Philippines opens school on disputed island

MANILA, Philippines — A Philippine official says he has opened a small kindergarten school on a South China Sea island that is also claimed by five other countries.

Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon said Sunday that his aim was to help the 37-hectare (91-acre) island’s civilian community and not to antagonize rival claimant countries. The school was inaugurated without fanfare on June 15 with five students, their parents and a teacher. A Philippine flag fluttered in the breeze in the schoolyard.

The Philippines calls the island Pag-asa – or “hope” in Tagalog. It is guarded by Filipino troops.

It is part of the Spratlys archipelago. China, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam also claim the islands.

Meanwhile, Malacañang and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) have ordered Sonia Brady, the country’s new ambassador to China, to find a peaceful solution to the Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal) issue and employ diplomatic means to resolve it.

DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez said Sunday that the department has expressed confidence that Brady would be able to use all her diplomatic skills in finding a temporary solution to the dispute between Manila and Beijing over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) rock formation.

In a text message to the INQUIRER, Hernandez on Sunday said “the instructions to Ambassador Brady were to find a peaceful solution to the Bajo de Masinloc issue and to employ diplomatic means to resolve it.”

The foreign office “has yet to receive updates” on the issue from the Philippine embassy in the Chinese capital.

But Hernandez said, “consultations (between the two sides) will certainly resume.”

On May 27, President Benigno Aquino III named Brady, who served as envoy to Beijing from 2006 to 2010, to her old post amid a growing clamor for a skilled diplomat to handle the frayed ties with China caused by the territorial dispute.

Three days later, the Commission on Appointments (CA) confirmed the appointment of the veteran diplomat, along with six career DFA officials.

The President earlier told Palace reporters, “given the complexities of our relationship with China right now, it has to really be somebody who is the best we can produce.”

“[Brady] has been to China. We expect her to use her experience and contacts to provide added insight and understanding of Chinese actions and policies,” said Secretary Ricky Carandang, head of the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office.

As ambassador to Beijing, the 70-year-old Brady has concurrent jurisdiction over North Korea and Mongolia.

Brady has been an adviser on foreign affairs since Aug. 19, 2011. She held the DFA undersecretary for policy post from 2003 to 2006.

The Quezon native also served as director of the agency’s Asia-Pacific office from 1988 to 1992 and had been assigned to its political affairs office from 1968 to 1976.