Category: Foreign Affairs

1734 Murillo Velarde map is back in Manila

Published by Ellen on May 5, 2017

IT businessman Mel Velarde explains to Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III the Murillo-Velarde map he bought in a Sotheby auction in London for P12 million two years ago.

Sharing the spotlight at the launching of Senior Justice Antonio T. Carpio’s E-Book, “The South China Sea Dispute:Philippine Sovereign Rights and Jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea” at the Manila Polo Club Thursday was a glass- encased 1734 Murillo-Velarde map.

This was the map IT businessman Mel Velarde bought in a Sotheby auction on Nov. 4, 2014 for P12 million. A copy of the map was one of the documents used in the case filed by the Philippines against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2013. The Arbitral Court upheld the Philippine position in most of the issue raised in the case.

The map has been kept in a safe in London since its purchase. Last week, Velarde took out the valuable map and hand carried it during the 13-hour flight arriving in Manila last April 29.

ICC investigation would affect Duterte’s foreign travels

Published by Ellen on May 3, 2017

Pres. Duterte boards presidential plance after APEC meeting in Peru.Malacañang photo.

In dismissing the case filed against him at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, Netherlands last week, President Duterte cited the principle of territoriality.

“The fundamental thing in our Revised Penal Code is territoriality. You can only be prosecuted in the country where you committed the crime, “he said.

Justice Carpio’s E-book on South China Sea dispute

Published by Ellen on May 1, 2017

The political winds have indeed shifted.

On the same day that the China-friendly statement of this year’s chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, President Rodrigo Duterte, was released to media, Philippine and Chinese flags were seen raised on a Chinese warship, Chang Chun (DDG 150) that docked in Davao city pier.

This would have been unthinkable in the past administration.

These developments may cause some to be confused on the issues on South China Sea where we are contesting the almost all-encompassing claim of China. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have also overlapping claims with China in the area.

One Belt One Road: Reviving PH-China Silk Road ties

Published by Ellen on April 26, 2017

GUANGZHOU,China –To underscore the ties that deeply bind the people of this bustling city and the Filipinos, Deputy Director General Luo Jun of Guangdong Province Foreign Affairs Office cites that the Manila-Guangzhou flight takes only one hour and 45 minutes, same as Manila-Davao, while Guangzhou to Beijing takes three hours.

The nearness of Manila to Guangzhou and to nearby provinces of Fujian and Shenzhen is very much relevant to the One Belt-One Road initiative, an ambitious project unveiled by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013 with an initial fund of $40 billion that will re-create the ancient Silk Route that connected China and Europe as far back as 100 B.C.

On May 14 and 15, 28 world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Rodrigo Duterte or their representatives will gather in Beijing to provide impetus to the project that is mindboggling in its scope and possibilities.

Recalling JMSU

Published by Ellen on April 25, 2017

The Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking, JMSU for short, is back in the news.

It was mentioned by former president Gloria Arroyo and her executive secretary, Eduardo Ermita, to stress that cooperation with China in South China Sea is possible during the launch of the book, “The Ocean Space or the Maritime Area of the Philippines,” a primer on the law of the sea, at the House of Representatives, where Arroyo is a currently a member.

The primer, published by the University of the Philippines, is timely at this time when the Philippines, under President Duterte has reconciled with China, in contrast to the toxic relations during the Aquino administration.
During the press conference Arroyo said, “The language, it was without prejudice to the filing of a protest. And since it was just a research survey, it does not affect the respective positions of the countries on issues related to the claim.”

U.S. can invoke MDT for PH support in war with North Korea

Published by Ellen on April 16, 2017

The commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific ordered on April 8 the U.S. Navy’s Carl Vinson carrier strike group to change course and head towards the Korean Peninsula in response to North Korea’s advancing weapons tests. US Navy photo shows the aircraft carrier in South China Sea in February 2017.

Hopefully, the jostling between U.S President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un will not go beyond strategic positioning of aircraft carriers and troops.

Because in the hopefully- unlikely event of a war between the United States and North Korea, the Philippines will be greatly affected.

Number one, there are more than 60,000 Filipinos in South Korea. Many are married to Koreans while a large number are workers. A displacement of these huge number of Filipinos will mean difficulties not only for the workers and their families but also to the Philippine economy.

Number two, the U.S. can invoke the 1951 RP-US Mutual Defense Treaty that states:

Duterte can’t sell PH land in Spratlys to China

Published by Ellen on April 11, 2017

Now, President Duterte wants to go into real estate business in the Spratlys.

Before he embarked on a state visit to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar, he told reporters that he might sell what the Philippines claim in Spratlys to China.

Assuring China that his orders to install markers and flag to the 10 features in the Spratlys being claimed by the Philippines is not hostile, he said:, “So, for the information of China, we will not place there any offensive weapons, not even one gun. We’re just there to claim the island for us because that is really ours. And I have ordered the Armed Forces to build structures there to signify to all na atin ito at lagyan ng flag and structures. We did not mean no harm to China. We are friends as a matter of fact.”

In fact, he said, ” Maybe when we get rich, very rich, I can sell the land to you for … inyo na when the spectacle of a war is gone and nothing is dangerous to the Philippines.”

Official marker in Pag-asa Island. Photo from the West Philippine Sea primer of the UP Institute of Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea.

Occupy Spratlys

Published by Ellen on April 10, 2017

Was Duterte’s Occupy Spratlys order a reaction to the decline of the people’s trust in him as shown in the latest survey of Pulse Asia that he had to show that he is no lackey of China and he can stand up to the neighboring economic giant?

The day after Pulse Asia released results of its March 15-20 survey that showed the President’s trust rating drop by seven points and performance rating by five points, he was at the Western Command in Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

In an interview with reporters he said: “Coming Independence Day natin, I might, I may go to Pag-asa Island to raise the flag there. Pati iyong ano, basta iyong bakante, na iyong atin na, tirhan na natin, ibig sabihin. Mukhang agawan kasi ito ng isla eh. (Even the unoccupied which is ours, we should put people there. It looks like this is just island grabbing.) And what’s ours now, at least kunin na natin (let’s get it) and make a strong point there that it is ours.”

Map showing the features in the Spratly Islands currently occupied by various claimant countries. Photo from the West Philippine Sea primer by UP Institute of Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea.

The curse of the mistresses

Published by Ellen on April 5, 2017

House Speaker Pantalon Alvarez brings with him Jennifer Vicencio in an official trip - President Duterte's state visit to Laos. Instagram photo by Rep. Rodolfo Farinas (front). — House Speaker Pantalon Alvarez brings with him Jennifer Vicencio in an official trip – President Duterte’s state visit to Laos. Instagram photo by Rep. Rodolfo Farinas (front).

When news reports about the feud between House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Davao del Norte Rep. Antonio “Tonyboy” Floirendo Jr. was brought into open and was traced to the quarrel of the Davao lawmakers’ mistresses, my initial reaction was to suggest that they be given a copy of Jullie Yap’s book, “Etiquette for Mistresses.”

But I realized that Jullie’s pieces of advice are not applicable because the scandal is not a feud between the wife and the mistress. It’s a squabble between mistresses.

Jennifer Vicencio (Alvarez’ mistress) and Cathy Binag (Floirendo’s mistress) are a different breed of mistresses. They quarrel over privileges they feel they are entitled to because of their partners’ government position.

Duterte foreign policy direction ‘confusing’: security analysts

Published by Ellen on March 26, 2017

At the roundtable forum on Renato de Castro’s paper on “The Role of America’s Alliances in the Philippines’ Balancing Policy on China: From the Aquino to the Duterte Administration” last Friday sponsored by Stratbase ADR Institute, former senator and defense secretary Orlando Mercado related that to counter China’s occupation of Mischief Reef (Panganiban in Filipino and Meiji in Chinese) , 130 nautical miles off Palawan, in 1995 they decided to ground the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, just 26 nautical miles away.

Knowing that China was also eyeing Scarborough Shoal also known as Panatag and Bajo de Masinloc (Huangyan to the Chinese), they also grounded BRP Benguet not so far away from the protruding rock, 124 nautical miles from Zambales.

BRP Benguet, pulled out of Scarborough Shoal during Gloria Arroyo's administration — BRP Benguet, pulled out of Scarborough Shoal during Gloria Arroyo’s administration

This was in 1999, during the presidency of Joseph Estrada. Mischief Reef was occupied by China during the presidency of Fidel V. Ramos.