Part of the Philippine urban landscape for decades, jeepneys, small buses originally made from military vehicles left by the Americans after the second world war, are being phased out. Pollution and safety concerns mean jeepneys 15 years or older will be taken off the streets by 2020. Also threatened are the livelihoods of artists who customise them
Continue reading...Category Archives: Philippines
Philippines: bombs at cathedral during mass kill 20 people – video
Two explosions at a Roman Catholic cathedral killed 20 people and injured dozens more on the southern island of Jolo in the Philippines. The attack came nearly a week after minority Muslims in the predominantly Roman Catholic nation endorsed a new autonomous region in the south. Voters in Sulu province, where Jolo is located, rejected it
Continue reading...Twin explosions kill 20 people at Philippines cathedral
First blast in or near church on island of Jolo during Sunday mass is followed by second outside compound
Twenty people were killed and 81 injured when two bombs exploded outside a Roman Catholic cathedral on a southern Philippine island where Muslim militants are active security officials have said.
The country’s national police chief said the first bomb went off in or near Jolo cathedral during a mass on Sunday, followed by a second blast outside the compound as government forces were responding to the attack. Oscar Albayalde said the dead included troops and civilians.
Continue reading...Southern Philippines backs Muslim self-rule in landslide result
Result raises hopes of an end to decades of violence including attacks by Isis-inspired groups
People in the Muslim-majority southern Philippines have voted by a landslide to create a new autonomous region covering five provinces and three cities, a result the government hopes will bring peace to a war-torn part of the country and address issues that lure recruits to Isis-inspired groups.
On Friday, the election commission declared the Bangsamoro Organic Law plebiscite “ratified”, four days after the vote was held. Almost 1.6 million voted yes, while 250,000 voted no.
Continue reading...Philippines: Muslims vote in referendum on new autonomous region
Vote seeks to solve half a century of unrest and counter a new wave of extremist Islamic State-linked groups
Muslims in the southern Philippines are voting in a referendum on a new autonomous region that seeks to end nearly half a century of unrest, in what their leaders are touting as the best alternative to a new wave of Islamic State group-inspired militants.
The vote caps a tumultuous peace effort by the government in Manila and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the main rebel group, to seal a deal that was signed in 2014 but languished in the Philippine congress until it was finally approved last year.
Continue reading...‘Example to the world’: Sri Lanka president plans to copy Duterte’s war on drugs
President Maithripala Sirisena praises Philippines over policy that has led to thousands of extrajudicial killings
Sri Lanka’s president has praised his Philippines counterpart Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal war on drugs, which has taken thousands of lives, calling it an “example to the world”.
In a speech during a visit to the Philippines this week, Maithripala Sirisena said he intended to replicate Duterte’s ruthless approach to tackling illegal drug use.
Continue reading...‘It’s a very big torture’: the children growing up in hiding in Dubai | Katie McQue
With sex outside marriage punishable by jail, migrant workers who become pregnant are often forced to keep their babies locked away
A sweltering, windowless room in an old district of Dubai, no more than 5 metres by 3 metres in size, is home to nine people from the Philippines. Eight are adults, working long hours in low-paid jobs so they can send money home to their families. The ninth is a six-year-old boy.
His name is Jerry and he shares a tiny bed with his mother, Neng. Jerry loves dancing, Peppa Pig and doughnuts. This small dark room is the only home he has known, as he’s spent his life in hiding as a stateless child. Growing up without a birth certificate or any other identification means he has no access to education and has never visited a doctor. Officially, this little boy does not exist.
Continue reading...A slow justice
TRAFFICKED VICTIM. Talikala-Davao executive director Jeanette Ampong together with a victim whom they have assisted during a press forum.
Lumad leader cries foul over – false accusations’
A LUMAD leader in Northern Mindanao has cried foul over the proliferation of posters and tarpaulins hanged in public places and materials spread on the internet tagging him as supporter of terrorists and recruiter of the New Peoples Army . Datu Jomorito Goaynon, chairman of Kalumbay regional lumad organization, said he has been seeing printed materials posted and hanged near the Central Mindanao University , bus terminals and other communities in Bukidnon which are meant to discredit his image as a lumad leader.
South Korea eyes supplying PHL with helicopters, submarines
One of the Philippines' closest allies, South Korea, will help the country modernize its defense capability, particularly the acquisition of new helicopters and submarines. This was confirmed by South Korean Ambassador to the Philippines Han Dong-Man in an exclusive interview over the weekend with the Philippine News Agency .
US, PHL navies kick off bilateral maritime training
The United States Navy and Philippine Navy kicked off the week-long Maritime Training Activity Sama Sama at Naval Station Ernesto Ogbinar in San Fernando City, La Union on July 9, the US Navy said. In the at-sea phase to be held in West Philippine Sea, US Navy expeditionary fast transport USNS Millinocket , diving and salvage ship USNS Salvor and a P-8 Poseidon maritime surveillance aircraft will operate with Philippine Navy frigate BRP Ramon Alcaraz and landing dock ship BRP Tarlac .
Manila Mooring
Navy Seaman Semajia Marshal heaves a mooring line aboard the USS Antietam in Manila, Philippines, June 26, 2018, while the guided missile cruiser is on patrol supporting security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
Philippines President Duterte tells UN human rights expert: ‘Go to hell’
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announces the disbandment of police operations against illegal drugs at the Malacanang palace in Manila, Philippines early January 30, 2017. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has told a U.N human rights expert who said the country's judicial independence was under threat to 'go to hell', warning against interference in domestic affairs.
Philippines Duterte tells UN human rights expert to ‘go to hell’
FILE PHOTO: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte points to photographers during an awarding ceremony for outstanding government workers, at the Malacanang Palace in Manila, Philippines December 19, 2016. REUTERS/Ezra Acayan/File Photo MANILA: Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has told a UN human rights expert who said the country's judicial independence was under threat to 'go to hell', warning against interference in domestic affairs.
UN expert says Manila’s judiciary under attack
MANILA, Philippines: The unprecedented expulsion of the Philippine chief justice after the president lambasted her in public is an attack on judicial independence that could imperil the country's democracy, a U.N. expert warned. U.N. Rapporteur Diego Garcia-Sayan, who looks into threats to the independence of judges and lawyers worldwide, said he has sent questions to the Philippine government about the circumstances leading to the May 11 ouster of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno from the high court and expects a response within 60 days.
Biographer: Animosity toward US drives Philippine president Source: AP
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Biographer: Animosity toward US drives Philippine president
In this Thursday, April 19, 2018, file photo, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte jokes to photographers as he holds an Israeli-made Galil rifle at Camp Crame in suburban Quezon city northeast of Manila, Philippines. The author of the first biography of Rodrigo Duterte says the maverick Philippine president is gravitating toward China partly because of a personal animosity toward the United States and its criticism of his human rights record.
Pentagon kicks Chinese navy out of massive maritime wargame in the Pacific
U.S. military aircraft sit on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier anchors off Manila, Philippines, for a five-day port call along with guided-missile destroyer USS Michael Murphy, Saturday, Feb. 17, 2018. U.S. Lt.
A reign of terror: Extra-judicial killings in Duterte’s Philippines
Since Rodrigo Duterte began his term as the 16th president of the Philippines in 30 June 2016, Filipinos and the international community have watched in horror at accounts of dead bodies found nightly in the country's streets, linked to extra-judicial killings . What is more appalling is that the police force, supposed to protect and serve people, are themselves involved in or directly doing the killings.
Lift preconditions for peace talks, solons tell Duterte
Leftist lawmakers are asking President Rodrigo Duterte to do away with the preconditions he has set for the resumption of the stalled peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines . The Philippine Government and National Democratic Front opened the Fourth Round of Peace Talks ACT-Teachers Reps.