The US Navy is not yet off the hook in the Tubbataha Reef, as Sen. Loren Legarda will not allow it to sail away even after it pays $1.4 million for the damage the grounding of the USS Guardian has caused to the protected marine park in the Sulu Sea.
Sen. Serge Osmeña said on Thursday the Philippines should seek regional cooperation to stop the entry of smuggled petroleum products into the country, reportedly mainly from Malaysia and Indonesia.
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago says the sultanate of Sulu should first disclose its “true intentions” in its audacious attempt to retake Sabah—either to expand the territory of the Philippines or merely line the pockets of the royal family with money from higher compensation—before President Aquino can commit the country’s “meager” military resources to its territorial claim.
The Philippines has fined the US Navy for “unauthorized entry” after an American minesweeper went aground on Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park in the Sulu Sea.
The Philippines and China may forge ahead with the joint exploration of oil and gas reserves in the West Philippine Sea, which the latter calls the South China Sea, even as their leaders continue to squabble over boundaries.
US authorities have seized a fresh cache of dollars, prime New York properties and paintings worth as much as P1 billion believed to be part of the hidden wealth plundered by Ferdinand Marcos during his two-decade rule, the Philippine Daily Inquirer learned Tuesday.
Four lawmakers are urging the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to suspend the tax on gold as it has drastically reduced the volume of the metal sold by small-scale producers to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Manuel V. Pangilinan, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. chairman, has had enough.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan called Trillanes a “liar” for insinuating that he has instigated the anti-China tirade to protect his business interest.
A tempest is brewing in the country’s diplomatic front with Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario saying his efforts to resolve the lingering standoff with China over disputed territories in the West Philippine Sea were being torpedoed by a backroom negotiator.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) is closely watching developments in the dispute between China and Japan over islands in the East China Sea, as it continues to push for a peaceful resolution to its own territorial row with China.
President Benigno Aquino is confident he would be signing a peace agreement with Muslim rebels within the year, with Malaysia’s leader, whose government is brokering the talks between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), keen on attending the event.
