Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. is considering to ask President Benigno Aquino for a diplomatic post in Eastern Europe should he resign from the poll body.
The Commission on Elections on Friday said it expected the turnout in the overseas absentee voting (OAV) to more than double this May elections as Filipinos abroad start casting their ballots on Saturday.
Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario has asked consular officers at the Department of Foreign Affairs to “strive harder” in providing services to the public even as he noted improvements in the agency’s passport processing and authentication systems.
Out of the roughly 27 Muslim youth allegedly summarily executed in 1968 in what is known as the Jabidah Massacre, only Jibin Arula survived to tell the tragedy.
Malacañang on Thursday morning hailed the election of Argentine Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio as the new Pope, saying this brings the “promise of renewal’’ in the Catholic Church.
The chief negotiator of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) said peace talks will resume this month even as he bared that “unscrupulous persons” were moving to delay the negotiations—purported attempts to stall the process by linking it to the crisis in Sabah.
More than 500 Filipinos affected by the conflict in the east coast of Sabah are staying in three evacuation centers in Felda Sahabat area, where Malaysian security forces continue to hunt for Rajah Mudah Agbimuddin Kiram, brother of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, and members of the so-called “Royal Army of the Sultanate of Sulu.”
Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III and members of his family will not attend the investigation of the National Bureau of Investigation into the Sabah crisis despite the summons sent by the bureau, political strategist Pastor “Boy” Saycon said Tuesday.
After four weeks of bitter exchanges, the government and the sultanate of Sulu sat down on Monday to discuss the “disengagement” of the armed followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III from Sabah.
Amid continuing talks with the Philippine government, a delegation from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front is set to fly to Japan next week for a visit seen to “help finalize the Mindanao peace process,” the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Monday.
More than 400 individuals from Sabah have been stranded on Taganak Island (Turtle Island) in Tawi-Tawi province since Saturday night, waiting to be rescued by the government, a Philippine Navy official said on Sunday.
The local governments in Western Mindanao and in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao are getting ready for the Filipinos who might be repatriated to the country as a result of the fighting in Sabah.
