Asian Correspondent Philippines News

Once-critical Philippines praises Burma reforms

By AP News Tue, Feb 21, 2012 1:50PM UTC

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario says his country believes a recent assurance by Burma leader Thein Sein that democratic reforms in the former military-ruled nation are now irreversible. The Philippines was once Burma’s most vocal critic in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which groups the two countries along with...

Gunmen storm Philippine city jail; 3 killed

By AP News Mon, Feb 20, 2012 2:26PM UTC

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Dozens of black-clad gunmen armed with grenades and bombs stormed a southern Philippine jail trying to free a detained comrade, but they were repulsed by police in a chaotic night battle that killed three people, officials said Monday. Fifteen people were wounded, most of them civilians caught in the firefight late...

The Tampakan Copper and Gold Project: Whose mine is it anyway?

By Edwin Espejo Mon, Feb 20, 2012 7:34AM UTC

Sagittarius Mines Inc. general manager Mark Williams said the company had already spent more than US$360 million on the initial development of the US$5.9 billion Tampakan Copper and Gold Project. When allowed to go to commercial production, the mining project will reportedly contribute an average of one percent to the annual gross domestic product of...

Exclusive: Al-Qaida links with SE Asia fraying

By AP News Sun, Feb 19, 2012 6:45AM UTC

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A top Indonesian terror suspect captured in the Pakistani town where Osama bin Laden was later killed insists he was unaware of the al-Qaida leader’s presence there, according to the video of his interrogation obtained by The Associated Press. Alleged master bomb maker Umar Patek also described his frustration in re-establishing...

Senator Miriam Santiago: Lost in translation

By Edwin Espejo Fri, Feb 17, 2012 8:14AM UTC

The feisty senator for Iloilo is a joy to hear for her educated wit and superior command of the King’s language which many of us in the press would often run to our next Thesaurus to get the exact meaning and context of her predictably unpredictable but deep vocabulary. Pardon her thick Visayan accent aside....