Philippine News Digest 47
January 10 - January 12, 2003
Contents:
Pedophile's
release spur uproar
Vietnamese
call girl rings busted
Coal-fired thermal plant shuts down due to villager's protest
Pedophile's
release spur uproar
Child's rights advocate in Australia condemned the release of
Dennis Ferguson, 54, and called for a change in laws to allow for life
sentences against dangerous pedophiles in the said country. Ferguson was
convicted in 1988 of kidnapping a six-year old girl and her two brothers,
seven and eight, taking them to a hotel where he raped and molested them.
He refused to take part in rehabilitation programs while in Wolston Jail
and had tried to obtain police pictures of his victims. Affidavits from
fellow inmates said he planned to molest the eight-year old daughter of
the family with whom he was to live after jail.
Prosecutors obtained an order forcing Ferguson to report his
whereabouts to police for the next 15 years.
Source: AFP report
in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 10 January 2003
Vietnamese call girl rings busted
Police in Vietnam said Thursday they have broken up three
high-class prostitution rings catering to well-heeld locals and expatriate
workers in Ho Chi Minh City. Al least 22 call girls have been arrested so
far in a series of sweeps which began January 6 across the bustling
southern business capital. Several of those detained were caught en
flagrante at hotels with their clients. Besides wealthy Vietnamese, the
ring mailny catered to Japanese, South Korean and Taiwanese expats, but no
foreigners were arrested in the raids. Around 40 of the hundred of women
involved in the three rings were actresses, singers and dancers. Source:
AFP report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 10 January 2003.
Coal-fired thermal plant shuts down due to
villager's protest
The National Power Corporation shut down operations of the 620-megawatt Masinloc coal-fired power plant in Zambales due to “chemical requirement shortage” January 8. Displaced residents of Masinloc, Zambales started to picket around the plant December 8 of last year when negotiations between them and the NAPOCOR failed. The Department of Agrarian Reform Adjudication Board ordered the NAPOCOR management in June 2001 to immediately pay the displaced tenants P92 million as disturbance compensation but it has yet to pay until now. Source: Cesar Villa, Philippine Daily Inquirer Central Luzon Desk, 12 January 2002.
Fast Links