Month: December 2014

Make Christmas meaningful by reducing E-waste

Published by Ellen on December 21, 2014

This Christmas, one of the most welcome gifts is a cellphone or a Tablet. Not only for adults but also for children who are now tech-savvy.

Ban Toxics, a group that goes by the motto that “The only world worth passing to our children is toxic- free” advises all of us to go slow on new gadgets.

E-Waste. From European Commission website

Ban Toxics says Electronic Waste or E-Waste is the bane of the today’s Electronic Age. Discarded computers, office electronic equipment, entertainment device electronics, mobile phones, television sets, and refrigerators are all considered e-waste. Many of these devices contain toxic metals (lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, selenium) and can stream into our environment if not managed properly.

Toxic materials poison the land, the waters and the air. That is poison we imbibe.

Ban Toxics says “Toxic metals, such as mercury, bio-accumulates in living organisms and can cause neurological and respiratory problems.”

Heartbreaking

Published by Ellen on December 18, 2014

The world is no stranger to heinous crimes but nothing is more abominable that the massacre of schoolchildren in Peshawar, a large valley close to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border,Tuesday.

This is excerpts from a New York Times report:

“First the Pakistani Taliban bombed or burned over 1,000 schools. Then they shot Malala Yousafzai, the teenage advocate for girls’ rights.

“But on Tuesday, the Taliban took their war on education to a ruthless new low with an assault on a crowded school in Peshawar that killed 145 people — 132 of them uniformed schoolchildren — in the deadliest single attack in the group’s history.

Taiwan’s Christmas offering: Watch a movie, win a mountain bike

Published by Ellen on December 16, 2014

Do you want to win a mountain bike, a laptop, a 42-inch TV, and a cellphone?

Watch a short film titled “Together We Can” and you may get any one of those items for free.

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in the Philippines is inviting everyone to Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in the Philippines is inviting all Filipinos to participate in a nationwide contest that offers three Taiwan Giant mountain bicycle Talon as prizes for the grand winners.

Aside from the grand prizes TECO said there will be six second prizes (Taiwan Acer Laptop), seven third prizes (Taiwan TECO LED 42-inch TV) and 14 special prizes (Taiwan ASUS FonePad 7 cell phone).

Vietnam delivered when the Philippines needed it most

Published by Ellen on December 14, 2014

Alliance forged.Pres. Aquino and Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in Malacanang May 2014. — Alliance forged. Pres. Aquino and Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in Malacanang May 2014.

It means a lot to the Philippines that Vietnam submitted a Position Paper to the Arbitral Tribunal of the United Nations that is handling the complaint filed by the Philippines against China on the conflict in the South China Sea.

Probably so as not to further antagonize China, with whom the Philippines has rekindled relations marked by the meeting of President Aquino with Chinese President Xi Jinping last month on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, the statement of the Department of Foreign Affairs in reaction to the statement of Vietnam was sober.

The statement, released three days after Vietnam made public the Dec. 4 submission to the U.N. Arbitral Tribunal in The Hague, said: “PH has had close consultations with Vietnam, bilaterally as well as within ASEAN, on claims and issues in the South China Sea. We now understand that Vietnam has made its position on our arbitration case known to the Tribunal. This is not wholly unexpected, since Vietnam naturally seeks to protect its own interests. What we understand, however, consistent with our previous discussions, is that the Vietnam’s basic position largely accords with ours with regards to the South China Sea.

Former Rep. Jun Lozada shares his cancer treatment the Fuda way

Published by Ellen on December 14, 2014

Jun Lozada with Fuda Hospital Chief President Xu Kecheng.

Former Ambassador and Negros Occ. Rep. Apolinario “Jun” Lozada, Jr. relates his story on how he got to Fuda Cancer Hospital in Guangzhou, China for treatment of his prostate cancer with amusement now that he has been declared cancer-free.

But it was not so when a routine check-up last march showed a PSA (Prostatic Specific Antigen) level of over 100 when the normal count is only from zero to four.

Further tests revealed that he has prostate cancer.

The initial reaction was denial and hoping that it would be cured without going through the dreaded surgery and chemotherapy.

Kahanga-hanga ang pagpahalaga ng mga Koreano ng dangal; hindi kahanga-hanga ang patuloy na pagdepensa ni PNoy kay Purisima

Published by Ellen on December 13, 2014

Mangyayari kaya dito sa Pilipinas ang nangyari kay Heather Co, ang anak ng chairman ng Korean Airlines na humingi ng tawad sa publiko sa ginawa niyang pagsuplada at pag-inarte sa sarili nilang airline?
Malabo.

Suspended PNP Chief Alan Purisima and President Aquino.

Ito lang kay Police Chief Alan Purisima, inimbistiga ng Ombudsman ang tungkol sa ma-anomalya na pagbigay ng kontrata sa courier na magde-deliber ng mga lisensya ng baril. Napag-alaman na sabit si Purisima.

Sinuspindi. Sa halip na mag-fade away na lang, sinubukan pang ipahinto ang suspension.

Ang Pangulong Aquino naman, na binabandera ang kanyang “Tuwid na Daan”, depensa ng depensa kay Purisima. Kahit na nasuspindi na, pinipilit pa rin na pumirma lang naman daw si Purisima. Baka nalusutan lang daw.

“Nilalagay ko ang sarili ko sa lugar niya? Usisain ko ba lahat na papeles na dumadaan sa agin para pirmahan?” sabi ni Aquino.

Vietnam supports PH position: UN tribunal has jurisdiction on South China Sea dispute

Published by Ellen on December 13, 2014

Water cannon fight in Paracels between China and Vietnam last May.

By Ellen T. Tordesillas, VERA Files

The Philippine case against China’s nine-dash line before the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal gained support from Vietnam in a statement it submitted to the court in The Hague on Thursday.

The Vietnam Foreign Ministry said the tribunal has jurisdiction to settle disputes concerning the interpretation of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Binay in a freefall

Published by Ellen on December 12, 2014

Obviously, Vice President Jejomar Binay’s early campaigning was not enough to offset the negative impact of the Senate Blue Ribbon subcommittee investigation which has exposed his alleged mindboggling corruption operations in Makati City.

His scores in Pulse Asia surveys on presidential preference, performance and trust ratings are in a freefall.

In the survey conducted November 14 to 20 Binay’s rating dropped by 21 percentage points (from 66 percent in September to only 45 percent in November).

His trust rating also took a steep decline – 20 percentage points, from 64 percent in September to 44 percent in November.

China’s position paper shows wide gap with PH stand

Published by Ellen on December 10, 2014

Pres. Aquino and Pres. Xi Jinping, Beijing Nov 2014

The Position Paper of China on the case filed by the Philippines with the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal showed the wide gap between the two countries as regards their conflicting claims on th South China Sea islands, reefs and rocks.

The meeting between President Aquino and Chinese President Xi Jinping may have lowered the tension but the two countries are really far apart in attitude and perspective.

Example:

Before the meeting of Leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in Beijing last month, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said their bringing unilaterally the territorial conflict with China before the U.N. court is not an unfriendly act.

China: UN tribunal has no jurisdiction on case filed by PH

Published by Ellen on December 7, 2014

By Ellen Tordesillas, VERA Files

China insisted Sunday that the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal has no jurisdiction on the complaint filed by the Philippines seeking to declare null and void the nine-dash line on China’s maps.

China’s 27-page position paper, posted on the website of its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, came eight days before the Dec. 15 deadline given by the U.N. court for Beijing to answer the Philippine complaint filed on Jan. 22, 2013.

With or without China’s reply, the U.N. court will start the hearings.