Pure madness
The new arrangement is called “Agreement on Enhanced Defense Cooperation,” and Defense Undersecretary Pio Lorenzo Batino assures it is “80-percent done.” As though that news would elate us.
Category: america
A more ‘nuanced’ approach to our China dispute
China’s driving away of two Philippine boats last week is another indication that our territorial dispute with Asia’s emerging superpower will dog us not just for decades, but even, I would think, in the lifetimes of the next generation.
save tubbataha, not the “guardian”!
u.s. authorities have yet to explain what exactly the u.s.s. guardian was up to when it ran aground and got stuck in palawan’s tubbataha reef, an area that’s supposed to be off limits to navigation except for research or tourism approved by the marine park superintendent.
… officials tasked with managing and protecting the restricted area said their rangers had tried to warn the US ship, only to allegedly be rebuffed by the vessel’s captain with advice to take any complaints to the US embassy.
american arrogance to the max. nakakainit ng ulo. and since the ship got stuck, a full week ago, we’ve heard nothing but lame excuses — inaccurate maps? come on, guys, we weren’t born yesterday. R & R, as some suggest, a sidetrip to scuba-dive and check out one of the best reefs in the world, sounds really believable, or even, looking for more lost drones, why not, and even, oil exploration, a la you-know-who you-know-where.
but what’s really maddening is that all that’s issuing from the philippine side are demands for apologies and talks of fines and penalties. no one’s demanding that the ship be removed ASAP, as in, NOW NA! i know i know, the weather’s bad, the waves are huge, but what if the weather doesn’t get better, what if it gets worse? sorry na lang the reef? does not the damage to the reef get worse the longer the ship is left there, getting more and more stuck, yet changing position, and now taking in water?
i’m beginning to wonder if the u.s. navy is more concerned about damage to the ship than damage to the reef. sana naman hindi.
national defense
DEFENSE Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said Wednesday the United States seemed more interested in showing off its military might than helping the Philippines build up its capability for territorial defense through their 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty.
“My only request which I have conveyed to him [Panetta] is that the cutters be upgraded,” Gazmin said, noting that the first ship, the BRP Gregorio del Pilar, had been stripped of all its weaponry except for one 76mm gun.
“We requested that the second cutter be given with its weapons system [intact],” Gazmin said.
He said the Defense Department, with a P70-billion budget for military modernization, was eying a third gunboat from Italy.
Earlier, Vice Admiral Alexander Pama acknowledged that the cutters that the US had sent to the Philippines came without their weapons.
meanwhile, senators enrile and honasan are practically saying that we should look out for ourselves and prepare vs. China:
“We must prepare. We better buy war equipment. We better buy our weapons, our means of defense,” Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, a former defense minister, told reporters.
Enrile issued the statement after Chinese vice foreign minister Fu Ying on Tuesday accused the Philippines of being responsible for escalating tensions over the disputed area in the South China Sea (also called West Philippine Sea).
“The Chinese side has… made all preparations to respond to any escalation of the situation by the Philippine side,” Fu reportedly told a Philippine diplomat.
Enrile said the Philippines should be prepared to face this head on.
“China is grabbing the place from us. Nagiging grabber na ang China. Anong gagawin mo kung ang kapitbahay mo, malayo ang bahay niya pero pupunta sa iyong kapaligiran at mayroon siyang espada, tampilan at pana o javelin. Di bumili ka rin ng tampilan. Maghasa ka rin ng gulok,” said Enrile.
Senator Gregorio Honasan, chairman of the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs, supported Enrile’s sentiment but said the country should first pool its resources.
“Tama si Senate president [pero] alamin muna natin kung meron tayong pambili, importante yun,” Honasan said in a separate interview. Honasan is a former Army colonel who had served under Ernile at the Defense Ministry then.
since money is the problem, it is clearly a job for congress, to find the funds, and to do it fast. in case diplomacy and non-violent protests fail. and before we lose more territory. parang this is just as, if not more, important than the corona trial, or the 2013 elections. mag-multi-tasking sila.