Editor's Note |
20 years of service to the community
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Time flies.
Exactly 20 years ago this month, The SUN shone for the Filipinos in Hong Kong. It was
the fulfillment of a dream that took shape years earlier, or shortly after I arrived here in 1987 and
realized there was no reliable information channel serving the community.
But turning that dream into reality proved to be difficult. Several people offered to fund
the publication of a news-paper, but everyone wanted a business model different from what we had
in mind.
Details...
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Anak Araw |
Pagpapabaya
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Nitong nakaraang buwan ay naging saksi tayo sa nangyari kay Manang Gloria Ortinez,
ang OFW na biktima ng tanim-bala sa Manila airport. Halos buong araw kasi ay naglagi siya sa
opisina ng The SUN, kasama ang mga naghatid sa kanya na sina Susan "Toots" Ople na tagataguyod ng
mga OFW, at ang abogado niyang si Atty Spocky Farolan, kaya nasaksihan namin siya nang malapitan.
Details...
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Migrant's Forum |
Nanay Gloria's journey to HK
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President Benigno Simeon Aquino III recently told the media that cases of tanim-bala
were sensationalized, citing figures to prove his point. As an OFW advocate, I respectfully
disagree. Looking at this from a purely numbers perspective could lead one to overlook the deep trauma
that such incidents have caused its innocent victims.
Had he met and spoken to 56-year old OFW Gloria Ortinez, our President would have
learned the following:
Details...
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Know Your Rights |
The Mission
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This was the speech delivered by the Mission for Migrant Workers' general manager,
Cynthia Tellez, at the launch of the 10-year Impact Evaluation Report of the Mission's work held on
December 5, 2015 at the Li Hall of St. John's Cathedral.
Details...
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With at least one -- and possibly two disqualification cases in the presidential race --
the Supreme Court has assured the nation politics will not dictate its decisions.
See this month's stories...
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Staff and volunteers at the Mission for Migrant Workers had reason to celebrate when
they launched the non-government organization's 10-year Impact Evaluation Report at Li Hall of St
John's Cathedral on Dec. 4. Nearly all, or 97% of migrants who sought assistance said that they were
helped by the Mission, and more than half of them (57%) said they would recommend the NGO to others.
See this month's stories...
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October 2014
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Philippine News
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The Senate investigation into alleged overpricing
of an annex of Makati's City Hall has
expanded to include more allegations of graft against Vice
President Jejomar Binay.
As a result, Binay has seen his popularity rating fall from 41 percent to 31 per cent.
Binay did not help his own cause by refusing to
appear before the Senate Blue Ribbon
Committee -- claiming it was politically motivated and biased,
and that he had been prejudged --
and instead answered the accusations in a press conference
where he refused to take questions on
Sept. 24. A subcommittee of this Senate committee is
investigating allegations that the 11-story
Makati City Hall Building II is overpriced at P2.28 billion and
that Binay profited from it.
His son, Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin "Junjun"
Binay, rebuffed a Senate subpoena to
answer more questions, questioning its jurisdiction. When the
committee rejected his assertion, he asked
the Supreme Court to stop the hearings.
His eldest daughter, Sen. Nancy Binay, also said
that attending the investigation would
be legitimizing what she considered a politically-motivated
exercise "in aid of election in 2016."
She had said it was a waste of taxpayers' money.
This came after Binay released on September 24
his financial records and income tax
returns for the last 28 years, showing his net worth at P60
million.
In the press conference a week earlier, Binay said
his accusers, including former Makati
City Vice Mayor Ernesto Mercado and former city general
services division chief Mario Hechanova,
had no evidence that would stand up in court.
The two had earlier claimed that Binay received
13 percent kickbacks in every public
works project in Makati when he was mayor, and that public
biddings for projects were rigged.
In a hearing last Sept. 25, more accusations were
flung at the vice president.
- That ownership of a piece of public land in Fort
Bonifacio, which was now worth
Php1 billion, was transferred to him in the name of his
dummies.
- That a company that cornered all security and
cleaning service contracts in the Makati
government was owned by him but operated by dummies.
- That he had more properties not declared in his
Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net
worth from 1988 to 2013.
Binay's SALN showed a net worth of P60 million
as of December 2013.
His income sources were a flower shop and
piggery. He said he had divested himself of
his interest in the piggery business after he was elected Vice
President in 2010, leaving him to
survive on his annual salary of more than P1 million and his
wife's flower shop business for income.
Even more details about Binay's finances surfaced
in the media.
Rappler.com, a news site, republished a report
that looked into Binay's alleged properties
not mentioned in his SALN.
Inquirer columnist Solita Monsod, chided by
Binay's followers for being too harsh on the
vice president, dug up reports that showed Binay had a
history of graft charges that failed to be
heard because he blocked them through restraining orders
from courts.
The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism
(PCIJ) earlier looked into Binay's
financial records and found out that in the last 17 years that
he was an elective official, his wealth had
grown over 500 percent, or from P8.8 million in 1994 to
P57.9 million in 2011.
The PCIJ report said Binay reported the highest
uptick in his net worth six months before
he took office as vice president in June 2010. Between
December 2009 and June 2010, Binay's
personal assets grew by P13.4 million, at the same time that
he said he settled liabilities worth P566,665.95.
Cavite Gov. Jonvic Remulla, Binay's political
spokesman, said Binay's children who are
in public office - Mayor Junjun Binay, Sen. Nancy Binay and
Makati City Rep. Abigail
Binaywould also release their SALN and income tax returns
in due time.
Binay had said he was not scared of a lifestyle
check because he had been regularly
filing financial disclosures and income tax returns throughout
his life as a public official.
"What is scary is that you don't file your SALN or
you list just anything in your SALN,"
Binay said.
He even declared an excess of P13,541,711 in
contributions that totalled P231.4 million to
his vice presidential campaign in 2010. But this raised more
questions about the propriety of
pocketing such donations.
SC sacks Sandiganbayan justice
The Supreme Court took a bold move of
dismissing a justice of the Sandiganbayan
anti-graft court.
Associate Justice Gregory Ong, 61, an appointee
of then President Joseph Estrada, was
shown the door for "fraternizing with litigants." He became
the first Sandiganbayan justice to be
dismissed from the service since the court was created by a
Marcos-era edict on June 11, 1978.
The dismissal order meant Ong will not be
entitled to retirement benefits, "except for
accrued leave benefits." He is also barred for life from seeking
re-employment "in any branch, agency
or instrumentality of the government, including government-
owned and -controlled corporations."
The Supreme Court said Ong showed "corrupt
inclinations" as an officer of the court and
that he lied about his relationship with alleged pork barrel
scam brains Janet Lim-Napoles.
Voting 8-5, the SC found Ong guilty of grave
misconduct, dishonesty and impropriety,
immediately dismissing him from the service for "fraternizing"
with Napoles during the time his
sala handled a case against he and others.
The court said that while evidence against Ong
was "insufficient to sustain the bribery
and corruption charges," it "found credible evidence of Ong's
association with Napoles" after his
division handed down a decision clearing her of the charges.
The court noted that such links, established
through testimony that he had visited Napoles in
her office two times, had fueled the public's "suspicion of
[his] partiality."
The decision noted that Ong "was not truthful on
crucial matters even before the
administrative complaint was filed against him," making him
liable for dishonesty.
The ruling "is immediately executory," according
to SC spokesman Theodore Te, who
added that Ong can appeal.
PH jails 300% over capacity
Philippine jails are 326 percent overpopulated on
the average, with some having a
congestion rate of as much as 1,000 percent, officials told
senators during a public hearing on the
P80-million proposed budget of the Bureau of Jail
Management and Penology (BJMP) for 2015. Interior
Secretary Manuel Roxas II described the conditions in the
jails as "subhuman."
Terminal fees in air ticket cost
Starting October 1, the price of airline tickets will
already include the P550 terminal fee
of passenger service charge, according to the Manila
International Airport Authority. Jose
Angel Honrado, MIAA general manager, said the fee
integration "will immediately benefit some
seven million passengers because they will not have to queue
anymore to pay the terminal fee." All
airlines worldwide will simultaneously implement the
integration, and will cover passengers transiting
via Manila to any destination point. The travel tax exemption
for Overseas Filipino workers
(OFWs) will be observed.
Mideast, Africa tourists watched
Foreigners from the Middle East and Africa are
now subjected to tighter immigration
processing in view of reports that the Islamic State in Iraq and
Syria (ISIS) have been recruiting followers
in the Philippines. "We are not on red alert status but we are
paying careful attention to them,"
said Immigration Commissioner Siegfred Mison.
Funds for Mayon evacuees
Mayon Volcano in Legazpi City, Albay, has
shown magma movement after a week of
relative peace, and volcanologists are predicting its eruption
"within weeks." Alert Level 3 was raised
over Mount Mayon on Sept. 15, indicating heightened
restiveness that could lead to eruption.
Albay Governor Joey Salceda said more than 17,000 families
from 26 villages within the six to
eight-kilometer radius around Mount Mayon have been
evacuated to safer grounds. Salceda said
the province was running out of funds to feed evacuees and
he would declare a "state of depletion"
in Albay before the end of September. "We have supply of
rice for 31 days but non-rice items,
[items for] health care and other essential lifeline [items] like
water and other primary needs will not
be served if we [do not] have enough funds for these," he said.
Still no hero's burial for Marcos
Every September, the issue of giving former
President Ferdinand Marcos hero's burial crops
up, and this time Malacanang said its position has not
changed. The late president will not be buried
at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Fort Bonifacio, and will not
be given military honors befitting a
hero. Three events connected to Marcos are marked in
September: his birthday on the
11th, declaration of martial law on the 21st,
and his death on the 28th. Senator Francis Escudero had
revived the
proposal to at least recognize Marcos as a soldier and be
given military honors befitting a soldier and a
commander-in-chief. Aquino has maintained that it would be
an injustice to those who suffered
during the dictatorship.
No apology to China
Criminal cases involving Chinese nationals in the
Philippines should not be tainted with
politics, according to presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda.
He was reacting to an editorial in
China's state-owned newspaper Global Times, demanding
public apology from the Philippine
government for confirmed reports about the kidnapping of
two Chinese nationals and the shooting of another
in Bulacan.
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