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‘United Asean will try to convince China on sea code of conduct’

News

Aug 172013

‘United Asean will try to convince China on sea code of conduct’

Philippine Daily Inquirer 5:25 am | Sunday, August 18th, 2013 An aerial view shows an islet in the disputed Spratly Group of Islands, in the West Philippine Sea. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—The countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) will speak as one to convince China to negotiate a binding agreement on conduct in the disputed West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), a stand that was reached after initial discord on the contentious issue. Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said Saturday ministers of the 10-member bloc have agreed to collectively encourage China to sit down and discuss the long-delayed completion of the Code of Conduct (COC) in the West Philippine Sea, legally binding guidelines that would govern the disputed waters. “With solidarity and in speaking with one voice, Asean has taken the position that it will urge China to agree to an expeditious conclusion of the COC,” said Del Rosario in a text message Saturday. Del Rosario joined fellow Asean ministers in a two-day meeting at the Hua Hin resort town in Thailand on Aug. 14 and 15, discussions preparatory to Asean’s meeting with China on the COC at the end of the month. The talks to be held in Beijing would follow through on the willingness China had signified to the Asean during ministerial meetings in Brunei in June, where Beijing agreed to discuss the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC). Del Rosario earlier said the Philippines Read More …

9 places on DFA’s shortlist of possible Apec venue

News

Aug 132013

9 places on DFA’s shortlist of possible Apec venue

By Matikas SantosINQUIRER.net 5:31 pm | Tuesday, August 13th, 2013 DFA Undersecretary for International Economic Relations Laura Q. Del Rosario. Photo from http://www.philippineembassy-usa.org MANILA, Philippines – With at least two years before the country hosts the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit in November 2015, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has already shortlisted nine places throughout the Philippines where the meetings of delegates from 21 countries in the Pacific rim will be held. The places are Clark, Metro Manila, Tagaytay, Legazpi City, Iloilo City, Boracay, Bacolod City, Davao City, and Cebu City, DFA Undersecretary for International Economic Relations Laura Q. Del Rosario told reporters in an interview. “These are the locations that are under serious consideration. [They] were reviewed as having passed the initial requirements [and will be subject to] further evaluation,” she said. Among the initial requirements for the cities to be able to host the many meetings of delegates are access and accommodations. “The locations must have airports and should be within one hour commute from the hotel and convention center,” Del Rosario said. Some of the meetings would be attended by hundreds of participants and this will require that the convention center must have enough space to sit them all together and the hotels there must also have sufficient rooms. There are around eight ministerial meetings, four senior officials meetings, and then the highlight APEC summit. Del Rosario said that instead of just assigning which Local Government Units (LGUs) will host the meetings, they asked them Read More …

US looking forward to successful base access talks with PH

News

Aug 132013

US looking forward to successful base access talks with PH

By Tarra QuismundoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 5:05 pm | Tuesday, August 13th, 2013 The USS Frank Cable, a submarine tender, docked in the Alava Pier of the Subic Bay Freeport . Photo by Robert Gonzaga MANILA, Philippines — The United States is confident about the positive conclusion of its base access talks with the Philippines, reiterating its support for the country’s defense buildup and preparedness for disaster response. In a statement on Tuesday, US Embassy officials expressed hopes that negotiations, set to begin on Tuesday, in Manila, would reinforce the long-standing partnership between the two allies as both keenly pursued a common bid for a more stable Asia-Pacific region. “We support the Philippine Government in its desire to build a credible defense and respond rapidly during times of humanitarian crisis and natural disasters,” said US Embassy officials in a statement sent to the Philippine Daily Inquirer. “We are optimistic that the first round of negotiations will result in positive outcomes that will further strengthen our 62-year alliance,” officials said. Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin on Monday announced the formal start of negotiations between the Philippines and the US on the latter’s expanded access to Philippine military bases, a move that has invited criticism from those long opposed to US military presence here. Del Rosario earlier said the talks would include discussions on “modalities and parameters” within which US troops would be allowed greater rotational presence in the Philippines under existing bilateral agreements and in compliance Read More …

Laments on the Filipino Diaspora

News

Aug 102013

By Ricardo B. RamosPhilippine Daily Inquirer 11:47 pm | Saturday, August 10th, 2013 MAPPING of overseas Filipinos (SOURCE: Commission on Filipinos Overseas, cfo.gov.ph) My older sister, a retired doctor, recently passed away unexpectedly in Cardiff, Wales, in the United Kingdom where she had resided for the past 25 years. She was 67 years old. Her sudden demise happened two weeks after our youngest sister, a registered nurse, was run over by a car whose driver was texting in Sydney, Australia. The saying must really be true that “when it rains, it pours.” Our family was devastated by the tragedy. Fortunately, our “baby” sister survived the auto accident, although she was badly injured. It will take months before her spine heals. In the meantime, she cannot work and will therefore not receive any compensation from her employer. My older brother, who petitioned my sister’s migration “Down Under” more than two decades ago, took two weeks off from work to take care of her. She is a widow. The tragedy that struck our family in a span of two weeks reminded me of what happened 40 years ago in the early 1970s. Our eldest sister, who was working in Manhattan and at the same time taking her master’s degree in Columbia University, nearly died when she was run over by a car in New York City. While she received some compensation from the insurance of the driver who nearly killed her, she was never the same again. Now at almost 70 years Read More …

Is the US immigration reform bill dead?

News

Aug 102013

IMFO By Lourdes Santos TancincoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 11:45 pm | Saturday, August 10th, 2013 It is hard to say exactly how many of the estimated 11 million undocumented migrants in the United States are Filipinos. Perhaps we will never know— not until a legalization law is enacted. There are many factors that justify the passage of an immigration reform. A recent poll shows that 74 percent of registered voters favor legalization and eventual US citizenship for undocumented migrants. The Congressional Budget Office said immigration reform, as designed in Senate Bill No. 744, will grow the United States economy, and reduce the federal deficit by $158 billion over the next 10 years and $685 billion more over the following decade. The members of the US House of Representatives will go on summer recess this month of August. While the Senate passed their version of the comprehensive immigration reform bill last June, many wonder whether the bill was dead on arrival at the House of Representatives. A companion bill to SB 744 has yet to be introduced. Immigrants in limbo “Lucia” is one of the undocumented Filipinos who, most probably, will benefit from a legalization program. She arrived in the United States when she was 8 years old and was educated in US schools. Lucia now works as a special education teacher at her local district school. She has been teaching children with disabilities. Lucia has no legal documents. After several years working without proper legal documents, Lucia applied for an Read More …

Maltreatment at the agency

News

Aug 102013

Bantay OCW (Ang Boses ng OFW) By Susan KPhilippine Daily Inquirer 11:45 pm | Saturday, August 10th, 2013 Christina Rosales of Gubat, Sorsogon, related in an interview with Radyo Inquirer how her husband, Jesus, worked in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, but did not receive his salary for nine months. He had also complained that he was not fed regularly. Jesus could not take it anymore so he ran away from his employer, along with a friend, to find another job in Jeddah. Christina went to the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (Owwa) in Bicol and Manila to report the incident. She recalled her husband telling her that he was advised by someone in the consulate to run away and file charges against his employer. When he did, that same person scolded him for running away and warned him that his employer might press charges against him. Jesus was confused. Verbal abuse Christina also reported the incident to Edwin Escudero of the International Resources Development Services Agency (IRDSA), the agency of her husband. Instead of acting on her complaint about her husband’s unpaid salaries and poor working conditions, Escudero threw crude insults at her and accused her of inventing stories about her husband’s plight. Bantay OCW learned that Escudero, who had referred her husband to the agency, was not an IRDSA staff member but the personal driver of one of the agency’s owner, a certain Juno Reduca. When contacted by Bantay OCW, Bing Gamboa, IRDSA’s recruitment officer, promised to act on Christina’s complaint Read More …

No one can contain China, scholar says amid territory rows

News

Aug 062013

No one can contain China, scholar says amid territory rows

Agence France-Presse 7:49 pm | Tuesday, August 6th, 2013 BEIJING — No one can contain China’s rise, a leading Beijing foreign policy thinker said Tuesday, warning Manila and Tokyo that they had been mistakenly emboldened by Washington in territorial disputes with his country. China is embroiled in a bitter row with Japan over disputed islands in the East China Sea, and also claims almost the whole of the South China Sea, where it has engaged in standoffs with Philippine forces. At the same time the Obama administration is engaged in a “pivot” to Asia. But Ruan Zongze, vice president and senior fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, said: “No one in this world will try to contain China and no one in this world is capable of containing China. “Since the United States has adopted this new strategy of returning to the Asia-Pacific region, some countries have made the wrong judgement that the US will encourage them to challenge the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China,” he added. “This is a misjudgement on their part.” Ruan, who has served as a diplomat in the United States and Britain, was speaking at an event organized by the All-China Journalists’ Association, a state organization. The US has defense treaties with both Japan and the Philippines, and Ruan blamed Washington for emboldening them. It had sold weaponry to the Philippines following tensions between Beijing and Manila over a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, he said. “This has intentionally or Read More …

Philippines detains 18 Chinese for illegal mining

News

Aug 062013

Philippines detains 18 Chinese for illegal mining

Agence France-Presse 5:19 pm | Tuesday, August 6th, 2013 BLACK SAND mining by Chinese operators in Cagayan. MELVIN GASCON/INQUIRER NORTHERN LUZON FILE PHOTO MANILA – The Philippines has detained 18 Chinese men on suspicion of illegal black sand mining in the northern coastal town of Aparri, the justice department said Tuesday. Authorities say there has been a rise in the illegal extraction of magnetite – also known as black sand – which is an iron ore in huge demand by China’s steel mills. Justice department investigators raided two mine sites run by Chinese firm Hua Xia Mining and Trading Corp. last Thursday and detained 18 of its employees, department spokesman Alex Lactao told AFP. The company had a permit to dredge magnetite from a nearby river but not from the coast, he said. It is illegal to extract any minerals within 200 meters (656 feet) of a beach under Philippine law. “Nine Chinese nationals were burrowing and processing magnetite sand within the prohibited zone,” said Lactao. The other nine were arrested at a nearby beach where they were building a magnetite processing plant, he added. Environmental groups say illegal magnetite mining has been stripping Philippine coasts through erosion. They have blamed small-scale mining firms, most of them allegedly Chinese and often operating in collusion with shady local government officials, for the devastation. The men detained in Aparri lacked permits required to work in the Philippines and could face further criminal charges, said Lactao, adding they have now been handed over Read More …

Bayan slams detention of Dutch activist

General

Aug 062013

By Matikas SantosINQUIRER.net 4:09 pm | Tuesday, August 6th, 2013 PO1 Joselito Sevilla. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines – Militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) on Tuesday slammed the detention of the foreign activist who confronted the “crying cop” in the protest rallies during President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) saying it was “plain harassment.” “We strongly denounce the detention of Dutch activist Thomas van Beersum by the Bureau of Immigration (BI). Thomas was prevented from boarding his flight this (Tuesday) morning and is being held by Immigration officials at the NAIA,” Bayan Secretary General Renato Reyes said in a statement. “Thomas was already leaving the Philippines and we see no reason to detain him. This is plain harassment in light of the many threats issued by the BI against Thomas during the past two weeks,” he said. Beersum was seen in a photograph shouting at PO1 Joselito Sevilla who later became known as the “crying cop” during the SONA protest rally along Commonwealth Avenue. Reyes said that Beersum was in the country to meet with various people’s organizations and to support the causes they have been calling for. “Thomas was in the Philippines to visit different people’s organizations and show solidarity with their struggles,” Reyes said. “Though a citizen of the Netherlands, he has embraced the struggle of the Filipino people and is aware of the many issues confronting the Philippines,” he added. Reyes said that no cases have been filed against Beersum and that he has Read More …

Aquino: New Navy ship boosts PH defense in sea row

News

Aug 062013

Aquino: New Navy ship boosts PH defense in sea row

By Frances Mangosing, Kristine Angeli SabilloINQUIRER.net 2:57 pm | Tuesday, August 6th, 2013 The BRP Ramon Alcaraz is the second Hamilton-class cutter that was acquired by the Philippine Navy under the Foreign Military Sales Program of the United States. US EMBASSY PHOTO RELEASE SUBIC BAY, Philippines – President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday said the acquisition of a second warship by the Philippines will boost the Navy’s ability to patrol and defend the country’s waters. Aquino expressed confidence that the BRP Alcaraz, the “newest and modern ship” the country has acquired, will fulfill the government’s aim to have an Armed Forces capable of defending the country and the Filipino people. “Now that the BRP Alcaraz is here, it will definitely boost our patrols around the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone and our ability to quell threats and dangerous elements, respond to search and rescue operations, and needs of our marine resources,” Aquino said in Filipino as he welcomed the arrival of the 45-year-old former US Coast Guard Hamilton-class cutter at the Alava Wharf here. Aquino recounted the ship’s “historic and symbolic” journey from the United States, passing through Pearl Harbor and Guam, and the heroes behind this journey. It is in this light that the President challenged the troops of the Philippine Navy to live up to the courage exemplified by those who lived before them. “So this is my challenge to the Philippine Navy and to the troops that will be on this ship: Live up to the courage and Read More …

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