AQUINO URGES FILIPINOS TO UNITE ON CHINA DISPUTE
MANILA, JULY 24, 2012 (MANILA TIMES) Written by AFP - PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino 3rd urged all Filipinos
on Monday to unite in sending a message to China over a territorial row,
insisting his country would not give in to its more powerful neighbor.
In his annual "state of the nation" address to parliament, President Aquino
said his government had shown goodwill and forbearance in handling the
months-long dispute over competing claims to parts of the West Philippine Sea
(South China Sea).
"I ask for solidarity from our people regarding this issue. Let us speak with
one voice. Help me relay to the other side the logic of our stand," Mr. Aquino
said.
"If someone entered your yard and told you he owned it, would you agree?
Would it be right to give away that which is rightfully ours?"
Mr. Aquino recalled how the row began in April when Chinese government ships
blocked Philippine boats from arresting Chinese fishermen in Panatag
(Scarborough) Shoal, an outcropping claimed by both countries in the West
Philippine Sea.
He said the Philippines had since ignored the Chinese state-run media's
"harangues" over the issue.
"I do not think it is excessive to ask that our rights be respected, just as
we respect their rights as a fellow nation in a world that we share," Aquino
said.
China claims sovereignty over nearly all of the sea, which is believed to
hold vast amounts of oil and gas, is one of the region's most important fishing
grounds and is home to shipping lanes that are vital to global trade.
[PHOTO -Anti-government protesters clash with police during a
demonstration in Manila (AFP, Noel
Celis)]
The Philippines, as well as Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, also claim
parts of the sea, making the area one of the region's potential military
flashpoints.
The Philippines and Vietnam have complained over the past year that China has
becoming increasingly aggressive in staking its claims to the area.
Aquino said the Philippines was looking to find a resolution that was
"acceptable to all", and made no threats.
However, in a separate part of his 90-minute speech, he also stressed he was
pushing through with the modernization of the Philippine military, one of the
most poorly equipped in Asia.
He said his government had allocated P28 billion ($67 million) for military
modernization to acquire new hardware and repair old equipment, with new
helicopters and a frigate due to arrive next year.
And he said the government was planning to spend P75 billion on defense over
the next five years.
A large part of Aquino's speech was devoted to the economic reforms he said
had been achieved since his administration took over from his graft-tainted
predecessor, Gloria Arroyo.
Aquino cited as evidence economic growth of 6.4 percent for the Philippines
in the first quarter of the year, one of the best in the region, as well as
repeated credit ratings upgrades from international agencies.
He said his government had given millions of poor Filipinos greater access to
health and education services, and that the unemployment rate had dropped from
8.0 percent in 2010 to 6.9 percent this year.
Aquino said the economic progress had been made possible because of efforts
to tackle corruption that he alleged had infected all parts of government during
the nearly 10 years that Arroyo was in power.
"Now, with a level playing field, and clear and consistent rules, confidence
in our economy is growing," he said.
Aquino made repeated references to the plight of the nation under his
predecessor, describing the Philippines then as a "rotten state", and vowing
again to ensure those involved in corruption would be punished.
Arroyo has been one of his chief targets, and she is now in detention
awaiting trial on vote fraud and corruption charges.
FROM PHILSTAR
China building airstrip in reef near Pag-Asa Island?
By Jaime Laude The Philippine Star Updated July 23, 2012 06:34 PM 4
comments to this post
[PHOTO -Kalayaan is composed of only one barangay,
Pag-Asa. This island has a 1.3 km airstrip that is used both by the
military and civilians. It has a regulated civilian population of about 350,
most of whom are fishermen. This civilian population is the result of Philippine
government initial efforts to put civilians in the Kalayaan. Once a month, a
Philippine Navy Ship goes to this island to drop supplies of goods. This island
has a water-filtering plant, power generators, weather stations and a
communication tower which is built by the Philippine-based SMART
Telecommunications. The municipal government of Kalayaan is making new projects
to promote tourism for the island. Also, they had been successful in convincing
many Filipino businessmen to invest in Kalayaan. from
wikipedia]
MANILA, Philippines - China is reportedly planning to build its first
airstrip adjacent to the Pag-Asa Island, a Philippine-held territory in the
hotly-contested Spratlys archipelago.
China's supposedly first air strip in the Spratlys region will be constructed
at the Subi Reef, which is only 12 nautical miles from the Philippine-occupied
Pag-Asa Island, the seat of Kalayaan Island's municipality in the Spratly
region.
The Philippines, Malaysia, Brunie have interlocking territorial claims over
the region while China, Vietnam and Taiwan are claiming the entire
hotly-contested region as an integral part of their respective maritime domain.
Aside from two four-story buildings, two troop quarters, China has also
installed a big radar dome and a lighthouse within the six kilometers long and
3.7 kilometers wide Subi reef.
At the northern tip of the reef is a lighthouse that on calm seas, can be
seen from Pag-Asa.
In an aerial territorial patrol conducted last week, the Philippine military
spotted a Chinese landing ship armed with three heavy weapons. The ship was
moored in SUbi reef when spotted during the aerial inspection, which was
conducted to monitor the fishing expedition of a Chinese fleet in the disputed
region.
"As we have gathered, China is planning to replicate in Subi Reef what the
Malaysians have done in their occupied Layang-Layang Reef," Kalayaan Mayor
Eugenio Bito-onon said.
Layang-Layang is currently being marketed by the Malaysian government as one
of its finest dive resort in the region. From a reef, the Malaysians developed
the area into an island resort with an airport, a hotel and a naval detachment.
Subi Reef and nearby islets, shoal, cays, atolls and reefs in the Spratly's
region are within the 64,976 square miles under the territorial jurisdiction of
the Kalayaan Island municipality as per Presidential Decree 1596 declared by
then late President Ferdinand Marcos.
Republic Act No. 9522 which was later signed into law has defined the
territorial jurisdiction of Kalayaan municipality based in Pag-Asa Island in the
hotly-contested Spratlys, as regime of islands under the province of Palawan.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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