Even as the Philippines mounted a diplomatic offensive in its territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea, particularly in the area we call the West Philippine Sea, its giant neighbor also intensified its aggressive actions in the disputed sea in the past week. In a matter of three days, the Chinese Coast Guard interfered with two Philippine missions in the WPS that has been declared by a Permanent Court of Arbitration as belonging to the Philippines in a 2016 ruling.
On Friday, a Chinese Coast Guard ship blocked two Philippines ships belonging to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) carrying Filipino scientists who were scheduled to conduct maritime research in the Spratly Islands, crossing one of the ship’s bow at a distance of just 100 meters.
The Chinese Coast Guard in a statement said apprehended the Filipinos because China has an “indisputable” sovereign right to the Spratlys, and said the landing attempt “violates China’s territorial sovereignty and undermines peace and stability in the South China Sea”.
Two days later on Saturday, Chinese Coast Guard ships again blocked and crossed the bow of a Philippine vessel while on a mission to resupply a small Marine contingent aboard BRP Sierra Madre on Ayungin Shoal. Three CCG ships encircled the Philippine vessel and again attacked it with water cannon, causing heavy damage and injuries to the ship.
Foreign governments immediately rallied behind the Philippines and condemned the latest “dangerous maneuvers” by the Chinese Coast Guard.
The United States on Saturday denounced China’s latest assault in the West Philippine Sea and vowed to uphold its defense commitments with Manila. “This incident marks only the latest in the PRC’s repeated obstruction of Philippine vessels’ exercise of high seas freedom of navigation and disruption of supply lines to this longstanding outpost,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
China had said on Tuesday that the United States had “no right” to interfere in the South China Sea, after Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington stood by its commitments to defend the Philippines against armed attack in the disputed waterway.
On the same day, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in an interview with Bloomberg Television the Philippines was not deliberately provoking conflict or acting under the command of the US in its efforts to assert its sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea. Marcos said there is a need to defend the country’s territory “since the threat has grown,” but added the government has not instigated any conflict or confrontation with China. “We’re just trying to feed our people.”
A surprise revelation caught House probers during the week when PCG commandant, Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavant said the PCG previously recruited 36 Chinese nationals as auxiliary members of the agency but they have since been delisted after two or three years in the reserve service.
PCG spokesman Capt. Armand Basilio later clarified that here is no basis to the speculation that dozens of Chinese businessmen previously enlisted in the auxiliary force of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) were spying for Beijing or involved in the hacking of the PCG’s website and Facebook page.
Meanwhile, fugitive former congressman Arnolfo Teves Jr. was arrested by Timor Leste police on Thursday while playing golf in a driving range.
Teves is under detention but has filed for political asylum in Timor Leste, according to his Philippine lawyer Ferdinand Topacio.
President Marcos assured the Filipino people that his administration will do every thing to bring Teves to face charges in the Philippines.
Another high-profile fugitive, Pastor Apollo Quiboloy of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC), who is wanted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and both the House and Senate committees investigating alleged abuses by the KOJC and alleged violations by the Quiboloy-owned Sonshime Media Network International (SMNI), will soon be served an arrest warrant in his suspected hiding place in Davao.
The Department of Justice has filed charges of human trafficking, which is a non-bailable offense, at the Pasig City court. Separate charges for child abuse were filed at the Davao City court last week, the DOJ said.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives on Wednesday approved on third and final reading a measure seeking to revoke the franchise of Quiboloy-owned Swara Sug Media Corporation, which operates SMNI.
Also at the House of Representatives, lawmakers approved on third and final reading Resolution of Both Houses No. 7 that will relax stringent economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution, in hopes of attracting more foreign direct investments (FDI) into the country.
Here in the US, Congress again beat the deadline and passed a $1.2 trillion spending bill early Saturday morning to avert another potential shutdown and end one of the most contentious budget battles in congressional history, at least for the current fiscal year. President Joe Biden immediately signed the bill into law Saturday morning.
The budget deal, opposed by far-right Republican supporters of former president Donald Trump, earned the ire of Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who immediately filed a motion a motion to oust fellow Republican Speaker Mike Johnson, who has only served as speaker for five months, having taken over for Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted from the top job under a similar process.
Taylor Greene, one of the staunchest advocates of Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, seems to be in a binge to bring down public officials.
A day after moving to oust the Speaker, Taylor Greene filed a complaint for the disbarment of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over her alleged “illicit affair” with a top prosecutor in her Georgia election interference case against Trump.
Meanwhile, New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed judgments in Westchester County, the first indication that the state is preparing to try to seize Donald Trump’s golf course and private estate north of Manhattan, known as Seven Springs.
Trump is reportedly in panic mode as the deadline (Monday, March 25) approaches to secure a half-billion-dollar bond to appeal his civil fraud case in New York, according to multiple sources familiar with his thinking.
Trump has reportedly sent out a panicked fundraising message to his supporters as he begs them to help foot his ballooning legal bills. The desperate memo, titled “Keep your filthy hands off Trump Tower!” comes as the Monday deadline to pay his $464 million bond in his New York fraud trial judgment ticks ever closer.
Trump’s desperation to come up with the nearly half-billion dollar bond has caused concern among two prominent personalities. Former U.S. national security adviser Susan Rice talked about the threat that could be posed to America’s security over this: “In the event that [Trump] has to take that money from an individual or an entity, whether domestic or international, that individual or entity will potentially have real influence over him, and so that is of concern” if he returns to the White House.”
Rep. Sean Casten, a Democrat who sits on the House Financial Services Committee, warned that Trump’s inability to secure the bond makes him a “massive national security risk.” Casten tweeted: “…That fact alone makes him a massive national security risk; any foreign adversary seeking to buy a President knows the price.”
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he would keep on with the military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, where aid agencies say famine is looming.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a one-on-one with the Israeli prime minister, warned Netanyahu that Israel risked further global isolation if it attacks the Palestinian city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
On Saturday, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres visited the Rafah crossing and saw long line of blocked relief trucks on Egypt’s side of the border with the Gaza Strip, where people face starvation. Guterres said such situation is “a moral outrage.”
Meantime, a US-led resolution calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza failed to pass in the United Nations Security Council on Friday as Russia and China, who are permanent members, voted against the measure.
As widely expected, Russian President Vladimir Putin won a six-year extension of his more than two decades of rule with a landslide victory in the presidential election. He flouted in his victory speech and said Russia would not be intimated by critics nor held back in Ukraine.
Since Putin launched his invasion on Ukraine more than two years ago, he has called it a “special military operation.” But on Friday, the Kremlin said that Russia is in a “state of war” in Ukraine, a direct language that fueled questions about whether it signaled a change in approach following the landslide election victory claimed by Putin to extend his rule.
A day later, gunmen barged into a concert hall and shot and killed at least 133 people before throwing explosives that gutted the Crocus Music Hall and possibly killed more and injured several others. The terror group ISIS claimed responsibility, but Putin blamed Ukraine for the attack and said they have arrested four gunmen who were fleeing to Ukraine.
The US and other embassies said they warned Moscow that ISIS militants were determined to target Russia in the days before the attack, but Putin in a speech had blasted the American warnings as “provocative,” saying “these actions resemble outright blackmail and the intention to intimidate and destabilize our society.”
And now for the good news. President Biden had cancelled nearly $6 billion in student debt for 76,000 public service workers, such as nurses, teachers and firefighters.
And Americans have at least two chances to become instant multi-millionaires with the Mega Millions jackpot hitting $1.1 billion on Tuesday and the Powerball jackpot reaching P800 million on Monday. Buy your tickets now!
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