Memorial masses to be held throughout the city 40 days after Lapu Lapu tragedy
The date is significant in Filipino Catholic tradition as the end of a mourning period, and Rev. Francis Galvan says he expects the mass at St. Andrew's Parish church in East Vancouver at 6 p.m. to be crowded.
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Vancouver Sun
11-08-2025
- Vancouver Sun
Video shows Chinese ships collide while pursuing Philippine boat in South China Sea
MANILA, Philippines — A Chinese navy vessel collided with one from its own coast guard while chasing a Philippine patrol boat in the South China Sea on Monday, Manila said, releasing dramatic video footage of the confrontation. The incident occurred near the contested Scarborough Shoal as the Philippine Coast Guard escorted boats distributing aid to fishermen in the area, spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said in a statement. Video released by Manila showed a China Coast Guard ship and a much larger vessel bearing the number 164 on its hull colliding with a loud crash. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Additional footage and photos released later by the Philippine Coast Guard showed the stricken Chinese vessel still afloat but with its entire bow crumpled inward. 'The (China Coast Guard vessel) CCG 3104, which was chasing the (Filipino coast guard vessel) BRP Suluan at high speed, performed a risky manoeuvre from the (Philippine) vessel's starboard quarter, leading to the impact with the PLA (People's Liberation Army) Navy warship,' Tarriella said in a statement. 'This resulted in substantial damage to the CCG vessel's forecastle, rendering it unseaworthy.' At a later press briefing, Tarriella said that crew members aboard the smaller Chinese vessel had been visible in its front section just before the collision. 'We're not sure whether they were able to rescue those personnel who were in front prior to the collision. But we are hoping that these personnel are in good condition,' he told reporters. Tarriela said the Chinese crew 'never responded' to the Philippine ship's offer of assistance. Gan Yu, a Chinese coast guard spokesperson, confirmed that a confrontation had taken place without mentioning the collision. 'The China Coast Guard took necessary measures in accordance with the law, including monitoring, pressing from the outside, blocking and controlling the Philippine vessels to drive them away,' he said in a statement. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not confirm or deny the collision when asked about it by AFP. Monday's incident is the latest in a series of confrontations between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost entirely despite an international ruling that the assertion has no legal basis. More than 60 percent of global maritime trade passes through the disputed waterway. Speaking at a morning news conference, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos said the country's patrol vessels would 'continue to be present' in the area to defend, as well as exercise Manila's sovereign rights over, what it considers to be part of its territory. The Scarborough Shoal — a triangular chain of reefs and rocks — has been a flashpoint between the countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012. Earlier in the confrontation, the BRP Suluan was 'targeted with a water cannon' by the Chinese but 'successfully' evaded it, Tarriela's statement said. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
Winnipeg Free Press
11-06-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Stepping up to help as fires rage
When Lendyll Soriano got a job working with First Nations during the COVID-19 pandemic, he was warmly embraced by the Indigenous community. Now, he wants to give back. The Filipino immigrant, who co-owns Dream Barbers with two partners, has launched a free haircut initiative for Manitoba wildfire evacuees. 'We already had a couple of people come in (Tuesday),' said Soriano, who owns the Portage Avenue shop with Mark Antonio and Albert Amante. Aviva Tabac photo Kavod Thrift Store volunteer Harriet Zimmer with load of donated items for Manitoba wildfire evacuees. In his day job as communications liaison with the First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba, Soriano said his Indigenous colleagues have shown him the value of family and helping each other during times of need. 'I wasn't even First Nations, so that's what I appreciated about them,' he said. 'I was learning, and as an immigrant here in Canada, we really didn't have any history of what First Nations history is. So when I started working there five years ago, I really began to understand what First Nations people went through.' Soriano said he has seen firsthand the impact displacement has had on the Indigenous community. 'Some are new to the city, so for us, it's a good way, if grooming is a good way to help out this situation, why not make it a free service for them?' he said. Soriano isn't the only Winnipeg entrepreneur stepping up. Christina Lin became motivated to help after she received a call from a panicked friend in Flin Flon. 'She's an evacuee, and she called me by mistake,' said Lin, a teacher at Modo Yoga, whose two locations in the city — on Donald and Waverley streets — are offering evacuees free admission to any of their classes. 'It inspired me to want to offer more. I brought this to my manager and our owners, and they were like, 'Absolutely. Without question.'' Lin said the studios have removed some barriers, knowing some won't have a yoga mat or a towel to bring with them. 'We know that it's not the first thing on their mind to move their bodies,' she said. 'They're surviving. We just want to let them know, if and when they process it all, if they need somewhere to go and breathe, be in an accessible space, with change rooms for all genders, that it's there for them. You can come be with community, be accepted, be together.' Some are even taking measures into their own hands. After Cranberry Portage was evacuated, resident Barb Bragg spent the past few weeks purchasing more than a dozen water pumps from Winnipeg and delivering them to The Pas, and later, with permission from those fighting the flames, directly to the firefighters in her home community. The 70-year-old retiree made three eight-plus hour trips to hand off the water pumps, even sleeping in her truck at times. 'To (just) be evacuated seems wimpy, in a way, at least for me,' she joked over the phone from Gimli, where she's currently staying, Tuesday afternoon. 'I want to help, I want to do what I can.' A mandatory evacuation order remains for Cranberry Portage, as a 4,921-hectare wildfire south of the community remains out of control. Bragg said she isn't alone in her efforts — others have passed along hose and sprinkler systems. She dropped off the last shipment Monday. Her focus now is on putting together a newsletter to keep her neighbours informed on the status of the wildfires, some of whom, she said, are struggling to cope with the loss of their homes. 'These friends of mine, who've been friends for 50 years, are saying, 'We just found out our house is gone, 'We just found out our house is gone,' 'Mine went, too,' 'Has anybody heard about this one?' … it's the heartbreak of that.' 'If grooming is a good way to help out this situation, why not make it a free service for them?'–Lendyll Soriano Winnipeg's Jewish and Mennonite communities are also doing their parts to make life easier for evacuees. B'nai Brith Canada's Winnipeg chapter is accepting donations of toiletries, diapers, infant formula and other essentials at its Kavod Thrift Store. 'The response has been unbelievable,' said Aviva Tabac, community engagement manager for B'nai Brith Canada. 'It's overwhelming. It's a real feel-good moment.' The donations have included 1,500 toothbrushes given from a local orthodontist. 'Now we want to see if we can get the same number of tubes of toothpaste donated,' Tabac said. Items given to Kavod are checked and sorted before being delivered to groups that are distributing them to evacuees. The executive director of Mennonite Disaster Service said there was an 'overwhelming, fabulous' response to a call for volunteers to help at the Leila Avenue sports centre, where evacuees are registered. The organization has provided between 20-25 volunteers per day at the centre in three shifts, including from midnight to 7 a.m. 'Clearly, people were anxious to help,' said Ross Penner. Wednesdays Sent weekly from the heart of Turtle Island, an exploration of Indigenous voices, perspectives and experiences. Volunteers provide evacuees with essential items and help set up cots for overnight stays. The stream of evacuees at the site has slowed in recent days, Penner said. 'But that can always change if a number of buses suddenly show up.' For more information about donating to Kavod, call 204-487-9623. To volunteer with Mennonite Disaster Service, call 204-261-1274. — with files from Malak Abas and John Longhurst Scott BilleckReporter Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade's worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024. Read more about Scott. Every piece of reporting Scott produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
08-06-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Chinese ship runs aground off Philippines-occupied island in the disputed South China Sea
PUERTO PRINCESA, Philippines (AP) — A Chinese ship ran aground in stormy weather in shallow waters off a Philippines-occupied island in the disputed South China Sea, prompting Filipino forces to go on alert, Philippine military officials said Sunday. When Filipino forces assessed that the Chinese fishing vessel appeared to have run aground in the shallows east of Thitu Island on Saturday because of bad weather, Philippine military and coast guard personnel deployed to provide help but later saw that the ship had been extricated, regional navy spokesperson Ellaine Rose Collado said. No other details were immediately available, including if there were injuries among the crewmembers or if the ship was damaged, Collado said. Confrontations have spiked between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and navy ships in the disputed waters in recent years. 'The alertness of our troops is always there,' Col. Xerxes Trinidad of the Armed Forces of the Philippines told reporters. But when they saw that a probable accident had happened, 'we tried to provide assistance as professionals' in accordance with international law on helping distressed vessels at sea. 'We're always following international law,' Trinidad said. Filipino villagers living in a fishing village on Thitu, which they call Pagasa island, immediately informed the Philippine military and coast guard after seeing the Chinese ship lying in the shallows about 1.5 nautical miles (2.7 kilometers) from their village, said MP Albayda, a local Filipino official, told The Associated Press. 'They got worried because the Chinese were so close but it was really the strong wind and waves that caused the ship to run aground,' said Albayda, adding that other Chinese ships pulled the stricken vessel away. The stricken ship resembled what the Philippine military had repeatedly said were suspected Chinese militia ships, which had backed the Chinese coast guard and navy in blocking and harassing Philippine coast guard and military vessels in the disputed waters, a busy conduit for global trade and commerce. Thitu Island is home to a Philippine fishing village and Filipino forces and is the largest of nine islands and islets occupied by the Philippines. It lies about 26 kilometers (16 miles) from Subi Reef, which China transformed into an island base along with six other barren reefs to reinforce its claim to virtually the entire South China Sea. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan are also involved in the long-simmering territorial standoffs, an Asian flashpoint that many fear could pit China and the United States in a major conflict. The U.S. does not lay any claim to the South China Sea but has repeatedly warned that it's obligated to defend the Philippines, it's longtime treaty ally, if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea.
