Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago warned on Sunday that injuries sustained by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Taiwanese attackers could be considered “an act of aggression” that could serve as basis for the fold-up of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taipei.
Hotels and resorts on Boracay Island have been reeling from the cancellation of bookings of Taiwanese tourists amid the diplomatic row following the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by Filipino coast guards, according to travel operators.
Patronage politics is not necessarily an offshoot of Filipino culture and it is common in other Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, according to an American professor visiting the Philippines to study patronage politics during the elections.
As violence against Filipinos escalated, Philippine officials have advised the thousands of workers to “limit their movement’’ in Taiwan amid the backlash over the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman by the Philippine Coast Guard in Philippine waters.
The Philippines is waiting for tempers in Taiwan to cool before settling the dispute over a shot Taiwanese fisherman, the head of an office in charge of relations said Sunday.
When Fil-Ams come back to the Philippines, it’s usual for us to stay with relatives, visit tourist sites (Baguio City or the beaches) and indulge in the delicious cuisine. But seldom do we engage in the political process. A college student in the Seattle, Washington area, I came this year as an International observer for the 2013 mid-term elections, via Compact-IOM. I found myself witness to a lively aspect of Filipino culture that is a space for both struggle and celebration.
Economic losses from disasters worldwide have gotten “out of control,” totalling $2.5 trillion in the past decade, which is more than 50 percent over previous United Nations (UN) estimates, according to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s special representative for disaster risk reduction.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has lauded the Philippine government for the conviction of the hired killer of environmentalist Gerry Ortega—the first conviction of an extrajudicial killing since President Benigno Aquino III came to office in 2010.
Malacañang has formed a team from the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (Meco) in Taipei to ensure protection for Filipino workers in Taiwan after reports of harassment and attacks by Taiwanese angry over the fatal shooting of one of their fishermen by Philippine coast guards last week.
Malacañang on Saturday rejected Taiwan’s allegations that Filipino coast guards had intentionally killed a Taiwanese fisherman in waters off Balintang Island in northern Philippines last week, triggering a major diplomatic row between the two countries.
“Filipino migrants are innocent; they should be protected,” the Hong Kong-based International Migrants Alliance said Saturday amid reports of continuing discrimination against and physical attacks on Filipino workers in Taiwan.
The escalating row between Taiwan and Philippines and Taipei has started to spill over into the country’s tourism sector, with some airline and hotel operators starting to express concern and others already feeling the pinch in the wake of the killing of a Taiwanese fisherman in Philippine waters.
