Opinion 11/29/15 (Philippines, El Nino, tarsier, ASEAN, China)

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Inquirer about El Niño and tarsier
There’s a dark shadow on the holiday season that is now upon us: the fragility of our environment, as underscored by the climate change conference in Paris, the resulting consensus of which is most crucial to the planet. That fragility is brought home to our part of the world by El Niño, which threatens to be severe, as well as a poignant report that the Philippine tarsier is now on the most-endangered list. [...] The prevailing dangerous times are also particularly illustrated by the recent announcement of wildlife experts that more than half of the primates worldwide are facing extinction as a result of habitat destruction and hunting. For the first time ever, the list of at-risk species now includes the Philippine tarsier (Carlito syrchta), according to scientists who attended a conference in Singapore last week. [full text]

Manila Bulletin on ASEAN
We have long seen ourselves as a nation which asserted its independence from Spanish colonial rule on June 12, 1896. Starting December 31, 2015, we must also start thinking of ourselves as part of a unified ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Community. President Aquino and the leaders of the nine other ASEAN nations formally approved last Sunday a declaration creating the ASEAN Community. [full text]

Philippine Star about Philippines-China financing 
Eleven years after the governments of the Philippines and China broke ground for the project, construction of what was originally called the North Luzon Railway may finally get underway. Another Philippine administration is involved and China is out of the financing. The project has been renamed the North-South Commuter Rail project and the length of the system has been extended from the original 32 kilometers to 36.7, from the Philippine National Railways main station in Tutuban, Manila to Malolos City in Bulacan. [full text]

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