MANILA/JEDDAH: Amid a raging diplomatic crisis in the Gulf region, the Philippine government on Tuesday stopped Filipinos from traveling to Qatar, fearing food riots and other potential problems.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello said the suspension order would remain in place until the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) deems it safe for Filipino workers to return to Qatar.
“Effective today, the deployment of Filipino workers to Qatar is suspended,” Bello said in a press conference, adding that the suspension covers even those with complete documents.
Bello said there was no plan yet to repatriate the more than 250,000 Filipinos in Qatar. The DFA says there are 250,000 Filipinos in Qatar, while the Labor Department’s records showed there were 141,000 documented Filipino workers in Qatar in 2016.
Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella also expressed fear that the diplomatic crisis gripping Qatar “may have some ripple effects” over overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).
“Concerned government agencies are now looking at the matter and will extend other support and assistance to OFWs who may be affected by such action,” he said in a statement.
A Filipino labor policy and advocacy group lamented that no prior consultations were made by the Labor Department before issuing a suspension order.
“As stakeholders, we would have wanted to be a part of the decision-making process considering its impact on OFWs bound for Qatar,” said Susan Ople, head of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center.
The group, which also helps workers in distress, said it has not monitored or received any complaints or information about untoward incidents involving OFWs in Qatar since Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut ties with Qatar.
“Our workers in Qatar are focused on serving their companies well and providing for their families back home. They were surprised by the suspension order and have many questions about it. They remain hopeful that this impasse would be over soon,” Ople said in reply to an Arab News query.
“We appreciate the gravity and complexity of the problem and thus support calls for sobriety and peaceful dialogue as pathways to resolution. Meanwhile, every effort must be made to ensure that foreign workers who are doing their share to help the regional economy are not caught in the middle of the crisis. If there are consensus points to be made, one of them must be the continued protection of the rights and welfare of migrant workers wherever they may be in the Middle East.”
The Philippines is a major labor supplier, with about a tenth of more than 100 million Filipinos working abroad because of inadequate jobs and opportunities at home.
Bello said it was not an easy decision to make, considering that OFWs in Qatar “relatively enjoy good working conditions.” Most OFWs in Qatar work as technicians, skilled and semi-skilled workers.
However, he said: “We are foreseeing a possible problem in Qatar …, as you know, Qatar is not producing its own food. If anything happens and they run out of food and food riots take place, definitely our OFWs will be the first victims.”
Bello said the Philippine labor attache in Doha dismissed as “wild rumors” reports of store shelves going empty as panicky residents rushed to stock food supply.
Nonetheless, he said: “We need to adopt preparatory measures to meet the possible exigency.”
Bello added that he has directed the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Qatar to stock food. He said he has also sent additional manpower to the affected Mideast countries to address the concerns of OFWs.
Filipino workers in Qatar in interviews with Philippine media told of store shelves being emptied of food stocks on Monday.
A nurse at Hamad Medical Corporation told GMA News Online that her husband had to buy rice, canned goods, milk and water from a supermarket far from their apartment because the markets nearby were empty.
A mother of two said she could only buy so much food supply and diapers for her baby boy because there were no more stock available.
Another worker said he did not find the situation alarming, although he confirmed seeing empty store shelves “because of panic-buying.”
On Facebook, some Filipinos debated whether the suspension order was a good decision or not.
“Prudence dictates that the Philippine government should suspend the departure of Filipino citizens, OFWs or not, until the situation normalizes. As it is, the situation can further deteriorate. As such, contingency plans should already be prepared…” said Lito Madrasto.
Ricardo R. Casco argued: “The tension is rooted in the support extended to terrorists. Will we continue to send workers if that is the case? It’s not just about the safety reason. What is our position on terrorism?”
Jess Varela said: “Temporary suspension may be the prudent thing to do. But let’s not call it suspension. Let’s think of something that will somehow prolong deployment. It could be solved in three months and it will appear that we did not abandon a friendly nation in their times of need.”
He added: “If we are able to get the private recruitment agencies to agree and call for some sort of review, then it will not be the government who initiated the move. And if things get solved in three months, we will not be seen as unfriendly. If the crisis is prolonged, then we should have been ready in three months to get our OFWs out.”
Philippines bans workers heading to Qatar amid ‘wild rumors’
Philippines bans workers heading to Qatar amid ‘wild rumors’
Taiwan holds air, sea drills as China keeps up pressure
China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since 1949, but Beijing considers it part of its territory and has refused to renounce the use of force to bring the island under its control.
Beijing regularly deploys fighter jets, drones and warships around Taiwan, and occasionally balloons, as it keeps up military pressure.
The early morning exercise was aimed at testing “the response and engagement procedures of air defense units,” Taiwan’s Air Force Command said in a statement.
“Various types of aircraft, ships, and air defense missile systems were deployed from 5:00 am to 7:00 am,” the statement said, without providing details.
The last time the Air Force Command held such drills was in June, a month after Taiwan President Lai Ching-te took office.
Taiwan’s defense ministry reported Thursday it had detected two Chinese balloons over waters north of the island.
The balloons were spotted on Wednesday afternoon in two locations about 111 kilometers (69 miles) northwest and 163 kilometers north of Keelung City.
That follows the sighting of a Chinese balloon on Sunday over the same waters.
Along with the two balloons, 13 Chinese military aircraft and seven navy vessels were spotted around Taiwan in the 24 hours to 6:00 am on Thursday, the ministry said.
Taiwan lives under the constant threat of a Chinese invasion and has ramped up defense spending in recent years to strengthen its military capabilities.
The island has a home-grown defense industry but also relies heavily on arms sales from Washington, which is Taiwan’s most important partner and biggest provider of weapons and ammunition.
Taiwan has described the balloons as a form of “grey zone” harassment — a tactic that falls short of an act of war.
LVMH chief Bernard Arnault to testify in France spy trial
- Arnault is not accused of any wrongdoing in the trial after paying a 10 million euro settlement in 2021 to close a criminal probe into LVMH’s role in the case
PARIS: LVMH Chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault is set to testify at a Paris court on Thursday in the trial of France’s former spy chief Bernard Squarcini, a case that has cast light on the lengths to which the world’s biggest luxury group has allegedly gone to protect its image.
Squarcini, who headed France’s counter-intelligence services from 2008 to 2012, was later hired by LVMH as a security consultant, during which time he allegedly illegally collected information on private individuals and violated privacy laws while helping the company fight counterfeits and monitor left-wing activists planning to target the company with protests.
He is also charged with leaking classified information, interfering with justice and peddling influence.
Squarcini’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Arnault is not accused of any wrongdoing in the trial after paying a 10 million euro settlement in 2021 to close a criminal probe into LVMH’s role in the case.
He has said that the recruitment of Squarcini was conducted by Pierre Gode, his longtime right-hand man at LVMH who died in 2018, and that he was unaware of information allegedly collected by Squarcini, according to court documents.
However the two-week trial has thrust the billionaire into the spotlight at a time when his sprawling luxury empire is already navigating a downturn in the industry and a reshuffling of top management.
LVMH paid Squarcini’s consulting firm Kyrnos 2.2 million euros for services including allegedly searching the background of individuals suspected of counterfeiting luxury goods.
He also allegedly monitored Francois Ruffin, a French activist who is currently a politician, and members of his left-wing publication Fakir as they planned to disrupt an LVMH shareholder meeting and prepared their satirical, documentary film “Merci Patron.”
The film, which won the French Cesar award for best documentary in 2017, follows a family that lost their jobs at a supplier to LVMH.
Bernard Arnault’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Adani allegations shine spotlight on India’s clean energy conundrum
- The problem is that India’s states are unprepared for the rapid rise in renewable generating capacity, lack adequate transmission infrastructure and storage
NEW DELHI: Bribery allegations against Adani Group founder Gautam Adani have highlighted the growing problem India’s renewable energy developers face in finding buyers for the power they generate.
While India’s central government wants to shift away from polluting coal-fired generation toward solar and wind, officials say state government-owned power distribution companies responsible for keeping the lights on have dragged their heels over striking renewable purchase deals. US authorities allege that Indian billionaire Adani conspired to devise a $265 million scheme to bribe Indian state government officials to secure solar power supply deals, after one of his companies was unable to secure buyers for a $6 billion project for several years.
The Adani Group has denied the charges.
The conglomerate is not alone in facing increasingly long delays in signing up buyers for the renewable electricity capacity which is now being developed in coal-dependent India — the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
Coal accounted for 75 percent of India’s power generation during the year to the end of March, with renewables such as solar and wind, but not including hydro-electricity, making up about 12 percent.
India is still more than 10 percent short of its much-publicized pledge to add 175 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power by 2022.
That has led the federal government to ramp up bidding for renewable projects to meet an ambitious 2030 target of increasing its non-fossil fuel capacity to 500 gigawatts (GW). In the five years to March 2028 it plans to tender for more than four-times the capacity of renewable energy projects it commissioned in the preceding five.
To push states to help meet India’s overall goal, New Delhi in 2022 introduced so-called renewable purchase obligations (RPOs), which mandate that states increase clean energy adoption so that the national share doubles to 43.3 percent in March 2030.
Honouring these RPOs would require 20 of the 30 provinces monitored to more than double the share of green power in their electricity mix, a February report by government think-tank NITI Aayog showed.
The problem is that India’s states are unprepared for the rapid rise in renewable generating capacity, lack adequate transmission infrastructure and storage and would rather rely on fossil fuel for supply than risk “intermittent” renewables.
The challenges were stark in the case of Adani Green, India’s largest renewable energy company, which took nearly 3-1/2 years to strike supply deals with buyers for the entire 8 gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity it won in a tender widely publicized as the country’s biggest.
DEMAND POOL
Yet setting targets for tenders and issuing contracts is “meaningless” so long as interest from power distribution companies is so low, said R. Srikanth, energy industry adviser and dean at India’s National Institute of Advanced Studies.
And the allegations against Adani are likely to result in a further renewables slowdown, as low-cost finance from foreign investors may become more difficult to secure, Srikanth said.
A change in the way some tenders are run has exacerbated delays in the time it takes to complete renewables projects. The tender won by Adani Green was the first major contract issued by state-run Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI) without a state-guaranteed Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).
When announced in June 2019, SECI said buyers were guaranteed, but it withdrew the provision from the deal signed a year later.
SECI’s chairman told Reuters last month that a three-fold increase in tendering of renewable projects has left 30 GW of projects for which bidding is complete, but without buyers.
“You can’t expect the states to respond and start signing three times the power supply agreements,” R P Gupta told Reuters in an interview, adding that a “demand pool has to be created” and states had to be “sensitised” to renewables.
Brokerage JM Financial said that it now takes 8 to 10 months to sign power supply deals after a contract is awarded.
By comparison, companies that were awarded contracts between July 2018 and December 2020 needed around three months to strike supply deals, SECI data showed.
“The sudden surge in bids, large pipeline of projects under construction, mismatch in power demand and bid-pipeline ... and constraints in timely execution of projects are leading to delays in signing,” JM Financial said.
Renewable energy projects have also seen cancelations, with about 4 percent-5 percent of all tendered projects annulled, and backlogs in transmission infrastructure development, Gupta said.
One solution, said Rakesh Nath, former chairman of India’s Central Electricity Authority, would be knowing how much power buyers want before projects are bid for.
“Taking buyers into confidence before inviting bids may minimize delays in signing power supply agreements,” he said.
‘Anti-woke’ Americans hail death of DEI as another domino topples
- Conservative activists hailed 2023 as a landmark year in America’s never-ending culture wars
WASHINGTON: America’s largest private employer, Walmart, is the latest name to join a list of US businesses and institutions rethinking programs to bolster minority groups as support for progressive policies erodes.
Walmart said it will phase out the terms “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) and “Latinx,” end supplier diversity programs, shutter a racial equity center and pull out of a prominent gay rights index.
The announcement comes in the wake of similar moves by a string of prestige brands — from Ford, John Deere and Lowe’s to Harley-Davidson and Jack Daniel’s — reflecting a backlash against so-called political correctness in American public life.
The rightward shift is credited in part for populist Donald Trump’s White House comeback and for laying the groundwork for a 2023 Supreme Court ruling ending affirmative action in college admissions.
DEI initiatives aim to right historical discrimination but conservatives have long criticized them as unfairly targeting white people, particularly men, as well as being performative “virtue-signaling.”
Anti-DEI activist Robby Starbuck, who lobbied Walmart before its announcement, celebrated the “biggest win yet for our movement to end wokeness in corporate America” and noted that the company’s stock had risen 2.1 percent.
“Our movement is a force in the market. Go woke, go broke actually has meaning now,” he posted on X.
Starbuck, 35, told AFP in an interview before Trump’s November 5 victory over Democrat Kamala Harris — who was criticized for previous “woke” policy positions — that ordinary Americans were sick of inclusivity and diversity policies at US companies.
“People are entitled to their views, and we need to have a system that creates equal footing for everybody and doesn’t force any one ideology down everybody’s throats,” he said.
Emboldened by Trump’s campaign pledges to end “wokeness,” conservative groups have been filing numerous lawsuits targeting corporate and federal programs aimed at elevating minorities and women.
Trump himself focused mostly on political correctness that he says is infecting the nation’s classrooms, promising executive orders to cut federal funding schools pushing critical race theory and “transgender insanity.”
The president-elect has surrounded himself with anti-woke allies of all stripes, including his incoming deputy policy chief Stephen Miller, whose America First Legal group has targeted corporate diversity.
The military has been the main target of anti-woke crusaders in the US Congress, who argue that racial justice education and an obsession with climate change have made the troops go soft and driven a recruitment slump.
Republican lawmakers who spent much of the last congressional session locked in a war with Pentagon leaders on political-correctness were rewarded with Trump’s pick to lead the defense department’s workforce of three million — anti-DEI Fox News host Pete Hegseth.
Conservative activists hailed 2023 as a landmark year in America’s never-ending culture wars, when the conservative-majority Supreme Court ended affirmative action in university admissions, reversing a major gain of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.
Conservative groups pounced on the ruling to fight all manner of diversity programs in court.
And in March, the University of Florida ended DEI programs and related jobs as part of Republican Governor Ron DeSantis’s offensive against “woke ideology” — joining campuses in around a dozen other states.
Workers are divided on the merits of DEI, with a slowly-growing share saying their company pays too much attention to the issue — 19 percent in an October Pew Research Center poll compared with 14 percent in the same survey in February 2023.
But a new poll of 1,300 employees from business think tank The Conference Board, showed a robust 58 percent indicating that their organization devotes the appropriate level of effort on DEI.
“Leaders should focus on what really matters for their workforce amid the noise, as these initiatives are crucial for attracting and retaining current and future talent,” said Allan Schweyer, the group’s principal Researcher for human capital.
Global operation seizes 1,400 tons of drugs, unearths new Pacific trafficking route
- More than 1,400 tons of drugs seized, over 400 criminals arrested in global operation in October and November
- Operation “Orion” involved the US, Brazil, Spain, Netherlands and other nations, as well as multiple international organizations
- The seizure deprived drug cartels of more than $8.4 billion dollars, according to the Colombian Navy
BOGOTA: Authorities from dozens of countries seized 225 metric tons of cocaine in a six-week mega-operation where they unearthed a new Pacific trafficking route from South America to Australia, the Colombian Navy said Wednesday.
The latest phase of global naval operation “Orion” resulted in the seizure of more than 1,400 tons of drugs, including 225 tons of cocaine and 128 tons of marijuana, navy official Orlando Enrique Grisales told reporters.
More than 400 people were arrested in the operation targeting oceans, coasts, rivers and ports around the globe in October and November.
The massive bust involved the security agencies of the United States, Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands and several other nations, as well as multiple international organizations.
The seizure deprived drug cartels of more than $8.4 billion dollars, according to a Navy statement.
Grisales said officials also seized a semisubmersible wood-and-fiber glass vessel on its way to Australia with five tons of Colombian cocaine.
This was the third such vessel discovered in this area, revealing a “new route” of trafficking with sophisticated boats that can cover the distance of some 10,000 miles without needing to refuel.
A kilogram of cocaine is sold for up to $240,000 in Australia, said Grisales — about six times more than the price in the United States.
“It is a route that is becoming increasingly profitable because prices are much higher in Australia,” a security source told AFP.
“Initially, these boats were used mainly to take the drugs out of the country and move them off the coast of Colombia and then transfer them to ships,” added the source.
“It has been found that these semisubmersibles, sometimes even submersibles, are now increasingly sophisticated, with very fine engineering.”
The operation also uncovered previously-unknown alliances between cartels from Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru with groups from Europe and Oceania.
“It is not just a pyramid structure as the cartels once were. Today they are organized crime networks joined together,” said Grisales.
Colombia is the world’s biggest cocaine producer and exporter, mainly to the United States and Europe.
Last year, the South American country set a new record for cocaine production and cultivation of the coca leaf it is made from.
