Thursday, July 21, 2016

The Working Secretary of DENR - Secretary Gina Lopez

Lopez vows to cancel Oceana Gold permit - advocates

MANILA, Philippines -- Environment Secretary Gina Lopez promised anti-mining activists from Nueva Vizcaya that she would cancel the extension of exploration permit granted to Australian firm Oceana Gold Philippines Inc., whose operation has long been opposed by residents of Didipio in Kasibu town. "I promise I will not let you suffer anymore," Lopez told leaders of the Didipio Earth Savers Multi-Purpose Association (DESAMA), Salakniban ti Lubong Ken Aglawlaw Dagiti Umili iti Nueva Vizcaya (SALAKNIB) and Alyansa ng Mangagawa at Magsasaka ng Kasibu (AMMKAS), along with Governor Carlos Padilla, Alyansa Tigil Mina and Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, at a dialogue in Makati City Wednesday. In a statement, Alyansa Tigil Mina said Lopez then ordered Mines and Geosciences Bureau director Leo Jasareno to cancel Oceana Gold’s permit immediately. She also said she would issue a memorandum making community consent, and not only local government endorsement, a requisite for the issuance of exploration permits, and would call for an environmental summit in Nueva Vizcaya soon. Padilla reiterated his commitment not to allow mining in the province, the statement said. “I will exercise the full powers of my office to strictly implement the Environmental Code of Nueva Vizcaya. There will be no sacred cows where the rights and welfare of the people are concerned,” he was quoted as saying. While welcoming Lopez’s order, DESAMA president said “hindi kami titigil hanggat hindi humihinto ang pagmimina sa aming buong probinsya (we will not stop until mining is stopped in the whole province).”

Source: INTERAKSYON.COM

Chinese restaurant: “We don’t serve to Filipinos, Vietnamese, Japanese and Dogs”

BEIJING, China – A sign at a Beijing restaurant barring citizens of nations involved in maritime disputes with China — along with dogs — has triggered a wave of online outrage among Vietnamese and Filipinos.

The Beijing Snacks restaurant near the Forbidden City, a popular tourist spot, has posted a sign on its door reading “This shop does not receive the Japanese, the Philippines, the Vietnamese and dog(s).”

Photographs of the controversial sign have gone viral in Vietnamese-language forums and featured heavily in Philippine newspapers and websites on Wednesday.

Vietnam’s state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper ran a story saying the sign had “ignited online fury”. It claimed many Vietnamese feel this is another example of Chinese “extreme nationalism that deserves to be condemned”.

“It’s not patriotism, it’s stupid extremism,” Sy Van wrote in Vietnamese in a comment under the story, published on the paper’s website.

The sign provoked thousands of posts on Vietnamese social networking sites and newspaper comment threads.

“This is teaching hate to the younger generation,” Facebook user Andrea Wanderer wrote in Vietnamese. “The owner of the restaurant has obviously been brainwashed by their government,” added Facebook user Chung Pham.

Filipinos greeted the photo with a mixture of fury and amusement.

“Blatant racism at Beijing Restaurant,” journalist Veronica Pedrosa wrote in one widely-shared tweet, while Facebook user Rey Garcia used a comment thread on a news site to retort: “Who cares, they almost cook everything, even foetus and fingernails.”

Vietnam and the Philippines are locked in a longstanding territorial row with China over islands in the South China Sea. China and Japan have a separate acrimonious dispute over islands in the East China Sea.

Philippine Foreign Department spokesman Raul Hernandez told reporters in Manila Wednesday that the Beijing restaurant sign was simply one “private view” about the maritime dispute.

The photos were originally posted on Facebook.

The sign’s wording is particularly inflammatory as it recalls China’s colonial era, when British-owned establishments barred Chinese from entering.

A sign supposedly reading “No Dogs and Chinese allowed” became part of Communist propaganda after it was said to have hung outside a park in Shanghai when Western powers controlled parts of China.

It has become part of Chinese folklore and featured in the 1972 Bruce Lee film “Fists of Fury” — but many historical experts say no such sign ever existed.

The controversial Beijing sign was still in place Wednesday, according to the restaurant owner who gave only his surname of Wang. “No officials have contacted me about it. This is my own conduct,” Wang told AFP.

Source: The Maharlikan

Don't Worry China we are not like yours! Japanese, Vietnamese, Filipinos, are not eating baby fetus, Dogs, fake rice, fake cabbage, fake eggs, etc.

Philippines rejects Beijing condition for talks

Manila rejects Beijing condition for talks

THE PHILIPPINES has rejected China’s request for talks on their South China Sea dispute because it asked Manila to “disregard” a court ruling on the issue, Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said on Tuesday.

“They asked us also to open ourselves for bilateral negotiations but outside of and in disregard of the arbitral ruling, so this is something that I told him was not consistent with our Constitution and our national interest,” Yasay said.

A UN-backed tribunal said last week there was no legal basis for China’s claims to most of the strategic, resource-rich waters, with Beijing staunchly denouncing the decision. Yasay, interviewed by ABS-CBN broadcaster, said he and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, discussed the possibility of bilateral talks on the sidelines of an Asia-Europe summit in Mongolia last weekend but made no headway.

The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled Beijing had violated the Philippines’ sovereign rights to exploit resources in waters up to 370 kilometers (200 nautical miles) beyond its coast, called its exclusive economic zone.

The fish-rich Scarborough Shoal, which lies about 230 km from the Philippine coast, is a “traditional fishing ground” that should be open to Filipino, Chinese and other fishermen, the tribunal said.

Duterte’s top priority

President Duterte’s “first and foremost” priority was to regain access to the Scarborough Shoal for Filipino fishermen, Yasay said.

“We would like to discuss with you how your (Filipino) fishermen would have access in that area, but not in the context of the arbitral tribunal [decision],” he quoted Wang as telling him in Mongolia.

“They said, ‘If you will insist on the ruling, discussing along those lines, then we might be headed for a confrontation,’” the Philippine foreign secretary said in the interview.

He said direct talks with China over the maritime flash point were unlikely to start anytime soon due to Beijing’s refusal to accept the ruling.

“But I really honestly feel that this is something they have to make on a public basis, but I also sensed there was room for us to talk very quietly using backdoor channeling,” Yasay said.

‘Exercise restraint’

“Let’s do it one step at a time. Let’s manage it on that basis,” he said.

“We have asked China to exercise restraint and sobriety in this regard, that we maintain the status quo for now in terms of not taking aggressive actions … not coming out with any provocative statements,” he added.

The President said last week that he would send former President Fidel Ramos to China to start talks on the ruling. However, Yasay said he did not know if Ramos would accept and did not know when that mission could be dispatched.

“Let the dust settle some more and let’s see how we can open up the road for this kind of negotiation,” he said.

Beijing, which justifies its extensive claims by saying it was the first to have discovered, named and exploited the sea, has said the tribunal ruling cannot be the basis of any discussions.

China seized Scarborough Shoal in 2012 after a brief standoff with the Philippine Navy. Manila lodged suit at the tribunal the following year.

Role of contractor

In the long term, Yasay said the government had not ruled out the possibility of giving China a role as a contractor should the Philippines move to exploit the resources, including natural gas, in its exclusive economic zone.

The US Department of State told China to agree on a bilateral agreement with the Philippines following the arbitral tribunal ruling.

“We would call on China to really seize the opportunity that it (arbitration award) presents to look at all of the claimants’ concerns and to seek out legal and diplomatic processes to resolve them,” said the department’s deputy spokesperson, Mark Toner.

“We don’t want to see further escalation in the South China Sea. That applies to China … so I think we would call on all claimants to deescalate and to seek mechanisms that don’t involve military assets or any kind of construction or any kind of artificial construction that only increase tensions in the South China Sea,” Toner said in a briefing in Washington D.C. With reports from Estrella Torres and AFP

Source: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/

US still with us in keep Operating in South China Sea

US says its forces will keep operating in South China Sea

BEIJING - US military forces will continue to operate in the South China Sea in accordance with international law, the US Chief of Naval Operations John Richardson said on Wednesday during a visit to a Chinese naval base.

China has refused to recognize a ruling by an arbitration court in The Hague that invalidated its vast territorial claims in the South China Sea and did not take part in the proceedings brought by the Philippines.

China has repeatedly blamed the United States for stirring up trouble in the South China Sea, a strategic waterway through which more than $5 trillion of trade moves annually.

China, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam all have rival claims, of which China's is the largest.

The United States has conducted freedom of navigation patrols close to Chinese-held islands, to Beijing's anger, while China has been bolstering its military presence there.

Meeting Yuan Yubai, commander of the Chinese North Sea Fleet, Richardson "underscored the importance of lawful and safe operations in the South China Sea and elsewhere professional navies operate", the US Navy said.

US forces would keep sailing, flying and operating wherever international law allows, Richardson added.

"The US Navy will continue to conduct routine and lawful operations around the world, including in the South China Sea, in order to protect the rights, freedoms and lawful uses of sea and airspace guaranteed to all. This will not change."

Freedom of navigation patrols carried out by foreign navies in the South China Sea could end "in disaster", a senior Chinese admiral said over the weekend.

State news agency Xinhua said on Wednesday that countries outside the region should stay out of the South China Sea issue lest they cause unwanted problems.

"Western countries have a long history of failing to establish orderly rule over parts of the world. The Middle East is a classic example," it said.

Richardson said he was supportive of the deepening of relations between the US and Chinese navies.

"But I will be continuously reassessing my support conditioned on continued safe and professional interactions at sea. In this area we must judge each other by our deeds and actions, not just by our words," he added.

The United States has complained that Chinese aircraft and ships have performed "unsafe" maneuvers while shadowing US ships and planes, particularly in the South China Sea.

Speaking in Sydney on Wednesday, US Vice President Joe Biden assured key ally Australia there would be no retreat from Washington's pivot to the Asia-Pacific region, regardless of who wins November's presidential election.

Source: INTERAKSYON

This Chinese Video Explains Why Beijing Rejects The South China Sea Ruling

The video, which was produced by a prominent Chinese website, reportedly got 10 million views in 48 hours.

A tribunal under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea ruled this week in favor of a complaint by the Philippines, finding that China has no legal basis to claim sovereignty over contested shoals in the South China Sea between the two countries.

The ruling has been met with anger and defiance in China. Speaking to a delegation of European leaders on Tuesday, President Xi Jinping said the reefs have belonged to China since “ancient times.” The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the tribunal’s ruling, “is invalid and has no binding force” and that, “China does not accept or recognize it.”

The editor-in-chief of Chinese state-aligned English language paper the Global Times, Hu Xijin, presents China’s point of view in this video produced by one of the country’s more prominent websites, Shanghai-based Guancha.cn. According to Jin Zhongwei, the site’s editor, the video has gone viral where the ruling against China, “widely seen as unfair, is turning even liberals into nationalists.” The court decision was welcomed by others, including the United States, which urged all countries to adhere to it.

Source: The Huffington Post

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Babala ni PNP Chief Ronald "Bato' Dela Rosa sa SAF

Pormal ng nag-take over ang POLICE-SAF sa Bilibid prison at nagbabala ang ang Hepe ng PNP Cheif DELA ROSA sa mga SAF na huwag magpapakurap. Ito ang kanyang pahayag panoorin nyo.

Ailing Abaca Industry - The working secretary Manny Piñol

P100-M rehab fund

AILING ABACA INDUSTRY
GETS NEEDED SUPPORT

By Manny Piñol

Not very many people are aware of this but Abaca, the source of the strongest natural fiber the world has ever known, is a plant originally found only in the Philippines.

Also called Manila Hemp, Abaca has been a major rural industry earning for poor farmers hundreds of millions of pesos especially in the areas of Bicol, Samar, Leyte, Panay, Sulu, Zamboanga, Caraga, Davao and Cotabato areas.

Abaca was as profitable as a business before World War II that huge Japanese companies invested in Davao City and made it the Manila Hemp capital of the country.

Today, two other countries which got their Abaca planting materials from the Philippines are developing their own fiber industry using our very own native Abaca - Ecuador and Costa Rica.

The strong fiber of Abaca makes it an ideal source of fiber and pulp used for the huge ropes for boats and big vessels, security paper and paper money, tea bags, handicraft item, car parts and many more.

For a while, the shipping industry shifted to the use of plastic ropes but there are accounts that plastic ropes are not as reliable as the ropes made out of natural Abaca fiber.

There is an increased demand now for Abaca but the problem is the industry collapsed in the major areas which used to produce it, specifically Leyte, Samar and Bicol because of a disease called "Bunchy Top."

"Bunchy Top" is a vector-transmitted disease in Abaca and bananas which results in the stunted growth of the plants and brittle fibers.

On Thursday, July 14, almost two months after I visited the town of Sogod, Southern Leyte during the first leg of my Biyaheng Bukid, I went back to the town and met with the Abaca farmers and other stakeholders in the first ever forum to address the problems of the industry.

I brought with me officials of the Philippine Fiber Development Authority (PHILFIDA), an under-funded and understaffed agency under the Dept. of Agriculture, and the officials of companies interested in buying as much as 140,000 metric tons of Abaca fiber every year.

It was a heartwarming and beautiful experience for me seeing Abaca farmers, some of them coming from the nearby island-province of Biliran.

I heard of stories and tales of how the ignored and neglected Abaca was able to give them a better life and helped send their children to school during its heydays.

When I told them that the Abaca industry would be revived and rehabilitated under the administration of President Rody Duterte, they all broke into a wild applause.

Southern Leyte, by the way, is the birthplace of President Duterte. He was born in the town of Maasin, which is now a city.

So what will be done to the Abaca industry in Southern Leyte?

1. An initial rehabilitation fund of P100-M will be provided by the Dept. of Agriculture to the local government of Sogod, Southern Leyte which would lead the rehabilitation of the industry.

The money will be used in establishing an Abaca nursery of about 2,000 hectares using healthy and vigorous local variety called "Inusa."

A massive education and information campaign will also be conducted to provide the farmers the proper technology to manage their Abaca farms.

2. A team of banana disease experts from Mindanao, led by Dr. Remy Baltazar, a former official of multi-national companies involved in the banana industry and former professor of the University of Southern Mindanao, will arrive in Sogod on August 1 to start addressing the "Bunchy Top" problem.

I personally talked to Dr. Baltazar in my farm in Kidapawan City last Sunday and convinced him to get out of retirement and render service to the country.

He readily accepted the challenge and my request for him to form a team of banana disease experts and proceed to Southern Leyte as soon as possible.

The team of banana disease experts will also educate the Abaca farmers on how to handle the Bunchy Top disease and other plant health and nutrition problems.

3. A company owned by Dennis Villareal of Pulp Specialties who personally attended the forum along with Albert Fenix and two others, committed to buy the Abaca produce of the region.

Villareal said that his company alone needs about 100,000 metric tons every year for their customers abroad who have long been asking for more supply of the Manila Hemp.

Over the next five years of the Duterte Presidency, the Abaca industry will be rehabilitated and expanded targeting a total area of 200,000 hectares.

When realized that would mean an annual income of about P3-B for the Abaca farmers alone, an amount which would be more than enough to send their children to school once again.

More than that, the Abaca industry rehabilitation program would mean lifting up thousands of rural families from poverty, which is President Duterte's ultimate dream.