Why are we not yet fighting back against China in the West Philippine Sea? Despite the numbing regularity with which Philippine vessels are rammed, blocked, water-cannoned, shot at with flares, and the corresponding injury, deprivation and harassment suffered by our service personnel, as well as damage and theft of our government property and natural resources,...
Tag: China
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Filipino fishers continue to struggle amid China’s intensifying aggression
SAN SALVADOR ISLAND—With a piece of chalk, Christopher de Vera Sr. marked the sketch of a triangle-shaped Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal on the board, labeling the entrance in the east and pointing out where Chinese vessels are often seen on patrol. Laughter filled the venue of the meeting, a classroom of San Salvador High School in...
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PNoy’s ‘right makes might’ principle recalled
Family, friends, and supporters of the late President Noynoy Aquino marked his third death anniversary with a Mass at the Manila Memorial Park in Sucat, Parañaque City, on Monday, June 24. Kiko Aquino Dee, a nephew of Aquino, recalled after the Mass the late leader’s principle of “right makes might,” which he said “was often...
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Atin Ito marchers denounce China’s ‘acts of aggression’
On the eve of the 126th anniversary of Philippine Independence, hundreds of activists, fishers and their supporters marched to the Chinese consulate in Makati City in protest against China’s incursions into the West Philippines (WPS), warning Beijing not to underestimate the Filipinos’ resolve to resist foreign aggressors. “China will not intimidate us,” said Akbayan Party...
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Jubilation, relief, and a little disappointment on the West Philippine Sea
Jubilant, relieved, but a bit disappointed at not coming close to Bajo de Masinloc, also known as Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal. That was how some people felt at the end of last week’s small flotilla of the “Atin Ito” coalition that had for its mission to supply food and fuel to fishermen at Bajo de Masinloc...
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‘Atin Ito’s’ mission is for Philippine sovereign rights and a rules-based global order
BOTOLAN, Zambales—The fight of Filipinos for their sovereign rights over the West Philippine Sea is intended as much to protect their national interest against China’s encroachments into their exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as it is to help establish an international rules-based order against a superpower bully, the citizens’ coalition “Atin Ito” (This is Ours) declared...
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Footprints on Scarborough Shoal
On May 17, 1997, the first group of journalists embarked on an extraordinary expedition to this triangle-shaped coral reef now part of long-running geopolitical tension between the Philippines and China. It was a place few had heard of, let alone visited, at a time when the world was still grappling with dial-up internet and flip...
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‘Atin Ito’ sets new mission to Scarborough Shoal to assert Filipinos’ fishing rights
Four commercial fishing boats carrying some 200 civilian volunteers, journalists, and observers, and about 100 smaller vessels will head to Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal) on May 15 on a three-day mission to assert the Philippines’ fishing rights in the West Philippine Sea. Leaders of “Atin Ito” (This is Ours), a coalition of social movements,...
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How to take back what’s ours
Surely many Filipinos were startled by footage shown on ANC last week of a Chinese Navy helicopter hovering perilously low over Sandy Cay last March 23. On the ground were Filipino marine scientists doing research on biodiversity and inspecting the apparently poor state of the corals at the sandbar about two nautical miles from the...
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Is the American empire unraveling?
We are not witnessing the last days of the American empire. Its crisis is real, but its trajectory of decline is likely to be protracted and uneven. After the fall of the Soviet bloc in the early 1990s, the United States stood at the apex of the unipolar world, unrivalled both politically and economically. Some...