Maniolas

Vice President Jejomar Binay has dismissed a supposed investigative report that said his daughter Makati Rep. Mar-Len Abigail Binay misused her Priority Development Assistance Fund as mere propaganda, adding he is unaffected by it since it isn’t true. “Kung talagang tumataas na ang antas ng pangliligaw, okay lang, talagang ganyan pa rin ang  ang ating politika eh,” he said in a “24 Oras” report aired Sunday evening. The supposed investigative report said Rep. Binay used her PDAF from 2007 to 2009 to pay for rallies in support of her father and his political allies, an allegation she has already denied. — JDS, GMA News

The president will likely mention the pork barrel scam when he addresses Congress in July, but that does not mean the filing of graft charges over the scam were rushed for the State of the Nation Address, a Palace spokesman said Sunday. Senator Jinggoy Estrada — charged with graft at the Sandiganbayan on Friday over his alleged involvement in the pork barrel scam — has said the cases against him and two other senators were rushed so the president can include it in his SONA. “Siyempre ibabandera kaming tatlo. Na naipakulong ang isang presidente, tatlong senador. Ito ay bilang patunay ng kanilang anti-corruption drive,” Estrada said in an earlier report. But Palace spokesman Herminio Coloma Jr. said the charges came from the Office of the Ombudsman and that the investigation into the scam had been going on since last year. “‘Yon pong mga usapin ay inihain sa Tanggapan ng Ombudsman bandang Agosto-Setyembre pa. Wala po sa kontrol natin kung kailan po matatapos ‘yon,” he said. Coloma noted that it took the Office of the Ombudsman until April to come out with a resolution on the first batch of graft complaints that the Department of Justice filed last year. He added the president’s upcoming SONA was not the basis for the filing of charges against Estrada, Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Ramon Bong Revilla Jr., alleged scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles, and others. “Tila paglilihis na naman ‘yan sa tunay na usapin dito kung ‘yan pa ang ating papansinin,” Coloma said. Coloma Read More …

Vietnamese and Philippine troops got together on a disputed island in the South China Sea on Sunday to play soccer and volleyball—as well as drink beer—in a display of unity that will not go unnoticed in Beijing. Philippine naval officials billed the event on the Vietnamese-held island as a chance to show the world there can be harmony in the South China Sea despite a web of overlapping claims to the potentially energy-rich waters. The gathering on Southwest Cay in the Spratly archipelago also symbolizes how once-suspicious neighbours are cooperating in the face of China’s growing assertiveness in disputed waters. About 40 Philippine naval personnel sailed to the island for the day-long event, Philippine naval officials said. Coincidentally, the Philippines occupied Southwest Cay until early 1975, when troops from then South Vietnam seized it after Philippine forces sailed a couple of miles to Northeast Cay, which was under Manila’s control, for a party. The South Vietnamese were soon displaced by the communist forces of a victorious Hanoi. Besides playing soccer and volleyball, the troops held a tug-of-war competition, put on cultural shows involving singing and dancing and shared food and beer, said Philippine naval spokesman, Lieutenant-Commander Gerard Fabic. In a joint statement, the Philippine and Vietnamese navies said the sport and cultural presentations would help foster friendly ties. “This serves as a model of cooperation for other navies to emulate,” said the statement, without naming any other countries. The gathering underscores the growing cooperation between Hanoi and Manila—the two capitals Read More …

Map showing the disputed areas in the West Philippine Sea (south China Sea), including the Spratlys Islands and Scarborough Shoal. AFP MANILA, Philippines—China’s land reclamation on reefs in the West Philippine Sea is its way of asserting its claim to almost the entire South China Sea that no other country recognizes, a Filipino security expert said on Saturday. Jose Antonio Custodio, a security expert and military historian, also warned that the Philippines was already losing its territory to the Chinese. With the reclamation of land on various reefs in the Spratly Islands, the Chinese are “expanding,” Custodio told the Inquirer in a phone interview. “De facto, they are practically occupying areas that we claim … and strengthening the nine-dash line,” Custodio said, referring to China’s demarcation on official maps of its claim over 90 percent of the 3.5-million-square-kilometer South China Sea. President Benigno Aquino III said on Thursday that Chinese ships had been monitored moving toward other reefs in the West Philippine Sea, possibly to reclaim land at Gavin Reefs (Gaven Reefs) and Calderon Reef (Cuarteron Reef). China is also reclaiming land on Mabini Reef (Johnson South Reef) and Malvar Reef (Eldad Reef). Chinese blockade “Once they (Chinese) are able to consolidate, they would use this in an effort to establish a much more effective blockade … to intercept any movement from our side whether it is the military, the Coast Guard or even ordinary fishermen,” Custodio said. He said the gradual developments initiated by China in the disputed territories Read More …