August 2014 'B' issue

Celeb Scoop page 28

E E FR

Connecting Global News & Views For The Community

UK & Europe Edition

August 2014 / Fortnightly

DINGDONG AT MARIAN, ENGAGED NA!

SINURPRESA ng Kapuso Primetime King na si Dingdong Dantes ang kaniyang nobyang Kapuso Primetime Queen na si Marian Rivera nang mag-propose ng kasal ang aktor sa live telecast ng dance show na “Marian” nitong Sabado.

Emosyunal naman na tinanggap ni Marian ang proposal ng nobyo na magbibigay katuparan sa inaabangang kasal ng Kapuso Power Couple.

Ginawa ni Dingdong ang proposal sa birthday celebration ni Marian sa show nito, kung saan guest din ang kaniyang ina, lola at ilang pang malapit na kaibigan; gayundin ang pamilya ng aktor.

Bago nito, nagsilbing taga-

interview muna ang aktor kay Marian at nagpakita ng ilang larawan at video footage nila na nagpaiyak sa aktres.

Ayon kay Marian, handa niyang ibigay ang lahat kay Dingdong, kahit ilang anak at kahit na lumalaki pa ang kaniyang katawan.

Dahil sa surpresang ginawa ng aktor, nalaman na rin ni Marian kung bakit tila umiiwas itong makipag-ugnayan sa kaniya bago ang araw ng guesting nito sa programa.

Ipinaliwanag naman ni Dingdong na #LastDance ay nagsilbing huling sayaw ni Marian bago maging Mrs. Marian Dantes.

Ang inaabangang pagtatapat ni Dingdong kay Marian.

■ FRJ, GMA News / August 9, 2014 / 7:47 PM

Maging ang DongYan fans, naluha sa labis na kasiyahan.

Luha ng kaligayahan.

Volume 5 - Number 16

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Mark Bautista to portray Ferdinand Marcos in London musical

ANOTHER Kapuso, yet again, has made the country proud.

Mark Bautista is set to play the late former president Ferdinand Marcos in Here Lies Love, a rock musical inspired by the life of Imelda Marcos. The show is set to run from late September this year to January next year in London’s West End. Filipino pride.

“Sobrang fortunate ako na mapasama dito kasi para ako’ng nag-represent din sa ating bansa and [the story is Continue to page 2

“Best 3hours of my life.” Ito ang caption ng larawan ni Mark Bautista kasama si dating First Lady at ngayo’y Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos. ©Photo by Mark Bautista Instagram account.

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NEWS

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

Mark Bautista to portray Ferdinand Marcos in London musical Continuation from page 1 inspired by] own history natin [at] kasama ako dun [doon] sa project na ‘yun,” he told Walang Tulugan.

Mark is thankful to be part of a project that involves Philippine history. “Nakakaproud po kasi history natin, talagang pinagkakaabalahan nila [sa ibang bansa], parang binibigyan nila ng pansin at ginawan nila ng musical… Makaka-relate pa rin ‘yung mga Pilipino ‘pag panoorin nila. Hindi siya alien para sa ‘tin kasi about sa history natin,” he added.

Grab every opportunity. Upon him scoring the role, Mark couldn’t help but recall how he hesitated to audition for Miss Saigoneven if he was told by people around him to try out. “Natakot ako kasi sabi ko, iba yata ‘yung standard ng UK at medyo kinakabahan ako… [Ngayon] sabi ko ‘what if nag-audition ako dun? Ano kaya?

Matatanggap kaya ako o hindi?’”, he shared.

Now, he learned the importance of being courageous in seizing opportunities.

“Yun pala yung masakit na part – yung what ifs. So sabi ko (since then na) dapat talaga,

pag may ganung opportunity, i-grab mo na.

Kahit ano mangyari, kung mag-fail ka man, at least triny mo,” he declared.

A different musical experience.Unlike in most musicals where the audience is seated down, Here Lies Love exhibits a different kind of experience. “Kakaiba ‘to kasi hindi siya ‘yung usual na musical.

‘Yung mga tao sa baba [ng stage], walang upuan so may participation ‘yung mga tao na puwede silang sumayaw,” he disclosed.

This theme is patterned after Imelda Marcos’ fondness for dancing. “Disco ‘yung

setting kasi daw si Madam Imelda, mahilig sa disco, kaya ‘yun ‘yung theme na ginawa nila… Walang intermission, upbeat lahat so hindi ka mabo-bore. Kakaiba [siya],” he added.

From ticket boy to leading man.

Because of this milestone, Mark realized how a lot of his experiences helped bring him to this moment. “Sa probinsya, nung nagsa-start pa lang ako, nagte-teatro ako [sa] community theater [namin].

Parang front of house, ‘yung taga-ticket, tapos na-promote ako [na] kumanta ng

national anthem bago mag-umpisa ‘yung play hanggang sa binigyan ako ng role kasi absent ‘yung ibang actors, so nagunderstudy ako,” he recalled.

All those memories led to an achievement of a lifetime. “Sabi ko, ‘wow, preparation pala ‘yun para sa ‘kin ‘no?’ In the future, may ibibigay pala sa aking ganitong project na malaki and West End [pa] sa London.

Posible lahat, posible,” he concluded.

Mark is set to leave for London next week. ■ Mary Louise Ligunas / GMANetwork.com / August 7, 2014 / 8:19 PM

‘What headway?’: NUJP shoots down PNP claims on solving media killings MANILA – A media organization belittled the Philippine National Police’s claims of “significant headway” in solving media killings in the country, saying it was “really all but admitting failure.”

At the same time, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said PNP spokesman Chief Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac, “like President Benigno Aquino III, engages in the sickening charade of blaming the victims for their fates, by citing motives such as ‘personal grudge, double-cross, land dispute, and business

rivalry’ for the killings.”

“These are clear attempts to downplay the continued assaults on journalists and freedom of the press in the country,” the group said.

On Tuesday, Sindac released a statement saying the PNP had been “implementing more tangible actions to fulfill its crucial role in complementing national government efforts to resolve media killings and other threats to press freedom.”

In the statement, Sindac claimed that Task Force Usig, the special unit of the

Journalists and other protesters bear mock coffins to commemorate the third anniversary of the November 23, 2009 Ampatuan massacre. Since then, many more journalists have been murdered in the country, bringing the total since 1986 to 171, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.

Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management responsible for probing media killings and other extrajudicial murders, has investigated 42 cases leading to the “successful prosecution” of the killings of Marlene Garcia-Esperat (three convicted), Edgar Damalerio (one convicted), Klein Cantoneros (one convicted), Armando Pace (one convicted), Rowel Endrinal (one convicted), Gerardo “Doc Gerry” Ortega (one convicted) and Arecio Padrigao Sr. (one convicted).

However, the NUJP said these “convictions pale if seen against the 171 media murders in the country since 1986.”

“And, may we point out, all these convictions are of those who pulled the triggers or served as lookouts. None of these are of masterminds,” it added.

The media organization also pointed out that, “in the case of Esperat, the accused brains continue to report for work at the Department of Agriculture while, in the case of Ortega, they remain at large, allowed to slip out of the country by hirelings in government.”

DA regional officials Osmeña Montañer and Estrella Sabay are accused of ordering Esperat’s 2005 murder after she exposed what would eventually be known as the fertilizer fund scam.

Former Palawan governor Joel Reyes and his brother Mario allegedly ordered the killing of Ortega, who was gunned down in Puerto Princese City in January 2011.

“And may we also point out that the reason most of these cases even reached conviction is because of the relentless efforts of media organizations and the victims’ families,” the NUJP said.

The media organization also said the PNP’s claim of an intensified campaign against organized crime groups, “particularly gun-for-hire syndicates who may also be involved in media killings,” would “be welcome news not only for media but for all citizens of this republic.”

“However,” it added, “news report after news report will bear out the fact that syndicates that hire out their expertise in assassinations continue to thrive.”

It cited the recent Human Rights Watch report on the so-called “Digos death squad,” which has been linked to the murder of broadcaster Rogelio Butalid last year.

“And lest we forget, close to a hundred suspects in the Ampatuan massacre remain at large, most of them members of a private army that, at its height, boasted more firepower than the government’s security forces in Maguindanao,” it added, referring to the armed followers of the Ampatuan

clan, key members of whom are accused of the November 23, 2009 mass murder of 58 persons, including 32 media workers.

The NUJP acknowledged Sindac was right in saying there is “no pattern” to the media killings but said this was true “only insofar as there is no official program to murder journalists unlike the targeted killings of activists and other dissenters.”

“However,” it added, “as we have pointed out again and again, there IS one pattern, not only behind media murders but, come to think of it, of the myriad of other social problems plaguing our country.

And that pattern is the continued system of governance that not only tolerates but actually nurtures corrupt warlord politicians, who are the primary suspects in ordering the deaths of so many of our colleagues, but whose loyalty is indispensable to the national government.”

The NUJP acknowledged that “questions of ethics may have played a role” in a number of the media killings but stressed, “this is still no justification for murder.”

“For if, as Sindac and Aquino seem to imply, corruption justifies murder, it should be food for thought why those most guilty of it continue to thrive in the corridors of power,” it added. ■ InterAksyon.com / August 5, 2014 / 7:44 PM

2 UP-Clark alumni abducted in N. Ecija found in jail; PNP calls them ‘rebels’ OLONGAPO CITY – Two alumni of the University of the Philippines Diliman Extension Program in Pampanga who were reportedly abducted Saturday in Carranglan, Nueva Ecija were found in the provincial jail Sunday. The Central Luzon police command said they were not abducted, but ‘rebels’ arrested by a composite team hunting down a man wanted for double murder.

Gerald “Geary” Salonga and Guiller Martin Cadano, who are both youth organizers of Kabataan and Anakbayan party-list groups in Central Luzon, were found by their parents and their colleagues at the Provincial Public Safety Headquarters in Cabanatuan City.

It is still not known if charges have been filed against the two.

Salonga, 24, studied BS Psychology at what is also known as UP-Clark. Cadano, 22, has a degree in Business Management, also from UP-Clark.

The two were reportedly snatched by suspected elements of the 3rd Infantry Battalion riding in one red van and two white pick-up trucks at 3 p.m.

Central Luzon police: no abduction, we arrested rebels. The commander of the National Police’s Central Luzon office, Chief

Superintendent Raul Petrasanta, insisted that there was no abduction, but an arrest of two “rebels” by policemen on a mission to serve an arrest warrant on a man wanted for double murder and attempted murder in Carranglan town.

Petrasanta said joint police and military forces were conducting the manhunt Saturday for Ely Taray alias Omeng in Sitio Pimma, Barangay TL Padilla, when they chanced upon the two rebels in the area.

The troops were from the 7th Military Intelligence Battalion, 3rdIB, Provincial Public Safety Company-Nueva Ecija Provincial Police Office, and Nueva Ecija Criminal Ivnestigation and Detection Team.

“The operation also yielded positive outcomes and resulted in the arrest of two members of the CPP/NPA/NDF (Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s ArmyNational Democratic Fron),” Petrasanta said.

BAYAN-CL: They were abducted.

But according to Bayan-Central Luzon secretary-general Eco Dangla, Gerald “Geary” Salonga and Guiller Martin Cadano were abducted by soldiers of the 3rd IB, forcibly loaded onto a white van that was escorted by two white pickup trucks at around 3 p.m. in said barangay.

In his Facebook page, Salonga, who celebrated his birthday on July 3, claimed he is a regional spokesperson of the Kabataan Party-list organization. He is a native of Mabalacat, Pampanga. Reportedly, Cadano is also a member of Kabataan.

But Petrasanta insisted the two were rebels arrested during the manhunt.

“Based on reports that reached my office, in the evening of August 9, 2014, operating troops implemented warrants of arrest for the crimes of double murder and attempted murder against Ely Taray alias Omeng in Sitio Pimma, Brgy TL Padilla, Carranglan,Nueva Ecija. However, during said implementation when operating teams were approaching the target house, two male persons with backpacks hurriedly came out of the house and fled, which prompted the authorities to chase them,” he said.

“Suspects were immediately caught and were identified as Guiller Cadano y Martin alias Christian, 23, single of Baragay Kaypoan, San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan and Gerald Salinga y Hernandez alias Matt, 23, married of Barangay Cutud, Angeles City, and both Platoon Guides (PG) of NE-NV-EP,” he added.

Authorities confiscated from them, according to Petrasanta, a 1 caliber .9mm pistol, Smith & Wesson with Serial Number U390575 with 1 mag loaded with 14 live rounds ammo; 1 cal .9mm Rugger pistol with defaced SN with 1 mag loaded with 23 live rounds ammo; 2 hand grenades; 2 handheld radios; assorted cellular phones; and voluminous subversive documents.

“Cadano and Salonga as well as the confiscated evidence are still at the headquarters of the 3rdIB for documentation and they are to be brought to the PPSC headquarters for investigation and disposition,” he said.

He said charges of violating Republic Act 10591 (Comprehensive Laws on Firearms) and Presidential Decree 916 (Illegal Possession of Explosives) will be filed against Cadano and Salonga.

In his Facebook page, Salonga, who just celebrated his birthday last July 3, also identified himself as the regional spokesperson of the Kabataan Party-list Organization. He hails from Mabalacat, Pampanga.

2 UP coeds abducted by soldiers still missing. In June 26, 2006, two

female UP students, Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan, were abducted by suspected elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines under General Jovito Palparan. The two remain missing as of today, while Palparan is in hiding.

Dangla said “the systematic violation of human rights by the state continues under the administration of President Benigno Aquino III.” Cases of enforced disappearances like those of Empeno and Cadapan eight years ago, and now of Salonga and Cadano, according to Dangla, are crimes against humanity that must not have space in a civilized and supposedly democratic country as the Philippines. ■ Ansbert B. Joaquin and Jaime Sinapit / InterAksyon. com / August 10, 2014 / 8:29 AM

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

#ChickenSad: Jollibee apologizes for limited menu, store closures

MANILA – Jollibee Foods Corp has apologized for the unavailability of some of its products, which forced some of its stores in Metro Manila and nearby cities to close.

In a statement, the homegrown fastfood giant vowed to address this concern “in the next few days” after its migration to new systems at the start of the month resulted in the “temporary slowdown in sales order taking, product loading and dispatch of transportation.” “[JFC] and its franchisee partners express their apology to their customers for the disappointment and inconvenience caused by not finding their favorite products in the stores or by seeing their nearby stores temporarily closed. The organization is

doing its best to restore the availability of all its products to normal levels in the next few days, to reopen temporarily closed stores and to restore its excellent service to its customers,” the company said.

The Jollibee group said the launch of the new enterprise platform is the largest investment in information technology in JFC’s history amounting to at least P500 million for 2014 alone. It involves the central integrating system, store information systems and several other systems.

“The purpose of this major investment is to prepare JFC for an accelerated business growth in the Philippines and abroad as it pursues its goal to become the largest Asian restaurant company and one of the

most successful restaurant companies in the world,” the company said.

The limited availability of its products forced the Jollibee group to close 72 stores across its stable of brands, representing 3.2 percent of its store network nationwide of 2,244. It also reduced the menu of many stores in Metro Manila and nearby cities.

Based on the company’s estimates, it failed to serve about 6 percent of its normal nationwide sales in the first seven days of August.

JFC shares fell 1.83 percent to P182.40 as of 2:25 pm. The company owns the brands Jollibee, Chowking, Greenwich, Red Ribbon, Mang Inasal and Burger King.

Despite the closure of some stores and

foregone sales, JFC posted same-store sales growth of 4 percent in the Philippines from August 1-7 compared to a year ago.

Same store sales growth, an indicator of the business’ health, pertains to restaurants that have been open for at least 15 months.

It excludes sales from new stores.

“The Jollibee Group has sufficient raw materials, finished products and production

capacity to meet the consumer demand for the entire month of August and for the months ahead, both for local and imported goods, in line with its sales and product supply planning,” the company said.

“The products are in the company’s various commissaries, warehouses and logistics center. JFC will also enhance its transportation delivery capability in the months ahead,” it added.

JFC operates the largest food service network in the Philippines with 2,244 stores at end-June 2014. It also operates 588 stores abroad, including Yonghe King, Hong Zhuang Yuan and San Pin Wang. ■ Krista Angela M. Montealegre / InterAksyon.com / August 8, 2014 / 2:40 PM

Exclusive: Malacanang drafting order to temporarily lift Manila truck ban in select areas

Despite higher revenue, Purefoods’ 1H net income drops MANILA – San Miguel Corp’s food subsidiary reported lower earnings in the first six months of the year despite registering higher volumes and selling prices.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, San Miguel Pure Foods Co Inc. said it earned P1.7 billion in the January to June period, down 5.56 percent from the P1.8 billion reported in the same period last year.

Purefoods did not cite the reason for the lower net income since it has yet to submit its second quarter report to the PSE. Operating income jumped 12 percent to P2.7 billion in the first half of the year from P2.4 billion a year ago on the strength of its poultry, meats, flour and dairy businesses,

riding on better volumes, higher selling prices and improved efficiencies in hograising.

Consolidated revenues rose 4 percent to P49.2 billion in the six-month period from P47.08 billion in 2013.

Revenues from its feeds, poultry, meats and flour businesses climbed 7 percent on higher volumes due to strong retail outlet sales and increased demand for customized flour, premixes and specialty flours.

Meanwhile, its branded and higher value-added businesses expanded by 1 percent year-on-year in the first semester of 2014. ■ Krista Angela M. Montealegre / InterAksyon. com / August 8, 2014 / 6:13 PM

MANILA - Amid the chaos created by Manila’s truck ban, President Benigno Aquino III will soon issue an executive order temporarily lifting the prohibition in select areas to decongest the capital’s ports.

Transport Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya told InterAksyon.com that the presidential directive is expected to re-establish order on Metro Manila’s streets, where chaos has reigned since the Manila City government last February imposed a wider truck ban.

“We are still waiting for the list of selected routes,” Abaya said.

Issuing a presidential order was one of the options raised during the interagency meeting held by Abaya, Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Secretary Rogelio Singson and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Gregory Domingo.

Ruperto Bayucot, president of the Confederation of Truckers Association of the Philippines (CTAP), told Interaksyon. com that the group has proposed additional routes where cargo trucks can pass.

“The PPA is currently drafting the EO. We hope it would be completed as soon as possible,” Bayucot said, adding that the Palace order would be implemented for 60 days to resolve the port congestion. Staterun Philippine Ports Authority oversees the country’s ports of entry.

Lucio Tan hikes stake in Philippines’ largest sugar miller

MANILA – Billionaire Lucio Tan has increased his stake in Victorias Milling Corp with the acquisition of shares held by staterun Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, LT Group Inc said it purchased some 63.156 million common shares in VMC owned by the state-run lender at P5.32 per share.

The transaction raised Tan’s aggregate stake in the country’s largest sugar miller, including the convertible notes, to 23.50 percent of the total issued and outstanding shares.

Tan has been beefing up his interest in VMC in a move seen to foil efforts of other entities interested to invest in the sugar miller. In May, LT Group doubled its stake in the sugar miller to 14.8 percent from 7.40 percent.

LT Group has interests in tobacco, banking, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverage, and real estate development

Likewise, the group of businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan has been acquiring more shares in VMC. Metro Pacific Holdings Inc, the controlling shareholder of Metro Pacific Investments Corp (MPIC), recently hiked its holdings in the sugar miller to 7.485 percent.

The First Pacific Group also owns a third of Roxas Holdings Inc., the Philippines’ most diversified sugar company. The Hong Kong-based conglomerate has been eyeing investments in Philippine agriculture to supply the raw material needs of unit PT

Indofood Sukses Makmur Tbk, one of the biggest food companies in Indonesia.

VMC is under a 15-year rehabilitation program that started in September 2003 brought about by its failure to effectively contain rising overhead costs against a backdrop of falling domestic prices of sugar, and increasing competition from both new and expanded sugar mills and refineries.

InterAksyon.com is the online news portal of TV5, which like MPIC is chaired

by Pangilinan. ■ Krista Angela M. Montealegre / InterAksyon,com / August 8, 2014 / 10:12 AM

Bayucot said the group is requesting the government to allow them to pass C5 24/7 to serve their clients in Pasig, Antipolo and Marikina.

The group is also requesting 24/7 access from Pedro Gil to Lambingan Bridge, Shaw Boulevard, all the way to Pasig City.

Trade lanes. Albert Suansing, CTAP director, said the additional “trade lanes” for truck operators are expected to decongest Manila’s ports, adding that the lifting of the truck ban in select areas will not worsen traffic.

“What causes traffic is bad traffic management. If you stop the operation of trucks, the economy would be affected and prices would increase,” Suansing said.

He said the EO should be issued in preparation for the Christmas season. “Our clients are complaining because of the delayed in raw materials,” he said.

DTI’s Domingo said the truck bank and the resulting port congestion will dampen economic growth in the second and third quarters of the year.

He did not provide any figures, as the government has yet to come up with the second-quarter growth figures.

“The good news is—barring any further unfortunate circumstances like another big typhoon—we should be approaching normalization at the ports by August 15,” Domingo said.

Estimates made by Citi show that losses arising from the truck ban could range from P61.2 billion to P320 billion.

Congestion easing. According to PPA, between 8,000 and 12,000 containers

have been stuck at Manila’s ports for more than 60 days.

The port congestion is easing up with yard utilization at Manila International Container Terminal —the country’s top gateway—reduced to 89 percent.

Yard utilization at South Harbor’s empty container depot stood at 89 percent and its laden depot at 88 percent as of Friday last week compared to their all-time high of 110 percent last June.

Operators of both ports estimate that utilization will be reduced by 1 to 2 percent weekly or about 3 to 4 months before reaching the optimum yard utilization level of 70 to 80 percent.

The number of ships waiting at anchorage has also been reduced to 9 from a high of 14 in June.

The government expects the congestion at Manila’s ports to begin easing in August 15 on the back of measures put in place to cope with the Manila’s expanded truck ban To ease congestion, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) has opened its off-dock container depot for empties in Cavite located just at the end of the Cavite Expressway (Cavitex).

The 3.2-hectare facility, operated by private container depot operator IRS Eastern Inc, can house approximately 4,500 empty containers. The facility will handle empties initially of locators from the Cavite-Laguna-Batangas-Rizal-Quezon (Calabarzon) economic corridor and eventually of other shippers from south of Manila. ■ Darwin G. Amojelar /InterAksyon.com / August 5, 2014 / 6:45 PM

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

Exclusive: Palace to order metro LGUs to align traffic ordinances, help ease ports congestion MANILA - In a bid to ease congestion at Manila’s cargo ports, Malacanang is set to order local governments in Metro Manila to harmonize their traffic rules in a way that would allow delivery trucks to ply at any given time in select areas leading to and from these ports of entry.

The directive to local government units (LGUs) is contained in an executive order (EO) that the Palace is drafting and is meant to temporarily lift the Manila City government’s truck ban in select areas.

Titled “Identifying and Designating National Roads as Trade Lanes for Trucks to Improve Movement of Cargoes to and from Manila Ports to Production and Commerce Centers in Metro Manila,” the draft EO directs the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to exercise its power to classify roads and highways as trade lanes, according to a copy obtained by InterAksyon.com “There is a need to identify and designate portions of national roads and part of local roads connected to them as trade lanes for trucks going to and from Manila ports to production and commerce centers in Metropolitan Manila to allow commerce and trade to get back to normalcy,” the draft Palace order read.

“There shall be no restriction in operating hours for trucks passing through these trade lanes going to or from the Port of Manila, to or from production and commerce centers in Metropolitan Manila,” the document further read.

Moreover, “no fees or any form of charges are to be collected by concerned

LGUs against the truckers, shippers, port operators or other entities for the use of the national and local roads herein designated as trade lane,” the document read.

No local ordinance shall negate EO. Under the draft EO, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) is tasked to coordinate with LGUs in the National Capital Region to reconcile their traffic ordinances, policies and plans so that they will not be inconsistent with this order.

“The ordinance, issuance or order by any LGU within the Metropolitan Manila Area shall be modified so that they will not negate the objectives of this Order,” the draft EO read.

The Palace order also directs DPWH, MMDA, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), the Philippine National Police and other national government agencies to assist in ensuring the smooth flow of traffic going in and out of Manila’s ports and passing through the trade lanes to and from the designated centers of production and commerce within Metro Manila.

According to the draft EO, this measure is in response to the port congestion created by the Manila City government’s decision to widen a truck ban.

“The restriction has resulted in the failure of several small and large businesses to comply with their international shipping contracts and commitments, hurting their competitiveness in the global market, and putting at risk all efforts built by the government and the private sector to ensure

the country’s competitiveness,” the draft order read.

To recall, the Manila City government last February expanded a truck ban that has caused cargo to build up at the Manila International Container Port and the Port of Manila. Truckers resisted the ban, staging a one-week blockade that exacerbated the congestion.

They only lifted the blockade after the Manila City government afforded them a window of several hours within which they could travel to and from the ports.

The window however lasted for only three months.

Another concession the city government subsequently gave was to reserve one lane of Roxas Boulevard for delivery trucks, but the sheer volume has led to a long queue along a stretch of the thoroughfare that used to provide a scenic view of Manila Bay. The cargo volume passing through Manila’s ports comprises around 49 percent of the country’s trade. According to state-run Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), between 8,000 and 12,000 containers have been stuck at Manila’s ports for more than 60 days.

“More drastic action”. Sought for comment, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said the lifting of the truck ban in certain areas is one of the options the national government is looking at to address the congestion caused by Manila City’s truck ban.

“But it’s not yet one of the top priorities, but its there. If the problem will not be resolved, we may have to take a more drastic action,” Domingo told InterAksyon.com

A member of the Cabinet Economic Cluster, Domingo said the government expects traffic at Manila’s ports to normalize

by August 15.

Despite these assurances, businesses are complaining of delays in delivery of raw materials, forcing them to slow down operations and even cut jobs. Half of the Philippines’ trade passes through Manila’s ports, so the prospect of job cuts would add to the country’s already high unemployment.

Ruperto Bayucot, president of the Confederation of Truckers Association of the Philippines (CTAP), earlier said the group had proposed additional routes where cargo trucks can pass.

Bayucot said the group is requesting the government that trucks be allowed to pass C5 Road 24/7 to serve their clients in Pasig, Antipolo and Marikina.

The group is also requesting 24/7 access from Pedro Gil to Lambingan Bridge, Shaw Boulevard, all the way to Pasig City.

Before Manila City’s expanded truck ban, truckers followed the restrictions contained in Metro Manila Council Ordinance No. 5 Series of 1994.

Under MMC 5-1994, no trucks are allowed along EDSA during daytime. A

window between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m., however allows trucks to travel from Pasong Tamo in Makati to Balintawak in Quezon City and along Roxas Boulevard.

From 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., and from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. everyday except Sundays and holidays, no cargo truck shall be allowed to travel or pass along: • España St. through Quezon Avenue from Echague St. to the intersection of West and South avenues; • Claro M. Recto Ave. from Legarda St. to Del Pan St.; • Pres. Quirino Avenue from South Superhighway to Roxas Boulevard; • P. Burgos St. through Ayala Boulevard, Legarda St., Magsaysay Boulevard and Aurora Boulevard from Roxas Boulevard to Boston St.; • E. Rodriguez Ave through Bonifacio Ave from Welcome Rotonda to Shoe Ave.; • South Superhighway through Nagtahan Bridge and Alfonso Mendoza St. from EDSA to Dimasalang St.; • Taft Ave. thorugh Quirino Ave from Redemptorist St. to Plaza Lawton to include McArthur, Quezon and Jones Bridge; • Bonifacio Drive through Roxas Blvd. and NAIA Road from Aduana St. to the Ninoy International Airport; • Rizal Avenue through Rizal Avenue Extension from Carriedo to Bonifacio Monument; and Reina Regente St. through J. Abad Santos St. from Reina Regente Bridge to Rizal Ave. Extension. ■ Darwin G. Amojelar / Interksyon.

com / August 8, 2014 / 6:30 PM

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Hurting from port congestion, PH businesses cut jobs MANILA - Philippine businesses are feeling the pinch of the congestion in Manila’s ports as delays in the delivery of raw materials has led to losses, forcing them to temporarily cut jobs.

“We need to slow down our production because of the delay in the delivery of raw materials. Our profitability and competitiveness also affected because of the port congestion,” Gemma M. Perez, general manager of GEMFoods International Inc. said during a forum today.

According to Perez, her company was forced to temporarilyy cut its workforce so it can survive, adding that clients abroad, mostly overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) are complaining because of the delay in shipments.

GEMFoods exports tropical fruit preserves, noodles, bagoong (shrimp paste), frozen fruits and vegetables and native delicacies.

“We already experienced the congestion two years ago, but it became worse when the Manila government issued a truck ban,” Perez said.

Richmond Sy of the Philippine Iron and Steel Traders Association (PISTA) said operating costs went up by as much as 50 percent because of the truck ban.

“We cannot deliver our products. Our clients in Visayas and Mindanao are already complaining,” Sy said, adding that membercompanies are forced to go to the Port of Batangas, which is 5 to 10 percent more expensive.

Oscar S. Melencio, executive director

of Chemical Industries Association of the Philippines, said the industry is losing P3-4 billion in potential revenue because of the port congestion.

Melencio said the industry cut about 5 percent of its 147,000-strong workforce.

The prospect of jobs cuts is worrisome for a country that has a high unemploymen rate.

50 percent increase in port queue. The significant increase in queuing of at least 50 percent in Manila’s ports also has led to higher freight costs, spoilage of perishable products and unnecessary price increases in food and other prime commodities, according to Cement Manufacturers Association of the Philippines (CEMAP) president Ernesto Ordoñez.

Juan Sta. Ana, general manager of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), said the congestion in Manila’s ports is not only because of the the truck ban, but “the economy is booming that resulted in the spike of cargo throughput due mainly to the increase in shipments from the imports and exports sectors.”

“The economy has been growing steadily the past couple of years while the volume of cargo passing through the ports followed suit with an annual increase of about 7 to 10 percent. In Manila, the increase is mid-to high- double digits to support the operations of different companies in the metro,” Sta. Ana said.

In 2013, the Philippines’ gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 7.2 percent, higher from the 6.8 percent in 2012, making it Asia’s second fastest next to China’s 7.7 percent.

GDP is the amount of final goods and services produced in the country, and as such measures economic performance.

From the usual 5,000 a day before the truck ban, delivery of trucks has gone down to 3,500, with 1,500 boxes left inside the port.

“Congestion easing”. Sta. Ana said the congestion however is easing.

“Yard utilization at the Manila International Container Terminal and the Manila South Harbor has been reduced to 89 percent from a high of 110 percent in May and June, while ships waiting at anchorage have also been drastically reduced to only 9 from 14 in May and June,” he said.

At present, inventory at Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) stands at 49,000 containers, both laden and empties with a yard utilization of 90 percent.

The South Harbor has a total inventory of 27,017 containers, both laden and empties with a yard utilization of 88 percent.

MICT and South Harbor have yard capacities of 54,000 and 31,000 ccontainers, respectively. The waiting time for veseels was cut to 5-7 days from a high of 8-12 days during the peak of the congestion.

“The target of the port operators is to reduce 1-2 percent weekly in its yard utilization,” Sta. Ana said, adding that yard utilization should go down to 80 percent in 3-4 months provided there are significant changes by August 15.

Dampen economic growth, push up prices. Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo

Photo from pids.gov.ph

agreed that faster economic growth and the truck ban in Manila worsened the situation at the ports.

“Our growth is much higher than the originally expected. We were doing well before the truck ban. Its really the track ban that caused the stoppage of the port,” Domingo said.

He said the truck ban and the resulting port congestion will dampen economic growth in the second and third quarters of the year.

“There would also be a negative impact on exports and imports,” Domingo said. Estimates made by Citi show that losses arising from the truck ban could range from P61-320 billion.

Domingo said prices however are expected to go down by October once the situation at Manila’s port normalizes.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) earlier reported that inflation rose to 4.9 percent last month, the highest in three years.

“The goal of inclusive growth and more

jobs would be seriously jeopardized if the transportation and logistics bottlenecks are not resolved immediately,” Jesus Arranza, chairman of Federation of Philippine Industries said.

To address the ports congestion, Malacanang is preparing an executive order that would temporarily lift the truck ban and would require local government units in Metro Manila to align their ordinanceswith those of MMDA. So far, the government has undertaken the following measures: • Weekend release of cargo, • Use of the Batangas and Subic ports, • Trucking by appointment, • Reduction of free storage, • Use of off-dock container freight stations and sweepers, and • Transfer of Customs-cleared overstaying cargo and the lease of a 10-hectare lot at the Cultural Center of the Philippines for the purpose. ■ Darwin G. Amojelar / InterAksyon.com / August 8, 2014 / 7:18 PM

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Meralco bills go up after repair of power plants trims supply MANILA – Meralco’s rates are bound to go up this month largely on account of an increase in the cost of power.

In a statement, Manila Electric Co said that its rates will increase by P0.31 per kilowatt-hour in August, translating to a P62 hike in the power bills of customers with a 200 kilowatt-hour consumption.

“An increase in generation charge and higher universal charge, lifeline subsidy and taxes drove overall upward adjustment,” it said, referring to the line items in customers’ power bills.

Generation charge for August 2014 went up by P0.23 per kilowatt-hour, from P5.41 per kilowatt-hour to P5.64 per kilowatt-hour.

Largely contributing to this were the adjustments in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) prices, which accounted for around P0.17 per kilowatt-hour; and in the cost of supply from Power Supply Agreements (PSA), which contributed P0.06 per kilowatt-hour to the rate hike.

WESM is the electricity market where Meralco purchases supply not covered by its bilateral contracts. The PSAs, on the other hand, are Meralco’s new supply contracts with owners of privatized government plants.

The increase in the cost of power from the suppliers was driven by the shortfall in supply due to forced and scheduled outages of various plants, aggravated by the impact of Typhoon ‘Glenda’.

For the July supply month, a number of power plant units pushed through with their scheduled outages, including Pagbilao 1, and Ilijan 1 & 2. Further depleting supply of power were 20 new forced outages of several power plant units of various durations during the month (due to Typhoon ‘Glenda’ or otherwise) such as Sta. Rita Units 10, 20 & 30, Calaca 1 & 2, GN Power 1 & 2, Sual 1 & 2, Ilijan 1 & 2, Pagbilao 1 & 2, Masinloc 1 & 2, San Lorenzo Units 50 & 60, Therma Mobile 2 & 4, and Quezon

Power, in addition to the continuing forced outage of Sta. Rita 40.

In terms of share to Meralco’s total power requirements for the July supply month, PSAs, independent power producers (IPP), and WESM contributed 53 percent, 40 percent, and 7 percent, respectively.

Likewise, the universal charge increased

by P0.04 per kilowatt-hour, as collection for government’s unsettled obligations to third party power providers.

Taxes and subsidies also registered increases of P0.02 and P0.03 per kilowatthour, respectively.

Meralco’s distribution charge remained unchanged, while the transmission charge went down by P0.01 per kilowatt-hour, due to the lower ancillary charges.

“Meralco reiterates that it does not earn from the pass-through charges, such as generation and transmission, among other bill components. Payment for the generation charge goes to the

power suppliers such as the plants selling to Meralco through the WESM and under the PSAs and IPPs. Payment for the transmission charge, meanwhile, goes to the National Grid Corp of the Philippines.

Of the total bill, only the distribution, supply,

and metering charges accrue to Meralco,” Meralco said.

InterAksyon.com is the online news portal of TV5, which like Meralco is chaired

by Manuel V. Pangilinan. ■ Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo / InterAksyon.com / August 8, 2014 / 2:19 PM

Ranger pickup drives Ford Philippines’ sales in July Price of rice climbs despite NFA import plan MANILA - Ford Philippines notched a new record in monthly sales on the back of strong demand for its Ranger pickup.

In a statement, the local distributor of Ford Motor Co said July sales climbed 35 percent to 1,723 units from a year ago’s 1,273. Last month’s sales brought the 7-month tally to 10,587 units, a 41 percent increase from last year’s 7,534.

The year-to-date performance mirrors sales growth of 41 percent for the entire 2013 when the company sold 13,286 units.

The American carmaker said last month’s performance owed to the Ranger, sales of which surged 45 percent to 650 units from last year’s 448.

“The popularity of the Ranger across all customers in this segment is really helping to drive its success. Its class-leading features and versatility make it an aspirational vehicle, whether it’s for personal use, commercial needs, or sometimes both,”

said Ford Philippines managing director Kay Hart.

“Our July success is a continuation of an exceptional year for Ford in the Philippines, and demonstrates that Ford is going further to deliver a line-up of global vehicles that Filipinos continue to appreciate and enjoy,” Hart said.

The carmaker plans to have 37 dealerships across the Philippines by yearend. In the coming months, the company is opening showrooms in Alabang, Baguio and Zamboanga. ■ Chelsea

Cruz / InterAksyon.com / August 8, 2014 / 5:45 PM

MANILA - Despite government moves to arrest its increase, the price of rice has continued to climb, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

In its latest price monitoring, the PSABureau of Agricultural Statistics said the wholesale price of well-milled rice averaged P41.24 a kilo during the week ending July 29, a 0.10 percent increase from the previous week and a 17.19 percent increment from a year ago.

Retail prices also averaged higher at P43.75 a kilo last week, up 0.16 percent weekon-week and by 18.21 percent year-on-year.

Regular milled rice also averaged higher at P38.47 a kilo on wholesale, up 0.03 percent from the previous week and by 19.88 percent from a year ago.

Retail prices averaged P40.34 a kilo, likewise higher by 0.02 percent from the previous week and by 18.92 percent a year ago.

The farmgate price of palay also costs 0.56 percent higher week-on-week at P21.53 a kilo, and by 22.54 percent yearon-year.

The unabated rise in prices was in spite of government moves to temper their increase. These include the accelerated distribution of stocks from warehouses of the National Food Authority (NFA) and a plan to jack up imports to close to 1.3 million metric tons this year.

Presidential Assistant for Food Security Francis Pangilinan earlier ordered the NFA to hike releases to 10,000 metric tons from the initial 6,000 a day. The increase has depleted the NFA’s inventory to 15 days, which is below the 30-day stock required for lean months.

Also last month, the NFA Council decided to import 500,000 metric tons, and gave standby authority to procure an additional 500,000 if needed.

The continued increase in the price of rice was among the reasons behind the near 3-year high inflation registered in July, triggering calls from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for government measures to address weather-induced supply bottlenecks. ■ Orti Despuez / InterAksyon.com / August 6, 2014 / 5:53 AM

Philippines Inc grapples withinlabor mobility ahead of Asean integration Even the country’s biggest mall providing them that opportunity. Whoever that market,” JG Summit senior vice MANILA – Even before labor mobility under the auspices of Asean economic integration begins, Philippine companies are recognizing the value of a skilled talent pool—and for some firms, the hard way.

During a forum Tuesday organized by the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines and ING, top executives of some of the biggest firms in the country shared their brush with the brave new world of human capital flight.

Take the case of JG Summit Holdings Inc. It may be one of the Philippines’ biggest success stories when it comes to expanding overseas, but a group of Filipinos ironically has posed a major stumbling block to the Gokongwei-led conglomerate’s ambition of dominating one of Southeast Asia’s biggest markets.

“One of our toughest competitors in Indonesia is an Indonesian company run

by Filipinos. They are really beating us up

president Bach Johann Sebastian said, but declined to name the rival.

When the Asean Economic Community enters into force later next year, membernations are expected to bring down barriers to labor mobility, ideally allowing certain skill sets to seek jobs across borders.

For Jollibee Foods Corp (JFC) chief financial officer Ysmael Baysa, the Philippine services sector stands to benefit the most from the economic integration of Southeast Asia, thanks to the free movement of labor.

But with it comes the threat of losing the country’s best and brightest managers to its neighbors.

“In the next five years, the wages of these people are going to rise because of their demand not just in the Philippines but outside of the Philippines. That’s something to look forward to for our managers and graduates,” Baysa said.

Many Asean corporate, especially in the field of financial services, stock brokering, manufacturing, marketing and advertising, already have Filipinos in leadership positions, JG Summit’s Sebastian said.

developer-operator is not immune to the human resource challenges of regional expansion.

SM Prime Holdings Inc relies heavily on local talent for its retail, leasing and commercial businesses. Aware of the threats presented by regional firms, the Henry Sy-led firm has developed a structure that will reward their best-performing managers so they will not be tempted to work for other firms.

“We have to give them the opportunities so they can remain with us and that they will see the opportunities of them going outside because of this integration,” SM Prime chief financial officer Jeffrey Lim said.

When SM Prime entered China five years ago, one of the major challenges was to find someone who will manage its malls.

“We were having yearly turnover because once they [Chinese nationals] are trained, they are offered twice the salary,” Lim said.

“We have a lot of managers in the Philippines. [What we did was] train these managers, bring them to China, therefore

does well in managing their malls here will be assigned to manage the shopping centers in China,” he said.

At present, SM Prime has five malls in China, each run by 2 Filipino managers.

“This will happen again if we have the opportunity to invest in other Asean countries. Because of this integration, effectively, we are able to offer more to our managers for them to improve their pay scale,” Lim said.

Like SM, it will be easier for Jollibee to send its people in Manila overseas to facilitate the operation of its stores in Asean and the training of the foreign nationals there and vice versa.

“We have conducted business in several parts of the world” - China, Vietnam, Hong Kong and USA - but I can say the Filipino service really, especially the skilled labor, has a certain attitude that gives them a lot of flexibility and open-mindedness and these give them the ability to cope with changes and to learn very fast. I’ve seen that,” Baysa said. ■ Krista Angela M. Montealegre / InterAksyon. com / August 7, 2014 / 10:47 AM

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Benefit concert for Yolanda victims in Washington raises P15M

A star-studded benefit concert for victims of super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) last June 15 raised more than P15 million, the Philippine Embassy in Washington said over the weekend.

Proceeds of the benefit concert, dubbed “After the Storm,” will now go to rebuilding projects in Yolanda-affected areas, the embassy said in a news release Saturday (PHL time).

“The concert succeeded in drawing attention to rebuilding needs and served as a thank-you to the many people and organizations that have donated time and resources to aid victims of the most powerful storm ever to make landfall,” said Philippine Ambassador Jose Cuisia Jr., who headed the project along with wife Maria Victoria.

He added the proceeds “exceeded projections and are being provided for recovery efforts.”

Organized by the Philippine Embassy, the

US-Philippines Society and the Philippine Humanitarian Coalition, the concert netted more than $350,000.

It attracted more than 2,000 patrons who were treated to an evening of show tunes, pop, jazz, ballet, classical music and opera.

Top Filipino and American talents led

by Lea Salonga, Lou Diamond Phillips, apl. de.ap, and Darren Criss performed at the event.

Project proposals. US-Philippines Society president Ambassador John Maisto said project proposals were solicited from partner relief organizations with on-theground operations in the Philippines.

He said criteria included assurance that: • all funds provided would be well managed and accounted for • funds be targeted on priority projects with sustainable impact in areas of health, education, livelihood, and shelter • reach communities throughout the

geographically diverse areas struck by the typhoon Hank Henridckson, Executive Director of the US-Philippines Society, said project proposals from four relief and recovery organizations have been approved for funding. These are: • The Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation (PDRF) for managing an elementary school rebuilding and feeding program in Tacloban and repairing a rural health unit in Julita, Leyte.

• The Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF) for constructing two to three maternal health facilities in Western and Eastern Samar.

• The International Relief and Development (IRD) for supporting livelihood assistance, including training of 150 out-ofschool youth in salvaging coco lumber for shelter in the western Visayas.

• Habitat for Humanity for providing 50 shelter repair kits for damaged housing in the eastern Visayas.

Dr. Abraham Rasul and Victoria Navarro, co-chairs of the Philippine Humanitarian Coalition said their group is reviewing project proposals from members and

concert benefactors.

It expects to have recommendations ready for consideration by August 30. ■ Joel Locsin / LBG, GMA News / August 9, 2014 / 3:12 PM

2nd overseas voter registration center opens in Manila 14-year-old aspiring architect to represent PHL in Korea art competition OVERSEAS Filipino workers about to leave for their destinations may want to register for the 2016 elections before they leave, as a new overseas voter registration center has been opened in Manila.

The new overseas voter registration center (OVRC) is the second in the country and was opened Friday, Aug. 1, at the Commission on Filipinos Overseas at 1345 President Quirino Avenue in Paco, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Monday. “(OFWs), immigrants, seafarers and students who are about to leave for abroad and who are not yet registered as overseas voters may now register at this newly launched facility,” the DFA said.

Attending the inauguration of the new facility were CFO chairperson Imelda Nicolas, Commission on Elections Commissioner Lucenito Tagle, and DFA Overseas Voting Secretariat head Rafael Seguis led the opening ceremony.

Last June, the DFA opened the first OVRC at the Office of Consular Affairs along Macapagal Avenue at ASEANA Business Park in Parañaque City.

“Overseas voter registrants at this OVRC who need to renew their passports no longer have to set an appointment to apply for renewal as their Overseas Voter Registration stub will allow them access to

the Passport Division’s Courtesy Lane,” it said.

The DFA said the country’s foreign service posts processed 20,039 new OVR applications last June, a 7.5-percent increase over the 18,631 in May. “At the current pace of registration, we could have an overseas voter stock of over two million for the 2016 presidential elections. Attaining this goal can definitely be a game changer,” Seguis said.

The DFA-Overseas Voting Service and Comelec are aiming to have one million new overseas Filipino voters for the registration period covering May 6, 2014 until October 31, 2015.

Eligible to vote in 2016 from abroad are: • Filipino citizens who expect to be abroad during the 30-day (April 9 to May 9, 2016) overseas voting period for the 2016 elections • Filipinos at least 18 years old by May 9, 2016, and not otherwise disqualified by law They can register at Philippine foreign service posts including the Manila Economic and Cultural Offices (MECO), OCA at ASEANA Business Park, and at other Comelec-approved registration centers.

A list of registration centers can be viewed online at www.dfa-oavs.gov.ph or www.comelec.gov.ph. ■ Joel Locsin / LBG, GMA News / August 9, 2014 / 2:13 PM

NYPD releases sketch of Fil-Am limo driver’s attacker THE New York Police Department has released a sketch of a suspect in the fatal attack of Robert Martires in Woodside, Queens last June.

Martires, 56, a limo driver and father of two grown children, was reportedly punched in the face by an unknown man as he was leaving a restaurant on the corner of 69th Street and Roosevelt Avenue just after midnight of June 21.

The NYPD described it as an unprovoked, random attack, but ruled out bias-motivated crime.

Reports said police believe the attack stemmed from a dispute over the World Cup and was not a hate crime, as initially thought.

Martires reportedly fell down and hit his head on the pavement.

He was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital

Center, where he never regained consciousness until he succumbed to his head injury on June 24.

The suspect is described in the latest account as a Hispanic male about 30 years old, standing 5 feet 6 to 5 feet 7 inches tall, with facial hair.

He was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, blue jeans and a dark baseball cap.

The police sketch showed the suspect with a Chicago White Sox cap, as his image was caught on a security camera.

Martires’ friend Abet Manuel told WABC “Eyewitness News,” the attacker asked first if Martires was Filipino.

“Because he’s wearing a shirt you know, Manny Pacquiao jersey, and the man asked, ‘you Filipino?’ Pop! that’s it,” Manuel said.

Anyone with information is asked to call

Sketch of suspect in the June 21 fatal attack of Robert Martires.

the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800577-TIPS. The public can also submit their tips to the Crime Stoppers website for texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. ■ Filipino Reporter / August 8, 2014 / 12:49 PM

AT 14, Grade 8 student Wika Nadera is set to represent the Philippines at the 17th Asian Games in Incheon, Korea, in September after winning the qualifiers held by the Philippine Olympic CommitteePhilippine Sports Commission (POC-PSC) in July.

A student at the Philippine High School for the Arts, Nadera’s watercolor piece garnered 92 percent approval from judges, allowing his piece to become the Philippines’ representative for the art leg of the Asian Games.

But Nadera’s fortune could’ve easily turned out different, as he meant to paint his piece using a different medium.

“I’m more used to watercolors [but] acrylic suits [the] solid colors that I used for the design. But because I didn’t bring with me the acrylic paint, I just used watercolor,” Nadera told GMA News Online.

Nadera believes that the competition, held from July 7 to 18, was influential in promoting the values of Asian intercultural relations among its 43 participants. He hopes that the games themselves would extend this to other Asian youth.

“I noticed that we, adolescents, know less about about Asia compared to how much we know about western culture. I think we need to strengthen these Asian relations and knowledge among the youth,” he said.

A former student of Fernando Seña in painting and Jay Javier in photography, the high school student views painting as a hobby and plans on taking architecture in the future.

However, he said a gallery featuring his works is part of his plans.

PSC Chairman at Asian Games Chef de Mission Richie Garcia said in a statement that the Incheon Asian Games Organizing Committee (IAGOC) will asses Nadera’s work, along with official entries from other participating Asian countries, during the grand finale from September 19 to October 4.

“The objective of the project is for the Asia’s youth to display their knowledge and personal view on the Asian Games through artworks. The project also envisioned the development of intercultural relations among the Asian countries,” said Garcia. ■ Rie Takumi / KBK, GMA News / August 6, 2014 / 2:26 PM

Deaf mute beauty Princess Alanis Pura to represent PHL in pageant in Taiwan PRINCESS Alanis Pura, a deaf mute beauty from Pasay City and Pampanga, whose life story was featured in GMA Network’s Magpakailanman on September 14, 2013, was crowned “Queen of the Philippines” in Subic Bay, Zambales.

GMA News’ evening newscasts reported on Wednesday that Pura will be the country’s representative at the Face of Beauty International contest in Taiwan in November.

To prepare for the task, Pura will undergo further training in modeling, fashion, and make-up.

Pura said winning one of the pageant’s crowns was a shock and a delight as the win was unexpected.

With her newfound fame, she plans on creating a foundation meant to empower fellow deaf-mutes and aid them in education, especially those in poverty.

She hopes that her win inspires them to never lose hope, and encouraged them to seek God to help them reach their dreams.

Only on its third year, Face of Beauty

International gathers over 60 women from different continents to share their “knowledge, experience, and developed skills with many young women who struggle to find their beauty and potential within themselves around the world.”

“With no height or weight restrictions to the Face of Beauty International competition, we believe all young women are perfect and beautifully unique in their own way. Our contestants and winners will continue to be Faces of Beauty worldwide and encourage young women to find their own beauty/confidence to help them strive for the best in their lives,” the beauty pageant organizers said. ■ Rie Takumi / ELR/KG,

GMA News / August 6, 2014 / 11:33 PM

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DFA: Stranded Pinoys in Libya may flee through Egypt ‘soon’

Forty-two overseas Filipino workers employed by a Korean company in Libya arrive at the NAIA Terminal 1 on Wednesday, August 6, after their repatriation from the strife-torn African nation.

Photo by Ariel Fernandez.

IN a move that is likely to fast-track the evacuation of hundreds of workers still stranded in Libya, Filipino evacuees can soon exit through the troubled North African state’s border with Egypt, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Friday.

Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said this was the information gathered by Philippine officials in Libya but when asked when Filipinos in Libya could exit through , the official could only say it was “expected soon.”

“The border with Egypt will re-open soon but the date has not been announced yet,” Jose told a press briefing on Friday.

Access to the Egyptian border would increase to three the Philippine

government’s exit routes for Filipinos fleeing the conflict in Libya, which has been wracked by several months of violence and has forced Manila to impose a total travel ban and an evacuation of all its workers.

Currently, evacuation by land through the Libya-Tunisia border and by sea through a chartered vessel expected to arrive from Malta on Aug. 10, are so far the only two viable exit options put in place by the Philippine government.

More than 1,000 out of the 12,000 Filipino workers in Libya have signified their intention to leave either by land or by sea, Jose said.

Jose said he wished that those who have registered for evacuation would show

up on the designated departure dates.

There used to be 13,000 Filipinos in Libya before the second civil war erupted middle of this year.

Jose admitted that majority of the Filipinos were reluctant to leave due to a lack of job opportunities in the Philippines.

He also said that Filipino healthcare workers, which comprise 60 percent of Libya’s medical workforce, were being convinced by their employers to stay in exchange for incentives.

“If they all leave it will paralyze the medical services in Libya,” Jose said. “I would imagine (there’s) monetary incentive involved.” ■ Michaela Del Callar / NB, GMA News /

August 8, 2014 / 4:29 PM

Fil-Am teen pleads guilty in daredevil WTC climb THE Filipino-American thrill-seeking teenager who made it to the top of One World Trade Center pleaded guilty Wednesday to misdemeanor in a deal that will keep the stunt off his record.

Justin Alexander Casquejo, 16, of Weehawken, N.J., pleaded as a youthful offender in Midtown Criminal Court and will serve 23 days of community service, some of which he has already completed.

He appeared in court with his mother and lawyer.

He was arrested after his stunt on

March 16, during which police say he managed to squeeze through a 1-foot by 1-foot hole in the fence that surrounds the property and made it past security on his way to the 1,776 foot tall spire.

He allegedly broke into the building around 4 a.m. with no identification and apparently dressed like a construction worker.

The teen, who apparently had little trouble getting past security, was stopped by another construction worker who spotted the red light on his GoPro camera

as he attempted to leave the building, and police were called.

“We take security and these types of infractions extremely seriously and will prosecute violators,” Port Authority Chief Joseph Dunne said.

“We continue to reassess our security posture at the site and are constantly working to make this site as secure as possible.”

Casquejo was detained by Port Authority police officers responding to a report of a unauthorized person on the site.

He was in possession of a camera and a cell phone and had apparently taken pictures from the top of the building, where he stayed for about two hours.

Port Authority officials said the breach and security at the site are all under investigation.

Casquejo released an apology on his Twitter feed, saying, “I seriously apologize to anyone who may have been insulted or felt disrespected by my actions. It was not my intention to do so.”

He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor BASE jumping.

BASE stands for building, antenna, span (bridge) and earth (cliff). ■ Filipino Reporter / August 7, 2014 / 12:24 PM

Malaysia implements Ebola screening for arrivals from PHL, US, UK PASSENGERS arriving in Malaysia from the Philippines, United States and United Kingdom may have to undergo screening for symptoms of the Ebola virus, a Malaysian news site reported Wednesday.

Malaysian health director-general Datuk Seri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah cited reports that five of 15 Filipinos who arrived from Sierra Leone had been placed under observation, Malaysia’s The Star Online reported.

Noor Hisham added the ministry has “activated preparatory measures at major entry points and health institutions.”

Deputy Health director-general for public health Datuk Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman added his office is working with the Immigration Department to monitor those coming from Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, or the countries with the most number of Ebola cases.

He said suspected cases arriving at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport would be tested, and those with symptoms would be quarantined and sent to a hospital.

Philippine government agencies including the health, foreign and labor departments are working to prevent the spread of the Ebola virus.

An article on the Official Gazette said that as of July 31, the number of cases in the four West African countries had reached 1,323, including 729 deaths.

Data from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) show that there are about 880 Filipinos living in Guinea, 1,979 in Sierra

Leone and 632 in Liberia, including the 148 Filipinos UN Peacekeeping Force.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) said that in their records, there are 72 in Guinea, 398 in Sierra Leone and 202 Filipino workers in Liberia.

“We are still Ebola-free. But we are on our toes. We are closely monitoring all possible ports of entry,” said Health Secretary Enrique Ona. ■ Joel Locsin / KBK, GMA News / August 7, 2014

DOLE: No MERS-CoV cases among OFWs in 2nd quarter NO overseas Filipino worker was infected with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) at least in the second quarter of 2014, the Department of Labor and Employment said Wednesday.

DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said this was the gist of reports from the 33 Philippine Overseas Labor Offices worldwide, compiled by the International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB).

In a statement, Baldoz said the ILAB report “says no OFW deployed overseas has been afflicted with the viral respiratory illness, MERS-CoV.” The report, prepared by ILAB director Saul de Vries, said the 33 POLOs recorded 26,621 OFWs returning to the country from April to June, and none was afflicted with MERS-CoV. Earlier this year, an OFW from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and another one from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates had died after being afflicted with the disease.

Coordination. Baldoz credited the coordination by the DOLE to protect OFWs from MERS-CoV. She said the DOLE worked with the Department of Health and the Bureau of Immigration to trace OFW passengers of Etihad Flight 0424, which arrived in Manila from Abu Dhabi.

That flight had been reported to have an OFW afflicted with the virus.

“Through inter-agency collaboration, 404 of the 414 passengers were located and tested. Everyone showed no trace of the deadly virus,” Baldoz said.

As a preventive measure, the DOLE adopted a daily monitoring system where all POLOs were to submit information on returning OFWs to the Philippines and on overseas employment certificates (OECs) issued at the posts since March 2014.

It also sent advisories on precautionary measures on how to prevent the spread of the virus. ■ Joel Locsin / KBK, GMA News / August

6, 2014 / 4:00 PM

Pinay interior designer bucks ankle injury to win beauty tilt in Malaysia A Filipina interior designer bucked an ankle injury to top a region-wide beauty pageant held in Kuala Lumpur last Sunday, a Malaysian news site reported Thursday.

Despite the injury she suffered a few days earlier, Frances Cham, 26, impressed judges to bag the Miss Chinese Cosmos Southeast Asia 2014, Malaysia’s The Star Online reported.

Cham also won prizes worth RM100,183 and the Miss Beautiful Smile title.

With her feat, she will represent the Southeast Asian region at the Miss Chinese Cosmos International World Final 2014, organized by Phoenix Satellite Television Company Ltd., later this year.

The report said Cham impressed judges with her statement that “Life is a continuous learning process, therefore education is life

itself and very important.”

A post on an online discussion board said Cham, despite the pain from the sprained ankle, walked on the runway in heels.

Malaysian Eugenee Ooi was the runnerup while Indonesian Irma Janita was the second runner-up.

“Outer beauty does not last forever but inner beauty does. People say do not judge a book by its cover and I agree because the content makes it memorable,” said Carrie Lee Sze Kei, who had since founded the White Fairy Sdn Bhd events company and owned the regional franchise for the pageant.

The report said this year’s pageant helped raise funds for the Jahai Orang Asli in the Belum rainforest. ■ Joel Locsin / KBK, GMA

News / August 7, 2014 / 3:11 PM

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

IMMIGRATION / OFNEWS

www.hello-philippines.com

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Kids choir from Bohol wins in China THE world-renowned Loboc Children’s Choir (LCC) once again made the country proud when it won 2nd place under the Youth Choir category at the recently concluded 12th China International Chorus Festival (ICF).

The LCC is a school-based choir composed of students from the Loboc Central Elementary School in Loboc, Bohol, aged nine to 13 years old. Since its founding in 1980, the choir has performed locally and overseas, and has taken home national and international awards over the years.

In 2013, LCC gave a moving rendition of “The Prayer” in front of the 16th Century Loboc Church after a 7.2-magnitude

earthquake destroyed the historic monument.

The choir also held a charity concert in Makati last November to raise funds for the repair of the centuries-old churches in Bohol that were damaged and destroyed by the earthquake.

The 12th ICF, held from July 29 to August 4 in Beijing, was held together with the IFCM World Youth Choral Education Conference, which included four main parts namely forum/conference, competition/concert, education/exchange and public service activities.

In a news release, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the LCC performed at the

opening concert on July 29 at the Great Hall of the People, along with choirs from China, Mexico, Romania, Hungary, Lithuania, United States, Egypt, Portugal, South Africa, Ukraine and Nigeria.

The LCC also performed in a solo concert on August 1, 2014 at the National Library Arts Centre to general acclaim and standing ovation.

The 12th ICF and IFCM World Youth Choral Education Conference was organized by the International Federation of Choral Music (IFCM) together with the Chinese Ministry of Culture and the China Arts and Entertainment Group. ■ KBK, GMA

and sore throat.

“Workers who have been treated of the EVD symptoms shall seek medical clearance from the local health authorities of the country of employment prior to their departure for the Philippines,” he said.

Repatriation. If the alert levels in the Ebola-affected countries reaches “3” (Voluntary Repatriation), employers or agencies shall ensure the immediate

repatriation of their workers who wish to be repatriated, Cacdac said.

But if the alert level is raised to “4” (Mandatory Repatriation), employers/ agencies shall ensure the immediate repatriation of their workers, “with all the workers administered Ebola Virus Test, at no expense to the workers, prior to their departure for the Philippines,” he added. ■

New / August 7, 2014 8:29 PM

POEA orders recruiters to submit updates on OFWs in Ebola-hit countries

RECRUITMENT agencies that deployed land-based overseas Filipino workers to countries affected by the Ebola virus have been required to submit regular updates on the OFWs’ status.

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration said this covers recruiters that sent OFWs to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

“Using (an) OFW Monitoring Form, all recruitment agencies which have deployed land-based workers to the said countries shall regularly submit to this Administration the following reports,” POEA administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said in Memorandum Circular 6, dated Aug. 6.

He said they are to submit “on a weekly basis or immediately” a status report on the condition or situtation of the deployed workers on-site, when any worker manifests

Ebola virus disease symptoms.

They are also to submit reports on vacationing or returning workers “at least one week prior to their return to the Philippines.”

Cacdac said the agencies are also to “closely monitor the condition of their deployed workers and coordinate with their respective employers on matters affecting the welfare and employment status of the workers due to the threats of the Ebola Virus Disease.”

Agency reports will be emailed to: • Department of Health (DOH): Dr. Lyndon Lee Suy Tel. No.: 6517800 loc 2354 Email: emerging.doh@gmail.com • Department of Foreign Affairs: Office of Middle East and African Affairs (OMEAA): Iris Vanessa Caranzo Tel. No.: 8343016

Email: iris.caranzo@dfa.gov.ph • Department of Foreign Affairs: Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA): Director Lorenzo Jungco Tel. No. 8344884 Email: lorenzo.jungco@dfa.gov.ph • POEA Pre-Employment Services Office: Director Nini Lanto Tel. No. 7221150 Email: pso_poea@yahoo.com or marketing_poea@yahoo.com.ph • Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA): Hector Cruz Email – hector-cruzjr@yahoo.com Medical testing, clearance. Cacdac said employers should ensure that medical testing and treatment will be administered to their workers at the first signs of EVD symptoms, which include fever, headache, intense weakness, joint and muscle pains

Joel Locsin / KBK, GMA News / August 8, 2014 / 1:21 PM

Woman believed to be Pinay strips naked in HK A woman believed to be Filipina recently caused a commotion at a Mongkok Mass Transit Railway (MTR) station in Hong Kong after she stripped to her underwear for still unknown reasons.

The alleged Filipina, identified as “Liza,” blocked an ATM and prevented people from using it, according to a report on Shanghaiist, translating from the Apple Daily.

A video of the incident was posted on Apple Daily. It showed the topless woman strolling back and forth in front of a row of

ATMs. At one point, she spread her arms and screamed something before backpedalling into an ATM user. She then pushed the user away and refused to let him retrieve his card, which was stuck in the machine.

Officials eventually surrounded the woman and tried to persuade her into donning a jacket. They succeeded in asking her to cover up with a towel before bringing her in for a medical examination.

The Filipina’s stunt quickly became viral, with Vietnamese news site Dat Viet picking

up the Shanghaiist news report.

Her antics were even used in a political smear campaign in Indonesia. According to a report on Merdeka, a netizen uploaded pictures of the woman on Facebook and made it out as a form of protest against President-elect Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

The pictures incited a torrent of comments before it was revealed that they had nothing to do with the presidential elections in Indonesia. ■ Rie Takumi / KBK, GMA News / August 12, 2014 / 6:44 PM

Construction worker offered work in NZ after returning lost wallet Pinoy teachers file complaint vs. defunct Saudi-based school –report

A simple act of kindness has opened an opportunity for a Filipino construction worker to give his family a better life.

Days after Adones Datalayta’s story was featured on “24 Oras,” a New Zealandbased company, Farrell Group Ltd., has expressed interest in hiring him.

“Kala ko ‘di aabot sa ganito,” Datalayta, who made the news after returning a lost wallet he found containing P20,000, said in a report on “24 Oras” on Tuesday.

However, his lack of proper documentation such as a birth certificate and passport is a major stumbling block to him becoming an overseas Filipino worker.

His daily wage of P650 would also pose a challenge in gathering enough funds for the paperwork, as taking a day off could seriously dent his family’s budget.

“Natatakot ako. Siyempre, mag-absent lang ako ng isang araw, apektado yung pang-gastos sa pamilya ko,” he said.

Ivan Presquito, a Filipino finance & process manager with Farrell, told “24 Oras”

via Skype that people with Datalayta’s level of honesty are “quite hard to find,” adding Datalayta should serve as “an inspiration to do good.”

Presquito’s Kiwi partner said of Datalayta, “This guy’s done a good thing, [and] I think a good thing should come back to him.”

“Our experiences with Filipinos have been very, very good,” he added.

Farrell Group Ltd. accepted the construction worker after an interview over Skype, and has agreed to shoulder flight costs to bring him to New Zealand.

If Datalayta manages to get there, he may earn up to P100,000 a month, excluding allowances and benefits, the “24 Oras” report said. ■ Rie Takumi / KBK, GMA News

/ August 12, 2014 / 8:37 PM

EIGHT Filipino teachers in Saudi Arabia are seeking help from Philippine and Saudi labor officials there to collect dues from a now-defunct school.

The eight have filed complaints with the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Riyadh and Saudi Ministry of Labor, Arab News reported Tuesday.

But the teachers are nowhere to be found since lodging the complaint over unpaid salaries, Arab News quoted Labor Attaché Resty dela Fuente as saying.

“They disappeared after filing the complaint and we don’t know where they are,” Dela Fuente said.

The Arab News report did not name the defunct school.

The Arab News report also said the teachers did not stay at the Bahay Kalinga, a temporary shelter for female overseas Filipino workers. Some 219 female OFWs are staying there.

Meanwhile, one parent said the school had some 140 students when classes reopened but they have not been refunded.

“Some of the teachers hadn’t been paid for two to three months,” said the parent.

The parent said about 40 students transferred to a nearby school, while the rest re-enrolled in other schools, mostly in Sulaymaniyah in Riyadh. ■ Joel Locsin / KBK, GMA News / August 12, 2014 / 9:01 PM

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IMMIGRATION / OFNEWS

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

PHL seeks Libyan Red Crescent protection in transporting Pinoy evacuees out of Libya THE Philippines has sought the assistance of the Libyan Red Crescent in providing security to hundreds of Filipino evacuees who will be ferried out of strifetorn Libya, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday.

The Libyan Red Crescent is the national society of Libya. It works closely with the International Committee of the Red Cross to assist people wounded and displaced by the fighting.

“To make sure that road travel will be safe, Red Crescent will coordinate with local authorities, including local militias, for the safe passage of overseas Filipino workers to the port of Benghzi and Misrata,” Foreign Affairs spokesperson Charles Jose told a press briefing.

Jose said that as of 8 p.m. Tuesday, 436 Filipinos have registered for evacuation by sea in Benghazi and surrounding areas and 602 from Misrata and nearby areas.

Another 400 Filipino employees from Hyundai are also expected to leave within the week, but their repatriation costs will be shouldered by their employer, he added.

In addition to this, 599 in Tripoli have registered for evacuation, but Jose said they

will be moved out by land since the border with Tunisia has already been re-opened.

When added, the number of Filipinos expected out of Libya within the week stands at 2,037.

But Jose said the government hopes all those who signed up for the governmentorganized evacuation will board the ship hired by the Philippine government that is bound for Malta or join the land travel out of Tripoli to Tunisia.

Before the second Libyan civil war, there were around 13,000 Filipino workers scattered across the North African state.

Filipinos came home in trickles over the past several weeks as many prefer to stay in Libya despite the security risks, citing lack of jobs in the Philippines. A Filipino construction worker was beheaded by militants while a Filipina nurse was gangraped last month.

Since Manila called for emergency evacuation of workers last month due to the prevailing lawlessness and violence, at least 1,000 workers have returned to the country.

Clearances. Meanwhile, Jose said the Philippine government has also asked the

Libyan Red Crescent’s help in obtaining port, customs and immigration clearances for the Filipinos.

Their help was also sought for transportation and accommodation for Filipinos in Benghazi and surrounding areas who will proceed to the port.

Filipinos need to undertake land travel on their way to the ports in Banghazi and Misrata, where a 1,500-seater ship hired by the Philippine government would await them and take them to Malta.

From Malta, two Philippine Airlines aircraft also charted by the government will be on stand by to fly them back to Manila.

Jose said the national carrier has agreed to bring down the airfare cost to $1400 per person.

Philippine Rapid Response Teams, Jose added, have been dispatched to Misrata and Benghazi to lead the evacuation operation of the government.

The command center in Misrata, Jose said, is at the Red Crescent office, while the residence of embassy coordinator Doris Batad located inside the children’s hospital will be the convergence base in Benghazi.

These areas will also serve as

Marivel Espares (center), the widow of Antonio Espares, the OFW reportedly beheaded by militants in Libya, appeals to officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, August 5, for assistance in repatriating the remains of her husband. Photo by Roy Lozano.

registration areas for Filipinos who will join the evacuation by sea.

Jose said the ship is expected to arrive in the early hours of Aug. 10 and will dock in Benghazi between 9 and 10 a.m. After that, the vessel will sail for Misrata and is expected to dock on Aug. 11 between 9 and

10 a.m. Boarding time for each port will take approximately five hours.

The ship is expected to reach Malta on Aug. 12, he said.

“After docking, they will be transported to the airport,” Jose said. ■ Michaela Del Callar / RSJ/KG, GMA News / August 6, 2014 / 3:06 PM

Number of Pinoys home from Libya now 1,347 –DFA

AT least 150 more overseas Filipino workers arrived home in two batches from strife-torn Libya on Friday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said.

The DFA said the first batch of 60 OFWs arrived at 7:10 a.m. aboard an Emirates EK-336 flight while the second batch of 90 OFWs arrived at 4:15 p.m aboard Qatar Airways QR-926.

Upon arrival, they were briefed and assisted by DFA and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) representatives.

In a statement posted on the Official

Gazette website, the DFA said the last two batches brought to 1,347 the number of Filipinos repatriated from Libya so far.

There used to be 13,000 Filipinos in Libya before the second civil war erupted middle of this year, prompting the DFA to raise the crisis alert level there to “4,” which means repatriation has become mandatory.

Meanwhile, the DFA reiterated its call to Filipinos in Libya to contact the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli and register for repatriation, whose costs the Philippine government will shoulder.

Filipinos can reach the Embassy in

Tripoli through: Telephone: (00218) 918-244-208, 914370-399, 945-348-481 Email: tripoli.pe@gmail.com, tripoli.pe@ dfa.gov.ph.

The Embassy’s address is KM 7 Gargaresh Road, Abu Nawas, P.O. Box 12508, Tripoli.

For their part, families can call DFA’s 24hour hotlines (02) 552-7105 and 834-4685 to register their relatives in Libya for repatriation.

They may also send their queries by e-mail to oumwa@dfa.gov.ph. ■ Joel Locsin/

KBK, GMA News / August 8, 2014 / 5:23 PM

Pinay twins in Milan are youngest OAV registrants ITALY-BASED Filipina twins Cindy Claire and Wendy Graile Galaus have become the youngest overseas absentee voter registrants for the 2016 presidential elections, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Friday.

“Their commitment to civic duty is admirable,” said DFA Undersecretary Rafael Seguis, who heads the DFA-Overseas Voting Secretariat, of the 17-year-old Galaus twins.

“I hope that this will help inspire the next generation of overseas Filipino youth to take up the challenge to do their share in the continuing task of strengthening our democracy by exercising their right to

suffrage as overseas voters,” he added.

According to the DFA, the twins, who will turn 18 two days before the May 2016 elections, signed up at the Consulate General in Milan last August 5.

Their mother, Gloria, first arrived in Italy in 2001, followed by their father William in 2007. The twins were reunited with their parents as part of Italy’s family reunification program in 2009.

“They both believe that they must register as overseas voters to fulfill their obligations as Filipino citizens and to be able to have their say in choosing the next administration of the Philippine government,” said

Philippine Consul General Marichu Mauro.

Meanwhile, Foreign Service Posts (FSPs) continue with their record breaking pace, the DFA said.

In July, the third month since overseas voters registration (OVR) began, FSPs registered 23,128, an 11 percent increase over last June’s 20,865, and 29 percent higher than 18,671 of the first month of registration.

Last June, for the first time in the 11year electoral history of Philippine overseas voting, OVR breached the one million mark. ■ Rie Takumi / KBK, GMA News / August 8,

2014 / 6:38 PM

Cindy Claire and Wendy Graile Galaus will turn 18 two days before the May 2016 presidential elections. ©DFA photo.

Pinay racing against time to find her father in UAE PHL charters ship to fetch over 700 Pinoys in Libya FEAR drove Mylene Rapada’s mother Nora from introducing her to her estranged father, an Emirati named Madinat Zayed.

But last year, upon reaching the age of 21, Mylene finally got her mother’s approval to go searching for her father — and that search continues up to this day.

“My dream is to find my father, become an Emirati citizen and bring my mother from the USA and my daughter from the Philippines to live with me here in the UAE,” Mylene told The National on Wednesday.

She’s racing against time, though: her visitor’s visa, which legitimizes her stay in the United Arab Emirates, is set to expire

next month.

But even if Mylene finally finds her dad, the Sharia law may make it difficult for her to make her dream come true. Under the law, she will not be recognized as her father’s daughter because her parents were never married.

Mylene’s mother Nora had her less than a year after being employed by Zayed’s family.

While Zayed asked Nora to marry him, she said she “was young and scared and didn’t know what to do,” the National reported.

Nora decided to have her child in the Philippines. She said she severed contact with Zayed after he asked to see his child. ■

Rie Takumi / KBK, GMA News / August 8, 2014 / 2:14 PM

THE Philippines said Tuesday it would send a ship to pick up at least 700 of its nationals trapped in strife-torn Libya as it presses on with efforts to rescue thousands of workers.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said it would pick up Filipinos from Misrata and Benghazi and hopefully Sirte, adding that others could still flee across the land border to Tunisia.

“We have 400 from Misrata, we have 300 from Benghazi and we have something like a couple of hundred from Sirte but the boat cannot go into Sirte because it’s a shallow harbour so we need a small vessel to bring the people back out to the boat,” he said.

He said the ship, chartered for about $1.8 million which can carry 1,500 passengers, would reach Libya at the end of the week “We are counting on getting as many people as possible,” so they can be brought to safety in Malta, he said.

An estimated 13,000 Filipinos were working in Libya when fighting between militia groups prompted the government in July to call for their “mandatory evacuation”.

Despite repeated calls to leave, about 11,000 Filipinos are estimated to still be in Libya even as the violence shut down the airport and endangered road travel out of the country.

Del Rosario said the land route between Tripoli and Tunisia was now safe and would be used to evacuate people from the Libyan capital.

Some companies employing Filipinos were also evacuating them on their own, he said.

Philippine officials have said Filipinos were delaying their evacuation because they were more worried about not finding jobs at home.

About 10 million Filipinos work around the world, earning more money in a wide range of skilled and unskilled sectors than they could in their impoverished homeland. ■ Agence FrancePresse / August 5, 2014 / 9:31 PM

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

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US-based Pinoy overcomes drugs, seeks parents in PHL after 30-year separation DRUGS, anger, and loneliness fueled US-based Filipino Noel Amodia for most of his adult life. Now that he has sobered up, he wants to find the parents he never knew.

“Finding my biological mother is gonna be life-changing,” Noel confided to GMA News Online in an email interview. “I would love to talk to her and just tell her I love her.”

Born December 11, 1982, Noel was left at an orphanage in Legazpi City, Albay, as an infant. When he reached the age of two, he got a new lease on life when he was adopted by Bob and Linda Hudson, a college professor and first grade teacher, respectively, through Hand-In-Hand, a Christian-based, non-denominational adoption agency that has been active for the last 39 years.

Noel said that a volunteer from HandIn-Hand helped him fly to Charlotte, North Carolina, on January 24, 1985. He was then brought to his new home at Chilton, where the Hudsons and their daughters, then 11-year-old Tami and five-year-old Mandi, waited.

Spoiled child. “My childhood was great.

To be honest I couldn’t have asked for a better childhood or better family than the Hudsons. I was definitely a spoiled child growing up,” he said.

He barely has memories of Tami, who was already in college by the time he was

in middle school, but he remembers that tensions between him and Mandi grew strongest during their adolescence.

Despite the sibling rivalry and his strict adoptive parents, Noel said he had fun at school and at the First Baptist Church.

True heritage. He also said he always knew that he was adopted “because my skin color was different from the Hudsons’.”

However, it wasn’t until he was in the fourth or fifth grade that he and his adoptive parents talked about his heritage. Since then, the thought of having parents and siblings in the Philippines has never left his mind.

“All they (Hudsons) would tell me [is] that my mother was probably too poor to keep me so she gave me up for adoption.

That was basically all I knew back then,” said Noel.

This didn’t bother him at the time. He also said he never felt any close association with the four other Asian children who went to his school.

“I basically felt I was a white kid, not a Filipino. [In] the church I went to, they were all white people going there. Over time, skin tone didn’t matter to me because I consider myself white,” he said.

Rebel years. And then adolescence came. Noel’s resentment against the Hudsons’ strict parenting — not to mention

the knowledge that he was adopted — led him to rebel against his adoptive parents’ and church’s teachings.

Noel said he entered North Greenville University in Tigerville “for the partying.”

“All my life I had to listen to my parents but when I left for school I did what I wanted.

I started to hang out with the wrong crowd and ended up dropping out of college,” he said.

Night clubs, alcohol, and drugs sustained the young man throughout his twenties, leading him to sever ties with his adoptive family and faith.

He confessed, “I was running because I didn’t want to feel the pain and hurt. I have also felt kinda mad at my parents for adopting me.”

Drugs. It was during this period that drugs became his solace because “that is the only thing I thought would make me happy.”

Soon, even a budding relationship with a girl was affected.

“I was dating a Vietnamese girl during that time. We dated all through her time at college, but the partying lifestyle I had messed our relationship up. I remember meeting her family and wishing that I grew up in an Asian household.

This longing, coupled with a stint in jail in 2007, eventually pushed him to sign up for

Adopted by an American couple when he was only 2 years old, US-based Filipino Noel Amodia is now looking for his parents in the Philippines after overcoming a dark period in his life.

rehabilitation at Freedom Farm Ministries, a Christian drug and alcohol rehabilitation center.

Rehab. Noel is currently in the last few stages of his treatment, and has enjoyed five months of sobriety. During his sessions at the rehab center, he confided his plans to find his parents to counselors and the Hudsons, with whom he has regained contact after many years.

“They are so supportive and happy that I am writing this email to you,” he told GMA

A young Noel Amodia with his adoptive family.

News Online. “The Hudsons are excited from what may happen from here. They still have everything I brought with me the first day I came to live with them.”

Though Noel has no idea how to look for his parents, he hopes that both still live in Legazpi City in Albay.

“I would love to connect to my roots,” he said. “Only God knows when this time will be, now I just have to be patient and trust in him.” ■ Rie Takumi / KBK, GMA News / August 7, 2014 / 7:36 PM

OFW throws a fit, refuses to board plane without PNoy on board Pinoy Catholics in Xiamen to EXHIBITING an abnormal behavior, a noted signs of strange behavior before she to a hospital for assaulting other workers get additional Sunday service Filipino domestic helper in Jeddah refused to board her flight for Manila last month after learning that she would not be flying with her supposed nephews, nieces, and President Benigno Aquino III. Assistant Labor Attache Olivia Macawili told GMA News on Thursday that “Rose” (not her real name) started behaving erratically when personnel from the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO-Jeddah) and Overseas Worker Welfare Administration (OWWA) escorted her to the airport.

Macawili said the OFW had worked for less than three months when her employer accompanied her to the consulate after she asked to go home. Her employer

stopped working, causing them to agree to her request.

Earlier, Rose told GMA News she refused to go on her assigned flight, as the President and her nieces were waiting on another plane for her.

Welfare Officer Amilito Adel tried to assist her to a hospital, but the OFW refused and said she was being forced to abandon her appointment.

She insisted that President Aquino had even rented a plane to fetch her after her fellow OFWs called her “insane” during her stay at the Filipino Workers Resource Center (FWRC).

Macawili said Rose had been brought

in the FWRC, adding that the patient is still recovering, and that she will be returned home once her condition settles.

Macawili urged Filipino seeking work at Saudi Arabia to carefully assess their mental and physical health before traveling or looking for employment in the region.

She also asked recruitment agencies to test their recruits’ capabilities and decisiveness to work in other countries before agreeing to send them abroad.

“Huwag nating gawing dahilan ang paga-abroad para lamang takasan ang mga problema lalo na don sa mga may maliliit pa na anak,” Macawili added. ■ Rie Takumi

with Ronaldo Concha / LBG, GMA News / August 9, 2014

FILIPINO Catholics in Xiamen in China may avail of an additional religious service on Sundays at the Xiamen Cathedral, the Department of Foreign Affairs said over the weekend.

The Philippine Consulate General in Xiamen said the Roman Catholic Diocese of Xiamen started last July 13 the added English-language liturgical service at 5 p.m. at Xiamen Island’s Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church.

“Filipino Catholics and other faithful from all parts of the world who are living, working or only visiting in Xiamen are invited to support the new Mass schedule, which is part of the Diocese’s efforts to better serve

the spiritual needs of Roman Catholics and Christians in Xiamen,” it said.

The DFA said the decision stemmed from a meeting between Consul General Julius Caesar Flores and Xiamen Bishop Joseph Cai Bingrui.

It noted the church, commonly known as “Lundu Church,” is the seat of the Diocese of Xiamen. It is located at No. 15 Ci An Street, Xiamen City.

On the other hand, the DFA said the Xiamen Diocese also maintains an Englishlanguage Mass at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday at Gulangyu Catholic Church (Christ the King Church). ■ Joel Locsin / LBG, GMA News / August 9, 2014 / 10:27 AM

Saudi reporter teary-eyed after seeing Pinay ex-nanny on TV

JEDDAH – For Saudi journalist Rawan Radwan, seeing her former Filipino nanny on TV was a very emotional moment.

“She is one of the most memorable persons in our life, she was very good to us,” said Radwan after seeing Marie Ning

in a report on GMA News TV’s State of the Nation with Jessica Soho on Monday night.

“We were kids at that times though but she planted a seed of kindness in our heart,” she added in an exclusive interview with GMA News.

Rawan Radwan, a freelance journalist in Saudi Arabia, has scoured the Internet in search for her Filipina ex-nanny Marie Ning, who is now based in Quezon province. Ning left Saudi Arabia in 1992 after working for Radwan’s family for five years. Radwan was emotional after seeing Ning in a report on GMA News TV’s State of the Nation with Jessica Soho. Photos by Ronaldo Concha.

Ning, who is now based in Candelaria town in Quezon province, left Radwan’s family in 1992 after working for them for five years.

According to Radwan, a freelance journalist, she started looking for Ning, whom she called “Dada,” after reading an old letter from her.

The letter was for Radwan’s mother and was handed to Radwan by her sister upon her arrival in Jeddah from Hungary where she stayed for a couple of years.

Radwan said she started looking for Ning on the Internet through various social networking sites to no avail.

Still determined to locate the woman who took care of her when she was young, Radwan then contacted the local government of Quezon, where she got in touch with a staff named Eva Palma.

It was Palma who pitched the story to Manila Bulletin, which published a story this month that led to Ning learning of her former ward’s efforts to locate her.

According to Radwan, she has plans

Radwan watching the report on her Pinay ex-Nanny Marie Ning on State of the Nation with Jessica Soho.

of coming to the Philippines someday to personally see Ning.

“Dada we missed you, we love you and I hope you are good and happy. I hope you finally found the love of your life and the life that you always wanted, I wish you more

blessings and I hope to see you soon,” Radwan said.

Ning, in a report on “24 Oras” on Monday, said she is excited to see Radwan.

■ Ronaldo Concha / KBK, GMA News / August 5, 2014

/ 6:18 PM

14

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August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

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DATE / TIME 17 August 2014 Sunday 10:00am – 5:00pm

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VENUE Hamilton Park Racecourse, Bothwell Road, Hamilton, Lanarkshire ML3 0DW Bradford, London & Shrewsbury

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NEWS

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

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15

Pinoy pride: Tesda graduates who do well are living proof that Pinoys are world class Lacson’s appointment as Yolanda MANILA - Graduates of technical vocational education and training who have sailed to foreign lands and found jobs are living proof that Filipino workers are worldclass.

Henry Basilan, Ryan Cordova and Argie Roque are three hard-working young men who put their faith in tech-voc training, and pushed their ambition a notch higher as they made progress in their respective careers abroad.

They looked back at their humble beginnings and shared their formula for success in video entries that they submitted for the Tatak TESDA Video Making Contest.

They were among the 20 finalists in the video contest held early this year.

Coming from a middle-income family, Argie Roque finished a three-year course in Mechanical Technology, but kept being accepted in jobs that did not fit the course he took. So, because of this, he related, he did not last long in various workplaces.

Argie knew he wanted to learn something else, and finally found himself taking a Food and Beverage course courtesy of a TESDA scholarship.

After obtaining his National Certificate, Argie immediately found work in a finedining restaurant, which opened the door for him to work abroad.

He said that the TESDA course that he took guided him to discover what he really liked to do, and where he excelled.

He now works as a demi chef or the assistant to the executive chef at a restaurant in Macau.

Basilan’s course in Lathe Machine Operation became his badge for a job abroad.

Aiming for better job opportunities, he took up Machining NC II and obtained his National Certificate. Then he saw an opportunity and transferred to a shipping company for a job that took him to many foreign places.

“Filipino seafarers can be pitted with other nationalities. We can truly hold our own. World-class talaga ang Pinoy,” he said.

After a spell, Basilan decided to return home and start his own business. This also gave him an opportunity to enroll in a college course anew, and in April this year, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering, under the Expanded Tertiary Education Equivalency and Accreditation Program (ETEEAP) of the Commission on Higher Education.

Basilan also took the TESDA assessment to be a certified trainor and assessor so he could help mold the career of future machinists and seafarers.

On the other hand, Cordova used to be a construction worker, but found the job too stressful, physically.

“I asked myself, am I destined to be stuck in this job? Without a marketable skill, I will always be left behind by others,” he said to himself.

Getting into technical-vocational education, Cordova took a course in Industrial Automation and Mechatronics and obtained a National Certificate III. He was working as a production shift

rehab chief ‘a disaster’ - fisher folk

TESDA graduate Argie Roque landed a job in Macau and has been promoted to demi chef.

supervisor in a company when a tragedy struck the family. The death of his father prompted him to seek work abroad.

Only 21 years old at the time, Cordova clinched a job in Riyadh because of his NC III and his work experience.

While abroad, he said he was tasked to upgrade the machines, an assignment that was rather difficult and needed high technical expertise.

“What guided me in accomplishing the task were all the learnings I received from my tech-voc course,” he said.

Now 25 years old, Cordova has been promoted to Senior Automation Engineer, a title given him even if he did not graduate from a formal engineering course.

He has his own family now, and has made a few investments from his savings.

■ Clara Masinag / InterAksyon.com / August 9, 2014

/ 8:20 PM

MEDIA PARTNER:

MANILA – The appointment of former Senator Panfilo Lacson as rehabilitation chief for Yolanda-devastated areas was a “stronger disaster,” according to the fisher folk group Pamalakaya.

In a statement sent to media outfits, Pamalakaya said it was responding to Lacson’s statement that after he has submitted the 8,000-page rehabilitation plan, he does not have anything to do as rehab head anymore.

In an interview, Lacson had asked for authority in the planning, budgeting, and implementation aspects of rehabilitation.

He said his current position does not give him any authority at all but to coordinate with the various local, national, and international agencies.

He said he has “zero authority” in the actual rehabilitation.

“I have learned from my military experience that if you’re given responsibility, there should be a commensurate authority…I have zero authority,” he told reporters.

Nevertheless, he said that he expects an 85-percent completion rate of the rehabilitation plan before the end of President Aquino’s term.

Disappointed Pamalakaya vice-chairperson Salvador France said Lacson’s statement was an insult to the victims of the super typhoon Yolanda.

“They waited eight long months for a substantial and concrete rehabilitation and

Lacson comes up with just a mere paper work and now he said his work is done?”

France said.

The Pamalakaya official noted that Lacson’s plan to resign after he completed the master plan is just a press release and is only an attempt to get the President’s attention to expand his power.

“If he really wanted to resign, he should have done it before and no need to wait for eight months. The people are dying.

They can’t eat the 8,000-page master development plan.” France said.

Castigating the President, France said there has been little progress in government rehabilitation of devastated Eastern Visayas.

“The victims have not recovered from the aftermath and now the bigger and stronger disaster is slowly killing them through his incompetence, arrogance, super obsession to DAP (Disbursement Acceleration Program), and so much stupidity that he assigned a person who is involved in many crimes to be the chief of the rehabilitation,” he said. ■ InterAksyon.com / August 10, 2014 / 11:10 AM

Tacloban tent city, May 2014.

Photo by Lottie Salarda.

16

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NEWS

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

‘Gov’t wasted no time in responding’ - PNoy; Survivors have different story, 9 months after Yolanda

‘YOUR government wasted no time in responding.’ - from President Benigno Aquino III’s fifth State of the Nation Address, July 28, 2014 Almost immediately after President Benigno Aquino III spoke of his administration’s response to the death and devastation wrought by Yolanda, he was met by a deluge of criticism and derision, not least by residents of Leyte, who bore the brunt of the storm.

After all, who would know better than the folks at Ground Zero, who lost homes and kin and many of who continue to live in despair and, they say, bereft of the government aid Aquino boasted about.

But again, wouldn’t it be fair to assume that more than half a year since Yolanda, government would finally have gotten its act together and well on its way to rebuilding what the storm had destroyed?

Here, nine months after Yolanda, some of those who lived through what has been called the deadliest storm to strike the country tell us the real score as they see it.

MP: Naku, marami na kami dito. ‘Yung mga kaibigan ng mga anak ko, dito na nakatira.

Meron akong adopted, ‘diba ‘yung nakita mo dati? Tapos, may limang lumipat, tapos apat pa. Masaya kami dito dahil maraming bata. Nagtataka nga ako e. Dito na rin sila kumakain sa bahay namin.

Jhon Paul Madrigal looks at the ruins of his former home, remembering the family he lost.

JHON PAUL MADRIGAL, 12 , orphan, Mang Pete’s grandson InterAksyon: Kumusta ka na?

Jhon Paul: Okay lang.

IA: Ilang taon kana?

JP: 12, pero mag-13 na ako ngayong September.

IA: Meron kayong pasok sa school ngayon?

JP: Wala. Free day namin kada Lunes.

Kulang kasi ‘yung classroom namin.

IA: Ganu’n ba? E, kumusta naman, namimiss mo ba Mama at Papa mo at mga kapatid mo?

JP: Oo syempre. (Tearful) Umiiyak nga ako pag naiisip ko sila e. Yung bunso namin, hindi pa natatagpuan ang bangkay niya.

kami ng training para sa facilitation. Nag-aral kami sa women’s rights, laws at sa human trafficking.

IA: Kailan po kayo nagsimula?

C: Noong November 26, kinuha nila ako sa evacuation center namin sa Leyte High, tapos hanggang ngayon eto pa rin ako, isa sa mga facilitator nila.

IA: Ano po ang pangunahing rason ninyo kung bakit patuloy ang inyong pagvolunteer?

C: Pinaka-main reason ko po talaga, kasi wala akong kabuhayan, wala akong bahay, nawalan ako ng mga gamit. Sa pag-volunteer ko, may binibigay sa aming honorarium. Tapos imbes na igugol ko ang oras ko sa pag-iisip sa mga problema ko, iginugol ko ‘yun para maturuan ko din ang mga ka-barangay ko. Imbes na ma-trauma ako sa mga nangyari, ibinuhos ko ito sa paglilingkod ko sa mga tao.

IA: Kung may panawagan po kayo sa gobyerno, ano po ‘yun?

C: Masyado nang matagal ang panahon para hindi agarang masagot ang mga problema ng mga biktima ng bagyo dito.

Lalo na ang iba na nasa tent pa ngayon.

Kung may ipapamigay, ibigay nyo na ng walang kondisyon. Ang para sa mga biktima, ibigay na.

Pete Lacandazo and his grandson Jhon Paul Madrigal at home. The sign Mang Pete made listing the family members he lost hangs beside him.

PETE LACANDAZO, 58, San Joaquin, Palo Leyte, lost 22 members of his immediate family InterAksyon: Kumusta na po kayo Mang Pete?

Mang Pete: Heto, medyo maganda na kalagayan namin. Meron na kaming mga relief goods tulad nu’ng sa Tzu Chi Foundation, pero nakalimutan kong kunin.

IA: Sa inyong pagpapagawa ng bahay meron, po ba kayong natanggap mula sa gobyerno?

MP: Ayun, sampung yero. Binawasan pa nga, nag lima na lang, hindi ko alam kung bakit nagkaganu’n, siguro doon sa naglista.

IA: Eh, ano po ang pinanggastos nyo dito sa pagpapagawa?

MP: ‘Yung insurance ng mga anak kong namatay, ‘yun ang ginamit ko dito. ‘Yung (assistance) sa PPSTA (Philippines Public School Teachers Association) ng teacher kong mga anak, isa dun ‘yung asawa ni Junjun, ‘yung natira kong anak. Saka ‘yung P20,000 na galing GSIS (Government Service Insurance System).

IA: Ano po ang naging hanapbuhay niyo siyam na buwan makalipas ang trahedya?

MP: Liban sa pagiging (barangay) kagawad ko, e bumibili ako ng scrap saka binebenta.

Pero ayaw ng mayor namin kasi daw sagabal at marumi sa kalsada. Dahil ayaw ko ng gulo tinigil ko na ang aking hanapbuhay.

IA: Kumusta po pala ‘yung anak nyong si Jun jun?

MP: Hayun, pumayat. Tahimik pa rin. Hindi ko nga alam kung ano ang nasa isip niya eh.

IA: Hindi po ba sya na-debriefing?

MP: Hindi eh, wala namang may pumunta dito kahit ‘yung mga taga-DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development).

IA: Ilan kayong nakatira dito?

Lilia Malate and her children in the bunkhouse where they live.

Celestina Abala doing volunteer work for the UNFPA.

CELESTINA ABAL, 58 , Barangay 37, Seawall, Sabang District, Tacloban, UNFPA (UN Population Fund) volunteer InterAksyon: Kumusta po kayo Ma’am siyam na buwan matapos ang bagyo?

Celestina: Heto, nagtatanong pa rin kung ano ang mangyayari sa mga Yolanda victims at kung anong assistance o programa para sa amin.

IA: Ano naman po ang mga naitulong ng gobyerno sa inyo?

C: Oo, siguro nabibigay nila ang welfare.

Pagkain at saka gamot. Pero halos lahat naman na nagbibigay nito ay ang mga INGO (international NGOs) at hindi gobyerno, nakikipag-coordinate lang sila sa DSWD. IA: Ano ano po ang natanggap nyo sa mga INGO? C: Sa barangay namin may nakita akong nagbigay ng ilang housing materials tulad ng born-again Christian at mga Mormons.

IA: May balita po ba kayo kung merong mga tulong ang DSWD para sa mga nawalan ng bahay?

C: Sa ngayon, wala pa silang binibigay, pero sa aking pagkakadinig meron daw P10,000 na ibibigay para sa mga partially damaged ang bahay tapos P30,000 naman sa totally damaged. Sa barangay namin, 98 percent washed-out lahat ng bahay.

IA: Ngayon po, ano ang trabaho nyo?

C: Dati kasi nadiskubre ako ng UNFPA sa evacuation center pa lang, ako ‘yung nagmo-mobilize ng mga tao para i-debrief ang tulad kong mga biktima. Sinailalim nila

LILIA MALATE, 46 , lives in a bunkhouse InterAksyon: Ilan po ang anak nyo Ma’am?

Lilia: Kinse lahat ang mga anak ko, ang apat namatay dahil sa sakit. Bale, kasama na kaming mag-asawa, onse kaming lahat.

IA: Kumusta naman po kalagayan niyo dito?

L: Dito, kumpara doon, mas okay na dito, safe kami.

IA: Ano po ang hanapbuhay niyo at ng asawa niyo?

L: Naglalabada po kung merong nagpapalaba sa akin. ‘Yung asawa ko naman, nagtatrabaho sa Shed (Barangay 60-A), naghuhurnal kasama ng ibang mga anak ko.

IA: Ilan po ang mga anak niyong nag-aaral?

L: Apat ‘yung mga anak kong nag-aaral sa elementarya. ‘Yung iba, hindi nakatapos, ‘yun tumutulong sa paghahanapbuhay.

IA: Kumusta naman po kayo dito pag araw?

L: Sobrang init ‘pag tanghali, tinitiis nalang namin kasi hindi naman ito sariling bahay namin. Bumili kami ng electric fan para naman mabawasan ang init sa mga anak ako.

IA: Bakit po kayo napunta dito?

L: Wala kasi kaming mapuntahan eh, kaya sabi ko sa mga anak ko, magtiis muna dahil mahirap lang tayo.

IA: May balita po ba kayo about sa housing ng gobyerno para sa mga biktima?

L: Wala Ma’m, wala naman po kasi akong radyo. Pero nagtanong-tanong ako sa may radyo, tinanong ko kung ke’lan ba talaga kami ililipat. Hindi naman din sila sigurado.

Napakainit po kasi, para kaming mga preso.

IA: May natatanggap pa po ba kayong mga relief goods?

L: Opo, kada buwan kalahating sako ng bigas, 20 piraso ng instant noodles, saka kape.

IA: Kung may panawagan po kayo sa gobyerno, ano ‘yun?

L: Para po sa gobyerno, kailan po ba kami ililipat? Para po kasi kaming mga preso dito, ang daming bawal.

gobyerno, ano ‘yun?

L: Sa ngayon, wala akong maipapasalamat dahil wala pa kaming natatanggap na tulong.

IA: Ano naman ang panawagan niyo sa gobyerno?

L: Sana tulungan nila ‘yung mga taong nakatira malapit sa dagat. Kahit maliit na bahay lang, lalo na hindi sapat ang kinikita ng asawa ko kasi pangkain lang ‘yun.

Rebecca Reposo and her children.

REBECCA REPOSO, 27 , tent city, Old Road Sagkahan, Tacloban City InterAksyon: Ilan po kayong nakatira dito sa tent niyo?

Rebecca: Pito kami lahat dito. Dati nakatira kami sa seaside.

IA: Kumusta naman po sitwasyon niyo dito?

R: Heto, sobrang hirap po dahil sa sobrang init sa umaga, lalo na sa tanghali, at sobrang lamig naman po sa gabi. Nagkakasakit na nga po ang mga anak ko e.

IA: Ano po ang ginagawa nIyo pag sobrang init ng panahon?

R: Sa umaga, nakikisilong po kami sa ginawang makeshift na pawid ‘yung bubong.

IA: Ilan taon na ‘tong bunso mo?

R: Eight months na.

IA: Ano ang trabaho ng asawa mo?

R: Pedicab driver lang siya, ako naman ‘di makapagtrabaho dahil eto, nga may maliit pa akong bata.

IA: May balita na po ba kayo kung kailen kayo ililipat dito?

R: Meron, pero wala namang kasiguruhan ‘yun, ang sabi kasi maghintay lang daw.

IA: Anon na pong tulong ang natanggap niyo?

R: Ay, ‘yung cash assistance ng Tzu Chi Foundation, malaking tulong sa amin ‘yun.

Pero ‘yung sinasabing housing materials ng DSWD, wala po ‘yun.

Adina dela Sierra minding her small business, set up with assistance from a foreign aid organization.

ADINA DELA SIERRA, 49 , storeowner InterAksyon: Kailan po kayo nagsimulang mag-negosyo?

Adina: December ako nagsimula.

IA: Saan galing ‘yung pinangpuhunan niyo?

A: ‘Yung binigay sa akin ng Tzu Chi na P15,000, ‘yun ang pinangpuhunan ko.

IA: Kumusta naman po ang bentahan?

A: Okay naman, kasi kailangan din naman ng mga tao.

IA: Liban sa Tzu Chi, anu-ano pang mga organisasyon ang nakatulong sa inyo?

A: Yung CRS (Catholic Relief Services). Wala naman ‘yung sinasabing housing materials ng DSWD. IA: Nakakaraos naman po kayo sa pangaraw araw?

A: Aba’y oo, ang laking tulong nito sa pamilya ko. Simula pa matapos ang bagyo, hindi ako tumunganga lang, naghanapbuhay talaga ako. Hindi ako naghintay ng naghintay kasi kung ganu’n wala akong mapapala.

Allan Minias ponders the future and whether he can reopen his business.

Lovely Ignacio inside the makeshift shelter she now calls home.

LOVELY IGNACIO, 28 , lives in a makeshift shelter and is five months pregnant InterAksyon: Kumusta po ngayon sitwasyon nyo?

Lovely: Heto, mahirap po kasi kaunti lang ang kita ng asawa ko sa pagmamaneho ng van.

IA: Ilan kayong nakatira dito?

L: Pito kami dito, kasama ‘yung mga kamaganak ng asawa ko.

IA: Bakit hindi po kayo naka-avail ng relocation?

L: Kasi ‘yung asawa ko palaging umaalis dahil sa trabaho, hindi kami nalista.

IA: Sino po gumawa ng makeshift shelter na ito?

L: ‘Yung asawa ko, ginawa niya ‘to para may matulugan kami. Siksikan nga kami dito eh, mahirap lalo na buntis pa ako.

IA: Kung may maipapasalamat ka sa

ALLAN MINIAS, Nena’s Trading Inc., which was looted after Yolanda InterAksyon: Kumusta na po ang Nena’s Trading, mag-o-open pa po ba kayo?

Allan: Ah, ngayong Saturday magmi-meeting kami, probably next year bago dumating ang Santo Papa, mag-o-open kami. Pero plano palang ‘yun. Pinag-uusapan pa namin kung kaya pa, kasi nga na-looting ‘yung tindahan namin.

IA: Ano ang naramdaman nIyo na ganu’n ang nangyari sa tindahan niyo?

A: Very, very sad.

IA: Sino po ang nag-occupy ng space niyo?

A: Umalis na yata ‘yung mga Muslim, kasi six months lang sila doon.

IA: Ano ang nararamdaman niyo kung sakali na mag-o-open ulit kayo sa likod ng mga nangyari?

A: Kung maging successful ang pag reopen, masarap, pero malungkot din kasi halos lahat ng tindahan naka-open na tapos kami hindi pa.

IA: Ano po ang isa sa mga dahilan kung bakit medyo matagal kayong mag-o-open?

A: Siyempre, kino-konsidera din namin ang sitwasyon ng ekonomiya ng Tacloban.

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

Brenda Banzon says she reopened her business because of her concern for her employees and the debts she owed creditors.

BRENDA BANZON, God Send Grocery, now MB Mart, also looted after Yolanda InterAksyon: Kumusta na po ang negosyo niyo ngayon Ma’am?

Brenda: Mahirap, kasi ang mga suppliers … utang kasi lahat, so we went bankrupt. Hindi sila nagbibigay sa amin ng mga stocks kasi hindi kami makabayad, na-looting kasi mga stocks namin. Ang mga giant companies hindi nagbigay ng cconsideration. Pero merong ilan din na nagbigay. It’s so hard to re-open after na-looting ka, because there are accounts payable and how can you compete sa iba na malalaking tindahan?

IA: Anong naramdaman niyo na na-looting ang tindahan niyo?

B: Ang iniisip ko na lang noon, nagugutom ang mga tao. So we were able to help.

IA: Kailan kayo nagre-open?

B: Mga June na. Little by little, we started with a sari-sari store.

IA: Ano po ang nagtulak sa inyo para buksan ulit ang tindahan nyo?

B: Unang-una, inisip naming ang mga empleyado namin, walang mapupuntahan, PAGE 37 - UPPER HALF PAGE-1.pdf lahat washed out ‘yung mga bahay nila.

‘Yun ang pinakaunang motive namin. And we have to pay the accounts. That would be

very hard, to close our eyes to our employees and our accounts.

IA: Meron po bang tulong ang gobyerno sa business sector ng sIyudad?

B: Actually that is my biggest problem, not a single support was offered by the government to help us stand up. I had a hard time to get permits and even until now I’m trying to secure my permits. It’s very hard to follow-up because there are so many things to consider. The payments and the amount to pay at marami pa. Even in taxation, there is no special arrangement sa mga establishment na na-looting. We are trying to stand up but it looks like there is no support from the government.

IA: How does it feel Ma’am, na parang neglected ng gobyerno ang business sector?

B: Maybe they are no t aware of what is going on.

Leyte 1st district Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez (center) shares a light moment with his cousins, Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez shortly after Yolanda. ©InterAksyon.com file photo by Bernard Testa.

FERDINAND MARTIN ROMUALDEZ, representative, 1st district of Leyte InterAksyon: How is the first district of Leyte 1 8/3/14 4:32 PM doing nine months after the typhoon?

Romualdez: There has been considerable improvement since November last year,

NEWS and we are grateful for the overwhelming outpouring of aid and support from our friends, without which we could not have bounced back as fast as we have. However, there is still much work to be done. Shelter, livelihood and access to basic services are still not enough.

Also, while not as hard-hit, other municipalities in my district have taken a backseat in the rehabilitation efforts. Constituents of the agricultural municipalities of Sta. Fe, Alang-Alang, San Miguel and Babatngon are also in dire need of alternative means of livelihood after Yolanda wiped out rice and coconut farms. The district office is working towards equitably addressing their needs too.

IA: What is your assessment on the national government’s efforts on the rehabilitation in your district?

R: Nine months after, we would like to finally see concrete actions from the side of the national government that will have a lasting and positive impact on the ground.

Now that the President has adopted and approved the comprehensive master plan, we are expecting the immediate release of funding for the implementation of identified priority projects not only for Tacloban and the municipalities in the first district of Leyte but also for all of the Yolanda-affected areas, ASAP. IA: What are the programs that your office is continuing to push for the Yolanda survivors in your district?

R: Shelter and livelihood are still the priority concerns for the city and municipalities in my district. My office has been working tirelessly in addressing problems and filling gaps in partnership with LGUs (local government

www.hello-philippines.com

The Tacloban City airport as it looked seven months after Yolanda. ©InterAksyon.com file

by Bernard Testa.

units), national agencies and NGOs. In addition to the post-Yolanda concerns, the district is continuing its regular programs for infrastructure projects and social services augmentation and assistance (medical, financial, educational, burial etc.), which is vital to our return to normalcy.

IA: What do you think are the reasons for the slow progress of the rehabilitation in your district?

R: Lack of resources is the main stumbling block. Funding is still absent for most of the projects proposed in the approved master plans. For those that have actually been funded, bureaucracy is still an additional source of delay. The implementation process needs to be streamlined and fasttracked without compromising quality standards while observing transparency and accountability safeguards.

IA: What legislative measure have you proposed for Congress to pass as part of the lessons learned from Yolanda?

R: Disasters in the Philippines are an unavoidable reality we need to face in order to be more responsive. As part of our lessons learned from Yolanda, it is imperative that we invest in measures that will make us a more resilient nation and people. Resiliency, not

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only in terms of disaster preparedness, riskreduction and response, but also in terms of our economy and government.

Among others, I have been advocating for a separate department for emergency management in place of the NDRRMC (National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council) framework. The EMA (Emergency Management Agency), which is patterned on the Unites States’ FEMA, will address the matter of specialized technical capacity to ensure effectiveness without compromising local coordination across party lines and continuity of implementation of programs regardless of administration leadership.

Ines Salvoro at the CSWDO.

INES SALVORO, City Social Welfare and Development Office officer-in-charge InterAksyon: Ma’am, pwede po bang kayong ma-interview regarding po sa updates ng mga ginagawa ng CSWDO para sa mga Yolanda Survivors?

Ines: Tungkol saan?

IA: Sa shelter po or sa livelihood.

I: Eh, wala kaming data eh.

IA: Bakit po? ‘Di ba kayo ang in-charge sa data nu’n?

I: Wala sa amin ‘yun.

IA: Okay po. ■ Lottie Salarda / InterAksyon.com (interviews and photos) / August 8, 2014 / 3:11 PM

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NEWS

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

Airport brass seeks urgent Ebola awareness drive for frontline workers

MANILA - The workers who man the frontlines and interact directly with thousands of travelers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) urgently need an Ebola awareness campaign in order to help them better protect themselves and the country from infection by the deadly disease.

NAIA officials at the weekend asked the Department of Health through the Bureau of Human Quarantine to conduct the campaign at the airport for government and non-government personnel with direct interaction with passengers.

The request for an urgent orientation, however, is “not meant to instigate fear or alarm the public or airport workers. The intention is to keep everyone informed about Ebola and how they can do their jobs everyday without living in fear or anxiety,” explained Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Jose Honrado.

“While there is news in tri-media, it’s different when you hear it from people of authority to speak on the issue,” Honrado added Dr. Margaret Chan, World Health Organization Director-General, had declared Ebola as a “public health emergency of international concern” in a press briefing on August 8, The airport officials said their suggestion is in step with the call of the WHO to step up public awareness on Ebola so people will not get unnecessarily scared.

“To the best we can and as far as allowable under government regulations, we are willing to support the Bureau of Human Quarantine to run an awareness campaign in NAIA,” Honrado saidd.

MIAA had closely collaborated with the Bureau of Quarantine during the SARS outbreak in 2002.

First line of defense: thermal scanners.

It was also in that same year that thermal

scanners were procured and more health screeners hired to strengthen NAIA’s border control against SARS. Thermal screening has since been a Standard Operating Procedure conducted on inbound passengers.

Frontline personnel in NAIA comprise airline and ground handling staff, customs, immigration, health doctors, bridge operators, janitorial personnel and public relations staff, among others.

Security personnel of some international airlines at the NAIA have started spraying Lysol on the aircraft’s overhead compartment and some parts of the plane as a precaution in containing airborne viruses that are brought in the country through movements of passengers from other countries.

Countries afflicted with Ebola in western Africa have taken border precautions after realizing that the deadly disease - with average mortality of 90 percent - had quickly spread across the region as a

result of travel by people between their borders. The latest precaution was taken by Guinea, which closed its borders with Sierra Leone and Liberia in a bid to prevent more infections on its soil.

There are hundreds of Filipino workers in the affected countries, but the Department

of Foreign Affairs and of Health said no one has been reported stricken. Last Saturday, only two of the first batch of 15 OFWs sent home by their employers from Sierra Leone remained under monitoring, with the rest cleared of the symptoms. ■ Eric B. Apolonio / InterAksyon.com / August 10, 2014 / 3:46 PM

Chaos in Libya: Repatriate says at least 3 female nurses could still be in captivity

NAIA Terminal 1 - Another 31 OFW repatriates flew in at 4:00pm Monday at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1 from Libya on board Qatar Airways via Doha, followed a few minutes after by yet one more batch of 10 OFWs on an Emirates flight via Dubai.

Wheelchair-bound Angelito Cayabyab of San Jose Del Monte City in Bulacan Province, who suffered a leg injury at his

work site, said that he is thankful to the Philippine Embassy staff in Libya and Tunisia.

“They valiantly tried their best to evacuate our compatriots from the chaotic situation,” Cayabyab said, “in spite of the dangers they faced crossing the border to Tunisia, where our countrymen were able to take their flight to Doha and then onward home.”

Photo by Eric Apolonio©InterAksyon.com

Cayabyab confirmed the news that at least one male OFW was beheaded last week for being Christian. What’s more, he related that, apparently, there are at least three abducted female nurses who remain in captivity.

Abducted by whom? Cayabyab replied with a shake of his head, as if to say, It’s anybody’s guess. He tells InterAksyon.com: “We don’t know if it’s the rebels ...”

He said his only regret was that he was unable to bring personal gifts for his family, and that his last pay check remained unclaimed at the worksite, as did not have time to retrieve his personal belongings due to constant firefights between rival militia and military forces.

Mark Armand Pagao, a nurse from Vinzons, Camarines Norte and working at the Ali Omar Askar Neuro Center Hospital near Tripoli Airport, scene of some heavy fighting, said that he joined up with five other Filipino nurses to get away from the fighting, even as 61-year old Isagani Fajardo, said he had continued to plead with embassy officials to evacuate other companions still

stranded in an oilfield, with bombings and shelling near their worksite being the order of the day.

Fajardo’s version of the events, based on his observations, did not sit well with other workers after he remarked that the Philippine government seemed slow in repatriating the distressed OFWS, but cooler heads intervened and separated the two groups with diverging points of view.

Representatives of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration said some 704 OFWs from Libya were assisted as of Monday, with another 23 OFWs set to arrive at 10:10 p.m. on board Emirates flight EK334.

On Tuesday, yet another batch of OFWs are expected to plane in at 7:00 a.m. on board EK336.

On August 6, Wednesday, 42 OFWs are exected on board EK336.

The Department of Foreign Affairs tally indicated that there have been 938 repatriates from Libya so far.

Those who arrive are processed and assisted by DFA officials and Overseas

Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) representatives upon their arrival at the airport.

DFA is reiterating its appeal to all remaining Filipino nationals in Libya to get in touch right away with the Philippine Embassy in Tripoli and sign up for repatriation. The Philippine Government is shouldering the repatriation costs.

To register for repatriation, OFWs can contact the Embassy in Tripoli through telephone numbers (00218) 918-244-208 / 914-370-399 / 945-348-481 and the e-mail addresses tripoli.pe@gmail.com and tripoli. pe@dfa.gov.ph.

The Embassy’s address is KM 7 Gargaresh Road, Abu Nawas, P.O. Box 12508, Tripoli.

Families can also call DFA’s 24-hour hotlines (02) 552-7105 / (02) 834-4685 to register their relatives in Libya for repatriation. They may also call these numbers for any questions and concerns, or send their queries by e-mail to oumwa@ dfa.gov.ph. ■ Eric B. Apolonio / InterAksyon.com /

August 4, 2014 / 8:49 PM

Kontra SONA: Jobless growth, poverty haunting Filipinos - House minority MANILA, Philippines - Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora on Monday said the positive economic growth and fiscal situation reported by President Benigno Aquino III in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) were not being felt by Filipinos, who have remained poor and without stable jobs.

“We have rapid economic growth coexisting with a high rate of unemployment and continuing, persistent and widespread poverty,” Zamora said in his Kontra SONA delivered at the House of Representatives.

“Poverty remains at high levels at 19.7 percent, a miniscule improvement compared to the 21 percent by the National Statistical Coordination Board in 2006. In eight years, we have reduced poverty by only a little more than one percent. Unemployment is 7.5 percent, with underemployment at 19.5 percent,” he said.

Zamora said economic growth has been better reflected “in the personal

wealth of the few,” including the country’s top corporations and the richest Filipinos, whose wealth has grown multiple times through the years.

Growth did not make a dent on the poor, 70 percent of which are in the agriculture sector, he stressed.

“There is now a need to overhaul the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Agrarian Reform in the light if the disappointing agriculture program,” Zamora said.

The agencies, he said, have been hounded by corruption issues within the National Food Administration, rice smuggling, and corruption issues involving Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) that went to the Napoles foundations instead of benefiting the farmers and fisherfolk.

‘P75-B CCT didn’t bring real progress’.

The minority leader also called for the termination of the Conditional Cash Transfer

(CCT) program, saying it did not bring real progress to the beneficiaries.

“From what should have been a smooth transitional program five years ago, it is now a gargantuan 64-billion peso program, and in the 2015 budget proposal, it will be a P75billion program that provides temporary relief to millions of families, but does not provide what they really need -- jobs, real jobs, not doles, not handouts,” he said.

On the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), Zamora said that the President should be able to answer questions raised before him in the impeachment complaint.

“We need critics, we need skeptics who can challenge the government to recognize its own fallibility,” he said.

Impeachment to make PNoy liable for DAP. In a separate speech, deputy minority leader Neri Colmenares said the President should be made answerable for the DAP mess through the impeachment process.

“The next months will be a test for all of us in the House of Representatives on how steadfast we will be in upholding our sworn duty to represent and be the voice of the people amidst the violation of the constitution, betrayal of public trust and

continuing hardships and difficulties of the poor majority,” he said.

Colmenares was one of the endorsers of the impeachment complaint against the President. ■ Lira Dalangin-Fernandez / InterAksyon. com / August 4, 2014 / 6:52 PM

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

INTERNATIONAL / GLOBAL NEWS

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Israel pounds Gaza as mediators try to rescue truce GAZA City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Israeli warplanes pummelled Gaza with 40 air strikes that killed five Palestinians on Saturday as militants hit back with 14 rocket attacks, leaving international mediators scrambling to rescue ceasefire talks.

Gaza emergency services said at least five men were killed in Israeli raids -- two travelling by motorcycle through Al-Maghazi refugee camp and three pulled from the rubble of Al-Qassam mosque in the middle of the enclave.

The Palestinian interior ministry said Israeli jets destroyed three mosques. At least two of them were considered close to Hamas.

Only the minaret was left standing at the huge Al-Qassam mosque in Nuseirat, an AFP photographer said.

Resident Ibrahim Taweel said the Israeli military telephoned him at 3am, warning

him to evacuate his nearby home five minutes before the mosque was attacked.

“I couldn’t tell all my neighbours, so I evacuated myself and my neighbour and after five minutes an F-16 fired one rocket and after that a bigger rocket destroyed the mosque,” he said.

The army said Palestinian militants fired 14 rockets into Israel, bringing to 52 the number of projectiles launched at the Jewish state since a 72-hour truce ended on Friday.

One civilian and a soldier were wounded on Friday, but no injuries or damage in Israel were reported on Saturday.

Israel said it had carried out more than 100 strikes in Gaza since Friday, 40 of them since midnight.

Palestinian medics say those strikes have killed 10 people.

Clashes in West Bank. In the occupied

Displaced Palestinians gather to receive food aid at a UN school, turned shelter, in Gaza City, on August 8, 2014.

West Bank, fresh clashes broke out after the funerals of two Palestinian men shot dead

by Israeli troops during protests against the Gaza operation on Friday, witnesses said.

Palestinian youths threw stones and Israeli troops responded with tear gas and stun grenades.

The 72-hour truce collapsed after mediators in Cairo failed to extend a ceasefire when it expired on Friday morning as Israel accused Hamas of breaching the quiet with pre-dawn rocket attacks.

The conflict has now killed at least 1,900 Palestinians and 67 people on the Israeli side, almost all soldiers, since July 8.

The United Nations says at least 1,354 of the Palestinian dead were civilians, including 447 children.

Hamas, whom Israel brands a terror organisation and which de facto controls Gaza, vowed no concessions.

“The occupier’s intransigence will get it nowhere and we will make no concessions on the demands of our people,” spokesman Fawzy Barhum said in a statement.

The lifting of Israel’s land and sea blockade, imposed in 2006 after Hamas captured an Israeli soldier, has been a key demand of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority in Cairo talks.

A Palestinian official said on condition of anonymity Egypt and the Palestinians had reached a draft agreement for submission to Israel on Saturday.

It would see Egypt and the Palestinian Authority take control of the Rafah border crossing into Egypt, in which Hamas would essentially activate a unity deal signed with the PA in April.

Negotiations on the sea port, demanded

by Hamas, would then be delayed and entrusted to the Palestinian Authority, with

An emergency worker carries a child wounded in an Israeli air strike on the Sheikh Radwan area of Gaza City, as he arrives at the city’s Al-Shifa hospital, on August 8, 2014

whom Israel is prepared to deal.

Israel waged the conflict to destroy Hamas’s arsenal of rockets and its network of attack tunnels.

Hopes of new truce. But combat has not resumed at the same fierce intensity, feeding hopes of a new truce bring agreed.

“Our hope is that the parties will agree to an extension of the ceasefire in the coming hours,” US State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said.

Acting US Middle East peace envoy Frank Lowenstein, in Cairo for some days, “is still trying to help the parties get a permanent ceasefire,” a US embassy official said.

President Barack Obama told The New York Times in an interview published Saturday that there were limits to US influence on both sides to reach a solution to the decades old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a strong support base and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas was weak domestically, he said.

“If he (Netanyahu) doesn’t feel some internal pressure, then it’s hard to see him

being able to make some very difficult compromises, including taking on the settler movement,” Obama was quoted as saying.

“In some ways, Bibi is too strong (and) in some ways Abu Mazen is too weak to bring them together.”

Chris Gunness, spokesman for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), called for the Gaza blockade to end so enable reconstruction can begin.

“Huge swathes of Gaza have been levelled. We cannot rebuild it with our hands tied behind our backs,” he said. “The blockade must end... All those directly and indirectly responsible for the carnage and destruction must engage,” he added.

At least 65,000 people have had their homes destroyed, and UNRWA said 222,000 people are still sheltering in 89 UN schools.

US-based Human Rights Watch said the knocking out of Gaza’s only electrical power plant, by apparent Israeli shellfire, has worsened the humanitarian crisis. ■ AFP / August 09, 2014

Hamas plays dangerous poker game in Cairo JERUSALEM - Limited skirmishes or a new round of killing? Friday’s resumption of hostilities may see Hamas overplay its hand in a dangerous poker game that could plunge Gaza back into chaos, analysts said.

Palestinian militants fired two rockets at Israel in the final hours of a 72-hour truce and followed it up with dozens more as Israel hit back with unrelenting air strikes.

At least 1,898 Palestinians have been now killed, including around 450 children, thousands of homes have been reduced to rubble and around a quarter of the 1.8 million people in Gaza displaced.

Israel endured its worst military losses -- 64 soldiers -- since its 2006 war against Hezbollah in Lebanon -- and three civilians -- one of them a Thai agricultural worker -were killed on the home front.

Indirect talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, whose delegation includes Hamas, have stretched for days in Cairo but Egyptian mediators have struggled to reconcile conflicting demands.

Hamas wants Israel to lift the blockade it imposed on Gaza in 2006 before it will stop rocket attacks. Israel has conditioned reconstruction on the demilitarisation of Gaza.

Palestinians who have been displaced due to Israeli bombardments on the Gaza Strip crowd around a United Nations official to receive food aid in Gaza City on August 8, 2014. Photo by Roberto Schmidt ©AFP.

Easing the blockade. Hamas sees lifting the blockade, which Egypt has also partially imposed with the closure of the Rafah border crossing, as the minimum it can take home to a war-battered Gaza Strip.

“Clearly they are not going to get it.

Question is how much easing will they get?” says Nathan Thrall, from the International Crisis Group.

The armed wing of Hamas, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, has insisted on a sea port and the building of an international airport in Gaza.

Israel will not countenance it.

“Any boat would be able to enter without being checked and Israel will never accept that,” warned Thrall, pointing out that a port would simply give Hamas a new means to smuggle in rockets.

Naji Charab, a political affairs expert at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, says Hamas is looking for some kind of compromise that would give it “an honourable exit.”

The Islamist movement may have inflicted greater losses on Israel in the battlefield than it expected to, but it has been forced into a corner and lost an ally in Egypt.

The overthrow of president Mohamed Morsi, whose Muslim Brotherhood movement is close to Hamas, has seen Cairo lash out hard against Hamas, destroying its tunnels on the Egyptian side of the border and freezing out the movement.

Palestinian protesters clash with Israeli security forces (unseen) following a demonstration in support of Gaza after Friday prayers at the Hawara checkpoint, east of the West Bank city of Nablus, on August 8, 2014. Photo by Musa Al-Shaer ©AFP Photo.

Kobi Michael, a political scientist at Ariel University in the occupied West Bank, said Israel’s most important alliance in the Middle East had become Cairo.

“Egypt has no problem seeing Gazans buckle under the burden,” he told AFP. “In that aspect, Israel might have even disappointed Egypt a bit for not doing to Hamas what Egypt would have done to them if it were up to them,” he added.

Ground offensive? Its battlefield achievements have given Hamas at least a temporary boost in popularity in Gaza, but it is under huge pressure to prove to people at home that the massive Palestinian losses were worth something.

Former Israeli government spokeswoman Miri Eisin told AFP that Hamas wanted to see how Israel will respond.

For the moment Israel has hit back only with air strikes. It recalled all ground troops from Gaza earlier this week and there is no imminent sign of tanks rolling back across the border.

“If they want to stop the rocket fire you have to go with ground forces, you have to occupy the Gaza Strip. But nobody has said that,” she said.

“Israel did not want to go in, to conquer Gaza, to progress too deep,” said Yoram Schweitzer, a former counter-terrorism chief in the Israeli military.

But if the conflict gets bogged down and the sides can’t reach an acceptable agreement, “Israel would have to decide if it changes its policy and enters Gaza for a wider operation,” he said. ■ AFP / August 08, 2014

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INTERNATIONAL / GLOBAL NEWS

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

Sea row overshadows China, Southeast Asia, US talks CHINA on Saturday vowed “clear and firm reactions” to defend its interests in the South China Sea but rejected suggestions of aggression, as America’s top diplomat urged restraint from all claimants to the bitterly contested waters.

A series of incidents between Beijing and several other nations with territorial claims to the sea has sent tensions soaring across Southeast Asia and spurred Washington to call for a halt to any activities that could worsen regional maritime relations.

Animosity over the South China Sea, a crucial maritime route that is also believed to hold huge oil and gas deposits, is dominating Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) talks in Myanmar, which began Friday and are broadening to include key world powers ahead of security discussions on Sunday.

“The position of China to safeguard its own sovereignty, maritime rights and interests is firm and unshakeable,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters following a meeting with ASEAN counterparts in the Myanmar capital Naypyidaw.

Beijing claims sovereignty over almost

the entire sea including waters, islands, reefs, shoals and rocky outcrops nearer to other countries.

ASEAN states Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam also claim parts of the sea, while Taiwan is a sixth claimant.

While China always acted with “self restraint”, Wang warned “for those groundless provocative activities, the Chinese side is bound to make clear and firm reactions.”

‘Common responsibility’. US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is in Naypyidaw for the regional meet, called on all parties to refrain from actions that could deepen hostilities.

Speaking ahead of bilateral talks with the 10-member ASEAN, Kerry said the US shared a “common responsibility” with the bloc to “ensure the maritime security of critical global seas lanes and ports”.

“What happens here matters, not just in this region and to the United States, but it matters to everybody in the world to see a Southeast Asia that continues to grow based on rules-based international law,” he added.

Quoting a 2002 declaration of conduct

for the disputed region -- also signed by China -- Kerry urged claimant states to voluntarily agree to step back from any actions that could “complicate or escalate disputes”.

In May relations between China and Vietnam sank to their lowest point in decades after Beijing moved a deep-sea oil rig into disputed waters near the Paracel Islands, triggering deadly anti-China riots in Vietnam.

Beijing has since removed the rig, in a move that analysts say was aimed at deflecting accusations of aggression.

The 2002 declaration is non-binding, a sticking point for ASEAN nations.

Wang insisted Beijing was ready to listen to “well-intentioned proposals” on managing disputes.

But he urged Manila to drop a legal challenge it has filed with the United Nations over China’s claims to the most of the sea.

US charm offensive. Kerry’s trip is seen as part of a wider US foreign policy pivot to reinvigorate alliances in the Asia-Pacific.

He kicked off his Southeast Asian diplomatic charm offensive with a meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh

Minh.

The top US diplomat, who fought in the Vietnam War, hailed “progress” in relations, adding that issues such as communist Vietnam’s rights record would continue to be discussed as part of efforts “to really bring this relationship to its full blossom”.

But his discussions with ASEAN members appear set to be pegged to the South China Sea issue with increasing disquiet among some member states over China’s regional ambitions.

Washington had said discussions of the South China Sea at the ASEAN Regional Forum on Sunday are expected to be robust, but a State Department official insisted the US was not looking for a “showdown” with China.

A draft statement from ASEAN foreign ministers, who met Friday, said the bloc had “serious concern” over recent developments in the disputed sea.

It also called for an end to “destabilising actions” in wording that is likely to have proved contentious for China’s supporters within ASEAN -- no final statement had been released by late Saturday.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrives to attend the ASEAN-China ministerial meeting at the Myanmar International Convention Center in Naypyidaw on August 9, 2014

Natalegawa told reporters that “selfrestraint” among the claimants was already evident in the fact that recent incidents “did not become full-blown crises”.

Sunday’s ARF will bring together ASEAN foreign ministers and key partners, including the US, Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia and the European Union. ■ AFP / August 09, 2014

Patient quarantined with Ebola-like symptoms MONTREAL - A patient back from Nigeria who showed symptoms of fever and flu — possible signs of Ebola — was put in isolation in a Toronto-area hospital, Canadian health officials said.

Nigeria is one of several countries in West Africa that has had confirmed cases of Ebola, in the world’s largest ever outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic fever that has seen 961 deaths and nearly 1,800 people infected since the beginning of the year.

The unnamed male patient was being treated at the William Osler Health System’s Brampton Civic Hospital in a suburb of Toronto.

“As a precautionary measure, Osler put

in heightened infection control measures in the emergency department including isolating the patient,” the hospital said in a statement, released late on Friday.

Hospital doctors “are working closely” with public health officials “to confirm a diagnosis.”

In addition to quarantining the patient, the hospital said it enacted other strict precautionary measures.

“To date, there are no confirmed cases of Ebola in Ontario and the risk to Ontarians remains very low,” said Graham Pollett, the province’s Interim Chief Medical Officer of Health.

He also said that Ontario’s health care

system “is prepared to respond should an individual arrive with symptoms that could suggest a disease, such as Ebola.”

He cautioned that initial Ebola symptoms “are similar to many more common diseases,” adding that health care providers “have been advised to be on heightened alert for Ebola cases.”

Another senior Ontario health official, Eric Hoskins, said in a statement that with the “experience and lessons learned from the SARS epidemic, our hospitals have sophisticated infection control systems and procedures ... and are fully equipped to deal with any potential cases of Ebola.”

The worst affected countries so far have

been Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, but Nigeria has also had nine confirmed cases of Ebola so far.

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan

on Friday declared a national emergency several hours after the World Health Organization called the epidemic a global health crisis. ■ AFP / August 09, 2014

Mexico stops migrants from climbing ‘Beast’ train Poland asks US to import apples banned by Russia TUXTLA Gutiérrez (Mexico) - Mexican authorities have launched operations to block Central American migrants from illegally heading to the United States, stopping them from hitching rides on a freight train known as “The Beast.”

The operations came after officials pledged to take action to stem a wave of unaccompanied child migrants who have flooded into the United States in record numbers in recent months.

Migrant rights activists and a consular official from a Central American nation said Mexican federal police and immigration

agents conducted patrols late Thursday along the train tracks in the southern state of Chiapas, which borders Guatemala.

The train through Mexico is used by migrants who pay smugglers for the dangerous ride. It has been the scene of robberies and falls leading to severe injuries.

The authorities also launched raids in bus stations in the town of Tapachula, said Ramon Verdugo, who heads the local migrant shelter known as “Everything for Them.”

Several migrants hid in surrounding bushes during the operations, Verdugo told AFP.

Central American immigrant get on the so-called La Bestia (The Beast) cargo train, in an attempt to reach the Mexico-US border, in Arriaga, Chiapas state, Mexico on July 16, 2014.

Photo by Elizabeth Ruiz ©AFP.

A consular official from a Central American country, who requested anonymity, said around 150 people were detained by agents who raided small hotels and restaurants frequented by undocumented migrants. They face deportation.

“They are grabbing them everywhere,” including roads, said Carlos Bartolo Solis, head of the “Merciful Lord” shelter. He said many of the detainees have been minors.

Spokespeople for the federal police and National Migration Institute said they had no information about the operations.

Mexico had announced in July measures to stop migrants from hopping on the train as well as a program to handle the surge of migrants, including minors.

The number of unaccompanied children illegally entering the United States at its southern border fell by half over the past two months, from 10,628 in June to 5,508 in July.

Between October and June, more than 57,000 unaccompanied children were detained at the US-Mexico border, about three-quarters of them minors fleeing poverty and gang violence in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. ■ AFP / August 08, 2014

WARSAW - Poland has asked the United States to open its market quickly to Polish apples banned by Russia in a sanctions war over the crisis in Ukraine.

Poland’s ambassador to Washington, Ryszard Schnepf, said he had met Michael Scuse, a senior official in the US Department of Agriculture, about the steps needed to open up the US market, the Polish press agency PAP reported.

“We are interested in a quick decision because the situation is extraordinary,” Schnepf was quoted as saying.

“He told us to begin the procedure. We have a new meeting planned for August 18

Apples are transported on a production line at a fruit factory in Regnow, Poland, on April 26, 2014

with the heads of the agency that allows for the entry of agriculture products to the United States,” he said.

“There is a greater understanding on account of the fact that the United States has also been hit by Russian sanctions,” he added.

The United States severely restricts imports of fresh fruit and vegetables from the European Union, including EU member Poland, PAP said.

However, there are exceptions and Poland exports peppers and broccoli to the US market while Italy exports apples and pears, PAP said.

Poland is by far the leading exporter of apples in Europe, ahead of Italy and France.

Moscow announced on Thursday it was introducing an embargo on most food imports from Western countries that have imposed punishing sanctions against Russia over its annexation of Crimea and alleged support for rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Imports of beef, pork, fruit and vegetable produce, poultry, fish, cheese, milk and dairy products from the European Union, United States, Australia, Canada and Norway have been immediately banned. ■ AFP / August 09, 2014

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

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US jets strike jihadists in Iraq ARBIL (Iraq) - US jets struck jihadist positions in northern Iraq on Friday, a potential turning point in a two-month crisis Washington said was threatening to result in genocide and to expose US assets.

President Barack Obama’s order for the first air strikes on Iraq since he put an end to US occupation in 2011 came after Islamic State (IS) militants made massive gains on the ground, seizing a dam and forcing a mass exodus of religious minorities.

Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said on Twitter that US forces bombed the jihadists after artillery fire against Kurdish regional government forces defending their capital Arbil.

Two US jets hit a mobile artillery piece, he said. A Kurdish official said the strikes targeted the towns of Gwer and Makhmur, southeast of the autonomous Kurdish region.

The US operation began with air drops of food and water for thousands of people hiding from the Sunni extremist militants in a barren northern mountain range.

Many people who have been cowering in the Sinjar mountains for five days in searing heat and with no supplies are Yazidis, a minority that follows a 4,000-year-old faith.

Obama accused the IS, which calls Yazidis “devil-worshippers”, of attempting “the systematic destruction of the entire

people, which would constitute genocide”.

The UN said it was “urgently preparing a humanitarian corridor.”

Panic had begun to grip Arbil after IS thrust into the Nineveh plains separating the city from the main jihadist of Mosul and Obama’s decision was welcomed there.

“We were very nervous these past few days. Daash (Islamic State) is powerful and well-equipped,” said Karwan Ahmed, 27, a taxi driver. “This is good news.”

The Kurdish peshmerga, short of ammunition and stretched thin along a huge front, have been forced to retreat in the face of brazen assaults by the jihadists.

Captured dam. Their withdrawal from the Christian heartland on Wednesday and Thursday sparked a mass exodus—100,000 people according to Iraq’s Chaldean patriarch—and spurred Western powers into action.

Obama’s announcement came after an emergency UN Security Council meeting called by France, which also offered to support the emergency effort.

The capture of Mosul dam was another setback for the peshmerga who had been defending it and gave jihadists a power of life and death over a huge swathe of land.

A Kurdish and a local official said jihadists took it over on Thursday and warned that any “unscientific manipulation” could have disastrous consequences.

A 2007 letter to the Iraqi government based on a US assessment had warned that “catastrophic failure of Mosul dam would result in flooding along the Tigris river all the way to Baghdad.”

While IS has weaponised dams before, Mosul dam provides water and electricity to its main stronghold and is crucial to its own state-building efforts.

In Mosul, the country’s second city, identical sermons were delivered in all mosques Friday, residents said, with worshippers asked to swear obedience to the “caliph”, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Stranded Yazidis. Obama suggested the strikes would be “limited” in scope.

But he “has not laid a specific end date,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters, while insisting a “prolonged military conflict that includes US involvement is not on the table.”

Iraq’s military chief of staff told AFP he expected to see his forces and the peshmerga reclaim large tracts of land “in the coming hours”.

He said he thought the US air strikes would extend to other towns controlled

by IS but he did not say which ones. The jihadists control towns west, south and north of Baghdad.

There has been daily fighting on several fronts for two months and as the conflict escalated Friday, the US banned its civilian airliners from overflying Iraq, Britain asked its nationals in parts of Kurdistan to leave

Yazidi women who fled the violence in the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, sit at a school where they are taking shelter in the Kurdish city of Dohuk, on August 5, 2014.

and global stock markets were shaky.

Obama came to office determined to end US military involvement in Iraq, and in his first term oversaw the withdrawal of the huge ground force deployed there since the 2003 American-led invasion.

But the capture of huge swathes of land by jihadists, who in late June proclaimed a “caliphate” straddling Syria and Iraq, has brought a country already rife with sectarian tension closer to collapse.

Many people in Baghdad were sceptical of Obama’s motives.

“He did nothing for three years but something happened to the Kurds and the Christians and he started talking about terrorism,” said Rashaad Khodhr Abbas, a retired civil servant.

“Where were you all this time, Obama?”

IS has enjoyed a spectacular run of military successes in Iraq, but the group also scored a key victory in Syria, with the capture overnight of a key army base in Raqa province.

Observers say one of the main obstacles to coordinated action by all of IS’s Iraqi foes is Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, accused by many of having institutionalised sectarianism in recent years.

The United States, the Shiite religious leadership, powerful neighbour Iran and even much of his own party have all pulled their support but Maliki has dug his heels in. ■ AFP / August 08, 2014

Tens of thousands in Jordan celebrate ‘Gaza victory’

Jordanian supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood set fire to a mock Israeli tank during a protest to celebrate the “Gaza victory” in the war against Israel, in the capital Amman on August 8, 201

AMMAN - Tens of thousands of Jordanians celebrated on Friday the “Gaza victory” in the war against Israel, at a rally organised by the Islamist opposition.

Muslim Brotherhood chief Hammam Said said that around half a million people attended the rally in Tabarbur, east of the Jordanian capital, while a security official put the number at more than 100,000.

Demonstrators waved Palestinian and Jordanian flags as well as the colours of Hamas, the Islamist Palestinian rulers of Hamas, who have been locked in a monthlong deadly showdown with Israel.

They also held up signs that read: “Gaza victory” and “There is no option but the resistance” in reference to Hamas’s confrontation with Israeli forces, and urged Arab rulers to “liberate Palestine”.

The demonstrators also chanted slogans of support for Hamas’s military wing, the

Ezzeddine al-Qassam Brigades, with the Brotherhood chief lauding the fighters, an AFP correspondent said.

“O heroes of Qassam... may God praise you,” said Said, paying tribute to the militants for firing rockets at Israel and its troops.

“You are victorious in the negotiations and you were victorious in the battles,” he said, in reference to talks mediated by Egypt for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza.

During the rally masked men wearing military fatigues like those of the Qassam Brigades marched holding up mock rockets.

Israel launched Operation Protective Edge on July 8 to stop rocket attacks on its territory and nine days later expanded it to destroy a network of tunnels used by militants to infiltrate the Jewish state.

More than 1,800 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive while 67

people, mostly soldiers died on the Israeli side.

Israel and the Palestinians observed a 72-hour ceasefire from Tuesday but hostilities resumed again after it expired at 0500 Friday.

Palestinian militants breached the quiet by firing rockets into Israel and Israeli warplanes retaliated by pounding targets across Gaza.

Egypt is mediating between Israelis and Palestinians and insists negotiations were making progress but Israel has recalled its delegation and warned it would not negotiate under fire.

Hundreds of people also marched to the Jordanian prime minister’s office on Friday in a demonstration organised by leftist parties and trade unions to denounce the Israeli offensive on Gaza. ■ AFP / August 08, 2014

Russia food embargo creates golden opportunity for Brazil BRASILIA (Brazil) - Brazilian meat exporters said Thursday that Moscow’s ban on food imports from Europe and the United States provide a golden opportunity to sell more of their products to Russia.

The sanctions announced by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev come just days after Moscow sealed import deals with two dozen Brazilian poultry companies and five pork producers.

All told, there are nearly 40 Brazilian poultry producers and 12 pork manufacturers exporting their goods to Russia, industry officials said.

There are also more than two dozen

beef production facilities which now have approval to export to Russia, according to the Brazilian meat exporters’ association ABIEC. Russia is the second biggest consumer of Brazilian port and beef, with beef being Brazil’s biggest export to Russia.

From January to June, these exports were worth $563 million out of $3 billion in total bilateral trade during that period, according to official figures.

The embargo on US and European products was launched in retaliation against US and European sanctions over Russia’s alleged role in eastern Ukraine

separatist violence.

It “opens up an opportunity for Brazil to increase its exports to Russia” said Ricardo Santin, head of a Brazilian poultry producers’ association.

Just last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to Brazil and several other countries in Latin America to increase trade and investment.

Medvedev said the Russian embargo will bar for one year imports of meats, fruits and vegetables, fish and dairy products from Australia, Canada, the European Union, Norway and the United States. Only baby food was exempted. ■ AFP / August 07, 2014

A man piles up salted meat in the municipal market in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on March 15, 2010

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Hay fever treatments THERE are a variety of treatments for hay fever including tablets, eyedrops, nasal sprays and injections. Finding which works best for you will help you stay symptom-free through the summer.

Antihistamines. Histamine is a chemical released by your body after it’s been exposed to a trigger such as pollen.

It produces symptoms of hay fever such as sneezing or itchy, watery eyes.

Antihistamines block the action of histamine in the body. According to John Collard, clinical director of Allergy UK, this then reduces the symptoms of an allergic reaction.

“Older-style sedating antihistamines, such as Piriton, are taken three or four times a day and can make you drowsy,” says Collard. “Non-sedating antihistamines, such as loratadine, are only taken once a day and don’t cause drowsiness. Different people find different brands work best for them.”

As well as tablets, antihistamines are available as nasal sprays, eye drops or liquids to be swallowed. Most are available as over-the-counter drugs.

Steroid nasal sprays. Steroid nasal sprays are more effective than antihistamines at treating some symptoms of hay fever, such as a blocked nose.

They just work on the nose and hardly any of the steroid is absorbed by the body.

There are almost no side effects with a normal dose. You can use steroid nasal sprays for long periods of time without any risk.

They take several days to act and need be taken continually for several weeks as their effect builds up with time.

If you have other symptoms, steroid nasal sprays can be used in addition to other treatments, for example for itchy and watery eyes.

Cromoglycates. Cromoglycates are not

HEALTH and Lifestyle

antihistamines. They’re a type of hay fever medicine mainly available as eye drops but you can also get them as nasal sprays. If antihistamines aren’t working on their own, you can use cromoglycates as well.

This medication has few side effects and works on specific areas such as the nose or eyes.

Hay fever injections. Immunotherapy or desensitisation treatment may work if your symptoms are severe and are not controlled by other hay fever medicines. If you want this type of treatment, you need to go to a

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

specialist allergy clinic after referral from your GP. Initially you have to have an injection every week or fortnight at the clinic and then regularly for up to two years.

It involves pollen being injected into your body, so you may have an allergic response.

There have been a few cases of severe reactions to desensitisation injections.

They should only be given in specialist centres and only if your symptoms can’t be controlled by other methods.

Complementary medicine. Although

there is little evidence-based research in this area, some people believe these therapies work for them.

Butterbur, also known as ‘bog rhubarb’, is a herbal remedy that is believed to have the same effect as an antihistamine but without causing drowsiness.

Echinacea, usually used to treat colds, is said to reduce your sensitivity to allergens.

Euphrasia (or Eyebright) comes as eye drops and is sometimes used for symptoms of hay fever such as watery or itchy eyes. ■ NHS Choices

‘I cannot run away from my hay fever’ HE sprinted his way into the record books, but athlete Marlon Devonish can’t escape his hay fever.

Marlon, 33, is one of Britain’s most successful sportsmen. He was part of Britain’s Olympic gold medal-winning relay team at Athens in 2004 and has received an MBE for his contribution to British sport.

To get there, Marlon has had to overcome numerous sporting injuries, including a hamstring injury in 2000 that stopped him from competing in the Sydney Olympics that year. But what many people don’t know is that he’s also had to learn to manage severe hay fever.

“It’s something I’ve had to deal with since childhood,” says Marlon. “It runs in the family.”

Around 20% of Britons have hay fever.

Like most of them, Marlon expects seasonal bouts of sniffing and sneezing. Unlike most people, he has gold medals that depend on his physical condition, especially in the summer racing season.

“I get the usual symptoms of itchy eyes, nose and throat, but I also get exerciseinduced asthma. Because I’m so allergic to the pollen in the air, it causes my chest to tighten when I run. So if I don’t manage my

hay fever carefully, it can seriously affect my performance on the track.

“I have to get clearance every year from the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) so that while I’m competing, I can use an inhaler to control my asthma. My hay fever is at its worst at the height of summer when there is more pollen in the air. This is when I have to be most vigilant with my medication.

“I don’t have to be so careful in the winter when I’m not competing, but I still have to monitor the condition closely.”

Eating well. Despite living with hay fever since childhood, Marlon has never let it hold him back from his active lifestyle.

“I used to suffer badly when I was younger because I’d rub my eyes until they were red raw, but it never stopped my love of sport. When I was at school, I used to get involved in everything I could.

“My favourite sports were basketball and football which, unfortunately, I don’t really have time to play now because my training schedule is so hectic.”

As an Olympic athlete, Marlon trains six days a week to stay at the peak of his physical and technical fitness. He also keeps a close watch on his diet.

“It’s so important that I eat well when training. As a sprinter, protein is a vital part of my diet because when you sprint, you tear your muscles on a microscopic level.

You then need to replenish the protein in your system for muscle building. So I eat lots of meat for protein and carbs for energy.”

Keeping in shape. Marlon has always kept a close eye on his health and fitness.

“My mum’s a nurse, so from a young age I was made very aware of my health. Apart from hay fever, the other problem that runs in the family is high blood pressure. My gran has it. She’s had to control her diet and cut down on saturated fat and salt.

“I’m aware this is something I may have to watch out for when I get older.

Marlon thinks the 2012 Olympics will have a positive effect on the UK’s health. “I hope it will act as a catalyst to improve our lifestyles. I don’t think they’re particularly great in the UK. You only have to turn on the TV to see the programmes about our unhealthy lifestyles, from booze culture to obesity.

“After the event is over, we’ll be left with some great sporting facilities, which will hopefully inspire kids and adults alike to keep themselves healthy.” ■ NHS Choices

in your body. As well as making you more sensitive to pollen, alcohol also dehydrates you, making your symptoms seem worse.

5. Sleep well. Try to avoid too many late nights during the hay fever season. The survey found that people with hay fever who

get a good night’s sleep tend to have the mildest symptoms. Just one in eight (13%) people who had at least seven hours sleep a night reported severe symptoms, compared with one in five (21%) who regularly had five hours sleep or less a night. ■ NHS Choices

Five tips to reduce hay fever symptoms YOUR lifestyle can affect how severe your hay fever symptoms are.

A recent report, based on a survey of more than 2,000 people with hay fever, found that lifestyle factors, such as stress and exercise, can have a major impact on hay fever. Follow these tips to stop the sneezing.

1. Calm down. Try to reduce your stress levels. The survey showed a clear link between stress and the severity of hay fever symptoms. Almost seven out of ten stressed-out hay fever sufferers rate their symptoms as unbearable or debilitating.

As stress levels drop, symptoms become milder.

2. Exercise more. Regular exercise can improve your hay fever. The survey found that people with hay fever who exercise most have the mildest symptoms. Exercise will help reduce your stress levels, too.

Aim to do 150 minutes (two and a half hours) of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, such as cycling and fast walking, every week. However, during hay fever season, it’s best to avoid exercising outdoors when the pollen count is high.

This is generally first thing in the morning and early evening. Instead, exercise in late morning or afternoon when pollen counts tend to be lowest. If pollen counts are really high, stick to indoor exercise, for example at

your local gym or swimming pool.

3. Eat well. The survey suggests that people with hay fever who eat a healthy diet are less likely to get severe symptoms.

Eat a varied, balanced diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables, but be aware than some healthy foods can make hay fever symptoms worse. Foods that can worsen hay fever symptoms include apples, tomatoes, stoned fruits, melons, bananas and celery.

4. Cut down on alcohol. Watch how much you drink at your summer picnics!

Alcohol worsens hay fever. Beer, wine and other spirits contain histamine, the chemical that sets off allergy symptoms

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

Food allergy A food allergy is when the body’s immune system reacts abnormally to specific foods.

Allergic reactions are often mild, but they can sometimes be very serious.

In children, common food allergies include being allergic to milk and eggs. In adults, allergies to fruits and vegetables are more common. Nut allergies, such as being allergic to peanut, are relatively common in both children and adults.

Symptoms of a food allergy can affect different areas of the body at the same time.

Some common symptoms include: • an itchy sensation inside the mouth, throat or ears • raised itchy red skin rash (this is known asurticaria, hives or “nettle rash”) • swelling of the face, around the eyes, lips, tongue and the roof of the mouth (this is known as angioedema) Anaphylaxis. In the most serious cases, a person has a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis), which can be life-threatening.

If you suspect that somebody is experiencing thesymptoms of anaphylaxis, such as breathing difficulties and swollen lips, immediately call 999 for an ambulance and tell the operator that you think the person has anaphylaxis.

What causes food allergies? Food allergies are caused when the immune system (the body’s defence against infection) mistakenly treats proteins found in food as a threat to the body, when in fact they should be harmless.

It then releases a number of chemicals to prevent what it sees as an infection taking

hold. It is these chemicals that cause the symptoms of an allergic reaction.

Any food could cause an allergic reaction, but there are certain foods that are responsible for most food allergies.

In children, the foods that most commonly cause an allergic reaction are: • milk • eggs • peanuts • tree nuts • fish • shellfish The majority of children with a food allergy have a background of eczema (an allergic skin condition) during infancy. The worse their eczema is and the earlier it started, the more likely they are to have a food allergy.

In adults, the foods that most commonly cause an allergic reaction are: • some types of fruit such as apples, pears, kiwi fruit and peaches • some types of vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, celery and parsnip • crustaceans (shellfish), such as crab, lobster and prawns • tree nuts, such as walnuts, brazil nuts, almonds and pistachios • peanuts • fish It is still uncertain why people develop allergies to food, although often people with a food allergy have other allergic conditions such as asthma, hay fever and eczema.

Types of food allergies. The most common type of food allergy is triggered by an antibody called immunoglobulin E. This

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A type of medication called an antihistamine can help relieve the symptoms of a mild to moderate allergic reaction. is known as IgE-mediated food allergy and tends to cause rapid symptoms, often within seconds or minutes of exposure to certain foods. There is a greater risk of anaphylaxis with this type of allergy.

Allergic reactions not caused by immunoglobulin E (non IgE mediated food allergy) tend to cause symptoms hours or even days after exposure to certain foods.

This type of allergy is often difficult to diagnose.

Treatment. There is no treatment to cure a food allergy. The best way of preventing an allergic reaction is to identify the type of food that causes the allergy and then avoid it in future.

Read more about identifying foods which cause allergies (these are known as allergens).

However, avoid making any radical changes to your child’s diet, such as cutting dairy products, without first consulting with your GP.

A type of medication called an antihistamine can help relieve the symptoms of a mild to moderate allergic reaction. A type of medication called adrenaline is aneffective treatment for anaphylaxis.

People with a food allergy are often given a device, known as an auto-injector pen, which contains dosages of adrenaline that can be used in case of emergencies.

When to seek medical advice. If you suspect you or your child may have a food allergy, it’s very important to ask for a professional diagnosis from your GP, who can refer you to an allergy clinic.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has also released a short guide for parents who are concerned that their child has a food allergy.

Many parents mistakenly assume their child has a food allergy when in fact their symptoms are due to a completely different condition.

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There are commercial allergytesting kits available but their use is not recommended. Many kits are based on unsound scientific principles and even if they are reliable, it is best to have the results interpreted by a health professional.

Who is affected. Most food allergies affect younger children aged under the age of three. It is estimated that around one child in every 14 children of this age has one or more food allergies.

Most children will “outgrow” food allergies to milk, eggs, soya and wheat by the time they start school.

Peanut allergies are usually more persistent. An estimated four out of five children with peanut allergies remain allergic to peanuts for the rest of their life.

Food allergies that develop during adulthood, or persist into adulthood, are likely to be lifelong allergies.

For reasons that are unclear, rates of food allergies have risen sharply in the last 20 years.

However, deaths from anaphylaxisrelated food reactions are now very rare.

There were only two reported deaths related to food allergies in England and Wales during 2010. ■ NHS Choices

Is it a food allergy or food intolerance?

AROUND one or two people out of every 100 in the UK have a food allergy, but food intolerance is more common.

Genuine food allergy is rare. About 2% of the population (and 8% of children under the age of three) are affected.

What is a food allergy? A food allergy is a rapid and potentially serious response to a food by your immune system. It can trigger classic allergy symptoms such as a rash, wheezing and itching.

The most common food allergies among adults are to fish and shellfish and nuts – including peanuts, walnuts, hazelnuts and

brazil nuts. Children often have allergies to milk and eggs as well as to peanuts, other nuts and fish.

What is a food intolerance? Food intolerances are more common than food allergies. The symptoms of food intolerance tend to come on more slowly, often many hours after eating the problem food. Typical symptoms include bloating and stomach cramps. It’s possible to be intolerant to several different foods. This can make it difficult to identify which foods are causing the problem.

Food intolerances can also be difficult

to tell apart from other digestive disorders that can produce similar symptoms, such as inflammatory bowel disease, gastrointestinal obstructions or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

Lactose intolerance.

Lactose intolerance, sometimes known as dairy intolerance, occurs when your body can’t digest lactose. Lactose is in milk and dairy products such as yoghurts and soft cheeses. The main symptoms are diarrhoea and stomach pain. In most cases, your GP can diagnose lactose intolerance by looking at your symptoms and medical history.

Could it be another type of food intolerance or condition? Sometimes it isn’t clear which food is causing a problem.

The only reliable way of identifying such a food intolerance is through an exclusion diet, where you cut out certain foods from your diet one at a time to see if there’s an effect.

Coeliac disease is a common digestive condition where a person has an adverse reaction to gluten. However, coeliac disease is not an allergy or an intolerance to gluten.

It is an autoimmune condition where the immune system mistakes substances found inside gluten as a threat to the body and attacks them.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye and barley that damages the intestine of people with coeliac disease. Symptoms include diarrhoea, bloating and weight loss. Coeliac disease can be accurately diagnosed with a blood test and biopsy.

About one out of 100 people in the UK have coeliac disease, but it’s estimated that around half a million aren’t diagnosed.

Treatments for food allergy and food intolerance. In the case of a food allergy, you’ll have to avoid the food you’re allergic to. You may be able to eat the cooked versions without any problems, for example with fruit or vegetable allergies.

With lactose intolerance, you’ll have to reduce the amount of dairy food that you eat.

With other forms of food intolerance,

How to tell the difference Food allergy: • Symptoms come on within seconds or minutes of eating the food • In extreme cases it can be lifethreatening • Even a tiny trace of the food can cause a reaction • It is easily diagnosed with tests

Food intolerance: • Symptoms come on more slowly and are long-lasting. They mainly involve the digestive system • It’s never life-threatening • A reasonable portion of food is usually needed to cause a reaction, although some people can be sensitive to small amounts • You may crave the problem food • It’s difficult to diagnose as there are only a few reliable tests you’ll have to stop eating the food for a while, or possibly for life.

With the autoimmune condition coeliac disease, you must avoid gluten for life.

In all cases, always read food labels carefully, and learn where your problem food may be used as an ingredient in other foods.

For more advice on your diet, ask your GP to refer you to an NHS dietitian. ■ NHS Choices

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August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

Metro Manila can’t escape its traffic and transport nightmare unless...

METRO Manila started the week with a new twist to its continuing transportation nightmare. On top of the road construction and the still unresolved failing service of the MRT, LTFRB threw another straw on to the camel’s back by creating “no apprehension” corridors for colorum trucks and allowing provincial transit buses back into the megacity.

The blame game rose to such fever pitch that Malacañang tasked Almendras to resolve the row and “to find a common ground that can become the basis of an acceptable course of action.” Meanwhile, Metro Manilans continue to suffer.

LTFRB seems to be on a regulatory tear since former Corona lawyer Winston Ginez became chair, issuing such wonders as blocking Makati’s alternative shuttle and attempting to block app-based transport services such as Tripid and Uber. Ginez, at least, is not sitting on his haunches.

But this row and the continuing nightmare on our roads and trains and buses emphatically underscores how far behind our thinking is on urban transportation.

We’ve been banging our heads on the same wall over the last 40 years, trying to solve the same symptom without getting to the root of the problem. We keep trying vehicular reduction programs (that’s what the number coding system is), road expansion and road building, flyovers, U-turn slots, yellow

boxes, bus lanes, ad nauseum. Nothing really works for very long because were attacking a symptom: traffic congestion. We have not dealt with the real problem: urban transportation.

Urban transportation is a system therefore we need systems thinking and an institutional framework that can tackle the issue at the system level.

What we have instead is a completely fragmented system, an alphabet soup of agencies each designed for a different purpose: LTFRB and LTO are regulatory agencies, PNR, MRTC and LRTA are operators, the DOTC supervises all of the former and also builds mass transit infrastructure, DPWH builds roads and highways, MMDA manages traffic on main thoroughfares along with the LGU traffic enforcers and the PNP. With the exception of the MMDA and the LGUs, the agencies are all national level agencies for whom Metro Manila is just a subset of the remit. No one seems to be in charge of looking at the metropolitan transportation system as a whole.

That is what we need if we want to even hope to get out of this mess. A single, executive body, tasked with the planning, management and operation of the Metro Manila transportation SYSTEM. It would be responsible for walking, biking, roads, rail, water, public, private and all forms

of conveyance that traverse the national capital region. We could model it after Transport for London which is responsible for implementing the metropolitan transport strategy and managing the transport services across Greater London.

A single, empowered agency could then begin tackling the whole system and understanding how the layers of services interconnect. It could rationalize what needs to be rationalized. It could simplify the system.

More importantly, in this connected age, the metropolitan transport agency could gather and monitor the right information so that we pay attention to and solve the right problems. It could rebalance the priorities.

Eight out of ten Metro Manilans travel by public transportation. The agency can focus on moving people, not just moving vehicles.

It could make the critical connection to land use and housing, understanding that where people live, shop and work determine how they move across the city. It could rebuild the value chain of public transportation so we move beyond regulating to instead actively managing the layers of services.

(For example: Transport for London franchises bus services to private operators but the value chain is split so that bus operators only operate buses. Other companies are in-charge of collecting fares.

The bus operators are paid per kilometer

served and route operated, not per head passenger served. They also have contracts that specify minimum performance requirements around safety and on-time arrivals.

The contracts are tendered every five years and can be cancelled for infractions. Passengers can only pay with an electronic card and so there is no space and no incentives for colorum buses to operate.)

Some would say we need a metropolitan governor to solve Metro Manila’s transportation problem. I have my doubts because I think it would create more problems than it would solve. Plus, the political hurdles are very high.

On the other hand, Malacañang can easily create the precursor of a Transport for Metro Manila agency by creating an

interagency task force and giving the task force control over and delegating the authority of the sections of the concerned national agencies operating in Metro Manila.

All it would require would be an Executive Order and the task force could roll out on day one. (Meanwhile, our good legislators can get to work crafting the enabling legislation that would create the formal body.)

A new, metropolitan agency would shift the paradigm especially if the remit is on the real problem of urban transportation, not just the symptom that is traffic congestion.

It would bring systems thinking to a systemic problem. ■ Benjamin de la Peña currently serves as the director of community and national strategy for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Follow him on Twitter: @benjiedlp / August 7, 2014 / 10:18 AM

12 convicted Chinese poachers face time at Iwahig penal colony

Failure not an option: Palace trains sight on success of Bangsamoro MANILA - Malacanang said on Saturday that it is training its sight on successfully launching the Bangsamoro juridical entity during President Aquino’s term, and is currently working hard to achieve it.

In a radio interview, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Abigail Valte said the administration is brooking no skepticism and is eyeing nothing short of but success.

“If you ask us, failure should not be on the horizon because all this is not for us in the Administration. It’s for our brothers and sisters in the Bangsamoro,” Valte told dzRB Radyo ng Bayan.

“We will be pushing this forward. You know the President, when he sets his mind on a goal, he will put his weight on it, as the phrase goes.”

The respective peace panels on both sides working on the draft of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) report that they are making “good progress” in their work, and have already completed over 70 percent of the bill.

They said they are tackling the “hard issues” left, even as the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front expressed disappointment over news reports that came out during the week tending to imply that the discussions were near collapse.

The BBL was supposed to have been submitted to Congress on May 5, but the MILF expressed misgivings about certain revisions and comments introduced by Malacañang’s review team.

The government explained that the proposed revisions were meant to ensure that the draft bill would pass congressional scrutiny and not violate provisions of the Constitution.

The Palace lists the BBL among the priority measures it has transmitted to Congress for deliberation.

President Aquino gave an assurance in previous public statements that he would ensure the conduct of a fair and democratic election in the Bangsamoro in 2016. ■ Philippine News Agency / August 9, 2014 / 4:34 PM

MANILA - China at the weekend requested the government to guarantee the legitimate rights and interests of the 12 Chinese fishermen convicted for committing the crime of poaching on Philippine waters.

In a daily press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying also called on all Chinese fishermen working at sea to abide by regulations and carry out lawful fishery harvesting and production.

“Ever since the Chinese fishermen were arrested in Philippine waters last April, China has been urging the Philippine side to impartially handle the case in accordance with law, and ensure the legitimate rights and interest and humane treatment of the Chinese fishermen,” Hua said.

Hua assured that the Chinese diplomatic mission in the Philippines will continue to provide consular assistance to the Chinese fishermen.

Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesman Charles Jose, on the other hand, said that the conviction was based on applicable Philippine laws.

He also maintained that the area where these fishermen were caught poaching is within Philippine territory, “where we have exclusive sovereignty.”

On Tuesday, the Palawan regional trial court found the 12 Chinese fishermen

aboard the fishing vessel Min Long Yu, which ran aground at the world famous Tubbataha reef last year guilty of violating Republic Act 10067 (Tubbataha Protected Area Law of 2009), Provincial Prosecutor Allen Ross Rodriguez said in a telephone interview.

Rodriguez said skipper Liu Wen Jie was sentenced to imprisonment of 12 years while the rest of the accused were sentenced to six to 10 years.

The other Chinese fishermen were identified as Che Li Yong, Fan Lenl Tie, Xuan Ven Fe, Wang Yu Zhen, Lizhong Sheng, Lizhiming, Liu Cheng Tie, Tung Zhue We, Tang Hai Liny, Wen Hong Min and Qi Vixn.

The court also imposed a penalty of

$100,000 (roughly about P4.3 million) for each of the accused.

Rodriguez added that, with the conviction, the prosecution will ask the court to order the arrest of the convicted fishermen (who have been out on bail in the meantime) and their imprisonment at Iwahig Penal Colony, also located in the province.

However, the court has yet to decide on a separate case against the accused for violation of Article 212 of the Revised Penal Code for allegedly attempting to bribe the arresting officers from the Tubbataha Management Office in exchange for their release. ■ Pots de Leon / InterAksyon.com / August 9, 2014 / 8:43 PM

Philippine Navy handout photo

Audio: Riding-in-tandem hitmen kill Fil-Chinese trader in Manila MANILA - A Filipino-Chinese trader was shot dead by riding-in-tandem assailants in Sampaloc district Sunday morning, police said.

The Manila Police District said Mary Lee Cua was riding a white Starex van, with license plate PCQ 397, when two men on a motorcycle approached her as the vehicle passed Vicente G. Cruz bridge.

The men opened fire, hitting her in the right temple and right cheek, and sped away.

Cua was pronounced dead on arrival at the Ospital ng Sampaloc.

Police are still investigating the motive for the killing. ■ Leddy Tantoco / Radyo5 / August 10, 2014 1:53 PM

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August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

Indispensable skills, uncertainty: Why OFWs aren’t keen to leave Libya - Ople Center MANILA – Skills that only they possess and uncertainty about the safety of traveling to the Philippine embassy in Tripoli are what keep overseas Filipino workers from availing of the government’s repatriation offer despite the worsening security in Libya, a labor center said Tuesday.

“Some of our workers are negotiating for their pay, others are uncertain about the safest routes to our embassy, while there are professionals … who realize how vital it is to keep their operations going for Libya’s economic survival,” Susan Ople, head of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center said in a statement.

Since the government ordered mandatory repatriation from Libya, where rival militias have been battling each other, less than a thousand of the estimated 13,000 Filipinos there have taken up the offer of free travel home despite the beheading of one worker and the rape of a nurse, and reports that three more nurses may still be in captivity.

Illustrating the hesitance of some workers to leave, Ople quoted Bronson Grajera, one of some 500 Filipinos working at a major power plant: “Kailangan ang supply ng kuryente para makatulong sa seguridad at kabuhayan ng Libya. Humihingi ng tulong ang mga Libyano sa mga Pilipino dito na huwag munang umuwi ‘yung mga operators atmaintenance workers ng power plant dahil pag-umuwi sila ay ‘di mapapa-andar ng mga Libyano ang planta. (Libya needs

its power supply for security and livelihood.

Libyans have been asking the Filipino workers in the operations and maintenance department of the power plant not to leave because the locals cannot run the plant by themselves).”

Grajera told the Ople Center the Filipinos are now training their Libyan co-workers to ensure the power plant will continue to function should they leave.

On the other hand, Ople cited Abdul Bashit Tampogao, an emergency room staff nurse at Tripoli Medical Center, who said they had been requested them to stay on to help the remaining doctors at the hospital.

“The hospital gave out relief goods to the Filipino nurses who are still awaiting the release of last month’s salary,” the statement said.

At the same time, Ople said Tampogao conveyed an appeal to the Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration for financial assistance for repatriated workers.

“In 2011, those who were repatriated from Libya received Php10,000 in financial assistance from OWWA. Why is there not a similar announcement for this crisis? What’s the difference between the conflict in 2011 and that of today?” she quoted Tampogao as saying as he noted most OFWs would be leaving Libya without money to bring home to their families.

Ople said they have also been receiving queries about the ship the government has chartered to take Filipinos out of Libya.

“Based on conversations I have with

OFWs in Libya, many of them do want to come home but are unsure on how best to get to the safety of our Philippine embassy,” she said, adding that, “their employers are warning them about the dangers of traveling long distances to reach the embassy by themselves.”

“We continue to receive queries from OFWs in Libya regarding the arrival of the ship from Malta that would bring them home. They are unclear as to what the arrangements are, where they should go, who can help them out and what to expect while traveling to the designated meeting place,” Ople said.

“They really need guidance on what to do and where to go,” she added. The Center however acknowledged that time is running out and that power outages also hamper communications efforts.

This appeared to bolster observations by Migrante International, which announced it had opened a “crisis hotline” after receiving distress calls from OFWs who reported they were “trapped” in Libya.

Migrante International chairman Garry Martinez, however, blamed the government for a lack of “active intervention to locate, secure and ensure the safe passage of Filipinos from conflict areas to PH (Philippine) posts.”

“Aside from announcing it, there remains no clear blueprint from the government on how the mandatory repatriation is supposed to take place,” he added.

OFWs in Libya and other conflict-ridden

Wency Ledesa, an OFW who arrived from Libya Monday, shows a photo on his mobile phone of an explosion at the back of their barracks in Benghazi, Libya.

areas in the Middle East and North Africa can reach the Migrante hotline through mobile number 0932-3990231 or email address menacrisiscenter.migrante@gmail. com.

Messages may also be sent though Migrante International’s website, http:// migranteinternational.org, where an online complaint form may be accessed.

Ople acknowledged that OFWs in Libya “do appreciate our government’s repatriation assistance,” but also noted that time is running out and constant power outages have also been hampering communications.

She urged the Philippine embassy to intensify its information campaign within Libya with clearer instructions on what to

do, where to stay, and how to travel to safer destinations.

“Let’s all work together to address this intractable dilemma confronting stranded OFWs by understanding their plight and exhausting all possible means to ferry them out to safety,” the statement said.

Ople also appealed to big business and private individuals to support government’s reintegration efforts and assist repatriated workers from Libya and Syria set up businesses or find other work.

“Given that their professional skills are so highly valued in Libya, it is but reasonable to expect that they can be employed here at home as well or in other safer destinations overseas,” the statement said. ■ InterAksyon. com / August 5, 2014 / 1:33 PM

Filipino scientists raise nuclear weapons alarm vs EDCA in 69th year of Nagasaki, Hiroshima bombings MANILA – The Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement between the Philippines and the United States brings the threat of nuclear weapons in the country, Filipino scientists said in a statement marking the 69th anniversary of the atomic bombings of the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan.

Agham, or Advocates of Science and Technology for the People, said “the devastation that the twin bombings caused Japan and the horrors it showed the world is a constant reminder to all nations of the dangers of nuclear proliferation and US wars of aggression.”

“Filipinos are constantly exposed to nuclear threats so long as US bases and military exercises are allowed in the country through EDCA,” it added.

On August 6, 1945, US B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped a single uranium-core atomic bomb nicknamed “Little Boy” over the city of Hiroshima, detonating 580

meters near the city’s center.

Three days after, on August 9, 1945, a second atomic weapon, “Fat Man,” equipped with a plutonium core, destroyed Nagasaki.

About 200,000 people were killed in the twin attacks.

On April 28, 2014, the Philippines and

US signed EDCA, which grants “unimpeded access,” and “operational control” over agreed locations to US forces and contractors.

“Through the pact, the Philippine government has facilitated the entry of nuclear weapons and wastes,” Agham said.

Hiroshima atomic bomb explosion and aftermath.

The Filipino scientists noted that the US has the most number of nuclear weapons and nuclear-powered military vehicles in the world. Citing the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, they said the US has an estimated 7,400 intact nuclear warheads in 2014. Of this, 4,650 nuclear warheads are available for delivery by more than 800 ballistic missiles and aircraft.

“As part of the US rebalancing of its forces to the Pacific in 2012, six of the eleven nuclear-powered aircraft carrier of the US are deployed in the area together with 60 percent of their submarines. All the US aircraft carriers and submarines in the Pacific Fleet are nuclear-powered. These have been allowed to dock, refuel, and be serviced in Philippine waters,” the Agham scientists said.

They noted that while the Department of Affairs claim that the materials the US military may bring into the country “shall not include nuclear weapons,” there was no

clear mention of a mechanism or sanction of how to ensure strict compliance to this provision and other environmental codes or how the Philippine government would monitor actual entry of personnel, vehicles, materiel and equipment the country.

The scientists also said that historically, US have prepositioned nuclear weapons during the Marcos dictatorship as revealed in the US military memo declassified in 2006 but until now, no accounting has been made of the amount and nature of weapons, its impacts and even its disposal.

“Through EDCA, the US has access to possible dumping ground of nuclear and military weapons and wastes in any ‘agreed locations’. The PH government has opened the country to be a platform for US aggression in this part of the world. The only way to prevent this is to scrap the unfair deal that endangers our communities, environment, and sovereignty,” Agham said. ■ InterAksyon.com / August 10, 2014 / 12:53 PM

Makabayan bloc all set for start of impeachment proceedings vs. Noy THIS is what Kabataan Partylist Rep. Terry Ridon said in a statement Saturday, following reports that the leadership of the House of Representatives is set to refer the impeachment complaints filed against President Aquino to the House Justice Committee during the plenary this Monday.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte is said to have transmitted three impeachment complaints lodged against Aquino to Majority Floor Leader Neptali Gonzales III, chairman of the Committee on Rules, for inclusion in the order of business and subsequent referral to the Justice Committee.

The impeachment proceedings are expected to commence after the referral process.

Ridon, who endorsed the second impeachment complaint against Aquino filed by youth groups, said the Makabayan bloc of lawmakers are as ready as they can be to discuss and defend the merits of the impeachment complaints.

In their 23-page complaint filed at the office of the House Secretary General last July 22, the 25 youth and student complainants, led by the anti-pork barrel youth alliance YOUTH ACT NOW, accused

Aquino of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, and graft and corruption in connection with the assailed Disbursement Acceleration Program.

The two other pending complaints are: (1) over the controversial Disbursement Acceleration Program filed by people’s organizations and several civil society leaders, and endorsed by lawmakers from Bayan Muna partylist, and (2) over the firming up with the United States of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), endorsed by ACT

Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio and Gabriela Rep. Emmi de Jesus.

The lawmaker also appealed to the House Justice Committee, chaired by Rep. Neil Tupas – a known Aquino ally – to consider the merits of the impeachment complaints and refrain from junking the cases just because of party affiliation.

“Fiat justitia ruat caelum – Let justice be done though the heavens fall. I urge my colleagues sitting in the House Justice Committee to listen and consider the arguments we will present during the impeachment proceedings. They should not

play blind, deaf, and mute to the travesties committed by the president,” Ridon added.

■ InterAksyon.com / August 9, 2014 2:51 PM

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

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Cheapening the process of impeachment CERTAIN lawmakers have threatened to file impeachment cases against Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno with respect to the utilization of the Judicial Development Fund (JDF). Just prior to the SONA, the President was the subject of a number of impeachment-petitions also.

Impeachment is a most delicate political process. It is undertaken only in the commission of the most serious offenses against the State: treason, bribery, high crimes , graft and corruption, betrayal of the public trust and culpable violation of the constitution. As against the Chief Justice, the first four offenses are definitely out. One is crazy to even think she committed any one of those.

Betrayal of the public trust is also inapplicable. All that Chief Justice Sereno did was to supervise and manage the JDF in the most diligent way possible. In fact, JDF expenditures are reported to the Commission on Audit. It is not as if the Chief Justice created the JDF, abused her

power of supervision and finally made it her personal fund. Not a single iota of evidence to prove these was as much as hinted by the accusing lawmakers.

And then the usual, much utilized and much abused ground of “culpable violation of the Constitution.” As I said in my article Understanding the President’s Response to the SC’s DAP Ruling regarding the tenuous call by certain sectors to impeach the President, the law mandates that not only should there be a “violation”, but it must also be “culpable”. The constitutional culpability connotes a malicious intent and a premeditated conduct to injure the people. With respect to the Chief Justice, there is no preview of any proof regarding these things shown by anyone. This nonpreview reveals a lot….a lot of nothing.

The weakness of a case is measured by its preposterousness. And this attempt at impeaching Chief Justice Sereno is the most preposterous of all. It emanates from wild imaginations. The case, if filed, would

simply be a nuisance.

What is so disappointing in these impeachment threats against the Chief Justice and the impeachment cases filed against the President is that they cheapen what is supposed to be a very significant political process of eviction.

Worse, this cheapening is initiated and abetted by some members of the House of Representatives depending on which party or ideological leaning the initiating, endorsing or threatening representatives belong.

There is a reason for the Constitution’s providing for a limited list of selected officials as indictable; for highly serious crimes as grounds; for an extremely ruleladen process; and for a particular number of votes to carry an impeachment through. And that reason is, I believe, to remind everyone that the process cannot be trivialized by using it as a means of harassment on certain officials, like the Chief Justice, dangling it like a “sword

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno at her swearing in by President Aquino.

Malacañang photo bureau file.

of Damocles” to exert undue pressure.

More fundamentally, it cannot be availed only for the purpose of making political or ideological statements regardless of their merit designed to simply discredit an official.

The House of Representatives should be a venue for more deliberative, intelligent and fundamental sovereign activities. It cannot

be a place for political blackmail.

Indeed, the way our representatives use their House reflects the kind of officials they are. ■ Atty. Mel Sta. Maria is the resident legal analyst of TV5. He is Dean of the FEU Institute of Law. He also teaches at the Ateneo School of Law and daily co-hosts the program ‘Relasyon’ on Radyo Singko 92.3 News FM / August 8, 2014 / 1:32 PM

MILF denies warning of return to armed struggle, or accusing govt of breaking promises COTABATO CITY – Officials of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on Saturday denied its negotiators ever said the GPHMILF meeting in Davao was going nowhere, or that it warned that its fighters could return to armed struggle.

The MILF said journalists should be more prudent in their reports.

“We should avoid creating scenarios depicting that the efforts of both sides to build lasting peace in Mindanao is doomed to fail,” Ghadzali Jaafar, MILF’s vice chairman for political affairs, said.

Speaking over a local radio station, Jaafar said the MILF had not made any public announcement that the review on the draft Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) between GPH and MILF in Davao City is close to a standoff.

Jaafar also downplayed claims by some reports that the MILF had issued warning it will resume hostilities in Mindanao if both sides fail to reach an agreement.

“We did not warn the government and will never give warning to the government because the MILF does not do that,” Jaafar said.

Both sides are now reviewing the provisions of the draft BBL to ensure its constitutionality and smooth sailing in Congress. If the draft gets Congress approval, it will have to be ratified through a referendum in selected areas in Mindanao.

Once ratified, the BBL will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with an MILF-led Bangsamoro political entity.

Jaafar stressed that the MILF remains

committed to come to terms with the national government to solve the Bangsamoro question.

“As we repeatedly said we have no other option and our only option is peace,” Jaafar stressed.

Mohaqher Iqbal, MILF chief negotiator, was quoted in some media broadsheets as saying the President had broken his promise. “I have never said those words, nor will I ever say that about the President,” Iqbal said in a statement.

The review process in Davao City is expected to end Sunday on the contents of the draft law.

Chief government negotiator Professor Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said the process was about 80 percent complete. ■ PNA / August 10, 2014 / 1:27 AM

Sea row overshadows China, Southeast Asia, US talks

NAYPYIDAW - China on Saturday vowed “clear and firm reactions” to defend its interests in the South China Sea but rejected suggestions of aggression, as America’s top diplomat urged restraint from all claimants to the bitterly contested waters.

A series of incidents between Beijing and several other nations with territorial claims to the sea has sent tensions soaring across Southeast Asia and spurred Washington to call for a halt to any activities that could worsen regional maritime relations.

Animosity over the South China Sea, a crucial maritime route that is also believed to hold huge oil and gas deposits, is dominating Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) talks in Myanmar, which began Friday and are broadening to include key world powers ahead of security discussions on Sunday.

“The position of China to safeguard its own sovereignty, maritime rights and interests is firm and unshakeable,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters following a meeting with ASEAN counterparts in the Myanmar capital Naypyidaw.

Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire sea including waters, islands, reefs, shoals, and rocky outcrops nearer to other countries.

The reach of its claims has stirred years of diplomatic protest from ASEAN states Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, which also claim parts of the sea, while Taiwan is a sixth claimant.

While China always acted with “selfrestraint,” Wang warned “for those groundless provocative activities, the Chinese side is bound to make clear and firm reactions.”

‘Common responsibility’. US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is in Naypyidaw for the regional meet, called on all parties to refrain from actions that could deepen maritime hostilities.

Speaking ahead of bilateral talks with the 10-member ASEAN, Kerry said the US shared a “common responsibility” with the bloc to “ensure the maritime security of critical global seas lanes and ports.”

“What happens here matters, not just in this region and to the United States, but it matters to everybody in the world to see a Southeast Asia that continues to grow based on rules-based international law,” he added.

Quoting a 2002 declaration of conduct for the disputed region -- also signed by China -- Kerry urged claimant states to voluntarily agree to step back from any actions that could “complicate or escalate disputes.”

In May relations between China and Vietnam sank to their lowest point in decades after Beijing moved a deepsea oil rig into disputed waters near the Paracel Islands, triggering deadly antiChina riots in Vietnam.

Beijing has since removed the rig, in a move that analysts say was aimed at deflecting accusations of aggression.

The 2002 declaration is non-binding, a sticking point for ASEAN nations.

The Philippines is at the forefront of a push for a legally watertight code of conduct for the seas -- something China rejects, preferring to negotiate on a bilateral basis with its rivals.

While insisting Beijing was ready to listen to “well-intentioned proposals,” Wang urged Manila to drop a legal challenge it has filed with the United Nations over China’s claims to the most of the sea.

US charm offensive. Kerry’s trip is seen as part of a wider US foreign policy pivot to reinvigorate alliances in the AsiaPacific.

He kicked off his Southeast Asian diplomatic charm offensive with a meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh.

The top US diplomat, who fought in

ASEAN 24th Summit, Myanmar, May 2014. ASEAN2014.GOV.MM

the Vietnam War, hailed “progress” in relations, adding that issues such as communist Vietnam’s rights record would continue to be discussed as part of efforts “to really bring this relationship to its full blossom.”

But his discussions with ASEAN members appear set to be pegged to the South China Sea issue with increasing disquiet among some member states over China’s regional ambitions.

Washington had said discussions of the South China Sea at the ASEAN Regional Forum on Sunday are expected to be robust, but a State Department official insisted the US was not looking for

a “showdown” with China.

A draft statement from ASEAN foreign ministers, who met Friday, said the bloc had “serious concern” over recent developments in the disputed sea.

It also called for an end to “destabilizing actions” in wording that is likely to have proved contentious for China’s supporters within ASEAN -- no final statement had been released by Saturday afternoon.

Sunday’s ARF will bring together ASEAN foreign ministers and key partners, including the US, Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia, and the European Union. ■ Martin Abbugao / Agence France-Presse / August 10, 2014 / 7:35 AM

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August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

Dingdong Dantes proposes to Marian Rivera MANILA – With the iconic Tagalog pop song “Kahit Maputi na ang Buhok ko” softly playing in the background, actor-TV host Dingdong Dantes popped the question to long-time girlfriend Marian Rivera at the live telecast of her Saturday night show “Marian,” sending their fans screaming in approval.

The couple had been extra-sweet the whole show, where the lovely actress was celebrating her birthday.

Towards the end of the show, Dingdong turned serious, and had a short video clip shown of their trip to Macau, where he brought her to a butterfly dome.

Then, he went on an extended recitation of how much being with her had meant to him.

“Marian, isang bagay ang maliwanag sa akin…I wanna spend the rest of my life with you…” Fans who seemed to have an

inkling of what was about to come, started shrieking.

The camera panned across the audience, showing both the couple’s immediate families. The actor swept his arm in their direction, saying, “Ngayon, saksi ang mga mahal natin sa buhay, gusto kong ipagsigawan sa mundo…na ikaw ang sagot sa aking mga dasal.”

He then went down on one knee, took her hand, and brought out a tiny black box with a ring. “I offer you a gift on your birthday… something that’s beyond material things. I offer you myself, today and for always.

“So please Marian…” at this point she could not suppress a giggle, prompting him to say, smiling, “Serious ‘to…”

He continued, “So please Marian, will you be my wife?”

There was no immediate reply, but her tight hug seemed to say a loud yes.

Moments later, a video clip showed her Spanish father Javier Gracia greeting her a happy birthday from Madrid.

Marian’s mother and Dingdong’s mother, who were in the audience, gave their approval.

Then, Marian said, facing Dingdong,”Sa dami ng pinagdaanan natin….sa dami ng ibinato nila sa akin, kinaya ko,..”

She declared, “Mamahalin kita habang buhay…Kahit ilang anak, wala akong pakialam, kahit lumaki ang katawan ko, maging maligaya ka lang.”

He asked, “Is that a yes?” She shouted, “Yes!” Marian and Dingdong have been dating for more than six years. They fell in love while working together on “Marimar”, the 2007 soap opera that launched Marian to stardom. ■ InterAksyon.com / August 9, 2014 /

8:35 PM

‘Rurouni Kenshin’ fever hits Manila as fans go gaga over cast, director FOR two straight days, Kenshin Fever gripped Manila as two major malls in the city turned Japanese over the arrival of the director and principal cast of the period action trilogy “Rurouni Kenshin”.

Gracing the red carpet Asian premiere of “Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno” at SM Megamall in Mandaluyong, cast members Takeru Satoh, Munetaka Aoki, Emi Takei and director Keishi Otomo were overwhelmed with the very warm reception they received from fans of the film based on the popular manga series by Nobuhiro Watsuki.

As if that’s not enough, Takeru, Munetaka and Keishi were again on hand to meet and

greet more fans and members of the media at their General Press Conference held at the Glorietta Activity Center of Ayala Center in Makati.

“It’s my first time in the Philippines and I’m glad I came. I am now in love with the Philippines. Seeing all of you here is beyond my wildest imagination. I am pleasantly surprised with this reception,” Takeruh declared as fans who waited for hours screamed in delight.

During the press conference, the three gentlemen spoke through interpreters to discuss their thoughts about the film and its two sequels.

Asked how faithful is his film adaptations to the original Manga series created by Nobuhiro Watsuki, Keishi said there was plenty of collaboration between filmmakers and the author even before filming began.

“I think one reason the movie translated so well in the screen and in so many countries is that the characters are played by actors I really love, actors who put their hearts and mind into this story. Before ‘Rurouni Kenshin’, I did an action movie with these two so I already know them,” Keishi noted.

Takeru, who plays the title role, added that although they made a film in a language that not everyone understands, action films have a way of transcending communication barriers, especially one that tackles the compelling saga of a hero who almost single-handedly faced formidable odds.

“Action movies has one language and go beyond country and culture. In creating this action movie for everyone to enjoy, we were also able to present the delicate intricacies of Japanese culture which I think audiences appreciated as well,” he further stated.

Takeruh said Kenshin was such a gamechanging role for him, he now finds it difficult what to do next, given that he’ll be forever identified with the iconic X-scarred hero. He

admits that although Kenshin is a fictional character, he has become a role model and guiding light for him in real life.

“In making major decisions in my life, I would ask myself, ‘If I was Kenshin, what would he do? The fact that he used his dark past to move on with his life is something I find admirable,” he said referring to the sequel where Kenshin went on “retirement mode” and looked forward to a future that has no place for all the bloodshed he once went through.

In making the “Rurouni Kenshin” series, Takeruh admitted to getting injured so many times with the so many action scenes and stunts he and his fellow cast members had to do. He said his favorite fight scene is the climactic sequence at the tailend of “Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends”, which won’t open in Philippine theaters until this coming September.

Munetaka, who plays excitable streetfighter Sagara Sanosuke, was very much into character as he regaled the crowd with his Sanosuke-like antics, at times even describing himself as “astig”.

“Sanosuke is coming! I’m very happy and excited to stand here!” he yelled as he worked the crowd into a frenzy.

With the global popularity of “Rurouni

Kenshin” expecting to increase with the back-to-back exhibition of its two sequels, the three Japanese artists were asked how they would feel if Hollywood decides to do its own English language remake of the hero also known as Samurai X. “Is it a no?”, Munetaka exclaimed as the crowd shouted in agreement while he crossed his arms to form the X sign.

“Everybody’s answer is our answer,” Takeruh added.

“I’ll say go ahead and try it,” Keishi challenged.

More than inspiring a Hollywood remake, Takeruh hopes that the success of “Rurouni Kenshin” will lead to a domino effect as far as the global crossover of Japanese films are concerned.

“I hope our film would pave the way for the showing of more Japanese movies in the Philippines. I hope to come back here soon and meet you all again,” he said during his parting shot to end the press conference.

Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures Philippines, “Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno”, will open across the Philippines on August 20. This will be followed by “Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends”, which will open on September 24. ■ Edwin P. Sallan / InterAksyon.

com / August 8, 2014 / 10:50 PM

Notorious comedienne Ethel Booba tells all on ‘Face The People’ THIS Monday, stand-up comedienne and showbiz personality Ethel Booba guests on “Face the People” to tackle controversies that are still associated with her name to this day.

Since she first rose to stardom, Ethyl Gabison, more popularly known as Ethel Booba, has been linked to numerous issues left and right, including: accusations that she’s too difficult to work with, too tactless, her scandalous relationships and private video scandals, highly publicized quarrels with other showbiz personalities, and an alleged arson on her condominium unit.

Despite all these, Ethel has remained fierce and unshaken, while fans continue to look up to her as a strong woman with amazing comedic talent and wit.

But not everyone is sold on her antics.

For entertainment reporters Peter Ledesma and Pete Ampoloquio, the scandals involving Ethel were all caused by her so she could stay in the limelight.

They believe that because people kept on hearing negative things about her, Ethel lost her showbiz career. Ethel’s sister, Emyrose “Boobita” Gabison rushes to the comedienne’s defense. She says Ethel is misunderstood and few people really know her, which is why people tend to judge her.

Meanwhile, Ethel claims she will break her silence, What other controversies will she reveal while seated on the “silya de konsensya”? Don’t miss this exciting, fierce, and outrageously hilarious episode of “Face the People” on Monday, 10:15AM before “Let’s Ask Pilipinas” on TV5. ■ August 9, 2014 / 9:42 AM

Director Keishi Otomo, and actorsTakeru Satoh and Munetaka Aoki.

Photos by Teddy Pelaez ©InterAksyon.

Director Keishi Otomo, and actorsTakeru Satoh and Munetaka Aoki.

Director Keishi-Otomo, actress Emi Takei, and actorsTakeru Satoh and Munetaka Aoki at the red carpet premiere of the film at SM Megamall.

Cosplayers show off their ‘Rurouni Kenshin’-inspired costumes during the SM Megamall premiere.

ORIGINAL CREATION & COPYRIGHT RESERVED BY © HELLO PHILIPPINES 2014

keru Satoh

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August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

Mommy Dionisia Pacquiao, naniniwalang ‘di pera ang habol sa kaniya ni Michael “LOVE” at “honey” ang tawagan nina Mommy Dionisia Pacquiao at nobyo nitong si Michael, na tubong Iloilo. Ayon sa ina ni Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao, nakilala

niya ang nobyo sa isang videoke party na isang paraan niya ng pampabata.

Sa “Chika Minute” report ni Cata Tibayan sa GMA news “24 Oras” nitong

Biyernes, kinumpirma ni Mommy D na six months na ang relasyon nito ni Michael, na 25 taon na mas bata sa kaniya.

“May boyfriend na ako... honey sana ang pagmamahal natin, habang may buhay,” mensahe ni Pacmom sa kasintahan.

Si Michael ang naging escort ni Mommy Dionisia sa nakaraang niyang 65th birthday.

Nakilala raw niya ang nobyo sa isang videoke party.

“Nakita lang niya ako, kumakanta, nagso-songs ako... ‘Yan na nga ang nakadagdag-pagbata sa akin, sa aking mukha,” masayang kuwento ng ina ng Pinoy boxing icon.

Ayon kay Mommy Dionisia, malaki ang tiwala niya kay Michael dahil ito raw ang hiningi ng lalaki sa kaniya, ang pagtitiwala.

Dagdag pa ni Pacmom, nais magtrabaho sa abroad ni Michael na patunay na hindi pera ang habol nito sa kaniya.

“Sa ngayon sabi niya, ‘tiisin mo lang love na magkalayo tayo.’” ani Mommy Dionisia. “Sabi niya, ‘’di ako umasa palagi sa’yo kasi babae ka. Alam kong binuhay ka ng anak mo.”

Inamin din ni Mommy Dionisia na sa kaniyang mga anak, tanging si Manny lang ang nagpahayag ng pagtutol sa pakikipagrelasyon nito kay Michael.

“Isa lang ang naghahadlang, si Manny

lang. Ang sabi niya sa akin, ‘ayaw ko sana.’

Wala silang magawa, gustong-gusto ko ‘to, kagustuhan ko ‘to. Nagkausap na kaming dalawa,” ayon kay Mommy D. Sa ngayon, wala pa naman daw silang balak ni Michael na magpakasal. Pero tiyak daw siya na kaloob ng Diyos ang nobyo para mayroon siya ng makakasama.

“Wala kaming plano pa. Ang importante nag-enjoy kaming dalawa na minahal niya ako, minahal ko rin siya,” ani Mommy Dionisia.

Mensahe niya sa nobyo na may kasama pang flying kiss: “I love you honey.

Magpaka-strong ka diyan. Ingat ka.I love you, honey.” ■ FRJimenez / GMA News / August

8, 2014 / 10:57 PM

‘Dading’ star Gabby Eigenmann careful not to offend LGBT community

MARAMING social issues ngayon ang kinakaharap ng mga taong kabilang sa LGBT community. Kaya ayon sa Dading star na si Gabby Eigenmann, iniiwasan niyang ma-offend ang mga ito sa pag-portray niya ng gay character sa GMA Afternoon Prime soap.

“Tanggap na tanggap! (laughs),” pahayag ni Gabby nang kumustahin namin ang role ni Carding. Dagdag pa niya, “Ngayon mas lalo pa akong nag-e-enjoy.”

Kuwento ni Gabby, natutuwa raw siya dahil marami ang nag-aakala na bading talaga siya in real life. “To the others, ‘yung mga hindi nila alam na straight guy talaga ako, they really thought that I was gay. Ako okay lang, it means that I’m doing the job properly,” saad niya.

Nang tanungin namin si Gabby kung nakababawas ba ng pagkalalaki ang pagportray ng gay role, isang confident na “no” ang sagot ng aktor. “Sabi nga ni Carding, ‘mas parang lalaki pa nga ako eh,’” pagquote ni Gabby sa kanyang character sa Dading.

“But honestly, the character of Carding is very delicate. I have to have the right emotion which is hard because I’m not

gay,” saad niya.

Ayon sa aktor, hindi gaanong kadali ang pag-portray ng gay role dahil kumbaga sa kape, mayroon itong tamang timpla. Aniya, “Like I’ve said before, ‘yung pilantik ng daliri, ‘yung mata, madaling gawin ‘yan. Kahit sino puwedeng gumawa noon. Pero the right emotion, the right execution, doon ako medyo kailangan careful.”

Dagdag niya, “I don’t want to offend kasi siyempre. Supportive naman ako sa LGBT so I want to be precise.” ■ Al Kendrick Noguera /

GMANetwork.com / August 5, 2014 / 9:31 PM

2014 has been a very good year for the Primetime King Dingdong Dantes.

He rules the primetime airwaves via the very successful “Ang Dalawang Mrs. Real.” Last March, he earned his college diploma from West Negros University. Two months after his graduation, he was named commissioner-at-large by the National Youth Commission.

Blessings seemed to be overflowing for our champ. On August 3, a day after his birthday, Dingdong Dantes was recognized as International Youth Ambassador for

Peace in a ceremony held at the Cuneta Astrodome during the 2nd International Youth Assembly.

The recognition was presented by the United Peace Federation and Youth Federation for World Peace in a gathering that aimed to “strengthen the youth, rebuild nations, and promote peace.”

Dingdong’s partner Marian Rivera was with him during the event.

“Congratulations Mr. International Youth Ambassador for Peace! ??Masaya ako na nakasama mo ako para ma witness itong

event na ito. Kakaproud ka. #SuperHug #NYC” she wrote on a photo posted on Instagram.

Dingdong has been involved with various socio-civic projects through the Yes! Pinoy Foundation, a non-government organization he founded in 2009. Yes! Pinoy Foundation has been extending educational assistance to the youth by rehabilitating classrooms, donating books, and awarding scholarships. ■ CJ Mendoza / GMANetwork.com / August 4, 2014 / 9:07 PM

Dennis Trillo, nilinaw ang balitang nagkabalikan na sila ni Jennylyn Mercado Photo by Elisa Aquino ©GMANetwork.com

Bagong pa-contest ng ‘Eat Bulaga’ na ‘FHHM,’ layong maalis ang diskriminasyon sa mga chubby

BIG hit tuwing tanghalian ang bagong pa-contest ng “Eat Bulaga” na “FHHM” o “For Healthy and Heavy Models,” na ang mga nagpapatalbugan ay ang mga magaganda’t hebigat na dabarkads.

Sa “Chika Minute” report ni Cata Tibayan sa GMA news “24 Oras” nitong Biyernes, sinabing ang batayan sa pagiging seksi, hindi na lang basta nadadaan sa liit ng baywang.

Bigatin man sa timbang ang mga kandidata, basta may kompiyansa sa sarili, pasok sa bagong segment na ito ng “Eat Bulaga.”

Ang 26-anyos na si Catherine Villaluz, aminadong naging tampulan ng tukso noon at tinatawag na balyena, dambuhala, at lumba-lumba.

Aniya, dinamdam niya noon ang mga pang-aasar kaya kung anu-ano raw ang iniinom niya para pumayat.

Pero sa huli, hindi rin naman daw iyon naging epektibo.

Dingdong Dantes recognized as International Youth Ambassador for Peace

Kaya nang tanghaling “FHHM” winner nitong Biyernes ng tanghali sa “Eat Bulaga,” very thankful siya sa maganda at kakaibang oportunidad Ayon sa EB dabarkads, maging sila proud sa konsepto ng bagong segment.

Tulad ng iba pang beauty contest, ganda, talino, postura at kumpiyansa sa sarili rin ang mga batayan Layon daw ng segment na iwaksi na ang diskrimasyon sa mga chubby. ■ FRJimenez, GMA News / August 9, 2014 / 12:02 AM

MASAYA si Dennis Trillo na naging matagumpay ang gala screening ng pelikula niya sa Cinemalaya na “The Janitor.” Sinagot na rin ng aktor ang mga naglalabasang balita na nagkabalikan na sila ni Jennylyn Mercado Sa ulat ni Lhar Santiago sa GMA news “24 Oras” nitong Martes, sinabing masaya sina Dennis at actor-director na si Ricky Davao sa magkasunod na gala screening ng kanila-kanilang pelikula sa Cinemalaya.

Ang mga idini-direk ni Ricky sa Kapuso soap na “Dading” na sina Glaiza de Castro, Benjamin Alves at Chynna Ortaleza, sumuporta sa kanya sa new breed entry na “Mariquina”.

Sa premiere naman ng “The Janitor,” present ang co-stars ni Dennis na sina LJ Reyes, Richard Gomez at si Ricky.

Nandoon din ang asawa ni Richard na si Congresswoman Lucy Torres-Gomez.

Dumating din ang ilang opisyal ng GMA Network sa pangunguna ni GMA Entertainment TV Senior Vice President Lilibeth Rasonable, at mga direktor na sina Joel Lamangan at Jose Javier Reyes.

Nakatawag din ng pansin ang pagdating ni Kapuso Primetime Queen Marian Rivera para suportahan hindi lang si Dennis kung

hindi pati na ang direktor ng pelikula na si Mike Tuviera.

“Masarap yung pakiramdam na makagawa ng panibago, malayo dun sa palagi mong ginagawa,” ani Dennis.

Kasabay nito, itinanggi rin ni Dennis ang balitang nagkabalikan sila ni Jennylyn nang may makakitang magkasama sila sa isang five star hotel sa Ortigas.

“Maayos naman kasi kami, magkaibigan pa rin naman kami kaya siguro nami-misinterpret ng iba. Akala nila nagkabalikan,” anang aktor.

“Hindi naman porke’t maayos na, ibig sabihin balik na kaagad sa relasyon,” dagdag ni Dennis.

Sobrang busy daw si Dennis ngayon sa trabaho kaya malabong magkaroon siya ng panahon sa love life ngayon.

Bukod sa nagsimula na siyang magtaping para sa bagong Kapuso soap na kinabibilangan nina Kris Bernal at Lauren Young, gagawin din ni Dennis ang Metro Manila Film Festival entry na “Shake Rattle and Roll XV”. ■ FRJimenez / GMA News / August 6, 2014 / 3:33 PM

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

CELEBRITY, SHOWBIZ & ENTERTAINMENT SCOOP

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GMA Network posts strong NUTAM ratings performance in July

RULES across all dayparts in Urban Luzon and Mega Manila.

GMA Network is closing in on ABS-CBN in nationwide TV ratings with stronger programming across all timeblocks in July, according to data from the industry’s leading ratings service provider, Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.

For the period July 1 to 31 (with the dates of July 27 to 31 based on overnight data), GMA significantly reduced ABS-CBN’s lead in NUTAM (National Urban Television Audience Measurement) to just 0.5 percent with its 33.4 percent total day household audience share, and outscored TV5’s 11.5 percent by 21.9 points.

GMA grabbed the lead in the morning timeblock as it recorded a 32.4 percent audience share, outscoring ABS-CBN’s 29.1 percent by 3.3 points and TV5’s 12.4 percent by 20 points. Moreover, GMA more than tripled its lead in the afternoon block in July with 5.6 points relative to June’s 1.6 points, with a 35.4 percent audience share as against ABS-CBN’s 29.8; it also led TV5’s 12 percent by 23.4 points. GMA likewise improved its shares in the evening block to 32.3 percent from the previous month’s 31 percent.

Furthermore, GMA maintained its strong performance in Urban Luzon and Mega Manila with much wider margins over rival networks across all dayparts including the much contested primetime block. Urban Luzon and Mega Manila account for 77 and 60 percent of all urban TV households in the country.

GMA reigned supreme in Urban Luzon with a 36.9 percent total day audience share, ahead of ABS-CBN’s 29.9 percent by 7 points, and TV5’s 10.8 percent by 26.1 points.

The Kapuso Network also remained unrivaled in Mega Manila with a 38 percent total day audience share, outperforming ABS-CBN’s 27.8 percent by 10.2 points and TV5’s 11.4 percent by 26.6 points.

GMA also ruled the overall list of top programs (including specials) in Urban Luzon and Mega Manila with 19 Kapuso programs (out of 30) making it on both lists.

Among the shows that scored top ratings in the two areas are Magpakailanman, Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho, GMA Blockbusters, Niño, My Destiny and 24 Oras.

Magpakailanman, the weekly drama anthology hosted by esteemed broadcaster and GMA News pillar Mel Tiangco, led all

Kapuso shows in the NUTAM, Urban Luzon and Mega Manila lists; while securing the top spot in Mega Manila.

GMA subscribes to the Nielsen TV Audience Measurement service, while ABSCBN is the lone local major TV network that subscribes to Kantar Media, formerly known as TNS. Nielsen data is gathered through a greater number of sampled homes nationwide in comparison to Kantar Media.

For more information on GMA International’s events, artists and programs, visit the GMA Network website www. gmanetwork.com/international, Facebook pages, www.facebook.com/GMAPinoyTV, www.facebook.com/gmalifetv and www. facebook.com/gmanewsinternational, Twitter pages @GMAPinoyTV and @GMA_ LifeTV, and Instagram page, @GMAPinoyTV. ■

GMA Network launches ‘Sing with MyJAPS’ music video promo NaFFAA and GMA Network announce winners of first Alex Esclamado Memorial Award for Community Service

GMA Network is set to bring excitement to fans of Asia’s Pop Sweetheart Julie Anne San Jose with the launch of ‘Sing with MyJAPS’ music video promo, which will run until August 22.

Following the successful release of Julie Anne’s second album, “Deeper,” GMA Network opens this opportunity to all Kapuso fans who love her bright pop and R&B music. This promo gives them a chance to be featured in the music video of Julie Anne’s hit carrier single, “Right Where You Belong” from her latest album, which will be shown in various GMA Network programs.

Kapuso fans, music lovers, and netizens alike are invited to take a video of themselves or someone else, singing the chorus of Julie Anne’s “Right Where You Belong” using a video camera or a smart phone. The minus one of the said single’s chorus part can be downloaded from the video-sharing website, YouTube, at http:// youtu.be/SIZ81WWyu0I. The entries must be submitted in MP4 format to singwithmyjaps@gmanetwork. com together with the sender’s name and

address. It must also have the hashtag SingWithMyJaps as the subject of the email.

The final “Right Where You Belong” music video will be uploaded on GMA Records’ YouTube channel (GMARecordsOfficial) and viewed nationwide in the Kapuso Network.

Viewers all over the world may catch it through GMA Pinoy TV and GMA Life TV. ■

2014 Mutya ng Pilipinas winners

Winners in the 2014 Mutya ng Pilipinas during the coronation night at the Solaire Casino and Resort in Pasay City on August 9, 2014. From left: 2nd runner-up Kim Fyfe, 1st runner-up Cristine Racel, Mutya ng Pilipinas Overseas Community Patrizia Bosco, Mutya ng Pilipinas Tourism International Glennifer Perido, and Mutya ng Pilipinas Asia Pacific 2014 Eva Psychee Patalinjug.

Photo by Danny Pata.

THE National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) and its official media partner, Filipino broadcast giant, GMA Network announced the winners of the first Alex Esclamado Memorial Award for Community Service.

Inspired by the life and works of notable news publisher and editor Alex Esclamado, this honor recognizes outstanding contributions and services rendered by Filipino-American organizations to the Filipino and mainstream American communities and to the Philippines.

“We need to honor a man, who was an impossible dreamer, who dreamed of something that we, overseas Filipinos, especially those of us in the United States, have always wanted for a long, long time,” says former NaFFA Chairperson and head of the Awards Commitee, Greg Macabenta on the motivation behind the newly minted Alex Esclamado Memorial Award for Community Service. “The empowerment and unification, and it was only Alex who dared to dream of achieving those goals, and he actually did it,” he adds.

Following a thorough screening process, the Council for Filipino American Organizations of Central Florida, the West Bay Pilipino Multi-Service, Inc., Philippine American Chamber of Commerce of Texas, and the Pilipino American Unity for Progress, Inc. were finally named winners of the award.

Leading the roster of honourees is the Council for Filipino American Organizations of Central Florida which was recognized for its outstanding community service in state socio-civic affairs and aid to the Philippines.

Its mission includes providing relief aid to calamity victims, awarding scholarships to deserving students, and fostering trade and commerce between the Philippines and the State of Florida, to name a few. The group has also advanced FilAm visibility in the community, as well as helped build the Bataan-Corregidor Monument in Kissimmee to honor Filipino WW II veterans and the Jose

Rizal bust at the International plaza at Lake Eola in downtown Orlando together with the former mayor of Orlando, Glenda Hood.

The West Bay Pilipino Multi-Service, Inc. was, meanwhile, recognized for exhibiting outstanding community service in health, education and youth development.

Founded in 1968 by local hero Ed dela Cruz and other social activists, West Bay has helped thousands of individuals through employment placement assistance, food distribution to the elderly, youth programs, community health projects, advocacy initiatives, and case management. It has particularly excelled in aiding SOMA youth through its After-School Program using a holistic approach to ensure the social, emotional, academic, and physical wellness of our youth participants.

Another recipient is the Philippine American Chamber of Commerce of Texas owing to its outstanding community service in trade development and aid to the Philippines. Voted as the most outstanding FilAm Chamber of Commerce for three years in a row, some its most significant achievements include raising close to $1 million in donations for calamity victims in the Philippines and adopting an island in Northern Cebu for reconstruction and rehabilitation as well as NGOs in the Philippines. Among them are the Tahanang Walang Hagdan, Boys Reformatory School, and the Golden Acres Sanctuary for Abandoned Seniors.

Rounding out the list of awardees is the Pilipino American Unity for Progress, Inc. (UNIPRO), which won for its outstanding community service in youth leadership and development. UNIPRO’s projects involve internships fairs, workshops and forums on various topics such as community engagement, reconnecting with one’s Filipino roots and education.

Macabenta relates that the winners were chosen based on their “commitment to the Filipino people both in the United States

and in the Philippines, a desire to empower our people and to claim our rightful place not only in the United States but all over the world, and lastly, integrity” which are all truly apparent in the man who inspired this award.

This was made possible through GMA International, which manages the operations and distribution of the Network’s three international channels, GMA Pinoy TV, GMA Life TV and GMA News TV International.

“We congratulate the winners of the first Alex Esclamado Memorial Award for Community Service. We are proud to have taken part in recognizing their outstanding contribution in their respective fields of endeavour,” expresses GMA Vice President and Head of International Operations Joseph T. Francia. “We also congratulate NaFFAA for the success of the project and look forward to continuing our partnership with them in celebrating our shared and treasured Filipino values,” he adds.

Ms. Loida Nicolas-Lewis, former NaFFAA chair and Chair of the Panel of Jurors for the award commended GMA’s participation in the establishment of the award, “The Alex Esclamado Memorial Award for Community Service is a wonderful way of motivating FilAm community organizations to honor and continue his legacy. We are grateful to GMA Network for sponsoring this memorial award,” she says.

The winners will be presented at the 11th NaFFAA National Empowerment Conference to be held at the Town & Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego California. The event will run from August 7 to 10, 2014. ■

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PHILIPPINE EMBASSY NEWS AROUND THE WORLD

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

92 Year-Old Filipino Artist Registers as Overseas Voter, Renews His Passport with PHL Consular Team in Mexico THE Philippine Embassy in Mexico conducted a consular mobile and overseas voters registration services to 92 year-old Filipino Artist Romeo V. Tabuena on July 25.

The mobile team comprised of Ambassador Catalino R. Dilem Jr., Bernardo G. Bagalay and Mr. Dennis E. Cruz visited San Miguell Allende located at the eastern part of Guanajuato in Central Mexico, about fourhour drive from Mexico City. Mr. Romeo V. Tabuena was born in Iloilo City and studied art and paintings in Manila, New York and Paris.

In 1955, Mr. Tabuena settled in San Miguell de Allende, Guanajuato in Mexico, where he lives with his wife. Mr. Tabuena chose to retain his Philippine citizenship notwithstanding his long absence in our country. One of his paintings Filipiniana can be found at the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C., and Carabao at the Honolulu Museum of Art. He participated in the Eighth São Paulo Art Biennial as official Filipino artist and as art commissioner from the Philippines. He was a recipient of Philippine presidential Merit Award in 2009.

During the mobile services, the Embassy team updated Mr. Tabuena on the developments in the Philippines, as well as electoral process and the significance of overseas voters registration. According to him, this will be his first time to participate in Philippine elections after 61years.

The Filipino artist and his wife thanked the Embassy generously for the services extended to him. ■ Philippine Embassy Philippines / August 8, 2014

The Embassy team poses with Filipino Artist and his wife Ms. Nina at their residence.

DFA Recommends Suspension of Overseas Voters Registration in Hotspots

Mr. Dennis Cruz captures the biometrics for OV registration of Filipino Artist Romero V. Tabuena.

More than P15M raised in ‘After the Storm’ benefit concert

WASHINGTON, D.C.— “After the Storm,” the benefit concert held at the Kennedy Center for victims of Typhoon Yolanda, succeeded in raising more than P15 million that is now being poured into various rebuilding projects in typhoon-affected areas in the Philippines.

The concert, which was presented by the Philippine Embassy, the US-Philippines Society and the Philippine Humanitarian Coalition, netted more than $350,000 to support post-typhoon recovery in the central Philippines, according to Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr. “The concert succeeded in drawing attention to rebuilding needs and served as a thank-you to the many people and organizations that have donated time and resources to aid victims of the most powerful storm ever to make landfall,” said Ambassador Cuisia, who together with his wife, Maria Victoria, spearheaded the project.

The concert, which was staged on June 15, drew more than two thousand patrons who were treated to a brilliant musical evening combining show tunes, pop, jazz, ballet, classical music and opera from an array of top Filipino and American talent led

by Lea Salonga, Lou Diamond Phillips, apl. de.ap, and Darren Criss.

“Revenues raised from the concert exceeded projections and are being provided for recovery efforts,” Ambassador Cuisia said. “All this was made possible through the generosity of more than 50 individual and private sector sponsors, performers who freely donated their time, PHC volunteers who assisted with ticket sales, the production staff, Kennedy Center management and many others.”

Ambassador John Maisto, President of the US-Philippines Society, said that project proposals were solicited from partner relief organizations with on-the-ground operations in the Philippines immediately after the concert.

Mr. Romero Tabuena applied for renewal of his passport.

“Criteria included the need for assurance that all funds provided would be well managed and accounted for, be targeted on priority projects with sustainable impact in areas of health, education, livelihood, and shelter, and reach communities throughout the geographically diverse areas struck by the typhoon,” Ambassador Maisto added.

According to Hank Henridckson, Executive Director of the US-Philippines Society, project proposals from four relief and recovery organizations (based on their budgeted needs for each project) have already been approved for funding. These are: • The Philippine Disaster Recovery Foundation (PDRF) for managing an elementary school rebuilding and feeding program in Tacloban and repairing a rural health unit in Julita, Leyte.

• The Zuellig Family Foundation (ZFF) for constructing two to three maternal health facilities in Western and Eastern Samar.

• The International Relief and Development (IRD) for supporting livelihood assistance, including training of 150 out-ofschool youth in salvaging coco lumber for shelter in the western Visayas.

• Habitat for Humanity for providing 50 shelter repair kits for damaged housing in the eastern Visayas.

• Hendrickson said the US-Philippines Society continues to receive contributions from donors interested in supporting typhoon recovery. The Society, a registered 501(c)3 non-profit, applies no administrative fees and all funds go directly to partner relief organizations working in the Philippines.

• Dr. Abraham Rasul and Victoria Navarro, Co-Chairs of the Philippine Humanitarian Coalition said his group is currently reviewing project proposals from members and concert benefactors and expects to have recommendations for use of all remaining funds ready for consideration

by August 30. ■ Philippine Embassy USA / August 8, 2014

THE Department of Foreign Affairs, Overseas Voting Secretariat (DFA-OVS), announced today, August 04, that it has recommended to the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) the immediate suspension of overseas voters registration in Libya, Syria, Iraq, Ukraine, and the Gaza Strip, in view of the deteriorating security situation in these areas.

The recommendation was finalized after consultations with the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and the concerned Foreign Service Posts.

Despite the recommended suspension of overseas voters registration activities at the various hotspots, DFA-OVS is confident that the goal of registering one million new overseas voters for the 2016 Presidential elections is attainable. The DFA-OVS, together with the COMELEC, has set an ambitious but statistically attainable goal within the registration period covering 06 May 2014 until 31 October 2015.

Last June, for the first time in the elevenyear electoral history of Philippine overseas voting, overseas voters registration (OVR) breached the one million mark. The Foreign

Service Posts (FSPs) processed 20,039 new OVR applications. This is a 7.5% increase over the record breaking performance (18,631) of last May, bringing the twomonth total to 38,670. When added to the existing accumulated overseas voter stock of 975,263, the one million registered overseas voter mark is broken by the total of 1,013,933 for the first time since the start of Philippine overseas voting eleven years ago.

“The preparations by the Department and the Commission on Elections led to a successful start of the registration process,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert F. del Rosario said in a letter.

“The challenge for overseas voters registration is to maintain the momentum by keeping the overseas Filipinos interested and engaged in this democratic process,” the Secretary further said.

Also in June, the first Overseas Voter Registration Center (OVRC) in the Philippines, for this election cycle, was opened at the Office of Consular Affairs (OCA), Macapagal Avenue, ASEANA Business Park. Last August 01, the second Overseas Voter Registration Center (OVRC)

was launched at the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO), 1345 Pres. Quirino Ave., Paco, Manila.

“At the current pace of registration, we could have an overseas voter stock of over two million for the 2016 Presidential elections. Attaining this goal can definitely be a game changer,” DFA Undersecretary for Civilian Security and Consular Concerns and DFA-OVS Chairman Rafael E. Seguis said.

All Filipino citizens who expect to be abroad during the thirty day (09 April – 09 May 2016) overseas voting period for the 2016 presidential elections, at least 18 years old on 09 May 2016, and not otherwise disqualified by law, may register as an overseas voter, at all Philippine Foreign Service Posts including the three (3) Manila Economic and Cultural Offices (MECO), Office of Consular Affairs, Macapagal Ave., ASEANA Business Park, and at other COMELEC approved registration centers within or outside the Philippines. An updated list of registration centers may be viewed on www.dfa-oavs.gov.ph or www.comelec.gov. ph. ■ Philippine Embassy Philippines / August 4, 2014

PHL Consul General Hosts 22nd Regular Meeting of North Sulawesi-Mindanao Business Council in Manado PHILIPPINE Consul General in Manado Jose D.R. Burgos hosted the 22nd Regular Meeting of the North Sulawesi-Mindanao Business Council (NORSULMIN BC). The meeting is notable as it is the first meeting proceeding the Registration and Accreditation of the Bylaws of the NORSULMIN BC as a registered organization in North Sulawesi. Attendees to the meeting included BIMP-EAGA for North Sulawesi Executive Secretary Shelley Sondakh, North Minahasa Chamber of Commerce (KADIN) representative Daniel Pesik, PT. Kanaka Lines representative Johnny Jocom, NORSULMIN-BC members, Garuda Indonesia, the private sector and the North Sulawesi Tourism Board.

Discussed during the meeting were developments on the upcoming DavaoGeneral Santos-Bitung Commercial Shipping Service by Indonesian shipping company PT. Kanaka Lines, scheduled for launch at the end of August 2014. In light of the start of commercial shipping operations, participants also discussed the need to fast-track the chartering of the

Philippine Consul General Hon. Jose D.R. Burgos (2nd from right) hosts the 22nd Regular Meeting of the North Sulawesi-Mindanao Business Council (NORSULMIN).

Davao-Manado direct flight by Sriwijaya Air, in order to increase people-to-people exchange and facilitate the visits of businessmen, tourists and other travelers between the two regions of Southern Mindanao and Eastern Indonesia. In anticipation of the launch of the shipping service, a business delegation from Davao, led by the Mindanao Development

Authority (MinDA) and the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (DCCCII) is scheduled to charter a pioneering direct flight to Manado by late August 2014, in order to discuss potential business and trade opportunities and meet with local government, business and civil society counterparts. ■ Philippine Embassy Philippines / August 8, 2014

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

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Department of Agriculture and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Delegation Visits Spain

THE Philippine Embassy in Madrid received a delegation from the Department of Agriculture (DA) during their official visit to Madrid from July 1 to 5 which was headed by the Secretary of Agriculture Proceso J. Alcala who was accompanied by nine other officials and technical experts from the Department of Agriculture (DA) and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

Secretary Alcala met with the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Environment (MAGRAMA), Hon. Isabel García Tejerina, and with Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional (AECID) Director for Multilateral, Horizontal and Finance Affairs Laura Lopez de Cerain and AECID Director for African and Asian Affairs Alberto Virella.

The meetings were an opportunity for Secretary Alcala to express gratitude for Spain´s assistance to the victims of typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda and to update the Spanish officials on the latest developments in postYolanda reconstruction efforts, as well as AECID´s support to the DA.

Secretary Alcala also visited the facilities of COVAP in Pedroches and MercaMadrid and Carrefour in Madrid.

COVAP (Cooperativa Ganadera del Valle de los Pedroches) is a cooperative of farmers from Pedroches (Córdoba), Serena (Badajoz) and Alcudia (Ciudad Real) Valleys with headquarters in Pozoblanco.

COVAP was established in 1950 and was a leading Spanish brand that produces and distributes its dairy, meat and animal-feed products. MercaMadrid houses wholesale markets for: 1) fish and seafood; 2) meat and poultry; and 3) fruits and vegetables, along with storage and transportation facilities. MercaMadrid is Europe’s largest market for perishable food items and its fish and seafood section is the second largest in the world after Tsukiji in Tokyo. The market is home to some 800 businesses, employs over 20,000 people, with consumer coverage at 12 million and covers an area of 176 hectares. ■ Philippines Embassy Manila /

DA International Relations Division Chief Noel De Luna, Incoming Ambassador of Spain to the Philippines Luis Antonio Calvo, Secretary Proceso J. Alcala, Spanish Agrarian Minister Isabel Garcia Tejerina, Ambassador Carlos C. Salinas, MAGRAMA Secretary of State for Agricultural and Affairs Carlos Cabanas, and Philippine Agricultural Attaché Pit Laquian.

August 8, 2014

FilAm youth leaders humbled by Philippine immersion trip

US Legislators Visit the Philippines to Reinforce Bilateral Ties

TWO US Senators – Senator Robert Corker (Republican, Tennessee) and Senator Ronald Wyden (Democrat, Oregon) and a congressional delegation (CODEL) led by Republican Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen visited the Philippines on August 6-8. Other members of the CODEL are: Representatives Kay Granger (Republican, Texas), Ken Calvert (Republican, South California), and Jim Moran (Democrat, Virginia).

The six legislators called on President Aquino on 08 August at the Malacanang Palace. Acting Secretary of Foreign Affairs Laura Q. Del Rosario was present during the call together with other Cabinet officials.

This visit serves to reinforce the bilateral relations between the Philippines and the United States. Major aspects of PH-US ties were discussed including the recently signed Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), strategic security collaboration, and economic partnership; among others.

Their visit was an opportunity to share information on developments in the Philippines, discuss matters beneficial to the Philippines now pending with the US Congress such as the benefits for veterans and encourage the visiting members of the House of Representatives to join the Philippine-US Friendship Caucus.

Senator Corker is a ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee and an active member of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. His Asian trip also includes stops in Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia.

Senator Wyden is a member of the Committee on Intelligence, and Chair of the Sub Committee on International Trade,

Customs and Global Competitiveness of the Finance Committee. His visit to the Philippines is part of a regional tour that will include Korea, Taiwan and China.

Representative Frelinghuysen serves as Chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. Aside from being the Majority Deputy Whip, Representative Granger serves as the vice chairman of the powerful Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and is the top Republican on the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee.

Representative Calvert continues to serve on the House Appropriations Committee where he is the Chairman of the Interior and the Environment Subcommittee.

A senior member of the Appropriations Committee, Representative Moran serves as the Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on the Interior and Environment and also serves on the Defense and Legislative Branch Subcommittees.

The delegation from the US House of Representatives is on a three country swing, and the Philippine leg is intended to give members of the Sub-Committee a better appreciation and understanding of the Philippine-US relations amidst continuing and changing realities in the region. ■

Philippine Embassy Philippines / August 8, 2014

WASHINGTON, D.C.—What began as a program to reconnect with their Filipino roots ended up becoming a humbling learning experience for 10 Filipino-American youth leaders.

Now back in the United States after an immersive program in the Philippines, the delegates to the 3rd Filipino American Youth Leadership Program (FYLPro) said they are ready to make a difference in their respective communities.

“I think the FYLPro, in its own Filipino way, was an indirect immersion and an opportunity for the Philippines to reveal herself to us through indelible images and thoughts that will sit with us long beyond the airplanes carrying us have touched down back on American soil,” said Michael Dahilig, Director of the Department of Planning at the County of Kauai in Hawaii.

“The past week in the Philippines has placed into context the extreme privilege my family has fought to allow me to live, and that my identity as an American needs to be softened and humbled by knowing the roots of my bloodline come from fighters and survivors,” Dahilig added. “I thank the program for stirring that hunger and thirst and allowing me to reflect on where my place remains.”

For some delegates, like Edward Aparis, a consultant from Chula Vista, California, the program provided a firsthand perspective of where the Philippines is now and where it is headed.

“I have more to learn about this new and brave Philippines. At the end, I am a visitor here with sincere intentions to contribute, but I must learn from others,” said Aparis. “We are partners in this grand endeavor to bridge the new Philippines and the Filipino-American communities we work and live in.”

During the four-day program from 24 to 28 July, the delegates met and dialogued with senior officials and policymakers, leaders of industry, media, cultural experts, entrepreneurs both traditional and social, as well as innovators in different fields. They also had exposure trips in Marikina and Cavite.

“There is a fire that has been ignited in me to give back to the Philippines in more significant ways than I would have prior to the start of the program,” said Abbey Eusebio,

a Constituent Advocate from Lincolnwood, Illinois, who wants to take part in the Teach for the Philippines program.

According to Ryan Letada, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of NextDayBetter Inc., FYLPro offers an opportunity for young Filipino-Americans to find a meaningful connection to the Philippines.

“It’s about building empathy and learning between Filipino-Americans in the US and Filipinos in the Philippines in the hope of creating impactful collaborations that will push forward our global and local Filipino communities forward,” said Letada who wants to serve as a bridge between the innovation communities in the United States and the Philippines and “help grow this sector in a meaningful and collaborative way.”

The opportunity to travel and interact with change makers in the Philippines was a learning experience for the delegates. For the participants, FYLPro is not an end but a means to continue bringing about positive change in their communities.

“I believe that FYLPro is about a vision. A vision to engage Filipino communities around the world for continued improvement in the Philippines. Closer to home, it is about uniting and empowering Filipino-Americans to connect and strengthen that bond between cultures and countries,” said Rafael Diokno, Project Lead at SGT Inc. in Washington, D.C. “We learn from the successes of Filipino trailblazers as they take the Philippines to the next level. In turn, we, as individuals and as a team, must find ways to take action that will have meaningful impact in achieving that vision,” he added.

Jan Paul Ferrer, Associate Vice President at Morgan Stanley in Illinois, said he saw the overwhelming compassion for those living in poverty in the Philippines. “Upon my immersion to the Philippines through FYLPro, it is evident that the Filipino-American Community has its heart in the right place,” said Ferrer. “However, the passion to make an impact must be truly partnered with those affected to find out what they want.”

Ambassador Jose L. Cuisia, Jr., who conceived the program with his wife Maria Victoria, three years ago, congratulated the FYLPro delegates who, he said, did a good

job in representing both their Filipino and American roots.

“Now that they have had the opportunity to travel to the Philippines and interact with change makers in the country, it is my hope that their FYLPro experience inspires them to do even more for their communities and to raise the profile of the Philippines in the US,” Ambassador Cuisia said.

The delegates spent time doing handson work with organizations aimed at tackling social issues. Through Gawad Kalinga US National Chairman Tony Olaes and Teach for the Philippines’ Renovate to Educate program, the delegates fixed broken chairs and made new chalkboards for students of the H. Bautista Elementary School in Marikina.

Among the officials and policymakers were Vice President Jejomar Binay , Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, Defense Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino, Finance Undersecretary Jose Emmanuel Reverente, Foreign Affairs Chief Coordinator Teresa De Vega and US Ambassador Phillip Goldberg.

The group also interacted with young local officials, including Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista, Balanga City Mayor Jose Enrique Garcia, La Carlota Mayor Juliet Marie Ferrer, Koronadal Mayor Peter Miguel, and Quezon City Vice Mayor Josefina Belmonte.

Entrepreneurs also shared their perspectives with the FYLPro delegates.

Among the industry captains and successful entrepreneurs were Joey Concepcion who spoke of his Go Negosyo movement; John Lu Kua of French Baker; Noreen Bautista of the Institute of Social Enterprise and Development; Anna Igpit of ClassAct; agroentrepreneur Danica Gapuz; and Bill Luz of the National Competitiveness Council.

The FYLPro participants were also given potential avenues for collaboration through a discussion with the American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines and the Makati Business Club.

FYLPro was co-organized by Ayala Foundation Inc. led by Ms. Luli de Leon. The program was made possible by sponsors Philippine Airlines, Chevron Philippines, Security Bank Corporation Coca-Cola Bottlers and General Electric Philippines. ■ Philippines

Embassy USA / August 6, 2014

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PHILIPPINE EMBASSY NEWS AROUND THE WORLD

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

Secretary Del Rosario Joins Other ASEAN Foreign Ministers in 47th AMM in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Albert F. del Rosario and the Foreign Ministers of nine other ASEAN member-countries were present at the official opening of the 47th ASEAN Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) today, August 08, at the Myanmar International Convention Center in the capital city of Nay Pyi Taw. The Foreign Ministers of Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste and Mongolia, as well as the Deputy Ministers of Turkey and Norway were also invited by Myanmar, the current chair of ASEAN. President U Thein Sein, who officially opened the 47th AMM, paid tribute to the presence of guests in the meeting, which also coincided with the 47th anniversary of the founding of ASEAN. “ASEAN today is striving for integration and is gaining success,” President U Thein Sein said as he proclaimed a market of 609 million with a combined GDP of US$ 2.5 trillion for the organization.

The Myanmar President articulated three priorities for ASEAN. The first is the successful establishment of ASEAN Community through the completion of the remaining 20 targets of the ASEAN

Community Blueprint. The second is to improve efficiency and effectiveness, for which the High Level Task Force was created at the 23rd ASEAN Summit in Brunei to improve coordination of ASEAN organs and mechanisms. Finally, President U Thein Sein alluded to ASEAN’s dynamism to adopt to changing realities as well as to regional and international dynamics.

The President also reminded the 47th AMM that the ultimate goal of ASEAN is to bring prosperity to the peoples of member-countries and to ensure peace and stability. The Nay Pyi Taw Declaration adopted at the 24th ASEAN Summit reflects the political will of the ASEAN Leaders to carry out these objectives. This year’s theme is “Moving Forward in Unity for a Peaceful and Prosperous Community.”

The priorities of Philippine participation in the 47th AMM and Related Metings from August 5 to 10 are disaster risk reduction and management, maritime security, ASEAN connectivity, regional security architecture, human rights and the rule of law. ■ Philippine Embassy Philippines / August 8, 2014

ASEAN Foreign Ministrers pose in the traditional ASEAN handshake during the opening ceremony of the 47th AMM on August 8, 2014. Also in photos is ASEAN Secretary General Le Luong Minh (extreme right).

Filipino Faith and Music Resound in Canada’s ‘‘Martyrs’ Shrine’’

(Clockwise from top) 34th Annual Filipino Pilgrimage at Myanmar’s Shrine, photo courtesy of Mogi Mogado; A special blessing for caregivers was part of the pilgrimage activities, photo courtesy of Rommel Asuncion; Part of the estimate crowd of 5,000 faithfuls; In his homily, visiting Bishop Honesto Ongchocko, D.D. from the Diocese of Cubao echoed the theme of this year’s pilgrimage,“Remembrance and Hope”, Fr. Bernard Carroll, Director of Canada’s historic site, “Martyrs’ Shrine, Midland” welcomed all the participants to the 34th Annual Filipino Pilgrimage.

PHL Embassy Administers Oath Taking of Largest Filipino-Based Organization in Abuja PHILIPPINE Ambassador to Nigeria Alex V. Lamadrid administered the oath taking to the newly elected set of officers of the Pusong Pinoy Association (PPA), the largest Filipino-based organization in Abuja, Nigeria in a ceremony held at the Philippine Embassy on July 12.

Ambassador Lamadrid emphasized in his message the Embassy’s concern for overseas Filipino workers (OFW) security and safety in Abuja, as well as the need for financial literacy, and saving and investing for retirement. The Ambassador likewise informed the community on the health risks in Nigeria and the need for vaccination especially against polio.

The new set of officers are Mr. Bernard Mercado as President, Ms. Andrea Abella as Vice President, Ms. Aleli Banzuela as Secretary, Ms. Rochelle Corpuz as Treasurer, Mr. Nery Mirabueno, Jr. as PRO 1, Mr. Christian Bautista as PRO 2, and Ms.

Angie Lorica as Auditor.

After the ceremony, the PPA unveiled its forthcoming projects and activities for the community, such as the Information Drive on Stockmarket, sportsfest, 10th Anniversary Celebration in November and the Fiestang Pinoy.

The oath-taking ceremony coincided with the Registration of Members of which more than 150 members turned out for the event.

The Embassy also conducted overseas voters registration. ■ Philippine Embassy Manila / July 28, 2014

Philippine Ambassador to Nigeria Alex V. Lamadrid (leftmost) administers the oath of office for the 2014-2015 officers of the PPA.

Filipinos and Filipino-Canadians in Toronto and neighboring townships and municipalities celebrated the 34th Annual Filipino Pilgrimage on August 2 at the Martyrs’ Shrine in Midland, Ontario. The event is a project of the Archdiocesan Filipino Catholic Mission (AFCM), with this year’s hosts the Knights of Columbus, Our Lady of the Assumption Council 12582.

The day-long festivities with the theme, “Remembrance and Hope”, manifested the Filipinos’ beloved Christian faith and inherent musicality that resonated through the grounds of Canada’s national shrine of its eight Jesuit martyrs who lived, worked and died in the 17th century in the name of Christianity.

The highlights of the day included the welcome remarks from Fr. Bernard Carroll, Director of the Shrine who praised the Filipinos’ service to the people of Canada, recalling Christ’s service to mankind with love and unselfishness.

The Holy Mass was concelebrated by visiting Bishop Honesto Ongchoko, D.D.

from the Diocese of Cubao, assisted by Toronto-based Filipino priests Fr. Ben Ebcas, Fr. Pius Alejo and Fr. Sherwin Holandez.

The estimated crowd of 5,000 people listened attentively to the words of wisdom conveyed by Bishop Ongchoko during the homily, who spoke with deep sincerity accentuated by natural humor and jest to everyone’s delight.

The Phlippine Consulate General in Toronto led by Consul General Junever M. Mahilum-West attended the event and participated in the Offertory part of the Holy Mass.

The Holy Mass concluded with the blessing of the various holy images revered by the Filipino faithfuls, notably the Santo Niño and the Virgin Mary.

After the Holy Mas, a procession to the shrines of Filipino saints, San Lorenzo Ruiz and San Pedro Calungsod installed on this historic site was undertaken, followed by a solemn benediction by Bishop Ongchoko.

■ Philippine Embassy Philippines / August 8, 2014

Undocumented Filipino youths shying away from DACA for fear of deportation WASHINGTON, D.C.—Undocumented Filipino youths are reluctant to take advantage of the opportunity for them to temporarily stay and find work in the United States under the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) because of fears that this could make them and members of their families vulnerable to possible deportation.

The Philippine Embassy said this concern was raised by several members of the Filipino Community who attended a DACA information session at the Romulo Hall that it hosted last week.

In its last quarterly report issued in March, the US Citizenship and Immigration Seervice said that only 4,041 Filipinos have applied for DACA and of this number, 3,644 have been approved. The Migration Policy Institute placed the estimated eligible Filipino youth population at around 20,000.

“Apprehensions about what could happen to them and their families once they make their status known to US authorities continues to be a major cause for alarm among potential DACA youth, preventing them from applying,” said Consul Arlene Magno.

Questions as well as concerns of the Filipino Community were addressed by Tatyana Delgado of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc., David Chung of Own the Dream, and Gloria WilliamsBrevard, Community Relations Officer of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Brevard said Filipinos should set aside their fears since DACA is available now and should be taken advantage of by those who are eligible to apply.

For her part, Delgado said DACA is not an enforcement tool nor a program used to

Consul General Julius Caesar A. Flores presents a token to Xiamen Bishop Joseph Cai Bingrui during a meeting with the Church Leader.

go after the undocumented, unless one is determined to be a threat to public safety.

She added that if someone’s application gets denied, no further action would be taken against the applicant.

Magno said the Embassy continues to encourage eligible Filipinos to apply for DACA through its DACA awareness campaign, the next event of which is a DACA Clinic on 16 August 2014. ■ August 6, 2014

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NEWS

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

Lower income tax to cut revenues but proponent sees rebound in 3 years SENATOR Sonny Angara admitted on Friday that revenue collection may decline with his proposed lower income tax, but added that the government was bound to recover from the losses in a few years.

In a phone interview with News To Go, Angara said that if his proposal to reduce individual income tax rate to 25 percent, pushes through, there may be a decrease in revenue collection for the first two to three years of its implementation.

He added, however that collection will kick back up after the said period, which was what happened when the corporate income tax was lowered in 1997.

“Siguro sa unang dalawa, tatlong taon, bababa talaga ang ating koleksyon, ngunit pagkatapon no’n ay, palagay ko, sisipa naman ang koleksyon,” Angara said.

“Ang kailangan nating tingin dito ay long-time reform ito, ‘wag nating tingnan

‘yung taun-taunan koleksyon natin, pero tingnan din natin ‘yung estado ng ating lipunan,” he added.

“Ang nakikita natin, nagkukumpolkumpol sa baba na ang mga working class natin,” Angara said. “Kaya nga overtaxed sila at mababa na nga ang kita nila so wala nang naiiwan doon sa pangangailangan nila sa buhay ... Hindi na nagiging dekalidad at ‘yan ay may epekto sa ating lipunan.”

Angara’s Senate Bill No. 2149 aims to lower the country’s individual income tax rate from the current 32 percent to 25 percent by 2017.

The senator said he came up with the proposal because he thought the working public was at a disadvantage with the current and seemingly outdated income tax system in place.

“Sa tingin natin, hindi na makamamamayan ang sistema nating

pambuwis, dahil nagpag-iwanan na ito ng panahon ... kasi ang paggawa ng ating tax system ay wala tayong inilagay na kailangang magbago ang mga brackets to keep in touch with inflation para habulin nya yung pagtaas ng presyo,” he told News To Go. He added that the law in place in the Philippines is unlike those in other countries, which allows for “indexing for inflation.”

“Kahit luma naman ‘yung mga batas sa ibang bansa, meron silang provision na indexing for inflation. Ang ibig sabihin nga no’n ay every three to five years, babaguhin nila ‘yung mga brackets or mga porsiyento para naisasaalang-alang ‘yung pagtaas ng mga presyo.”

He said that their proposal may also include updating the highest bracket, which will be taxed with the current 32 percent, from P500,000 to perhaps those earning

from P3 million.

“Simula pa nu’ng panahon ni Presidente Marcos, 1977, ang top tax rate natin ay P500,000, nakakabili ka na daw ng houseand-lot, nakakabili ka na daw ng sampung kotse, so talagang malaki na ‘yon nu’ng panahong ‘yon. Pero sa ngayon, ‘yung P500,000 ay maituturing natin -- ayon sa datos ng gobyerno -- middle-class na po ‘yan,” he said.

Under Angara’s proposal, the tax rate for those earning between P20,000 to P70,000 will be lowered to 10 percent from 15 percent; the tax rate for those earning between P70,000 to P200,000 will be lowered to 15 percent from 20 percent; the tax rate for those earning between P200,000 to 500,000 will be lowered to 20 percent from 25 percent; the tax rate for those earning between 500,000 to P1 million will be lowered to 22 percent from

30 percent; and the tax rate for those earning over P1 million will be lowered to 25 percent from the current 32 percent.

Earlier, the senator said “it is the right time” to approve the proposal to boost the public’s confidence in the government amid the controversies brought by the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) and the Development Acceleration Program (DAP). ■ Rose-An Jessica Dioquino / NB, GMA News / August 8, 2014 / 1:47 PM

35 human trafficking victims rescued in Boracay ILOILO CITY -- Police authorities have rescued 35 women including a minor from suspected prostitution dens in the island paradise of Boracay.

Police Senior Inspector Mark Evan Salvo, chief of police of Boracay Tourist Assistance Center (BTAC), said the rescue followed a series of entrapment operations initiated by his men in three videoke bars in barangays Manoc-Manoc and Yapak in the island resort.

The BTAC chief of police said these human trafficking victims were recruited from other provinces in the country to work as waitress in videoke bars in Boracay but ended up as entertainers. Worse, the bar

owners forced them into prostitution with their patrons as prospective customers.

Salvo identified the videoke bars as Isla Bora, Swampy Videoke Bar, and Wave 98.

In a long distance interview, BTAC on-duty desk officer PO1 RC Magpusao revealed that a police asset paid a bar fine of P1,500 in marked money to catch the perpetrators in the act last Thursday evening, August 7.

Magpusao also revealed that the victims came from across Negros Occidental, Cebu and as far as Metro Manila.

Meanwhile, the victims have been placed under the custody of the provincial

DSWD in Kalibo, Aklan for proper disposition while criminal raps for violation of Republic Act 9208 or anti-trafficking in person are being readied against the bar owners.

Salvo said the police operation was conducted in close coordination with other law enforcement units from the Aklan Police Provincial Office (APPO), Provincial Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Group (PAIDSOTG), Women’s and Children’s Protection Desk, Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office-Malay, and Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO) in the province of Aklan. ■ Philippines News Agency / August 10, 2014 / 9:15 AM

Probe of fast food chains’ imported meat sought after China food safety scare

Bankers meet at 6th Corporate Treasury & CFO Summit Eduardo Olbes (right), Security Bank EVP for corporate & investment banking, explains how to effectively manage cash and liquidity at the 6th Annual Corporate Treasury & CFO Summit in Makati City on Thursday, August 7. With him are (from left) Sanman Shetty, VP Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Asian Transaction Banking Office; Ronald Goseco, AC Energy Holdings Inc.treasurer and CFO; and Oscar Pobre, CFO Century Pacific Food Inc. Photo by Danny Pata.

TWO lawmakers want Congress to probe the safety of imported food products used by local fast-food chains following the scandal surrounding a Chinese meat and poultry supplier servicing global brands.

House Resolution 1353 filed Thursday

by Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone and Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento calls on the “appropriate committees” in the House of Representatives to conduct an investigation regarding the safety of food products sourced by local fast-food chains abroad.

“Imports of food chain companies in

the Philippines, like Jollibee, McDonald’s, Bon Chon, Chow King, Burger King, Pizza Hut, among others, must be investigated to determine whether these companies have been serving food products detrimental to the health and well-being of the people,” the lawmakers said.

The production, sale and importation of any food or food product that does not conform to applicable food quality and safety standards is prohibited and punishable under Republic Act 10611.

Shanghai Husi Food Co Ltd., a food products supplier owned by the Illinois-

the big portion of that will be used to pay debts],” he said.

“Noong nagdaang mga araw, walang bukambibig ang administrasyong Aquino kundi paggamit sa‘savings.’ Pero kung totoong may ‘savings,’ bakit patuloy pa rin tayong umuutang?” he added.

[In the past days, the Aquino administration had been mentioning nothing but savings. But if it’s true that there savings, how come we borrow money continuously?].

He said that based on the 2015 BESF recently submitted by the DBM to Congress, the national government targets higher added borrowings for 2015.

Next year, the national government targets to incur an additional P902.6 billion in domestic debt, mainly through treasury bills and fixed rate treasury bonds. ■

based OSI Group LLC., has come under fire over allegations it mixed fresh and expired meat.

The food safety scare was triggered by a television documentary in China showing the company’s workers using expired produce and picking up pieces of meat from the floor. The report also alleged the firm forged production dates.

McDonald’s units in Hong Kong and Japan have temporarily pulled out meat products from their menu as a result of the controversy, while KFC and Pizza Hut parent company Yum Brands Inc. has announced it was severing its ties with the American meat supplier owning Shanghai Husi.

The OSI Group said it would “withdraw from the marketplace” all products made by its Chinese plant is in the process of conducting an internal investigation into current and former senior management.

“Swift and decisive action,” including legal measures, will also be taken against those responsible for the scandal, the company said. ■ Xianne Arcangel / BM, GMA

InterAksyon.com / August 5, 2014 / 4:01 PM

News / August 10, 2014 / 2:59 PM

Magkano utang mo?: Each Filipino owes P59K in foreign, domestic debts, solon says MANILA - By the end of the year, each of the country’s 100 million Filipinos will have total domestic and foreign debt of P59,121, according to Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, citing estimates from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).

Ridon said the nominal debt per capita consists of P40,132 in domestic debt and P18,989 in foreign debt.

The figures are based on the estimated P5.9-trillion outstanding debt of the national government by yearend as reported by the Bureau of Treasury to the DBM and in the 2015 Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing (BESF).

Ridon said the “large debt per capita figure is the result of the government’s continued reliance on debt to fund ambitious national budgets every year.”

“Without addressing the wobbly and highly speculative nature of the nation’s economy, the government has once again targeted a larger budget for 2015, which – as expected – (will) be largely funded by more loans,” the lawmaker added.

The proposed P2.606 trillion national budget for 2015 is 15.1 percent higher than the current P2.265 trillion budget.

To fund the 2015 budget, DBM targets P2.337 in tax collections, non-tax revenues, and privatization next year.

To plug the budget deficit, the

government targets to borrow P700.8 billion, of which only P283.7 billion will be used to plug the projected fiscal deficit, and P26.7 billion will be set aside for the government’s cash buffer account, according to Ridon.

He said the larger portion of the target new borrowings, amounting to P390.4 billion, would be used to pay for the amortization of the principal of the outstanding national government debt.

The government’s targeted borrowings highlights the debt-driven nature of the country’s fiscal program, according to Ridon.

“Sa madaling salita, sa susunod na taon, mangungutang na naman ang gobyerno ng bilyones at ang malaking bahagi ng uutangin ay ipambabayad din sa utang [In short, the government will borrow billions of pesos next year and

NEWS

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

www.hello-philippines.com

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Focus: With trips to Korea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Pope Francis hopes to boost booming Asia church VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis travels to South Korea this week with a message of peace for the divided peninsula on his first papal visit to Asia, where the Catholic Church is undergoing dramatic growth.

The 77-year-old pontiff will fly into Seoul on Wednesday in a trip also aimed at making up for his predecessor Benedict XVI never visiting Asia during his whole eightyear papacy.

Vatican watchers say Francis will address the whole continent on the sevenday trip where the number of Catholics, although only 3.2 percent of the population, is rocketing.

With the Roman Catholic Church dogged by increasing secularism in the West, “it’s a chance for the pontiff to flash a thumbsup to a region upon which Catholicism is increasingly reliant”, said Vatican expert John Allen, who writes for the Boston Globe.

In January, the pope will return to Asia on a trip to Sri Lanka and the Philippines -- the region’s largest Catholic country - to nurture the burgeoning number of faithful and would-be clerics from China to India, Myanmar and Vietnam.

As a young man, Francis dreamt of becoming a missionary in Japan, where Catholics in the 18th and 19th centuries kept their faith alive without the help of priests, who had been expelled or murdered by the imperial government.

In South Korea he will preside over a beatification ceremony for 124 Korean martyrs and is expected to use his speech to warn of a recent escalation in anti-Christian persecution from Afghanistan to Iraq, Syria and Somalia.

In the last census to include religious affiliation in 2005, close to 30 percent of South Koreans identified themselves as Christian. The majority are Protestants, but Catholics are the fastest-growing group with around 5.3 million adherents - just over 10 percent of the population.

In North Korea, the Church is only allowed to operate within the confines of the state-controlled Korean Catholics Association (KCA). The country is repeatedly ranked worst for oppression of Christians by international watchdogs.

‘A great miracle’. The pope will hold a mass in Seoul’s cathedral for reconciliation

between the two Koreas which remain technically at war because the 1950-53 conflict ended in a ceasefire rather than a peace treaty.

Seoul’s Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soojung, who crossed into North Korea for a historic one-day visit in May, said he hoped Francis would bring about “a great miracle” for dialogue between Korea’s Communist and capitalist halves.

Reports that the pope may pray at the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas - in an echo of his impromptu stop at Israel’s separation wall during a trip to Bethlehem earlier this year - were ruled out by the Vatican.

However, spokesman Federico Lombardi said “the pope is always capable of surprises”.

Religious watchers have also speculated that Francis might take the chance to travel on to Beijing in a bid to ease a bitter feud between the Church and China’s Communist regime, which has its own state-controlled Catholic Church.

During the visit to South Korea, the first by a pope, he will meet relatives of the

victims of the Sewol ferry, which sank in April with the loss of some 300 lives - most of them children.

He will also meet Korean women forced into sex slavery for Japanese troops during World War II, invited by organizers to attend the pope’s August 18 mass.

The pontiff, a champion of the weak and downtrodden, will visit a center for the handicapped and is also expected to reach out to those left behind by the country’s

rapid economic growth, repeating his famous call for “a poor Church for the poor”.

“The Korean Church is learning to pay attention to the poor, but today there is still a risk of it coming across as a Church of the rich, for the rich,” Vincenzo Bordo, a lay missionary in South Korea, told the Vatican Insider website.

“Many hope that the Pope’s visit will act as an impetus” for change, he said. ■ Agence France-Presse / August 10, 2014 / 3:11 PM

Air Asia Zest plane from China makes safe emergency landing in PH after engine trouble Probe of fast food chains’ imported meat MANILA - An Air Asia Zest plane that encountered engine trouble safely made an emergency landing in Manila Saturday night, and all on board were reported safe, the CAAP Operations Rescue Coordinating Center said.

The flight first encountered a so-called “engine bleed” at engine number 2 at 7:23pm while cruising within Guangzhou, China.

Operational engineering bulletin procedures were done. At about 190 nautical miles to Manila, its engine number 1 failed. The captain made an early/ preemptive descent, but cabin pressure continued to rise.

The pilots made a fast emergency descent and declared this to the air traffic controller. The cabin oxygen masks deployed automatically. Passengers were

attended to by cabin crew at a safe altitude of 10,000 feet, according to the report of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).

It landed on Manila safely at 8:38pm.

The plane involved is an A320 with registry RP-C8993, piloted by Capt. Allan Roque with First Officer Dennis Superficial.

■ Eric Apolonio, InterAksyon.com / August 9, 2014 /

11:02 PM

File photo of a Zest Air plane.

sought after China food safety scare

TWO lawmakers want Congress to probe the safety of imported food products used by local fast-food chains following the scandal surrounding a Chinese meat and poultry supplier servicing global brands.

House Resolution 1353 filed Thursday

by Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone and Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento calls on the “appropriate committees” in the House of Representatives to conduct an investigation regarding the safety of food products sourced by local fast-food chains abroad.

“Imports of food chain companies in the Philippines, like Jollibee, McDonald’s, Bon Chon, Chow King, Burger King, Pizza Hut, among others, must be investigated to determine whether these companies have been serving food products detrimental to the health and well-being of the people,” the lawmakers said.

The production, sale and importation of any food or food product that does not conform to applicable food quality and safety standards is prohibited and punishable under Republic Act 10611.

Shanghai Husi Food Co Ltd., a food

products supplier owned by the Illinoisbased OSI Group LLC., has come under fire over allegations it mixed fresh and expired meat.

The food safety scare was triggered by a television documentary in China showing the company’s workers using expired produce and picking up pieces of meat from the floor. The report also alleged the firm forged production dates.

McDonald’s units in Hong Kong and Japan have temporarily pulled out meat products from their menu as a result of the controversy, while KFC and Pizza Hut parent company Yum Brands Inc. has announced it was severing its ties with the American meat supplier owning Shanghai Husi.

The OSI Group said it would “withdraw from the marketplace” all products made by its Chinese plant is in the process of conducting an internal investigation into current and former senior management.

“Swift and decisive action,” including legal measures, will also be taken against those responsible for the scandal, the company said. ■ Xianne Arcangel / BM, GMA News

/ August 10, 2014 / 2:59 PM

Cinemalaya X Review: Rekindling old love with Nova Villa WHEN we were kids, we tuned in every turn out to be her lecherous brother Chito it away. He’s talking about their car, but we each emotion as it passes across her face week to a TV show called “Chicks to Chicks”.

The very title marks it as an artifact from the early days of women’s liberation, when attractive women were routinely referred to as young chickens. It was the martial law era, so any discussion of politics or unpleasant realities that did not fit the Marcos-approved image of the New Society was suppressed. Sex, however, was all over TV and the movies. “Chicks to Chicks” starred Nova Villa and Freddie Webb as a feisty housewife and her hunky husband who ran a modeling agency. Inexplicably, the models (Carmi Martin, the late Maria Teresa Carlson) lived in their house and went around in their underwear. Each week the wife would suspect her husband of cheating on her, but everything would

Arceo’s fault, and the couple would make up and take a shower together. This show ran throughout our childhood.

To those of us who survived the era of flared pants and curfew, the main attraction of 1st Ko Si 3rd by Real Florido is nostalgia.

The film stars Nova Villa as Corazon, a woman who has just retired from her government job and has to adjust to having too much time on her hands. Her stolid husband (Dante Rivero) points out that they don’t have many years left.

Time is the villain of this piece, as the frequently recurring image of the clock tells us. Corazon’s days pass in cleaning house, falling asleep in front of the TV, and listening to her husband go on and on about how just because a thing is old you don’t throw

know what he means, we got it the first ten times. Her friends drop by the house and reiterate the theme. This would be tiresome if Nova Villa weren’t so watchable. Her face, so open and familiar, is like a time machine.

(Our friend the cranky French critic remarked that she reminds him of Giulietta Massina, star of La Strada and many of her husband Federico Fellini’s films.)

Then Third (Freddie Webb), her first love who had migrated to the US fifty years earlier, comes to town for a visit. This throws Corazon into a crisis, because she’s never gotten over him. Another actress might’ve resorted to mugging, pratfalls, cute tricks.

Nova Villa is the master of those comic devices; here she and her director give us something else. Not only can we read

- giddiness, self-reproach, embarrassment, guilt, fear - but she seems to go from teenager to adult to senior in the space of a minute.

In sepia flashbacks, we see how Corazon and Third met and separated. The scenes set in the 60s, with younger counterparts who do not resemble them in the slightest, are charming, even if the relationship is ended by the most trivial non-reason. (And they never looked each other up in 50 years?) Nostalgia isn’t just the hook of this movie, but the subject itself. We think of nostalgia as a wistful, affectionate longing for the past, but the word means “the pain of going home”. Corazon discovers what happens when fantasy is exposed to the harsh air of reality. Her great romance might

1st Ko Si 3rd. Written and directed by Real Florido.

Starring Nova Villa, Dante Rivero, Freddie Webb.

not be what she thought it was, or maybe there is no such thing as a great romance.

Sometimes people are together because there’s no one left, she tells her friend. Is that the worst that could happen?

At 109 minutes the movie is twice as long as it should be, but watching Nova Villa is a joy. ■ Jessica Zafra / August 8, 2014 / 7:28 AM

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www.hello-philippines.com

BASKETBALL

SPORTS

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

Ateneo coach Bo Perasol on star player Ravena: ‘Kiefer is the best collegiate player today’

AFTER another phenomenal on-court performance, Ateneo star Kiefer Ravena is making a strong case for himself as the best basketball player in the collegiate ranks.

For his coach, Bo Perasol, it’s not even a question at this point.

“For me, without a doubt, Kiefer is the best collegiate player today,” the Ateneo coach told InterAksyon.com on Sunday.

Ravena, the UAAP’s leading scorer with a 23.0-point average, put his arsenal on

full display in an overtime victory over the UE Red Warriors that helped Ateneo close the first round on top of the Season 77 standings with a 6-1 record.

Perasol chalks up a lot of their success season to his star player.

“His skills are way above the rest. That’s the reason why we are successful,” he said.

Against UE, the King Eagle scored a career-high 38 points – including the shot that forced overtime and the last seven Ateneo points in the extra period – alongside

six rebounds and nine assists in another of a long line of clutch performances this season.

He scored 14 points in the fourth quarter in a win over arch rival De La Salle earlier this season and followed that up by torching FEU for 10 points in the last four minutes of their first round matchup weeks later.

In the Blue Eagles’ most recent game, Ravena nailed a high-looping game-winner from the top of the key with 3.7 seconds left to sink UST.

The coach knows that despite their soaring to the top of the standings, there is plenty of season still left to play.

Perasol knows he’ll need Ravena to maintain the lofty standard of play that he’s set for himself but he’s confident the Ateneo star can keep it going.

“Just like anything else, he has to work with the same positive attitude that he has right now. That’s what he actually has – a strong work ethic,” Perasol said. ■ Rey Joble /

InterAksyon.com / August 10, 2014 / 7:08 PM

Photo by Ver Marquez ©InterAksyon.com

Kiefer Ravena explodes for career-high 38 points as Ateneo rallies to nip UE in overtime KIEFER Ravena dropped a career-high 38 points and did what he does best in the clutch despite tweaking his ankle to propel Ateneo De Manila University to a 93-91 overtime victory over University of the East in UAAP Season 77 action Sunday at Mall of Asia Arena.

Photo by Ver Marquez ©InterAksyon.com

FOOTBALL

back-triples to lift UE to a 70-57 advantage with 7:20 remaining.

Ravena then set up Newsome for an and-one as Ateneo came within two, 8078, with 38.8 seconds left.

UE committed travelling with 28 seconds left, opening the door for Ateneo to tie the game. Ravena obliged as he knocked down a jumper to tie the game at 80-all to force overtime where the Blue Eagles prevailed.

Sumang had the chance to snatch the win for UE, but his triple went airball as the game went into overtime.

Ravena also dished nine assists and six rebounds and made 19 of 25 free throws as Ateneo improved to a 6-1 record to remain on top of the team standings.

Sumang also delivered a career-high 30 points and seven assists for UE as it stumbled to a 2-4 card after losing its fourth straight game. ■ InterAksyon.com / August 10,

Ravena played through an ankle injury in overtime to make crucial plays down the stretch as he outdueled backourt rival Roi Sumang who also put up a career performance for the Red Warriors.

After trailing by 22 points, Ravena led an Ateneo fightback and buried a floater to tie the game at 80-all and force overtime.

Von Pessumal sank a triple to give Ateneo the lead in overtime, but Bong Galanza answered with his own version of a trey to help UE regain an 85-84 lead.

Chris Newsome made free throws, then Ravena nailed a floater for Ateneo’s 88-85 lead with 1:35 left in extra time. The Blue Eagles star sprained his right ankle after the shot.

But Ravena shrugged off the injury and pulled up a triple to push Ateneo’s lead, 9185, with 59.4 ticks left However, Sumang didn’t throw the white towel right away as hit a triple and dished an assist to Charles Mammie to keep

UE within one, 91-90, with 14.9 seconds remaining.

Ravena made a split from the line as UE had a chance to tie the game with 5.3 seconds left. But Sumang got foiled on a drive attempt which forced UE to foul Ravena, who made one of two free throws.

UE tried to make a comeback with 0.5 ticks left after an opportunity at the line. But it failed to grab the offensive board after making the first free throw to allow Ateneo grab the victory.

It was a painful loss for UE which went on a rampage right at the opening tip.

The Red Warriors zoomed to a 15-4 lead in the first quarter after forcing Ateneo turnovers which led to easy points by the Red Warriors.

Sumang capped the blazing start for UE with a triple at the first period buzzer to pad the Red Warriors’ cushion to 18, 28-10, after the opening frame where Mammie also came alive and finished with 10 points

in the quarter alone.

Struggling to convert his shots from the field, Ravena had to make a living on the free throw line to score 12 points at the half.

But UE was just relentless on the driving lanes and in transition, with Sumang attacking the the Ateneo defense as the Red Warriors grabbed their biggest lead at 22 points, 38-16, at the 5:22 mark of the second period.

Ravena scored a jumper, buried a triple and made three free throws for eight straight points as Ateneo launched a 10-0 run to open the third period and trim their deficit, 44-41, with eight minutes left in the quarter.

However, the Red Warriors quickly countered, with Mammie reasserting his presence underneath and Sumang and Bong Galanza firing treys for a 12-0 run that pushed their lead to 14, 58-44.

As Ateneo cut UE’s lead to seven early in the fourth quarter, Sumang drilled back-to-

2014 / 4:58 PM

younger players to gain international experience.

“We’re thankful for the past six months for Dooley. He’s given the chance for the younger players which has not been done before,” Araneta said. “It shows that if given the chance, they’ll perform for the country.”

Azkals stars Stephan Schrock, Dennis Cagara and Neil Etheridge have blasted Dooley because of the coach’s alleged preference for younger, local players. The coach denied it and said that he is simply

giving minutes to players who deserve to be on the pitch.

Araneta added that the PFF respects the decision of the players who have vowed not to return to the Azkals until Dooley steps down.

“Carrying the national team colors is an honor. The glory is for the country and not for the individual,” Araneta said. “We respect their decision because playing for the national team is voluntary.”

“We’d like to thank them for what they’ve done to the country.”

The PFF said that the team is now ready to move on without their foreign-based stars who revolted against Dooley.

“We just have to move on and we hope we can put up the best team that we can put up,” Araneta said.

Schrock, Cagara and Etheridge have voiced out their displeasure towards Dooley through social media because of their disagreement with the coach’s decisions.

Dooley called what the players did as “unacceptable, unprofessional and selfish.”

■ InterAksyon.com / August 7, 2014 / 11:56 PM

PFF throws support behind coach Thomas Dooley over feud with Azkals’ foreign-based players

THE Philippine Football Federation on Thursday expressed support to Azkals coach Thomas Dooley over his rift with the team’s foreign-based stars.

“We stand behind national teams committee chairman Dan Palami and coach Thomas Dooley,” PFF president Mariano Araneta said. “It’s a team sport and we have to put the best team.”

Araneta said that he is satisfied with the way Dooley runs the national team, especially in giving opportunities for the

Rampaging Fullback: Was Coach Dooley right to hit back at disgruntled Azkals?

IF there were any doubts regarding Thomas Dooley’s ability to manage the Azkals team and its big egos, it most certainly has been obliterated.

Three days after Stephan Schrock and Dennis Cagara pinpointed Dooley as the reason why the pair won’t be representing the Azkals anymore, Coach Thomas minced no words in describing them: unacceptable, unprofessional and selfish.

Even Neil Etheridge, one time automatic first choice goalkeeper for the Azkals was not spared from Dooley’s criticism.

Photo by Karl Decena ©InterAksyon.com

“How many games did he play (in the past season)? Three? That’s a lot,” said Dooley.

It will be remembered that Etheridge reacted quite strongly to his non-inclusion to the training camp for the 2014 Peace Cup, as he tweeted he “never felt so disrespected in my life.”

Failing to garner any sort of sympathy, Etheridge ultimately deleted his tweet, but heavy damage had already been done.

Perhaps Etheridge could be forgiven for wondering what on earth he did wrong for being not included in the Azkals goalkeeping discussion, which included a little-used Paolo Pascual. He was, after all, the Azkals’ goalkeeping hero when they initially burst into the scene.

Interestingly, there were some sectors with the opinion that Coach Dooley could perhaps have taken the high road in dealing with all this. Could he have played the bigger person in this whole scenario and not engage into a verbal war with the

players, not bringing up the irrelevant story of a shirtless Schrock smoking in the lobby, for instance?

In engaging and replying point by point to the players, does he run the risk of looking as unprofessional as his players and reveal a lack of experience in dealing with player mutiny as head coach?

Dooley felt he needed to put a very strong point across by sending a message loud and clear – one does not go public with grievances, say things in the absolute (I will never play for you) and expect to be welcomed back to the team.

Given all that has happened, it’s easy to see why Dooley chose to go on a rampage.

The players’ actions are definitely disrespectful not only to management but also to the other players whose playing time and careers will inevitably be railroaded by giving in to the players’ selfish demands.

The message to Etheridge has to be clear: grow up and realize that your chances of getting back to the Azkals setup hinges

on more than the state of your quads. To paraphrase your tweet, that is a #fact.

It is a big knock on your character when you choose to engage your coach in a public word war, especially while the press conference of said coach to address your issue was on-going.

Etheridge claimed to be ‘training now with a good level team for five weeks” and is “fully fit”. Perhaps he should pick up the phone to call the Azkals management to inform them himself instead of typing the message for the world to see.

It is true that before any of us cared about the Azkals, Etheridge was there to represent the team and for that fans are forever grateful and appreciative. Events in the last few days have greatly eroded some of that goodwill, but there is hope, although it will depend a great deal on Etheridge and his attitude towards being ‘disrespected’.

For one who talks of respect, Etheridge ironically fails to grasp the very meaning of the word in astounding fashion.

In his football show Hans On, Green Archers United technical director Hans Smit raised a very valid point. These social media posts by Etheridge, Schrock and Cagara might yet have its effect in the Philippines, but they must realize that their current clubs and potential suitors will be keenly observing their behaviour as well.

Would a European club choose to sign them on, knowing fully well that at the next sign of ‘disrespect’, these same players could turn against them?

By engaging a verbal war with Dooley and resorting to social media to air their gripes, the aggrieved players are only setting themselves up for disappointment and embarrassment. ■ Ryan Fenix is

InterAksyon.com’s resident football analyst. His football

column

Rampaging

Fullbackappears

exclusively on the site. He runs the football blog The Prawn Sandwich Brigade and covers football for Sports5. For more football discussion, follow him on Twitter / InterAksyon.com / August 10, 2014 / 3:22 PM

August 2014 / Fortnightly – No. 16 • UK & Europe Edition

MORE SPORTS

SPORTS

www.hello-philippines.com

39

Filipino representatives to Youth Olympic Games out for valuable learning experience in Nanjing

“NO expectations, just gaining experience.”

That’s how Jonne Go, chef de mission of Team Philippines taking part in the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, sums up the chances of the Filipino athletes in the second staging of this event.

The seven Filipino athletes set to compete in this prestigious multi-event open for participants 18 years and below are all making their Youth Olympic Games debuts.

“They’re all first-timers so we all look

forward to them gaining the experience in quest of an Olympic medal,” said Go. “If we want to win an Olympic medal, we need to start it with young athletes.”

Two archery bets, a representative each in athletics, gymnastics, shooting, swimming and triathlon compose the national squad.

Luis Gabriel Moreno of archery will be the flag bearer of the group. He will be joined by fellow archer Bianca Cristi Gotuaco, Zion Rose Nelson of athletics, Ava Lorein Verdeflor of gymnastics, Celdon Jude Arellano of

shooting, Roxanne Yu of swimming and Victorija Evania Deldio of triathlon.

The Youth Olympic Games is slated August 16 to 28.

Aside from the experience of representing the country at this early age, Go believes that the values the young athletes will learn in the games will be equally as important.

“They have a chance to learn moral and educational values during their participation in the Youth Olympic Games,” she added. ■

Rey Joble / InterAksyon.com / August 3, 2014 / 2:36 PM

Photo by Paul Mata ©Sports5

UP campaign boosted by support from alumni Senators Angara, Escudero THE UP Fighting Maroons have never been known to receive much in terms of funding or support.

But that’s starting to change now, and

Photo courtesy of Sen. Angara’s staff

that might mean bigger things are in store for the team after they ended a 27-game losing streak on Saturday.

Alumni supporters, among them

Senator Sonny Angara and Senator Chiz Escudero, have recently begun to throw some much-needed aid the Fighting Maroons’ way.

Angara provided the Fighting Maroons some equipment, including a 50-inch LED TV and a DVD player for use in review of game tape while Escudero offered some help in the form of brand new pairs of basketball shoes for the players.

Angara, a known basketball supporter who was instrumental in fast-tracking of the naturalization of NBA player Andray Blatche, gave the equipment prior to the win, though he doesn’t believe that it was a factor in the team’s first win in two years.

“Nagkataon lang,” Angara told InterAksyon.com in an interview.

But like everyone in the UP community, Angara was delighted by the players’ performance against Adamson.

“I’m very happy siyempre kasi first win in 28 games so talaga crazy happy ang mga taga-UP,” he added. “The team played great defense and played with a lot of heart.”

UP chancellor Michael Tan said that the fact that alumni have been supporting the team is already a big deal.

“The joke always is our only incentive when recruiting is all we can offer you is a UP diploma. Wala kaming perks, they don’t have nice dorms. It’s only recently that Senator Chiz Escudero donated shoes to them. Of course, may shoes naman sila but just getting new shoes, ibang bagay din yun,” Tan said.

“It’s been so long, but it’s also a realization na this win comes because the team worked so hard. Everyone pitched in, and most importantly ang alumni natin.

This is the first time that we have a broad segment of alumni coming in. We have no

way to go but up.”

Team manager Dan Palami, the Azkals and Global FC backer whose role is to generate more alumni support for the Fighting Maroons, is seeing his work pay off with the UP community getting behind the team of late.

“We’ve always tried hard to make sure that everything works to get united para nalalaman naman ng team na the whole community is supporting them. And that’s what we’ve been trying to drum up, that’s why andito tayo, para i-encourage lahat ng sectors ng UP community – students, faculty, the alumni, most especially,” Palami said.

“They’ve been very helpful in the past games. It has come to this. We want to savor this one muna after such a long drought.” ■ Rey Joble and Karl Decena / InterAksyon.com / August

10, 2014 / 7:40 PM

sport

Ateneo coach Kiefer Ravena Filipino representatives Bo Perasol on star explodes for career- to Youth Olympic player Ravena- ‘Kiefer high 38 points as Games out for is the best collegiate Ateneo rallies to nip valuable learning player today’ UE in overtime experience in Nanjing Story on page 38

Story on page 38

Story on page 39

BOXING

MANNY PACQUIAO ONE OF SPORTS ILLUSTRATED’S ‘FITTEST ATHLETES’; LEBRON NO.1 FILIPINO boxing icon Manny Pacquiao was hailed as one of the world’s fittest athletes according to a list published by Sports Illustrated this week.

Pacquiao ranked 39th out of 50 athletes around the world who made it to the list after scoring 24 out of the possible 40 points in the measure used by SI. SI ranked the athletes according to the following criteria: strength (“the pushing power of a lineman or the force of an ultimate fighter”), speed (“the top end of a sprinter or the burst of a running back”), endurance (“a runner’s bottomless reserve or a boxer’s ability to keep going in a bout”), and agility (“the balance of a downhill skier

or a euro step at full speed on the break”).

Pacquiao scored 6.5 on speed, 5 on strength, 6.5 on agility and 6 on endurance.

Topping the list is NBA superstar LeBron James, who scored a perfect 40. He was followed by Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo (38.5) and star sprinter Usain Bolt (36.5).

Pacquiao’s boxing rival Floyd Mayweather ranked fourth with 36 points.

Rounding out the top 10 are NFL players Dez Bryant and Calvin Johnson, Serge Ibaka of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Adrian Peterson from NFL, UFC fighter Jon Jones and swimmer Michael Phelps. ■ InterAksyon.

com / August 7, 2014 / 12:09 PM