PHL govt welcomes China's decision to hold talks on sea code

 News
Jul 042013
 
PHL govt welcomes China's decision to hold talks on sea code

The Philippine government on Thursday described as a “forward step” China’s decision to discuss a code of conduct on the South China Sea with the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries. At a press briefing, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the Philippines is ready to discuss its draft of the code with Chinese officials to try to diffuse tension at the South China Sea. “We have already drafted the code of conduct, and we have asked them to discuss it with us. China has already said that they are discussing with us, so this is a step in the right direction,” Lacierda said. The President’s spokesperson refused to “speculate” when asked if the Philippine government thinks China is only using talks on the code as a delaying tactic. On Monday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said his country has agreed to hold “official consultations” on a proposed code of conduct on the South China Sea with Southeast Asian nations.   Sea dispute China is asserting its historial claim on the entire South China Sea. The Philippines, however, is claiming its ownership of some parts of the South China Sea—which it calls the West Philippine Sea—under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.  Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei also have claims over parts of the South China Sea.  Lacierda said that the Philippines will continue to seek international arbitration on its territorial dispute with China while talks on the sea code are ongoing. “We have used the proper approaches, Read More …

Remains of Pinay executed in China brought home to PHL

 News
Jul 032013
 
Remains of Pinay executed in China brought home to PHL

The remains of the Filipina who was executed in China Wednesday morning arrived in Manila in the evening of that same day, a television report said. The body of the 35-year-old arrived in Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 at around 8 p.m. via Philippine Airlines flight PR337, which departed from Shanghai, China, Jam Sisante reported during GMA News TV’s “State of the Nation with Jessica Soho”. The remains of the Filipina drug mule were accompanied by her daughter and mother. The relatives of the deceased refused to make any statements upon their arrival, the television report said. As of this posting, it was not yet certain whether the body of the deceased was cremated or not. The family earlier requested the body be cremated. The relatives of the convicted drug courier had been in China since Sunday. They were given 30 minutes to see their loved one to bid farewell. Despite the country’s pleas, the Filipina was finally executed on Wednesday morning, the Foreign Affairs Department revealed. The Filipina was sentenced to death in 2011 for carrying at least six kilos of heroin into China from United Arab Emirates. In China, possession of at least 50 grams of illegal drugs is enough to warrant the death penalty, which is usually done via lethal injection. The Filipina was the fifth Filipino drug courier to be executed in China since 2011. The family of the 35-year-old drug courier will seek the assistance of the National Bureau of Investigation in arresting the Read More …

PH urges closer US-Asean ties to protect sea lanes

 News
Jul 022013
 
PH urges closer US-Asean ties to protect sea lanes

By Tarra QuismundoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 4:13 am | Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013 Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario: Greater engagement between Asean and US, AP FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—Unfazed by China’s accusation that the Philippines was “internationalizing” territorial disputes, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario has called for greater engagement between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the United States in ensuring maritime security in the region. Speaking at the Asean-US Post-Ministerial Conference in Brunei Darussalam on Monday, Del Rosario also called for compliance to the 2002 Declaration on the Conduct (DOC) of Parties in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) as Asean and China were still working on a legally binding Code of Conduct (COC) to govern the disputed waters. The DOC is an agreement between the Asean and China that seeks to deter armed confrontations in the strategic waterway, a critical international trading route where China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan have competing territorial claims. “Fortunately, we have an appropriate mechanism for dialogue and interaction on these matters—the Expanded Asean Maritime Forum —which was inaugurated in Manila in October 2012,” Del Rosario said in his speech, a copy of which was released in Manila by the Department of Foreign Affairs. His remarks followed China’s threat of a “counterstrike” in the disputed waters and pointed criticism of the Philippines’ stance on the regional maritime dispute, particularly blasting its involvement of dialogue partners, including the United States, in discussions toward resolving the dispute. Illegal occupation China also Read More …

PH in the dark on exact date, time of Filipina’s execution in China

 News
Jul 022013
 
PH in the dark on exact date, time of Filipina’s execution in China

By Tarra QuismundoPhilippine Daily Inquirer 9:18 pm | Tuesday, July 2nd, 2013 DFA spokesperson Raul Hernandez INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines — The deadline is Wednesday (July 3), but the Philippines remains in the dark on the exact time the Filipino drug courier sentenced to death in China will be executed. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Tuesday afternoon that the Chinese government had not informed the Philippine government when it would carry out the death penalty on the 35-year-old Filipino woman arrested for drug trafficking in the city of Hangzhou in eastern China in 2011. “We have not yet received any specific date or time for the execution of our kababayan in Hangzhou, but it seems that it is very imminent,” the DFA spokesperson, Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez, said in a press briefing on Tuesday. On Monday, the woman’s family, including her mother and son, were granted a 30-minute final visit at the Zhejiang Detention Center in Hangzhou, where she has been jailed for two years now. The family, who was in Shanghai as of Tuesday, has requested that their privacy be respected and asked that their loved one’s name be kept in confidence, Hernandez said. “We don’t know if we will be informed before or after [the execution]. There were cases when we were informed before and there were cases when it happened right after the visit of the family of the accused,” he said. Hernandez said the execution would likely be carried out through lethal Read More …

DFA: China's 'counterstrike' statement provocative

 News
Jun 292013
 
DFA: China's 'counterstrike' statement provocative

The Department of Foreign Affairs on Saturday said China’s warning of an inevitable “counterstrike” against the Philippines is a provocative statement that has “no place in the relations of civilized nations.” In a text message to GMA News Online, DFA spokesperson Raul Hernandez said China is obligated under international law, specifically the United Nations Charter “to pursue a peaceful resolution of disputes – meaning without the use of force [or] the threat to use forces.” China’s state media warned on Saturday a

China's state media warns PHL of 'counterstrike' in West PHL Sea

 News
Jun 282013
 
China's state media warns PHL of 'counterstrike' in West PHL Sea

BEIJING – China’s state media warned on Saturday that a “counterstrike” against the Philippines was inevitable if it continues to provoke Beijing in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), potentially Asia’s biggest military troublespot. The warning comes as ministers from both countries attend an Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting in Brunei, starting Saturday, which hopes to reach a legally binding code of conduct to manage maritime conduct in disputed areas. At stake are potentially massive offshore oil reserves. The seas also lie on shipping lanes and fishing grounds. Both China and the Philippines have been locked in a decades-old territorial squabble over the West Philippine Sea, with tensions flaring after the Philippines moved new soldiers and supplies last week to a disputed coral reef, prompting Beijing to condemn Manila’s “illegal occupation”. The overseas edition of the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, said in a front-page commentary that the Philippines had committed “seven sins” in the West Philippine Sea. These include the “illegal occupation” of the Spratly Islands, inviting foreign capital to engage in oil and gas development in the disputed waters and promoting the “internationalisation” of the waters, said the commentary. The Philippines has called on the United States to act as a “patron”, while ASEAN has become an “accomplice,” said the commentary, which does not amount to official policy but can reflect the government’s thinking. “The Philippines, knowing that it’s weak, believes that ‘a crying child will have milk to drink’,” the Read More …

Palace defends access plan

 News
Jun 282013
 
Palace defends access plan

US troops’ use of PH bases to be temporary By TJ Burgonio, Nikko Dizon and Norman BordadoraPhilippine Daily Inquirer 12:51 am | Saturday, June 29th, 2013 Malacañang on Friday defended a plan to give the United States, Japan and other allies access to military bases in the Philippines, saying the country was free to do anything within its territory. But the plan, which coincides with the United States’ “pivot” to Asia, a strategy that would see 60 percent of America’s warships shifting to the region by the end of the decade, has yet to be approved by President Benigno Aquino III, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said. Several senators acknowledged that the Philippines needs the assistance the United States and other allies can bring by their presence in the country, but they said the proposed access agreements under the plan would need Senate approval. The Senate voted to expel US military bases from the Philippines in 1991, but ratified the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) in 1999 to allow US forces access to the country through joint exercises with Philippine forces. No longer visiting Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, one of the 12 senators who voted to expel the US military bases, said the VFA allowed only a temporary stay of US forces in the country. “They cannot establish any military base in the Philippines,” Enrile said. “Temporary or whatever term they use, no military bases. If it assumes a certain degree of permanence or stability, then it’s no longer visiting forces,” Read More …

Jollibee banks on Pinoys’ higher spending power

 Economy
Jun 282013
 
Jollibee banks on Pinoys’ higher spending power

MANILA, Philippines – Fastfood giant Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) is banking on Filipinos’ higher spending power, new branches and product launches to grow its profits further this year. The Philippines’ largest quickservice restaurant chain also expects better profitability in its operations in China, top company executives said yesterday. “There are two [growth] drivers: one is better products and the other one is election spending,” JFC chief finance officer Ysmael V. Baysa told reporters after the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting. Baysa said the effects of the election spending will taper off in the second half but JFC plans to introduce new products and improve its lineup. The current weakness of the peso is also seen to benefit the Philippine operations of JFC. “From different angles, it can be good [because] the OFW family’s income will be a little bit higher,” said JFC chairman and CEO Tony Tan Caktiong. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 For the entire year, JFC expects earnings per share to grow 12 percent. This will require at least a five-percent uptick in samestore sales, Baysa said. In the first three months, JFC’s net income grew 29 percent to P881 million from P682 million a year ago due to higher samestore sales and new branches. Systemwide sales, a measure of all sales to customers both in company-owned and franchised stores, picked up 10.6 percent to P23.83 billion in the first quarter. For its expansion plans, the fastfood giant is sticking to its plan of spending Read More …

US temporary access to PH military bases might violate Constitution

 News
Jun 282013
 
US temporary access to PH military bases might violate Constitution

SENATORS SAY By Maila AgerINQUIRER.net 1:50 pm | Friday, June 28th, 2013 Sen. Gregorio Honasan and Sen. Panfilo Lacson INQUIRER file photo MANILA, Philippines—Two senators  have raised  an  alarm over  the  Philippines’ plan to  allow the  United States and other allies  “temporary access” to  its military bases, one saying  it might be a violation of the Constitution. “Technically, I think it may be a violation of the Constitution,” Senator Gringo Honasan said in a text message on  Friday. “But if our national interest and  security are at stake, we have limited choices because we are still a developing country at the mercy of and dependent on powers like the US and China,” he said. Honasan said the  “temporary access” might be  a violation of the 1987 Constitution, which prohibits foreign military bases in the country. Despite this,  the senator  said he would back  the plan if  only  to stop  China  from “bullying” the  Philippines on  the issue of the West  Philippine Sea (South China Sea). “For practical purposes, our national security is an urgent matter given the fact that China is not moving away. It’s only with the US that China could be cowed,” Honasan said in Filipino in a phone interview. Senator Panfilo Lacson said  the Department  of National Defense should exercise prudence  by consulting first the Senate. “There is a wide gray of area of interpreting the planned move of allowing temporary access to our military bases by the US and other allies. Having  said that, the DND Read More …

US opposes bullying by China in disputed seas

 News
Jun 202013
 
US opposes bullying by China in disputed seas

Associated Press 9:37 am | Friday, June 21st, 2013 In this May 7, 2013 photo, a Filipino fisherman places ice on containers for fish before they are delivered to the market in the coastal town of Infanta, Pangasinan province, northwestern Philippines. Since China took control of the Scarborough Shoal last year, which Beijing calls Huangyan Island, Filipino fishermen say Chinese maritime surveillance ships have shooed them from the disputed waters in the South China Sea and roped off the entrance to the vast lagoon that had been their fishing paradise for decades. Now, they say, they can’t even count on the Chinese to give them shelter there from a potentially deadly storm. AP WASHINGTON— The nominee to become the top U.S. diplomat in East Asia delivered pointed comments about China in his confirmation hearing Thursday, saying there’s no place for “coercion and bullying” in the region’s seas. Danny Russel told a Senate panel that he will do everything in his power to “lower the temperature” in territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas and push claimants including China toward diplomacy. He also said it was “unacceptable” for China to demand only bilateral negotiations with the other claimants, and voiced strong U.S. support for efforts by Southeast Asia to negotiate as a bloc and frame a “code of conduct” to manage the disputes — an issue to be taken up at regional security talks in Brunei later this month. Russel is currently White House senior director for Asian affairs. Read More …

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