Maniolas

CAMP MELCHOR DELA CRUZ, Gamu, Isabela—President Duterte told the soldiers here to brace themselves for a long fight ahead against the Abu Sayyaf and other terrorists seeking to establish a radical Islamic caliphate in Southeast Asia. Addressing the troops at Camp Melchor dela Cruz, Mr. Duterte said that unlike other Moro rebels, the Abu Sayyaf was not hungry for autonomy or independence for Mindanao. “They are hungry for a fight to establish a caliphate in Southeast Asia. A caliphate is a kingdom for the Muslims,” Mr. Duterte said. He mentioned this as he spoke of pursuing peace talks with the communist and Moro rebels. The President said the problem with the Abu Sayyaf was that it would not talk with the government on what it could give to them, like schools. “It’s either the caliphate or nothing,” he said. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front was willing to talk, but he said Moro National Liberation Front founder Nur Misuari was “ambivalent.” “In my view, Nur will not commit now. He’s consolidating the forces, but he has lost control of the young men of the Moro generation, the Abu Sayyaf,” Mr. Duterte said. The President said the soldiers would have to “reinvent themselves into intelligence agents, ones who are trained in profiling,” so they could stop the Abu Sayyaf from carrying out terrorism, including attacks on urban areas. “They won’t be content with bombings in Davao. So it’s a long fight ahead,” he said. A deadly blast ripped a popular night market Read More …

NO TO US BASES Riot cops block anti-US protesters. Marianne Bermudez The Philippines is committed to its security alliance with the United States, but objects to being lectured on human rights and being treated like “a little brown brother,” Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said in Washington on Thursday. READ: Yasay: PH ‘can’t forever be little brown brothers of America’ Speaking at a security think thank, Yasay insisted that some of President Duterte’s recent remarks had been misunderstood, straining relations with the United States, the country’s main security ally. He said the President had already explained that his call for the withdrawal of US special forces from Mindanao was only a temporary measure to keep them out of harm’s way while Filipino forces undertook an offensive against Abu Sayyaf bandits holding several foreign hostages. Mr. Duterte’s opposition to joint maritime patrols with the Americans concerned the Philippines’ “exclusive economic zone,”  and not joint patrols within 22.3 kilometers of its coast, Yasay said. The joint patrols, aimed at preserving the territorial integrity of the Philippines, “must continue, because this is our commitment to the United States,” Yasay said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) think tank. Human rights “I am asking our American friends, American leaders, to look at our aspirations,” he said. “We cannot forever be the little brown brothers of America …. We have to develop, we have to grow and become the big brother of our own people. At the same time, Yasay rejected criticism of Read More …

A Malacañang official on Thursday defended the President’s plan to look to China as a source of military equipment despite the Chief Executive’s earlier pronouncement questioning its quality of firearms. Presidential Communications Office Secretary Martin Andanar argued that not everything produced by China is defective. He said many items Filipinos use are made in China and they have had no problems with them. “For me, it depends on the product. Maybe the China-made products that the President mentioned were the ones that were defective,” he said in a press briefing. In a speech at the AFP Medical Center last month, President Duterte said firearms sourced from China were substandard or could have been sabotaged. He made the statement as he promised to procure the best equipment for the soldiers in a government-to-government procurement. The President’s spokesperson, Ernesto Abella, on Thursday said that while Mr. Duterte had directed defense officials to study the option of sourcing equipment from China or Russia, “they’re not closing the options to these two alone.” Abella, noting China’s Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin’s statement that ties between the two countries were at a “new turning point,” said the conversation between the two countries was “friendly.” “You could almost say getting to know you. The whole purpose is to be able to establish warmer relationships,” Abella said. He said he was unaware if there were any preconditions to the two countries’ conversation, but said there was an “openness” between them. Latest Lady Gaga’s new album ‘Joanne’ released Read More …

Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. is set to meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington on Thursday in an apparent attempt to mend fences with the country’s staunchest military ally after President Duterte called for US troop withdrawal in Mindanao. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Yasay would attend a private dinner to be hosted by Kerry on Sept. 15 for visiting senior officials including foreign ministers. He is also expected to attend meetings of the Filipino community, the chief executive officer of the Millennium Challenge Corporation and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Secretary Kerry will be hosting a private dinner for visiting high officials including foreign ministers,” DFA spokesperson Charles Jose said in a press briefing on Wednesday. No bilateral meeting   He said that while no bilateral meeting between secretaries Yasay and Kerry has been tabled, the two would have a chance to talk on pressing issues during the private dinner. The chief diplomat would then proceed to New York to attend the annual United Nations General Assembly. Earlier, Yasay said he was ready to respond to any inquiry from Kerry regarding Mr. Duterte’s recent statements on withdrawal of US troops in Mindanao. “I will have the same things to tell him (Kerry) as there is no change in our foreign policy,” Yasay said in a television interview, prior to leaving. He said he would discuss with Kerry “the projects and joint cooperation matters that we will continue to pursue (with the Read More …

GENERAL SANTOS CITY—An Australian pelican that strayed hundreds of kilometers from its nearest known habitat to end up in the Philippines is the first such bird to be seen in the Asian archipelago, according to wildlife enthusiasts. The waterbird flew into a fish breeding farm on the outskirts of the southern port of General Santos in early September, resident Levy Discamento told Agence France-Presse (AFP). “We saw a small flock of swallows chasing this big strange bird. There was an air battle until the big bird gave up and ran toward the mangroves,” Discamento said, recounting his first sighting. The mostly white pelican, a species which boasts the longest bill of any bird, measuring up to 47 centimeters (18.5 inches), has since attracted a flood of Filipino and foreign birdwatchers. They rent dugouts to watch and photograph the bird while it gorges on fish in nearby Sarangani Bay, Discamento said. “We feel (it) is a blessing, bringing good vibes to people,” Jimmy Poja, a local fisherman, told AFP. Most northern place   Willem Van de Ven, a Manila-based biologist and president of the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines, said the species is found all over Australia and occasionally as far as New Zealand, some Polynesian islands, New Guinea, and parts of Indonesia. “General Santos is definitely the most northern place it has been recorded in recent history, and quite a bit farther than usual,” he said. He added that the birds, which do not migrate seasonally, have never been Read More …