Typhoon Wreaks Havoc on Mindanao

The death toll from “Pablo” (international name, “Bopha”), a powerful storm battering the southern Philippines has risen to about 200, as rescue teams arrive in affected areas, reports the BBC. At least 156 people are known to have died in Compostela Valley province alone when Typhoon Bopha struck eastern Mindanao, according to local officials. Rescuers have reached most areas, but have had difficulty getting to some isolated communities. Many were evacuated ahead of the storm, now over the western island of Palawan. The cost of damage to agriculture and infrastructure in Compostela Valley province could reach at least four billion pesos ($98m), with the typhoon destroying 70-80 percent of plantations, mostly bananas for export.

Sen. John Barrasso seeks to keep Bells of Balangiga in Wyoming

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Sen. John Barrasso is pushing legislation that would require congressional approval to move the Bells of Balangiga from F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne.

The Wyoming Republican last week succeeded in getting the U.S. Senate to include an amendment to a defense bill that requires congressional authorization to move war memorials overseas.

Fellow Sen. Mike Enzi co-sponsored the amendment.

Three church bells were seized from the Philippines in 1901 by U.S. troops who put down a Filipino insurgency in which 46 U.S. troops were killed.

Two bells are kept at the Cheyenne air base while a third bell is with a U.S. Army regiment in South Korea.

Filipinos revere the bells as symbols of their long struggle for independence and want the bells returned.

Read more: The Billings Gazette

Philippines: World’s Most Emotional Country

The Philippines is the world’s most emotional country, writes Max Fisher of the Washington Post. A former colony of Spain and the U.S., the largely Catholic nation scores well above second-ranked El Salvador. Gallup since 2009 has surveyed people in 150 countries and territories on, among other things, their daily emotional experience. The more times that people answer “yes” to questions such as “Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday?” the more emotional they’re deemed to be. Meanwhile, Singapore is the least emotional country in the world.

Imelda’s Ex-Aide Charged for Selling Stolen Artworks

Vilma Bautista, former secretary of Imelda Marcos, and two of her nephews were indicted in New York for conspiring to sell valuable artworks that went missing when Marcos and her dictator-husband were ousted from power. They were also indicted on charges of tax fraud and offering a false instrument for filing. Bautista allegedly used false paperwork to sell a work from Claude Monet's "Water Lilies" series for $32 million in September 2010. Pundits in Manila suspect she was trying to sell them for the Marcoses.

Read more: The Daily Telegraph

For the Cheapest English Lessons, Go to Manila

An increasing number of foreign students come to the Philippines to learn English, reported Kate McGeown of BBC news. Lessons are much cheaper than in the U.S., the U,K. or Australia and Filipinos can speak a convincing U.S. accent. In the competitive market for language students, the Philippines is attracting people from countries such as Iran, Libya, Brazil and Russia. Some school fees, at $500 for a 60-hour class, are about a third of the price of an equivalent course in the US or Canada. Filipinos can speak with a clear American accent partly because the Philippines was a US colony for five decades, and also because so many people have spent time working in call centers that cater to a US market.

Read more: BBC News

Saudis OK Minimum Wage for Domestics

MANILA--Saudi Arabia has agreed to pay Filipina maids a $400 monthly minimum wage, a year after a dispute over wages halted the entry of domestic workers, reports Interaksyon.com. Saudi Arabia has agreed to lift the ban it imposed in June 2011.

The row erupted last year when Manila insisted the minimum wage for its maids was necessary to protect them from exploitation. Riyadh had resisted the demand and suspended the processing of employment contracts. Saudi Arabia is a major employer of Filipinos, with 1.2 million of them working there as laborers, technicians, salesgirls and domestic helpers. –Sept. 27, 2012

Bishop to Sainthood Pilgrims: Don’t Go ‘TnT’ in Italy

MANILA--Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) urged Filipino pilgrims who will be attending the canonization of Blessed Pedro Calungsod in Rome, Italy this October not to become “TnTs” or undocumented immigrants, reports GMANew.tv. Some 1,000 delegates from Cebu alone are expected to attend the canonization rites.

Palma said if Filipinos become “illegal immigrants in Italy” the Italian government’s trust in the Philippine Church could be eroded. The CBCP had assured the Italian Embassy in the Philippines--which provided visas to pilgrims--that it "provided all the precautions, orientations and catechesis to the pilgrims.” –Sept. 24,2012
 

Filipino Students in U.K. Facing Deportation

LONDON--Fifteen university students from the Philippines are among the 2,000 foreign students facing deportation after British immigration revoked the London Metropolitan University’s license, reports BalitaPinoy.net. This is the first time a university’s ability to sponsor students from outside the European Union has been totally withdrawn by the UK Borders Agency (UKBA), which suspects some students have faulty documentation. Malcolm Gillies,
Vice Chancellor of LMU, protested that the university has not been directly contacted by the agency.

“To learn that we might have our HTS status revoked via a newspaper, with the panic that this can cause for thousands of students, is outrageous,” Gillies said. Students affected have 60 days to find another college to sponsor them or they must leave the UK. This is a serious blow as it comes just days before the start of a new scholastic year.  –Aug. 30 2012