House Human Rights Committee chairperson highlights this aspect of the former president’s statement at yesterday's hearing in which he acknowledged that he had given orders to "encourage" suspects to react, to justify killings by policemen. For lawyers and activists, his words are " damning evidence” of guilt.
Two groups of participants graduated after an 18-week psycho-spiritual program run by the Philippine Jesuit Prison Service Foundation (PJPS). For Teresita Tanseco-Cruz, with "One step at a time, we keep rebuilding lives.” This allows young inmates at the New Bilibid Prison, a medium-security facility in Muntinlupa, to rediscover faith and hope. “I learned to forgive myself,” said Mark, one of the participants.
The Republican Act 12027, which came into force a few days ago, favours Tagalog as the national language (in addition to English, which is already the real lingua franca). The concern of the aboriginal populations in an archipelago of more than 7000 islands that has as many as 182 registered ethnic-linguistic groups.
South Korea has started a project to hire 100 Philippine domestic workers to help Seoul families. Two reportedly fled from "overwork and overwatch,” only to be found a few weeks later in Busan. Discussions are underway about wage levels and how to extend the programme to the whole country.
The collaborative body relaunches its mission with first meeting in years. Christian and Muslim leaders together call for the reinclusion of Sulu in the Bangsamoro autonomous region, to safeguard the achievements of the peace process. The satisfaction of the Silsilah movement: ‘Important step at this historic moment when divisions and conflicts emerge in the Philippines and in the world’.
The nun was awarded the 2024 edition of the Philippine prize that honours the memory of the foundress of the Missionaries of Charity. Awarded for her 30 years of work among the indigenous populations in the north of the archipelago in nature protection, health care and feeding programmes. For the nun, the ‘strength and resilience’ of the Agta are ‘a constant source of inspiration’.
