PH hunting down drug syndicates after China drug mule execution

 News
Jul 042013
 
PH hunting down drug syndicates after China drug mule execution

By Maila AgerINQUIRER.net 2:44 pm | Thursday, July 4th, 2013 MANILA, Philippines – Law enforcers are hunting down drug syndicates involved in recruiting couriers in the country, Vice President Jejomar Binay said on Thursday in the aftermath of the execution Wednesday of a Filipina drug mule in China. National Bureau of Investigation Reaction and Arrest and Interdiction Division Lawyer Ross Jonathan Galicia presents to the reporters 60 improvised capsule containing shabu, which are about the size of a thumb at the NBI Headquarters, Manila. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO “Tinatrabaho ‘yan ngayon ng PDEA at NBI. ‘Yung doon sa tatlo, nahuli na nila ‘yung recruiter (PDEA and NBI are now working on it. They already arrested the  recruiter  of the three),” Binay said in a statement. PDEA is Philippine  Drug  Enforcement  Agency while NBI is National Bureau of Investigation. Binay was referring to Mapet Cortez alias Tita Cacayan, who allegedly recruited Sarah Ordinario-Villanueva, one of the three overseas Filipino workers executed in China last year for drug smuggling. Cortez allegedly misled Ordinario-Villanueva into taking what she thought was an empty suitcase that turned out to be secretly lined with more than four kilos of heroin. Binay said the Philippine government is “doing all it could to stop Filipinos from engaging in the illegal drug trade.” Drug couriers, however, usually get the drugs outside the country, he pointed out. “Ang ruta nila usually via Dubai tapos Hong Kong tapos doon na sa may area ng Shanghai (Their  route  usually is via Dubai  to   Read More …

Coast Guard to acquire 10 patrol ships from Japan

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Jul 042013
 
Coast Guard to acquire 10 patrol ships from Japan

By Jerry E. EsplanadaPhilippine Daily Inquirer 1:51 pm | Thursday, July 4th, 2013 This image received from Taiwan’s CNA and taken on September 25, 2012 shows a Japan Coast Guard patrol boat with a (neon) sign reading “Japanese territorial waters” as they monitor a flotilla of Taiwanese fishing boats which are headed to the Diaoyu / Senkaku islands disputed in the East China Sea, in territorial waters. AFP PHOTO/CNA MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Coast Guard expects to wrap up talks with the Japan International Cooperation Agency within the next few months for the acquisition of 10 brand-new patrol boats from Japan in late 2014 or early 2015. This was disclosed to the Inquirer on Thursday by Cmdr. Armand Balilo, PCG spokesperson, who said “the talks are ongoing.” Quoting Rear Adm. Rodolfo Isorena, the Coast Guard commandant, Balilo said, “Hopefully, the talks will be completed by the last quarter of the year so that actual construction of the vessels could be started.” “The two sides have agreed that all 10 patrol boats will be 40 meters (131 feet) long. But they are still talking about other specifications,” added  Balilo, chief of the Coast Guard’s public affairs office. The JICA, he said,  proposed that five of the vessels be built in the Philippines and the five others in Japan, but the Coast Guard “prefers that all 10 patrol boats be built in Japan.” Established in 1974, the JICA is the primary Japanese government agency engaged in technical cooperation and other forms of aid Read More …

WHO urges gov’t to regulate sale of e-cigarettes

 News
Jul 022013
 
WHO urges gov’t to regulate sale of e-cigarettes

By Jocelyn R. UyPhilippine Daily Inquirer 4:42 am | Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013 The World Health Organization on Tuesday, July 2, 2013, urged the government to regulate the sale of e-cigarettes, citing a trend in other countries where people who started using it ended up smoking the real thing. Electronic cigarettes are battery powered devices that vaporizes a nicotine laced liquid solution into an aerosol mist which simulates the act of tobacco smoking. SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES/AFP MANILA, Philippines—Beware of e-cigarettes. The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday urged the government to regulate the sale of e-cigarettes, citing a trend in other countries where people who started using it ended up smoking the real thing. Dr. Susan Mercado, director for Building Healthy Communities and Populations of the WHO-Western Pacific office, said there was no proof that the use of electronic cigarettes was safe and that it could help people kick the habit of smoking. “In 2010, the WHO organized a global panel of experts to review the evidence and there is no evidence to show that it can help you quit smoking,” Mercado said at a press conference following the Red Orchid Awards ceremonies at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City. The Red Orchid Awards is a recognition given by the Department of Health (DOH) to government offices, state hospitals and local government units that have been consistent in promoting a “100-percent tobacco-free” environment. At the event, the WHO also awarded a medal of honor to President Aquino, Sen. Read More …

DOJ: Sex-for-flight probe to include Filipina’s suicide

 News
Jul 022013
 
DOJ: Sex-for-flight probe to include Filipina’s suicide

By Christine O. AvendañoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 4:42 am | Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013 Justice Secretary Leila de Lima: Own probe INQUIRER file photo MANILA, Philippines—Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Tuesday said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) was conducting its own probe into the alleged sexual exploitation of Filipino women in the Middle East by Philippine officials, including one reportedly involving a Filipino woman who committed suicide. De Lima said she met with Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello on Monday on the Department of Justice’s role in the investigation of the “sex-for-flight” cases. She said that following the investigations by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Department of Labor and Employment, the DOJ could come in if it is determined that criminal charges are warranted against certain Filipino overseas officials. She said the Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking (Iacat) could also come in to help in the investigation since the cases “had elements of human trafficking.” De Lima said the NBI was conducting a similar trafficking investigation and some agents had gone abroad to investigate another case, this one involving a Filipino woman who was allegedly raped by “an official involved from an embassy.” The NBI was also set to investigate the case of another Filipino woman who allegedly committed suicide in a Philippine halfway center, she said. “It’s supposed to be an incident of reported suicide but there are indications that this may not be the case,” said De Lima, declining to give details or the identities of the Read More …

PH urges closer US-Asean ties to protect sea lanes

 News
Jul 022013
 
PH urges closer US-Asean ties to protect sea lanes

By Tarra QuismundoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 4:13 am | Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013 Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario: Greater engagement between Asean and US, AP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—Unfazed by China’s accusation that the Philippines was “internationalizing” territorial disputes, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario has called for greater engagement between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the United States in ensuring maritime security in the region. Speaking at the Asean-US Post-Ministerial Conference in Brunei Darussalam on Monday, Del Rosario also called for compliance to the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct (DOC) of Parties in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) as Asean and China were still working on a legally binding Code of Conduct (COC) to govern the disputed waters. The DOC is an agreement between the Asean and China that seeks to deter armed confrontations in the strategic waterway, a critical international trading route where China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan have competing territorial claims. “Fortunately, we have an appropriate mechanism for dialogue and interaction on these matters—the Expanded Asean Maritime Forum —which was inaugurated in Manila in October 2012,” Del Rosario said in his speech, a copy of which was released in Manila by the Department of Foreign Affairs. His remarks followed China’s threat of a “counterstrike” in the disputed waters and pointed criticism of the Philippines’ stance on the regional maritime dispute, particularly blasting its involvement of dialogue partners, including the United States, in discussions toward resolving the dispute. Illegal occupation China also Read More …

Nov. 3 is new deadline for illegals in Saudi

 News
Jul 022013
 
Nov. 3 is new deadline for illegals in Saudi

By Tarra Quismundo and Tina G. SantosPhilippine Daily Inquirer 3:21 am | Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013 Foreign illegal laborers wait in a queue at the Saudi immigration offices at al-Isha quarter in al-Khazan district west of Riyadh, on June 30, 2013. Some 1.5 million illegal foreign workers in Saudi Arabia were in a race against time to take advantage of an amnesty ending July 3—but which was extended to Nov. 3—that would allow them to stay or return home without prosecution. AFP PHOTO/FAYEZ NURELDINE MANILA, Philippines—A massive relief for thousands of undocumented overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who fear expulsion from Saudi Arabia. That was how ordinary Filipinos as well as officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) described the announcement in Riyadh that Saudi Arabia had given foreign workers four months to obtain a legal status in that country. Illegal foreign workers will now have until the end of the Islamic year on Nov. 3 to regularize their status or return home without prosecution, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency. According to the Saudi labor ministry, more than 1.5 million illegal foreign workers have come forward so far. Of these, some 180,000 have left the kingdom in addition to more than 200,000 unregistered workers expelled at the start of the year under new regulations to stamp out illegal immigration. The Saudi announcement provides relief for thousands of undocumented Filipinos cramming to fix their Read More …

Militant groups ask SC to stop US war games

 News
Jul 022013
 
Militant groups ask SC to stop US war games

By Christine O. AvendañoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 3:18 am | Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013 lipino students burn a mock US flag during a rally in Manila on Tuesday, July 2, 2013. Militant groups on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to stop the United States from holding war games in the country, as well as from making port calls, following the damage wrought in the Tubbataha protected area by one of its Navy warships, the USS Guardian, when it ran aground in January. AP PHOTO/AARON FAVILA MANILA, Philippines—Militant groups on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to stop the United States from holding war games in the country, as well as from making port calls, following the damage wrought in the Tubbataha protected area by one of its Navy warships, the USS Guardian, when it ran aground in January. Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), Kalikasan and other groups filed an urgent motion for a temporary environmental protection order (Tepo) in the high court. In April, they asked for a writ of “kalikasan” on the same case against the US government for the damage in Tubbataha. In an 87-page petition, the groups sought for an ex-parte Tepo or a writ of kalikasan aimed at ordering the respondents led by Scott Swift, commander of the US 7th Fleet, and Mark Rice, commanding officer of the Guardian, “to stop port calls and military exercises in the absence of clear environmental guidelines, duties and liability schemes for breaches of those duties.” The Guardian ran aground in Tubbataha on Read More …

Aquino defends use of bases by US, Japan

 News
Jul 022013
 
Aquino defends use of bases by US, Japan

‘Our strategic partners need knowledge of PH terrain’ By Michael Lim UbacPhilippine Daily Inquirer 12:05 am | Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013 President Aquino said for the first time on Tuesday that the United States and Japan would have access to the former US bases in the Philippines to be able to forge a “credible alliance” but dismissed Chinese claims that Manila was provoking Beijing. In an ambush interview in Camp Crame, Aquino stressed that giving the two countries access to the installations was “not permanent.” The United States had maintained Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Base—America’s largest overseas military facilities—until Mt. Pinatubo erupted in June 1991 and forced the shutdown of the installations. Three months later, the Senate voted 12-11 against renewing the Philippines-US Military Bases Agreement. In 1999, the Philippines ratified the Visiting Forces Agreement allowing the United States to conduct joint exercises with Philippine forces in the country. “Let’s clarify the access. They will not be a permanent fixture in the bases—but they are our allies. There are only two strategic partners that we have—it is America and Japan,” he said, explaining that “interoperability” was key to prepare forces allied with each other for any conflict. This explains why the country has regular Balikatan exercises, which calls for “joint or shoulder-to-shoulder” military exercises, he said. He stressed that failure to “coordinate” or “synchronize” the military deployment systems between forces of allied countries in case of a conflict “in my view is a wrong way to prepare, Read More …

Just a ‘Sun’ away from home

 News
Jul 022013
 
Just a ‘Sun’ away from home

INQUIRER.net 9:31 pm | Tuesday, July 2nd, 2013 MANILA, Philippines – The story of Steph is the story of many children separated from their parents because they have gone abroad. But a simple call and a regular greeting can bridge the love they have for each other. Sun lets your loved ones know whatever’s in your heart (Alam ng Sun kung gaano kahalaga ang pagsasama ng pamilya.  Ang kuwento ni Steph ay kuwento rin ng maraming anak na nalayo sa kanilang mga magulang na nag-abroad. Sa simpleng tawagan at dalas ng kamustahan, natutuloy pa rin ang pagmamahalan. Sa Sun, kung ano man ang nasa puso – agad na naipaparamdam.) (advt) Follow Us Recent Stories: Complete stories on our Digital Edition newsstand for tablets, netbooks and mobile phones; 14-issue free trial. About to step out? Get breaking alerts on your mobile.phone. Text ON INQ BREAKING to 4467, for Globe, Smart and Sun subscribers in the Philippines. Tags: Consumer Issues , mobile phones , ofws , Sun Cellular Factual errors? Contact the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s day desk. Believe this article violates journalistic ethics? Contact the Inquirer’s Reader’s Advocate. Or write The Readers’ Advocate: c/o Philippine Daily Inquirer Chino Roces Avenue corner Yague and Mascardo Streets, Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines Or fax nos. +63 2 8974793 to 94

PH in the dark on exact date, time of Filipina’s execution in China

 News
Jul 022013
 
PH in the dark on exact date, time of Filipina’s execution in China

By Tarra QuismundoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 9:18 pm | Tuesday, July 2nd, 2013 DFA spokesperson Raul Hernandez INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines — The deadline is Wednesday (July 3), but the Philippines remains in the dark on the exact time the Filipino drug courier sentenced to death in China will be executed. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Tuesday afternoon that the Chinese government had not informed the Philippine government when it would carry out the death penalty on the 35-year-old Filipino woman arrested for drug trafficking in the city of Hangzhou in eastern China in 2011. “We have not yet received any specific date or time for the execution of our kababayan in Hangzhou, but it seems that it is very imminent,” the DFA spokesperson, Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez, said in a press briefing on Tuesday. On Monday, the woman’s family, including her mother and son, were granted a 30-minute final visit at the Zhejiang Detention Center in Hangzhou, where she has been jailed for two years now. The family, who was in Shanghai as of Tuesday, has requested that their privacy be respected and asked that their loved one’s name be kept in confidence, Hernandez said. “We don’t know if we will be informed before or after [the execution]. There were cases when we were informed before and there were cases when it happened right after the visit of the family of the accused,” he said. Hernandez said the execution would likely be carried out through lethal Read More …

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