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By ELLEN TORDESILLAS STATEMENTS coming from Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario betray helplessness over the situation in the South China Sea. The Philippines is losing the battle that he led the country to wage against China. Last Thursday Del Rosario said that the Philippines will ask the United Nations Arbitral Court to hasten the resolution

By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS USING China’s very own ancient maps, Justice Antonio T. Carpio debunked the Asian superpower’s ownership claims of almost the whole of South China Sea based on “historical facts.” In a lecture at De La Salle University “Historical Facts, Historical Lies and Historical Rights in the West Philippine Sea,” Carpio took up

By JANE DASAL UNLIKE big cities such as Davao, Manila and Quezon City, Antipolo City has yet to enact an anti-human trafficking ordinance mandated by Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003. The city government, however, is set to adopt a policy that would reward P100,000 for tips leading to the successful

By REYAN ARINTO TACLOBAN CITY—Tragedy struck anew to a family that survived the fury of super typhoon Yolanda (international code name: Haiyan) killing six of its members when a fire engulfed their tent in Barangay 88-Costa Brava, San Jose district, this city early Wednesday morning. Fire probers identified the victims as Maria Elisa Ocenar and

By JANE DASAL THE Philippines has strong laws penalizing human trafficking, but the slow prosecution of cases remains a huge barrier in the campaign against traffickers and their cohorts, an expert said. The trial process is too long and the number of convictions is still low, Visayan Forum policy director Shalima Parmanand said Thursday at an antitrafficking

By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS THE current tension in the South China Sea triggered by China’s territorial assertiveness underscores the military weakness of the Philippines and the lack of direction of its foreign policy as against Vietnam’s focused moves backed up by a credible defense capacity. There are three incidents or conflicts going on in South

By JANE DASAL A signature drive was launched Wednesday to speed up the passage of a transparency bill as proponents fear too much politics might get in the way. Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat, a proponent of the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill, said the progress of the bill is being hampered by the dynamics at

By APRIL ANNE BENJAMIN WHILE Chit Estella’s death three years ago in a vehicular accident came in a split second, the resolution of her case is taking forever. The cause: conflict of schedules of judge and the lawyers. “It is quite disappointing. Kung wala ‘yung delays, baka patapos na ang kaso (The trial should have

  By PATRICK KING PASCUAL CASES of HIV ( human immunodeficiency virus) infection continue to rise in the Philippines. Data from Department of Health (DOH) shows that HIV is now infecting 16 Filipinos every day, up from last year’s average of seven new patients daily. Latest DOH data showed that 498 new cases were reported

By JANE DASAL THE devastation wrought by supertyphoon “Yolanda” and the slow pace of rehabilitation have made the Visayas a difficult place to be a mother. The mothers’ lack of access to basic services pulled down the Philippines ranking in the 2014 State of the World’s Mother index (SOWM), which was launched in Manila on Tuesday.

By KIERSNERR GERWIN TACADENA AFTER typhoon Yolanda struck the Philippines last November, Jimmy Gagarino found himself, his wife and nine children living under a makeshift shelter with a tarpaulin for a roof. Gagarino, a fisherman from Eastern Samar, is one of 16 million people whose houses were destroyed by Typhoon Yolanda. Known internationally as Haiyan,

By PATRICIA ISABEL GLORIA PHILIPPINE Press Institute (PPI) chairman Jesus Dureza urged journalists in different parts of the country to create local press councils as a bridge between the media and the citizenry. Speaking before the 18th National Press Forum held in Traders Hotel in Manila on Thursday, Dureza said press councils could handle complaints against