US backs PH in new...

graduates passed the licensure examination from 2016 to 2022.

The figure he said is insufficient to fill the huge demand for HCWs in the United States, United Kingdom and other European countries.

To curb the downtrend, Soriano urged the government to raise or totally lift the deployment cap.

Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople previously reported that the government is currently studying the possibility of raising the deployment cap for HCWs. g

Marcos: EDCA sites won’t raise...

He said the additional EDCA sites “will not have the opposite effect from what we want, which is to make the tensions [in the South China Sea] even higher.”

He refused to identify the new sites, saying they are still under study.

“I think when I get back I will have a command conference and we will decide once and for all.

And we’ll announce [the specific details]. But [it will not] take too long,” he said.

In a statement on February 2, after U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III finalized arrangements to set up four more EDCA sites, the Chinese embassy in Manila said the U.S.’ military posture in the region escalates tension and undermine regional peace and stability.

It said that Washington, “out of its self interests and zero-sum game mentality, continues to step up military posture in this region.”

Austin “smeared China on the issue of South China Sea to advance the anti-China political agenda of the U.S.,” the embassy said. “Such moves contradict the common aspiration of regional countries to seek peace, cooperation and development.” g military aircraft on patrol in the South China Sea and other spots in the Pacific. and China in Asia and beyond.

Despite friendly overtures to Beijing by former president Rodrigo Duterte and his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in January in Beijing, tensions have persisted, drawing in a closer military alliance between the Philippines and the U.S.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Monday, February 13 that a Philippine coast guard vessel trespassed into Chinese waters without permission.

Chinese coast guard vessels responded "professionally and with restraint at the site in accordance with China's law and international law," he said, without elaborating or mentioning the use of laser.

Aside from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei also have overlapping claims in the resource-rich and busy waterway, where a bulk of the world's commerce and oil transits.

Washington lays no claims to the disputed sea but has deployed forces to patrol the waters to promote freedom of navigation and overflight — moves that have angered Beijing, which has warned Washington to stop meddling in what it says is a purely Asian dispute.

The contested waters have become a volatile front in the broader rivalry between the U.S.

Price said the Chinese coast guard's "provocative and unsafe" conduct interfered with the Philippines' "lawful operations" in and around Second Thomas Shoal.

In July, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on China to comply with a 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated Beijing's vast territorial claims in the South China Sea and warned that Washington was obligated to defend the Philippines under the Mutual Defense Treaty.

On Monday, Price reiterated that the "legally binding decision" underscored that China "has no lawful maritime claims to the Second Thomas Shoal."

China has long rejected the ruling and continues to defy it.

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin on Monday insisted that the Ren'ai Reef is part of China's Nansha Islands.

In a statement shared by the Chinese Embassy in Manila, Wang said that on February 6, a Philippine Coast Guard vessel "intruded into the waters off the Ren'ai Reef (or Ayungin Shoal) without Chinese permission."

He said that in accordance with China's domestic law and international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), the China Coast Guard ship "upheld China's sovereignty and maritime order and acted in a professional and restrained way."

"We hope the Philippine side will respect China's territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea and avoid taking any actions that may exacerbate disputes and complicate the situation," he said.

"China and the Philippines are in communication on this through diplomatic channels," Wang added.

Sen. Ana Theresia "Risa" Hontiveros, however, rejected Wang's explanation.

"China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) is lying," she said.

"It cannot claim that the Chinese Coast Guard ship acted in accordance with international law, when the 2016 arbitral tribunal that ruled against China's baseless 9-dash-line claim was constituted precisely under the Unclos," she said in a statement.

The senator said Ayungin is part of the Philippines' exclusive economic zone. "The Unclos affirms this."

"The wider international community recognizes this. It is only China's authoritarian government that seems to think otherwise," Hontiveros said.

She told China's MoFA "to stop lying and stick to the truth: that China is using her military might to justify her blatant and dangerous disregard for international law, with her flimsy historical 'claim' as an excuse."

The Philippines filed nearly 200 diplomatic protests against China's aggressive actions in the disputed waters in 2022 alone. (With reports from Associated Press)

SWS: 75% of Pinoys satisfied...

-30 to -49 as “bad”; -50 to -69 as “very bad” and -70 and below as “execrable.”

Highest in Mindanao

According to SWS, Marcos obtained his highest satisfaction rating among respondents in Mindanao, with 78 percent in both during the October and December surveys. Satisfaction with the President increased to 74 percent in both Balance Luzon and the Visayas, from 69 percent and 65 percent, respectively. It remained at 73 percent among those in Metro

Manila.

Meanwhile, dissatisfaction was highest in Metro Manila at nine percent (from seven percent in October), followed by the Visayas at seven percent (from nine percent) and rest of Luzon and Mindanao at six percent (from nine percent and five percent, respectively).

Based on the latest survey, satisfaction with Marcos was higher among those in rural areas (80 percent) than in urban areas (70 percent). It was also higher among men (77 percent) than women (73 percent).

In terms of age groups, satisfaction with Marcos was highest among 25-34 (80 percent), followed by those in 18-24 (76 percent), 35-44 (75 percent), 45-54 (74 percent) and above 55 (71 percent).

It was also higher among junior high school graduates (78 percent) and non-elementary graduates (77 percent), followed by elementary graduates (71 percent) and college graduates (67 percent).

The December 2022 survey had 1,200 respondents and a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percent. g