Tag: Minority

Poe says she will join Sotto in minority if there is leadership change in Senate

(Eagle News)–Senator Grace Poe on Wednesday, May 29, said she would join the minority if  Senate President Tito Sotto is unseated as leader of the chamber and becomes a member of the bloc. “Oo. Kung lilipat si Senator Sotto sa minority, sasama nalang ako,” Poe, who won reelection as an independent candidate in the May 13 polls, said. According to Poe, if Sotto transfers to the minority, “masasabi kong mas lalakas ito.” So far,  Minority […]

Japan to recognize indigenous Ainu people for first time

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) – Japan’s government introduced a bill Friday to recognize the country’s ethnic Ainu minority as an “indigenous” people for the first time, after decades of discrimination against the group. The Ainu people — many of whom live in northern Hokkaido — have long suffered the effects of a policy of forced assimilation, and while discrimination has receded gradually, income and education gaps with the rest of Japan persist. “It is important to […]

Quimbo: Composition of minority bloc in House up to Arroyo

(Eagle News)—-Rep. Miro Quimbo on Sunday, July 30, said it was up to newly elected Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to decide who would be the minority in the House of Representatives. Quimbo made the pronouncement in an interview over radio dzbb, following differing positions on who should constitute the bloc under Arroyo’s leadership. Rep. Edcel Lagman said that under the rules, those who did not vote for Arroyo as Speaker should automatically comprise the new […]

House minority to reject proposed Comelec budget for 2019 if Smartmatic not replaced

(Eagle News) — Members of the House minority bloc on Thursday, June 14, said they would move for the rejection of the Commission on Elections’ budget proposal for 2019 if the poll agency does not replace Smartmatic as the midterm elections’ technology provider. “Glaring na glaring naman ‘yung lapses nila,” House minority leader Danilo Suarez said. BUHAY party-list Rep. Lito Atienza cited as an example Smartmatic’s alleged lapses during the 2016 elections. He said such […]

Talks in Myanmar to ‘settle issues’ on Rohingya return

YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Talks were held Monday to “settle issues” over the repatriation of Rohingya refugees to Myanmar, Bangladeshi officials told AFP, as doubts linger over how many of the 655,000 Muslim minority who fled violence are likely to return. Under diplomatic pressure, Myanmar has vowed to repatriate refugees driven into Bangladesh by an army crackdown last year, if they can verify they belong in western Rakhine state. But aid agencies question how many […]

Suu Kyi denies ethnic cleansing of Myanmar minority

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Aung San Suu Kyi has denied the ethnic cleansing of Myanmar’s Muslim minority, speaking to the BBC after the United Nations rights council agreed to investigate allegations against the army. “I don’t think there is ethnic cleansing going on. I think ethnic cleansing is too strong an expression to use for what is happening,” Suu Kyi said in the interview televised on Wednesday. Her one-year-old government has faced international condemnation for […]