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(MDT) The court’s investigation was suspended in late 2021 after the Philippines said it was already probing the same allegations and argued that the ICC — a court of last resort — therefore didn’t have jurisdiction.

The Philippines launched its appeal after judges in January agreed with the court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, that deferring the investigation to Manila was “not warranted.” At the time, judges ruled that the domestic proceedings did not amount to “tangible, concrete and progressive investigative steps in a way that would sufficiently mirror the court’s investigation.”

At a hearing Tuesday, Presiding Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut said that the five-judge appeals panel, in a majority decision, agreed and rejected the Philippines’ appeal.

More than 6,000 suspects, most of them people who lived in poverty, have been killed in the crackdown on drug crime, according to government pronouncements. Human rights groups say the death toll is considerably higher and should include many unsolved killings by motorcycle-riding gunmen who may have been deployed by police.

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has defended the crackdown as “lawfully directed against drug lords and pushers who have for many years destroyed the present generation, especially the youth.”

Duterte withdrew the Philippines from The Hague-based court in 2019 in a move rights activists said was an attempt to evade accountability and prevent an international probe into thousands of killings in his campaign against illegal drugs. However, the ICC still has jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed when the country was still a member state of the court… Read More

(SCMP) Appeals judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday rejected an attempt by the Philippines to block an investigation into thousands of killings in the country during former President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs”.
In September 2021, the ICC approved a formal investigation into possible crimes against humanity allegedly committed under Duterte’s leadership, but it suspended its probe in November 2021 at the request of Manila which said it was carrying out its own investigations.
Responding to the ICC’s decision, the Philippines’ Office of the Solicitor General said on Tuesday that the country remains committed to an internal investigation.
The Philippines “will not be deterred” by a ruling of the International Criminal Court, it said in a statement… Read More

(VOA News) MALABON, PHILIPPINES —
Jomarie Oliva, 33, led an afternoon workshop with 10 teenagers on topics that many in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines consider taboo. The conversation included the reasons that some teens have sex.

“Out of curiosity?” Oliva asked the group? “For pleasure,” responded one of the teens, while the rest of the group laughed.

Later, Oliva talked about the responsibilities of parenthood as well as different types of birth control, including “abstinence, pills, condoms, IUDs, implants, injectables,” she said, before explaining each one.

Oliva is a community mobilizer for Likhaan Center for Women’s Health, a non-government organization that works on reproductive health, access to contraceptives and sex education… Read More

(France24) The Philippines’ top court has ordered the re-arrest of a former politician accused of killing a prominent environmentalist more than a decade ago, court documents published Sunday showed.

Joel Reyes, the former governor of the western island of Palawan, has been accused of masterminding the 2011 killing of Gerry Ortega, who used a radio show he hosted to frequently accuse Reyes of massive corruption.

Ortega was shot dead while shopping in the capital of Palawan, one of the country’s biggest islands and a popular tourist destination, famed for its lush forests and pristine landscapes.

But it has also suffered from illegal logging, mining and fishing. Ortega had accused Reyes of corruption linked to alleged environmental crimes on the island… Read More

(RawStory) A Chicago man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for soliciting sexually explicit photos and videos from young girls in the Philippines.

Karl Quilter, 58, pleaded guilty last year to sexual exploitation of children, the US Attorney’s Office for the North District of Illinois said.

Quilter was sentenced to 30 years in a federal prison by US District Judge Virginia Kendall, the US Attorney’s Office said in a statement on Friday.

Quilter enticed at least nine girls in the Philippines to produce sexually explicit photos and videos and send them to him via Facebook, Viber, and Skype between 2017 and 2020, it said.

Quilter “preyed on the victims’ financial difficulties, using money transfers to the victims’ families to entice the girls to record the sexually explicit images,” the US Attorney’s Office said.

“Victim by victim, and message by message, defendant used social media and the internet to target and groom young Filipino girls,” Assistant US attorney Ashley Chung said in the government’s sentencing memorandum… Read More

(The Conversation) According to the Nursing and Midwifery Council, the countries that the UK recruits the most nurses from post-Brexit are India, the Philippines, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Kenya and Nepal.

Some 91% of the overseas nurses registered to practice in the UK in 2021-2022 came from these seven countries. Four of these countries (Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Ghana and Nepal) are on the WHO’s safeguarding list.

Countries such as the Philippines and India – where the majority of internationally trained nurses in the UK come from – have a “surplus” of nurses, insofar as they train more nurses than they can employ with the intention that those nurses will work elsewhere. The Philippines in particular is economically dependent on the remittance of expatriate citizens, including nurses.

Nonetheless, both the Philippines and especially India have very low levels of nurses per capita, according to data from the World Bank. This is even more of an issue in rural areas. Given this, and the underdeveloped state of their healthcare systems, recruiting nurses even from these countries is not a straightforward ethical proposition… Read More

(CNN Philippines) Metro Manila — The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China on Thursday reaffirmed their commitment to speed up negotiations on the long-delayed code of conduct (COC) in the South China Sea.

In a joint statement after a meeting among their top diplomats, the 10-member bloc and Beijing vowed to “work toward the early conclusion of an effective and substantive” set of rules seen to minimize the potential for conflict in the disputed waterway.

The Associated Press (AP) reported that ASEAN and China have resolved to try to conclude the COC within three years, citing a Southeast Asian diplomat who asked not to be named.

Beijing’s expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea clash with those of four ASEAN member-states: the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei. For decades, the Southeast Asian nations have been pushing for a legally-binding COC in the area, but critics have noted that progress has been slow due to resistance from the East Asian giant… Read More

(CNN Philippines) Metro Manila — A transport group announced on Wednesday its plan to stage a three-day nationwide strike beginning July 24, the day of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s second State of the Nation Address (SONA).

Manibela said it will hold the strike to protest the government’s public utility vehicle (PUV) modernization program and its alleged failures to address the sector’s needs.

“Nationwide Transport Strike! Kahit isa wala pading nasusulosyunan sa ating mga inilatag na problema. July 24, 25 and 26! Natapat pala ng SONA! Magkaisa po tayong lahat mga ka MANIBELA,” it wrote on Facebook.

[Translation: Nationwide Transport Strike! Not one of the problems we raised has been solved. July 24, 25 and 26! It coincides with SONA! Let’s unite fellow members of MANIBELA.]

In a Facebook live Wednesday evening, Manibela chairman Mar Valbuena said another group expressed readiness to join the strike… Read More