PHL Navy: BRP Gregorio Velasquez capable of surveying Benham Rise 

 Entertainment
Mar 252017
 
Elite Navy unit during the Miss Universe Pagent activities when the Philippine Navy deployed its elite unit – Naval Special Operations Group – to provide security to Miss Universe candidates on board M/V Happy Life which brougth them to Batangas for a pictorial on Thursday (Jan. 19, 2017). (PNA photo by Joey O. Razon)

Elite Navy unit during the Miss Universe Pagent activities when the Philippine Navy deployed its elite unit – Naval Special Operations Group – to provide security to Miss Universe candidates on board M/V Happy Life which brougth them to Batangas for a pictorial on Thursday (Jan. 19, 2017). (PNA photo by Joey O. Razon)

MANILA, March 21 (PNA) – The Philippine Navy (PN) is ready to deploy its sole survey and hydrographic ship, the BRP Gregorio Velasquez (AGR-702), if ordered to survey Benham Rise.

The statement was made by Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) public affairs office chief, Col. Edgard Arevalo, when asked what assets could the military field should President Rodrigo Duterte and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana formalize the order calling for the mapping of the 13-million-hectare Benham Rise, which the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) confirmed as part of the Philippines’ continental shelf in 2012.

“In most probability, the BRP Gregorio Velasquez will be the one to be deployed,” Arevalo said in an interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA) Tuesday.

Arevalo said the ship is the Navy’s sole asset capable of conducting oceanagraphic and hydrographic survey.

The BRP Gregorio Velasquez (formerly the R/V Melville) was one of two former American ships pledged by then president Barack Obama during his visit to the Philippines during the APEC Leaders Summit in November 2015.

The other ship was the USCGC Boutwell, which has been renamed to BRP Andres Bonifacio (FF-17), the third Hamilton-class cutter in the Navy’s service.

BRP Gregorio Velasquez was commissioned into PN service in June 2016.

The R/V Melville was used in the 1976 movie “King Kong”, starring Jessica Lange, specifically because of its hypoid propulsion drive at that time, which allowed it to move sideways. This type of drive is used on research vessels for station keeping in the ocean over drill and coring sites.

According to policy, auxiliary research vessels are to be named after national scientists, hence her namesake, Dr. Gregorio Velasquez, a pioneer in Philippine phycology.

Velasquez pioneered the intensive study and collection of the Philippine blue-green algal species. He was named National Scientist in 1982. He was also conferred a Distinguished Science Medal and Diploma of Honor by the Republic of the Philippines (1956), the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (1956-1957), and the Republic of the Philippines Cultural Heritage award in 1972. He was in the World’s Who’s Who in Sciences in 1970.

Arevalo meanwhile clarified that the Chief Executive and Lorenzana have yet to give specific orders for the military to patrol Benham Rise, as well as parts of the West Philippine Sea.

“Up to now there is still no instruction from President Duterte and Secretary Lorenzana for us to patrol the Benham Rise and the West Philippine Sea. But we are always ready to defend our territory and sovereignty,” he added.

 

PH case vs China a model for int’l sea disputes

 News
Apr 122014
 
PH case vs China a model for int’l sea disputes

This undated handout photo taken by the Philippine Navy and released April 11, 2012, by the Department of Foreign Affairs shows Chinese surveillance ships off Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal. Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Emmanuel Bautista on Monday, Feb. 24, 2014, accused China’s Coast Guard of firing water cannon at Filipino fishermen last month to drive them away from Panatag Shoal in the West Philippine Sea. AFP FILE PHOTO The Philippines’ case against China in the United Nations arbitral tribunal would be the country’s contribution to international maritime jurisprudence, setting an example of legal remedies that smaller nations could seek instead of submitting to lopsided negotiations with bigger countries, according to the Philippine ambassador to the United States. Speaking at a gathering of businessmen in Makati City on Friday, Ambassador Jose Cuisia Jr. asserted the Philippines’ right to seek international arbitration in the face of Chinese incursions into the West Philippine Sea, the part of the South China Sea within the country’s exclusive economic zone. “This arbitration case would be a model or an example for other smaller states in a similar situation to consider the dispute settlement mechanism under the Unclos (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) as a way of resolving disputes in a peaceful manner,” Cuisia said.   First of its kind “The arbitration case itself is the Philippines’ contribution to further strengthening Unclos… As the Philippine arbitration case against China is the first of its kind, the proceedings and its subsequent outcome would Read More …

Can’t force China to comply–Palace

 News
Apr 102014
 
Can’t force China to comply–Palace

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr.: Can’t force China to comply. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines—Even if a United Nations arbitration tribunal were to rule in its favor on the West Philippine Sea dispute, the Philippines cannot compel China to comply with the ruling, Malacañang said on Thursday. Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the country’s main purpose in filing the case is to prove that its claim to certain territories in the South China Sea is sanctioned by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), and not to enforce compliance from China. “The primary objective is to prove that what we claim as part of the West Philippine Sea is based on a prevailing law, and that law is the Unclos,” Coloma said in the briefing. “The primary objective is not to make a country comply,” he said. “It’s not within our power to dictate what they (China) should do. What’s within our power is to protect our national interest,” Coloma told a Palace briefing. Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza earlier said that the Philippines has always believed that China, as a member of the international community of nations, was “legally bound” to accept and implement the ruling of the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (Itlos). The Philippines’ filing of the case drew a sharp rebuke from Chinese officials, which accused the Philippines of seriously damaging the two countries’ relations and shutting the door to negotiations. Beijing, which claims virtually the entire West Philippine Sea, Read More …

AFP coordinating with Malaysia, Vietnam to find missing plane

 News
Mar 092014
 
AFP coordinating with Malaysia, Vietnam to find missing plane

Grief seizes kin of passenger on missing Malaysian plane. Journalists attempt to interview a woman who is the relative of a passenger on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, as she crouches on the floor crying, at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing March 8, 2014. Reuters The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) continues to coordinate with defense officials from Malaysia and Vietnam in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight bound for Beijing, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said Sunday. Coloma said in an interview over the government-run dzRB that President Aquino is constantly being updated about the AFP’s efforts in the search operations for the missing plane. Since Friday, the AFP has mobilized its surveillance plane and naval assets, including the BRP Gregorio del Pilar, to conduct search operations in the West Philippine Sea and the sea lanes of Palawan. The Boeing 777 jet, which had 239 people on board, took off from Kuala Lumpur at 12:30 a.m. Friday. It lost contact with ground controllers at around 2:40 a.m. and is believed to have crashed somewhere between Vietnam and the West Philippine Sea. A massive international search has been launched to locate the missing plane. — Xianne Arcangel/BM, GMA News

US ‘pivot’ to Asia gaining strength—admiral

 News
Oct 242013
 
US ‘pivot’ to Asia gaining strength—admiral

USS George Washington. AP FILE PHOTO ABOARD THE USS GEORGE WASHINGTON—The United States has significantly increased its warships and aircraft deployed in Asia despite Washington’s budget woes, adding punch to its “pivot” to the region, a senior naval commander said. Rear Admiral Mark C. Montgomery, commander of an aircraft carrier strike group homeported in Yokosuka, Japan, said the expanded military presence would have a calming effect on simmering tensions and territorial disputes in the region. “The strategic rebalancing has resulted in an extremely higher number of surface combatants, cruisers and destroyers that support the strike group,” Montgomery told Agence France-Presse in an interview on Wednesday aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea). “What we’ve seen is an increase in surface combatant presence here in the Western Pacific… so these ships are spread throughout those areas,” he said, in the interview at the flag bridge of the nuclear-powered supercarrier as fighter jets took off and landed on the deck as part of drills. “Having more ships gives us more presence. It allows us to have a greater force.” Montgomery said US defense budget cuts and the recent 16-day partial US government shutdown have not affected his command. The shutdown forced President Barack Obama to skip two Asian summits this month, triggering concerns about the extent of US commitment to the region as China becomes more assertive. “Operations and maintenance decisions have not affected us. The strategic rebalance is continuing in earnest,” the admiral Read More …

Navy begins developing Oyster Bay into mini Subic; mum on US pivot

 News
Oct 052013
 
Navy begins developing Oyster Bay into mini Subic; mum on US pivot

Screengrab from http://mapsengine.google.com/ OYSTER BAY, Palawan, Philippines—At Naval Forces West headquarters here, the wooden planks that are the main platform of the Philippine Navy’s sole naval shipyard facing the West Philippine Sea are breaking apart and starting to surrender to the elements. The planks have cracks and gaps wide enough to send a full-sized man straight into the clear blue waters below. The crew of a naval supply ship, which was chanced upon by the Inquirer while visiting the facility on Friday, was loading up for a routine run to the Kalayaan Islands in the disputed Spratlys island chain and knew enough to be careful. Recently, the Philippine government dusted off old plans to develop Oyster Bay, a picturesque cove nestled in old growth mangrove forests and limestone cliffs in the western flank of Palawan’s central region. Defense officials are hopeful the decades-old plans to upgrade the naval facility into a major shipyard and naval facility will finally move. The  Oyster Bay development plans come as tensions are increasing over China’s aggressive assertion of ownership over the entire South China Sea, including parts of what the country calls the West Philippine Sea. There has been an initial P500 million released to complete some major infrastructure components, including a 12-kilometer access road from the mainland. “We call this a capability upgrade,” said Commodore Joseph Rostum Peña, commander of Naval Forces West (Navforwest). Once completed, the facility would have an extended wharf to accommodate “at least four large naval vessels,” he said. Read More …

US encourages peaceful resolution of West PHL Sea dispute

 News
Aug 302013
 
US encourages peaceful resolution of West PHL Sea dispute

The United States on Friday encouraged all the countries involved to resolve peacefully the dispute over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea). “We encourage nations to peacefully resolve their disputes to internationally accepted mechanism and accordance with international law, including the Law of the Sea and without coercion,” Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel said during a press conference in Malacañang on Friday. He said he supports ASEAN efforts to negotiate the South China Sea Code of Conduct which he said will help peacefully manage disagreements and tensions arising from competing territorial and maritime claims. Hagel also said he “appreciates” the Philippines’ efforts to solve the dispute through peaceful means. The Philippines sought arbitration under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) last January to try to declare as “illegal” China’s nine-dash claim, which covers almost all of the South China Sea, including sections that have been declared as the West Philippine Sea. China has resisted Manila’s move to let a U.N. body intervene in the disputes, saying the Philippines’ case was legally infirm and carried unacceptable allegations. China prefers to negotiate one on one with other claimants, which would give it advantage because of its sheer size compared to smaller rivals that have less military force. Hagel, however, said China “clearly understands” that “the world is interconnected and all powers must develop relationships and get along with each other for their own economic development, for stability, security, peace.” “You cannot have growth, development, and possibilities for the Read More …

DFA rejects anew China’s ‘indisputable claim’ over West Philippine Sea

 News
Aug 062013
 
DFA rejects anew China’s ‘indisputable claim’ over West Philippine Sea

By Matikas SantosINQUIRER.net 4:13 pm | Tuesday, August 6th, 2013 DFA spokesman Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) rejects China’s “indisputable” claim over the entire West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), including parts of the country’s 200-mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) – the “core issue” of the territorial dispute between the two countries, a spokesman for the DFA said Tuesday. “We once again redirect China to the core issue which is its claim of indisputable sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea under its ‘nine dash line’ position,” said assistant secretary Raul Hernandez. “The Philippines has asserted before the Arbitral Tribunal, to which China has been invited but has refused to participate, that the nine dash line claim is expansive, excessive and in gross violation of international law,” he told reporters. China’s nine dash line encompasses nearly the entire West Philippine Sea including the Spratly’s group of Islands near Palawan and Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal or Panatag Shoal). It also encroaches into the EEZ of Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei, among other Southeast Asian countries. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi proposed three ways to solve the territorial dispute between individual countries. First was the bilateral talks between parties directly involved, second was for the implementation of the “Declaration of the Conduct of the South China Sea” for peace and stability, and third was to look for ways of common exploitation that would economically benefit all concerned parties. China Read More …

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