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Amid underlying tensions, Xi pushes for more trust with Vietnam
Hanoi [Vietnam], December 13 (ANI): Barely months after Hanoi improved ties with Washington, China and Vietnam, two ancient foes with long-standing disputes over competing claims in the South China Sea, decided on Tuesday to hold discussions on collaborations between them, according to CNN. Chinese state media hailed a "new positioning of relations" between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Vietnamese Communist Party chief Ng.....»»
Teodoro gets CA nod
The Commission on Appointments on Wednesday approved the ad interim appointment of Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. as secretary of the Department of National Defense. Prior to his confirmation, the 12-member House contingent of the powerful CA spared Teodoro from questioning as a “courtesy” to the Defense chief who previously worked as Tarlac's 1st district representative. “The 12-member House of Representatives contingent will no longer ask questions regarding the nominee being a former member of Congress for three consecutive terms in the 11th, 12th, and 13th Congress,” said Camarines Sur 2nd District Rep. LRay Villafuerte, the majority leader of the CA. Villafuerte added that the House contingent “has no doubt regarding the fitness and integrity of the nominee”. He appealed to their counterpart, the Senate to accord the same courtesy to Teodoro. From the 12-member Senate contingent, only Senator Risa Hontiveros asked questions to Teodoro. Hontiveros questioned Teodoro about his plans for the DND, now under his watch for the second time. He held the same position under the administration of then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo at the age of 43, the youngest ever appointee to the agency. Responding to the lawmaker’s query, Teodoro admitted that there has been a “shift in the evolution” from his first stint in the DND. He noted that he is now focusing on “straddling the balance between maintaining internal security and with an emphasis definitely given what is happening to the outside environment.” “We are strengthening our defense posture. We are gradually enhancing the capabilities of the AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines),” he said. The Defense chief said he is also working on “leveraging” the country’s alliance with other nations to strengthen the country’s capability to protect itself from external threats. By doing so, he noted that he would try to introduce “management solutions to managerial problems, and not military solutions to managerial problems.” “That is the transformation that we are trying to make. We are also deeply restrategizing what we intend to do at least in the next five years in order not only to make the defense department more responsive to the outside and internal environments but also to make more efficient our use of resources, and to use information technology to the highest extent possible,” he added. Teodoro also underscored the importance of strengthening the country’s capability to respond to external strength and not just rely on diplomacy. “[T]he intensity of the need to focus on protecting our sovereignty, our sovereign rights, in the exclusive economic zone and other jurisdictions of the country become more paramount now, as the whole world is in a raise for resources,” he said. “We could not afford to be laidback here. We should be cognizant of it because we can and principally use diplomacy, however, if diplomacy is not backed up by a strong spinal cord, then we will just be stymied by a greater force,” he added. He made the remarks amid the increasing tension between the Philippines and China in the West Philippine Sea. China claims the vast South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea. On 12 July 2016, the Philippines won its arbitral case against China in the Permanent Court of Arbitration – a landmark decision that China continues to reject. Teodoro said the Defense Department wishes the concentrate on not only guarding the islands of the archipelago and its internal waters but also on securing “peaceful, unimpeded, and unobstructed exploitation, and exploration of our sovereign rights over the 200 nautical mile EEZ of the republic and in all areas of the Philippines, to secure our baselines.” Last June, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced Teodoro’s appointment as the new DND secretary, replacing Carlito Galvez Jr. who led the agency for five months. Aside from Teodoro, the CA also approved the promotion of 11 generals and senior officers of the AFP. Jose Jesus Luntok, Ramon Flores, Dennis Pacis, Nasser Lidasan, Benedict Balaba, Steve Crespillo, Arvin Lagamon, Ivan Papera, Lloyd Cabacuñgan, and Fernando Ventura secured CA’s approval for their rank of Brigadier General. Peter Jempsun de Guzman’s rank of Commodore was also approved. The post Teodoro gets CA nod appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
More heavy weapons, Ukraine pleads
Ukraine’s leaders have renewed calls on Western allies to increase deliveries of heavy weapons as 32 kamikaze drones from Russia attacked Kyiv overnight into Sunday. Air defenses shot down 25 of the attack drones with debris falling in several districts, damaging an apartment in a multi-story building, as well as road surfaces and power lines, Sergiy Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, wrote on Telegram. Popko added that one person was injured. Russia also said Sunday that it destroyed three military speedboats carrying Ukrainian soldiers in the Black Sea which Moscow claims were headed toward annexed Crimea. The attacks follow President Volodymyr Zelensky's statement in a cabinet conference on Saturday that slow weapons deliveries were hindering his troops’ counter offensive. New Defense Minister Rustem Umerov also called for more heavy weapons during the same conference. “We need them today. We need them now,” he said. “Ukrainian warriors today are sacrificing their lives for the core values of democracy and freedom. They need back up from you, dear partners. And this back up is weapons,” Umerov added. Deputy Intelligence Chief Vadym Skibitsky said Saturday that more than 420,000 Russian soldiers are deployed in occupied territories in the east and south of Ukraine. The figure “does not include the Russian National Guard and other special units that maintain occupation authorities on our territories,” he said. Ukraine launched its counteroffensive in June after stockpiling Western weapons, but has made limited gains as its troops encounter heavily fortified Russian defensive lines. Meanwhile, Russia’s forces in Ukraine have organized several days of voting in four regions — Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — that Moscow claims to have annexed. Hastily arranged mobile booths have been placed despite a gruelling Ukrainian counteroffensive and amid widespread reports that locals have been forced to take up Russian passports. Kyiv has denounced it as a sham and called on allies to condemn the “fake” vote. Its SBU security service warned it has a list of “collaborators” helping organize the voting, promising punishment. But Kremlin-installed officials pressed on with the vote, seeking long-term office in areas Kyiv has vowed to re-capture. WITH AFP The post More heavy weapons, Ukraine pleads appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
On WPS conflict, ‘Trillanes cut deals’
Amid the guessing game started by China on who the unnamed President was who promised to remove the BRP Sierra Madre from Ayungin Shoal, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile has pointed to a former senator as the culprit. “I haven’t heard from previous presidents that they promised to remove the Sierra Madre, but what I know is that the late President Benigno Aquino III did some backchanneling, and his backdoor agent was former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV,” Enrile said. He added: “Trillanes bypassed then Ambassador Sonia Brady in negotiating with China, and his only credential was he rode in a Philippine Navy boat when he was in the military service.” “The subject of the backchanneling was the Scarborough Shoal standoff, but Trillanes was deceived by the Chinese. The Philippine vessels withdrew from the area of the deadlock, but China stayed put,” he recalled. 2012 Senate skirmish Then-senator Enrile and Trillanes had a confrontation in September 2012 over the government’s covert negotiations with China that Aquino had assigned to Trillanes. In a face-off on the Senate floor, Enrile produced the so-called Brady notes, a report on the discussions between the ambassador and Trillanes on the backchanneling mission. During his several engagements with Chinese officials, Enrile quoted the Brady notes as saying that Trillanes indicated that Filipinos needed more interest in the conflicting claims in the region. Enrile said the Brady notes stated that Aquino was not made fully aware of the details of Trillanes’s actions, and there was a point when the President did not know the talks were suspended for two weeks and that Trillanes was acting on his own. “And for whom? Whose interest was he serving?” Enrile asked. While admitting that it was the prerogative of Aquino as Commander-in-Chief to resort to backchannel talks, designating Trillanes was a huge mistake, he said. “Trillanes should have been discreet, and he should have brought along an embassy representative to record the event. Trillanes thought he was James Bond. That should not have been allowed,” Enrile said. “A person entrusted by the President with a mission must first exercise discretion. When you go to a country to deal with a foreign power, you must notify the embassy,” he said. “Trillanes should have notified the embassy to alert them that he was there on a mission, and he should have brought along at least one responsible official,” he added. He continued: “Everybody should have known that international law already provided the way to settle the dispute, which was the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, but which China did not respect.” “China based its claims not on international law but on its might. We should have a counter-balancing force,” according to Enrile. “We should not rely solely on the assistance of other nations; we should keep building up our military assets.” “We should also be prepared, and one way to do that is to require all young Filipinos to undergo training to defend the country.” “Only Filipinos can fight for their country; nobody else can do the fighting for you,” Enrile stressed. False narrative Meanwhile, China was accused of using deception in its sea maneuvers when it tried to block a resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal on 7 September. Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson, Col. Medel Aguilar, at the weekly Saturday News Forum in Quezon City, said the Philippine Navy offered to help a Chinese rubber boat in distress near Ayungin Shoal. “Our troops offered assistance, but the Chinese refused and another boat came to their rescue,” Aguilar said. He said one of the Chinese rigid hull inflatable boats had gotten entangled in a fishing line while it was tailing the Philippine vessels heading to Ayungin to resupply the troops there. Aguilar said that while the Chinese boat’s refusal to accept aid from Philippine forces was expected, what surprised the troops was Beijing’s radio call where they blamed the Filipinos for the incident. “They had the guts to challenge our radio message. ‘Philippine Coast Guard, because of your maneuvers, the Chinese Coast Guard vessel came into problem,’” he quoted the Chinese as saying. Aguilar said this was another narrative the Chinese would tell their people. “After this incident, they will come up with their narrative to tell their people about what happened,” Aguilar said. “We don’t want the truth to be drowned out by what really happened,” he added. Misplaced bullying Aguilar described the China Coast Guard’s behavior as “misplaced bullying” amid its continued aggression in Philippine territorial waters. “The CCG is a misplaced bully in the WPS,” Aguilar said. Meanwhile, Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesperson, said several CCG ships and maritime militia vessels tried to block the Philippine vessels and stop the resupply mission. “It is very important for the government, for us, to be more transparent about what is happening in the West Philippine Sea,” he said. “We face the media; we give them the true story. The media will play a very important role in curtailing this fake news that spreads every time the Chinese release their narratives.” He said China has been pushing the narrative that the Philippines is acting on behalf of the United States. Ayungin Shoal, which is part of the Kalayaan island group, is an integral part of the Philippines and is well within its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, over which the country has sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction. The BRP Sierra Madre has been grounded on Ayungin Shoal since 1999, where it stands as a symbol of Philippine sovereignty and on which a dozen Filipino Marines and sailors are holding the fort. The post On WPS conflict, ‘Trillanes cut deals’ appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Biden boosts U.S. influence on G20, Vietnam
United States President Joe Biden arrives in India Friday for the Group of 20 summit and proceeds to Vietnam Sunday, both aimed at boosting US influence amid division caused by the war in Ukraine and territorial dispute in the South China Sea. Biden is hoping to seize on the absence of Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit. The US president said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was showing his country’s commitment to the G20 as a forum that can deliver. White House officials said Biden would in particular stress a plan to increase World Bank and International Monetary Fund lending power for emerging nations by some $200 billion as a better alternative to Beijing’s “coercive” Belt and Road Initiative. But the absence of Xi and Putin underscores the divisions in the G20 and could hamper Biden’s bid to keep the bloc as the leading forum of global economic cooperation. In Hanoi, Biden and ruling Vietnamese Communist party chief Nguyen Phu Trong are expected to sign a major upgrade in ties between the two countries, who have overcome the painful legacy of the Vietnam War to grow close. They are expected to sign off on a “comprehensive strategic partnership,” Hanoi’s highest level of diplomatic ties. Currently, Vietnam only has ties at the same level with Russia, India, South Korea and China. Biden is betting that Vietnam won’t mind being closer to Washington at a time when China’s sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea have fueled tensions with its Southeast Asian neighbors. However, Vietnam won’t be keen to play a role in balancing Washington and Beijing, Nguyen Quoc Cuong, the Vietnamese ambassador to US from 2011 to 2014, said. WITH AFP The post Biden boosts U.S. influence on G20, Vietnam appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
AFP-PLA patrol dead on water
The proposed joint maritime patrol between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the People’s Liberation Army in the South China Sea may no longer proceed. AFP Chief of Staff, Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr., on Sunday, said the government may have gotten cold on the idea amid China’s continuing hostility toward the country in the West Philippine Sea. Brawner, in a radio interview, said Beijing’s actions in the WPS have raised questions over its claimed intention to uphold peace in the Indo-Pacific region. “With the way they are currently doing things, [the possibility of a joint patrol] seems quite unclear,” Brawner said, clearly referring to incidents of harassment by the China Coast Guard in the WPS. However, military collaboration between the two nations’ militaries will continue under a 2004 defense cooperation memorandum of understanding, the AFP chief stressed. The MoU had provisions allowing the AFP to send its officers to China for additional training, something that does not seem to interest the Philippine government at the moment. On the other hand, Brawner said the Philippines will continue to hold military drills with “partner” countries like the US, Japan and Canada. “We need to inform the whole world about what is happening here in the South China Sea. Because of these recent events, we have been successful in revealing China’s coercive and dangerous tactics,” he said. Previously, Brawner disclosed that China’s Ambassador to the Philippines, Huang Xilian, had offered to have joint patrols with the Philippines in the SCS, which overlaps with the WPS. China is claiming nearly all of the South China Sea under its nine-dash line theory, including the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone in the WPS. A decision made by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 junked China’s claim in the WPS, saying it has no historical basis while affirming the Philippines’ WPS claims. On 5 August, the Chinese Coast Guard bombarded a Philippine Coast Guard fleet with water as the latter was delivering supplies to Filipino troops stationed at the BRP Sierra Madre at Ayungin Shoal. The latest in a string of harassment incidents against Philippine ships this year, China’s action drew denunciation from several nations, including the US, Australia, Japan and Canada. The post AFP-PLA patrol dead on water appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Gibo: Pinoy presence in Calayan, not EDCA
Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro visited Calayan Islands in Cagayan on Wednesday as he discussed plans to strengthen the Filipino presence in the islands. Teodoro met with Mayor Joseph Llopis of Calayan during the commemoration of the 117th anniversary of the former Governor Roque Blanco Ablan Sr. as the DND chief offered to donate 25 hectares of land from the local government to the Department of National Defense. He added that the land will be used to establish a military base and disaster risk reduction facilities. “We said before that we need the presence of the national government in Calayan, especially for disaster risk reduction and of course to maintain the territorial integrity of our republic,” Teodoro said. Teodoro clarified that the government will not be building an EDCA site in Calayan, but rather a Philippine base and the development of the base will be coordinated with the Department of Foreign Affairs and the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea. He emphasized that a Philippine military presence is necessary in all of the islands and that is most important. “Yes, we cannot keep on relying on other people to solve our problems for us, that’s why my commitment to support EDCA Is based on the capability component of our armed military forces,” Teodoro said. The Defense secretary’s visit to Calayan comes amid tensions in the West Philippine Sea, where the Philippines has been contesting China’s claims and Teodoro said that the government will not turn a blind eye to the actions of the Chinese Coast Guard against Philippine troops. “We will not remove BRP Sierra Madre,” Teodoro said, referring to the Philippine Navy ship in the West Philippine Sea. The post Gibo: Pinoy presence in Calayan, not EDCA appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Brawner: Joint military exercises with China, Vietnam still possible
The Philippines is considering the possible conduct of joint military exercises with China and Vietnam, according to Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. “Again, we are not closing our possibilities, our prospect according to our President is that we are friends to all, enemies to none,” Brawner said in a radio interview Sunday. Brawner said the country is only exercising its military diplomacy when it comes to entering military-to-military activities with its allies and partners across the globe. “Because really our objective is to prevent war while we are preparing for possible war,” he added. Brawner maintained the AFP will be exploring chances to heighten the country’s military presence in the WPS by massively conducting maritime patrols. “As of present, we are conducting such ourselves, unilateral patrols of the area. But we are exploring all possibilities because we very well know that when it comes to our own national defense, we really cannot do it by ourselves. We really have to depend on our allies, our partners,” Brawner said. He added that the patrolling efforts in the WPS remain “unilateral” to the Philippines. “We are exploring all the possibilities because when it comes to defending our country—we can’t do it alone. We really have to depend on our allies and on our partners,” Brawner said when asked if the Philippines has an existing patrolling arrangement with other countries. Meanwhile, Senator Francis Tolentino said conducting joint disaster relief efforts with China is “more feasible” than a joint maritime patrol amid the country’s territorial claims in the WPS. “To me, what I see as more possible is a joint disaster team, HADR, or Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response,” he said. This amid the Philippines, China, and Vietnam, along with Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Taiwan, shared overlapping territorial claims and sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea—which has an estimated billion barrels of untapped oil and trillion cubic feet of natural gas with a very abundant fishing area. Brawner earlier said that Beijing offered Manila to conduct maritime patrol together. But, he did not provide further details as to how and where the joint military exercise will possibly be conducted between China and the Philippines. He stressed that AFP’s relations with its counterpart in China remain limited to training. Further, Tolentino said there must be a proper document presented should the AFP would consider a joint maritime patrol with China. “Kung magkakaroon ng joint patrol, kasama ang China, dapat po ito maging bahagi ng isang tratado na may concurrence ang Senado (If there will be a joint patrol with China, it should be part of a treaty with the concurrence of the Senate),” he stressed. Senator Risa Hontiveros earlier filed a resolution seeking support from the United Nations General Assembly or UNGA in protecting Philippine sovereignty in WPS. The post Brawner: Joint military exercises with China, Vietnam still possible appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Importation seen blunting El Niño
As the El Niño weather phenomenon threatens local agricultural production, the government could choose to slow inflation further through additional food importation to meet high consumer demands. Michael Ricafort, the chief economist of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation, said the move will help reduce inflation risks by ensuring enough food for consumers while discouraging businesses from pushing prices up. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said it expects overall inflation to ease to 6 percent this year, following the deceleration to 7.6 percent last month from 8.7 in January. All inflation figures and commodity pricing are from the Philippine Statistics Authority. Food prices remained high at 9.3 percent in March from 10.8 percent in the previous month, it said. On 12 April, Sugar Regulatory Administration board member Roland Beltran said they plan to import 100,000 metric tons of raw sugar and 250,000 metric tons of refined sugar this year. “The government signaled possible increased importation of rice and sugar amid the risk of El Niño and typhoons toward the latter part of 2023, to partly increase local supplies and help ease prices and overall inflation,” he said last Thursday in a Viber message. For rice, concurrent Agriculture Secretary, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said, “We may have to import, so we’re keeping that option open.” Data from the National Rice Program of the Department of Agriculture estimated the ending stock of palay, or unmilled rice grains, for the first quarter at 5.66 million metric tons, enough for 51 days. To prevent rice shortage, agriculture officials said irrigation methods will be applied to 1.5 million hectares of land in coordination with the National Irrigation Administration. The Philippines could experience extreme heat brought about by El Niño until next year, with temperatures in some areas shooting up to 48 degrees Celsius, the weather bureau Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said. Ricafort said the BSP might also consider moves of the United States Federal Reserve, which is seen to raise its policy rate on 3 May, ahead of the local central bank’s decision announcement on 18 May. “Any Federal Reserve rate decision, a possible 0.25 rate hike would still be matched locally, but a pause cannot be ruled out if local inflation eases further,” she said Ricafort said US central bank officers will be looking at growth in home sales, jobless claims for aid, and the Consumer Confidence Index to decide whether to keep or raise the policy rate. The post Importation seen blunting El Niño appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
US to stand by our friends amid China s territorial claims
BEIJING - The US will stand by its friends as China adopts a more "coercive and aggressive approach to its territorial claims," the country's defense chief said on Saturday.Addressing the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Lloyd Austin said China's expanding fishing fleet in the East China Se.....»»
Negros Occidental health office urges masking amid pertussis threat
The Negros Occidental provincial health office is campaigning for the use of face masks amid the threat of pertussis or ”whooping cough.”.....»»
Fisherfolk group urges gov’t to regulate fish prices amid Lent
Fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas on Wednesday urged the government to address the surge in retail prices of fish during the Holy Week......»»
Russian Spy Chief Makes Bizarre Claim of US, UK, and Ukraine Involvement in Moscow Attack
In a recent development, the director of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has made startling accusations against Ukraine, the US, and the UK, claiming they.....»»
Russia says 40 dead, 145 injured in concert hall raid; Islamic State group claims responsibility
Russia says 40 dead, 145 injured in concert hall raid; Islamic State group claims responsibility.....»»
DA chief orders transfer of suspended NFA supervisors’ authority
The transfer of authority of suspended warehouse supervisors of the National Food Authority has been ordered by Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. yesterday as NFA facilities remain closed amid the suspension order of the Office of the Ombudsman......»»
BSP on guard vs inflation risks amid El Niño
The BSP chief said headline inflation likely further accelerated to 3.9 percent in March from 3.4 percent in February due to base effects, but lower than the 7.6 percent in March 2023......»»
Marcos Jr. at PNP command conference: Not a loyalty check
It was not a loyalty check but an admonition to strengthen focus on addressing criminality, the country’s national police chief said yesterday of his first command conference with President Marcos at Camp Crame, amid rumors of destabilization attempts......»»
PNP chief brushes off claims of extrajudicial killings under Marcos admin
PNP chief brushes off claims of extrajudicial killings under Marcos admin.....»»
IC plans to increase CMVLI coverage to P200,000
The government plans to increase the indemnity claims of vehicular accident victims amid the need to improve overall insurance coverage in the country......»»
Philippines to improve 9 of its islands in South China Sea
MANILA, The Philippines: The Philippines is set to enhance the habitability of islands it considers part of its territory in the South China Sea, according to Romeo Brawner, Manila's military chief. These plans are unfolding amid escalating tensions between the Philippines and China, as both nations claim South China Sea territory and have accused each other of provocative actions in the region. Apart fr.....»»