Coming home to the land of his mother was a longtime dream of Lt. Vincent Mejia. When he finally did so, it was doubly joyful for the Filipino-American sailor who was tasked to steer to port one of the US Navy’s most advanced attack submarines after it had surfaced.
The Philippines and Taiwan on Monday agreed on a cooperative investigation into the fatal shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman by Filipino Coast Guards, which had led to fresh cross-channel tensions and harassment of Filipino workers in Taiwan.
An Australian, Ewan Marshall, and his girlfriend, Michelle Abad, were among 16 climbers and local guides who were rescued in Mayon Volcano, which exploded Tuesday. The two were reported Thursday in the Australian media to be heading to Boracay to continue their holiday.
President Aquino emerged from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit on Thursday upbeat about the prospects of a maritime code of conduct with China to minimize the risk of conflict in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Friday said it respected the US Navy’s decision to relieve four officers after one of its vessels damaged the Tubbataha Reefs but stressed that Manila needed to conduct its own probe of the incident.
Malaysia brought criminal charges against eight Filipinos on Wednesday, more than two weeks after a standoff in Sabah between Malaysian security forces and an armed group from the sultanate of Sulu erupted into violence that killed 72 people.
Shun those SUVs. The election of Pope Francis is a sign that Church people in the Philippines should shun “luxurious” and “scandalous” lifestyles, the executive secretary of the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP) said Thursday.
With “high hopes for the Philippines,” Pope Francis has urged Filipinos to help alleviate the plight of the poor in their midst, Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle said Thursday.
Kuala Lumpur on Thursday rejected a ceasefire offer by the sultan of Sulu despite a call from the UN to end the violence in Sabah that has already cost 60 lives and peacefully settle the dispute over the ownership of the eastern Malaysian state.
Former President Fidel V. Ramos on Wednesday stressed he never abandoned the Philippine claim to Sabah and urged President Aquino and Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III to meet face to face to discuss how to end the standoff in the Malaysian state.
Even President Aquino is unsure if Sultan Jamalul Kiram III is the rightful heir of the Sulu sultanate, whose dominion once encompassed the Sulu archipelago and North Borneo. He also doubted his capability to finance an operation involving at least 235 followers who went to Sabah.
The drastic action being pursued by the sultanate of Sulu to press its claim to the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah is not the best way to resolve the ownership dispute, President Aquino warned on Thursday.
