PoliticsMalaysia: Malaysian Borneo: 100-member armed force from Philippines arrives in Malaysia with a land claim based on the one-time "Sulu Sultanate" a Muslim kingdom that's disappeared into Muslim-majority Malaysia

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DisastersPhilippines: Typhoon Bopha: Death toll reaches 640, much displacement of persons, much destruction

The latest information I've obtained sees Typhoon Bopha turning around at sea, after devastating the southern Philippines, and now is set to hit the northwest region.  But even more recently, an hour ago, I read in the Sacramento Bee (California):

After slamming into the southern Philippines [Mindinao], the typhoon moved out to sea but then veered back toward the country's northwest on Saturday, prompting worries of more devastation. As of late Sunday, however, it had begun to dissipate and weaken into a low pressure area as it moved farther into the South China Sea, about 105 kilometers (65 miles) west of the Philippines' Ilocos Norte province.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/12/09/5042067/hundreds-of-fishermen-missing.html#storylink=cpy

Now the stats on the number of fisherman in the south who are as yet missing at sea is nearly 900.

The Philippines have endured several natural disasters this year, but many pious Christian folk among the poor are probably asking "why is God angry with us?"  We can't answer such questions defnitively, neither can we let them be the last word, the only word to explain the horrific realities people, our human kin, go thru in such times of tribulation.  We dare ask against all science and theology, Please Lord look down on us in mercy, comfort our hearts, and heal our lives and land.

— EconoMix, refWrite Frontpage economics, business, and labour
newspotter, analyst, columnist

EU cites PH’s improved disaster preparedness

By Volt Contreras
Philippine Daily Inquirer

6:09 am | Sunday, December 9th, 2012

BRUSSELS—Despite the high death toll of Typhoon “Pablo,” the European Union’s coordinating body for humanitarian aid lauded the Philippines’ preparedness for the latest killer storm to hit the country.

Officials of the European Community Humanitarian Office (Echo) on Friday cited an improvement in the government’s response, noting that it “saved a lot of lives,” compared to what was seen a year ago when Tropical Storm “Sendong” devastated parts of Mindanao, also days before Christmas.

Echo officials in the Belgian capital, host city of EU institutions, also said a team from its Bangkok office flew to Davao on Friday to assess how it can help in the emergency relief effort. The team is expected to make a report to Brussels on Sunday.

“When ‘Bopha’ (the typhoon’s international name) or Pablo hit, I think the government was more prepared than it had been in the past,” said Jenny Correia Nunes, Echo’s team leader for Southeast Asia.

Nunes was referring mainly to the preemptive evacuation of residents in areas that were in Pablo’s path.

Dominique Gryn, Echo’s desk officer for the Philippines, added: “Today the technology is so sophisticated that we can actually predict very precisely when and where the landfall will hit. And in the Philippines we’ve seen that the preparations the government made in anticipation of the storm in Mindanao were extraordinary. And that saved a lot of lives in itself.”

“And we have a clear comparison that we can draw with last year’s ‘Washi’ (international name of Sendong) which hit very similar areas and the devastation caused was much larger. Of course we’re still seeing what the impact of Bopha is. We have to be careful not to underestimate the damage. But still, we can already say that the disaster awareness and preparedness had saved a lot of lives,” she added.

Asked how she could still make this positive assessment despite Pablo’s death toll climbing to over 300 and with about an equal number of people still missing as of Friday, Gryn explained:

“Yes, the death toll is rising, nobody is countering that. What we’re only saying now is that the government has taken certain measures that probably saved a lot of lives. We know this because a year ago the death toll was a lot higher.”

The United Nations had made a similar observation.

Gryn also said Echo’s partner nongovernmental organizations in the region had also “prepositioned” themselves before the storm made landfall in the areas expected to be hit, and had begun assessing where the EU could help.

She said the EU’s assistance could fill “gaps” in the government-led relief effort.

The Echo officials spoke in a briefing with Southeast Asian reporters who were in the Belgian capital on a EU-hosted press tour.

The EU poured in some 7.6 million euros to assist storm- or flood-affected people in the Philippines in 2011. This year, it released 700,000 euros for communities affected by the floods that hit Luzon in August.

JuridicsPhilippines/LosAngelesUSA: Banana plantation workers: Denied relief for suffering from Dole

The court contrives and proceeds in a way so as to discount the testimony of the Filipino/a victims of this horrid chemical.  Dole simply doesn't want to accept its responsiblity to the people it employs.  What is the labour-union situation of these Filipino/a workers, many of them aging?  Are they represented by a labour union at all?  Is the representation any good?  Perhaps they need a Christian Labour Association of the Philippines to represent them, while not unnecessarily antagonizing management further. But Dole has advanced techniques of squelching labour unions, and woud undoubtedly go for a single unions represents all situation, not a plurist system of workers representation where each worker is represented only by the union, of many, which the worker selects among the competing unions, as most in accord with the worker's own values.  (A Christian union doesn't exclude anyone who chooses representation under the Christian social principles, including sphere responsibility.)  But, I woud imagine that relations are already strained in a major way between the banana plantation workers and the the international food company Dole.  I certainly don't trust Dole.

Finally, in that this case was tried in a USA court in Los Angeles, it's obvious that Dole had already had its first advantage in these proceedings.  But maybe the Filipino govt had already waived its right to try an American company within the jurisdiction of the Philippines own courts.  This is often the price exacted from developing countries in order to get a company like Dole to invest there in the first place, and Dole's been there for at least 30 years according to the victims complaints.  The news article didn't mention the banana plantation workers as having any union, nor did it mention what law firm represented them.  Good things to know.

— Lawt, refWrite Frontpage columnist for economics, business and labour news


ABS.CBNnews.com (Sept8,2k12) — this is a fine Philippines newspaper with print and online editions

US court dismisses 

Filipino workers' lawsuit vs Dole

ABS-CBNnews.com

Posted at 08/09/2012 10:34 AM | Updated as of 08/09/2012 10:34 AM

MANILA, Philippines - A Los Angeles superior court has dismissed the lawsuit against Dole filed by Filipino banana plantation workers, who claimed to have been injured from exposure to the agricultural chemical DBCP.

The lawsuit, Macasa v. Dole, was filed last year with the 2,935 Filipino plaintiffs "claiming to be banana workers who had been injured from alleged exposure more than 30 years ago to the agricultural chemical DBCP."

The Philippine Supreme Court had already dismissed an identical lawsuit which was filed 13 years earlier.

"The (LA) Superior Court dismissed a case that should never have been brought in the first place. There is simply no reliable scientific basis for alleged injuries from the agricultural field application of DBCP, and the fraudulent claims in Macasa were no different than other similar cases," C. Michael Carter, Dole's executive vice president and general Counsel, said in a statement.

Dole, the world's largest producer and marketer of fresh fruits and vegetables, has maintained there is no credible scientific evidence that Dole's use of DBCP on banana farms caused any of the injuries, including sterility, as claimed in the lawsuits. http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/08/09/12/us-court-dismisses-filipino-workers-lawsuit-vs-dole