Maniolas

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana told a House committee on Wednesday that the Philippines did not have the capability to enforce the rights of the country in disputed territories in the West Philippine Sea. Photos show the BRP Ramon Alcaraz (top), the most ‘modern’ ship in the Philippine Navy, and the Chinese guided missile destroyer Taizhou (bottom). INQUIRER FILE / AP FILE Lacking the capability to enforce the Philippines’s rights in the West Philippine Sea, Manila will maintain the status quo in territories also being claimed by other countries, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said Wednesday, September 14, 2016. Delfin made the disclosure before the House committee on appropriations during the hearing for the Department of National Defense’s proposed P178.2 billion budget for 2017. Following the previous administration’s falling out with China, President Duterte has called for bilateral talks with Beijing over the resource-rich waters. Duterte has been perceived as favoring China over long-time ally, the United States. “As per the pronouncement of the President, we will maintain status quo in the West Philippine Sea so that there would be no miscalculations,” Lorenzana said. “We don’t have any assets to confront the other claimants in the area,” he added. The Philippines won its maritime case against China over the West Philippine Sea, after the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal in the Hague ruled that Beijing’s nine-dash line claim to almost all of the South China Sea had no historic and legal basis. The tribunal said the West Philippine Sea was within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ). READ: Philippines wins arbitration case vs. China over South China Sea  Duterte expressed Read More …

An employee cleans a logo at the Genki Sushi conveyor belt restaurant chain Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2016, in Aiea, Hawaii. The Hawaii State Department of Health Sanitation said Tuesday that Genki Sushi was being ordered to close its 10 restaurants on Oahu and one on Kauai after state authorities identified its raw scallops as the probable source of a hepatitis A outbreak. The disease can cause fever, loss of appetite and other symptoms. AP The Philippine government has suspended distribution of seafood believed to be the cause of a hepatitis A outbreak in Hawaii. De Oro Resources Inc. must temporarily suspend distribution of its products, according to an order by the Philippines’ Department of Agriculture Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources. Hawaii’s Department of Health last month identified frozen scallops served raw at a sushi chain as the probable cause. The scallops are produced by De Oro Resources. READ: Cebu scallops blamed for hepa A in Hawaii Andres Bojos, director of the agriculture bureau in the Central Visayas region, said officials required the company to test workers, including those who shuck scallops and those who work in their plant. All of them tested negative for hepatitis A, he said. The Hawaii outbreak has sickened more than 250 people. Bojos said Tuesday that De Oro Resources remains suspended pending completion of the audit they are doing. Aside from scallops, De Oro also exports shrimp. “We required the operator to subject all their personnel involved in the supply chain from those who shuck Read More …

US President Barack Obama and Philippine President Duterte          AP TIT FOR TAT. President Duterte insisted on Monday that he snubbed US President Barack Obama after the latter canceled their bilateral meeting scheduled on Sept. 6 on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Vientiane, Laos, last week. The fiery Philippine leader said he skipped the Sept. 8 meeting between Obama and Asean leaders, following Washington’s criticism of Manila’s war on drugs that has claimed thousands of lives. “I purposely did not attend the bilateral talks between Asean countries and the president of the United States,” Mr. Duterte said at Rizal Hall in Malacañang where he delivered a speech before outstanding police officials, military officers and school teachers. “I really skipped that one … . You just cannot (lecture) a president of a sovereign state. Even Obama. It would have been wrong for him to do that. That is why I disrespected them,” he added. Mr. Duterte sparked a storm a day ahead of the Asean summit by calling Obama a “son of a bitch” during a predeparture news conference in Davao City in which the Philippine leader warned that the latter should not question him about his war on drugs, which had left thousands dead. Asked by a reporter how he would explain the killings to Obama, Mr. Duterte said in a long answer that the Philippines had long ceased to be a US colony and that he was answerable to Read More …

Minority congressmen belonging to the Liberal Party on Tuesday denied allegations that the former ruling party is plotting to impeach President Rodrigo Duterte. This was the assurance made by Caloocan City Rep. Edgar Erice, Northern Samar Rep. Raul Daza and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, who belong to the eight-member group of minority lawmakers who call themselves “Legitimate Minority 8.” They issued the statement following Duterte’s accusation on Monday that “yellow” forces are trying to build a case against him for possible impeachment proceedings in connection with the killings related to his administration’s war against drugs.  “We can safely say that as far as Liberal Party members are concerned … we have not even talked about an impeachment,” Daza told reporters at a media briefing. “Under the Constitution, the process of impeachment begins at the House. But I am sure there has not been any talk of impeachment,” he added, saying LP members have the freedom and the right to disagree among themselves. Erice insisted despite their role to provide “checks and balances” in government, the minority remains to be “on the same boat” as President Duterte. “We are here in the House in a parliamentary struggle. But we do not wish for the impeachment of the President,” he said. The lawmaker appealed to Duterte to “appreciate that what we are doing here is for the country and the people.” While also denying any impeach plots, Lagman warned the tough-talking President that he could be inadvertently compromising himself through his recent Read More …

ON HIS RETURN on Saturday from a 24-hour visit in Jakarta, President Duterte said he discussed with President Joko Widodo the case of Mary Jane Veloso, who was convicted by an Indonesian court of smuggling drugs and sentenced to death. “There are the things which I cannot divulge now because it will not be in keeping with good manners and right conduct. Let me talk to the family first because if I say something now, I’ll be telegraphing my message. Whether it is good or bad, you have to consider the feelings of the family first,” the President told reporters. Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. said the two governments felt no urgency on taking action on the case. “Her scheduled execution had been deferred because she would be testifying in the deposition case against her illegal recruiter. After prosecuting the illegal recruiter who (is one of) the main principals here, and if it turns out in the trial in the Philippines that Mary Jane (was) a victim, then at that point we can ask for clemency soon,” Yasay added. Veloso was granted a last-minute reprieve from execution in April last year after the surrender of her recruiters, Kristina Sergio and her partner Julius Lacanilao, in the Philippines. Veloso was arrested in April 2010 at Yogyakarta airport in Indonesia after 2.6 kilograms of heroin was discovered in her luggage. She was sentenced to die in October 2010. Indonesian authorities have said Veloso’s execution had been postponed in view of its commitment Read More …