Free Republic

With the U.S. moving the majority of its naval fleet to the Pacific, commanders are eagerly looking for invitations to park the planes and ships that will be pouring into the region. Travis Tritten at Stars and Stripes reports that the Pentagon has apparently been fanning the old flame of friendship with the Philippines and will be re-opening two bases it left in 1991 — Subic Bay and Clark Air Base. The U.S. had a falling out with the island nation in the early nineties and pulled out of the bases, which were then built-up by a series of private...

Since mid April Chinese naval vessels have been circling a pile of rocks situated 124 miles off the coast of the Philippines that barely qualifies as an “island”. The rocks are called the Scarborough Shoal and save for there position, and rumors of oil and gas under them, they have no value to anyone. Nevertheless it is precisely because they are so far from their own shore that the Chinese are trying to pressure the Filipinos into relinquishing their long held claim (since 1734) to Panatag as they call them. Moreover since the Scarborough Shoal at just 124 miles off...

A PUBLISHER and radio commentator, Christopher Guarin in General Santos City, is the latest murder victim. He was shot a few days ago in his car while driving his family home after his radio program. He managed to jump out after the first volley but he was finished off when they caught up with him. He is 2012's first media man to die violently. Whether he was murdered because he was a media practitioner or a businessman, is still an issue now. This brings back to public debate the need to allow media men as a policy to bear arms...

MANILA, Philippines - Firearms, the “last line of defense” in home protection and self-defense, can kill or seriously injure. As such, gun owners should treat it with care and constant vigilance to ensure personal safety and the safety of others. And when time does come for one to draw his gun against an attacker, it is imperative he fully knows the weapon and how to properly use it. Such was the main thrust of discussion when members of Stronghand One Gun Club and guests gathered for their first general assembly at the Stronghand Shooting Range in Quezon City. Samson Macariola,...

[Manila] Moslem extremists have burnt down a Christian village in the vicinity of the city of Mang (Mindanao). According to current information there have been no dead. The entire population must in any case leave their homes and is homeless. Sources at the Philippine Army have laid the blame upon Ameril Umbra Kato, the earlier Chief of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). He is building up a new army for the battle to promote the islamic State of Mindanao.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has granted the gun ban application of former United States President William Jefferson “Bill” Clinton. The Manila Times was able to obtain a one-page certificate of authority issued by the Comelec where the Committee on the Ban on Firearms and Security Personnel (CBFSP) for the October 25, 2010 Barangay (village) and Sangguniang Kabataan (Youth Council) elections, chaired by poll body Commissioner Lucenito Tagle, granted the gun ban exemption to a large number of Clinton’s security personnel from the US Protective Service Agents. Clinton, the 42nd president of the US, will be in the Philippines on...

MANILA, Philippines—The president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines on Wednesday reminded President Aquino III that providing contraceptives to poor couples who opt for artificial birth control face excommunication from the church.Speaking on the Church-run Radio Veritas, Bishop Nereo Odchimar of Tandag, Surigao del Sur, the current CBCP president, said that even Mr. Aquino may be covered by excommunication. Mr. Aquino, a practicing Catholic, has stood by his position that Filipino couples who choose to use artificial contraceptives should be allowed to do so."Well, being the President of all, you must consider the position of the Catholic Church...

St. Lawrence Ruiz and Companions (1600?-1637) Lawrence (Lorenzo) was born in Manila of a Chinese father and a Filipino mother, both Christians. Thus he learned Chinese and Tagalog from them and Spanish from the Dominicans whom he served as altar boy and sacristan. He became a professional calligrapher, transcribing documents in beautiful penmanship. He was a full member of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary under Dominican auspices. He married and had two sons and a daughter. His life took an abrupt turn when he was accused of murder. Nothing further is known except the statement of two Dominicans that...

MANILA, Philippines—A lawmaker has opposed a plan of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to extend the total gun ban coverage beyond the end of the election period, saying that he will introduce a bill that would ensure the right of individuals to carry firearms. Nueva Ecija Representative Rodolfo Antonino said the PNP could not just opt to extend the gun ban after granting firearm licenses and permits to carry to gun owners. The gun ban ends on June 9. Antonino, chairman of the House committee on public order and safety, said there was no provision in the law barring Filipino...

MANILA, Philippines—A group of gun enthusiasts is countering police calls for an extension of the election gun ban with its own call for laws liberalizing gun ownership. The Gun Enthusiasts Confederation of the Philippines (GECP) argued that loosening restrictions on firearms ownership would, in fact, deter violence. GECP president Perry Punla said the group’s “total pro-gun” proposal would prevent rather than spur inappropriate gun use because gun owners would be held liable in court. Punla also called for simplified regulations on gun ownership. He said a gun owner’s license should likewise be recognized as a permit to bear arms, doing...

Sister Mary Beata Mackie on the way to the Philippines in 1937. Sixty-five years ago today, U.S. Marines iconically raised the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima. And 65 years ago today, hundreds of miles to the south, my aunt walked to freedom. Sister Mary Beata Mackie spent over three years in a Japanese internment camp in the Philippines during World War II. Like most of the more than 2,100 others in the camp, she was malnourished and emaciated in the end. Sister Mary Beata was one of 53 Maryknoll Missionary Sisters caught in the...

With the Vatican's Year for Priests now past its halfway point, it's been widely noted that this week's seeing a pretty exceptional gathering in the Philippines: some 5,500 priests -- three-quarters of the national presbyterate -- spending the week on group retreat (above) in Manila. Sometime today, one of the week's high points is expected to take place -- a mass reconciliation rite, with individual confessions: Monsignor Pedro Quitorio, spokesman for the [Filipino] bishops, said that, while priests lining up before a confessional box is not a common sight, they were also humans and not without sin. "It's the...

I'll be on hiatus into July after this. So I looked for some waterfall pictures as a send-off. Waterfall in the Caucasus Mountains (Chegem Gorge). Click for full-size. Katibawasan Falls, Phillipines (click for full size) El Chorro waterfalls, El Salvador

MANILA, Philippines - First, Teri Hatcher questioned the medical certificates of Filipino doctors. Then, British show Harry & Paul ridiculed a Filipina maid as a sex symbol. And just recently, Chinese columnist Chip Tsao called the Philippines a nation of slaves. Now, it’s 30 Rock star Alec Baldwin's turn, joining the ranks of "internationally-recognized" celebrities who have maligned Filipinos, according to critics. Baldwin – a divorced father of a 13-year-old girl – told David Letterman in one of his last interviews on the Late Show, how he taught of getting, or buying, himself a Filipina bride. “I think about getting...

(UPDATE) ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines - One of two foreign Red Cross workers being held captive by Abu Sayyaf gunmen in the southern Philippine province of Sulu was rescued early Saturday, official said. Swiss Andreas Notter was rescued by police and civilian auxiliaries early Saturday as his captors tried to spirit him out of a police cordon at around 5.30 a.m. in Indanan town, said Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, confirming earlier reports attributed to unnamed police officials. The Abu Sayyaf is still holding Italian Eugenio Vagni, but he was not with the group that held Notter, said the official, who asked...

CUTUD, ANGELES CITY - Dozens of Catholic devotees were nailed to crosses, scores more whipped their backs and others chanted the Passion of Jesus Christ as Filipinos mixed faith and gory ritual on Good Friday. Frowned on by church authorities, the voluntary crucifixions in villages north of the capital Manila are one of the most extreme displays of religious devotion in Asia's largest Roman Catholic state. Monsignor Pedro Quitorio, spokesman of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said the church discourages such rituals because the penitents were expecting rewards for hurting themselves. "We only encourage the faithfuls to fast,...

Filipino teachers exchange homeland for jobs in America More than 100 school districts, including at least 20 in California, are recruiting in the Philippines to fill teacher shortages in math, science and special education. By Teresa Watanabe March 18, 2009 Filipino exchange teacher Ferdinand Nakila landed in Los Angeles expecting "Pretty Woman" scenes of swank Beverly Hills boulevards and glittering celebrities. What he got was Inglewood, where he stayed for two weeks in temporary housing and encountered drunkards, beggars, trash-filled streets and nightly police sirens. It got worse. In training sessions about American classrooms he received in the Philippines, he...

Muslim rebel attack kills 11 in southern Philippines [Oct. 2, 2008] Eight Muslim rebels and three soldiers have been killed in the latest outbreak of fighting in the troubled southern Philippines, a military official said. Guerrillas of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fired on an army patrol in Datu Piang town in the island of Mindanao yesterday, killing the three soldiers and wounding 12, local army commander Colonel Marlou Salazar said. Military reinforcements backed by armoured vehicles arrived later, prompting the rebels to flee using civilians as cover, he added. The bodies of eight rebels were recovered from...

Manila, Aug 5, 2008 / 12:28 am (CNA).- Thousands of Catholics in two southern Philippines cities on Monday demonstrated against a government agreement granting Muslims more territory and political and economic powers. One critic characterized the deal as the building of a “Berlin Wall” in the country and another called it a “virtual declaration” of a new state.Church bells rung and businesses closed for the protest in the mainly Catholic city of Zamboanga, Reuters says. About 10,000 people, many wearing red shirts to show their opposition, gathered at a demonstration where a Catholic archbishop and a local tribal leader...

Manila, May 6, 2008 / 04:03 am (CNA).- Archbishop of Manila Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales has forbidden cross-dressing homosexuals from dressing up as female saints in religious processions, calling the actions an “insult to the Blessed Mother.” Every May, Catholics throughout the Philippines hold a “Santacruzan” flower festival in honor of the Virgin Mary.Speaking to the church-run Radio Veritas on Monday, Cardinal Rosales said the cross-dressing was “horrendous” and “defeats the real purpose” of the procession.  He said that the Catholic faithful should keep religious festivals sacred and solemn at all times."Gays should not be allowed to participate in Santacruzan since...