President Arroyo ordered yesterday for bigger aid from the Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) to help with the disaster facing the people of Myanmar. She declared her gratification for Myanmar’s approval of letting Philippines intervene.

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May 22, 2008 -

Following the government’s announcement of their aim to take over Meralco, Philippines’ main electric company, the head of Meralco presented a speech regarding the issue today.

Oscar Lopez reassured the people that the business will survive this tyranny just like it had succeeded over Marcos’ martial law.

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Last Saturday, a storm named Cosme brought in a heavy downpour and a strong gust of wind to Northern Luzon. It managed to kill 21 people and injure 9 others. The Philippines is now entering its monsoon season of the year. This article continues to discuss the results of the affected areas by Cosme and how the crops and food are managing.

 DAGUNPAN CITY, PANGASINAN - An electric post collapsed down due to the strong wind of Cosme. This picture was taken from here.

Cosme is predicted to hit Okinawa, Japan by this morning.

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The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has received Libya’s plan to replace Malaysia as the peace monitor in the peace talk between them and the government. Malaysia had just recently quitted their role and now the government is looking at Libya for help. There are now six Libyan supervisors in the city of Iligan and Libya has informed the Philippines that four will be arriving soon.

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The MILF was revolved around the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in the beginning at the 1960’s, when the group was formed in the south island of the Philippines.

In a recent survey from Social Weather Stations, 50% of Filipinos rated themselves as poor. This percent is higher than the previous one of 46%. A majority of the people are still not satisfied with the attempts of the Arroyo administration to ease poverty in the country. The article continues to point out the different information extracted from each region of the country and give a statistical view on the life of a poor Filipino.

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Nine military officers had previously asked for President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s forgiveness for causing the July 2003 mutiny in Oakwood. In her recent speech, Arroyo declared that she will now pardon these soldiers as her last deed for the chief of the Armed Forces, Hermogenes Esperon Jr., who retired yesterday. Arroyo continued her speech by stating that all the nation wants is stability and peace, not any more political troubles.

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May 9, 2008-

 The Arroyo administration has been pressurizing Meralco, the Philippines’ main electricity company, to lower its electricity rates due to the complaints of foreign companies of the power cost and to help the poor who are already struggling with the rising rice and oil prices. 

  This picture was taken from here.

Oscar Lopez, who manages the company, has now decided to resign because of the demands and the government will be planning to take over the firm to control the power rates.

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May 7, 2008 -

The government failed in the bidding for rice with other countries last Monday. President Arroyo announced that top rice producing countries such as Thailand and Vietnam hesitated to participate in the bidding that usually increases the price of rice in the global market. Arroyo now has arranged for the authorities to start purchasing rice directly from outside countries to stop the rice commotion in the country. The Philippines are now trying to find more suppliers to provide rice for the population.

Vietnam has agreed to bring in 1.5 million tons of rice to the Philippines by this year, BBC News reported. (This picture was extracted from here.)

The Southeast Asian community have decided to collaborate over the price and supply issue of the rice market, but no action has yet to be taken.

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May 5, 2008-

Since 2004, the Malaysian government has sent in peace mediators to the Philippines to facilitate the peace talk between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the southern island of Mindanao.

 A N.P.A. soldier resting in the forests of Mindanao. (This picture was taken from here.)

The MILF group has been recognized by the United States as a terrorist group and the government has struggled over the years to come into an agreement with the rebels.

Now, Malaysia has decided to pull out all its officers by September due to the fact that they believe the Philippine government is not serious enough in solving the problem. The MILF wants Malaysia back for they have proven to be excellent mediators. However, the MILF chief peace negotiator Mohagher Iqbal said that the Philippine government needs to change its attitude about this in order to bring Malaysia back.

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The Philippines has received help from the British on Saturday, May 3, regarding the government’s peace talk with the Muslim rebel negotiators. Britain has sent out their experts in hopes of assisting the country to disarm the Muslim rebels and to move the peace talk in the “right direction”. The Philippine government and the Muslim rebels negotiators have agreed on Britain’s participations.

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The military of the Philippines is aiming to track down the Communist terrorist group called the New People’s Army. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo commanded her troop to eradicate the N.P.A. by the end of her presidency in 2010. The rebels are using their opportunity to revolt against the Arroyo administration, especially since now that the public is raging about the food price crisis.

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April 15 (Bloomberg) — The Philippines, the world’s biggest rice importer, intensified efforts to crack down on hoarding as prices rose to a record and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc said the president’s popularity may be undermined by food inflation.

The Southeast Asian nation would target “unscrupulous traders together with their accomplices in the bureaucracy,” President Gloria Arroyo said today. “We have already taken steps to protect our consumers from rice and even bread bandits.”

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The Philippines, the largest importer of rice, is in a midst of a rice shortage problem according to an article from Forbes. As a result due to the rice shortage, the price of rice is increasing. The rice issue is not just frustrating the country’s economic health but also other big rice-consuming countries such as India, China, and Japan. In addition, the Philippines’ public sector has lowered because of this predicament. The article continues to talk about how this problem is affecting other parts of the country’s health and the rest of Asia as well.

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This picture was taken from this site.

Philippine stocks will said to lower this year due to the decline of Wall Street.

This article continues to talk about the effects on corporate profits in the Philippines and other countries as well because of America’s economic slowdown and how international products like San Miguel are in a dilemma.

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