The one that I was interested in was the information that the famous Taiwanese dimsum restaurant, Din Tai Fung, will soon be in Manila.
The other welcome announcement was the increase of flights between Taiwan and the Philippines.
These developments show that despite institutional diplomacy limitations, relations between the Philippines and Taiwan continues to improve.
Looking at the almost 300- year-old Philippine map by Fr. Pedro Murillo Velarde which businessman Mel Velarde acquired for P12 million in an auction in London last year, one can see that the Jesuit priest is a great storyteller.
The 1734 Murillo Velarde map shows more than just locations. It has two panels on both sides engraved with images depicting lifestyles and special features of places. One panel shows a farmer plowing the field not far from a river with crocodiles. It’s noted that in Zamboanga, there’s “Pozo de Agua Dulce.” In general it showed Filipinos enjoying a highly civilized society.
But the most significant feature of the Murillo Velarde map is a tiny spot off the shores of Nueva Castilla, which was then the name of Luzon labeled “Panacot.”
By Ellen T. Tordesillas,VERA Files
The Philippine government will be submitting to the Permanent Court for 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 its claim over the South China Sea. It also locates Scarborough shoal, then known as “Panacot,” also called “Panatag” by Filipinos, off the shores of Luzon, then known as Nueva Castilla. Scarborough shoal has been a source of conflict between the Philippines and China.
The Jesuit priest Pedro Murillo Velarde had the map published in Manila in 1734. It surfaced in 2012 among the possessions of a British lord, who put it up for auction at Sotheby’s in London, where Filipino businessman Mel Velarde bid and got it for £170,500 ($266,869.46 or P12,014,463.09).
Filipinos, who loves election campaigns, should be able to identify with the movie especially when the mayor was trying to look down on his opponent who was a deaf dairy farmer.
The mayor condescendingly asked Paula, the farmer’s 16-year old daughter who can hear and speak, if they really think anyone will vote for a deaf person for mayor. The young girl replied: “Well, they did vote for an asshole.”
That was a good one.
In the 21st International Conference on the Future of Asia sponsored by Nikkei last Wednesday in Tokyo, Aquino was asked about the role of the United States in Asia in the midst of China’s maritime expansion, Aquino said American presence in Asia checks China’s expansionism. “Their presence becomes a factor that has to be contended with, with those who would perhaps push the envelopes as far as what the agreements entitle them to or not,” he said.
But he didn’t stop there.
Conducted two weeks ago (May 18 to 20) among 3,000 respondents, the Magdalo survey, just like what they did in their national survey last April,had two scenarios.
Scenario One had 10 candidates while Scenario Two had five candidates.
In both scenarios,Poe leads the contest.
I seriously doubt it.
And it all boils down to money- at least P10 billion needed to finance a presidential campaign.
Although Binay is putting up a brave front, the freezing of his bank accounts as ordered by the Court of Appeals has the effect of paralyzing his campaign.
Ang dalawang batas ay ideya ng mga kongresista na sina Arcadio H. Garriceta, Ronald M. Cosalan, Jerry P. Treñas, Arthur R. Defensor Jr., Neil C. Tiupas, Oscar “Richard” S. Garin Jr., atd Hernan G. Biron Jr. na nakasaad sa House Bills HB 4400 at HB 4398.
Nakasaad sa HB4400 na ipapangalan kay dating Pangulong Cory Aquino ang apat na lane na circumferential road simula sa kanto ng Iloilo-Dumangas Coastal Road sa Balabago, Jaro District, Iloilo City, papunta sa Buhang, Jaro, Tacas, Jaro at UngKa II, Pavia hanggang sa Mandurriao District, Iloilo City-Pavia-San Miguel . Aabot ang kalsada sa malapit Arevalo District sa Iloilo-Antique Road . Magiging “President Cory C. Aquino Avenue” ang kalsada.
Long before China built lighthouses in reefs they are occupying in the disputed Spratlys, the Philippine government under President Fidel Ramos had planned to build lighthouses in Reed Bank and two other reefs but inter-government wrangling over money stalled the project until it was overtaken by events.
Last Tuesday, China announced its plan to construct lighthouses in two reefs in Spratlys which it calls Nansha Islands.
A news item in Xinhua, a Chinese news agency, China to Build Large Lighthouses in South China Sea said, “China’s Ministry of Transport (MOT) on Tuesday hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of two lighthouses on Huayang Reef and Chigua Reef of China’s Nansha Islands.
Government agencies and private companies are reactivating their emergency drills with the release by Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of its latest findings about the West Valley Fault.
Phivolcs Director Renato U. Solidum, Jr. warned that based on the movement pattern (every 400 or so years) of the West Valley Fault, the next tremor could happen in not- so- distant future. What happened in Nepal recently gives us an idea of the devastation if an earthquake with more than 7 intensity would occur along the fault that transects Quezon City,Marikina, Pasig,Makati,Taguig,and Muntinlupa.
The best way to lessen the destruction, damages, loss of lives and injuries is to be prepared. The most basic in preparation is to be informed.