Philippines

Read this and weep: A marine scientist from the University of the Philippines has revealed that only 5 percent —equivalent to just around 1,000 square kilometers—of the country’s total reef area remain in good condition in the face of the wanton destruction of our coral reefs by poachers.

The estimated reef area of the Philippines ranges from 19,000 to 27,000 square kilometers, depending on the territorial boundaries and depth ranges. This makes the Philippines’s reef areas one of the biggest in Southeast Asia, more so if those in the disputed Kalayaan Islands were included.

The Partido ng Manggagawa (PM - Labor Party - Philippines) criticized the shortcomings of EDSA 1 as the government commemorates the 25th anniversary of the first people power uprising. “The people power uprising of 1986 turns silver today but it shines no more. That is because the social deficit outweighs the political benefits of simple political turnover between factions of the elite, which is the main achievement of the post-EDSA dispensation,” declared Renato Magtubo, PM chair.

Akbayan Youth on the 25th Anniversary of EDSA and the Marcos burial issue

The corpse of Ferdinand Marcos remains preserved in a mausoleum. It is a spectral remnant of a past that refuses to let go: a time when Marcos fashioned himself to be a leader who used “utopian causes” to centralize power and justify his authoritarianism.

RANGOON—From tree planting in Burma (Myanmar) to a solidarity rally in Washington and flash mobs in Britain, people around the world are holding events to mark the 65th birthday today of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Supporters of Burma’s iconic democracy leader plan to throw a small party for her at one of their houses in northern Rangoon, but Suu Kyi won’t be there.

In Makati, Philippines, about 70 activists yesterday marked Suu Kyi’s 65th birthday by rallying in front of the Embassy of Burma, demanding for her release.