By YvonneT.Chua and Booma B. Cruz,VERAFiles (Note: The excerpt on the history of pork barrel in the Philippines was written by VERA Files trustees Yvonne…
Making life worth living.
Category: Vera Files
By Rex Robles, VERA Files
One reason why the report seems superficial and incomplete is that it failed to attach true copies of essential navigational documents.
As a rule, whenever a Navy ship leaves port for any destination, the path or course it is to take to reach its destination is set down beforehand on a maritime map, commonly referred to as a chart. This is required for those navigating over water and all Navy vessels, except small boats on short trips along a coastline or a river, must perform this basic task.
The charted course is an official record of a ship’s movement and, together with the Quartermaster’s logbook that records the actual position, heading and speed of the ship at any time, will form an important part of any investigation involving that ship and its crew.
By YvonneT.Chua,VERA Files President Benigno Aquino III has further strengthened his lock on the House of Representatives with 108 members of the Liberal Party likely…
By VERA Files
A crew member of a Taiwanese trawler was killed Thursday morning after being fired upon by a Philippine Navy ship in the disputed area of the South China Sea, media reports in Taipei and Beijing said.
The online Taiwan News said the incident took place at 10 a.m. “about halfway between the southern tip of Taiwan and the Philippines’ main island of Luzon, in an area where territorial rights overlap.”
The report identified the fatality as Hung Shih-cheng, 65, father of the captain of the vessel Kuang Ta Hsing 28 registered in Pingtung County.
By Lucille Sodipe, VERA Files CEBU City–Just like any brand of shampoo, diaper, energy drink or deodorant, candidates need to be properly ‘packaged’ to become…
By Rex Robles,VERA Files
It was 1974 and I was taking up an advanced course in Mechanical Engineering at the US Navy Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. For our final exam in Oceanography, our professor simply called the twelve of us to his office one by one and asked us a few questions. I noticed a certain level of interest in the Philippines that I did not expect.
For instance, he showed me a satellite photograph of Manila Bay and asked me what I thought about a plan to build a highway along the Manila-Cavite coastline. I mumbled some comment on how the ecology in the area would be affected.
Then he showed me photographs of the entire Sulu Sea with what looked like ridgelines in the water running roughly parallel to Palawan. I was intrigued. My professor, who is based in New Zealand, told me they were a dozen or so swells that go northwest at certain times. At other times, they go the opposite way.
By JB Baylon, VERA Files
But I was even more transfixed by the public – the basketball fanatics who had trooped to the Mall of Asia on an Easter Sunday.
But these were no “ordinary” Pinoys. They were the fans who have followed teams and cheered for players and booed their opponents for generations. And tonight their greatest cry – a loud and prolonged cheer actually — was reserved for one team. In fact, it was reserved mostly for one player, the one wearing jersey Number 18 while playing for the San Mig Coffee Mixers: James Carlos Yap.
By Ellen Tordesillas, VERA Files
Concerned citizens are hauling the Malaysian government to the United Nations for human rights abuses against Filipinos in Sabah, even as they criticized the Philippine government for lack of outrage and action.
Concerned groups and individuals are filing Monday urgent appeals with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay and UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, both based in Geneva, Switzerland.
In their letters, the civil society groups asked the two UN agencies to “urgently intervene so that Malaysia will respect the human rights of the Filipinos in Sabah, recognized under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
This blog is being reconstructed as it was accidentally deleted Tuesday morning. In the old posts, the pictures and video were lost. I’ll try to…
By Ellen Tordesillas, VERA Files
Video by Mario Ignacio
You have your plane tickets. You have made the hotel reservations.
You are all set for fun in the beach. But, is your body ready for it?
Three physical fitness personal trainers – Angie M. Miranda and Jensen G. Centeno of Fitness First, Mall of Asia, and Christian S. Cerezo, formerly of Fitness First Southmall and now a freelance PT, say it’s never too late to start getting in shape.