SUMMARY WASHINGTON, USA – Two senior Republican US senators have asked President Joe Biden to provide a complete list of options developed by the Pentagon and State Department to help support the Philippines in recent standoffs with Beijing over a contested shoal in the South China Sea. Central to tensions is the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, where the […]
SUMMARY For over two months now, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)’s BRP Teresa Magbanua has been keeping watch over Escoda (Sabina) Shoal in the West Philippine Sea, because of concerns that China is trying to build yet another “artificial island.” Escoda Shoal is very close – just some 75 nautical miles away – to the […]
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s recognition of the 1898 Treaty of Paris and the 1900 Treaty of Washington as the basis for defining Philippine sovereignty reinforces the country’s territorial claims amid international disputes, specifically in the West Philippine Sea, said former Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Monday. Carpio was referring to Marcos’ […]
The best general, to paraphrase Sun Tzu anachronistically, is the one who wins without having to fire a shot. In 1995-1996, what is now called the Third Taiwan Straits Crisis took place, which was a turning point in Chinese and American defense strategies. As I wrote elsewhere some years back, for China, what it did […]
SUBIC BAY, Zambales — Pursuing a “blue economy,” or one that is focused on the conservation and inclusive use of marine resources for economic growth, could address the issues hounding the West Philippine Sea (WPS), a group said on Friday. In a statement, the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) also said that the concept of […]
MANILA, Philippines — Educating Filipinos about the history of the West Philippine Sea (WPS) could help the Philippines win the fight against China’s claims on the entire South China Sea, according to retired Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio. In a lecture hosted by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines and the National Library of […]
SUMMARY The Philippines and China have expanded a previous maritime communication mechanism covering the West Philippine Sea, as tensions rise in waters that are within Manila’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) but that Beijing claims at its own. In a Wednesday, July 17 statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed that the two countries signed an […]
SUMMARY Liza Araneta-Marcos, lawyer and wife to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., just got a new title: Vice Admiral of the Philippine Coast Guard Auxiliary (PCGA), or the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)’s volunteer force. The First Lady officially joined the PCGA’s Executive Squadron in a ceremony aboard the BRP Gabriela Silang on Tuesday, July 16, according […]
MANILA, Philippines – Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas led a fluvial procession on Tuesday morning, July 16, to pray for peace in the face of China’s aggressive behavior in the West Philippine Sea. The Marian prayer voyage was held off the coast of Barangay Cato in Infanta, Pangasinan, after a 6 am Mass led by Villegas […]
SUMMARY In the coastal town of Rizal in Palawan, under the cover of darkness, four Navy boats prepared to sail. It was June 17, probably past midnight, and they were going on a mission to replace the personnel on board the BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal as well as replenish supplies. Jeffrey Facundo, underwater operator of the elite […]