Ferdinand Marcos Jr leads polls despite father’s dictatorship and energetic opposition campaign
The colour they are clad in is an unmissable shade of fuchsia pink. They walk the streets across the Philippines, waving banners along the way and stopping anyone who will listen.
Many are young or first-time voters, and some travel for hours to join campaign teams. For them, next week’s election is a make-or-break moment for their country.
Continue reading...A leaked supreme court draft ruling shows the US is set to end 50 years of a woman’s right to choose. Elsewhere, the battle still rages
In 2022, abortion remains one of the most controversial and bitterly contested ethical and political battlegrounds. It is illegal for women to terminate their pregnancies in any circumstance in 24 countries, with a further 37 restricting access in any case except when the mother’s life is in danger.
As a leaked document signals that the US supreme court is poised to strike down the landmark 1973 ruling in Roe v Wade, millions of American women face losing their access to legal abortions, joining millions more living in those countries rejecting a woman’s right to choose.
Continue reading...Ferdinand Marcos Jr ahead in polls for 9 May election in spite of notorious family history
The frontrunner in the Philippines presidential race, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, has praised his father – the country’s late dictator – as a “political genius”, and his mother as the dynasty’s “supreme politician”, less than two weeks before an election that could return the Marcos family to power.
Ferdinand Marcos Jr, known as Bongbong, has a clear lead in the polls ahead of an election on 9 May, despite his father’s notorious history.
Continue reading...Research into 12- to 17-year-olds adds to concerns that Covid has left them more vulnerable in their country
One in five children aged between 12 and 17 were subjected to grave instances of online sexual abuse while using the internet in the Philippines in 2020, research suggests.
The study adds to concerns that the pandemic has heightened the vulnerability of children in the country, which was already considered a global centre of such abuse.
In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support for rape and sexual abuse on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
Continue reading...Focus now on retrieving bodies, says mayor, after strongest storm to hit archipelago this year devastates communities
The death toll from landslides and floods in the Philippines rose to 123 on Wednesday with scores missing and feared dead, officials said, as rescuers dug up more bodies with bare hands and backhoes in crushed villages.
Most of the deaths from tropical storm Megi – the strongest to hit the archipelago this year – were in the central province of Leyte, where a series of landslides devastated communities.
Continue reading...More than 17,000 people flee their homes as landslides engulf villages, cutting off roads and power
Rescuers hampered by mud and rain have used their bare hands and shovels to search for survivors of landslides that smashed into villages in the central Philippines, as the death toll from tropical storm Megi rose to 42.
More than 17,000 people fled their homes as the storm pummelled the disaster-prone region in recent days, flooding houses, severing roads and knocking out power.
Continue reading...Chris Thorogood had to venture deep into the Luzon rainforest to set eyes on the extraordinary Rafflesia banaoana
It was after travelling 6,600 miles and battling through the tropical assault course of the Luzon rainforest that Chris Thorogood set his eyes upon the rare and extraordinary flower that ignited his childhood imagination 30 years ago.
Thorogood, 38, last month became the first westerner to see the Rafflesia banaoana – an otherworldly-looking red spotted species that spans half a metre across – in an experience that reduced him to tears.
Continue reading...Lawyers and unions condemn scandal of international health workers forced to pay out if they quit their jobs early
• Overseas nurses in the UK forced to pay out thousands if they want to quit jobs
When Laura Sanchez was offered a job as a nurse in the NHS, it sounded like the opportunity of a lifetime.
At home in the Philippines, she had seen Facebook ads similar to those on the site today, promising “an attractive relocation package” and inviting her to “Start your UK dream!”
Continue reading...Residents ordered to leave homes as ash and steam sent hundreds of metres into sky
Thousands of people fled their homes near a Philippine volcano after an eruption sent ash and steam hundreds of metres into the sky.
Taal volcano, which sits in a picturesque lake south of Manila, exploded with a “short-lived” burst at 7:22 am on Saturday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said in a statement.
Continue reading...Economist calls for compressed working hours with 10-hour days in response to higher fuel prices
The Philippines is considering a four-day working week to conserve energy, as the cost of fuel continues to rise globally, driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Officials are searching for ways to soften the impact of dramatic price increases, which have prompted calls for a rise in the minimum wage and greater assistance for drivers.
Continue reading...The mind-boggling hoard of jewellery the plundering first lady tried to smuggle out of the Philippines is being remade as sculpture by artist Pio Abad – with all its sparkle gone
Over his three terms as president of the Philippines from 1965, Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda were able to cream off some $10bn of the nation’s assets through offshore banks. New revelations that a close associate of the dictator was also able to maintain an account with Credit Suisse as late as 2006 therefore comes as no surprise to Manila-born Pio Abad. For a decade the artist has been making work under the title The Collection of Jane Ryan and William Saunders, a reference to the aliases the couple used with the Swiss bank.
“It’s funny when a 10-year project becomes news,” says Abad, who is now London-based. “These institutions are very culpable for what happened in the Philippines.”
Continue reading...A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Myanmar to Mexico
Continue reading...A roundup of the coverage of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Cambodia to Costa Rica
Continue reading...Rights groups say the ban penalises those who cannot travel in a private vehicle or work from home
The Philippine government has defended a controversial ban that prevents unvaccinated people from using public transport in the capital of Manila, denying that the policy is “anti-poor”.
The “no vaccination, no ride” policy is designed to curb a recent wave of Covid infections and applies to all modes of transport to and from Metro Manila, including public buses, jeepneys, rail, boats and planes. The policy will be fully implemented from Monday, according to local media, when passengers will be required to show proof of vaccination.
Continue reading...Germany also cuts isolation period for boosted people after a Covid contact; Karl Nehammer tests positive after contact with member of security team
Argentina reported a record number of Covid-19 cases on Thursday for a third day in a row at nearly 110,000, Reuters reports, as the highly infectious Omicron variant drives a third pandemic wave in the South American nation.
The record tally of 109,608 in the middle of the southern hemisphere summer holiday season with tourist centres full of travellers, has not translated into a similar exponential rise in Covid-related deaths, which totalled 40, the government said.
President ‘appalled’ at the large numbers of Filipinos not vaccinated ‘galloping in our community’
The Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, has ordered the arrest of unvaccinated people who violate stay-at-home orders aimed at curbing “galloping” coronavirus infections driven by the Omicron variant.
The government tightened restrictions in Manila and several provinces and cities this week. Unvaccinated people among the capital’s 13 million people were ordered to stay home, after infection numbers tripled in the last two days.
Continue reading...The Philippines adds little to global emissions but faces some of its worst effects in extreme weather. Climate justice is needed
A few days before Christmas, Super-typhoon Rai – known locally as Odette – ravaged the Philippines. The morning after the onslaught, on my way back to Iloilo City from San Jose, Antique, I could see the ocean still boiling; houses blown away and great trees knocked down, making roads impassable. The sights were terrifying.
Lost lives continue to climb two weeks on. Vast numbers of buildings were destroyed – from houses to schools; food crops lost to flooding. At first, I did not know what to feel – anger, helplessness? Later, I knew what I wanted: climate justice.
Continue reading...Some areas still cut off a week after disaster, with power outages and shortages of food and clean water
More than 3 million people have been directly affected by the devastation wreaked by Typhoon Rai, which caused widespread power outages and water shortages, and has left some areas completely cut off from relief teams even a week after the disaster.
Rai first hit the Philippines last Thursday, and has been described by the Red Cross as one of the worst typhoons to hit the country in December in five decades. The true scale of the destruction is still unknown because of the extensive communication cuts, and damage to roads, ports and airports.
Continue reading...Calls for urgent aid as some residents remain without drinking water and food in the aftermath of Typhoon Rai
The death toll from the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year has surged to 375 , as desperate survivors pleaded for urgent supplies of drinking water and food.
The Philippine Red Cross reported “complete carnage” in coastal areas after Super Typhoon Rai left homes, hospitals and schools “ripped to shreds”.
Continue reading...Dozens die after super typhoon pummels southern and central regions of the country
At least 33 people have been killed in the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, official tallies showed on Saturday, with a charity reporting “alarming” destruction on islands that bore the brunt of the storm.
More than 300,000 people fled their homes and beachfront resorts as Typhoon Rai ravaged the southern and central regions of the archipelago, knocking out communications and electricity in many areas, ripping off roofs and toppling concrete power poles.
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