Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David on Thursday said they were waiting for travel documents from the Myanmar embassy for the repatriation of the nine surviving crewmen of a Myanmar ship that sunk last week off the coast of Bolinao , Pangasinan.
When the Burmese cargo vessel, the MV Harita Bauxite, began sinking after 10 p.m. on Saturday, the captain, Win Kyu, blew a whistle and ordered the crew to abandon ship.
Conflicts and poverty continue to stalk Asia—the largest and most populous continent—but Asian political parties remain hopeful of the future, with the Philippines and Burma (Myanmar) providing some of the bright spots.
China is finding the once-friendly ground of Southeast Asia bumpy going, with anger against Chinese claims to disputed islands, once reliable ally Burma (Myanmar) flirting with democracy and renewed American attention to the region.
On the eve of his landmark trip to Myanmar, President Barack Obama tried to assure critics that his visit was not a premature reward for a long-isolated nation still easing its way toward democracy.
When Arker Kyaw heard President Barack Obama was coming to Myanmar, he gathered 15 cans of spray paint and headed for a blank brick wall under cover of darkness. Kyaw, whose passion is graffiti, labored from 3 a.m. until the sun came up. Passing taxi drivers and the occasional pedestrian gave him signs of encouragement as Obama’s grinning, uplifted face took shape against a background of the American and Myanmar flags.
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Friday sought to promote Washington’s strategic shift to the Asia-Pacific and a tentative rapprochement with Burma (Myanmar) as he met counterparts in the region.
Myanmar’s military, long criticized for human rights abuses, may be invited as an observer at annual US-Thai joint military exercise next year, officials in Washington and Bangkok said Friday.
The Obama administration now has a taste of the difficult diplomacy necessary to sharpen the focus of American power on Asia, seeking investment opportunities alongside reforms from rights-abusing governments and working with China while defending US interests.
The Philippines seeks Myanmar’s support in its West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) dispute with China as the foreign ministers of the two Southeast Asian countries met on Friday.
President Benigno Aquino on Thursday told visiting Burmese Foreign Minister U Wunna Maung Lwin that the Philippines supports the reforms being undertaken by Yangon and offered the government’s help in its transition to democracy.
The foreign minister of Burma (Myanmar), U Wunna Maung Lwin, arrived Thursday in Manila for two days of meetings with Filipino officials.
