Category Archives: Philippines

UN launches ‘comprehensive’ review of Philippine drug war

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Human rights commission votes to ‘get the facts’ on three years of bloodshed claiming an estimated 20,000 lives

The human rights body of the United Nations has agreed to begin investigating President Rodrigo Duterte’s violent war on drugs in the Philippines amid accusations of extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and crimes against humanity.

A resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights council on Thursday, which passed narrowly by four votes, authorised the United Nations human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, to examine evidence of thousands of deaths at the hands of the police and so called “death squads”. She will present her report in a year.

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Australia urged to invest in recycling manufacturing after Indonesia sends rubbish back

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Kickstart the domestic market so Asian countries rejecting Australian waste is no longer a problem, industry suggests

Australia could quickly solve the problem of Indonesia and other countries rejecting its waste if governments invested in recycling manufacturing as promised and required the use of recycled material in public projects, industry and environmental groups say.

Jakarta announced on Tuesday it would return 210 tonnes of Australian household rubbish – the latest demonstration of opposition in south-east Asia to receiving exported waste. Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia have each turned back shipments and warned they would not become dumping grounds for developed countries after China banned imports of foreign plastic rubbish.

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‘War on drugs’ makes Philippines fourth most dangerous country – report

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Duterte’s violent anti-drugs operations are responsible for 75% of civilian deaths this year

President Rodrigo Duterte’s declaration of a “war on drugs” has made the Philippines the fourth most dangerous place in the world for civilian-targeted violence, according to a report that places the country behind conflict-ridden Yemen.

The report by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (Acled) identifies India as the most dangerous country, with 1,385 violent events that targeted civilians. Second place is Syria with 1,160, followed by Yemen with 500, and the Philippines with 345. It supports comments made recently by Michelle Bachelet, UN high commissioner for human rights, who voiced concerns over ongoing human rights abuses in the Philippines and the “extraordinarily high number of deaths – and persistent reports of extrajudicial killings – in the context of campaigns against drug use”.

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‘The odour of burning wakes us’: inside the Philippines’ Plastic City

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In Valenzuela City, residents blame recycling plants for pungent smells and respiratory illnesses

As noon approaches in Valenzuela City and residents prepare to have their lunch, a pungent smell of melted plastic swirls through the air, killing everyone’s appetite.

“It gets suffocating in the evening. We have to close our windows despite the heat and bury our noses under our blankets when we sleep,” says Rosalie Esplana, 40.

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More than 200 people taken to hospital after Imelda Marcos’s birthday party – video report

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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


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Philippines: Isis claims bombing that killed five on Jolo island

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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.

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Where does your plastic go? Global investigation reveals America’s dirty secret

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A Guardian report from 11 countries tracks how US waste makes its way across the world – and overwhelms the poorest nations

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.

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Dutch hostage killed in Philippines during gun battle

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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.

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Philippines puts 69 containers of rubbish on boat back to Canada

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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.

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Treated like trash: south-east Asia vows to return mountains of rubbish from west

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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.

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Duterte drug war ally and Marcos daughter set for Philippines seats

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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.

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Philippines voters back Duterte and his drug war as he closes in on midterms victory

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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.

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Unfinished business: Philippines widows stand in elections for murdered politicians

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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.

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Rodrigo Duterte hopes to gain control of Senate in Philippines mid-terms

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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.

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Global neglect of millions forced from their homes by conflict branded ‘pitiful’

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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.

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Have you heard about the Philippine mayor who banned gossip?

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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.

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New species of ancient human discovered in Philippines cave

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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.

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Philippines: hostage of Islamist militants swims to safety while two others die

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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.

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