Taiwan on Wednesday donated US$200,000 to the Philippine province of Abra to help with reconstruction efforts following a powerful earthquake late last month.
At least 11 people were killed and 410 injured after the northern province was struck by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake on July 27, triggering landslides, toppling buildings and causing estimated agricultural losses of 287 million pesos (US$5.17 million).
Manila Economic and Cultural Office chairman and Taiwan Representative Silvestre Bello received the donation from Representative to the Philippines Michael Hsu (徐佩勇) at a ceremony in Manila, which was also attended by Abra Province Governor Dominic Valera.
Photo: CNA
Abra would soon recover with the help of donation, Valera said at the ceremony.
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and Filipinos “express their heartfelt gratitude for the Taiwanese government’s goodwill and concern,” Bello said.
Separately, Bello addressed concerns about tensions between Taiwan and China, saying that contingencies are in place with regards to emergency evacuation, shelter, medicine and food supplies.
However, the lives of Filipinos in Taiwan are “normal” and there have been “no requests for shelter, let alone evacuation,” he said.
Beijing last week launched an unprecedented set of military exercises encircling Taiwan in response to a visit by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday and Wednesday last week.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner