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index-May-2008-2.html English News Blog for  Philippines News Blog May Archive 

Embassy confirms murder of OFW in Kuwait

By Website Introductions at 05/31/08 11:30

The Philippine embassy in Kuwait has confirmed that a Filipina domestic helper was found dead in the Kabd desert of Kuwait. The embassy also said that a suspect has also been arrested and charged.

Activist overseas Filipino worker (OFW) group Migrante was quick to call for justice for the death of the Filipina and asked the President to exhaust all legal means to persecute the murderers.

More details may be found here in Inquirer.Net

Link: (UPDATE) RP envoy to Kuwait confirms murder of OFW , Philippine News for Filipinos

Give me more

We all like to have fat salary packages but this may not be always the case. The governments may not be able to ensure fat pay packages for all, but certainly governments of most countries do ensure that workers get at least the minimum wages. Recently two regional wage boards in Philippines gave happy times to workers of two regions by increasing their minimum wages as seen on this page.

Link: Workers in two more regions to get pay hike, Philippine News for Filipinos

Greenpeace blocks coal shipment

Environment advocate Greenpeace blocks coal shipment to one of the country's coal-powered power plants as part of its protest against the impending expansion of the said plant and the lengthened existence of coal plants in the country in general.

According to the group, the country is more than capable of producing enough energy for domestic consumption so there's no more need to expand and build more plants. More details are here in Greenpeace's official website.

News: Rainbow Warrior blocks coal shipment in Philippines | Greenpeace International

Steal, Run and be Safe than sorry

Sometimes even the law enforcement agencies are caught in very difficult situations and they might have to release a person even after knowing that he/she has committed a crime, that too a serious one. Well you just need to read this story of a person who did a crime in Korea and hid in Philippines for safety and still needs to be arrested but for lack of crime in the country where he currently resides

News: Korean Kidnap Suspect Loose in Philippines

Thailand to sell more rice

Like all Southeast Asian countries, rice is the staple food in the Philippines. However, unlike its neighbors Thailand and Vietnam, the Philippines' rice production is not enough to meet the needs of its people, thanks to the high population growth rate very year.

Thus, the Philippines is dependent for around 10% of its rice needs on its neighbors Thailand and Vietnam. Just recently, Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej visited the country and agreed to sell the country more rice at negotiable rates. More details here in The Nation Headlines

News: Bangkok's Independent Newspaper

Junketing is essential to lawmaking -Senators

Oftentimes, legislators in the Philippine congress go abroad using government funds to, as the legislators say, gather experience and ideas that are more advanced than that in the Philippines. This trips, called 'junkets', are heavily criticized by the public for the allegedly waste of taxpayers' money.

In the launching of Senator Aquilino Pimentel's book, "Junketing: Senatorial Style", defends the practice as something essential to lawmaking but he admits that these trips may be abused by the lawmakers if unchecked. For more details, read this article on Inquirer.

News: Congress leaders say ‘junkets’ essential to lawmaking - Philippine News for Filipinos

Free SMS in the Philippines pushed by communications department

With around 1.39 billion SMS messages sent a day from a consumer base of only 50 million, the Philippines still remains as the world's texting capital.

However, this is tempered by the fact that the communication rates in the Philippines is among the highest in Asia. Due to this, Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro Mendoza and his Department will submit a petition to the National Telecommunications Commission to remove charges on SMS messaging, saying that that text messaging is a basic service phone carriers do not pay for in their franchise.

Will this work? Many people think this would be difficult. We will see.

News: State considers plan to make cellcos offer free SMS: CommsUpdate : TeleGeography Research