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Taiwan News Quick Take

■ CULTURE

Filipino festival to be held

The 2008 Taipei Filipino Festival will be held tomorrow at Da-an Park in Taipei to celebrate Philippine Independence Day and the country’s culture. The festival, which will be held between 10am and 6pm, will feature 20 stalls selling Philippine snacks as well as dancing and singing performances. Rodulfo Sabulao, director of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office’s labor center, said during a press conference at Taipei City Hall yesterday that Philippine Independence Day fell on June 12 and holding the festival tomorrow would give Filipinos a chance to get together and celebrate their national holiday. Taipei City’s Labor Affairs Department said there are about 8,000 Filipinos working in Taiwan. The city government has cooperated with the Manila Economic and Cultural Office to hold the festival to allow “new immigrants” from the Philippines and local residents to experience Filipino culture and enjoy the holiday.



■DIPLOMACY

St. Lucia reaffirms ties

St. Lucian Prime Minister Stephenson King yesterday expressed his nation’s gratitude for Taiwan’s technical assistance and reaffirmed that ties between the two nations were firm and stable since the renewal of diplomatic relations in April last year. King made the remarks at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the two governments signed an agreement to boost bilateral agricultural cooperation and released a new book featuring wild birds of St. Lucia. St. Lucia was the only ally not represented at President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) inauguration ceremony last month. St. Lucian Agriculture Minister Ezechiel Joseph also thanked Taiwan’s agricultural mission and said many Caribbean nations were closely “observing and analyzing” how the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Taipei had benefited his country.



■SOCIETY

Club holds rummage sale

The Taipei American School’s (TAS) Orphanage Club will hold its annual summer rummage sale tomorrow from 10am to 5pm in the school’s forecourt and lobby — come rain or shine. Club members have collected a huge variety of new and used clothing, shoes, sports equipment, games and toys, furniture, household appliances and other items. The money raised will provide funding for orphans and other children in need across the nation and abroad. TAS is located at 800 Zhongshan N Rd, Sec 6, in Tianmu (天母).



■HEALTH

Summer camps planned

Special summer camps to educate mothers on healthy food and encourage children to eat more vegetables and fruit will open next month, the Homemaker’s Union and Foundation (HUF) said yesterday. HUF executive secretary Chen Ju-wei (陳儒瑋) said many mothers were not aware that local markets were full of tainted foods and cooking materials and the HUF hoped that, through the event, mothers could gain a better understanding of how to select good quality foodstuffs. “We at the HUF would like to help participating mothers gain knowledge that enables them to purchase good and healthy food for their family,” Chen said. He said that the camp would include a variety of activities, such as teaching children to make gelatins containing fruit. Chen said mothers with a child aged between between nine and 12 could register directly with the HUF to attend one of the four half-day camps to be held on July 5, July 11, July 19 and July 29. The cost for each mother-child pairing would be NT$200, which covers the cost of registration and the materials used, Chen said.

■Health

Blood donors wanted

The Taiwan Blood Services Foundation voiced hope yesterday that 15,000 people under 30 years of age would donate blood on a regular basis to help more than 400 thalassemic patients. Foundation officials said it would begin a one-month blood donor drive today, World Blood Donation Day, to meet the goal. Officials said that thalassemic patients rely heavily on high-quality blood to survive. Chang Yu-cheng, a 30-year-old thalassemic sufferer, said she has been receiving blood transfusions since she was three months old. “We’re modern-day Draculas,” Chang said of herself and fellow sufferers. “I used to think that every child has to take Desferal injection before they go to bed,” she said, referring to the medicine taken to remove excess iron in the blood accumulated through repeated blood transfusions. Thalassemia is an inherited form of anemia found chiefly among people of Mediterranean descent. The patient must receive blood transfusions intermittently.



■CRIME

Heroin smugglers arrested

The Investigation Bureau announced yesterday it had seized 31kg of heroin at Taichung Harbor from a container which came from Thailand. Investigators said the seizure was the largest quantity of smuggled drugs they had confiscated this year, with an estimated street value of NT$100 million (US$3.28 million). Taichung customs officials said they suspected that several heroin bricks were hidden in two teak closets imported from Thailand, but did not take action until three suspects — Lin Chin-yi, 33; Shu Wei-chun, 30; and Kuo Hsiu-fang, 55 — came to pick up the furniture. The investigators arrested the three suspects when they tried to dismantle the furniture to get the heroin. Kuo is a vagrant who has a record of drug smuggling in the past. The investigators said that the drug trafficking ring from central Taiwan, which usually hires homeless people to transport heroin and uses pseudo companies to declare their imported goods at the customs office, had smuggled drugs into the country several times using the same method.


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