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COMMENTARY: The public should not be too alarmed of the Chinese claims over the northern part of the country. Unlike the government’s incoherent posture in the West Philippine Sea, the Armed Forces of the Philippines has a more structured and disciplined approach to countering Chinese moves in the Batanes Group of Islands and with elements of a viable “denial strategy” in play.
Some Chinese scholars reportedly concluded during a purported symposium on June 30 that the Batanes Islands belong to China through Taiwan. This is not true, based on the local evidence and international treaties.
Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. warned that Chinese scholars’ claim of Batanes, the Philippines’ northernmost province, as part of China is a prelude to its wider maritime ambitions.
Text and photos by NORMAN SISON IT does not have the ambiance of a coffee shop. It has no barista nor brewed coffee. There is no one to serve you because there is nobody around at all — and that’s why it’s a regular stop for tourists.
Text and photos by NORMAN SISON WHEN you touch down in Basco, the provincial capital of the Batanes Islands, the feeling of you being in the northernmost corner of the Philippines is immediate. It’s so quiet. The airport runway is good for small aircraft only. Its terminal, designed to look like a hut, would
