In southeast Asia, more talk about public transit as congestion chokes cities

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama takes offense at President Benigno Aquino III’s dig | Sun.Star: "The TWG had said that flyovers are not among the recommended traffic solutions in previous transportation studies.

They said that completed transportation and land use studies for Metro Cebu identified the following solutions to the traffic congestion: opening of new or by-pass roads; the improvement, repair and widening of existing roads; traffic enforcement and management; adoption of a strategic highway network; and promotion of a mass transport system. "

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Philippines: Road traffic choking Cebu

Rep. Eduardo Gullas for Light Rail Transit and Bus Rapid Transit | Sun.Star: "Whatever option is picked, Gullas said, the increasing traffic problem in Metro Cebu raises the need for all sectors to brainstorm and work for on an alternative public transportation system."

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Environmental threats could push billions into extreme poverty, warns UN | Global development | The Guardian

A Filipino boy washes his face in murky waters in Manila. Inaction on the environment will accelerate global poverty, warns the UN. Photograph: Francis R Malasig/EPA

The Guardian: "The number of people living in extreme poverty could increase by up to 3 billion by 2050 unless urgent action is taken to tackle environmental challenges, a major UN report warned on Thursday."

Typhoon costs in Philippines were 2.9% of GDP in 2009 and have been rising

Thousands of banana trees toppled by Bopha in New Bataan, Philippines. Photograph: Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images
Filipino super-typhoon an ominous warning of climate change impact | World news | The Guardian: "Mary Ann Lucille Sering, head of the Philippine government's climate change commission, is in no doubt her country faces a deepening crisis that it can ill afford, financially and in human terms. Typhoon-related costs in 2009, the year the commission was created, amounted to 2.9% of GDP, she said, and have been rising each year since then."

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BBC News - Typhoon Bopha: Fears for Philippines missing

Typhoon-hit communities are desperate for relief supplies,

 resorting to holding up signs along roadsides asking for donations

BBC News - Typhoon Bopha: Fears for Philippines missing: "The number of people missing after Typhoon Bopha struck the southern Philippines has risen to more than 800, with 620 confirmed dead."

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Philippine address to Doha COP18, pleading for action on #clmate

U.S. cares only about oil, not the Philippine people

Why Filipinos should know their real history | Opinion, News, The Philippine Star | philstar.com: " We do not realize that we are cheering the US in their attempt to make our country the frontline of a US-China conflict. Because nobody is talking about the looming Peak Oil Crisis — that point when supply can no longer service the demand — Filipinos fail to appreciate why the US invaded Iraq when Saddam Hussein and Iraq had nothing to do with the 9/11 attack in New York City. It was all about the looming shortage of oil supply. Iraq has the world’s fourth largest oil reserves. Why is the US so hot in now targeting Iran? Iran has just as much oil as Iraq. Are you surprised that the US has been very active in the issues among territorial claimants in the South China Sea?"