Surviving stories of the inland Tsunami – Typhoon Sendong Iligan-Cagayan de Oro City

 

HeroAzkal dog Saves drowning girl – Strom Sendong  Iligan City

A pregnant dog and two other 'Azkals', a local name for stray dogs, have done their share in saving the lives of their masters during the rampaging floodwater that hit low lying villages in Mindanao, Southern Philippines

As Tropical Storm "Sendong" ravaged low lying areas near rivers and streams in Mindanao, Southern Philippines, a young girl credits her family's pregnant dog for saving her life amid rampaging floodwater that wiped out the entire village where they were settled.

As floodwater overflowed from the river, seven-year-old Jennylou and her family have decided to climb the rooftop of their house, thinking the rising floodwater will not reach them.

But their house collapsed as speeding floodwater mixed with cut logs and debris battered their house, sending the entire family floating in the ocean of debris.

While afloat, Jennylou noticed the family dog swimming right beside her and was repeatedly scratching her back as if trying to communicate with her.

The young girl finally understood what her dog wants—her pregnant dog was trying to help her. So she decided to cling and let the dog do the swimming.

While frantically swimming in the water full of debris, the dog eventually brought Jennylou to a safe place by delivering her to a big floating log where she held on for safety.

As she clung to the floating log, Jennylou saw the exhausted family dog gasping for air and struggling in the swirling floodwater. Moments later the dog disappeared, never to be seen again.

Later in the day, rescuers found Jennlou and other survivors from the sea and was later reunited with her family, who also survived the ordeal.

"I would have died if not for our dog," Jennylou said in the evacuation center where her family has been temporarily staying.

In another heartwarming story about the "man's best friend", another family was saved from the debris-filled floodwater after two 'Azkals" woke them up form their sleep while floodwater was rising at an unprecedented speed at the height of Tropical Storm Sendong.

Marrietta Ardiente said she was awaken by two dogs barking and scratching the door of her house. When she looked to find out what was the reason for the frantic dogs, she saw floodwater rising very fast.

With the help of the two dogs, Ardiente's family was able to evacuate to safer grounds before floodwater razed her family home.

As her family moved out from their home, they brought the two stray dogs to the evacuation center. The two dogs were the ones that saved their lives, Ardiente said.

Iligan City couple left with only one Mike Herald of 5 – Typhoon Sendong

ILIGAN CITY, Philippines—Out of so many lives lost on Bayug Island at the mouth of a river in this coastal heartland, a boy's exceptional tale of survival is the only thing left that gives inspiration to his folks in their time of sorrow.

Eight-year-old Mike Herald Dela Gracia, who barely stands over a meter tall and cannot swim, will always be, to his parents, "the boy who lived"— the only one among five siblings to survive the horrors of December 16 and the difficult hours that followed.

Helen and Arnaldo Dela Gracia, who sell "balut" (boiled duck egg with embryo) for a living, grieve over the deaths of Shein, 7, and Aldrein, 2, and the presumed deaths of Hana, 4, and Aldrein's twin Aljon, who have not been seen since they were engulfed by the swirling waters sent down by Tropical Storm Sendong on Friday night.

But every time they look at their eldest, Mike Herald, an active, playful Grade 3 pupil, they are encouraged in many ways, his mother Helen, 29, said.

"The burden lightens whenever we see him. He's the one who makes us go on," she said in a mix of Cebuano and Tagalog at a cemetery in Barangay Pala-o, where they watched, weeping, as Shein and Aldrein were laid to rest in a mass grave.

"He is our last child. He's the only one who lived," Helen said of Mike Herald.

What follows is an account of this schoolboy's extraordinary escape from death's door, as narrated to the Inquirer by his parents:

At 11 p.m., the children were already asleep, but a worried Helen watched the Mandulog River, only 30 meters away from their house in the settlement of Purok 7-IS, as the wind howled outside and rains lashed at their window.

Out selling balut in the streets of the mainland, her husband Arnaldo, 29, sensed that the weather might take a turn for the worse and hurried home to the island to warn his family.

At past midnight, the flood waters had seeped into their house, up to their ankles. "We were hearing people outside screaming 'Tabang! (Help!)' so we decided to evacuate because we were afraid the house would not be able to withstand the flood," Arnaldo recalled.

Arnaldo shepherded the children out, along with Helen's mother, 66-year-old Purificacion, but when they opened the door, onrushing waves met them.

Arms linked together, they sought refuge at a relative's two-story house with concrete foundations and wooden walls. As the water rose quickly, they, along with neighbors, climbed the roof and hung on to each other, the children distributed among the adults.

They thought the flood water would not be strong enough to knock over the house, but just then, another house being carried by the current plowed into them, splitting the house and scattering those perched on its rooftop in different directions.

"I just hung on. I got snarled by a coconut tree and I hugged the trunk," Helen said. She recalled how horrified she had been when she saw a log rolling into Hana. The other children, except Mike Herald, had been thrown out of sight.

From his vantage point, Arnaldo, who had found a precarious foothold on another tree, said he could see Mike Herald as he was being dragged forward by the muddy waves.

The boy, he said, had grabbed a clump of weeds to stop getting tossed by the water. But his shirt got tangled up with the branch of a huge ipil-ipil tree.

Arnaldo said he had watched in horror as the tree started rolling until the boy fell out of view.

Helen and Arnaldo were eventually reunited several meters away from their house. As they looked around at the flattened plain of brown that used to be their village, they guessed the terrible fates of their children, as well as Purificacion, who has not been found. They were prepared for the worst.

"We thought they had all died," Helen said, her voice breaking.

Then Helen heard a familiar young voice calling out from a tree that was lodged into another some distance away.

"Ma, kuhaa ko.  gutom na ko" (Mama, get me. I am hungry), the boy had demanded. The muddy water below had not yet subsided and he could not get down.

Arnaldo swam to the tree and towed him to shore. Helen rushed to Mike Herald and gave him a good hug. "We were so relieved that one of them is still alive," Helen said.

But their joy was short-lived. They soon found Shein and Aldrein at a funeral parlor, one of several they visited in this city of 300,000 populations.

The two other children and Helen's mother are still missing, among the more than 400 unaccounted for in the city, according to Mayor Lawrence Cruz. The death toll in Iligan City, as of Tuesday, had reached just below 300, he said.

"The other children could not have survived. They are four- and two-year-old, what hope could they have?" Helen said.

Mike Herald, a scrawny youth with a direct gaze and dreams of becoming a soldier, never learned to swim, nor did his mother and siblings.

Asked how he had been able to pull through, Helen said it was probably his steely determination to live. "He just never let go from that tree," she said.

The Dela Gracias originally lived in Zamboanga del Sur, western part of the island of Mindanao with a distance of about 8 hours travel by car but the birth of twins two years ago forced them to move in with relatives on the island to be better able to make ends meet.

At the moment, they are staying at an evacuation center in Barangay Sta. Filomena with no plans of ever returning to Bayug Island, whose population of more than 300 people is believed to have been drastically reduced after the storm.

"I doubt if you'll find a family there who did not lose anyone," Helen said, relating stories they heard of entire families who perished together on another part of the island. "Nothing is left on Bayug," she said.

These two moving and heartwarming dog stories could be just a few of the many life-saving tales involving dogs who also fought with for their own lives during the flash floods devastation in Southern Philippines.

Continue reading

Philippines will buy 12 F-16 Fighter Jets from USA

December 21, 2011: The Philippines has asked the United States, its closest security partner, to give it at least a squadron of F-16 fighters to help upgrade its territorial defenses and two more military ships amid increasing tensions with China in the disputed islands in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), the foreign secretary said on Wednesday.

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said he will meet with US Secretary of States Hillary Clinton and high officials of Pentagon in his visit to Washington, D.C., early next year  2012 to discuss the need to increase the Philippines's military presence in the area.

The Philippines has no air power to speak of, with its 40-year-old F-5A/Bs fighter jets retired from service several years ago. It has no bombers or surveillance aircraft and still flies Vietnam War-era UH-1H helicopters.

"We are just trying to restore our capability as it was before," Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario told reporters.

He said he hoped the fighters would be acquired through excess defense articles, a U.S. military aid program.

"I think we are actually behind the curve ... we have been far more advanced many years ago in terms of military capability," he said.

The request for US military assistance was first discussed during the visit of Clinton in the Philippines in November.

"We're trying to get assistance from several countries [to strengthen military capability] and the US has expressed willingness to assist us as we work on a minimum, credible defense posture [in the disputed islands in West Philippine Sea]," said del Rosario in a press luncheon briefing on Wednesday at a hotel in Pasay City.

USAF F-16C block 30 #88-0152 of the 63rd TFTS is parked in the static display at an air show. [Photo by Mike Kopack]

Del Rosario said acquisition of the F-16 fighters would be among issues to be discussed in strategic talks in Washington in the first quarter of 2012, when Del Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin meet their U.S. counterparts.

He said Washington has agreed to give Manila larger ships and faster aircraft to patrol disputed areas in the West Philippines Sea, as well as assist in setting up surveillance stations to improve the military's "maritime domain awareness".

Earlier this year, Manila accused Beijing of intruding into its territorial waters and attempting to plant markers on uninhabited islands in the Reed Bank, an area the Philippines claims to be within its exclusive economic zone.

Last August, Washington delivered a Hamilton-class coast guard cutter, the largest ship in the Philippine Navy's fleet.

A similar vessel is due to arrive in the third quarter of next year and a third might also be acquired.

As was the case with the Hamilton-class cutter, del Rosario said he hoped the transfer of F-16s would be free of charge under the aid program.

Manila would pick up the cost of refurbishment and repairs, he said.

USAF F-16C block 42 #90-0767 of the 63rd FS from Luke AFB is spotted landing at NAS Fort Worth on July 28th, 2005. [Photo by Keith Robinson]

The Philippines has said it will spend ₱ 40 billion pesos ($941 million) over the next five years to upgrade its military, buying new helicopters, ships and surveillance equipment.

He said the Philippines will request two more Hamilton class cutters with the first one delivered mid this year and a squadron or 12 units of fighter jets to be deployed on the disputed islands that are believed to be rich in natural gas and marine resources.

Moves to strengthen the country's military capability came amid Chinese deployment of more navy ships in the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. "We need to stand up and defend our territorial claims on what we think is ours," said del Rosario.

He also believes that the US foreign policy is to re-engage Asia to a greater extent as it believes that the region has taken the role as key driver of economic growth.

He said the US is also planning to station Marines in Australia and Singapore amid increasing tensions in the disputed Spratly Islands.

At the diplomatic front, del Rosario said the Philippines remains hopeful that the government's proposal to establish a Zone of Peace, Freedom, Friendship and Cooperation that seeks to segregate disputed from nondisputed parts of the South China Sea will be integrated in the binding Code of Conduct in the South China Sea which China and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed to adopt during the last ASEAN meeting in Bali.

He said the Philippines's proposal submitted for adoption by consensus of the 10 member-countries during the Asean Regional Forum was apparently not considered after two members—Laos and Cambodia—boycotted the maritime legal experts meeting in Manila that was intended to consider the adoption of the Philippine proposal.

Four ASEAN members—Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia—are claimants to parts of Spratly Islands, along with Taipei. China is claiming the entire Spratlys.

Other Asean members include Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Singapore, Burma/Myanmar and Thailand.

US ready to arm Philippines amid China tension

The United States said it was ready to provide hardware to modernize the military of the Philippines, which vowed to "stand up to any aggressive action" at the West Philippines Sea (South China Sea) with China.

Tensions in the strategic and resource-rich West Philippines Sea have escalated  with the Philippines and Vietnam alarmed at what they say are increasingly aggressive actions by Beijing in the disputed waters.

"We are concerned that recent incidents in the South China Sea could undermine peace and stability," Clinton told reporters, urging "all sides to exercise self-restraint."

USAF F-16C block 30 #85-1467 from the 457th FS releases a GBU-24 2,000-pound laser guided bomb over a target range near Eglin AFB during exercise Combat Hammer, hosted by the 86th FWS on November 7th, 2002. [USAF photo by SSgt. Sheila Salas]

Del Rosario, with Clinton at his side, said: "While we are a small country, we are prepared to do what is necessary to stand up to any aggressive action in our backyard."

The Philippines has historically bought second-hand hardware, but del Rosario said that President Benigno Aquino has allocated 11 billion pesos ($252 million) to upgrade the navy.

"We need to have the resources to be able to stand and defend ourselves and, I think, to the extent that we can do that, we become a stronger ally for you," del Rosario said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The United States signed a defense treaty with the Philippines in 1951, five years after the archipelago's independence from US colonial rule which was renewed recently in November 2011 during the visit of Secretary Clinton to the Philippines.

The United States has been providing military aid to the Philippines primarily to fight Islamic militants in the wake the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The United States gave the Philippines $15 million in military assistance in the 2011 fiscal year, with much larger sums devoted to development, according to official US data..

"The Philippines' relative success in counter-insurgency coupled with pressures in the regional environment compel a reorientation of focus and resources," he said.

Continue reading

Clark Philippines - NEw ASEAN 'Mother of all investments' destination

By MARK ANTHONY N. MANUEL

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga, Philippines – The Chairman of the three of the biggest companies in the country said that Clark Freeport would become the "mother of all investments" in the country if "relevant improvements in facilities and avionics as well as expansion of terminal buildings" will be erected inside the Freeport.

Kapampangan business tycoon Manuel "Manny" Pangilinan also said Clark is a great opportunity to be the center for call centers and business process outsourcing (BPO) services in the country as well as the hub for information technology for Central Luzon.

Pangilinan has compared Clark to Chenai and Bangalore in India, and Silicon Valley in California as an information technology center in the world.

Pangilinan is the chairman of the investment giant Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC), television station TV5, and Smart Communications, the biggest telecom company in the country.

He has also urged the national government to transfer the operation of Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) as the country's premier airport to the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) in Angeles City, saying that the former airport will already reach its saturation level in about three years.

Speaking before the awardees of the Most Outstanding Kampangan, Pangilinan explained that Clark is a prime candidate as the new premier international airport "simply because it is ready."

"It's clear that an alternative international aviation gateway is needed sooner rather than later," said Pangilinan.

The businessman also disclosed that is companies are planning a public-private partnership for the development of the Pampanga River as a bulk water source.

"This plan is designed to help minimize flooding in the province," he said.

Pangilinan likewise announced his desire to establish a tertiary hospital in the province, "to upgrade medical services to the Kapampangan."

Pangilinan was reportedly in talks with Ramon Ang of San Miguel Corporation for the development of DMIA's Terminal 2 and a high-speed railway that will connect the airport to Manila.

"It is a positive development," said Mayor Marino Morales, noting that any development at the Clark airport will also redound to the overall progress of nearby Mabalacat town which plays host to the airport.

Morales said the presence of the Clark airport, the modern Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), North Luzon Expressway (NLEx), and the eventual construction of the high-speed railway will speed up the development of the northern part of Mabalacat as "Makati of the North."

DMIA plays host to foreign and local carriers such as Tiger Airways of Singapore that flies Clark-Singapore, Air Asia of Malaysia via Clark-Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu, Asiana Airlines via Clark-Incheon in South Korea with connecting flights to the US, China and Japan, Cebu Pacific Air via Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok and Macau while South East Asian Airlines (Seair) via Clark-Caticlan at the world famous Boracay Beach Island Resort.

Other carriers include Spirit of Manila Airlines via Clark-Taiwan and Jin Air a subsidiary of Korean Air with chartered flights to Incheon in South Korea.

It was remembered that top government officials in Central Luzon has urged President Benigno Simeon "PNoy" Aquino III to pursue the plans of developing the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) here as a premier international airport in the Philippines, following reports of supposed glitches at the Ninoy Aquino international Airport.

The Metro Clark Advisory Council (MCAC), composed of representatives from business and concerned sectors in Central Luzon and of mayors of towns surrounding the Clark Freeport, has issued a resolution for the development of the Clark airport following the spate of diversionary flights in Clark.

 

Continue reading

President Aquino rejected the 3rd Class Citizens Mindanao

Visayas and Mindanao fought for recognition to be a called a real Filipino Citizen as Luzon coined themselves as "Filipino" the real and dominant Filipinos with language Filipino based in tagalong inspite of the dominance of Visayan language throughout the country.

Discrimination for Visayan and Mindanaoan people are common in Manila as they were called as 2^nd and 3^rd class citizen of the Philippines, respectively.

Development of the country are focused only in Manila and Luzon which funding are from the government coffers which taxes are collected from Luzon,  Visayas and Mindanao islands.

Only Luzon benefited progress and development for infrastructure and other development project leaving the 2 poor islands Visayas and Mindanao behind.

 The issue rises again; the 2 poor islands Visayas and Mindanao of the Philippines are rejected by their highly respected country leader President Benigno Aqguino III after Aquino ignored their suffering and prioritized his party life in Manila.

Inspite of the thousands of dead floating bodies around Iligan City and Cagayan de Oro City shores by the destructive typhoon Sendong, Aquino preferred to stay in Manila and to celebrate parties than giving his moral support to the hundreds of thousands displaced Mindanaoan.  

Mindanaoan needs strong arm to hold but rejected.

People of Mindanao are suffering; thousands of dead bodies floating in the water and some are covered by the mud but no leader show up to give a hand.

The most devastating typhoon killed thousands of poor people in Iligan City and Cgayan de Oro City calling for help from Manila government but rejected as President Aquino prioritized his personal life, partying with 1^st class citizen of the capital Manila in Luzon.

OFW's from different part of the world are busy sending aid and donation to the victims but Manila gives only a promise after Christmas.

The 3^rd class citizen Mindanaoan needs not only food, money and shelter but also a moral support from the country leader to help them stand.

Many victims commented, "Christmas is a party season, we understand the president to celebrate Christmas, but if he care for us in Mindanao, even for 1 hour that we could see him in his chopper to see us, it could turn a magic of another hope that there is a president who care for us".

Bad politics overpower in Aquino's heart

Iligan City is known to be the place of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as she studied her elementary in one of the public school in such devastated city and her grandmother Macaraeg  is an Iliganon.

Opposite from what the Pro Aquino supporter's thoughts; Iligan City rejected former Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to be a country leader.

People in Iligan City led the protests to oust the known corrupt Arroyo during her term.

Bomb explosions as sign of protest even happened at the backyard of the Macaraeg-Macapagal ancestral in Timoga, Iligan City when Arroyo visited the ancestral house. Iliganon really resist the presidency of the former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo after "hello garci scandal" but they were rejected now for the bad political imagination that they are pro Arroyo supporters.

Virgilio Garcillano , the alleged  responsible for Hello garci scandal is now residing in Bukidnon, a city next to Cagayan de oro.

Philippine leader denies partying

President Benigno Aquino III has fought off accusations that he was partying with starlets as the Philippines was mourning hundreds of people killed by a storm.

The presidential palace said today Aquino briefly stopped by the traditional Christmas party of his elite security group at their compound on Sunday to show gratitude for their services.

"The president stayed for a little over 30 minutes. But he did not go up on stage, he did not sing, he did not dance. There was no partying," the head of the presidential security group, Colonel Ramon Dizon, said in a statement.

Tropical storm Washi hit the southern island of Mindanao at the weekend, spawning swollen rivers, flash floods and landslides which left 652 dead with hundreds other missing, according to Philippine Red Cross figures.

Reports of Aquino's alleged partying spread after a local TV actress and show host, Valerie Concepcion, said in her Twitter account that she met Aquino at the party, where she performed for the troops and their families.

Concepcion said Aquino laughed at her jokes and enjoyed her performance, triggering a wave of criticism directed at both.

The 51-year-old bachelor president, who comes from one of the country's richest landowning clans, had previously been linked to female celebrities and was once criticized for buying a Porsche sports car, which he has since sold.

Unlike previous presidents, including his own mother Corazon Aquino, the current leader has chosen to live in the compound of the presidential security group rather than the state palace used by the country's Spanish and American colonial rulers.

Continue reading

Kim Jong Il, N. Korean dictator, dies at 69

The Philippines and the Korean Peninsula

Philippines' General Carlos Romulo, who was the president of the UN General Assembly when the Korean War broke out in 1950, staunchly advocated the international defense of South Korea. "The application of military sanctions in Korea is in itself an act of the greatest significance," he said before the Assembly on 25 September 1950, reflecting on the decision of the Security Council to take military action in the peninsula and on the need to strengthen collective action against acts of aggression.

"The Philippine Government, for its part, has given concrete proof of its support of the principle of collective security by sending troops to help the UN forces in Korea," he added, referring to the first of five battalion combat teams from the Philippine Expeditionary Force to Korea (PEFTOK), which rushed to Busan only six days earlier on 19 September 1950.

The relations between the Philippines and South Korea have always been characterized by such mutual trust and support. Bilateral relations between the two countries started on 3 March 1949 when the Philippines became the fifth country to recognize South Korea.

The Philippines sent 7,420 soldiers to South Korea over a five-year period, among them former President Fidel Ramos and two former ambassadors to South Korea. After the Korean War, the Philippines is still one of the richest and most powerful in Asia next to Japan helped to rebuild South Korea by constructing infrastructure project

The Philippines advocate democracy together with America.

During the most corrupt Marcos dictatorship, the Philippines becomes a sick-man in Asia and become poor economically with rich of untapped resources as corruption become a culture.

The death of North Korean Leader is now the issue as question would rise, what would be the next role of the Philippines in reuniting Korea as the Philippines is rising again its power and economy in Asia in the Aquino III administration?

The Death of Kim Jong IL – the toughest North Korean Communist Leader

North Korea will move into a shadowy period of effective control by its army generals and would-be dynastic regents after the death of its dictator Kim Jong-il, possibly making it less adventurous.

His nominated heir is 27-year-old younger son Kim Jong-un, who has had barely two years to prepare for the succession.

By contrast, the ''Dear Leader'' Kim Jong-il - who died on Saturday aged 69 - had a lifetime of preparation for leadership in the Stalinist system created by his father, the ''Great Leader'' Kim Il-sung, and a decade as nominated successor before the father died in 1994.

An array of grim-faced, medal-bedecked Korean People's Army generals may look more to Kim Jong-il's brother-in-law Jang Song-taek, who in 2010 was appointed vice-chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission, the effective No. 2 post in North Korea.

This occurred about the same time as Kim Jong-un was declared the ''Bright Leader'' to succeed, after Kim Jong-il suffered a devastating stroke that left him greatly weakened and shrunken in stature, and pointed Jang out as the effective political regent in the ruling dynasty. Kim Jong-il was an even bolder gambler than his father, who launched a strike across the 38th Parallel in 1950, thereby starting the Korean War, when the United States seemed to be losing interest in the southern half of the peninsula.

The junior Kim assumed charge of North Korea's clandestine activities, which included the kidnapping of Japanese citizens to help train its agents, bombings and sabotage of South Korean targets, and the shadowy Room 39 of the Korean Workers Party (the communist party), which raised hard currency from counterfeiting US currency and from trafficking of amphetamine.

Kim Jong-il was also a driver of the secret nuclear weapons program, which continued with secret help from Pakistan's A.Q. Khan Network after a 1994 agreement with the Clinton administration supposedly froze all developments.

Mass starvation among the North Korean population, after the collapse of the Soviet Union ended critical external aid and floods ruined successive crops, did not divert Kim from his cultivation of the Korean People's Army, under his ''Songun'' (army first) doctrine.

Kim's role as chairman of the National Defense Commission, commanding the army, became more important than the general-secretary role in the Worker's Party. Frequent on-the-spot ''guidance sessions'' and sharing of meals with frontline soldiers were aimed at reinforcing personal loyalty among the soldiers.

The sybaritic personal lifestyle of his younger days — which included  importing Italian and Japanese chefs and the foodstuffs they needed, French wine and brandy, Scandinavian models for company, and a massive library of the foreign films denied his people — was pushed firmly into the background.

A vast Gulag of labor and punishment camps, picked out by Western satellite images, limited internal communications and isolation of the favored elite in Pyongyang kept the starving population under control until mobile phones and visits from China began to penetrate in recent years.

The drive for nuclear weapons and testing of the Taepodong ballistic missile stepped up after the election of President George W. Bush, who listed North Korea as part of an ''axis of evil'' with other ''rogue'' regimes and declared his ''visceral hatred'' of Kim.

When Bush emissary James Kelly confronted the North Koreans in late 2002, Kim responded by withdrawing his country from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The past decade has seen Pyongyang engage in on-off negotiations about disarmament at the Beijing Six-Party Talks while advancing weapon and missile tests.

North Korea will now go into a paroxysm of grief that may continue until the 100th anniversary of of Kim Il-sung's birth in April.

Everyone will be watching sideways to see who might emerge as North Korea's Khrushchev or Gorbachev.

The People's Army will have its work cut out watching both the Demilitarized Zone and trying to stop a mass breakout into China.

Continue reading

United Nations hails Philippines’ protection of migrant workers

Philippines—While the sob stories usually make the headlines, the country's efforts to help thousands of overseas Filipinos, especially those caught in wars and calamities, have not gone unnoticed in the United Nations.

A UN executive speaking at a recent conference in Geneva has commended the Philippines for its exemplary efforts to protect its nationals caught in international crisis situations, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Peter Sutherland, the special representative of the UN secretary general for international migration and development, "specifically mentioned the Philippines as rising to the challenge by setting up a system to protect and engage its migrants," the DFA said.

Sutherland made the remarks at the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) held in the Swiss city earlier this month, where he said the forum participants "could learn from the Philippines' initiatives and good practices," the foreign office added.

The Philippines drew praise for its repatriation efforts in troubled countries like Libya, Yemen and Syria, among others, DFA spokesperson Raul Hernandez told the Inquirer on Saturday.

"He (Sutherland) probably saw that we're proactive in protecting our people by taking them out of harm's way," Hernandez said.

In the forum, the UN official also drew attention to the plight of domestic workers, particularly the so-called "kafala" or sponsorship system which he said "constituted a modern form of slavery," the DFA said.

More fleeing Syria

Hernandez said another batch of at least 51 Filipinos from Syria will be repatriated in the next few days. The last group that arrived in Manila over a week ago totaled 55, bringing the current number of Filipino repatriates to 240 since political violence escalated in the Arab state earlier this year.

"Our embassy in Damascus continues to negotiate for the release of the workers from their employers or agencies," Hernandez said, adding that securing airline seats for the next batch had been difficult of late because of the peak Christmas season.

The year 2011 has been one of the busiest for the DFA in terms of evacuating Filipinos from strife-torn regions, starting with those fleeing Egypt in February, at the height of street protests against the regime of then President Hosni Mubarak.

From that same month to March, the repatriation efforts shifted to Libya, with no less than Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario personally leading one of the missions across the Sahara desert to fetch compatriots fleeing the fighting between rebels and government forces under dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

The turmoil in Yemen also prompted Del Rosario to go there in March to assess the situation and offer voluntary repatriation to the less than 1,500 registered migrant Filipinos working in that country.

Review of 'unsafe' countries

Apart from the repatriation efforts, the DFA is currently conducting a review of the 41 countries earlier considered unsafe for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and could be covered by a labor deployment ban.

"At present, we have asked a review of the present status of each of the 41 countries to determine if they have already acceded or enacted laws that would protect our migrant workers," Hernandez said in an earlier interview.

The DFA proceeded with the review after asking the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) to defer the ban for three months.

"We will use the deferment period to revisit the 41 countries with the view of moving forward toward compliance with the amended Migrant Workers Act (Republic Act No. 10022)," which forbids the deployment of OFWs to countries certified as not protective of migrant workers, Hernandez said.

"We will submit new certifications after 90 days, taking into account results of DFA's dialogue with countries concerned and new developments in those countries with respect to the protection of migrant workers," Hernandez said.

9M in 200 countries

More than 1.4 million Filipino workers were deployed overseas last year, according to the POEA. Of this number, 1.1 million were land-based, while around 350,000 were sea-based workers.

For land-based OFWs, the top destinations were Saudi Arabia (293,049), United Arab Emirates (201,214), Hong Kong (101,340), Qatar (87,813) and Singapore (70,251).

Among the newly hired overseas Filipino workers deployed last year, the top occupational categories included household service workers (96,583), cleaners and related workers (12,133), nurses (12,082), caregivers and caretakers (9,293), and waiters, bartenders and related workers (8,789).

According to the latest estimates by the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, some 9 million Filipinos are in more than 200 countries around the world as of December 2009. With a report from Inquirer Research

Sources: Commission on Filipinos Overseas, POEA

Continue reading

Unemployment rate of the Philippines Dropped down to 6.4% in October from 7.1%

2 Million Jobs Created in the Philippines in 1 year period

The country's unemployment rate fell to 6.4 percent in October—the lowest in four years—from 7.1 percent in the same month last year, the National Statistics Office (NSO) reported on Thursday (December 15, 2011).

But despite the employment opportunities created this year, some economists believe these were mostly either temporary work or worse, unpaid family work.

Economists like former Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the numbers themselves were too optimistic, considering that the Philippine economy grew only 3.2 percent in the third quarter.

"How can a decelerating economy create some 2 million jobs? But that's exactly what the Philippine economy did, which grew at 3.2 percent in the third quarter, as unemployment fell from 7.1 percent in October 2010 to 6.4 percent in October 2011," Diokno said.

While it was true that more than a million jobs were created, he said around half a million of these were unpaid family work, which is common in the agriculture sector. Around 956,000 new jobs were in labor and unskilled work.

He also said the average hours worked also declined, while the number of part-time workers significantly increased. Diokno said Filipinos who worked for less than 20 hours a week increased by 1.5 million, while those who worked more than 40 hours increased by 500,000.

"The labor-participation rate rose from 64.2 percent to 66.3 percent, year-on-year. More are looking for a job now than ever before. With hard times, there may be a need for a second or third worker in the family," Diokno said.

But National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director General Cayetano Paderanga Jr. said that even if economic growth was slow this year, it should be taken into consideration that the government has been spending funds on areas that needed them. And this is why it was able to generate more jobs.

Paderanga noted that even if Metro Manila had the highest unemployment rate at 10.4 percent, this was one of the effects of a larger labor force. As the labor force in an area increases, the number of those who do not have jobs also increases.

He also said this is an indication of the amount of economic activity in a given location. This means that many Filipinos from other places continue to migrate to the National Capital Region (NCR) because of the belief that they can participate in more economic activities in the city.

"When an area is growing, it's actually possible that there is bigger unemployment in that area as new migrants collect there. So we also need to consider that as a concern and, at the same time, an indicator that something good is happening in that place. Many of our investments, and this we're trying to correct, have still been concentrated in Metro Manila and Central Luzon," Paderanga said.

The NSO data showed that 38.5 million Filipinos were employed as of October 2011. Those in the services sector comprised 52.1 percent of the total employed population, with those engaged in wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, and personal and household goods comprising the largest work force in the services sector.

The second-largest group was in the agriculture sector, which accounted for 33.4 percent of the total employed. The remainder of the total employed was in the industry sector at 14.5 percent.

The National Statistics Office (NSO) said laborers and unskilled workers comprised the largest proportion at 33.2 percent of the total employed population, followed by farmers, forestry workers and fishermen with a 15-percent share.

Meanwhile, the number of underemployed—defined as those who want to work more hours in their present job, to have another job or move to new job with longer working hours—was estimated at 7.4 million in October or an underemployment rate of 19.1 percent. Most of the underemployed were working in the agriculture sector at 41.9 percent and services sector at 41.7 percent.

Among the unemployed, there were more males accounting for 62.6 percent of the total. Almost 50 percent of the unemployed were in age group 15-24 years.

Continue reading