World Watch
Sep 30, 11:54AM
By Barnaby Lo / Add Comment

Filipinos Reeling but Resilient after Storm

(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
The long narrow road leading to Bagong Silangan, a village in a Manila suburb, has no trace of the epic flooding that hit the Philippine capital last Saturday. But what awaits at the end of the road is a clear case of a humanitarian crisis. In a covered basketball court, 30 dead bodies, including children, lie alongside evacuees that number more than a thousand.

Anthony Ignacio is grieving the loss of his brother, Rolly, who died saving people's lives.

"Even if it meant risking his own life, he willingly helped save others, I'm proud of him," said Ignacio. "But it's sad especially because he left four children."

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Aug 5, 2:44PM
By Barnaby Lo / Add Comment

Filipinos Mourn "Mother of Democracy" Cory Aquino

(CBS)
It was a shining moment in Philippine history – the 1986 People Power Revolution, a bloodless coup that toppled the 20-year dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.

I was five years old then, and knew little about the historic event that the whole world watched with wonder. The world admired the Filipino people, and in particular, a woman in yellow, a self-described plain housewife named Corazon "Cory" Aquino.

She led the revolution, the culmination of a battle for freedom that was her husband's advocacy. It was a battle she won, and a victory that gave us back our nation's democracy.

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Jul 30, 1:22PM
By Barnaby Lo / 54 comments

Girl with Two Heads Born in Philippines

(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
Updated 1:30 a.m. EDT, Friday.

A baby girl with two heads was born at Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital (FMH), a government hospital in Manila, the Philippines on Tuesday night.

"Baby Girl Arciaga," now under observation at the Philippine Heart Center, was born with two hearts contained in one sac. The heads have separate brains and spines, but share most other vital organs, including lungs and kidneys.

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Jun 26, 1:36PM
By Barnaby Lo / 7 comments

500 Filipino Women Found Living As Slaves

To protect the identities of the women interviewed for this story, aliases have been used.

(CBS)
Jennifer was a former domestic helper in Hong Kong. There, she endured being locked up when her employers were out, and being sexually harassed by her male employer and physically abused by her female employer – all to be able to send money back home.

"Those experiences strengthened me," Jennifer said. And after being back in the Philippines for a while, she hoped to be able to work abroad again.

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May 20, 8:03AM
By Barnaby Lo / Add Comment

$2 Million Of Elephant Tusks Found

(Los Angeles Zoo)
For more than two months, two 20-foot container vans sat idly at the port of Manila. Official documents indicated that blow molding machines and plastic scraps were inside the shipments. But when Philippine Customs authorities inspected them early this week, what they found were not scraps but valuables — elephant tusks estimated to be worth over $2 million.

They came in two shipments, one arriving on March 1 and the other only four days after. The tusks traveled all the way from Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, where elephants are endangered. Some 20,000 elephants are killed for their tusks every year worldwide.

In a press briefing Tuesday, Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales and Environment Secretary Lito Atienza condemned illegal wildlife trade and vowed to prosecute those involved, including the consignee, 210 Enterprises, and the registered broker, Marilyn Pacheco, both based in Manila.

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