Foreign ships harass mayor of disputed isle
By Redempto Anda
The mayor of Kalayaan town in Palawan was harassed by two unidentified vessels while traveling with around 200 others by sea toward midnight on Thursday.
The mayor of Kalayaan town in Palawan was harassed by two unidentified vessels while traveling with around 200 others by sea toward midnight on Thursday.
The mayor of Kalayaan town in Palawan, along with around 200 people, were harassed by two unidentified vessels while they were traveling by sea before midnight Thursday, the local official said.
The removal of the minesweeper USS Guardian that got stuck in Tubbataha Reefs some two months ago was completed Saturday, two weeks ahead of date estimates initially made by both Philippine and US authorities.
Defense officials on Tuesday asked the United States to submit its salvage plan for the grounded USS Guardian for approval before undertaking a delicate salvage operation that would involve hoisting the stricken vessel onto a barge.
A high-end resort in the Palawan town of El Nido is in hot water following the recent seizure of illegally cut hardwood lumber on its property and the filing of criminal charges against its owner.
Chinese poachers have become bolder and entered the waters of a town in the southernmost tip of Palawan to harvest coral and catch sea turtles, according to a report by the Philippine Navy on Saturday.
Under the protective watch of warships, Chinese fishing vessels anchored off the Philippine-occupied Pag-asa Island in the disputed Spratly archipelago in the West Philippine Sea operated at will on Thursday, catching fish but mainly collecting corals in large quantities.
The Aquino administration has been sitting for two months on reports of increased Chinese military construction on islands within the country’s territory in the West Philippine Sea.
A Chinese salvage party of at least five vessels and several smaller boats has arrived at a shoal off Palawan to rescue a People’s Liberation Army warship that ran aground there on Wednesday night.
A Philippine Air Force plane spotted Saturday afternoon the Chinese war frigate that ran aground on a coral reef at Half Moon Shoal in the Spratlys.
A marine unit of the Philippine National Police has thwarted a new attempt to smuggle giant sea turtles believed destined for the Chinese seafood market, the police disclosed Friday.
Two men on a motorcycle shot a Swiss national living in Puerto Princesa City on Tuesday night, police said.
