By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS The Philippine case against China’s nine-dash line before the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal gained support from Vietnam in a statement it submitted to the court in The Hague on Thursday. The Vietnam Foreign Ministry said the tribunal has jurisdiction to settle disputes concerning the interpretation of the U.N. Convention on
A HEAVY penalty of P10 million for serious fishery violations is being proposed to combat illegal and unreported fishing, a senior government official said. During the National Symposium on Fisheries held in Quezon City on Monday, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) national director Asis Perez said the fine is being increased from a
By VINCE NONATO DESPITE the Philippine government’s efforts to combat human trafficking, the United States’latest global Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report said it its overall number of convictions remained low. “The Government of the Philippines does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking;however, it is making significant efforts to do so,”
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 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.
Text and photos by JANE DASAL NASUGBU, Batangas—At the break of dawn on Good Friday, Celilia Zafra donned a black dress and shrouded her face with a black cloth. Then she walked to a place called “putol na ilog” along the seashore of Wawa where devotees who
By JOSHUA LANSANGAN, CLTV 36 ANGELES CITY — Former home of giant American military bases, Central Luzon has become almost synonymous with human trafficking, especially for sexual exploitation, for decades. The opening of an international airport at the former US Air Force facility in Clark, Pampanga in recent years has kept anti-trafficking advocates in and out
By ELLEN TORDESILLAS. IT took a week for President Aquino to realize that the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by a member of the Philippine Coast Guard team in the disputed waters of South China Sea could lead to serious repercussions for the country. On the seventh day of the incident, President Aquino last
By DARLENE CAY Fighting for press freedom is like flying a kite, some journalists found out today. Both have hits and misses and their share of disappointments. Journalists from different media organizations flew about a dozen kites to commemorate World Press Freedom Day at the University of the Philippines Diliman Oblation Grounds. Nine kites had
