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War games tied to US pivot strategy in Asia

News

Jun 272013

War games tied to US pivot strategy in Asia

By Robert GonzagaInquirer Central Luzon 4:20 am | Friday, June 28th, 2013 RAISING THE FLAG In a scene old-timers say brings to mind the raising of the US flag during the World War II battle of Iwo Jima, American sailors hoist their flag on the guided missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald as it docks in Subic Bay on Thursday. The ship is taking part in Philippine-US naval exercises. The United States captured Iwo Jima after a bloody battle with Japan in the Pacific. RAFFY LERMA SUBIC BAY FREEPORT, Philippines—The joint naval exercises between the Philippines and the United States have nothing to do with the Philippines’ territorial dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), but these have to do with US President Barack Obama’s “pivot strategy” in Asia, a US Navy official said. At the opening of the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (Carat) 2013 in this former American naval base on Thursday, US Navy Rear Adm. Thomas Carney said the exercises were “part of the rebalance that the US is looking to reinforce its relations, not only militarily but economically and politically with Asia.” The exercises will run until July 2. China said parties in the unresolved territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea should instead promote peace in the region, stopping short of calling the naval exercises provocative. “We have seen the report and hope that relevant parties could do more to maintain regional peace and stability rather than the opposite,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Read More …

PH: US, allies may use military bases

News

Jun 272013

No new military facilities to be built By Nikko DizonPhilippine Daily Inquirer 12:22 am | Friday, June 28th, 2013 RAISING THE FLAG In a scene old-timers say brings to mind the raising of the US flag during the World War II battle of Iwo Jima, American sailors hoist their flag on the guided missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald as it docks in Subic Bay on Thursday. The ship is taking part in Philippine-US naval exercises. The United States captured Iwo Jima after a bloody battle with Japan in the Pacific. RAFFY LERMA The Philippines plans to give the United States and other allies access to its military bases under an arrangement that US forces could use to counter China’s creeping presence in the disputed West Philippine Sea (South China Sea). But contrary to a foreign news report on Thursday that was attributed to unnamed Philippine Navy officials, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the Philippines would not build new air and naval bases. China had already heard the news and warned that countries with territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea which look for help from third parties will find their efforts “futile.” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the strategy was a “path of confrontation” and it would be “doomed.” The Philippines and the United States on Thursday began five days of joint naval exercises off Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal), a rich fishing ground within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone that China occupied after a maritime standoff that lasted more than Read More …

Palace: No rush to release NBI findings on sea killing

News

Jun 262013

Palace: No rush to release NBI findings on sea killing

By TJ BurgonioPhilippine Daily Inquirer 5:11 am | Thursday, June 27th, 2013 Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda: No rush. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines is under no compulsion to simultaneously release with Taiwan its report on the May killing of a Taiwanese fisherman, allegedly by Philippine coast guards, in the waters off Batanes, Malacañang said on Wednesday. “Remember, these are parallel reports. As far as we know, when we are ready to release the report, as the President would order us, we will do so,” said Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda. According to Lacierda, President Aquino was still reviewing the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) report on the fatal shooting of Taiwanese Hung Shih-chen in the waters off Balintang Channel last May 9. Video as evidence Taiwan and the Philippines conducted parallel investigations of the incident that set off a diplomatic row between the two. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima has confirmed that the NBI had recommended the filing of criminal and administrative charges against personnel of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) over Hung’s killing. The NBI has submitted its findings to the Department of Justice after its investigation, which entailed examining the vessels involved in the incident—the Taiwanese fishing boat and the Philippine patrol boat, which is owned by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and manned by PCG personnel. Evidence included a video of the incident taken by the PCG. The PCG claimed it had acted in self-defense when the Taiwanese fishing boat tried to ram their vessel. Read More …

US urged to comply with SC order to comment on Tubbataha case

News

Jun 242013

US urged to comply with SC order to comment on Tubbataha case

By Tetch Torres-TupasINQUIRER.net 2:42 pm | Monday, June 24th, 2013 In this photo taken on March 30, 2013, and released by the Philippine Coast Guard on Monday, April 1, 2013, the stern of the USS Guardian, a U.S. Navy minesweeper, is transferred to another ship after being lifted out of the water at the Tubbataha Reef, a World Heritage site, in the Tubbataha National Marine Park, southwest of the Philippines. Tubbataha park superintendent Angelique Songco said the fine for damaging the protected coral reef would be about 24,000 pesos ($600) per square meter, so the U.S. could be facing a fine of more than $2 million. AP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—Left leaning fisherfolk group called on the US government to comply with the Philippine Supreme Court’s order to comment on a petition calling for a filing of criminal, administrative and civil cases against those responsible for the grounding of the USS Guardian last January 17 in Tubbataha Reef. “The US government through its embassy in Manila should respond to the Supreme Court and refrain from invoking several concerns that would make it very difficult for concerned groups which filed the petition,” Salvador France, vice chair of the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said in a statement Monday. “The US government must respond to and account for their crimes against the people and the environment. That is simple as ABC, nothing more, nothing less. The incident merits the filing of criminal and other appropriate charges against officials and Read More …

‘Pablo’ victims still need help–UN

News

Jun 202013

By Tarra QuismundoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 5:36 am | Friday, June 21st, 2013 MANILA, Philippines—A United Nations humanitarian agency has called for urgent help from the international community for the Mindanao provinces devastated by Typhoon “Pablo” and decades of conflict, saying the region still needed some $47 million (around P2 billion) for shelter and livelihood requirements this year. Top officials of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Unocha) also said it was downsizing its presence on the ground in the typhoon-devastated parts of Mindanao as operations had shifted from immediate relief to long-term rehabilitation. David Carden, the head of Unocha Philippines, said the $47 million, part of the $91 million call for aid that the agency made under its revised humanitarian action plan for central and western Mindanao, had remained unfilled as of this month. “This revised plan will help us to meet the ongoing needs of those affected by Pablo, particularly in the areas of shelter, because people need shelter and livelihood,” Carden told a press conference on Thursday. “The requirements are still there in the areas of shelter, education, sociopsychological rehabilitation. A lot of people who lost relatives, friends, they are recovering now and I’d say we don’t have much time… We have to move rather quickly,” said Rashid Khalikov, the Geneva-based Unocha director who headed a high-level team of aid officials and international donors who visited Maguindanao this week. Carden said the revised call for aid aimed to “meet the humanitarian and protection needs of Read More …

PH failed to restrain human trafficking–US

News

Jun 202013

PH failed to restrain human trafficking–US

By Tarra QuismundoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 5:29 am | Friday, June 21st, 2013 US Secretary of State John Kerry. AP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—The Philippines retained its Tier 2 status in the United States’ annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report as US authorities noted a “paucity of arrests and convictions” despite the country’s strong resolve to arrest trafficking incidents. In a report released in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, the US Department of State said the Philippines had failed to comply with standards for curbing trafficking, particularly with the country’s poor judicial system. “As both a source country and, to a lesser extent, a destination and transit country for sex trafficking and forced labor, the Philippines remained at Tier 2 on the state department’s three-tier ranking system. Despite making significant efforts to combat trafficking, the government of the Philippines does not yet fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking,” the TIP report said. The report, released by Secretary of State John Kerry on June 19, is considered “the most comprehensive report” on efforts of the world’s governments to stop human trafficking. The Philippines was first upgraded to Tier 2 in June 2011, considered an improvement after the country’s initial convictions of individuals involved in human trafficking. It had been at risk of being downgraded to Tier 3, which would have led to sanctions on US aid to the Philippines. In retaining the country at its current rating, the state department noted the Philippines’ “weaknesses in its judicial system,” Read More …

US prof held for sex with Filipino kids

News

Jun 202013

Associated Press 4:35 am | Friday, June 21st, 2013 This 2011 image provided by the FBI shows Walter Lee Williams, 64, one of the U.S. FBI’s 10 most wanted fugitives has been arrested in the resort city of Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Tuesday June 18, 2013. Prosecutor Gaspar Armando Garcia Torres says Williams is wanted on charges of sexual exploitation of children and traveling abroad for the purpose of engaging in sexual acts with children. AP LOS ANGELES—A former professor of the University of Southern California (USC) accused of sex crimes involving two children in the Philippines has been deported to the United States after a Mexican citizen recognized his picture in a newspaper and informed the US Embassy. Walter Lee Williams, 64, will appear in a Los Angeles federal courtroom on Thursday to face charges of sexual exploitation of children and traveling abroad for the purpose of engaging in sexual acts with children. He had been placed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list. The indictment alleges Williams traveled from Los Angeles to the Philippines to engage in sex acts with two 14-year-old boys he met online in 2010, the Department of Justice said in a statement. “He allegedly engaged in sexual activity via Internet webcam sessions with these boys and expressed a desire to visit them in the Philippines to have sex,” the indictment stated. A tip from a Mexican citizen who saw a photograph in a local newspaper and contacted the US Read More …

Legislator bares sexual exploitation of Filipinas by PH embassy personnel

News

Jun 182013

Legislator bares sexual exploitation of Filipinas by PH embassy personnel

By Leila B. SalaverriaPhilippine Daily Inquirer 1:32 pm | Tuesday, June 18th, 2013 Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello PHOTO TAKEN FROM FACEBOOK.COM MANILA, Philippines—Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello claimed Tuesday that three Philippine embassy officials have been sexually exploiting distressed Filipino female workers in the Middle East, a practice that higher-ups had allegedly ignored. Bello said at a news conference that two of the embassy personnel, whom he identified as officers of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in the Jordanian capital Amman and in Kuwait, were involved in running sex rings in those two places that send Filipinas to service wealthy clients. The third official, he claimed, was a member of the augmentation team of the Department of Foreign Affairs at the embassy in Damascus, Syria, who allegedly engaged in sexual acts with OFWs staying at the embassy’s shelter for distressed workers. Bello said he was making a public disclosure of the information, which he claimed had come from “unimpeachable sources” within the DFA and the DOLE, after they asked him to expose the unsavory deeds perpetrated in their offices. “Indeed, our sources have asked us to expose the criminals in their ranks because their acts are giving the agencies a bad name, and they can no longer tolerate the inaction of their superiors,” he said. Follow Us Recent Stories: Complete stories on our Digital Edition newsstand for tablets, netbooks and mobile phones; 14-issue free trial. About to step out? Get breaking alerts on your mobile.phone. Text ON INQ BREAKING to 4467, Read More …

‘Fishing talks between PH, Taiwan may violate ‘one-China’ policy’

News

Jun 172013

‘Fishing talks between PH, Taiwan may violate ‘one-China’ policy’

SAYS LAW EXPERT: By Tarra QuismundoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 6:44 pm | Monday, June 17th, 2013 Harry Roque, chairman of the Center for International Law MANILA, Philippines — The start of fisheries talks between the Philippines and Taiwan might violate the country’s one-China policy and Manila should instead craft any future pact with Taipei as a local government of China, an international law expert said. Harry Roque, chairman of the Center for International Law, however, welcomed the decision of the two sides to avoid the use of force in fishing disputes — a positive step in what has been rough relations between the Philippines and what it considers a province of China. “Talks may violate the one-China policy. All talks with Taiwan should be because it is part of China. The alternative is to craft as an agreement with a local government of China,” Roque said on Monday. As part of the government’s one-China policy, the Philippines handles its ties with Taiwan not through the Department of Foreign Affairs but through the Manila Economic and Cultural Office under the Office of the President, with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office as its counterpart. Roque, however, has a positive view of the agreement against the use of force in fishing issues, saying the right to life is above the right to use natural resources. “But I welcome the agreement not to resort to use of force against illegal poachers. The right to life is preeminent and superior specially to mere ecological rights Read More …

UN voices concern over child warriors in PH

News

Jun 172013

UN voices concern over child warriors in PH

By Tarra QuismundoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 6:28 pm | Monday, June 17th, 2013 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. AP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines — Some 26 children were recruited as soldiers, messengers and informants in conflict zones while dozens of other minors were slain and maimed in militant attacks and gunfights in the Philippines last year, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said in a report. In the report “Grave violations committed against children in 22 situations of concern” released on June 12, Ban expressed concern over the use of children as operatives, informants and messengers in conflict areas, recruited by terror groups, militant organizations and even state agents. The report specified the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and its armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) and the Philippine military as those involved in using children in their operations. “During the reporting period, the country task force recorded 11 incidents of recruitment and use of children, involving 23 boys and 3 girls between 12 and 17 years of age,” read Ban’s report, which the UN publicly released last week but was first reported to the UN Security Council on May 15. Culled by a UN country task force, the confirmed cases represent a decrease in child involvement in conflict but the world body remained concerned that minors are at all involved. “That figure represents a decrease in 2012, given that there were 26 incidents affecting 33 Read More …

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