Weekend balita september 7, 2013

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LOS ANGELES

VOL. XXI, NO. 31

SEPTEMBER 7-13, 2013

PHL recalls envoy amid new China sea dispute MANILA, September 5, 2013 (AFP) – The Philippines has called home its ambassador to China for consultations, the foreign department said Thursday amid fresh tensions in a long-running maritime territorial dispute. Foreign department spokesman Raul Hernandez announced ambassador Erlinda Basilio’s trip after the defense department accused China of laying 75 concrete blocks on the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. Defense officials have expressed concern this could be a prelude to building structures at the shoal, 220 kilometers (135 miles) off the main Philippine island of Luzon and within the Philippines’ internationally recognized exclusive economic zone. “She was asked to come home for consultations and will return to Beijing in a few days,” Hernandez told AFP. Speaking to reporters earlier Thursday,

he would not say if Basilio was called home solely because of the alleged Chinese block-laying. The Philippine foreign ministry earlier said President Benigno Aquino had called off a planned trip to China on Tuesday for a trade fair after Chinese authorities imposed conditions on his visit. Hernandez said Manila was still studying whether to lodge a diplomatic protest or consider other options regarding the alleged Chinese activity at the shoal. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei rejected the Philippine allegations on Wednesday, while asserting his country’s sovereignty over the shoal. The outcrop is about 650 kilometers from Hainan island, the nearest major Chinese land mass, but China claims most of the South China Sea including waters near the coasts of its neighbors. Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam See SCARBOROUGH, page 33

A bamboo pole breaks as residents carry the carcass of a juvenile whale shark, known locally as a “butanding”, at the coastline of Tanza, Cavite, southwest of Manila, September 5, 2013. The whale shark weighing approximately 300kg (661 pounds), and with a length of 6.72 metres (22 feet), was found by fishermen floating in the sea off Manila Bay on Wednesday, an official from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources said. Story on page 3 (MNS photo)

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‘Discover Two Cultures’ in exciting Philippines-Malaysia tour packages The two Southeast Asian countries are arguably the best performing nations as far as their economies are concerned. Both Philippines and Malaysia, each made up of several islands, are also becoming the tourist havens in Asia because of their resorts and beaches, tropical weather and most importantly friendly, warm and charming people. Being neighbors, the two no doubt have also been rivals. While Malaysia used to envy one of Asia’s most progressive country after the Second World War, the past years have been robust for the

Malaysians and enjoys one of the world’s best infrastructures and an ever-growing economy. On the other hand, the Philippines have had to deal with years of political upheavals, but is now leading the whole of Southeast Asia in economic growth with creditors rating the country as the place to invest. As of late, Malaysia still boasts of the tallest twin towers in the world – the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur which attracts millions of visitors annually – and is the only Southeast Asian nation See DISCOVER, page 33 to produce its

U.S. wants extended access to PHL bases: Manila

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Student activists burn a U.S. flag in Manila to denounce President Barack Obama’s proposed plan for a limited military strike in Syria.

MANILA, August 31, 2013 (AFP) – The United States wants to use Philippine bases for extended periods of up to 20 years, a Manila official said Saturday as the two sides are in talks on a wider US military footprint in Asia. The negotiations aim to allow more U.S. troops, ships, aircraft and other equipment to pass through the Philippines, which had hosted tens of thousands of U.S. troops until 1992. “For the Americans, they typically have agreements like these that have a duration of 20 years. Right now, the Philippine delegation is looking at a much shorter duration,” negotiator Carlos Sorreta, a Philippine assistant foreign secretary, said in statement. He gave no specific time frame for the Philippine counterproposal, with the statement adding the “substantive issue of duration” would be “subject to further discussion”. Asked by AFP on Saturday to confirm if the U.S. negotiators had proposed a 20-year agreement with Manila, American embassy spokesman Kurt Hoyer declined to comment. Sorreta did not answer his phone when contacted by AFP. See U.S. BASES, page 33

3 senators, other lawmakers ‘endorsed’ bogus NGOs – witness MANILA, Sept 5 (Mabuhay) – Former officials of subsidiaries of the Department of Agriculture (DA) named Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada, and Ramon “Bong” Revilla as having endorsed their pork barrel funds to supposedly bogus non-government organizations (NGOs). During the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing See 3 SENATORS, page 33


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