FRENCH LIVING IN THE PHILIPPINES

Même si le pays affiche un GDP de plus de quatre pour cent, l’on s’aperçoit que nombreux sont ceux qui ont raté le train de la croissance. Ils semblent même être de plus en plus nombreux. Le pays semble marcher à deux vitesses qui dépendent des classes de la population.   A total of 4.5 million families in the country went hungry in the last quarter of 2011, up by some 400,000 families from the previous quarter, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey. Results of the survey conducted on December 3 to 7 last year showed that 22.5 percent of households went hungry, 1 percentage point higher than the 21.5 percent in the third quarter. The incidence of hunger in the two quarters are statistically identical given the margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. SWS asked respondents: “In the last three months, did it happen even once that your family experienced hunger and did not have anything to eat?” Those who answered in the affirmative were furth...

Most of the country's coral reefs are in dire condition, putting the Philippines' food security at risk, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) officials said on Tuesday. Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau director Mundita Lim said only 4% of the country’s coral reefs, estimated at 26,000 square kilometers, are in “excellent condition.” “The rest are candidates for restoration,” she said in a forum at the United Nations Environment Programme’s Land-Ocean Connection Conference. Of the 800 coral species in the world, 500 can be found in the Philippines, making its seas one of the most diverse in the world. But Philippine coral reefs have deteriorated over the years because of over-exploitation, illegal fishing practices, marine pollution, and rising ocean temperature and acidification.   “Our coasts and seas have suffered heavy degradation wrought by over half a century of destructive practices,” Lim during her presenta...

Manila has welcomed plans by tycoon Lucio Tan to sell loss-making flag carrier Philippine Airlines, with a presidential spokesman saying on Monday it will improve its image. The comments come after Tan was reported by ABS-CBN news.com at the weekend as saying he wanted to offload PAL, Asia's oldest airline, "at the right price". It said he was in talks with San Miguel Corp. chief Ramon Ang and Manuel Pangilinan of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co about a possible buyout, although it added that he had not decided how much he wanted. In December, Ang confirmed that PAL was seeking San Miguel investment to help pay for a refleeting programme. Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said: "We welcome the additional investment of whoever would like to buy PAL because it would mean additional investments to the country. "Considering the PAL is our national brand, the additional investments would improve the branding of our national carrier," he added....

The Philippine Senate began the impeachment of the country's top judge on Monday in a case that could last months and distract President Benigno Aquino from a promised focus on lifting the economy and rooting out corruption. Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona has vowed to fight to clear his name in a trial which has its roots in the bitter rivalry between Aquino and his predecessor, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who is under hospital arrest awaiting trial herself on charges of election fraud and corruption. Corona, appointed by Arroyo, is charged with betraying public trust and violating the constitution. He is accused of bias in favour of Arroyo as she faced charges late last year and, among other things, of failing to disclose his assets and liabilities. Ahead of the country's first impeachment trial of a Supreme Court judge, Corona struck a defiant tone. "If you want me removed, kill me," he told the ABS-CBN television station. Corona attended the first ...

Here’s an intriguing myth from Anda: Once there lived a woman named Francisca whom people called Ka Iska. Some say she was a powerful witch or a ‘mangkukulam.’ One day, the village men tried to attack her but she escaped and sought sanctuary in Lamanok Island. People continued to pursue her. However, their efforts became useless since Ka Iska vanished in Lamanok. Eventually, people found skeletons that are believed to belong to her. What happened during the last days of Ka Iska have never been confirmed. What is clear is that some people believe that the ghost of Ka Iska still lives in the caves of Lamanok island. A lot of people may be scared to visit a place where such a story exists. However it is this myth that drives tourists to visit Lamanok island in Anda, Bohol. Going to Ka Iska’s lair is an adventure in itself. One must walk along the lush mangroves in order to get a boat ride to the island. There, people are greeted by giant limestone cliffs. Further walks up the isla...

That's the question ! Whale sharks begging for food in the central Philippines have sparked a debate on whether feeding the giant fish may ultimately be hurting the creatures, officials said on Saturday. While the mayor of the coastal town of Oslob insists that the practice of feeding the whale sharks does no harm and is good for tourism, environmentalists have recommended that it be halted. Fishermen in Oslob in the central resort island of Cebu have been feeding whale sharks with baby shrimp since the 1980s and now use this feeding to make the creatures rise to the surface of the water for the amusement of tourists. "This has been practised for a long time. When tourists come in, they want to see the whale sharks. So when they (the boatmen) spread these baby shrimps, these whale sharks would surface," said Oslob Mayor Ronald Guaren. However Edmundo Arregadas, regional head of the coastal marine management division, said he had dis...

Philippine tourism promotion efforts suffered another blow Friday over claims its new slogan copied an old Swiss one, having already ditched an earlier campaign that allegedly plagiarised Poland's. Hours after the government rolled out its "It's more Fun in the Philippines" campaign, Internet pundits pointed to a 1951 Swiss National Tourist Office ad which proclaimed "It's more fun in Switzerland!" Dennis Gorecho, who described himself as a Manila lawyer, criticised the tourism department for spending a large amount of money on a copycat ad and linked to a website of the old Swiss poster. "DOT (the Department of Tourism) spent millions ---- to come up with an ad campaign that seemed to have been used from one that is already more than 60 years old ----" he wrote on his wall on the social networking site Facebook. However Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez and other officials swiftly rejected the new copycat allegations. "The line isn...

Eight of the 23 senators spent at least P100 million each from the Congress’ pork barrel funds in 2011, according to a report of the Department of Budget and Management Wednesday. Senators Edgardo Angara, Jinggoy Estrada, Gregorio Honasan II, Manuel “Lito” Lapid, Ralph Recto, Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., Vicente “Tito” Sotto III and Manuel Villar Jr. received and spent P100 million each for their projects, DBM said. Their expense make up half of the total P1,637,445,000 the DBM released for the Senate's priority development assistance fund or PDAF. The report showed that the biggest expenses of Angara, Lapid and Recto were for their home provinces in Aurora, Pampanga and Batangas, respectively. Angara allocated P40 million for the construction of a school building, multi-purpose pathways, and installation of pipes and tanks for water supply in Aurora; Lapid spent P31 million for infrastructure projects including the rehabilitation of a hospital, and construction of a school bu...