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Month: July 2016

The pitfalls of joint development of Spratlys with China

Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay, Jr.
Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay, Jr.
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 ruling will not address sovereignty and delimitation, it is possible that some time in the future, claimant countries might consider entering into arrangements such as joint exploration and utilization of resources in disputed areas that do not prejudice the parties’ claims and delimitation of boundaries in accordance with Unclos (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea).”

Even if the Philippines gets a favorable ruling Tuesday on the issues they raised against China before the Permanent Court of Arbitration, there would still be a lot of complications about joint development of the disputed areas in the South China Sea.

The number one problem is China’s concept of “setting aside dispute and pursuing joint development.”

One of the resource materials on the issue in the website of the China’s Foreign Ministry, says “The concept of setting aside dispute and pursuing joint development has the following four elements: 1. The sovereignty of the territories concerned belongs to China. 2. When conditions are not ripe to bring about a thorough solution to territorial dispute, discussion on the issue of sovereignty may be postponed so that the dispute is set aside. To set aside dispute does not mean giving up sovereignty. It is just to leave the dispute aside for the time being. 3. The territories under dispute may be developed in a joint way. 4. The purpose of joint development is to enhance mutual understanding through cooperation and create conditions for the eventual resolution of territorial ownership.”

Families of desaparecidos pin their hopes on Duterte

In search of Jonas Burgos. From the docu, The terror of the unhead voice
In search of Jonas Burgos. From the docu, The terror of the unhead voice
Former President Benigno Aquino III disappointed them. They are now pinning their hopes on what seemed years ago as the most unlikely person to be on their side: President Rodrigo Duterte.

The Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances or AFAD is requesting for a dialogue with the new president on the issue of forced disappearances.

Forced disappearance is an aberration because it defies the natural cycle of life which begins with birth and ends with death. Vanishing from the face of the earth is not normal.

But that’s what happened to many individuals in this world and in the Philippines the well-known names among them are peasant organizer Jonas Burgos, and UP students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeno.

Unsolicited advice to Robredo: Lead opposition

Update: Robredo is Housing Secretary. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/794933/hello-maam-leni-duterte-offers-robredo-housing-post-via-phone-call

Gil Ramos, who monitors what’s going on in the Philippines, especially political happenings from the United States where he is based, wrote me his view that it is better that Vice President Leni Robredo is not part of the Duterte cabinet.

Vice President Leni Robredo pays a courtesy call on President Duterte. Photo by King Rodriguez, Malacañang Photo Bureau.
Vice President Leni Robredo pays a courtesy call on President Duterte. Photo by King Rodriguez, Malacañang Photo Bureau.
I share his view. A democracy can only be vibrant if there’s a strong opposition.

In fact, I cannot understand, the fuss by the Mar Roxas- Leni Robredo supporters about the VP not being appointed to a cabinet position. The President is not obliged to give Robredo a cabinet post and he has already explained why — he is concerned about the feelings of Ferdinand Marcos, Jr, the closest opponent of Robredo. There are other reasons like the friendship of his father to late president, Ferdinand Marcos, as well as the support of the Marcoses to him last election.

Duterte is planning to give Marcos a cabinet position after the one-year ban on candidates who lost in the last May elections and it would indeed be awkward for Robredo and Marcos to be working together under Duterte.

No Hitler-calling vs China; no jetskiing to the Spratlys

President Duterte greets Chinese ambassador  Zhao Jianhua  in a reception of the Diplomatic Corps during the inaugural ceremony on June 30,2016
President Duterte greets Chinese ambassador Zhao Jianhua in a reception of the Diplomatic Corps during the inaugural ceremony on June 30,2016
Change has come.

The sober position that the Duterte administration is taking in connection with the impending decision of the United Nations Arbitral Court on the case filed by the Philippines against China is a reversal of the “Shame China” strategy that the Aquino administration undertook.

It is also a departure from cinematic solution that then candidate Rodrigo Duterte regaled his supporters with during campaign rallies:
“I will ask the Navy to bring me to the nearest point in South China Sea that is tolerable to them and I will ride a jet ski. I’ll carry a flag and when I reach Spratlys, I will erect the Filipino flag. I will tell them, suntukan o barilan.”

Now carrying the mantle of the presidency, Duterte was a voice of moderation during the cabinet discussion aired live on TV on how they would handle the July 12 U.N. Court decision.