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Philippines among safest countries in the world — Gallup poll MANILA (Mabuhay) — The Philippines is considered as among the safest countries in the world where citizens feel safe and have confidence with the local police, according to the 2020 Global Law and Order survey by American analytics firm Gallup. In the report based on a survey conducted in 2019, the Philippines is tied with Australia, New Zealand, Poland, and Serbia on 12th spot with a law and order index score of 84. Out of the 144 countries, the Philippines is among the top 40 nations with the highest scores. The researchers asked nearly 175,000 adults in 144 countries and areas with four questions to capture their sense of personal security and experiences with crime and law enforcement. The questions asked are the following: In the city or area where you live, do you have confidence in the local police force? Do you feel safe walking alone at night in the city or area where you live?
Within the last 12 months, have you had money or property stolen from you or another household member? W ithin the p a s t 12 months, have you been assaulted or mugged? Singapore and Turkmenistan topped the list with a law and order index score of 97. They are followed by China, Iceland, Kuwait, Norway, Austria, Switzerland, Uzbekistan, and the United Arab Emirates. Afghanistan placed at the bottom of the ranking with a score of 43. Among the countries with the lowest scores are Gabon, Venezuela, Liberia, South Africa, Gambia, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Botswana, and Mexico. Globally, almost seven in 10 people or 69% said in 2019 that they feel safe walking alone at night where they live and have confidence in their local police, Gallup said. Around one in eight people or 12% said they had property stolen from them or another household member in the past year, while 6% said they were assaulted
or mugged. “These numbers remained largely unchanged from 2018,” Gallup said. The survey results are based on telephone and face-to-face interviews with approximately 1,000
No timeline yet on possible PH-China joint oil exploration —DFA MANILA (Mabuhay) — Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin, Jr. on Tuesday said Manila and Beijing are still discussing a possible joint oil and gas exploration in the West Philippine Sea. Locsin said the two countries would need to identify a "specific project" first under the Philippine-China Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Oil and Gas Development (MOU). "For one year both sides exchanged impossible-to-reconcile positions. So I felt that what we need here is to try with a specific project, a project in the disputed area. With us it's not disputed, it's ours by
right but it's a Chinese claim," he said in an interview with CNN Philippines. "A specific project will then focus on how you’re actually gonna do it." Locsin said a proposal was made during his meeting with Chinese State Councilor and
Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Madrid, Spain last year, with discussions continuing from that point. He did not provide further details but said "every step of those talks" was cleared by members of the Cabinet and President Rodrigo Duterte. "What is important is the care with which we are working on the language, so that that language and what it translates to in real actions do not, in any way, constitute a surrender of our rights under the Arbitral Award and UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea)," he said. "China, I suppose, is doing
the same thing because we're still talking and that's the situation now," he added. Whatever the outcome, Locsin said these talks would provide a template that may serve as guidelines for future projects between the disput-
ing parties. “That template will govern how I, the DFA, will decide whether any specific project by other any department follows the law, the Constitution, and our rights under the arbitral award. I’m not gonna give in to anybody. I don’t care how influential they think they are,” he said. The Philippine government recently lifted the moratorium on oil and gas exploration in the West Philippine Sea to strengthen the country’s energy security. The resumption of petroleum activities covers the areas within Service Contract Nos. 59, 72, and 75 in the West Philippine Sea, wh ich wer e suspended on the ground of force majeure due to the existing South China Sea dispute. Talks on oil and gas cooperation were halted due to t he coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak early this year. In a Palace briefing last month, Philippine Ambassador to China Jose Santiago Sta. Romana said Manila and Beijing are trying to determine when the negotiations can resume safely amid the pandemic. (MNS)
adults in each country, aged 15 and older, which were conducted throughout 2019 in 144 countries and areas. For results based on the total sample of national adults, Gallup said the margin of sampling error
ranged from ±2.1 percentage points to ±5.6 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting, it added.
(MNS)
SC approves magistrate’s early retirement MANILA (Mabuhay) — The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday confirmed the early retirement of one of its magistrates. "The Court approved the application for disability retirement of Justice Priscilla Baltazar-Padilla effective today, 3 November,” the SC Public Information Office said in a press statement. No other details were provided by the court. Baltazar-Padilla was appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte to the High Court last July, replacing Associate Justice Andres Reyes Jr., who retired in May. Padilla joined the judiciary in
1996 as Presiding Judge of Branch 29 of the Metropolitan Trial Court of Manila. She was promoted to Presiding Judge of the Regional Trial Court of Manila Branch 38 in 2000. In 2006, she was appointed Associate Justice of the Court of Appeals and held the position for 14 years until her appointment to the Supreme Court. She graduated from the Lyceum of the Philippines in Intramuros, Manila, and placed 5th in the 1984 bar examinations. She is Duterte's 14th appointee to the High Court and would have reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 in 2028. (MNS)
Pinoy repatriates reach 237,363 in October
MANILA (Mabuhay) — The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) wrapped up its 8th month of coronavirus disease (Covid-19)-related repatriation efforts as it brought home a total of 37,095 overseas Filipinos (OFs) this October. This, the DFA said, brings the total number of repatriated OFs to 237,363 since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Of the total, 77,326 OFs (32.58 percent) are sea-based while 160,037 (67.42 percent) are land-based. The repatriates this October came from the following regions: --31,849 or 85.86 percent from the Middle East; --2,716 (7.32 percent) from Asia and the Pacific; --2,406 (6.49 percent) from Europe; --92 (0.25 percent) from Africa; and --32 (0.09 percent) from the Americas. October’s repatr iations were marked by several “firsts” — the mass repatriation of more than 500 Agros-
tudies students from Israel, the safe return of 92 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) from Benghazi, Libya, and the first-ever repatriation by sea from Indonesia of 40 Filipino fishermen via the BRP Tubbataha. The DFA also chartered three flights from Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia which flew home 920 OFs, including OFWs with chronic medical conditions. It also facilitated several medical repatriations from Australia, Brazil, French Polynesia, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Norway, Oman, Spain, and the USA. “As we sustain our repatriation efforts in the last two months of the year, the DFA remains fully committed to bringing home our kababayan, whatever challenges we may face,” Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Migrant Workers’ Affairs Sarah Lou Arriola said. The DFA expects to repatriate more than 107,000 Filipinos by year-end. (MNS)
