These two Philippines stories are too good to miss.
First, I was pleasantly surprised by a recent front-page article in the Sunday, January 4, 2015 Washington Post about U.S. recognition (or lack thereof) of the contributions of Filipinos who served in the U.S. Army in World War Two. The article is entitled "Final Compensation" and deals with the unfortunate feet dragging by the U.S. in properly rewarding the Filipino veterans and their families. The article uses this prominent and telling sub-heading: "Filipinos who aided U.S. forces in World War II received citizenship in 1990--but a green-card backlog keeps them apart from grown kids."
Secondly, while I was surprised to see the "Final Compensation" article as front-page news in the Washington Post, I had been even more surprised by an article a few weeks earlier in the New York Times (Tuesday, December 9, 2014) entitled "Philippines Pushes Developing Countries to Cut Their Emissions." This news was totally new. In fact it basically announced a reversal of the country's environmental direction. Instead of largely ignoring climate change due to human causes (the "use of fossil fuels"), Filipinos were now urging major reductions in these emissions (by themselves and others). Typhoons and rising water levels have finally gotten Filipinos' attention. There is even a new organization called "Philly" to promote awareness of the problem, and they are delighted with Pope Francis' visit (starting today, January 16, 2015). Francis recently declared that Climate Change could no longer be morally ignored.
Going back to the first story, and speaking of morality, Francis also praised the U.S., or at least President Obama, for policies that would help keep immigrant parents and their U.S. children together.
RHB
