February 2013 – Page 27

Taiwan students, teachers to camp at Spratlys

News

Feb 042013

Taiwan students, teachers to camp at Spratlys

Some 40 students and teachers from Taiwan will go on a camping trip to the disputed Spratly Islands, Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported Monday night. The CNA report quoted the Ministry of National Defense as saying the 40 will include 10-member teams from four universities. It also said the students will send postcards upon arriving on the island to “assert Taiwan’s sovereignty over the Spratlys.” Each team will have one professor and nine graduate and doctoral students below 40 years old. However, the CNA report said the ministry declined to say when the camping will be held, due to “security concerns.” The CNA report said this will be the third year the defense ministry is organizing such a camp, with this year’s program focusing on the “history of the South China Sea, maritime law and marine ecology.” Taiwan is one of six claimants to the Spratlys, the others being the Philippines, Brunei, China, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Vietnam. —KG, GMA News

CBCP: Commemorative San Pedro Calungsod P50 bills, medals to be issued this year

News

Feb 042013

CBCP: Commemorative San Pedro Calungsod P50 bills, medals to be issued this year

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) will issue later this year commemorative P50 bills featuring the image of San Pedro Calungsod, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said over the weekend. An article posted on the CBCP news site said the limited-edition bills will commemorate the canonization of the second Filipino saint last October. “Because of the many signatures needed, certainly I think these will be released not later than the feast day of Calungsod on April 2,” said former Ambassador to the Vatican Henrietta de Villa, secretary general of the National Commission on the Canonization of Calungsod. De Villa said the Monetary Board has also approved to issue commemorative medals to honor the sainthood of Calungsod. Calungsod was a teenage Catholic missionary who died a martyr in Guam on April 2, 1672. He was canonized at the Vatican on October 21 last year. – VVP, GMA News

DOJ urged to take legal action vs US Navy for Tubbataha destruction

News

Feb 042013

DOJ urged to take legal action vs US Navy for Tubbataha destruction

INQUIRER.net 10:51 am | Tuesday, February 5th, 2013 In a photo released by the U.S. Navy, the mine countermeasures ship USS Guardian sits aground in this Jan. 22, 2013 file photo on the Tubbataha Reef in the Sulu Sea in the Philippines. AP Photo/U.S. Navy. Naval Aircrewman 3rd Class Geoffrey Trudell MANILA, Philippines — Militant fisherfolk group Pamalakaya (Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas) filed a complaint Tuesday before the Department of Justice, urging it to take legal action against the US Navy and crew members of USS Guardian. Mara Cepeda and Caitlin Jao

Oil companies hike prices anew

Economy

Feb 042013

MANILA, Philippines – Oil companies on Tuesday morning hiked pump prices anew. Shell, Petron and Flying V increased by P1.05 liter the prices of premium and unleaded gasoline. The oil companies also raised the prices of their regular gasoline products by 75 centavos per liter and diesel and kerosene by 54 centavos per liter. The price increases were implemented 6 a.m. Tuesday. The three oil companies said the latest adjustments are based on the prices of petroleum products in the world market.

Cops secure Supreme Court for anti-cybercrime law protests

News

Feb 042013

Cops secure Supreme Court for anti-cybercrime law protests

The police on Tuesday tightened security anew at the Supreme Court in Manila for the resumption of arguments on the Anti-Cybercrime Act of 2012. Radio dzBB’s Carlo Mateo said some groups had scheduled a vigil and concert there from 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday up to 2:00 a.m. on Wednesday. Mateo said the police appealed to the organizers of the vigil and protest actions to keep their activities peaceful and orderly. Many of the protesters are marking not just the resumption of arguments but also the eve of Feb. 6, the day the high court’s temporary restraining order on the controversial law lapses. Among the activities lined up by various youth and blogger groups for the day are a concert and vigil protesting a supposed “electronic Martial Law.” Many groups had staged protests at the high court when arguments on the controversial law are held. They argued that the anti-cybercrime law may violate Filipinos’ constitutional right to freedom of expression. – VVP, GMA News

Chinese warships enter West Philippine Sea

News

Feb 042013

Chinese warships enter West Philippine Sea

By Tarra Quismundo Philippine Daily Inquirer 4:12 am | Tuesday, February 5th, 2013 MANILA, Philippines—Chinese naval vessels entered Philippine waters on Feb. 1 amid efforts by the Philippines to peacefully resolve its territorial dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea through arbitration in the United Nations. China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday that a naval fleet of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) entered the West Philippine Sea “for patrol and training missions” this week. Xinhua said the three ships from the PLA Navy’s North China Sea fleet—the missile destroyer Qingdao and missile frigates Yantai and Yancheng—traveled through the Bashi Channel, an international sea route between Luzon and Taiwan, before entering the West Philippine Sea at 11:40 a.m. on Friday. The report said the training exercises would be held within Chinese “territorial waters.” China claims almost all of the West Philippine Sea, including parts close to the shores of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. UN arbitration The Philippines has protested Chinese incursions into waters within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), but China insists those waters are part of its territory. Last month, the Philippines took its dispute with China to the United Nations for arbitration. The Philippines asked the United Nations to declare invalid China’s claim to parts of the sea that are within the Philippine EEZ. Manila also asked the United Nations to stop Beijing’s incursions into Philippine territory in the sea. It is not clear whether the Philippine action can proceed without China’s participation Read More …

Fil-Am bishop joins Calungsod musical

News

Feb 042013

By Nimfa U. Rueda Philippine Daily Inquirer 3:22 am | Tuesday, February 5th, 2013 LOS ANGELES—First, he made history as the first Filipino to become bishop in the United States. Now, he scores another first—this time as the first Catholic bishop in America to perform in a theater musical. Oscar Solis and members of the Filipino Priests of Los Angeles—also the first group of priests to perform on stage—have joined the cast of “Fides Ecclesiae (Faith of the Church),” a musical about the lives of Pedro Calungsod, a newly canonized Filipino saint, and St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American saint. “Bishop Solis is the first member of the (US) Conference of Catholic Bishops to sing on stage,” said Fr. Robert Victoria, who wrote the script. “Fides Ecclesiae” is also the first Filipino production, as well as the first musical about the Catholic faith, to be staged at the Pantages Theater, a famous Los Angeles landmark known as the go-to venue for blockbuster Broadway entertainment. Victoria said the musical was not only historic but had also been marked by so many “miracles,” which were attributed to Saints Calungsod and Kateri—the two youngest among the seven saints canonized by Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican last October. He cited the stories of a lupus-stricken cast member who experienced a miraculous recovery and the mother of a production crew member who was healed of cancer. “The fact that we were able to get people from different nationalities—Filipinos, Chamorros, Chinese and Americans—to come Read More …

US to compensate PH for damage to Tubbataha Reefs

News

Feb 042013

US to compensate PH for damage to Tubbataha Reefs

By Christine O. Avendaño Philippine Daily Inquirer 1:21 am | Tuesday, February 5th, 2013 PROTEST AT US EMBASSY Activists protest the destruction of Tubbataha Reefs as a result of a US Navy minesweeper getting stuck at the World Heritage Site. NIÑO JESUS ORBETA The US government has apologized and pledged to provide “appropriate compensation” to the Philippines for the damage caused by the grounding of a US warship at the protected Tubbataha Reefs in the Sulu Sea. The US compensation will come in a package that includes a joint scientific assessment of the reefs for rehabilitation, a P4.1 million ($100,000) grant for coral restoration on the reefs, and funding for improvements in the communications system within and around the natural park. In a statement released by the US Embassy in Manila on Sunday, the US government said it had been committed over the past decade to help the Philippines protect its marine ecosystems, including coral reefs. “In view of the damage caused by the USS Guardian accident at Tubbataha Reefs, the US has expressed it regrets and is prepared to provide appropriate compensation to the Republic of the Philippines. In addition to compensation, the US government is planning a number of other activities which will underscore its commitment to Tubbataha’s recovery and the protection of the marine resources of the Philippines,” the statement said. No comment was immediately available on Monday from the Tubbataha Protected Area Management, which had been talking about going after the US Navy for the damage Read More …

Good and bad news on rice in 2012

Economy

Feb 042013

A good summary of the rice and palay situation of the country in 2012 is aptly conveyed by our reader, Manuel Bondad, in the following letter he sent recently. Please read on. “Reports that the 2012 palay production reached 18 million metric tons (MMT) is good news. For the first time, the highest ever attained output of 16.8 MMT in 2008 was bested as well. “The milled rice equivalent of the record palay tonnage is sufficient to cope with the country’s annual consumption of 10.9 MMT and a 21-day buffer stock based on the government’s assumed per capita consumption of two sacks and 15 kilos a year. “The feat may allay critics’ unwavering stand that the road to rice self-sufficiency is a dream never to be attained in our lifetime. On this score, the impact of population growth on rice self-sufficiency was not considered by the critics. “A perusal of the Food and Agriculture (FAO) published statistics shows that while the hike in combined population of the four most populated countries outside the Philippines in the ASEAN, i.e., Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, reached 9.8 percent in 2010 from 2001, the country’s growth of 18 percent – the highest – when halved to nine percent could have made the country self-sufficient with consumption correspondingly reduced to 10 MMT against the milled rice equivalent of 11.5 MMT of the 2012 palay output of 18 MMT. “On palay productivity, the Philippine yield per hectare of 3.62 tons, or equivalent to 80 cavans Read More …

MPIC unit in new SCTEx takeover talks

Economy

Feb 042013

SINGAPORE – The tollway management unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC) is negotiating anew to take over the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx). The latest proposal of Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC) will allow the government to earn from a clearer revenue sharing system, company officials said. “A third one (proposal) is in order because the government is not convinced that [the second] proposal is acceptable to them on terms that will not require a market challenge,” MPIC president and CEO Jose Ma. K. Lim said in a briefing. “We are still tweaking the proposal,” said Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC) president Ramoncito S. Fernandez. In July 2011, the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) signed the SCTEx business and operating agreement with MNTC and holding firms MPTC and MPIC. Under the deal, MNTC will operate and manage the 94-kilometer SCTEx for 33 years while relieving SCTEx builder BCDA of the heavy financial burden of paying the P34-billion debt to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 However, MPIC has yet to secure the final approval from President Aquino. The Department of Finance wants a rebidding of the contract given issues on the revenue sharing. Lim said the new proposal is based on a revenue sharing and a guarantee system. He said MNTC wants to “make it clearer to the government that in the course of taking over the debt service, we will be contributing a specified amount of equity that will be comparable Read More …

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