Archive for August, 2010

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Justice for Hongkong nationals

by admin, on Sun, Aug 29 2010 | No Comments

Thousands of people joined a rally in Hong Kong on Sunday to demand justice for victims of the Manila hostage bloodbath, as the city’s Filipino community staged its own memorials for the dead.


Demonstrators voiced their anger over the Philippine government’s handling of the siege in the heart of Manila on Monday, which left eight Hong Kong tourists dead amid widespread complaints of police bungling.


“It’s too late for the governments to do anything, but Hong Kong people hope that, at the very least, the Philippine authorities could tell us the truth,” Daisy Kwong, a telecoms firm project manager, told AFP.


“I cried for hours after watching the tragedy played out live on TV,” she said.


The sea of demonstrators observed three minutes of silence as they gathered in a Hong Kong park, many wearing yellow ribbons and carrying white flowers, the traditional Chinese colour of mourning.


The Hong Kong political parties organising the rally, the latest in a series of events marking Monday’s tragedy, said it could draw as many as 50,000 people.

“I am furious,” 56-year-old Law Wai-hing said. “I don’t think we will ever be told the truth when the (Philippine) president (Benigno Aquino) is as appalling as he is.


“I hope the Chinese government and the United Nations can exert pressure on the Philippine government.”


Members of the city’s 200,000-strong Filipino community, the vast majority working as low-paid domestic helpers, have voiced fears of retribution.


Rally organisers asked demonstrators not to carry racially charged placards or chant discriminatory slogans.


Filipino groups are staging their own events on Sunday in remembrance of the victims, including a candlelight vigil.


Philippine vice consul Val Roque said a text message was sent to members of the community asking them to “set aside what they are doing” and attend memorial masses on Sunday.


“Being mostly Catholic, it was the best way for us to express our solidarity with the people of Hong Kong,” Roque told AFP.


He downplayed fears about possible reprisals on Filipinos, saying there had been no confirmed reports of harassment or physical abuse.

“We trust our friends in Hong Kong would not do anything untoward against Filipinos here… But we understand the anger must be released. We hope as the days go by that anger will dissipate.”


A Facebook site to remember the victims has attracted thousands of signatures, and a flood of criticism directed at the Philippine government.


Disgraced ex-policeman Rolando Mendoza, armed with an assault rifle, hijacked a busload of Hong Kong tourists on Monday in an apparent bid to win his old job back and be cleared of extortion charges.


Eight tourists and the gunman were killed in the final stages of the 12-hour ordeal, when ill-equipped police launched an assault on the bus in a drama that unfolded live on television screens around the world.


Philippine police said Sunday they were certain that the Hong Kong tourists were killed by Mendoza, rather than by police bullets during the ill-fated rescue operation.


Hong Kong undersecretary for security Lai Tung-kwok said on Saturday autopsies had been carried out on all eight victims, which may lead to an official inquiry.


Five senior Manila policemen who took part in the assault have been suspended and their commanding officer has also taken leave.


Hong Kong’s Sunday Morning Post newspaper reported that a letter containing an offer by the Philippine police to suspend Mendoza’s dismissal and try to end the hostage crisis had arrived at the scene too late.


But this claim was dismissed by country’s national police spokesman.


source: ph.yfittopostblog.com

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Mendoza laid to rest

by admin, on Sat, Aug 28 2010 | No Comments

Scores of mourners attended the burial Saturday of the sacked policeman who hijacked a bus in Manila, triggering a hostage crisis in which eight Hong Kong tourists were killed.


Even as the government tried to distance itself from the incident, hundreds crowded into a church for the funeral mass of former senior inspector Rolando Mendoza’s home, to remember him for his police honours and not for Monday’s tragic events.


“There are so many mourners because he was a good man. You never heard about him doing anything bad,” said warehouse worker Mark Torres, a family friend attending the vigil in Tanauan, a small city south of Manila.


Francisco Misaba, a district watchman, said he had been assigned to manage the traffic because of the large number of people attending Mendoza’s requiem and burial.


“There will be plenty of people attending because he had a lot of friends. Just about everyone in the district was his friend,” he said.


Mendoza’s family has refused to grant press interviews. But at the vigil, held in Mendoza’s home, they put his numerous citations on display alongside many floral wreaths sent by fellow policemen.


Later, as Mendoza’s body was placed into its grave, his son, Vismark, who is also a police officer, openly wept, sobbing, “I will never see his smile again.”


No officials attended the event and the only uniformed policemen at the funeral was Mendoza’s son but many media outlets, including Hong Kong photojournalists, were present.


Mendoza, a decorated officer who had been sacked over extortion charges, took a bus-load of Hong Kong tourists hostage in Manila on Monday, demanding to be reinstated.


This led to a 12-hour siege of the bus and muddled police negotiations that ended in bloodshed, with Mendoza and eight of the tourists shot dead.


The bungled rescue has enraged Hong Kong and embarrassed the Philippine government, which has called for an investigation.


Further embarrassment came on Friday when the Chinese embassy condemned the draping of Mendoza’s coffin with a Philippine flag as if he was a hero.

The Philippine government said the flag had been placed there by Mendoza’s family and had been later removed by a city official.


Torres said he could not explain Mendoza’s violent actions, adding that he had never heard of any misdeeds committed by the former policeman.


“I don’t think he went insane. He just believed what he was fighting for,” he told AFP.


“I can’t really say that he was justified, because people died. But we can’t say he was totally wrong, either.”


Misaba said: “We don’t understand why he did this. All we know is that he is now dead.”


Presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma said the results of an investigation would soon be presented to Hong Kong authorities.


“We are doing everything to ensure that we have comprehensive, thorough and accurate findings,” he said in an interview on government radio on Saturday.


He said it was too early to say if any of the eight hostages had been killed by gunfire from the police rescue team.


Coloma said he hoped that a planned rally in Hong Kong on Sunday to demand justice for the victims would not affect the estimated 200,000 Filipinos working there, most of them as domestic helpers.


“Hopefully it will not reach that point and that in the coming days the anger will cool down and we can both move on,” he said.


Coloma advised the Filipinos in Hong Kong, who normally gather together in huge numbers on Sunday, their day off, to take precautions in the meantime.


“Probably the best thing to do is be prudent, be careful when talking. They can tell if their physical presence in their gathering places might provoke an untoward incident,” he said.


Filipino union leaders have reported reprisals against the community by Hong Kong employers incensed at the hijacking.


Source: ph.news.yahoo.com

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Vice Premiers of China cancelled flight to Manila

by admin, on Sat, Aug 28 2010 | No Comments

Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang cancelled his official visit to Manila, supposedly set for the first week of September. But the Department of Foreign Affairs clarified the cancellation had nothing to do with the hostage-taking incident that is straining diplomatic relations between the two countries.


Li was supposed to arrive for a three-day visit September 5 to 7. He would have been the first high-level official of any country to visit the two-month-old Aquino government and was hoping to reaffirm his country’s strategic partnership with the Philippines.


In the hierarchy of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Li is set to succeed Wen Jiabao as Premier in the “fifth generation” of the CPC leadership. Premier Wen steps down in 2013.


The Chinese Embassy said it is uncertain for now if Li’s visit will be reset at all, to when and for how long.


DFA Spokesman Ed Malaya said the Chinese Foreign Ministry informed the Philippine Embassy in Beijing about the postponement even before Aug. 23, when the hostage-taking incident took place.


“The visit was postponed in view of the natural disasters that have recently beset China which resulted in many casualties and destruction,” Malaya said in a text message.


The Chinese Embassy confirmed that the Vice Premier decided to forgo the trip to personally handle relief efforts in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region which was devastated by mudslides last month.


Malaya said the Philippine Embassy received the notice August 20 and that Li likewise postponed his visit to two other member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.


The visit would have been part of the commemoration of RP-China bilateral relations that entered its 35th year in June.


Chinese President Hu Jintao and former President Gloria Arroyo pledged to break new ground in Philippine-China bilateral relations and increase friendly exchanges as the two countries reaffirm the commitment to move bilateral relations to a higher level of partnership and cooperation.


Li was supposed to meet his counterpart, Vice President Jejomar Binay. A courtesy call on President Aquino was also being arranged. Aside from the state of general relations, Li would be reaffirming his government’s commitment to the framework of cooperation for strategic partnership signed two years ago.


The Philippines was bracing for a discussion on the issue of the disputed South China Sea (SCS), an issue China was expected to raise. In the last ASEAN Regional Forum in Hanoi, the Philippines raised anew the commitment of parties toward adopting a Regional Code of Conduct in the SCS and the reconvening of the ASEAN – China Joint Working Group meeting on the Implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the SCS (DOC).


The Philippines is among five claimants contesting the oil-rich Spratly chain of islands in the SCS. China & Vietnam claim the whole of the SCS, while the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan lay claim to only a fraction.


Diplomatic relations between the two countries had been shaken following Monday’s hostage-taking incident that killed eight tourists from Hong Kong.


The Chinese Foreign Ministry had turned down a high-level Philippine Philippine delegation that was to have left yesterday for Hong Kong and Beijing. The Ministry said they’d rather that the Philippine government first complete its investigation on the hostage crisis as soon as possible.


“On the hostage incident involving Hong Kong tourists, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Philippine Embassy in Beijing have kept in constant touch. The MFA has emphasized China’s positions to the Philippine side many times. Both sides are keeping in close coordination. We believe that the most urgent task is to have a complete investigation of the matter as soon as possible,” China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Jiang Yu said.


A Chinese Foreign Ministry statement on Tuesday said Minister Yang Jiechi talked with his Philippine counterpart, Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo, over the phone on Monday. Yang urged the Philippine side to rescue and bring the hostages to safety, and expressed how the Chinese government attached great importance to the incident’s quick resolution.


But after the police assault to rescue the hostages, eight of whom were killed, Yang said his government was deeply shocked and strongly condemned the atrocity committed by the hostage-taker against innocent tourists.


“The Chinese side has urged the Philippine side to launch a thorough investigation, provide detailed report to the Chinese side, exert the utmost to save the injured and properly deal with the aftermath of the incident,” the statement said.


China has sent a working team to the Philippines to deal with the aftermath together with the Chinese Embassy. They urged the Philippine government to take concrete measures to ensure the safety and security of the Chinese citizens in the Philippines.


Meanwhile the Philippines said it is still finalizing arrangements for the high-level delegation composed of Binay, Romulo and Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda to proceed to Beijing and Hong Kong.


“While the delegation is ready to leave anytime, there is an understanding between both sides that the Philippine delegation will bring a full report of Monday’s incident,” the DFA statement said in reply to the position made by China on the supposed high level visit to explain what happened and personally deliver the President’s messages when meeting with Chinese leaders in Beijing and Hong Kong.


It was only in the DFA’s latest statement, four days after the tragedy, that the Philippines expressed clear condemnation of what happened.


“The Department of Foreign Affairs reiterates its condemnation of the violence perpetuated by Rolando Mendoza. Nothing could ever justify the senseless act of holding hostage and threatening and carrying out physical violence on innocent civilians including children,” the statement said.

The DFA said the Filipino nation shares the outrage and indignation of all peace-loving peoples of the world over the killing of the Hongkong hostages.


“We believe that the strong and long-standing ties of friendship and cooperation between the governments and peoples of the Philippines and China and Hong Kong shall overcome this sad episode,” the DFA said in a statement.


Source: ph.yfittopostblog.com

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Claudine is planning to see Angelica in the court

by admin, on Fri, Aug 27 2010 | No Comments

After the long and intriguing word war between Angelica and Gretchen Barreto which came to a halt when Ms. Panganiban asks for an apology, this time, it is Gretchen’s sister Claudine Barreto that Angelica is having a conflict with.


The news in the corner of showbiz industry says that Claudine is planning to sue Angelica Panganiban with a case of either a slander or libel. The issue begins when according to Caludine, it was Angelica who spread the news that she is a having an elicit affair with Derek Ramsay’s bestfriend. And this hearsay had made Caludine and her husband Raymart Santiago fight and having a conflict at present.


Claudine said that she didn’t come into this issue unprepared. She made a point that she has a lot of friends that can testify and witness that is was Angelica who spread the news and by this time, Claudine is searching for a match and justice.


The talent manager of Star Magic, Johny Manahn sent a text message to a famous showbiz mag correspondent saying that they are all prepare if Claudine, if ever, will file against their talent. He even dared the actress to do so!


Meanwhile, the both parties ha just crossed their path when Angelica and Claudine spent their night in the same hotel in Davao when they both is promoting for a show and the other is having a tour and mall guesting.

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Tips for Mommies

by admin, on Fri, Aug 27 2010 | No Comments

Hey working moms, I know you gotta love this article. I just happened to catch this while I am helping my friend about new parental tips. Read this and I hope you’ll treasure them.


When I am at work, I think about the baby and how I wish I had more time with him. That’s a huge working Mom dilemma – how do I spend more time with the baby given that most of my day is spent at work? No matter how tired I am when I get home, I try to do the following activities with the baby. I usually only have a couple of hours left to spend with him before his bedtime, so I try to squeeze in what I can.


Get on the floor and play with the baby. This is stress relief for me too! Goodbye Powerpoint presentations, hello stacking rings! Bye-bye busy office desk, hello busy playpen! My baby and I usually take out his favorite toy trucks, and he shows me the tricks he learned that day. Sometimes it would just be a quick game of Elmo playing peekaboo with him from behind the curtains, or Mommy from behind a pillow. Playtime is a must for me and the baby, whether I’m still in office clothes or not.


Read books together before bedtime. I love it when my baby points at a page, looks up at me and gurgles in a questioning tone. It’s as if he’s saying, “What’s this, Mommy?” I enjoy reading a few books with him before we turn out the lights. It’s the only learning part of the day we share, and I cherish these moments. From Dr. Seuss’ silly rhymes to colorful picture books, we turn the pages together as I tell him about the stories in each one. My eyes may be tired from reading charts and numbers the whole day, but they will never be too tired for my baby’s reading time.


Get rid of that cell phone during baby time. I’m guilty of keeping my phone close by as I play and read to baby. Sometimes work-related texts would come in and I’d be distracted answering them. I’d think “This will only take a minute.” Well, those minutes added up. My son would be looking up at me to read what’s on the page and I’d be furiously punching in a message on my phone. It robs me of special time with the boy, and so I’ve learned to put away my phone as soon as I get home from work.


Prepare for bedtime together. Once bedtime nears, I would scoop up my toddler in my arms and we would go prepare for bed together. We’d walk to the closet to pick out his nightclothes. Then we’d go to the bathroom to prepare his wash cloth. After washing up and changing for bed, I’d scoop him up in my arms again and we would clean the room together. We’d put his used clothes in the hamper, pile his books in one corner, store his toys in their little container. Our room isn’t that big, but I enjoy carrying him in my arms as we fix up everything before bedtime together. Instead of leaving him on the bed while I go prepare his nappy or clean up after him, I like involving him in the process. He seems to enjoy it too. I love the extra time I have with him in my arms.


Say good night to the world together. A routine my baby and I share is to look at the evening sky and say good night to everything until he gets sleepy. “Good night neighbors! Good night grass! Good night roads! Good night lamp post! Good night frogs!” Sometimes it takes just a few good nights before he snuggles up to me. Other times I’d run out of things to say good night to! I especially enjoy those longer good nights as we get to bond more before he drifts off to dreamland.
Another thing that’s been working for me recently is eating on the way home. I grab a snack before leaving the office, then munch on the meal while on the ride home. A sandwich usually fills me up, then I eat dinner once the baby is fast asleep. It’s just another way of managing schedules with baby time as a priority.


Spending more time with the baby means simply focusing on the activities you share together. Forget work, you’ve already left it for the day. Forget chores, you can deal with them when the baby’s asleep. Your baby waited for you the whole day, and finally you’re reunited!


When I walk through the front door and am welcomed with a huge smile and giggle, that’s my cue to completely log out of work mode. Only a few more hours till it’s his bedtime again, so it’s time to log in some quality Mommy-baby time!


Source: ph.yfittopostblog.com

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