Tag: Philippine

NOVANEWS Philippine Environment Secretary Regina Lopez during a press briefing in Manila, Philippines February 9, 2017. | Photo: Reuters Environment minister Lopez said it was within her discretion "to decide on the resources of the country." The Philippines' environment minister stepped up a crackdown on mining on Tuesday, cancelling almost a third of the country's contracts for undeveloped mines and rejecting any challenges to earlier orders to shut more than half of all operating pits. The move turns up the heat in her battle with the mining sector after she ordered the closure of 23 of the country's 41 mines earlier this month on environmental grounds, causing an outcry from the industry and threats of legal action. The latest 75 contracts, which cover project...

NOVANEWS Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte speaks during a late night news conference at the presidential palace in Manila, Philippines, Jan. 29, 2017. | Photo: Reuters The move ends 27 years of peace negotiations that sought to end an armed conflict that has killed about 30,000 people. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte shut down peace talks with communist insurgents from the National Democratic Front of the Philippines after both the government and the rebels called off unilateral ceasefires aimed at ending a decades-long conflict. RELATED: The Incomplete ‘People Power’ Revolution Boosted Duterte's Rise The move ends 27 years of peace negotiations that sought to end an armed conflict that has killed about 30,000 people since a popular insurgency in the Philip...

NOVANEWS President Rodrigo Duterte speaks at Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga, Philippines, Dec. 22, 2016. | Photo: Reuters. Last month, Duterte appeared to rule out any possibility he might declare martial law. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said he would impose martial law if the drug problem became "very virulent," just a month after dismissing as "nonsense" any suggestion he might do so. Duterte has made a brutal war on drugs a central pillar of his administration since he took office in the middle of last year. Since July, more than 6,000 people have been killed in the anti-drug campaign, in both police operations and unexplained killings by suspected "vigilantes." More than 1 million drug peddlers and users have been arrested or have surrendered to a...