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.
His scores in Pulse Asia surveys on presidential preference, performance and trust ratings are in a freefall.
In the survey conducted November 14 to 20 Binay’s rating dropped by 21 percentage points (from 66 percent in September to only 45 percent in November).
His trust rating also took a steep decline – 20 percentage points, from 64 percent in September to 44 percent in November.
The meeting between President Aquino and Chinese President Xi Jinping may have lowered the tension but the two countries are really far apart in attitude and perspective.
Example:
Before the meeting of Leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in Beijing last month, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said their bringing unilaterally the territorial conflict with China before the U.N. court is not an unfriendly act.
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.
EDCA stands for Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement which allows the U.S. to set up camps within Philippine military camps despite the Constitutional prohibition that “military bases, foreign military bases, troops, or facilities shall not be allowed in the Philippines except under a treaty duly concurred in by the Senate and, when the Congress so requires, ratified by a majority of the votes cast by the people in a national referendum held for that purpose, and recognized as a treaty by the other contracting State. “
To sell EDCA to the Filipino public, the Aquino government led by Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and Gazmin demonized China and said with the agreement, the U.S. will come to the aid of the Philippines in case there will be an armed conflict with China in the Spratlys, where both the Philippines and China have conflicting territorial claims.
Last Monday, Gazmin admitted that there is no such guarantee.
Photos courtesy of Renato Reyes, Jr.
Yesterday was the 151st birth anniversary of one of Filipinos’ great heroes, Andres Bonifacio (November 30, 1863 – May 10, 1897).
Today, we are a sovereign nation, independent and free, largely because of Bonifacio.
Bonifacio is considered the “the Father of the Philippine Revolution”. He founded the Katipunan, short for Kataas-taasan, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan, a movement which sought the independence of the Philippines from Spanish colonial rule.
Save for a short message released by Malacañang, there was no other activity led by President Aquino that commemorated the birth of Bonifacio.
Come to think of it, why would Aquino bother with Bonifacio? Remember his reason for not going to the wake of Jennifer Laude, the transgender who was killed by an American serviceman? He doesn’t go to the wake of people he doesn’t know.
Aquino has no affinity with Bonifacio.
The health community is awaiting with bated breath the decision of President Aquino on Ona, who is embroiled in the controversy over the P800 million purchase of a pneumonia vaccine.
The result of the investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation on the issues raised against Ona would be an important consideration in the President’s decision.
If the President decides to retain Ona, that means he is cleared of all the issues against him.
This week, another issue came up: Ona’s authorization of the use for the treatment of dengue and malaria of a drug that did not pass clinical trial.
Ager Ontog, director-general of the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), who showed his lack of intelligence when he ordered the ban of Hongkong journalists who asked questions that displeased President Aquino during the 2013 summit of Asia Pacific Economic Conference in Bali, Indonesia, said he did not regret his order that Malacañang cancelled after it was exposed in media last week.
There are military officers who are enlightened about the role of media in a democracy but it seems that Ontog is not one of them. Which is not really surprising because even President Aquino, whose parents played a big part in Filipino people struggle to regain their freedom, including press freedom, thinks it’s media’s obligation to make him look good in public.
Servants take their cue from the master.
Five years ago, a crime so heinous was perpetrated by persons in authority, in a remote village in Maguindanao in Southwestern Mindanao.
Fifty-eight persons lay dead after Andal Ampatuan, Jr., mayor of Datu Unsay town and his men were through with their shooting spree. He then asked for a backhoe in the office of his father, Andal Ampatuan Sr., who was then governor of the province, to be brought to the crime scene to bury the dead bodies.
Among the dead was Genalyn Mangudadatu, wife of the political rival of the Ampatuans, Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu, who was supposed to file the certificate of candidacy of her husband challenging the position of the Ampatuan patriarch.
Of the 58 victims, 32 were members of media, who were supposed to cover the political event.
I’m staggered by the justifications of Health Acting Secretary Janet Garin and Armed Forces Chief Gregorio Pio Catapang,Jr.of their visit to the quarantined peacekeepers in Caballo Island in Cavite which Malacañang approves.
Garin and Catapang have drawn flak for what many see as violation of the idea of quarantine.
The peacekeepers from Ebola-stricken Liberia are on 21-day quarantine, an international procedure to prevent the deadly virus from spreading.