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Concerns over political scanning in China Church

HONG KONG (UCAN): Catholics in China’s Henan province are concerned that a new appraisal system for religious personnel is a front for political screening.
 
On priest said that the provincial Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and Catholic Church Committee approached him during Holy Week seeking to appraise him. A few days later, he found the newly launched annual appraisal scheme with an assessment form on WeChat. 
 
“The appraisal is ridiculous,” he said.
 
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Imee Marcos rebuked for trying to politicise Sinulog festival

MANILA (UCAN): Tomas Osmeña, mayor of Cebu, in the central the Philippines, rapped Imee Marcos, daughter of former president and late dictator, Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda, for attempting to politicise the city’s celebration of the feast of the Child Jesus, or Sinulog festival.
 
On January 18, authorities took down a huge poster of Marcos, who is a candidate for senator in this year’s mid-term elections. 
 
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Philippine bishops warn priests against running for office

MANILA (UCAN): Bishop Buenaventura Famadico of San Pablo, head of the Episcopal Commission on Clergy warned priests against seeking public office after candidates began filing their intention to run in the May 2019 mid-term elections.
 
The period to file certificates of candidacy ran from October 11 to 17.
 
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Pork Barrel first the poor can wait

MANILA (UCAN): Faced with the high costs of the siege and martial law in Mindanao coupled with the billions of pesos eaten up by the slaughter campaign disguised as a war on drugs, the poor of The Philippines are being dealt a further blow with a radical slashing of social service budgets.
 
Instead, billions of pesos are being transferred to budgets for the most indefinable and least transparent area of state expenditure; security.
 
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How full is full religious freedom?

HONG KONG (SE): In the clash of heads over the inclusion by chief executive hopeful, Carrie Lam Chen Yuet-ngor, of a suggestion to set up a government Religious Affairs Unit in Hong Kong (see page 1), the phrase, “Hong Kong already enjoys full religious freedom” is being tossed about with gay abandon.

While it is a guarantee of the Basic Law, the definition of religious freedom seems to be at least up for grabs, as it is not necessarily clear who has the right to define or describe it.
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Fresh breeze blows through politics

A narrow victory to Yau Wai-ching in the September 4 Legislative Council (LegCo) elections in the Kowloon West geographical constituency is like a fresh breeze blowing through Hong Kong politics.

The community director of Youngspiration, a party formed in the wake of the 2014 Umbrella Movement, is not the typical aspiring politician.







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Election shakes up Hong Kong politics

HONG KONG (SE): Belying the entrance polls at the September 4 Legislative Council (LegCo) election, the public responded by voting not just for the traditional opposition Pan-Democrats, but a new category running under the name of Localists that advocates independence for Hong Kong.

A first-time candidate, Eddie Chu Hoi-dick, whose main platform is justice in land issues and promoting a sustainable environmental, was a big winner.
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Taking the journal out of journalism

BEIJING (SE): The president of China, Xi Jinping, seemed to be intent on taking the journal out of journalism, when he addressed a symposium after a visit to the nation’s three leading news providers, the People’s Daily, Xinhua News Agency and China Central Television (CCTV), on February 19.
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If you won’t vote for evil don’t vote at all

MANILA (UCAN): In responding to the widespread accusation that the upcoming May 9 presidential election in The Philippines is fielding such a poor crop of probable candidates that choosing one to work for the common good of the whole country may be a bit like choosing between the devil or the deep blue sea.

In a pastoral statement released on February 3, Being Eucharistic in Life and Deeds, the bishops say voters must be guided by a sense of the common good when choosing their leaders.
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New law aimed at wiping out dynasties

MANILA (UCAN): A new law that, for the first time in Philippine history addresses the banning of political dynasties in the country, has received a widespread popular acclaim.

The president, Noynoy Aquino, signed the bill into law on January 19 prohibiting young people, who have relatives holding elective positions in government, from seeking a seat in the SangguniangKabataan (Youth Council).
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