Chaos erupted at a huge party to celebrate the 90th birthday of the former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos on Wednesday, with more than 200 friends and supporters taken to hospital in Manila with suspected food poisoning. The health ministry said 261 people had been taken to hospital by Wednesday afternoon after eating food that had been prepared for 2,500 people. Guests were fed rice, boiled eggs and chicken adobo, a traditional Filipino dish of meat stewed in vinegar and soy sauce
Category Archives: Philippines
Philippines: Isis claims bombing that killed five on Jolo island
Officials say local affiliate Abu Sayyaf was likely behind blast that targeted elite army unit
Five people including three soldiers were killed in a bombing targeting an elite army unit in the Philippines’s restive south, which Islamic State claimed was a suicide attack, authorities and experts said.
The military said the kidnap-for-ransom group and Isis-affiliate Abu Sayyaf was likely behind the midday blast on the island of Jolo on Friday, which also left nine other soldiers wounded.
Continue reading...Where does your plastic go? Global investigation reveals America’s dirty secret
A Guardian report from 11 countries tracks how US waste makes its way across the world – and overwhelms the poorest nations
- This week we’re exploring plastic pollution as part of our six-month Toxic America series. Please support this journalism and help us hit our $150,000 goal
What happens to your plastic after you drop it in a recycling bin?
According to promotional materials from America’s plastics industry, it is whisked off to a factory where it is seamlessly transformed into something new.
Continue reading...Dutch hostage killed in Philippines during gun battle
Birdwatcher Ewold Horn, kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf in 2012, dies as army fights militants
A Dutch birdwatcher held by Islamic State-linked militants was killed on Friday during a firefight between his kidnappers and soldiers in the southern Philippines, according to the military, which said he was shot by his captors as he tried to escape.
Ewold Horn, held hostage since 2012 by Abu Sayyaf, was fatally wounded as soldiers fought a 90-minute gun battle with the jihadists in Sulu province on their stronghold, Jolo island.
Continue reading...Philippines puts 69 containers of rubbish on boat back to Canada
Container ship M/V Bavaria, with tonnes of garbage on board, has left Subic Bay on a 20-day journey to Vancouver
The Philippines has made good on a threat by President Rodrigo Duterte and put 69 containers of what its officials called illegally transported garbage on a ship that is heading to Canada.
The nation is one of two in south-east Asia that have protested being treated like dumpsites by wealthier countries.
Continue reading...Farewell to jeepneys: Philippine transport changes gear – in pictures
Jeepneys are being phased to help ease city congestion, but the move will also cause unemployment for experienced drivers – and higher fares for commuters
Continue reading...Treated like trash: south-east Asia vows to return mountains of rubbish from west
Region begins pushback against deluge of plastic and electronic waste from UK, US and Australia
For the past year, the waste of the world has been gathering on the shores of south-east Asia. Crates of unwanted rubbish from the west have accumulated in the ports of the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam while vast toxic wastelands of plastics imported from Europe and the US have built up across Malaysia.
But not for much longer it seems. A pushback is beginning, as nations across south-east Asia vow to send the garbage back to where it came from.
Continue reading...Duterte drug war ally and Marcos daughter set for Philippines seats
Loyalists’ victories in midterm elections will hand populist president more power
The architect of Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal campaign against illegal drugs in the Philippines has almost certainly won a senate seat in the country’s midterm elections, prompting concerns among victims’ groups.
Former police chief Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa is among Duterte’s allies who were on track to take nine of 12 open seats in the upper house, with 95% of ballots counted. The senate has previously been a bulwark against some of the president’s most controversial proposals.
Continue reading...Philippines voters back Duterte and his drug war as he closes in on midterms victory
Unofficial results show president’s allies have won nine key upper house seats, traditionally a bulwark against his controversial policies
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s allies were poised for victory in midterm polls, according to unofficial results on Tuesday, signalling firm approval of his policies and clearing a path for his most controversial plans.
Duterte’s deadly drug war has drawn international censure, but is central to the populist appeal that has buoyed his remarkable popularity among Filipinos since taking the presidency in 2016.
Continue reading...Unfinished business: Philippines widows stand in elections for murdered politicians
At least six widows are taking up the political fight in this year’s midterm elections
At least six widows of slain male politicians are standing in the Philippines’ midterm elections, extending a decades-long tradition of women in the country refusing to let their murdered spouses’ agendas die with them.
“I have a lot of things to do for Rodel, for the people of Daraga,” said Gertrudes Batocabe, who took over her late husband Rodel’s mayor candidacy in the central Philippines city of Daraga when he was shot dead in December. “It’s not really automatic that the wife takes over, but in this case I cannot see my opponents sitting down,” she told AFP.
Continue reading...Rodrigo Duterte hopes to gain control of Senate in Philippines mid-terms
Election seen as referendum on president’s policies, with critics of the government fearing president’s grip on power will tighten
Filipinos have started voting in midterm polls that are being seen as a crucial referendum on Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal crackdown on illegal drugs, unorthodox style and contentious embrace of China.
The poll is expected to strengthen the controversial president’s grip on power, paving the way for him to deliver on pledges to restore the death penalty and rewrite the constitution.
Continue reading...Global neglect of millions forced from their homes by conflict branded ‘pitiful’
Top official condemns lack of focus on record 41 million people left homeless in their own countries after fleeing violence
Record numbers of people have been forced from their homes by conflict in a crisis that has received “pitiful” international attention, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council has said.
A total of 41.3 million people were living in a state of internal displacement by the end of 2018 due to violence, researchers for the organisation found, with increasing numbers unable to return home for protracted periods. This is a rise of more than a million on the previous year.
Continue reading...Have you heard about the Philippine mayor who banned gossip?
Rumour-mongers in Binalonan face £3 fines and three hours litter-picking if they indulge in local tittle-tattle
When the lethargic heat of summer set in, the residents of Binalonan, a small town in the Philippines, used togather under the trees and share stories about their neighbours, swapping titbits about rumoured scandals, affairs, bankruptcies and divorces.
But no longer. In local law imposed on the town, which is north of the capital Manila, such gossip, or “chismis’” as it is known in the Philippines, is now illegal.
Continue reading...Asia’s longest-fighting communist guerrillas – in pictures
The fight for communism is alive in the mountains of the Philippines, where the New People’s Army is celebrating 50 years since it took up arms. The armed wing of the Communist party of the Philippines is the oldest fighting communist guerrilla force in Asia
Continue reading...New species of ancient human discovered in Philippines cave
Homo luzonensis fossils found in Luzon island cave, dating back up to 67,00 years
A new species of ancient human, thought to have been under 4ft tall and adapted to climbing trees, has been discovered in the Philippines, providing a twist in the story of human evolution.
The specimen, named Homo luzonensis, was excavated from Callao cave on Luzon island in the northern Philippines and has been dated to 50,000-67,000 years ago – when our own ancestors and the Neanderthals were spreading across Europe and into Asia.
Continue reading...Philippines: hostage of Islamist militants swims to safety while two others die
One Indonesian captive survives, one drowns and a Malaysian shot dead during military rescue attempt
An Indonesian hostage held by Islamist militants in the southern Philippines has swum his way to freedom but another drowned, while a Malaysian captive was shot in the back while escaping.
The two Indonesians and the Malaysian separately escaped while Philippine marines were attempting to rescue them on Simusa island in southern Sulu province in the past two days, regional military spokesman Lt Col Gerry Besana said.
Continue reading...Philippines court orders release of police files on thousands of drug-war deaths
Court dismisses solicitor general’s claim that national security could be undermined
The Philippine supreme court on Tuesday ordered the release of police documents on the killing of thousands of suspects during the president’s drug crackdown, in a ruling that could shed light on allegations of extrajudicial punishment.
Supreme court spokesman Brian Keith Hosaka said the court ordered the solicitor general to hand the police reports to two rights groups which had sought them. The 15-member court, whose justices are meeting in northern Baguio city, has yet to rule on a separate petition to declare President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug campaign unconstitutional.
Continue reading...The boy on a raft in Manila Bay – in pictures
At dawn, Reymark Cavesirano makes a perilous journey out to sea to meet the fishing boats in a bid to help his family survive
Photographs: Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images
Continue reading...The campaign for a ‘drug-free world’ is costing lives | Louise Arbour and Mohamed ElBaradei
Global policy on drug control is unrealistic, and has taken a harsh toll on millions of the world’s poorest people
Drug control efforts across the world are a threat to human dignity and the right to life.
In 2017, more than 70,000 people died from a drug overdose in the US. Among the reasons for these deaths are the lack of access to health and harm-reduction services, as well as the fear of legal repression, which often dissuades people who use drugs from asking for help.
Continue reading...Global war on drugs could harm efforts to abolish death sentences – study
Iran reforms drive 90% fall in death penalty worldwide, but report warns hardline approach to minor cases violates human rights
Global efforts to abolish the death penalty are in danger of being undermined by anti-drug governments that use capital punishment to enforce a zero-tolerance approach, experts have warned.
The caution comes even though the number of people sentenced to death for drug offences around the world has actually fallen by nearly 90% over the past four years, according to a study by Harm Reduction International, with 91 known deaths last year compared with 755 in 2015.
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