. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Friday, November 29, revealed a new set of respondents in a new complaint to be filed with the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the alleged pork barrel scam. The list of respondents includes Customs Commissioner and former Muntinlupa Rep. Ruffy Biazon, an ally of President Aquino. Also in photo is lawyer Levito Baligod. Danny Pata After filing three batches of criminal complaints in the last two months, the government is now preparing at least five more in connection with the alleged misuse of government funds, including the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF). Lawyer Levito Baligod on Friday told reporters that their camp already has witnesses who come from the government and have already executed affidavits for these five new batches of complaints. “Mayroon pa. Mga hanggang 5 batches, halu-halo na, non-PDAF, non-(Janet Lim-) Napoles,” said Baligod at a press briefing held shortly before before the second batch of PDAF-related complaints was filed with the Office of the Ombudsman. Napoles, a businesswoman, is facing plunder charges in connection with the alleged P10-billion pork barrel scam. Baligod kept mum on the details of the five other batches but said these involved irregularities between 2004 and 2006. He also said Napoles and her non-government organizations were still involved in these irregularities. However, Baligod said other non-Napoles NGOs would now be implicated in the new batches. He suspected that these other NGOs got even Read More …

DSWD in dire need of volunteers in Cebu to repack relief goods

 News
Nov 102013
 
DSWD in dire need of volunteers in Cebu to repack relief goods

Typhoon Yolanda relief ops in Pasay. Volunteers are repacking relief goods at the DSWD ware house in Pasay City on Saturday, November 9, for the victims of typhoon Yolanda. DANNY PATA Danny Pata As Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras in a press conference on Sunday announced to gathered media that routes by land into Tacloban City have opened up, he also called on the public, especially those in Cebu to volunteer with the Department of Social Welfare and Development in repacking relief goods for those in Tacloban and other hard hit places. “Cebu has been targeted as a logistics center, so DSWD is appealing for repacking volunteers in Cebu,” Almendras said, noting that the DSWD in Cebu is in dire need of volunteers to help repack goods. “We have to step it up, palakasin pa ang repacking sa Cebu, kasi it is our closest logistics center we have for repacking,” he said. DSWD aims to give families food supplies enough to last at least five days, Almendras added. – Patricia Denise Chiu / KDM, GMA News 

Justices say Supreme Court cannot settle medical issues in RH Law

 News
Jul 092013
 
Justices say Supreme Court cannot settle medical issues in RH Law

CJ Sereno, 13 justices start oral arguments on RH law. Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno (far center) and other Supreme Court justices hear the oral arguments on the Reproductive Health law on Tuesday, July 9. The SC in March suspended the implementation of the RH law, pending a resolution of the 15 petitions against it. Six ‘intervenors’ supporting the law have been allowed by the SC to take part in the debates. Of the 15 magistrates, only Associate Justice Arturo Brion was not present during the oral arguments. Danny Pata Several Supreme Court justices, including Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, agreed that the high court does not seem to be the right forum – at least for now – to contest the controversial Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law. In interpellating lawyer Maria Concepcion Noche, one of the legal counsel for the petitioners, Sereno went as far as saying that if she were to be asked, the high court might have no choice but to exercise “judicial restraint” on the 15 petitions assailing the law. “Are we in a position to supplant moves of Congress on a policy decision?” Sereno asked on the first day of oral arguments on the RH Law’s constitutionality. “Can we say this is a better way? We are limited. First because we are unelected and because we have already defined nets and bounds.” The Supreme Court imposed a status quo ante order on the law last March, delaying its implementation. The order expires on July 17, Read More …

Navy awards 'Captain Bok' in Cebu Pacific mishap

 News
Jun 142013
 
Navy awards 'Captain Bok' in Cebu Pacific mishap

Navy ENS Marlon Bo receives medal for helping CebuPac passengers. Philippine Navy Capt. Jesulito Calimag, deputy commander of the Naval Reserve Command in Intramuros, Manila, pins a commendation medal on ENS Marlon Bo on Friday, June 14. Bo, a Navy reservist, helped calm down and assisted the stricken passengers of the Cebu Pacific plane that skidded off the Davao Int’l Airport runway on June 2. Danny Pata When Ensign Marlon Bo, a naval reserve officer, boarded Cebu Pacific’s Flight 5J-971 as a passenger on June 2, he didn’t know he’d emerge from it a hero. Bo was the “Captain Bok” referred to by the flight’s passengers who they said helped maintain calm after the plane skidded off the runway of the Davao International Airport on that day. “They thought I was the captain,” a visibly happy Bo told GMA News Online on Friday. “But I was actually wearing shorts and sandals that time.” For his deeds, the Philippine Navy awarded Bo with the Military Commendation Medal at the Navy Reserve Command Headquarters in Intramuros. Bo was mentioned in a personal account of one of the passengers, describing him as a “guiding voice” at the time of the incident, which paralyzed the operations of the Davao airport for almost two days. Captain Bok “It took the courage of one person, whom we only know as Captain Bok from the Philippine Navy, to stand up and calm everyone down. He knew what he was doing and he was in control even when the Read More …

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