Tag: philippines

Bipartisan Bill Would Give the Philippines $2.5 Billion in Military Aid

On Wednesday, Senators Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced a bill that would give the Philippines $5 billion in military aid over five years as the US is boosting military ties with Manila as part of its strategy against China in the region.

The legislation would give Manila $500 million over five years through to the 2029 fiscal year. The aid would be in the form of Foreign Military Financing (FMF), a State Department program that gives foreign governments money to purchase US weapons.

The Philippines is already the largest recipient of US military aid in the Asia Pacific. From 2015 to the end of 2021, Manila received $1.14 billion in military assistance from the US, including $475 million in FMF.

Hagery and Kaine introduced the bill on the eve of the first-ever trilateral summit between the leaders of the US, Japan, and the Philippines, which President Biden is hosting in Washington. The three nations are expected to announce new forms of cooperation, including joint patrols in the South China Sea, where tensions are soaring between the Philippines and China.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has taken a much harder line against China’s claims to the South China Sea than his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who was much more friendly and diplomatic toward Beijing. The US has emboldened Marcos with new military support, and there has been a spike in confrontations between Chinese and Philippine vessels near disputed rocks and reefs.

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Doomsday cult leader who says he is reincarnation of Jesus is turning 1,500 children into sex slaves on remote Philippines island, lawmakers say

Clad in a white suit with gold watch and aviator sunglasses, the leader of quasi-religious cult Omega de Salonera looks more pop star than a Messiah.

But Jey Rence B Quilario was this week accused of heading a doomsday cult where ‘rape, sexual violence, child abuse, forced marriage was perpetrated on minors’.

Quilario, who claims to be a reincarnation of Jesus, was named using congressional privilege as well as his group in connection to ‘widespread exploitation’.

And Save the Children has urged the Filipino government to take immediate action to free the estimated 1,500 children held by the cult on a remote island.

On Monday the chairman of the senate committee on women and children senator Risa Hontiveros said: ‘This is a harrowing story of rape, sexual violence, child abuse, forced marriage perpetrated on minors by a cult in the municipality of Socorro, Surigao del Norte.

‘We are talking about over a thousand young people in the hands of a deceitful, cruel, and abusive cult… real children are in danger, and time is of the essence. We cannot, we must not, look away.’

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Early Humans Were Weaving Baskets in the Philippines 40,000 Years Ago!

Recent examination of ancient stone tools reveals that as early as 40,000 years ago, the early inhabitants of the Philippines were crafting ropes and baskets from plant fibers. This discovery pushes back the timeline for plant-based artifacts in the region by an astounding 31,000 years, as previously the oldest such artifacts were fragments of mats from southern China, estimated to be about 8,000 years old.

Mastering Fibre Technology

According to the study, which was published in the journal PLOS One , researchers analyzed stone tools found in Tabon Caves , situated in the Palawan Province of the western Philippines. Dubbed as the country’s “cradle of civilization”, Tabon Caves is a site of archaeological importance due to the number of prehistoric human remains found there.

The tools showed microscopic evidence of wear and tear associated with using plant fibers for purposes such as for rope-making and basket weaving. These signs included a brush stroke-type pattern of striations, micro-polish and micro-scars on the surface of the tools, according to a report by Cosmos Magazine .

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