Philippines' Nobel Prize winner Ressa says award for 'all journalists'

Yahoo – AFP, 9 October 2021 

Philippine journalist Maria Ressa (pictured after her arrest in 2019) says her
Nobel Peace Prize is for 'all journalists around the world' (AFP/TED ALJIBE)

Veteran Philippine journalist Maria Ressa on Saturday said her Nobel Peace Prize was for "all journalists around the world", as she vowed to continue her battle for press freedom. 

"This is really for all journalists around the world," Ressa, a vocal critic of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, told AFP in an interview. 

"We do need help on so many fronts -- it is so much more difficult and dangerous to be a journalist today." 

Ressa, co-founder of news website Rappler, and Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their efforts to "safeguard freedom of expression". 

Philippine press groups and rights activists hailed Ressa's award as a "triumph" in a country ranked as one of the world's most dangerous for journalists. 

Since Duterte was swept to power in 2016, Ressa and Rappler have endured what media advocates say is a grinding series of criminal charges, investigations and online attacks. 

Duterte has called Rappler a "fake news outlet", and Ressa has been the target of abusive messages online. 

Ressa, 58, said she hoped the prize would provide a protective shield for her and other journalists in the Philippines against physical attacks and online threats. 

"This 'us against them' was never the creation of the journalists, it was the creation of the people in power who wanted to use a type of leadership that divides society," Ressa said, describing the award "like a shot of adrenalin". 

"I hope this allows journalists to do our jobs well without fear."

Hong Kong domestic worker fired for cancer awarded damages

Yahoo – AFP, April 15, 2019

Baby Jane Allas of the Philippines was diagnosed with stage three cervical cancer
in January and fired by her employer, who cited the illness as the reason for
termination (AFP Photo/Anthony WALLACE)

A domestic worker sacked after a cancer diagnosis was awarded damages by a Hong Kong court Monday, in a case that highlighted exploitation of foreign women toiling as maids in the wealthy financial hub.

Baby Jane Allas of the Philippines was diagnosed with stage three cervical cancer in January and fired the following month by her employer, who cited the illness as the reason for termination.

The 38-year-old single mother of five instantly lost the right to healthcare and has had to regularly apply for visa extensions as she navigated Hong Kong's legal and immigration systems while battling cancer.

She has been undergoing radiation therapy five days a week, along with chemotherapy one day a week.

Allas and her former employer -- who was absent from Monday's proceedings -- reached a settlement of HK30,000 ($3,800) at Hong Kong's labour tribunal for sickness allowance, medical fees and wages in lieu of notice.

"I am standing here right now to encourage more workers to come out if they have these kinds of cases," Allas said outside the hearing.

Allas added she hoped to find another employer "who can really understand my situation and treat me well".

She has separately filed claims with the Equal Opportunities Commission for wrongful termination and loss of earnings, which could be brought to the city's District Court.

Allas previously told AFP that she spent just over a year working for a family of Pakistani origin who ordered her to work every day of the week.

She has also said she was routinely given stale leftovers to eat and slept on a thin comforter in a cluttered store room.

Nearly 370,000 domestic helpers work in the city. Most are poor women from the Philippines and Indonesia performing menial tasks for low wages while living in often miserable conditions.

Allas was accompanied to Monday's hearing by supporters and family, including her eight-year-old daughter, who clung to her waist.

Her plight has generated widespread sympathy in Hong Kong and a fundraising campaign organised by her sister's employer, Jessica Cutrera, has so far raised more than HK$900,000 for treatment.

A large part of Allas' medical bills have been covered by hospital charities but expensive surgery will likely be needed to operate on her tumours, said Cutrera.

RSF honours female Asian journalists for courage under fire

Yahoo – AFP, Robin MILLARD, November 8, 2018

Some 63 journalists, 11 citizen journalists and four media assistants have been
killed so far in 2018, including Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi,
according to RSF (AFP Photo/Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT)

Two Asian women won Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Awards on Thursday for their bravery in holding governments to account in the face of persistent threats.

Indian freelance reporter Swati Chaturvedi and Filipina social media campaigner Inday Espina-Varona were honoured at the RSF annual awards, being staged in London for the first time.

Maltese journalist Matthew Caruana Galizia, who has carried on the work of his mother Daphne, murdered for exposing corruption on the Mediterranean island, was also honoured at the ceremony at the Getty Images Gallery.

Established in 1985 to defend and promote press freedom, Paris-based RSF has been presenting its yearly awards since 1992.

Previous winners include the late Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi and the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet.

Chaturvedi won the Prize for Courage, awarded for journalism in a hostile environment.

She has faced online harassment campaigns after exposing what she calls a "troll army" operating for the governing Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"I get a dozen death threats every day and around 15 to 20 rape threats," she told AFP.

"The whole idea of a democracy is that you are allowed to have a dissenting view.

"Unfortunately, the way politics has panned out across the world, journalists are really under threat.

"It is sad that you are called courageous just for doing your job."

Sexist attacks

Veteran journalist Espina-Varona founded a social media women's rights campaign in response to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's comments on women.

"After a particularly hard-hitting column, I find 50 to 80 private messages calling me a liar, an ugly woman, and mostly these are sexist attacks," she told AFP.

"The slurs don't really bother me but the threats that say 'we know where you live, we'll see if you are as brave as you think' -- that bothers me because it also happens to other journalists."

She won the Prize for Independence, awarded to reporters for resisting pressure in carrying out their work.

"Independence is very important for citizen journalism. I teach young people to be critical minded and I hope this award will inspire them," she said.

Some 63 journalists, 11 citizen journalists and four media assistants have been killed so far in 2018, RSF said, including Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

A total of 55 journalists were killed in the whole of 2017.

Caruana Galizia won the Prize for Impact, awarded for work that has led to an increase in awareness of journalistic freedom.

His mother, Malta's pioneering anti-corruption blogger, was assassinated in a car bomb attack in October 2017.

'Fight for the right thing'

"It's a recognition that what we're fighting for is right," he said of the award.

"It's about continuing to fight for the right thing: justice for my mother and for her stories. Everything else will follow.

"Hope is a word for people who have already given up."

He said Malta could and should become a functional European Union democracy that did not have to rely on investigative journalism as the last remaining line of defence.

However, "its toxicity will spread" throughout the EU if partners including Britain and France did not join the fight.

Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder remains unresolved.

Ninety percent of violent crimes against journalists go unpunished, said RSF.

Afghanistan is currently the world's deadliest country for journalists, with 14 killed this year.

"The alarming number of deaths is a reminder of the urgent need to provide journalists with more protection," said RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire.

Some 168 journalists, 150 citizen journalists and 19 media assistants are in jail, the organisation said.

RSF's 2018 World Press Freedom Index ranks the worst five countries for journalists as China, Syria, Turkmenistan, Eritrea and North Korea, which came last at 180th.

Kuwait, Philippines sign deal to regulate domestic labour

Yahoo – AFP, May 11, 2018

Filipino workers arrive to Manila International Airport from Kuwait on February 18,
2018, after the murder of a Philippine maid sent hundreds of women streaming
back home (AFP Photo/NOEL CELIS)

Kuwait City (AFP) - Kuwait and the Philippines signed a deal on Friday to regulate domestic workers, after a dispute between the two countries led to a ban on Filipino workers in the Gulf state.

"A short time ago we signed an agreement between the two countries on the employment of domestic workers," Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khaled al-Sabah told a joint press conference with his Filipino counterpart Alan Peter Cayetano.

In February Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte imposed a partial ban on workers travelling to Kuwait after a Filipina maid was murdered and her body found in a freezer.

The crisis deepened after Kuwaiti authorities in April expelled Manila's ambassador over video footage of Philippine embassy staff helping workers escape employers accused of mistreatment.

Cayetano said a new ambassador to Kuwait would soon be appointed and that he would advise Duterte to "immediately" lift the ban.

"I think the crisis is over. We will move on with the bilateral relations and we will resume normal ties with Kuwait," said an official with Cayetano's delegation.

He added that the agreement "gives a number of rights to Philippine workers".

A copy of the agreement seen by AFP says that workers will be allowed to keep their passports and cellphones -- often confiscated by employers.

It stipulates that contract renewals should be approved by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office, instead of being automatically renewed.

Employers must provide domestic workers with food, housing, clothing and health insurance, according to the document.

About 262,000 Filipinos work in Kuwait, 60 percent of them in domestic labour, according to Manila.

More than two million Filipinos are employed across the Gulf.

Rights groups have repeatedly urged Gulf states to reform their labour laws to cover domestic workers and provide them with "equal protections" available to other workers.

Philippine Church in 'show of force' against drug killings

Yahoo – AFP, Ayee Macaraig, February 18, 2017

More than 6,000 people have died in the seven months since President
Rodrigo Duterte ordered an unprecedented war on drugs, which has drawn
global criticism for alleged human rights abuses (AFP Photo/NOEL CELIS)

Manila (AFP) - Thousands of Catholic faithful gathered in the Philippine capital on Saturday for a "show of force" in the biggest rally yet to stop extrajudicial killings in President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war.

More than 6,000 people have died since Duterte took office seven months ago and ordered an unprecedented crime war that has drawn global criticism for alleged human rights abuses, but is popular with many in the mainly Catholic country.

Members of one of the nation's oldest and most powerful institutions chanted prayers and sang hymns as they marched to condemn a "spreading culture of violence".

"We have to stand up. Somehow this is already a show of force by the faithful that they don't like these extrajudicial killings," Manila bishop Broderick Pabillo told AFP before addressing the crowd.

"I am alarmed and angry at what's happening because this is something that is regressive. It does not show our humanity."

Duterte, 71, has attacked the Church as "the most hypocritical institution" for speaking out against a campaign that he says would save generations of Filipinos from the drug menace.

About eight in 10 Filipinos are Catholic, making the former Spanish colony of more than 100 million people Asia's bastion of Christianity.

The Church helped lead the revolution that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and a 2001 uprising against then-president Joseph Estrada that saw him ousted over corruption charges.

Thousands of Catholics gather at a dawn rally in a "show of force" against alleged

 extrajudicial killings in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's drug war in Manila on 

February 18, 2017 (AFP Photo/NOEL CELIS)

It had initially declined to voice opposition publicly to Duterte's drug war but, as the death toll of mostly poor people mounted, it began late last year to call for the killings to end.

Saturday's event, called the "Walk for Life", gathered 20,000 people, according to the organisers. Manila police estimated the crowd at 10,000.

The rally also opposed Duterte's push to restore the death penalty, his top legislative priority as part of his crime war.

'Tears and fears'

"It is obvious that there is a spreading culture of violence. It is saddening to see, sometimes it drives me to tears how violent words seem so natural and ordinary," said Manila Cardinal Luis Tagle, the country's highest-ranking Church official.

"In your surroundings, in your neighbourhood, there are so many lives that must be saved. They will not be saved by mere discussion."

The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines had called on the faithful to gather at the Quirino Grandstand, where Duterte held a huge pre-election rally, from 4:30am.

"Why dawn? It's because it is during these hours that we find bodies on the streets or near trash cans. Dawn, which is supposed to be the hour of a new start, is becoming an hour of tears and fears," Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the bishops' conference, told the crowd.

Villegas this month issued the Church's strongest statement against the drug war, warning against a "reign of terror" in poor communities.

Officers investigate the killing of two alleged robbers in a gun fight with police
in Manila (AFP Photo/NOEL CELIS)

Among those who attended Saturday's event was Senator Leila de Lima, a former human rights commissioner and one of Duterte's most vocal opponents.

The government on Friday filed charges against her for allegedly running a drug trafficking ring using criminals in the country's largest prison when she was justice secretary in the previous administration.

De Lima, who has repeatedly insisted the charges against her are trumped up to silence her and intimidate other Duterte critics, said she attended Saturday's event as a show of solidarity.

"For as long as I can, I will continue to fight. They cannot silence me," De Lima, who is expecting to be arrested in the coming days, told AFP.

Bone cancer survivor Lucy Castillo, 56, turned up in a wheelchair along with dozens of other people with disabilities.

"When I was in so much pain, I could have taken my life but I did not. Only God can take it," she told AFP.

"I was diagnosed 40 years ago but I was given a chance to live. I want to give these drug addicts another chance."

Duterte executions plan is barbaric: Philippine critics

Yahoo – AFP, December 19, 2016

A Manila crime scene where two alleged drug dealers were gunned down by
unidentified men in October

Philippine Catholic leaders and rights groups on Monday condemned as "barbaric" President Rodrigo Duterte's plan to restore the death penalty and execute "five or six" criminals daily.

Duterte, 71, has made reviving the death penalty in the mainly Catholic nation his top legislative priority as part of a brutal war on crime that has killed 5,300 people.

"There was death penalty before but nothing happened. Return that to me and I would do it every day: five or six (criminals). That's for real," Duterte said Saturday.

An official at the influential Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines said the Church "totally opposed" Duterte's plan.

"The Philippines will be viewed as very barbaric," Father Jerome Secillano, executive secretary at its public affairs office, told AFP.

"It's going to make the Philippines the capital of death penalty in the world."

The Philippines abolished the death penalty in 2006 following fierce opposition to the penalty from the Catholic Church, the religion of 80 percent of Filipinos.

Before assuming office in June, Duterte vowed to introduce executions by hanging, saying he did not want to waste bullets and believed snapping the spinal cord was more humane than a firing squad.

Duterte said he viewed the death penalty not as a means to deter crime but for retribution.

Rodrigo Duterte shows images of allegedly criminal Philippine politicians at

a meeting with the Filipino community in Singapore on December 16, 2016

His allies in the House of Representatives quickly pushed for the bill and said they would vote on it by January.

The United Nations' human rights chief, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, said in a letter to the Philippine congress this month that reviving the death penalty would violate the country's international obligations.

But on Saturday Duterte insisted executions were necessary to fight the drug scourge which he said was "destroying" the nation.

While his aides dismiss his incendiary statements as hyperbole, rights advocates said Duterte's remarks were alarming.

"Setting a quota for executions is just too much. One death is too much because we are talking about lives," Amnesty International Philippines vice chairman Romeo Cabarde told AFP.

Catholic leaders and rights defenders have instead urged the government to reform a slow and corrupt justice system which they said was likely to send innocent people to death row.

Secillano said bishops planned to dissuade lawmakers from voting for the death penalty and would attend congressional debates next month.

Fear of killings

Duterte's crime war has drawn international criticism from the United States and United Nations over concerns about alleged extrajudicial killings and a breakdown in the rule of law.

Duterte won May elections in a landslide on a promise to eradicate drugs in society -- a mandate he often cited to defend his controversial campaign.

Catholic nuns oppose extra-judicial killings at a Human Rights Day rally

in Manila on December 10, 2016

A survey by Social Weather Stations released Monday showed while a majority backed Duterte's drug war, 78 percent of Filipinos were worried that they or someone in their family would be a victim of extrajudicial killings.

The survey also showed 71 percent said it was "very important" that police keep drug suspects they arrested alive.

Police have repeatedly said they only shot at criminals who fought back but the nation's rights agency has questioned this argument and has begun investigating cases.

On Monday, Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa apologised for police killings of criminal suspects but insisted these were done in self-defence.

"Lord, I hope you forgive us even if the ones we kill are bad people," Dela Rosa said during the police's Christmas party.

"If the life of a policeman will be lost just to preserve the life of a criminal, that's a great injustice."

Dela Rosa added Duterte gave police hefty bonuses for leading the crime war.

Related Articles:

Death penalty may be on the way out in US: report

The days of capital punishment may be numbered in the United States, according to a report from @DPInfoCtr https://t.co/xVmiV1VTDj pic.twitter.com/P6WgjYnSqy

— AFP news agency (@AFP) December 21, 2016

Philippines' Duterte draws Hitler parallels in war on drugs

Yahoo – AFP, September 30, 2016

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte won elections in May in a landslide after a
campaign dominated by his pledge to eradicate drugs by killing tens of
thousands of people (AFP Photo/Manman Dejeto)

Davao (Philippines) (AFP) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday likened his deadly crime war to Hitler's efforts to exterminate Jews, as he declared he was "happy to slaughter" millions of drug addicts.

Duterte also railed against Western critics of his unprecedented law-and-order crackdown, which has left more than 3,000 people dead in three months and raised concerns about a breakdown in the rule of law in one of Asia's most chaotic democracies.

"Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now there are three million drug addicts (in the Philippines). I'd be happy to slaughter them," Duterte told reporters in his home city of Davao, although he vastly underestimated the number of people killed in the Holocaust by the Nazi leader's regime.

"At least if Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have," he said, then paused. "But you know, my victims, I would like to be (sic) all criminals to finish the problem of my country and save the next generation from perdition."

Duterte, 71, won elections in May in a landslide after a campaign dominated by his pledge to eradicate drugs in society by killing tens of thousands of people.

The lawyer and former city prosecutor promised immunity for security forces if they were charged with murder, and on his first day in office urged residents of a Manila slum to kill drug addicts within their own community.

His police chief also urged addicts to burn down the homes of drug traffickers and kill them.

Since Duterte came to power on June 30, police have killed more than 1,200 people and about 1,800 others have died in unexplained circumstances, according to official figures.

A piece of cardboard, with "drug peddler" or "drug addict" written on it, is frequently placed on corpses that are left on the streets. This has led to the war on crime becoming known as "cardboard justice".

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's law-and-order crackdown has left more

than 3,000 people dead in three months (AFP Photo/Noel Celis)

'Revolting, inhumane'

Duterte has faced a barrage of criticism from Western governments and rights groups, but he has reacted defiantly and often with abusive language while insisting he is not doing anything illegal.

Duterte has branded US President Barack Obama a "son of a whore", called UN chief Ban Ki-moon a "fool" and used expletives in referring to the European Union while raising his middle finger.

His analogy with Adolf Hitler, whose campaign to wipe out Jews in Europe led to about six million deaths by the end of World War II, triggered more condemnation.

"Any comparison of the singular atrocities of the Holocaust with anything else is totally unacceptable," German foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer told reporters.

World Jewish Congress president Ronald Lauder described Duterte's comments as "revolting" and demanded he apologise.

"What President Duterte said is not only profoundly inhumane, but it demonstrates an appalling disrespect for human life," Lauder said in a statement.

Hypocrisy

Duterte on Friday also criticised the European Union and the United States for alleged inaction on the migrant crisis emanating from the Middle East.

Activists light candles for the victims of extrajudicial killings in the Philippine 

government's drug war in Manila on September 16, 2016 (AFP Photo/Ted Aljibe)

"You US, EU. You can call me anything. But I was never into or I am never into hypocrisy like you," he said.

"There are migrants escaping from the Middle East. You allow them to rot and then you're worried about the deaths of about 1,000, 2,000, 3,000?"

In response to American criticism, Duterte has signalled he intends to downgrade military ties with longtime ally the United States, while forging closer relations with China and Russia.

Duterte said this week he intended to end joint military exercises with the United States.

The nations conduct war games regularly in the Philippines and coastal waters, which previous governments have intended as a form of deterrence against China's ambitions to control most of the South China Sea.

US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter responded to Duterte's comments by insisting on Thursday America's alliance with the Philippines remained "ironclad".

But Duterte on Friday insisted the war games next week involving more than 1,000 troops would be the last of his six-year term, as he hit out again at the United States.

"Do not pretend to be the moral conscience of the world," he said.

Duterte diplomacy: Philippine leader's global insults

Yahoo – AFP, September 6, 2016

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (pictured) expressed regret on September 6,
2016, that his comments branding US leader Barack Obama a 'son of a whore'
came across as a personal attack (AFP Photo/Ted Aljibe)

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte expressed regret Tuesday that his comments branding US leader Barack Obama a "son of a whore" came across as a personal attack.

The insult on Monday was the latest offensive comment to raise questions about Duterte's diplomatic skills, leading Obama to cancel a planned meeting with him at a regional summit in Laos.

Here are 10 of his most undiplomatic remarks from before and after his landslide election victory this year:

Respect me, son of a whore

"You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum."

Duterte, who has launched a war on crime that has claimed more than 2,400 lives, warns Obama not to raise human rights issues with him in Laos.

'Gay' envoy

"I'm fighting with (US Secretary of State John Kerry's) ambassador. His gay ambassador, the son of a whore. He pissed me off."

-- Duterte in an August speech smarting over US Ambassador to Manila Philip Goldberg's criticism of his comment about wanting to rape a "beautiful" Australian missionary.

'Fuck you, UN'

"Fuck you, UN, you can't even solve the Middle East carnage... couldn't even lift a finger in Africa... shut up, all of you."

-- Duterte in a June press conference, a seemingly unprovoked attack on the world body.

UN pullout

"Maybe we’ll just have to decide to separate from the United Nations. If you are that disrespectful, son of a whore, then I will just leave you."

-- Duterte in an August news briefing after a UN human rights expert said orders in his anti-crime crackdown violated international law. He later said he was just joking.

'Inutile' Ban

"Ban Ki-moon, he should write to me so that I will tell him: 'You did nothing. People are being massacred by the thousands. You can't stop (the war) in Turkey, Syria.' So one useless, inutile body."

-- Duterte in an August press conference railing against the UN chief after Ban denounced his apparent endorsement of extrajudicial killings.

Jet ski policy

"I will go there on my own with a jet ski, bringing with me a flag and a pole and once I disembark, I will plant the flag on the runway and tell the Chinese authorities, 'Kill me!'"

-- Duterte in a February campaign speech explaining how he would handle Manila's row with Beijing over the South China Sea. He has since adopted a more cautious tone.

Suicide, genocide, upside

"That's the invention of a woman who wants to commit suicide. You can think of genocide, suicide or what, side by side, upper side, whatever, what if upper side or even upside?"

-- Duterte launches a rambling verbal assault on Agnes Callamard, the UN special rapporteur on summary executions, after she accused him of violating international law with his statements seen as inciting people to kill.

Burning Singapore flag

"I burned the flag of Singapore. I said: 'Fuck you ... You are a garrison pretending to be a country.'"

-- Duterte in a November speech, recalling how in 1995 he burned a Singapore flag to protest at the execution of a Filipina maid in the city-state.

Arab culture

"You are not a warrior if you do that. We are not Arabs. That is not our culture. We are all Malay."

-- Duterte in an August speech condemning how Philippine Islamic militants supposedly mutilated the bodies of slain soldiers.

Pope, go home

"It took us five hours to get from the hotel to the airport. I asked who was coming. They said it was the Pope. I wanted to call him: 'Pope, son of a whore, go home. Don't visit anymore.'"

-- Duterte in a November 2015 speech recalling being stuck in Manila traffic when Pope Francis visited the Philippines.

Related Articles:

US President Obama cancels meeting with Philippine leader after insult - New

Philippines 'Duterte calls Obama 'son of a whore'

Asean Ministers Issue Joint Communiqué on South China Sea Dispute

Jakarta Globe, Eko Prasetyo, July 26, 2016

A Chinese Coast Guard vessel passes near a Chinese oil rig in the South
China Sea. (Reuters Photo/Nguyen Minh)

Jakarta. The 49th Asean Ministerial Meeting (AMM) in Vientiane, Laos, wrapped up on Tuesday (26/07) with the ministers issuing a Joint Communiqué on the territorial dispute in South China Sea.

“The agreement is evidence that Asean member countries are capable of uniting to protect their common interests,” Indonesian foreign minister Retno Marsudi said in a statement.

The Asean member countries stated they will fully respect all legal and diplomatic steps as recommended by the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Seas (UNCLOS) 1982 to resolve overlapping claims on land or sea territories within and beyond Asean.

“The Joint Communiqué shows that Asean is committed to maintain regional peace, security and stability by respecting international law,” Retno said.

Under Indonesia’s initiative, the meeting has also produced a joint statement by Asean foreign ministers on maintaining peace, security and stability in the region.

Asean member countries will support the UN Charter, ASEAN Charter and the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia in maintaining bilateral relationships.

“The foreign ministers' statement shows that we are united in safeguarding our house from global geopolitical pressure,” Retno said.

In the context of Asean-China relations, Retno said that foreign ministers from Asean member countries and China have also released a joint statement agreeing on the implementation of the Declaration of Conduct in solving the South China Sea dispute.

According to Retno, she was involved in a three-day marathon lobbying to arrive at the agreement.

The Joint Communiqué also dealt with other important issues affecting Asean countries, including the prevention of illegal fishing; migrant workers' protection; human trafficking prevention and counterterrorism.

Other, more global issues were also dealt with in the communiqué, including a commitment to refrain from using nuclear weapons, supporting Palestinian independence, increasing Asean connectivity and improving partnerships to achieve the 2025 Asean Community’s goals and the 2030 UN Agenda for sustainable developments.

Related Articles:

Philippines willing to share South China Sea: Manila

Beijing's South China Sea claims invalid: tribunal

Matthew message (Channelled by Suzanne Ward, July 29, 2016) - New

Matthew Ward - July 29, 2016

Matthew Ward

With loving greetings from all souls at this station, this is Matthew. Your concerns about a number of issues are shared by many around the world, particularly the frequency of terrorist acts and mass shootings. As sad as it is to see our Earth brothers and sisters killing one another, we anticipated the increase in those kinds of incidents. They are the natural result of your linear time crunching up and energy levels that have intensified all personal characteristics, including mental instability, and corresponding behavior—those two powerful forces working in tandem is accelerating the activity of energy streamers with violent attachments.

We hasten to add that those forces are affecting everything on the planet, and situations propelled by beneficial attachments are steaming toward soundly-reasoned resolutions. An example is The Hague’s ruling pertaining to the South China Sea. China’s grumbling is not unexpected, but nothing in the energy field of potential indicates a strenuous objection that could lead to open conflict.

Of special interest in the United States and, because of its international influence, in other countries as well, is that nation’s two major political parties’ presidential nominees. We stated in previous messages that prevailing vibrations were not supporting candidates who lack moral and spiritual integrity, but the voters will decide who wins. Each party’s nominee has staunch supporters; however, the energy momentum of the electorate’s widespread dissatisfaction with both has become too strong for either to be elected.

Earth’s monitors in Nirvana tell us that the energy awhirl could manifest any of various possibilities that will put Senator Bernie Sanders in the White House. Souls at this station are apolitical, so it is not on a partisan basis that we will welcome his presidency, but rather that his wisdom, personal qualities and leadership will enable his country and your world to continue progressing toward Gaia’s vision for all life on her planetary body.

“So UK leaves EU. Now what?” The Illuminati’s dominoes will keep falling. It is not that countries cooperating to offer their citizens enhanced trade, employment and educational opportunities is not a grand idea— indeed, it is! But never was the purpose of the European Union to benefit the people, it was to put them squarely under the thumb of the Illuminati. When vibrations reached a rate wherein an organization built on a foundation of dark intent could not much longer stand, it became a matter of when the first domino in the EU would fall.

Let us put this into its larger context. The Illuminati—also now known as the cabal, global elite, shadow government, One World Order, One World Government—began as a group of individuals who felt that they were the most intelligent and learned people in the world, thus they were entitled to rule everyone else. Over time, others with the same superior attitude were drawn into the fold of this secret society, egos grew, tempers flared, and two competing factions emerged with the same goal, world domination.

Now we fast forward to sixty-some years ago, when the Rockefeller faction that operates out of New York and Washington, DC, was expanding its tentacles far westward and into Latin America. The Rothschild faction, headquartered in London and the Vatican, saw their territorial influence meager in comparison, so they buffed up their Council of Europe by establishing the European Union, European Central Bank and euro currency. The Union was put under the Council’s flag and shares its anthem—such a duplicitous choice, Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.” With the first few countries buckled in by their EU belt, so to say, the Rothschilds and their minions set off on their expansion course; they moved into the new state of Israel, then throughout the Mideast, and more recently, northern Africa and some countries formerly within the Soviet Union.

All along both factions have used strategies in the original plan to reach their goal. They infiltrated governments, military forces, intelligence agencies, multinational corporations, law enforcement and justice systems, religious hierarchies, entertainment industry, medical and educational fields. They garnered fortunes by manipulating the global economy through stock markets, banking and lending institutions, usurious interest rates and unfair taxation. They initiated civil wars, wars between adjoining countries, and World Wars I and II; assassinated or imprisoned opposition; formed terrorist groups; suppressed and misused technologies; controlled mainstream media and the illegal drug trade; and took over natural resources wherever they went.

The original plan also included what they have failed to do—reduce the population by several billions via nuclear weaponry, toxic pollution, and pandemics caused by laboratory-designed viruses. All attempts toward that diabolical end have been thwarted by members of your universal family in your skies or living among you. Still, the two factions kept adding to their respective lines of dominoes and each felt that the world was coming within its grasp.

What they hadn’t taken into account is the light. After millennia of being held captive by the darkness that enshrouded the planet, the peoples started responding to the light beamed to Earth by spiritually evolved civilizations. The more enlightened they became, the more determined they were to throw off the yoke of oppression and persecution, and voices for freedom grew in numbers and volume. All the while, the intensifying light also was exposing the Illuminati’s global network of corruption and ruthlessness, and their dominoes started falling.

BREXIT is the most recent. Few individuals who voted to leave know of the Illuminati or the real purpose of the Union; what they knew is that benefits they had been led to believe they would derive had not materialized. Few who voted to remain know of the Illuminati or what the Union really was about, but they were faring well or were leery about what would happen if the United Kingdom set out on its own. Few know that the outcome of BREXIT was more than the vote count—it was influenced by vibrations that are undergirding activities leading toward a world of peace, honest governance, justness, and a fair share of Earth’s abundance for all peoples.

There will be some frayed nerves and bumpy patches as the EU unravels; more truths emerge; the economy fluctuates as the Illuminati—some at the peak of both factions have joined forces—futilely try to hold onto their ill-gotten wealth; and violence runs out its energetic course. Every happening in this moment and forthcoming is moving society closer to that aforementioned world. Beloved family, we know how eager you are for that to come about, and your steadfastness as lightworkers is helping to bring ever closer in linear time that which is fait accompli in the continuum.

“I am distressed about countries not wanting to accept immigrants from violence-torn areas and prejudice growing against them in countries that have taken them in. How can we ever live in harmony with prejudice increasing? First let us say that fear—a highly magnified energy form that is the major tool and fuel of dark minds and hearts—is the root of prejudice in all its pernicious forms and the source of all actions stemming from the illusion of separateness.

For the eons that Earth was stuck in deep third density, prejudice was the motivator of the violence and injustices that let countless souls complete their chosen karmic lessons. Now that the society is moving out of that density with its karmic merry-go-round, what is perceived as prejudice increasing actually is putting this basest aspect of humankind into the glare of a global spotlight so its destructive divisiveness can be clearly seen. As vibrations keep rising, healing, harmony and peace will come as love and mutual respect unify the peoples in the Oneness of All.

“Managing millions and millions of refugees seems an insurmountable problem. What will happen to all these desperate people?” The plight of the millions in hastily arranged camps will ease somewhat as aid organizations gain strength in numbers, and donations of monies, food, water, medical supplies and other essential equipment increase. The light radiated by the many aid-givers along with the light in worldwide compassion and the massive amount beamed to the planet is helping to sustain the refugees’ endurance and hopefulness.

As tyrannical regimes fall and warring ends, repatriation of people who fled those areas can begin. Financial and reconstruction assistance will be given in communities where this is practical; where villages and towns are too severely damaged to rebuild, the same assistance will be given to former residents so they can start anew in other locations. Immigrants in countries that gave them sanctuary will assimilate into those populations with benefits for all or choose to return to their native lands.

Please remember that the majority of refugees chose these life-changing circumstances to complete third density karma and evolve; also in keeping with contract choices, not all will survive their traumatic ordeal. People whose experiences are direr than chosen or who die prior to their contracts’ life span receive extraordinary opportunities for advancement in soul evolution, and advancement is the goal of every soul in every lifetime.

Some readers questioned whether loss of life and vast destruction due to wildfires, flooding and earthquakes creates negativity or is part of Earth’s cleansing process. It does both. While all of those events do create negativity, the cleansing effects for Earth are much greater—that is, negativity created by all other sources is released by natural disasters in far greater measure than the amount produced by those events.

“Do soul contracts of alternative healthcare practitioners and whistleblowers include being killed because of their efforts to do good?” Some contracts do. Practitioners who have been killed to prevent them from healing with natural therapies chose that fate to shed light on the collusion of the medical establishment with vaccine manufacturers and pharmaceutical and insurance companies; those whose services led to being professionally discredited and perhaps incarcerated or who fled to other countries agreed to those disruptions in their lives. It is the same with whistleblowers who have exposed many other situations that also adversely affect your lives. The numbers of individuals who experience or are threatened with one or another of the nefarious means whereby the Illuminati deal with anyone who jeopardizes their money-based interests have decreased as public awareness has increased.

Our explanation of why there will be no nuclear explosions in space prompted questions about the people who were damaged in such occurrences. First, this doesn’t apply to bodies, but to souls, and those that have been damaged were living as free spirits that didn’t embody, souls in civilizations so highly evolved that they have no density, or souls in astral travel. When a soul is shattered in a nuclear explosion, it doesn’t separate into whole personages, but rather into fragments that contain bits and pieces of memories of all lifetimes and whatever was remembered about the Beginnings in Creator. Traumatized by abrupt separation from the wholeness, most fragments drift throughout space, lost and confused, but some find their way into a body—this isn’t “possession,” it is an act of love on the part of the occupant soul.

Specially-trained teams search the heavens for the fragments, which emit vibrations on a unique bandwidth, and when one is found, it is transported to a healing facility where it is lovingly nurtured. When all fragments are located—in linear time this may take millennia—an intricate process is undertaken to restore the soul to its wholeness with every aspect of each lifetime in proper sequence. The diligent search and complex restoration show the infinite, eternal importance of each and every soul to Creator and, in this universe, to God.

“Can the soul be seen in a Kirlian photograph?” No. What is seen is the aura, light emanating from a body’s electromagnetic field that reflects the person’s spiritual status, emotional make-up, convictions and physical condition at the moment the photograph is taken.

Auras change in accordance with changes in the person. A healthy individual living in godly ways has a glowing aura that extends a fair way out from the body and may be multihued; the more spiritually evolved the individual, the brighter and broader the aura. If a person with those qualities becomes seriously ill or injured, the aura narrows and dims; its former status returns as healing occurs. A healthy individual whose mind is closed has a thin, dull aura; if that individual opens to spiritual and conscious enlightenment, the aura grows correspondingly wider and brighter. Someone whose greedy, angry, demanding or deceitful nature causes hardships for others outside their pre-birth agreement has a narrow murky border around the body; and a person who consistently ignores conscience and willfully causes suffering to others doesn’t have enough light for even an outline.

It is the collective auras of Earth’s humankind, animals and plant life that we see when we look at the planet in its entirety. Dear ones, if you could see what we do, you would be both joyous and awestricken by the panorama of love and enlightenment sparkling around the globe. Keep your light shining brilliantly!

All along your Earth journey you have been accompanied and supported by the unequaled power of love from light beings throughout this universe.

LOVE and PEACE

Suzanne Ward

Website: The Matthew Books

Email: suzy@matthewbooks.com