Philippine News Digest 45
December 04 - December 14, 2002
Contents:
Internet porn firm busted
Six minors rescued from prostitution
Aids epidemic “bringing social collapse”
Internet porn firm busted
Six women were arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation
after it uncovered a porn site on the Net operating in San Lorenzo Village
in Makati December 11. Chris Cole, also known as Antonio Lopez, and
Luisito Reambonanza, both operators of the site were not in the house when
NBI agents struck. Agnes Dapday, also an operator, was arrested. The
suspects were charged with violating the Revised Penal Code provision on
“immoral doctrines,obscene publications, and indecent shows” before
the Department of Justice. Source:
Philip Tubeza, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 14 December 2002.
Suit filed vs US on toxic waste
A group of Filipino and Filipino-American activist comprising
the Filipino-American Coalition for Environmental Solutions (FACES) filed
a lawsuit against the US Air Force and Navy on behalf of victims of toxic
wastes left by the US military at the former US bases in the Philippines
ten years ago. FACES filed
the lawsuit in San Jose, California in behalf of 36 residents from
Philippine commuties around the former Clark Air Base and Subic Naval
Base, the largest US military facilities outside its territory. It does
not specify any amount of compenation for the victims, but asked the US
Air Force and Navy “to conduct the requested assessment” under the
Superfund Law. The complainants are represented by Scott Allen on pro bono
basis. Source: Chandler
E. Ramas III, Philippine Daiy Inquirer, 4 December 2002.
Aids epidemic “bringing social collapse”
A report from the the United Nations lays out the increasing
scale of the global epidemic on AIDS that last year killed 3.1 million
people, of whom 610,000 were children. A further 5 million peole were
infected with the deadly virus in 2002, bringing the world total living
with HIV to 42 million. Most of the 29.4 million people with HIV in
sub-Saharan Africa are likely to die- only about 300,000 currently receive
life-saving drugs. The report also warns that what is happening now in
Africa may prefigure a similar pandemic in the populous countries of Asia.
Source: Sarah Boseley,
The Guardian Weekly, 5-11 December 2002.
Fast Links