WITH the confirmation by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana that the three Chinese Coast Guard ships are still in Scarborough shoal, the statement of China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying last Monday underscored that Filipino fishermen are back in Scarborough Shoal on the benevolence of China.
The Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled today that China’s all-encompassing nine-dash line is not valid. (To read the 501-page Award, please go to this site : https://pca-cpa.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/175/2016/07/PH-CN-20160712-Award.pdf) “The Tribunal found that China’s claim to historic rights to resources was incompatible with the detailed allocation of rights and maritime zones in the Convention and concluded that,
By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS IT’S best that Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. study carefully the intricacies of joint exploration with China so he can advise President Rodrigo Duterte to go slow about it. Yasay, in his clarification about what he said in an interview with Agence France Presse last week, said, ““As the
By ELLEN T. TORDESILLAS PRESUMPTIVE President-elect Rodrigo Duterte said early this week he wants to know why the Philippines lost Scarborough Shoal. When he said this, he was apparently under the impression that Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, who exposed his BPI bank deposits amounting to no less than P200 million despite before the May
The Philippine government will be submitting to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague this week an almost 300-year-old map of the Philippines showing the disputed Scarborough Shoal being part of Philippine territory as far back as three centuries ago. The map debunks the so-called nine-dash-line China has been using as proof of
By ELLEN TORDESILLAS WHY did it take Armed Forces Chief of Staff Emmanuel Bautista almost a month to tell the President and the Department of Foreign Affairs about the Chinese Coast Guards using water cannons against Filipino fishermen in Bajo de Masinloc? The incident was reported when Bautista told Monday the foreign correspondents in
THE concrete blocks in Bajo de Masinloc, which Philippine defense and military officials last month accused China of putting there, may have actually been placed by the United States Navy decades ago, military sources said. A military investigation found that the concrete slabs were covered by algae, an indication that they had been in the area
By ELLEN TORDESILLAS Concrete blocks or just rocks and corals? That is the latest question troubling the strained relationship between the Philippines and China over the disputed Bajo de Masinloc, also known as Scarborough Shoal, off the South China Sea. This time, though, the dispute is playing out through photographs, more than words. A week
SEN. Antonio Trillanes IV on Wednesday accused Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile of being a “GMA lackey” for supposedly rushing a bill that would cut up Camarines Sur province as a favor to former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
By TESSA JAMANDRE
FORMER Marine Capt. Nicanor Faeldon was all set to sail on Friday to the disputed Scarborough Shoal to make a stand on Philippine sovereignty—until the call from the President came.
Former Marine Capt. Nicanor said President Benigno Aquino III prevailed upon him to postpone his trip. He agreed, saying he “trust(s) the wisdom of the government that it will be better for current efforts to resolve the standoff there.”