Ailing Filipino sailor rescued from vessel off Taiwan
By Jerome Aning
Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 09:31:00 03/12/2010
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/breakingnews/view/20100312-258172/...

MANILA, Philippines—The Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) Thursday thanked the Taiwanese air force for helping in the rescue of a Filipino seaman who was feared to have suffered a heart attack on a Hong Kong-registered freighter that was plying the waters of southern Taiwan last month.

The MV Harotamou was in the waters off southern Taiwan when its second engineer, Rolet Formacil, 49, suddenly collapsed and complained of severe back pain and paralysis while carrying tools and implements.

The ship’s captain, fearing Formacil had a heart attack, radioed Taiwan authorities for emergency medical assistance and the Taiwanese air force sent the Chiayi Airbase Seagull Rescue Team.

MECO resident representative Antonio Basilio, in a statement, said the rescue team performed a “daring” night-time operation to airlift Formacil.

The seaman was brought to the Kaohsiung Veterans Hospital for treatment. He was diagnosed with a fractured back. He was discharged after his condition stabilized and was assisted by MECO in traveling back to the Philippines on March 2 for further medical treatment.

Why overseas Filipinos are not voting
Written by Ma. Merceditas N. Gutierrez / The Essential Thing
Friday, 12 March 2010 21:10
http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&i...

It is election time once again, and I would like to throw in my bit on absentee voting. The law on absentee voting, Republic Act (RA) 9189, approved 2003, raised expectations that Filipinos overseas would at last be able to participate in all our electoral exercises in the country. Given that of the conservative estimate of 6 million overseas Filipinos living and working abroad, about half or even one-third of them can vote, they can veritably provide the swing vote. Indeed, they were seen as the future kingmakers. But it did not happen.

Note the following information: In the national elections of 2004, the year after the law was passed, only 360,000 overseas Filipinos registered as absentee voters. Of this figure, only 233,092 or about 65 percent actually voted. We might have believed that the reason for the low voter turnout was that the law then was barely a year old, not enough time for its mechanics to be explained to all and sundry, and its benefits appreciated. But then, the second time around, this time in the 2007 midterm elections, this low voter turnout was repeated.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Analysis/Shipping-Tankers-set-for-sm...

The uptrend in spot freight rates in the key tanker segment over the past few weeks is visible. And the trend has been attributed by Indian shipping companies to long distances for which ships in this segment are hired.

In addition, a recent report by a foreign broking house also pointed out to an increasing movement of crude oil from West Asia to various countries in South-East Asia and that’s largely due to the strong economic growth in the region. For instance, according to various estimates, nearly 12.8 million barrels of crude oil (mbpd) were transported daily from West Asia and headed eastward in mid-February ’10 compared to 12.6 mbpd in January ’10.

As a result, in the tanker segment like VLCC segment (very large crude carriers used to transport crude oil), spot freight rates are currently at $30,000 per day levels compared to the average spot freight rate of $25,908 per day in February ’10.

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100312/tap-japan-whaling-nzealand-a1a307d...

Anti-whaling activist faces arrest on arrival in Japan

TOKYO (AFP) - – A New Zealand anti-whaling activist held on a Japanese harpoon ship he boarded in Antarctic waters last month was expected to arrive in Tokyo harbour on Friday and likely face arrest.

Peter Bethune is a member of the militant Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and was the captain of a high-tech powerboat that was sliced in two in a collision with the whaling ship Shonan Maru II in January.

He climbed aboard the Japanese ship before dawn on February 15 from a jet ski with the stated intent of making a citizen's arrest of captain Hiroyuki Komiya for what he said was the attempted murder of his six crew.

Bethune also presented the Japanese whalers with a three-million-dollar bill for the futuristic carbon-and-kevlar trimaran Ady Gil, which sank in the icy waters a day after the collision on January 6.

By John Mark Guda, ABS-CBN Iloilo | 03/12/2010 12:19 AMvvv

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/regions/03/11/10/cruise-ship-bumps-car...

ILOILO CITY, Philippines - A cruise ship carrying around 200 tourists accidentally bumped a cargo vessel and hit a steel bar while docking at the Iloilo International Port in Loboc, La Paz on Thursday.

A Filipino crew of Cruise Ship Columbus said their captain did not anticipate the rough current and strong winds, making the ship bump the MV DaeJoo Ace, a Korean vessel that was unloading some National Food Authority (NFA) Rice.

After hitting the cargo vessel, it also bumped a steel bar on the docking area.

The crew refused to answer further inquiries.

The front part of the cruise ship was damaged.

The ship was scheduled to leave Iloilo and proceed to Hong Kong at 7 p.m. Thursday night, but it was delayed because it had to be fixed before it can sail again.

Nobody was hurt in the incident.

as of 03/12/2010 12:21 AM

http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?676417

Seafarers Unions Warn of Not Sailing to Gulf of Aden

Having faced numerous pirate attacks in the recent past, seafarers from India and other Asian countries have warned that they would not sail to the Gulf of Aden and Somalia, unless the threat of piracy was contained soon.

The National Union of Seafarers of India (NUSI) has taken the lead in this regard and has interacted with its counterparts in Malaysia, Bangladesh, the Philippines and other Asian countries in the interest of sailing crew.

"Discussions with the unions (of other countries) are already on. If the situation does not improve, then seafarers from labour-supplying countries will not sail to these pirate-infested places," NUSI's General Secretary-cum-Treasurer, Abdulgani Y Serang, told PTI here.

NUSI has refrained from setting a deadline for this but "if things do not improve soon, then we will be forced to resort to this action," Serang said.

Seafarer associations from across the globe will meet next week in Berlin to take a final decision on the issue, he said.

"Our Union is spearheading and co-coordinating an international agitation on the issue with the support of unions from India, the Philippines, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and other labour-supplying countries," he said.

http://www.malaya.com.ph/03122010/busi8.html

PCG needs P5B for 7 helicopters
The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) will tap financial institutions to finance the acquisition of seven helicopters and additional infrastructure and equipment amounting to P5 billion.

Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Wilfredo D. Tamayo said at the sidelines of yesterday’s Maritime Forum that PCG’s new acquisition will help strengthen its capability to enforce its functions now that they already have the PCG Law or the Republic Act (RA) 9993.

Tamayo said the proposal to acquire new choppers is being reviewed by the National Economic and Development Authority Investment Coordination Committee (NEDA-ICC).

The PCG hopes that NEDA would fast track the approval and realize the urgency to purchase in order to help save more lives in case of sea disasters.

"We had a meeting with the NEDA –ICC two weeks ago and I believe, we were able to justify why we need the aircraft," he said.

This project which requires funding of P5 billion will cover the acquisition of 7 choppers, spare parts and equipment, as well as training of pilots.

"We will build our hangars and we will have our new aircrafts stationed in Northern Luzon, Manila, Romblon, Mactan Lagindingan, Davao and Palawan," he said.

Philippine official urges tracking of 15,000 suspected of having HIV/Aids
By Barbara Mae Dacanay, Bureau Chief
Published: 00:00 March 11, 2010
Gulf News

The health department must start tracking down some 15,000 Filipinos suspected of having HIV/Aids, a senior official said

Manila: The health department must start tracking down some 15,000 Filipinos suspected of having HIV/Aids, a senior official said.

Dr Edcel Salvaña, HIV/Aids consultant of the Philippine General Hospital added that these people are not aware they are infected with the virus and are in danger of transmitting it to other people.

The undetected carriers of HIV/Aids come from risk groups such as overseas Filipino workers, seamen, and those who are working at call centres.

"If condoms were promoted adequately, we would not be experiencing rising cases of HIV/Aids now," Salvaña said, adding that 90 per cent of these cases were "sexually transmitted".

At the same time, the Philippines has no law compelling the government to subject Filipinos to the HIV/Aids test, Salvaña said.

Wrong notion

The consultant said this has contributed to the wrong notion about the true picture of HIV/Aids cases in the country.

Some 4,569 HIV/Aids cases were registered in the country from 1984 to January 2010, health department records showed.

Tankers are 'catastrophe waiting to happen'
Thursday, March 11, 2010, 10:00
http://www.thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk/news/Tankers-catastrophe-waiti...

MINISTERS are facing calls to act with "urgency" to remove up to eight oil tankers from the Westcountry coastline or risk an "ecological catastrophe".

Several ships carrying crude oil have been anchored in Lyme Bay, off the historic Jurassic coastline, since the autumn.

It has been claimed the ship's owners are waiting for the price of oil to rise before continuing on their journey.

The Government insists it is powerless to move the vessels on, despite them being so close to a Unesco world heritage site.

But senior Conservative MP Oliver Letwin warned "one of the most beautiful places in the world" is being put needlessly at risk by ministerial inaction.

He added: "It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever for the UK to have a huge array of environmental and ecological legislation and yet be unable to stop large objects containing large amounts of highly toxic material parking in an area where, in bad weather conditions, for instance, there might be a catastrophe. We hope that will not happen – the ecological significance would be colossal."