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US Navy presents plan to dismantle grounded ship in Tubbataha

 News
Feb 042013
 
US Navy presents plan to dismantle grounded ship in Tubbataha

By Jerry E. Esplanada Philippine Daily Inquirer 4:38 pm | Monday, February 4th, 2013 USS Guardian AP PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—The United States Navy has presented to the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) its USS Guardian “dismantling plan” that will utilize floating cranes in what it calls a “complex operation” to minimize damage to the Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea. Lt. Commander Armand Balilo, the PCG spokesperson, however, told the Philippines they have to get word from the US Navy when the actual ship dismantling operation would start. In a text message, Balilo said on Monday “there’s no information yet on the exact date of the ship-breaking.” But he assured PCG personnel “will assist the US Navy personnel (involved in the operation).” Coast Guard vessels will also “conduct patrols to secure the Tubbataha Reef area while the operation is underway,” Balilo added. Reports reaching the PCG headquarters in Manila said the SMIT Borneo of SMIT Singapore Pte. Ltd., the floating crane contracted by the US Navy to remove the grounded Guardian, has arrived at the reef. US naval salvage experts have assessed that attempts to remove the Guardian intact, such as towing or pulling it off the reef, could cause more damage to the reef and the ship’s hull and most likely result in the vessel breaking up or sinking. The Guardian ran aground on Jan. 17, while transiting to Indonesia after a port visit at the former US naval base in Subic, Zambales. On Jan. 31, the US Pacific Fleet Read More …

Another US warship to dock in Subic Tuesday

 News
Feb 042013
 
Another US warship to dock in Subic Tuesday

By Fat Reyes INQUIRER.net 3:49 pm | Monday, February 4th, 2013 MANILA, Philippines – Another United States (US) warship is set to dock in Subic Tuesday as the US Navy is embroiled in a controversy over its minesweeper USS Guardian, which remains stuck on the southern atoll in the Tubbataha Reef. In a statement Monday, the US embassy in Manila said that the USS Stockdale, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, was set to arrive in Subic Bay on Tuesday for a “routine port visit.” As in previous visits by US ships, the embassy noted that the stop in Subic would permit the vessel to “replenish supplies as well as offer its crew an opportunity for rest and relaxation.” “Visiting Subic Bay provides us with a great opportunity to continue the long-term relationship between the Philippines and the United States and this is very important to us,” Lex Walker, commanding officer of USS Stockdale, was quoted as saying in the statement. The ship is the second vessel from the US to make a stop in Subic after the USS Guardian ran aground on the atoll last Jan. 17. The Guardian ran aground on the atoll while in transit to Indonesia after a port visit to Subic, a former US naval base. Authorities said that one of the US Navy’s plans was to dismantle the minesweeper and remove it in sections from the marine sanctuary, but a final plan had yet to be approved. The US had said that it would Read More …

Australia offers P126-M more in aid for ‘Pablo’ victims

 News
Feb 042013
 
Australia offers P126-M more in aid for ‘Pablo’ victims

By Fat Reyes INQUIRER.net 3:23 pm | Monday, February 4th, 2013 MANILA, Philippines – The Australian government on Monday announced that it would offer an additional P126 million in aid to the victims of typhoon “Pablo” as a response to the latest appeal made by the Philippine government and the United Nations for the ongoing humanitarian crisis caused by the disaster. In a statement, the Australian embassy in Manila noted that the additional funds would be used to provide emergency shelters, including improvements of existing shelter facilities in the worst-hit areas. It added that emergency cash-for-work programs would be funded for debris clearing and would provide critically needed income to workers across the affected areas. It noted that six weeks after the tragedy hit Mindanao, shelter and livelihood remained the “critical needs with over 840,000 people still displaced, including 700,000 people whose livelihoods were destroyed by the typhoon.” “The scale of destruction caused by typhoon Pablo is staggering, and I witnessed this when I recently visited Compostela Valley. My heart went out to the families who continue to suffer,” Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Bill Twaddell was quoted as saying in the statement. “We commend the Philippine Government for its effective and well-coordinated efforts to address this crisis. Australia stands ready to help Filipino families affected by this disaster get back on their feet – and I know they can. Visiting Compostela Valley and seeing the generous and sincere smiles of the people only made me admire and appreciate the Read More …

BI deports Korean national facing drug case in his country

 News
Feb 042013
 
BI deports Korean national facing drug case in his country

By Tetch Torres INQUIRER.net 2:57 pm | Monday, February 4th, 2013 MANILA, Philippines—The Bureau of Immigration has ordered the deportation of a South Korean national allegedly wanted in his country for robbery, extortion and illegal drugs. Immigration Commissioner Ricardo David Jr. identified the Korean national as Bang Gi II, 49. He was picked up by immigration agents at the Manila City Jail last Jan. 29 after a local court dismissed the kidnapping case against him. A summary deportation was issued against Bang after the Korean government canceled his passport. Lawyer Jose Carlitos Licas, BI intelligence assistant chief, said Bang is the subject of two arrest warrants for violating South Korea’s narcotics control act. He said the fugitive was charged with consuming the illegal drug called Philopon and for asking a fellow Korean national to smuggle from Manila more than 35 grams of the drug into Korea on Oct. 13, 2010. Licas also cited a report from the Korean embassy stating that on Aug. 26, 2009, Bang was convicted and sentenced to one-year imprisonment by a district court in Incheon, South Korea, also for possession of illegal drugs.

World Bank estimates losses due to corrupt acts at $1.3 trillion

 News
Jan 312013
 
World Bank estimates losses due to corrupt acts at $1.3 trillion

By Cathy C. Yamsuan Philippine Daily Inquirer 3:51 am | Friday, February 1st, 2013 An anticorruption crusader on Thursday cited a World Bank financial study that quantified the “devastating effect” of illicit financial flows through corruption at $1.3 trillion a year. Dr. Naser Al Sane, outgoing chairman of the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (Gopac), said losses due to corrupt practices ranging from bribery to theft and tax evasion would be equivalent to the combined economies of Switzerland, South Africa and Belgium. “This amount of money could lift the lives of 1.4 billion people living on less than $1.25 a day… for at least six years. Al Sane, a Kuwaiti member of Parliament, said countries with “weak governments” as a result of irregular practices “have a 30-45 percent higher risk of civil war,” citing a separate World Bank development report in 2011. He lamented that many global leaders would invoke the UN Convention Against Corruption during their political campaigns “yet do nothing” in achieving its goal. “Look at the regimes that are falling in the Middle East! All dictators fall because of revolutions.  They belonged to countries that ratified anticorruption treaties,” Al Sane said. He also warned that global corruption “is getting worse.” “It’s a monster everywhere facing us. This is a challenge not only to us [but] to all activists,” he said.  

Saudi ‘blood money’ rescues doomed Filipino from execution

 News
Jan 312013
 
Saudi ‘blood money’ rescues doomed Filipino from execution

By Tarra Quismundo Philippine Daily Inquirer 2:29 am | Friday, February 1st, 2013 Rodelio Celestino Lanuza An overseas Filipino worker who has languished on death row in Saudi Arabia for more than a decade has been saved from execution with the Saudi government’s shouldering nearly P25 million in blood money for his victim’s family, the kingdom’s embassy in Manila said Thursday. The embassy said the Saudi government paid 2.3 million riyals in blood money that Rodelio Celestino Lanuza was supposed to pay to the heirs of Mohammad bin Said Al-Qathani, whom the Filipino killed in self-defense in 2000. The amount covered the balance of 3 million riyals (P32.54 million) left after Lanuza’s family paid an initial 700,000 riyals (P7.6 million). Welcome gesture The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) welcomed the development and thanked the Saudi Arabian government for the “humanitarian gesture.” “This will pave the way for the issuance of an affidavit of forgiveness, or tanazul, in Mr. Lanuza’s favor. We hope that as soon as all legal procedures are completed, Mr. Lanuza will finally be reunited with his family,” DFA spokesperson Raul Hernandez said in a statement issued Thursday night. The Saudi Arabian Embassy said Lanuza’s family had appealed for help to raise the remainder of the blood money. It said the Saudi Arabian government made the “royal goodwill gesture” as a result of coordination with Vice President Jejomar Binay, the presidential adviser for migrant workers’ affairs. Another one on death row Binay is also working to raise P44 Read More …

Cheyenne, Tom Clancy’s attack sub, arriving in Subic Friday

 News
Jan 312013
 
Cheyenne, Tom Clancy’s attack sub, arriving in Subic Friday

By Tarra Quismundo Philippine Daily Inquirer 1:54 am | Friday, February 1st, 2013 ‘TOM CLANCY’S SUB’ The USS Cheyenne (SSN 773), a Los Angeles-class submarine, is scheduled to arrive in Subic Bay Friday for a routine port visit. This stop in Subic will permit the Cheyenne to replenish supplies as well as offer its crew an opportunity for rest and relaxation. Cheyenne is the primary subject of Tom Clancy’s novel “SNN,” a fictional war over the Spratlys. PHOTO FROM US EMBASSY INFORMATION OFFICE In Tom Clancy’s world of fiction, it’s a US nuclear submarine that fights China over the disputed Spratly Islands in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea). The submarine, according to Wikipedia, is the USS Cheyenne, a nuclear attack submarine belonging to the US Pacific Fleet. In Clancy’s novel “SSN,” the Cheyenne battles China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warships in the disputed Spratlys. The Cheyenne is arriving Friday in the former US naval base on Subic Bay, Zambales province, not to battle the PLA but for a “routine port visit,” according to the US Embassy. Tubbataha mess Unfortunately the Cheyenne is arriving amid deep embarrassment for the US Navy whose minesweeper USS Guardian is stuck on the southern atoll in the Tubbataha Reefs, a Unesco-World Heritage Site in the Sulu Sea. In a still unexplained misadventure, the Guardian ran aground on the atoll on Jan. 17. As the ship is badly damaged, the US Navy has decided to break it apart. The US Navy is facing investigation Read More …

Old Spanish maps may yet boost PH claim to Panatag

 News
Jan 312013
 
Old Spanish maps may yet boost PH claim to Panatag

By Jaymee T. Gamil Philippine Daily Inquirer 1:53 am | Friday, February 1st, 2013 Spanish and Filipino delegates to this year’s Tribuna España-Filipinas forum have agreed to embark on a coordinated “archiving program” of historical documents, especially those involving the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines more than 400 years ago. As the sixth edition of the annual multisectoral forum between the two countries drew to a close on Wednesday, an official of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport told the Inquirer that some of the Spanish archives, once catalogued and translated, may even help the Philippines in its claim to the disputed Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal. Luis Enseñat Calderon, director of the ministry’s Ibero-Archivos Program, said Spanish historical archives contained documents and maps on the Spanish colonization of the Philippines from the 16th to 19th century.   Possible proof   “The archives may be important in this way to demonstrate that in the 19th century, the Chinese did not control these group of islands,” Calderon said, when asked how Spanish archives could help the Philippines in its territorial dispute with China over the Scarborough Shoal. He quoted colonial Spanish officials in the 1800s, saying these islands “were controlled, more or less, by the Philippines from Manila.” While these documents are available at the National Historical Archive of Spain, he said it is not yet accessible to the public because his office is still digitizing the documents. “But little by little, we can make progress and publish this on Read More …

Assad not seeking asylum in PH–DFA

 News
Jan 312013
 
Assad not seeking asylum in PH–DFA

By Tarra Quismundo Philippine Daily Inquirer 1:26 am | Friday, February 1st, 2013 The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Thursday denied a newspaper report that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is seeking asylum in the Philippines amid the escalating violence in his country. Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario categorically denied the story (not in the Philippine Daily Inquirer) that suggested the matter was  discussed at a meeting on Tuesday between Bouthaina Shabaan, a trusted adviser of the beleaguered Syrian leader, and President Aquino. “There was absolutely no discussion on the matter,” Del Rosario said in a text message. “There is no truth to that report that President Assad is seeking asylum in the Philippines. In other words, the unnamed sources gave the wrong information,” Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez, the DFA spokesperson, told a press briefing Thursday. He said Shabaan indeed handed a letter to the President but that the two sides did not talk about the possibility of asylum for Assad in the Philippines. ‘Political solutions’ He explained that Shabaan’s visit was part of Syria’s campaign to inform the international community about “political solutions” that the Syrian government is considering to end its the conflict with rebel forces. Hernandez characterized the meeting as a “sharing of information” on Syria’s plans, adding that Shabaan went on to visit other countries after she left the Philippines. “It’s part of their campaign to the international community that this is how they would like to solve their crisis.  Usually, this is what happens when Read More …

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