Aquino: We can fight back vs any threat
Faced with territorial disputes and worries of external and internal threats, President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday claimed that the Philippines can fight back and defend itself within its bounds.
Faced with territorial disputes and worries of external and internal threats, President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday claimed that the Philippines can fight back and defend itself within its bounds.
The Philippines has formally protested the “provocative and illegal” presence of Chinese government ships around a shoal within the Philippine continental shelf in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), asserting exclusive rights to use resources within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Local budget carrier Zest Airways has suspended its daily chartered flights between Kalibo, Aklan, and Taipei amid the ongoing bitter tensions between the Philippines and Taiwan.
At least 52 Chinese and Taiwanese tourists were turned over to the Bureau of Immigration here early Tuesday after their presence in a resort in Vigan City in Ilocos Sur raised suspicions.
With the standoff in the disputed Sabah still unresolved, the country’s mission in Kuala Lumpur is hoping to put Mindanao in a positive light on the Malaysian stage.
The government is skirting the Sabah conflict – a pestering issue between the Philippines and Malaysia – in next week’s Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ summit in Brunei, officials said on Wednesday.
The Philippines reiterated, on Thursday, its commitment to the peaceful settlement of its claims in the West Philippine Sea or the South China Sea area through arbitration proceedings under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS.
More than 400 “volunteer fighters” of the so-called sultanate of Sulu have arrived in Lahad Datu, Sabah, to reinforce the sultanate’s “Royal Security Forces (RSF),” triggering clashes with Malaysian security forces, the sultanate’s spokesperson said on Tuesday.
At least 50 representatives of government agencies in the Zamboanga peninsula and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) have drafted an action plan to address the heavy influx of Filipino returnees from Sabah, Malaysia.
Should the ongoing conflict in Sabah be tackled by the Bangsamoro Transition Commission?
While the Philippines has not given up its claim to Sabah, the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has asked Filipino barter traders to comply with fresh Malaysian regulations “notably requiring Filipinos and other foreigners” to present passports or seaman’s books if they wish to do business in the disputed state and the neighboring territory of Labuan.
Filipino embassy officials were able to visit eight alleged followers of the Sultanate of Sulu currently detained in a prison in Sabah after they were charged with terrorism and rebellion in connection with the Feb. 9 incursion there that left over 80 people dead, mostly Filipinos.
