Tag: Scarborough shoal

No Duterte fist pump for diplomat Delia Albert

Published by Ellen on June 19, 2018

Pres. Duterte at the 120th Anniversary of DFA, June 18, 2018. Delia Albert is sixth from right.Malacañang photo by Ace Morandante.

In the photo of President Duterte with diplomats at the celebration of the 120th anniversary of the Department of Foreign Affairs, distinguished diplomat Delia Albert stood out because she was the only one who was not doing the idiotic fist pump which has become the signature gesture of Duterte and his sycophants.

Albert, who was foreign secretary in 2003 under the Arroyo administration (she was at the helm of the foreign affairs department when truck driver Angelo de la Cruz was kidnapped by Islamist group in Iraq forcing the Philippines to withdraw from the US-led coalition) has served the country with distinction. A career diplomat she was ambassador to Australia and Germany, among the posts that she had held.

Albert is currently senior advisor at the Sycip Gorres Velayo & Co.

No Chinese withdrawal from Scarborough shoal seen despite improved relations between Manila and Beijing

Published by Ellen on December 5, 2017

By Arianne Christian Tapao, VERA Files

Ambassador to China Santiago “Chito” Sta. Romana does not see Chinese leader Xi Jinping ordering the withdrawal of Chinese Coast Guard ships from Scarborough shoal and returning to the pre-April 8, 2012 situation, when the area was under the control of the Philippines, despite Beijing’s improved relations with the Rodrigo Duterte government.

At best, it remains an “aspiration” that would take a long time, the Filipino diplomat said in an interview on the sidelines of the Philippine Association for Chinese Studies Conference in Mandaluyong City Dec. 2.

China “is still claiming all of Spratlys,” said Sta. Romana, noting that Xi would insist during talks that Scarborough Shoal is China’s territory, and its government would lose face if it were to withdraw its vessels from the shoal.

“Given that, you really have to maneuver slowly, carefully,” he added.

One of the three Chinese Coastguard Maritime Surveillance ships in Scarborough shoal in April 2012

“If we want to go back to pre-2012 situation, the condition is that China will also say drop your Arbitral Tribunal award, which is impossible,” Sta Romana said in Filipino.

No ASEAN role in Scarborough conflict between PH and China

Published by Ellen on August 17, 2017

Traditional link-arms photo of ASEAN Foreign Ministers in the recently concluded ASEAN50 Foreign Ministers meeting in Manila.

The agreed framework for a Code on South China Sea was the most important achievement of the recently-concluded meeting of the foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations which segued to more meetings with its dialogue partners and the Asean Regional Forum.

After the much-awaited meeting between ASEAN foreign ministers and China Sunday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced that China have agreed on the framework for a Code on SCS. He said substantive consultations will be undertaken in the coming months with the end view of an implementable COC on South China Sea.

Aside from the question of when is the actual COC expected to be completed, is another question: what kind of COC on South China Sea would it be.

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.

When silence means consent

Published by Ellen on March 24, 2017

March 22 presscon of China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying. — March 22 presscon of China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying.

China has denied that they are building an environmental monitoring station in Scarborough Shoal which they call “Huangyan Dao” as reported by Reuters last week based on a news report in the Chinese language newspaper Hainan Daily.

The reply of China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying to the question about the Department of Foreign Affairs’ inquiry on the reported monitoring station in Scarborough Shoal , also known as Panatag Shoal and Bajo de Masinloc, was categorical:” There is no such a thing.”

She said, “We have checked with relevant authorities that the recent reports about building an environmental monitoring station on Huangyan Dao are false.”

Alejano to Duterte: ‘May I borrow your jetski?’

Published by Ellen on March 21, 2017

Pres. Duterte takes a swipe at critics before Filipino community in Myanmar, March 19, 2017. Malacanang photo by Marcelino Pascua.

Not surprisingly, President Duterte resorted to incoherent rant when asked about the plan of Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano to file a supplemental impeachment complaint to include developments in Scarborough Shoal and Benham Rise.
This happened in a press conference in Myanmar Monday where Duterte was on a state visit.

Duterte said, “Well for what? If he (Alejano) wants to fight with China, he can lead. I would be glad to send him as the first batch of delegation of Filipinos who want to take the Spratly Islands and all of those they occupied now. Sige. Siya ang mauna.(Go ahead. He should go first). It would be a slaughter for the Filipinos to do that.
‘Yung kanyang tapang-tapangan, huwag munang. (His acting brave, don’t) Do not compare me with you. You are all cowards. Alam ninyo nakita ‘yung kagitingan ninyo noong nag-mutiny kaya mga walang hiya kayo. (You know we have seen your “bravery” when you staged a mutiny. You are shameless.)”

He continued fulminating more about the protest actions that Alejano together with Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV and the Magdalo group did against Gloria Arroyo when they were young military officers in July 2003 (Oakwood mutiny) and in November 2007 (Manila Pen siege) which were irrelevant to the question about China’s activities in Scarborough Shoal and Benham Rise.

Carpio tells Duterte what to do re China in Scarborough Shoal

Published by Ellen on March 19, 2017

Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio reminded Sunday President Duterte of his “constitutional duty” to the Filipino people to defend the country’s national territory and suggested to him four ways he can do it as regards the reported China’s plans to set up an environmental monitoring station in Scarborough Shoal.

This is after the President said he cannot stop China from what it is doing unless he declared war against the behemoth neighbour which he is not willing to do.

In a press conference at the Davao City International Airport, Duterte was asked about a news report that China is planning to build a radar station in Scarborough shoal, 124 nautical miles from Zambales in Luzon.

To each his own version of modus vivendi in Scarborough shoal

Published by Ellen on November 2, 2016

Fishermen back from Scarborough shoal with their catch.Photo from ABS-CBN online.

With the confirmation by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana that the three Chinese Coast Guard ships are still in Scarborough shoal, the statement of China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying last Monday underscored that Filipino fishermen are back in Scarborough Shoal on the benevolence of China.

Asked to confirm reports that China “okayed Philippine fishermen’s fishing near Huangyan Dao, ” Hua asserted China’s ownership and control of the area: “The Chinese side has always been exercising normal jurisdiction over Huangyan Dao. The situation there is and will remain unchanged.”

She mentioned “arrangements” made after the meeting of Duterte and Xi last Oct. 20 in Beijing.

“We have seen all-round improvement of China-Philippines relations following President Duterte’s visit to China. Under such circumstances, the Chinese side makes proper arrangements based on the friendship between China and the Philippines in response to the issue of President Duterte’s concern,”

China avoids criticizing PH, hits Arbitral court

Published by Ellen on July 14, 2016

Take note that in China’s reaction to the decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the case filed by the Philippines against its all-encompassing nine-dash-line map and its claim of maritime rights over Scarborough Shoal and the Spratlys, it hit the Tribunal, not the Philippine government.

Definitely, not President Rodrigo Duterte.

If this sets the tone for post-Decision Philippine-China relations, there’s a good chance that talks on the disputed waters will achieve something positive.

Duterte had the good sense of letting Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay issue the statement who simply welcomed the decision and called for restraint and sobriety.

Yasay was heavily criticized by not looking happy over the decision that was overwhelmingly in favor of the Philippines.

PH wins: Arbitral court invalidates China’s 9-dash line

Published by Ellen on July 12, 2016

China's 9-dash line map — China’s 9-dash line map

The Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled today that China’s all-encompassing nine-dash line is not valid.

(To read the 501-page Award, please click to this site: https://pca-cpa.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/175/2016/07/PH-CN-20160712-Award.pdf)

“The Tribunal found that China’s claim to historic rights to resources was incompatible with the detailed allocation of rights and maritime zones in the Convention and concluded that, to the extent China had historic rights to resources in the waters of the South China Sea, such rights were extinguished by the entry into force of the Convention to the extent they were incompatible with the Convention’s system of maritime zones,” the decision said.

The Tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources, in excess of the rights provided for by the Convention, within the sea areas falling within the ‘nine-dash line