Vera Files – Page 2 – ellen tordesillas

PH and China dispute to continue despite U.N. Tribunal case

Published by Ellen on July 5, 2015

By Ellen T Tordesillas and Tessa Jamandre, VERA Files

Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Hague. The Arbitral Tribunal starts hearing today the case filed by the Philippines vs China in this building. — Permanent Court of Arbitration, The Hague. The Arbitral Tribunal starts hearing tomorrow the case filed by the Philippines vs China in this building.

Despite the presence of a high-level Philippine team at the hearing of the Philippines’ case against China before the Arbitral Tribunal of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) this week, the issue of who owns the contested islands in the South China Sea will remain unresolved.

That’s because the Philippine team won’t be arguing its territorial claims, which are not under the jurisdiction of the Arbitral Tribunal in The Hague in the Netherlands.

“We are very confident that we can convince the court that this is not about ownership of land,” said former solicitor general now Supreme Court justice Francis Jardeleza, who is part of the Philippine team.

Instead, the Philippines merely wants the Tribunal, which interprets UNCLOS, to invalidate China’s 9-dash line claim over the South China Sea.

PH, Vietnam to hold naval drills, scientific research in South China Sea

Published by Ellen on April 24, 2015

By Tessa Jamandre and Ellen Tordesillas
VERA Files

President Aquino and Vietnam President Truong Tan Sang met during the 2014 APEC Leaders’ Meeting in Beijing, China . (Malacañang Photo Bureau)

The Philippines and Vietnam have agreed to conduct joint naval drills and scientific studies amid concerns over China’s intensified reclamations in the South China Sea.

The planned activities are part of the soon-to-be signed “Joint Statement on the Establishment of a Strategic Partnership between the Republic of the Philippines and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,” a copy of which was obtained by VERA Files.

In the strategic partnership agreement, which is considered a final draft until it is signed, the Philippines and Vietnam “reaffirm their commitment to resolve territorial and jurisdictional disputes by peaceful means, as well as to the freedom of navigation in and over flight above the SCS (South China Sea) all in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).”

Centerlaw: Documents belie De Lima’s claim of misinformation

Published by Ellen on April 8, 2015

Statement of the Prof. Harry L. Roque Jr., chair of the Center for International Law (Centerlaw), an NGO dedicated to the promotion of binding international legal norms in the Philippines and Asia:

“We take exception to the veiled threat in the statement made yesterday by Secretary Leila De Lima that the Vera Files special report on a recent Note Verbale given by the Philippines to Malaysia over the Spratlys islands concerned a confidential matter that should have been kept as it is.

“In the first place, our Justice Secretary should be first to know that such a threat is in the nature of prior restraint with a chilling effect on speech, as held by the Supreme Court in the case filed by the late former Solicitor General Francisco Chavez against a predecessor of hers at the DOJ, the late Raul Gonzales.

“A mere press statement of a threat of prosecution coming from a government functionary, according to this 2008 Supreme Court decision, is unconstitutional precisely for that reason.

De Lima will not see what she doesn’t want to see

Published by Ellen on April 7, 2015

Now that the Department of Foreign Affairs’ willingness to downgrade the country’s claim to Sabah to strengthen its case against China before the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal has been exposed, it is resorting to the classic diversionary tactic- questioning the journalists’ motives in writing the report.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima now comes to the aid of the DFA.

De Lima has been quoted in several reports as having said that VERA Files’ March 30 story “PH offers Sabah to win Malaysia’s support for UN case vs China” is a “misinterpretation.”

PH offers Sabah to win Malaysia’s support for UN case vs China

Published by Ellen on March 30, 2015

By Tessa Jamandre,VERA Files

The Philippines has offered to downgrade its claim on Sabah in exchange for Malaysia’s support for its case against China before the United Nations.

The quid pro quo was contained in a note verbale the Department of Foreign Affairs handed to a representative of the Malaysian Embassy last week, a week after the visit of Malaysian Defense Minister Dato Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.

Vietnam supports PH position: UN tribunal has jurisdiction on South China Sea dispute

Published by Ellen on December 13, 2014

Water cannon fight in Paracels between China and Vietnam last May.

By Ellen T. Tordesillas, VERA Files

The Philippine case against China’s nine-dash line before the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal gained support from Vietnam in a statement it submitted to the court in The Hague on Thursday.

The Vietnam Foreign Ministry said the tribunal has jurisdiction to settle disputes concerning the interpretation of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.

China: UN tribunal has no jurisdiction on case filed by PH

Published by Ellen on December 7, 2014

By Ellen Tordesillas, VERA Files

China insisted Sunday that the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal has no jurisdiction on the complaint filed by the Philippines seeking to declare null and void the nine-dash line on China’s maps.

China’s 27-page position paper, posted on the website of its Ministry of Foreign Affairs, came eight days before the Dec. 15 deadline given by the U.N. court for Beijing to answer the Philippine complaint filed on Jan. 22, 2013.

With or without China’s reply, the U.N. court will start the hearings.

NAIA1 no longer world’s worst, now ranked 4th-worst

Published by Ellen on October 16, 2014

By Ellen T.Tordesillas, VERA Files

The Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Teminal 1 (NAIA1) is no longer the worst airport in the world, according to an online website dedicated to reviewing airports all over the world.

NAIA is now No. four in the 2014 list of Worst Airports of “The Guide to Sleeping in Airports,” outranked by Islamabad Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Pakistan (1st); Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport in Saudi Arabia (2nd); and Kathmandu Tribhuvan International Airport in Nepal (3rd).

The Guide to Sleeping in Airports explained the improvement in ranking of NAIA1:

WARNING: Hoaxter alters VERA Files story on Ebola

Published by Ellen on August 5, 2014

The headline of a VERA Files story on the Ebola virus published Aug. 4 in Yahoo Ph! has been tampered with by a hoaxter and…

The empowering effect of yoga

Published by Ellen on June 8, 2014

By Ellen T. Tordesillas, VERA Files
Photos and Video by Mario Ignacio IV and Mario I. Espinosa

The amazing thing about yoga is that you are empowering yourself without being conscious that that is what you are doing.

Yoga instructor Jasper Colina, who just opened OM Yoga Studio in Parañaque (he also teaches yoga at Fitness First), shares the experience of a female student who had fear of crossing the street. After several yoga sessions, she experienced changes within herself. She became confident with every pose she was able to accomplish and later on mustered enough courage to cross the street by herself.

Colina said most people initially go into yoga for physical fitness. In the process, however, they undergo not only physical change but also inner transformation which usually leads to a change in lifestyle—one that is gentler and more meaningful.

Category: Vera Files