Economics - Filipinos bid farewell to democracy icon Aquino

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Former Philippine President Corazon "Cory" Aquino was laid to rest Wednesday next to her assassinated husband after a funeral procession joined by hundreds of thousands of supporters who hailed her as an exemplar of moral leadership.

About 600 priests and nuns linked arms around the Aquino mausoleum at the Manila Memorial Park to keep back the crowd who followed the flatbed truck with her flag-draped coffin on its final, nine-hour journey through the rain-soaked streets of the capital.

The procession went from the Manila Cathedral on a 14-mile (22-kilometer) route jammed with Filipinos dressed in yellow - the signature color of the 1986 prodemocracy uprising led by Aquino that toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Many in the crowds flashed the "L'' sign for "laban," or fight, in Filipino - an anti-dictatorship slogan - and chanted "Cory."

Aquino was buried Wednesday evening inside a simple white-painted tomb next to her husband, Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., the opposition leader whose mantle she reluctantly took on after his 1983 assassination when he returned from exile in the U.S. to run against Marcos.

Despite a patchy record during her six years in office as the 11th president of the Philippines, she remained a beloved figure. She died on Saturday after a yearlong battle with colon cancer. Her passing prompted an immense outpouring of grief.

"Nobody can replace her," said real estate agent Jessa Roche, 31, who recalled how as a child her parents had taken her to the "people power" demonstrations that transformed the Philippine politics after two decades of authoritarian rule.

"She taught us to pray and fight for our democracy. If a tyrant will return, there will be millions of Corys who will stand up. She left a good example and the next generation should continue that legacy," she said.

Former presidents Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada, the latter deposed in a second popular uprising in 2001 on corruption allegations, attended Wednesday's requiem Mass. They were joined by East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta.

"I think the greatest tribute that Filipinos can pay to Corazon Aquino and so many others who gave their lives for democracy is ... there should be no more dictatorships again," said Ramos-Horta. Aquino inspired East Timor's struggle for independence from Indonesia a decade ago, he said.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who was at odds with Aquino after she called for Arroyo to resign because of vote-rigging allegations, paid a quick visit to the wake Wednesday morning upon her return from an official trip to the U.S. and left before the church ceremonies and procession.

The Aquino family rejected offers by Arroyo for astate funeral, but the armed forces gave full military honors.

At the burial, weeping family members, including Aquino's grandchildren and sons-in-law, lined up to kiss the former president's remains in the open casket.

Senior officers then carried the casket and placed it inside the tomb while honor guards fired a 21-gun salute before playing "Taps."

Relatives, friends, supporters and military commanders placed yellow roses inside the tomb before it was sealed. The crowd sang the patriotic song "Bayan Ko (My Country)," which was popular during the anti-Marcos struggle.

Earlier, in a tearful message of thanks to the multitudes of mourners, Aquino's youngest daughter Kris said, "You have given our family honor beyond anything we could ever have hoped to receive."

"No matter how great the sacrifices of my parents, I can honestly say to all of you that for my family, the Filipinos are worth it."

During her time in office, Aquino faced down seven coup attempts, mostly by officers who had pushed for Marcos' ouster and felt they had not been given their share of power.

While she brought political change, Aquino struggled to meet high public expectations. Her land redistribution program fell short of ending economic domination by the landed elite, including her family. Her leadership, especially in social and economic reform, was often indecisive, leaving many of her closest allies disillusioned by the end of her term.

Aquino stepped down in 1992, refusing to seek another term and reminding people that her mission - the restoration of democracy - had been completed.

___

Associated Press writers Oliver Teves, Hrvoje Hranjski, Teresa Cerojano and photographer Bullit Marquez contributed to this report.

http://www.kristv.com/global/story.asp?s=10852140

Real Estate- New law to improve real estate services, industry professionalism

By Nancy R. Cudis

THE Real Estate Service Act of the Philippines (Resa) will improve professionalism in the real estate service industry in the country.

Emily Amie Cabillada of real estate service company F9 Property Development and Consultancy Inc. said accredited real estate service practitioners will be regarded as professionals like engineers, architects and nurses under the law.

Post your prayers and condolences for Cory Aquino's family

This, after Resa has moved the regulatory and supervisory authority of the real estate services in the country from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).

As a result, DTI field offices will no longer accept applications and renewal of licenses of real estate consultants, appraisers, brokers and salespersons starting July 30. All records will be moved from the DTI to the PRC, which will create the Professional Regulatory Board of Real Estate Service.

President Arroyo signed Resa into law last June 29. The law took effect starting July 30.

Under the law, those with expired licenses or those who passed previous examinations but have not applied for a license as of July 29 will be required to take another licensure exam.

“New and tougher requirements have been adopted in the Resa. For example, a broker applicant must be a holder of a relevant bachelor’s degree from a state college or university and other educational institutions recognized by the Commission for Higher Education (Ched),” said Cabillada.

She said the PRC will require applicants to be graduates with a bachelor’s degree in real estate service before they can take the licensure exam. The course, though, will still have to be developed by Ched.

For real estate salespersons, there will be no examinations but they will be required to complete at least two years of college education.

Cabillada said this is one way of upgrading the skills and knowledge of real estate service practitioners and informing the public that they will be dealing with professionals.

Resa also mandates all real estate service associations to be integrated into one national organization that will be recognized by the Professional Regulatory Board of Real Estate Service and approved by PRC as the only accredited and integrated professional organization of real estate service practitioners.

The law also provides a fine of not less than P100,000 or imprisonment of not less than two years or both against those who violate it.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on August 6, 2009.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/new-law-improve-real-estate-services-industry-professionalism

Politics - Analysis: Obama lets NKorea's Kim save face

By STEVEN R. HURST, Associated Press Writer Steven R. Hurst, Associated Press Writer – Wed Aug 5, 3:06 pm ET

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration let North Korean leader Kim Jong Il save face by releasing two jailed Americans to former President Bill Clinton. The payoff — maybe not right away — is likely to be renewed dialogue with Pyongyang about its nuclear weapons program.

After meeting with Clinton, who made an unannounced visit to the North Korean capital Tuesday, Kim pardoned and freed the young journalists who allegedly crossed into the country from China earlier this year. They were serving 12-year prison sentences.

"It could provide an opportunity to move forward on the nuclear issue, and that's not necessarily a bad thing," said Victor Cha, former Asia chief at the National Security Council. "The history with the North Koreans, as they have just done the past few months, is to put themselves out on a ledge. And they always need help getting off that ledge."

Not so fast, said Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who had spoken with her husband after the pair was released.

She said the U.S. was not counting on a breakthrough but also said it could lubricate the way for the North to return to six-party talks about its nuclear program with the U.S., Russia, China, Japan and South Korea.

But there, perhaps, is the rub. The North Koreans have been demanding bilateral talks with Washington. The U.S., however, has shot down such overtures, insisting that it will work only through the six-party format.

North Korean behavior — ever an enigma — has included in recent months the withdrawal from those talks. The regime also launched a long-range rocket, conducted a second nuclear test, test-fired a barrage of ballistic missiles, and restarted its atomic program in defiance of international criticism and the U.N. Security Council.

Obama, while pushing heavy sanctions against the North for its recent nose-thumbing of the international community, also has been low key as he pursues a resumption of talks with the Stalinist regime.

That's been difficult because the North is widely believed to be embroiled in a succession struggle after Kim reportedly suffered a stroke and began setting up a 27-year-old son to take power. Its saber-rattling was widely believed to indicate that its military wanted to show strength as a successor is chosen.

The White House has taken pains since Clinton's arrival in Pyongyang to play the mission as a private one designed only to win the release of Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, both with former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV media venture. They were captured while on assignment to collect material for a report about trafficking of North Korean women into China.

Bill Clinton undertook the mission, a senior administration official said, only after the North assured the White House that the reporters would be freed and allowed to return home with the former president.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to detail the back-channel negotiations, also said the north rejected Gore as a suitable emissary. The journalists' families, Gore and the White House then turned to Clinton. The official said President Barack Obama did not speak with Clinton about the mission.

Daniel Sneider, associate director of research at Stanford University's Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, said the journalists' release followed weeks of quiet negotiations between the State Department and the North Korean mission to the United Nations.

Clinton "didn't go to negotiate this, he went to reap the fruits of the negotiation," Sneider said.

In photographs of Clinton with Kim, the former president stood somberly at the North Korean leader's side, showing no signs of warmth. The official photographs were obviously intended for domestic consumption. Clinton is highly regarded in the North and his appearance with Kim will bolster him at home.

Pardoning Ling and Lee satisfied North Korea's need to continue maintaining that the two women had committed a crime while dispatching the former president as emissary served the Obama administration's desire not to expend diplomatic capital winning their freedom, Sneider said.

"Nobody wanted this to be a distraction from the more substantially difficult issues we have with North Korea," he said. "There was a desire by the administration to resolve this quietly, and from the very beginning they didn't allow it to become a huge public issue."

As a former leader, Clinton was a good choice to represent the United States in the delicate deliberations, according to Sneider. He had the cachet to get an audience with Kim but could claim to be acting as a private citizen.

North Korean media said Clinton had carried a message of apology from Obama and that the former president and Kim held wide-ranging talks, but White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said those claims were "not true."

Still, the diplomatic minuet was a success, more so if Obama indeed cracked open the door to resume dialogue with North Korea, whose nuclear program stands to destabilize Asia and compromise Obama's promise to work toward a world free of nuclear weapons.

Just don't hold your breath.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_us_nkorea_analysis

Health - Could Catching Swine Flu Be Good For You?

HONG KONG -- When word came in April that an entirely new, highly infectious disease--swine flu--was spreading beyond Mexico, this was the most paranoid city in the world. Land at the airport with a fever and runny nose, and you'd risk being quarantined for a week, just in case you'd brought the new disease with you.

People in this city, scarred by the SARS epidemic, still shudder when they hear someone cough. For Hong Kongers, the sound brings back memories of the scary time when the city nearly shut down and residents feared death from a new mystery disease. Schools were closed. When people left their homes--which wasn't often--many wore medical masks to reduce their exposure to anyone who might be sick.

Fast-forward. If you catch the flu in Hong Kong today--or in most places--you won't be rushed to the isolation ward just in case it proves to be the new swine flu. You'll be told to go home and rest and not cough on anyone. "Everyone has finally realized that this is going to spread," said Dr. Anthony Mounts, a flu specialist at the World Health Organization.

What a change.

That's because SARS and swine flu are proving such opposites. Both are new diseases, which means that none of the 6 billion people on the planet had immunity to them when they came on the scene. The World Health Organization feared that if they developed into full-blown pandemics and raced around the world, millions would die, defenseless against new strains.

SARS had a relatively high mortality rate, but it just so happened that it wasn't easy to catch. Swine flu is the opposite: easy to catch, like any seasonal flu, but with a mortality rate no higher than seasonal flu for most people.

But doctors expect many more people will die of swine flu than regular flu because more people will catch it. In a normal year, 8% to 10% of the population comes down with the flu, and a fraction of those sickened by flu die from it. With a new pandemic flu, like swine flu, experts expect at least three times as many people to catch it because of the lack of exposure to the new disease, said Dr. Mounts, the WHO medical officer.

But with a third of the world population likely to get swine flu, even a small mortality rate is amplified. After all, even during the notorious 1918 flu outbreak, the mortality rate was merely 2%--meaning that 98% of those who got the flu survived. The WHO doesn't have a reliable estimate for the mortality rate of swine flu, but it appears to be similar to that of a mild seasonal flu, except for high-risk groups like pregnant women and those who are already sick with other ailments.

That's lucky, since swine flu is now spreading across the globe uncontrollably.

Worldwide, the World Health Organization has confirmed 162,000 cases of swine flu, a number officials concede is an undercount because many governments have stopped testing and tracking all but the most severe cases.

Like other governments around the world, Hong Kong--where there are now more than 4,500 confirmed cases, up by 232 from 24 hours before--has stopped trying to prevent the flu, and has switched to slowing down its spread. Essentially, the new swine flu management strategy is for doctors and governments to try to buy time until a swine flu vaccine, expected in the fall, arrives.

"Our strategy is to slow down the spread of the disease as well as minimizing complications and fatality through promulgation of personal hygiene practices and other mitigation measures, and wait for the vaccine to be available in the coming months," said Dr. Thomas Chung, spokesman for the Hong Kong Center for Health Protection.

But flu viruses constantly mutate, sometimes growing more deadly, sometimes less. A cluster of swine flu cases resistant to Tamiflu, the most popular treatment, recently developed along the U.S.-Mexican border.

Some doctors say that catching swine flu now, while it is mild, could prevent a more serious infection later by building immunity in those sickened by the new flu virus.

"In the U.K. and Europe and America, it is spreading so fast that it is very likely that most people will be exposed to or get swine flu, and this will help them develop immunity before the second wave," said Dr. Raymond Ng, a doctor with OT and P, a family practice in Hong Kong. That second wave could be a mutated, more lethal flu. "Having some immunity gives us some protection against this virus," Dr. Ng said.

Global health journalist Maryn McKenna, author of Beating Back the Devil and the forthcoming Superbug, said that would only be true for those not at special risk--pregnant women and those with compromised immune systems. And even so, early infection with swine flu could produce false confidence about beating it again later. "For instance, if the flu mutates in the fall enough that you are not protected by having caught this one, but think you are protected, you might be at risk," McKenna said.

Health professionals are counting on the arrival of swine flu shots. "The safest way to acquire immunity is to get vaccinated," said Dr. Chung of the Hong Kong Center for Health Protection.

In a study released Tuesday, the University of Hong Kong found that in households where one person had the flu, the risk of infection for others in the family dropped by nearly 70% when those in the house wore surgical masks and frequently washed their hands.

Pandemic specialists agree that simple precautions are the answer now that quarantining people is passé. "If you're sick, stay home. If you have to go out, cover your mouth when you cough. Wash your hands frequently," said the WHO's Dr. Mounts.

The disease may be new, but the best solution is old-fashioned prevention.

Robyn Meredith is Hong Kong bureau chief for Forbes and the author of The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What it Means for All of Us. She writes a biweekly column.

Robyn Meredith,

http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/04/swine-flu-good-pandemic-opinions-columnists-robyn-meredith.html?partner=yahoobuzz

Ramos-Horta pays homage to Cory, Filipino people

MANILA, Philippines -- East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta said today (Aug.5) he admires the Filipinos' resiliency in the face of adversity.

"Filipinos have always smiled and hoped. They are very resilient," said Ramos-Horta when he arrived this afternoon at the Manila Memorial Park in Paranaque City to pay his last respects to former President Corazon Aquino.

Ramos-Horta also underscored the importance of the Edsa People Power Revolution, which ousted the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. The peaceful uprising was spearheaded by the church, civil society groups, the then political opposition headed by Mrs. Aquino and ordinary citizens.

"This was the first democratic movement in Southeast Asia," he said, noting that many Filipino priests and nuns are working as missionaries in East Timor, which has also experienced several political upheavals in the past.

Ramos-Horta said he wants to pay homage to Mrs. Aquino whom he last met in August 2008 for her contributions to empowering the Filipino people and for her role an "icon of democracy."

Though not a state funeral, today's farewell for Mrs. Aquino was well attended by tens of thousands of mourners who braved the rains and traffic. Ramos-Horta said he made the decision to attend the last rites for Mrs. Aquino since he was a journalist in East Timor before he became the head of state.

He also disclosed that there is no scheduled meeting with President Arroyo after the burial for Mrs. Aquino.

Ramos-Horta and his entourage arrived in Manila at around 4 a.m. today. He will fly back to East Timor tomorrow (Aug.6). - By Dennis Carcamo (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/star/20090805/tph-ramos-horta-pays-homage-cory-filipin-541dfb4.html