FRENCH LIVING IN THE PHILIPPINES

Maternal death Julia is only one of the names in the long list of women who died while giving birth in Bayawan, which registered the highest record of maternal deaths in the country, according to the 2006 Department of Health data. But tragic deaths are not happening only in Bayawan. It is true across the nation. The Philippines is among the 68 countries that contribute to 97 per cent of maternal and children’s deaths worldwide, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in its State of the World’s Children 2009 report. Eleven Filipino pregnant women die each day, or some 4,500 each year, due to complications in childbirth. These are caused by hemorrhage, sepsis, hypertension and abortive outcomes, which are preventable. An overwhelming majority, 70 percent of the deaths, occur at childbirth or within a day after delivery. According to the report, one out of 140 pregnant women dies in childbirth in the Philippines, too many compared to Ireland’s one in 8,000, to cite...

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Hardliners in the Chinese Military Academy are raring to teach China’s neighbors “a lesson" for intruding into the South China Sea, which they consider part of their national territory, a Chinese Southeast Asian expert said. Shen Hong-Fang, professor and senior research fellow at the Center of Southeast Asian studies at Xiamen University, spoke of “a new upsurge" of Chinese nationalism set off by claims made by some Asian countries, including the Philippines, over territory China considers its own. “Some suggested that it is the right time to adopt necessary measures to teach some countries a lesson," Shen said, startling participants at the two-day Conference on the South China Sea held in Manila last week. Shen added there are those who think it justifiable “for China to launch a war against the invaders." The Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia have staked claims over some of the 160 islands that constitute the Spratlys in the South China Sea. These countri...

OUTSOURCING BUSINESS IN THE PHILIPPINES ! CALL CENTRES t's three o'clock in the morning and Jaycee Solis is taking a call from a client who wants to book a flight from Detroit to New York. Jaycee's American accent is so convincing that the US caller is almost certainly unaware that he's actually on the other the side of the world, in the Philippines. He's even got a special American-sounding phone name - Kevin. It's this accent, coupled with the high number of fluent English speakers, that is making the Philippines the new destination of choice for international companies wanting to outsource their call centres - especially for the lucrative US market. "In voice-based business, we really excel," says Bong Borja, the Philippine president of the Aegis People Support, a call centre company. "To an American, the Philippine accent appears clear and neutral." In fact, to American ears, Filipinos often sound clearer than agents in ...

Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - The biggest ship ever to be acquired by the Philippine Navy, the renamed BRP Gregorio del Pilar, will begin its three-week journey to the Philippines from California on Monday. The 378-foot Hamilton-class cutter is a decommissioned United States Coast Guard patrol vessel that the Philippines was able to acquire under the United States Excess Defense Act. (The cutters are called ''Hamilton class'' after their lead ship, the Hamilton, named after Alexander Hamilton, the first US Secretary of the Treasury.) Armed Forces Chief Eduardo Oban Jr. earlier said the transfer cost to the government was around 450 million pesos. The money used for its acquisition came from the Department of Energy¿s Malampaya project funds, according to Lieutenant Colonel Omar Tonsay, chief of the Navy¿s public affairs office. While the ship¿until recently the largest class of vessel in the US Coast Guard¿was designated as a ¿weather high-endurance cutt...

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) on Monday apologized to the public after some of its members were embroiled in the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) fund controversy. In a pastoral statement read by its outgoing president Bishop Nereo Odchimar on Monday, the CBCP said the Church “has been deeply wounded by the controversies in the PCSO." "As shepherds struggling to love you like Jesus the Good Shepherd, we are sorry for the pain and sadness that these events have brought upon you," the group said after its 103rd plenary assembly held at the Pope Pius XII Catholic Center in Manila. The group also expressed “deep sorrow for the pain the recent events brought to the people." “We are saddened many of you, especially the youth and the poor—our basic ecclesial communities, have been confused because of the apparent inconsistency of our actions with our pastoral preaching," it added. Ready to face consequences The CBCP ...

MANILA - The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) wants recipients of more than P6 million deducted from its charity funds to be held liable for violating the law. PCSO board director, Atty. Aleta Tolentino, said a 2009 Commission on Audit report showed there were several checks representing the amount that were taken from the charity fund. She said P1.44 million was given to the Archdiocese of Cotabato for the purchase of a service vehicle, P1.5 million went to the Zamboanga Archdiocesan Social Action Apostolate, P720,000 was given to Caritas Nueva Segovia, P1.125 million to the Roman Catholic Prelate of Isabela, Basilan and P1.7 million to the Diocese of Butuan. "Based on the COA report, may violation ng Republic Act 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act). Siguro kung may kasalanan ang bishops, dapat parusahan sila. We should be God-fearing, not bishop-fearing," she said. Tolentino added the previous PCSO board should also be held liable. "Sila a...