2007 July – PinoyPress — Philippines news, opinion, blogs.

Archive for July, 2007

Marcoses are recovering their wealth, revising history

By CARLOS H. CONDE | International Herald Tribune

After two decades of building legal cases against the Marcoses in the Philippines and abroad, in hopes of reclaiming an estimated $10 billion it says the Marcoses stole during their two-decade hold on power, the Philippine government has suffered a series of stinging courtroom defeats in recent weeks. The victories have emboldened the family, led by Imelda, to wage a renewed struggle to regain control not just of their assets, many still frozen by the government, but also their place in the country’s history.

7/09/07 06:52 PM Full Story

Ways to Extend Your Laptop’s Battery Life

Friedbeef’s Tech has listed several ways — 15, in fact — to extend the battery life of your laptop. One of the tips: Exercise the battery. “Do not leave a charged battery dormant for long periods of time. Once charged, you should at least use the battery at least once every two to three [...]

7/09/07 06:20 PM Full Story

7 years after Payatas tragedy, Philippines still mired in trash

In Metro Manila alone, 85 percent of the 6,169 tons of garbage generated daily end up in waterways, such as creeks and esteros close to both residential and commercial areas, making these a breeding ground for diseases and floods induced by clogged waterways. In rural areas, the proliferation of garbage dumpsites has also taken over forest areas, watersheds, and even coastal zones, spreading leachate to otherwise productive soil and water resources and emitting toxic gases into the air.

7/09/07 03:06 PM Full Story

Global solution needed to eradicate human trafficking, says expert

Human trafficking today is a multi-billion dollar industry and a major human rights concern that requires the collective effort of the global community to be successfully eradicated, according to a senior official of the United Nations Development Fund for Women.

7/09/07 03:01 PM Full Story

‘Wholesale cheating’ in 10 Mindanao towns favored Zubiri?

Genuine Opposition senatorial candidate Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III has asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec), as National Board of Canvassers (NBC), to act on his petitions to retabulate the senatorial votes in 10 towns in different provinces in Mindanao where the election documents were allegedly falsified, enabling Team Unity bet Juan Miguel Zubiri to obtain from 87 percent to 92 percent of the votes cast, which, Pimentel said, is “statistically improbable.”

7/09/07 02:56 PM Full Story

World Population Day: ‘Too many women die needlessly’

Statement on the Occasion of World Population Day 2007
World Population Day is a time to focus on commitment and action to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect. The theme of this year’s World [...]

7/09/07 02:51 PM Full Story

ADB hit on power-sector reforms, energy review process

MANILA — The Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) today challenged the Asian Development Bank to admit that its Power Sector Restructuring Program that is being undertaken in the Philippines through the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) enacted in 2001 has created more social and economic problems than supposed benefits to the people.

7/09/07 02:49 PM Full Story

Philippines hails 2 new boxing champions

MANILA - President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo led the Filipino people in congratulating today the country’s two newest boxing heroes – minimum weight Florante Condes and flyweight Nonito Donaire – who won world championships less than 24 hours apart over the weekend.

7/09/07 02:48 PM Full Story

Weird science: The search for non-DNA life

7/09/07 09:35 AM Full Story

China’s food-safety problems similar to US a century ago

7/09/07 09:26 AM Full Story

WAYS TO EXTEND YOUR LAPTOP’S BATTERY LIFE

7/09/07 09:12 AM Full Story

Senators file bill requiring registration of SIM cards

GMANews.tv: Two senators have filed similar bills calling for the registration of personal information of buyers of SIM (subscriber identity module) cards as a means to curb abuses and prevent crimes involving cell phones. Sen. Richard Gordon has filed Senate Bill 289, requiring registration of the personal information of buyers of SIM cards, whether pre-paid or post paid. A similar bill was filed separately by Sen. Panfilo Lacson. Full Story Read the story

7/08/07 06:36 PM Full Story

Palace bares ‘action plan’ to improve tax collection

The Arroyo administration is “confident that it will succeed” in addressing the revenue-generation shortfall recorded by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) for the first half of this year.

7/08/07 05:45 PM Full Story

90+ essential music and audio websites

7/08/07 01:47 PM Full Story

THE FACES OF IMPUNITY

Recent moves by the Arroyo administration show its regard for the people’s sovereign will and human rights: it violates these with impunity. And things may get worse with the impending implementation of the Anti-Terrorism Law, euphemistically called the Human Security Act. That is, if the Filipino people will allow it.

7/08/07 01:20 PM Full Story

Philippines’s second-highest peak is getting bald

The peak of Mount Pulag. (Photo from www.peakware.com)

BY ACE ALEGRE | Bulatlat

Mount Pulag is the second highest peak in the Philippines. It is home to 528 species of plants, and 33 species of animals including the endangered Philippine deer, giant bushy-tailed cloud rat and the long-aired fruit bat. It is revered as a mecca of nature lovers and mountain hikers. But now it is being ravaged.

7/08/07 12:59 PM Full Story

Live News Africa — A Survival Guide for Journalists

The increasing number of journalists killed in Africa because of their work is a source of grave concern.
The International News Safety Institute recorded 199 journalists and support staff who have died at work in Africa between 1990 and 2006. Eighteen have died in just the first six months of this year, the worst situation since [...]

7/07/07 10:24 AM Full Story

Command responsibility: Can Arroyo evade it?

Arroyo with her favorite soldier, Gen. Hermogenes Esperon

A consensus is shaping up among lawyers’ circles, human-rights groups, civil libertarians and others that the case against President Arroyo, along with rogue generals implicated in war crimes and crimes against humanity, should proceed under the principle of command responsibility even if this means calling for her arrest and indictment in an international tribunal held outside the country.

7/07/07 10:10 AM Full Story

LATEST STORIES FROM DAVAOTODAY.COM

Duterte-Nograles tiff over park prelude to 2010?

Urban poor group hits Arroyo on housing mega-sale

Military operations in ComVal is linked to mining – environmental alliance

San Isidro town govt to penalize cacao felling

Boston villagers recount tales of military abuses

STORIES BY CARLOS H. CONDE

40 die as Philippine ferry capsizes

Asia, too, feels the pain

As the MOA Unravels, What Now?

Peace process fraught with peril for Arroyo

Islamic separatists kill 28 in Philippines rampage

THE NEWS IN PICTURES

Spawn. This photo, taken by photojournalist Sonny Espiritu, won the Best Single Photo award in the recent annual PopDev Awards. The photo was first published by the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project with this caption: "An urban poor woman feeds her youngest child while washing clothes for a living and looking after other children. Modern contraception advocates say having fewer children would help fight poverty and hunger, but the predominent Catholic Church says there is no link between poverty and population, of which the Philippines has now almost 90 million."

End The Violence. Members of the women's group Gabriela make known their sentiments about violence against women. They commemorated yesterday, Nov. 25, the "International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. (Photo courtesy of arkibongbayan.org)

Anti-GMA Protest in LA. Members of GABNet, the progressive Filipino women's group in the United States, outside the LAX Sheraton in Los Angeles last week to protest the persecution and killing of political activists in the Philippines. The protest was timed for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo stopover en route to Peru for the Apec summit. (Photo courtesy of Ninotchka Rosca/GABNet)

Tagaytay on a Sunday. Kite-flying has become a favorite activity at the Picnic Grove in Tagaytay. On an overcast but generally pleasant afternoon last Sunday, dozens of kites colored the skies, complementing the view of Taal Volcano in the background. (Photo by Ayi Muallam)

Downed. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front released Friday this photo of some of its members playing with what the group claimed was an unmanned spy plane that crashed earlier this month. The front said the alleged drone was a property of the US military. More details here.

Hunger Amid War. This child refugee is one of the thousands affected by the war in Mindanao. The situation in North Cotabato and Maguindanao has deteriorated since renewed fighting between government forces and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) broke out in Aleosan and Midsayap, North Cotabato last Aug. 8, according to groups that held last month the National Interfaith Humanitarian Mission in North Cotabato and Maguindanao. (Photo courtesy of Kalinaw Mindanao/arkibongbayan.org)

Another Bayan Muna Leader Killed. Danny Qualbar, an officer of the Compostela Farmers' Association and coordinator of Bayan Muna was on his way to Compostela town Thursday afternoon to buy fish for his family when assassins in motorcycles shot him. Qualbar was the second Bayan Muna member killed this year in Compostela Valley. Top photo shows Qualbar’s eldest child grieving his death. (Photo by Jonald Mahinay/davaotoday.com)

Stairway to Heaven. Found in the middle of the forest, the cascading waters of Aliwagwag waterfalls in Cateel, Davao Oriental, looks like a descending stairway. No wonder it is considered one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Mindanao. (Photo by Grace S. Uddin / davaotoday.com)

Stop Militarizing Communities! Members of farmer's group Kilusang Magbubukid sa Pilipinas in Southern Mindanao Region held a rally October 8 in front of the headquarters of the Eastern Mindanao Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Camp Panacan, Davao City. The group called for the pullout of troops conducting massive military operations in Tamayong in Davao City, Talaingod in Davao del Norte, Monkayo in Compostela Valley and in the towns of Baganga, Cateel, Boston in Davao Oriental and Lingig Surigao Del Sur. (Photo by Jonald Mahinay/davaotoday.com)

Land and Peace Concert. Students from Tribung Bayanga National High School perform before the crowd at Gaston Park in Cagayan De Oro City on October 23 night during the Yuta ug Kalinaw Concert. The two-hour concert was part of the Integrity of Creation Solidarity week that kicked-off last October 19. The week-long activity was a gathering of mining affected communities and support groups to discuss the issues affecting their communities. (Photo by AKP Images / Keith Bacongco)

Full Capacity. Normally, passenger vans are allowed to carry 14 people. But this one is apparently beyond its carrying limit as it negotiates the zigzag road in Sulop, Davao del Sur, a known accident- and landslide-prone area. (Photo by Keith Bacongco / AKP Images)

The Child as Vigilante. A 10-year-old boy carries a firearm and joins members of the Ilaga, an infamous anti-Moro militia, in its camp in Aleosan, North Cotabato. The child's father leads the dreaded vigilante group in the area. (Photo by Romy Elusfa/Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project)

Under Repair. A "Skylab," the most common mode of transportation in the Agusan provinces and elsewhere in Mindanao, undergoes a repair at a shop in Butuan City. The motorcycle is fitted with wooden "wings" on both sides -- hence the moniker -- and is capable of carrying up to eight passengers. (Photo by Keith Bacongco / AKP Images)

Free At Last. Pastor Berlin Guerrero of the National Council of Churches of the Philippines, shown above with wife Mylene, was released after 15 months in police detention. He had been abducted and went missing for days before the police came out to say that he was arrested on a murder charge, which his family and colleagues said had been fabricated. A court ordered him released on Sept. 11. (Photo by arkibongbayan.org)