https://www.scmp.com/rss/324836/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com For six years, Leo*, a 29-year old Filipino man, managed to keep the fact that he had been infected with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) from his family. But that secret was exposed in the worst possible manner last month, when a traffic officer at a checkpoint in Manila, installed due to the coronavirus lockdown, shouted it out for all the world to hear. Like 50 million other people in the Philippines, Leo has been affected by the lockdown imposed by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3080389/coronavirus-philippine-hiv-patients-struggle-get-life?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3080389/coronavirus-philippine-hiv-patients-struggle-get-life?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Apr 2020 03:30:12 +0000 Even for a president famed for turning the air blue, it was a colourful way to conduct a press conference. “You are not only throwing toilet paper – you are throwing s*** at us,” snarled Rodrigo Duterte at hapless Rappler journalist Pia Ranada as he brandished a copy of the news site’s latest exposé, railing against what he labelled “fake news”. It wasn’t hard to grasp why the Filipino president was so angry. Just a day earlier, on January 15, Rappler’s licence had been revoked in a move the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2129536/philippines-duterte-war-drugs-war-media?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2129536/philippines-duterte-war-drugs-war-media?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 20 Jan 2018 00:02:02 +0000 For Filipino satirist Raden Payas, there is a clear line between what he writes and the fake news phenomenon that is sweeping across the globe. His articles lampooning politicians’ eating habits and referencing the sexual exploits of political pundits are not meant to be taken at face value, he insists, but instead are social commentary. “There are fake news items that are not offensive and can make people laugh, they are just fake humour articles, they’re satirical,” he says. As officials in... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2125121/philippines-and-singapore-one-mans-fake-news-another-mans-free?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2125121/philippines-and-singapore-one-mans-fake-news-another-mans-free?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Dec 2017 11:15:00 +0000 Zany Mique needs little reminding of the dark time in Philippine history 45 years ago when dictator Ferdinand Marcos placed the nation under martial law. She was imprisoned twice during that nine-year period – an era marked by widespread human rights abuses including extrajudicial killings, torture and incarcerations. But she is worried others might forget just how dark that period was – particularly given President Rodrigo Duterte’s announcement that he is considering granting immunity to the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2112471/45-years-dads-martial-law-are-marcoses-still-calling-shots?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2112471/45-years-dads-martial-law-are-marcoses-still-calling-shots?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 24 Sep 2017 03:30:46 +0000 It has been more than 10 years since Aye Min fled Myanmar amid the fighting between the military and the Karen nationalist forces. With nothing but the clothes on her back, Aye Min boarded a boat in 2006 and crossed the Moie river to Mae Sot, a district located at the border of Thailand and Myanmar. Now 43, Aye Min lives in a house in Mae Sot where she works as a cleaner, receiving 300 baht (US$8) at most in a week. She hardly goes out though, afraid that she may be caught by the police and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/article/2103651/who-bears-brunt-thailands-crackdown-migrant-workers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/article/2103651/who-bears-brunt-thailands-crackdown-migrant-workers?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 22 Jul 2017 03:48:16 +0000