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Web-only Exclusives November 30, 2000 From Our Correspondent: Hirohito and the War A conversation with biographer Herbert Bix From Our Correspondent: A Rough Road Ahead Bad news for the Philippines - and some others From Our Correspondent: Making Enemies Indonesia needs friends. So why is it picking fights? |
Week of Feburary 23, 1996
POLITICAL BANK JOB
Police do not know if it was a politically motivated attack or just another bank robbery. Two bystanders were injured in a midday grenade assault on the Citibank and Shell Philippines buildings in the Makati business district of Metro Manila. SWAT teams closed the area. "Everything is normal. Nobody was hurt" -- inside the buildings -- an official said.Week of Feburary 16, 1996
OK TO TOUCH DOWN
Officials at Manila's Ninoy Aquino Airport say they have been told by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration that warnings posted at other airports worldwide advising travelers of safety and security problems at the facility will soon be removed. The Philippine airport built a perimeter fence and made other improvements to win the FAA's approval.Week of Feburary 9, 1996
TRY AGAIN, MR. WU
Now that relations have improved between the Philippines and U.S. corporate giant Westinghouse, Manila will let Hopewell Holding's Gordon Wu bid again on a $1.5 billion power plant project he was granted, but lost, because his plans called for Westinghouse-designed turbines. The turbines are no longer taboo for use in the project.Week of Feburary 2, 1996
CASH PAID OFF
The U.S. corporate giant Westinghouse has made the second of two $20-million payments to the Philippines. It is part of an out-of-court settlement to resume business. The long-standing acrimony stems from charges that the company bribed Marcos-era officials for the contract to build a nuclear power plant west of Manila, now moth-balled.Week of January 12, 1996
NEW FRIENDS
Defense Minister Renato de Villa says similar agreements with other countries will follow, but the defense accord he signed with Britain is the first since the U.S. military pulled out of the Philippines in 1992. Military contacts will start between the two countries later this year. In 1997, a Royal Navy task force will join Philippine forces for exercises in the Sulu Sea.Week of January 5, 1996
RENEWAL OF TIES
After a nine-month hiatus following the execution of domestic helper Flor Contemplacion, Singapore and the Philippines have agreed to exchange ambassadors. Singapore also agreed to allow Manila to participate in the investigation of the death of a Filipino maid, Angelina Palaming, 28, who fell nine floors, holding a four-year-old child, on Dec. 7 in Singapore.GIVING UP PAL
PR Holdings, the consortium of government institutions that controls 67% of Philippine Airlines with ethnic Chinese tycoon Lucio Tan, will be dissolved at the request of the government, which wants greater direct control of the flag carrier. Terms are still under negotiation, but all parties agree PAL needs about $192 million in new capital.News from The Philippines in 1995
