The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Philippines

  • Philippines bans mandatory wearing of high heels in workplace

    Philippines bans mandatory wearing of high heels in workplace

    The Philippines’ labour department on Friday issued an order banning private companies from demanding female employees to wear high-heeled shoes at work.

    According to a labour group that proposed the new directive, the order makes the Philippines the first country in Asia to ban the mandatory wearing of high heels in the workplace.

    “We hope that the regulation will also be copied and applied for the benefit of workers in the entire Asia region,” said Alan Tanjusay, a spokesman for the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP).

    “With this regulation, millions of Filipino (workers)…will now be freed from the bondage of unsafe and dangerous working conditions,” he added.

    Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello said the guidelines would take effect next month and was based on a study by a task force created following ALU-TUCP’s proposal.

    “We noticed how sales ladies, for example, look very tired after standing all day in heels,” he said. “You can tell there is a feeling of inconvenience or they are uncomfortable.”

    Bello said the department has not received any negative feedback about the order during consultations.

    Under the department’s guidelines, companies can no longer require women to wear shoes with heels more than 1 inch in height as part of the dress code at work.

  • Philippines police knock door-to-door for drug tests

    Philippines police knock door-to-door for drug tests

    Police in Philippines on Wednesday knocked door-to-door in one of Manila’s poorest neighbourhoods to encourage people to take on-the-spot drug tests, a campaign condemned by rights groups as harassment that could endanger lives.

    Carrying drug testing kits, police officers accompanied by community officials were seen by Reuters going to houses asking residents if they were willing to submit urine samples.

    Payatas, one of the most populated sub-districts, or barangays, in the capital’s Quezon City neighbourhood, has been identified as a crime-prone area with a serious drug problem.

    Community leaders said they requested help from police, and testing was voluntary.

    Dozens of Payatas residents have died during President Rodrigo Duterte’s ferocious 14-month-old war on drugs, which has killed thousands of Filipinos, many in what critics say are suspicious circumstances.

    Residents say more than 300 of the 130,000 people in Payatas are already on a drug “watch list” drawn up last year by community leaders of known addicts.

    Barangay watch lists are drawn up by community leaders to identify those in need of rehabilitation, but activists say some of those who appeared on them have become targets for assassination.

    The authorities deny the watch lists serve as hit-lists.

    On Wednesday, Reuters saw a small number of Payatas residents lining up to be tested but the police did not say how many were found clean or to be drug users.

    Community leaders did not say what will happen to people who tested positive for drug use or to those who refuse to be tested.

    “Our goal is to have a drug-free barangay this year,” Payatas barangay secretary Marlene Ocampo told Reuters, adding the village council agreed to fund and conduct free and voluntary drug testing, which could take four to five months.

    “We only asked the police to help us and we are grateful,” she said. “We have more than 133,000 residents.” She said there were no complaints, and many residents agreed to undergo tests. This is also good for us,” said Maria Luisa Valdez, a 37-year-old food vendor. “We are clean. We don’t do drugs so why would be afraid to take the test.”

    The head of the National Union of People’s Lawyers, Edre Olalia, said police were on a “fishing expedition” to draw up a list of drug users, and doubted the testing was voluntary.

    Olalia said: “It is presumably illegal and unconstitutional on its face especially when it is blanket, involuntarily and arbitrary.

    “It violates the right to privacy and against self-incrimination and basic human dignity.”

  • Drug war: Philippine leader tells police to kill only if necessary

    Drug war: Philippine leader tells police to kill only if necessary

    President Rodrigo Duterte of Philippines on Wednesday warned police officers that their duty was to arrest suspects and kill only if their lives were in danger.

    The firebrand leader, now facing the most intense scrutiny so far in his controversial but popular crackdown, said he could not justify the Aug. 17 high-profile killing of a high school student.

    Authorities said the police response had not followed instructions and would face justice.

    Though Duterte stood firmly behind a campaign that has killed thousands of mostly urban poor Filipinos, his remarks were a departure from the bellicose rhetoric that critics say has created a culture of impunity and emboldened police to execute suspects.

    “You are not allowed to kill a person that is kneeling down begging for his life. That is murder,” Duterte said in a speech.

    “When I say you get him, it includes doing the arresting and then if there is a violent resistance, they (police) have to defend themselves.”

    Kian Santos, 17, was among more than 90 people killed in three days of intensified police operations on Aug. 18 that marked the bloodiest chapter of a campaign that has alarmed the international community.

    Security camera footage showed a man matching the victim’s description being dragged by plainclothes police to an alley where he was found dead.

    Police said he was a drug courier, but his family insisted he was unarmed, innocent, and murdered.

    His death has attracted huge domestic attention, with political opponents demanding the killings stop and some churches opposing the bloodshed and ringing bells at night in protest.

    Demonstrations have taken place, the latest a small rally outside police headquarters on Wednesday.

    Duterte has repeatedly vowed to pardon police convicted of abuses during his anti-drug campaign, but on Wednesday he said there would be no protection for those who broke the rules of engagement.

    “Let us be clear on this. I said I will protect those who are doing their duty.

    “I never promised to protect those who are supposedly engaged in doing their duty but committing a crime in the process,” he said, adding that abuses “cannot be done”.

    Condemnation of Duterte’s 14-month-old war on drugs has come mainly from human rights groups, political opponents and foreign critics, with Filipinos largely supportive of the campaign, echoing the government view that the suppression of drugs use is making the streets safer.

    Critics say that Duterte is turning a blind eye to systematic abuses and cover-ups with an unquestioning acceptance of an official police line that typically says those killed were drug dealers who had violently resisted arrest.

    “I will not change my policy, there will be a war on against drugs because I have to protect the people,” he said.
    “I have that sworn duty to defend the people and protect the republic.”

  • Vietnam reports two cases of Zika virus

    Vietnam reports two cases of Zika virus

    Two women in Vietnam have been infected with the Zika virus

     

    According to report, a 64-year-old woman from the popular beach resort of Nha Trang became the country’s first casuality of the case after being admitted to hospital complaining of fever, headache and a rash on her legs, while a 33-year-old woman with eight weeks pregnancy became the second victim of the virus.

    An online newspaper,  Vnexpress reported that 1,215 samples have been sent for testing for suspected Zika in 32 provinces throughout the country.

    It is not clear if either of the women have recently travelled abroad, or whether they were infected with Zika in Vietnam.

    However, health officials have quarantined the living areas of the patient’s families and taken samples from others living nearby for further tests.

     

    There have been a smaller number of cases in countries closer to Vietnam such as Thailand, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and South Korea.

     

    The Zika virus, which is carried by mosquitoes and transmitted to humans, is thought to cause microcephaly.

    Characterised by unusually small heads, microcephaly can result in developmental problems in babies.

  • Philippines growth slows sharply in first quarter

    Growth in the Philippine economy slowed in the first quarter of the year to its weakest annual pace since 2011, official figures showed.

    The economy expanded 5.2% in the first three months from a year ago, which is the slowest rate since the last quarter of 2011, when growth was 3.8%.

    The figure was also well below market forecasts for 6.6% growth.

    The economy was hit by weak growth in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors, the government said.

    Growth on a quarterly basis was the lowest in six years. The economy grew by just 0.3% in the quarter on a seasonally-adjusted basis, compared with 2.5% growth in the October to December period.

    Weak demand from its major trading partners has had a bigger than expected impact on the export-driven South East Asian economy, analysts said.

    Earlier this month, data showed that exports grew 2.1% in March, compared with more than 12% in the same period a year ago.

    “External demand has been challenging across a lot of the Philippines’ major trade partners such as Japan and China and I think that showed in the GDP (gross domestic product) print,” Jeff Ng, economist at Standard Chartered, told Reuters.

    “This poses downside risks to our forecast of 6% for full-year GDP growth.”

    Despite the disappointing data, the government said it was not abandoning its growth target of 7-8%.

    Arsenio Balisacan, the economic planning chief, said government spending and exports were expected to pick up in the coming quarters.

    The country’s central bank has kept the overnight lending rate steady at 4% since October last year as inflation remains within its target of 2 to 4%.

     

     

     

  • Nigerian student among the best in the Philippines

    From the Republic of the Philippines came an honour for Nigeria. Cynthia Oluchi Nworgu, a Nigerian studying nursing in the Southeast Asian country,  was named one of the three outstanding international students by the Philippine International Friendship and Understanding Association (PIFUA).

    Cynthia’s good academic mark at the Institute of Nursing of the Far Eastern University (FEU) won “Student Achiever” award in her sophomore year and qualified her to participate in Outstanding International Students’ Contest organised by PIFUA.

    Despite the language barrier which many international students faced in the country, Cynthia won laurel for her feat. Although she said she had hard time expressing herself in the Philippines language but added that she hated being given “special treatment” because she wanted to learn the way regular students did.

    Cynthia said: “I feel at home in FEU because the university has a nurturing environment. The Filipinos are accommodating and good listeners. I took up nursing because I know I can be a better doctor since I will understand the dynamics of both professions.”

    Cynthia’s class adviser, Leonardo de Guzman, said she displayed resilience and independence to earn recommendations from her professors in the institute. Guzman said: “Cynthia is hardworking and a fast-learner, who is very active in the class discussions. In fact, when the class was exposed to clinical activities, Cynthia was compassionate and empathised with her patients.”

    Cynthia’s exceptional traits, Joeven Castro, FEU Student Development Director said, are what endeared her to many.  “I saw the potential in her and thought she could win the competition. You can sense her sincerity and the depth of her thoughts,” Castro said.

    “I prayed first,” said Cynthia when asked how she prepared for the competition. She said she studied everything about the Philippines by reading books and articles on history and current events. She received help from Castro in speech presentation and interview strategies.

    Cynthia beat 12 other international students to be part of the three winners. At the contest, she performed a traditional dance for five minutes.  The Nursing student said her impromptu speech on “happiness” helped her won.

    Dr Belinda Buenafe, the Institute Dean, hailed Cynthia for the feat, saying she displayed the FEU’s core values of excellence and uprightness.

    PIFUA is an organisation that introduces international students to Filipino cultural life and, in turn, exposes Filipinos to the culture of foreign students.

     

  • A peep into the Republic of the Philippines as Nigeria atrophies

    A peep into the Republic of the Philippines as Nigeria atrophies

    Aquino’s determination to lead the government and the nation towards the straight path has been the catalyst for unprecedented economic growth

    In spite of the garbage being daily spewed on Nigerians by the so-called ‘protectors of Nigeria’s prosperity’, especially the over fed foreigner commentators among them who are so enamoured with an over achieving President Goodluck Jonathan it’s a surprise they hadn’t loaned him to oversee their respective country’s affairs, most Nigerians remain perturbed, agonising over what has befallen their country. It is the same reason this column will ‘afghanistIce’ today to let Nigerians see what governance is  in  other, even less endowed,  countries  of the world in contradistinction to the verbiage that passes muster here as governance. I must, however, thank a dedicated reader of this column for this paradigm shift, away from Ekiti affairs which had been the focus of the column for a straight ten Sundays, trying to ensure our people make the correct political choice until we got overwhelmed by PDP’s electoral abracadabra. Writing from Ibadan, the gentleman, who studied and married from that country, said, inter alia: ‘Good day to you. I have been reading your write ups for years now and I commend your efforts to straighten our society. Thank you so much. Please and please, go and read extensively on one country –The Philippines. There is a crusade going on in that country now by President Benigno Aquino Jr from which we can learn as a country. Let our people know about this. Many old and new senators are being whisked to prison without bail. They are sent there for corruption and ‘chopping’ of public money. I studied in that country and married from there and I live in Ibadan.’

    That precisely was what gave me the urge to go read more about this island country in Southeast Asia situated in the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of 7,107 islands that are categorised broadly under geographical divisions with the capital at Manila though its most populous city is Quezon City. Its location on the Pacific Ring of Fire, and close to the equator, makes the Philippines prone to earthquakes and typhoons, but that very fact also endows it with abundant natural resources and some of the world’s greatest biodiversity. The 15th President of the Republic of the Philippines, Benigno Simeon Aquino III, has come to stand for Filipinos’ reinvigorated passion to build a nation of justice, peace, and inclusive progress. Aquino, the only son of democracy icons Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino and President Corazon Aquino, has in different junctures throughout his life responded to the challenge of acting with and serving the Filipino people. In 1983, after the assassination of his father, he returned from exile to the country to help show the way for the EDSA People Power Revolution -the nonviolent and prayerful revolution by ordinary people -that toppled a dictatorship and restored Philippines democracy. In 1998, Aquino entered public service to make sure that the democracy his parents fought for would bring changes in people’s lives. He served as Representative of the 2nd District of Tarlac from 1998 to 2007. In May 2007, he joined the Philippines Senate, wherein he worked to bring about legislative initiatives anchored on the protection of human rights and honest and responsible governance.

    Rather than do that, our politicians would rather conjure on poor Nigerians, the ‘earthquakes and typhoons’ which nature brings to the shores of Philippines with earthshaking consequences.

    The most despondent days perhaps in Aquino’s life took place in 2009 when his mother died.  Her demise prompted mourning from all over the country.  But it awakened a remembrance of the values she stood for. It stirred up the people’s yearning for a leadership that is honest and compassionate, and a nation that trusts and works with its government. Immediately after her wake, people began to call on Aquino, urging him to run for presidency in the 2010 elections to continue his parents’ work. Signature drives and an outpouring of support through yellow ribbons and stickers went full blast, convincing him to run, not the multi-billion, foreign denominated advert campaigns we see around here. Moreover, candidates for president such as Senator Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, Pampanga Governor Eddie Panlilio, and Isabela Governor Grace Padaca all gave up their presidential aspirations to support Aquino. On September 9, 2009, the 40th day after his mother’s passing, he officially announced his candidacy.  At his inauguration on June 30, 2010, he declared: “I want to make democracy work not just for the rich and well connected but for everybody,” emphasising that he was in office to ‘serve and not to lord over the people. The mandate given to me was one of change. I accept your marching orders to transform our government from one that is self-serving to one that works for the welfare of the nation.’

    This, unfortunately, is what this unfortunate country has lacked, but now lacks more than at any point in our history. You will never, for instance, catch President Aquino protecting a minister under probe for the  misuse of public funds, claiming that  the agency of government constitutionally empowered to oversee  the agency’s affairs had invited her a ‘million’ times for questioning. President Aquino, like his Ugandan counterpart, would rather hang himself than pardon the scion of a former president who is known to have fleeced the country to the tune of over N4 Billion dollars all because he must contest and win election. The Republic of Philippines, obviously a third world country like Nigeria, has shown  by this, that you do not have to fight to the death to be president nor do you have to irredeemably mess up a country’s entire electoral system just so  you would become an Emperor. In the case of President Aquino Jr, even candidates of  the opposition parties withdrew for a man of honour, for a man they know will not be self-serving but  will, in his own words, ‘transform government from one that is self-serving, to one that works for the welfare of the nation’.

    Only this past week on CNN, Christiane Amanpour asked our dear Coordinating Minister of the Economy why a performing governor, one that is building infrastructure and catering to the welfare needs of the most at risk segment of society,  could be whimsically thrown out of office. The minister could only resort to braggadocio, rationalising what she knows not, claiming that because an election was seemingly peaceful, it was transparent even as the larger world knows that there are enough rogue scientists, once the price is right, who would use science to screw up the most apparently transparent election. After all, science makes no noise as we saw when Syria sent to their early graves, hundreds of the opposition via the nerve gas.

    The presidency of Benigno Aquino III has been marked by a hardy dedication to bringing about shared progress by doing things the right way. Aquino’s determination to lead the government and the nation towards the straight path has been the catalyst for unprecedented economic growth, which has trickled down to the margins of society through improved government services, reforms in the education system, and conditional cash transfers for the poor; an inspired campaign for good governance and justice as evidenced by the prosecution of corrupt government officials and the empowerment of the citizenry.

    “My hope is that when I leave office, everyone can say that we have travelled far on the right path, and that we are able to bequeath a better future to the next generation.”

    These are not the words Nigerians hear today as protagonists of 2015, without any consideration for our stolen girls or their parents, decided to mount the Jonathan re-election campaign preliminaries right on the same grounds as those poor women staying right there, rain or shine, to continue to draw world, and in particular, the Jonathan government’s attention, to the plight of the Chibok girls.  Amazing, how unfeeling politics could turn!

    As we march forward to an uncertain future in this country, everyone in public office, be they politicians or civil servants, even the many cheats that abound within the private sector, should know that if care is not taken, they could very well be victims of the same corrective measures President Benigno Simeon Aquino III is unerringly unfolding in the Philippines.

    A stitch in time, they say, saves nine.

  • Philippines plans varsity in Kwara

    The Kwara State government has struck a deal with the government of the Philippines to establish a university in the state.

    The Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Alhaji Saka Onimago told reporters that the proposed university, which will be called AMA University, would have its temporary site at the old Ilorin Teachers’ College, Lagos Road, Ilorin which, has seven hectares of land.

    Onimago said the university would be owned and funded by the Philippines government while the the state government would only provide the land for its temporary site.

    He also announced the government’s resolve of gradually ease out primary and post primary school teachers with no qualifications in education  from the system.  The Head of Service, Alhaji abarako Muhammed, Onimago said, has been asked to work out modalities for absorbing the teachers who would be affected by the exercise into the mainstream civil service. He said the government’s decision   to disengage unqualified teachers from the teaching job is informed by the need to improve on effectiveness of education received in the schools.

    He said teachers  among the 21, 000 NCE holders without specialisation in primary education would be encouraged to go for a sandwich course for the specialisation to enable them fit in at the level they teach.

     

  • U.S. and Philippines begin annual military exercises

    U.S. and Philippines begin annual military exercises

    About 5,500 troops from the United States and the Philippines have begun a military exercise, amid tensions between Manila and China.

    The drills, called Balikatan (Shoulder to Shoulder), take place every year.

    These exercises come a week after a military pact to increase the US troop presence in the country was signed.

    Visiting Manila last week, US President Barack Obama pledged “ironclad” backing for the Philippines, which is engaged in a maritime dispute with China.

    The two countries have competing claims over a number of islands and shoals in the South China Sea, such as Second Thomas Shoal and Scarborough Shoal.

    The South East Asian nation has asked a United Nations arbitration tribunal to rule on the issue.

    At Balikatan’s opening ceremony, Filipino Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said it was necessary to deal with “aggressive” neighbours intent on “changing the status quo”, without mentioning China.

    He said the 10-day drills would focus on maritime capabilities. They would also include live-fire and maritime surveillance exercises, the Philippine military said.

    Its public affairs office chief, Ramon Zagala, however, sought to play down Balikatan’s significance, saying it was “not related to any current situation”.

    Instead, it was aimed at improving “tactical-level military proficiency” and enhancing US-Filipino co-operation, he said. The military exercise would also focus on humanitarian assistance and disaster response.

    Military personnel from both countries will offer free medical, dental and veterinary care in Legazpi City, and build and repair infrastructure such as schools in Bicol.

    As tensions with China have grown, the US and the Philippines have moved to increase co-operation.

    Last week, Washington and Manila signed a deal allowing US troops better access to military bases, ports and airfields.

    This exercise comes amid reports China has sent more ships to an area disputed with the Philippines.

    Over the weekend, Philippine media reported the sighting of more Chinese vessels near Second Thomas Shoal, as the Philippine military air-dropped provisions to its troops stationed on a rusting vessel beached there.

    Meanwhile, Vietnam has protested against a plan by China to move its first deep-water drilling rig into an area which Vietnam claims as its territory.

    China’s maritime safety authority announced on Saturday that the oil rig Haiyang Shiyou 981 would be drilling in an area located 120 nautical miles off the coast of Vietnam until 15 August.

    It prohibited ships from entering within one mile of the rig.

    On Sunday, Vietnam’s foreign ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh insisted that this area belonged to them.

    Any activity by foreign countries conducted in Vietnam’s waters without its permission would be considered “illegal and worthless” and would be “resolutely opposed” by Vietnam’s government, he said.

    State oil and gas group PetroVietnam also sent a letter of objection to China’s state-run oil company CNOOC, demanding they immediately pull out the rig.

    In response, China yesterday expanded the prohibited area to three miles.

     

  • 1200 feared dead in Philippines

    1200 feared dead in Philippines

    ONE of the most powerful typhoons in history is believed to have killed 1200 people in the Philippines, the Red Cross said yesterday as rescue workers raced to reach towns devastated by tsunami-like waves.

    A day after Super Typhoon Haiyan whipped across the central Philippines with maximum sustained winds of around 315kilometers per hour , a picture emerged of entire communities having been flattened.

    Authorities said that, aside from the ferocious winds, storm surges of up to three meters high that swept into coastal towns and deep inland were responsible for destroying countless homes.

    “Imagine a strip one kilometre deep inland from the shore, and all the shanties, everything, destroyed,” Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said after visiting coastal towns in Leyte, one of the worst-hit provinces in the east of the archipelago.

    “They were just like matchsticks flung inland. All the houses were destroyed.”

    The official government death toll last night night was 138.

    But with rescue workers yet to reach or communicate with many ravaged communities across a 600km stretch of islands, authorities said they were unable to give a proper assessment of how many people had been killed.

    Philippine Red Cross secretary general Gwendolyn Pang said her organisation estimated 1200 people had died, while a UN official who visited Leyte described apocalyptic scenes.

    “This is destruction on a massive scale. There are cars thrown like tumbleweed and the streets are strewn with debris,” said Sebastian Rhodes Stampa, the head of a UN disaster assessment coordination team.

    “The last time I saw something of this scale was in the aftermath of the Indian Ocean tsunami,” he said, referring to the 2004 disaster that claimed about 220 000 lives.

    Stampa made his comments after arriving in Tacloban, the destroyed capital of Leyte with a population of about 220 000 people.

    More than 100 bodies were littered in and around Tacloban’s airport, according to the facility’s manager.

    AFP journalists who arrived in Tacloban on a military aircraft encountered dazed survivors wandering amid the carnage asking for water, while others sorted through what was left of their destroyed homes.

    One resident, Dominador Gullena, cried as he recounted his escape but the loss of his neighbours.

    “My family evacuated the house. I thought our neighbours also did the same, but they didn’t,” Gullena said.

    One woman knelt on the flood-soaked floor of the church while holding the hand of a dead boy, who had been placed on a wooden pew.

    Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla reached the fishing town of Palo, about 10km from Tacloban, by helicopter and said he believed “hundreds” of people had died just in that area.

    Pope Francis tweeted his support for the typhoon victims: “I ask all of you to join me in prayer for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan /Yolanda especially those in the beloved islands of the Philippines.”

    Meanwhile, the military, government relief workers and non-government organisations battled to reach communities and deliver desperately needed supplies.

    Fifteen thousand soldiers were in the disaster zones and helping in the rescue effort, military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Ramon Zagala said.