China hit for water cannon attacks US, Japan, Australia, EU join PH in denouncing ‘illegal, dangerous’ acts

By Rey E. Requejo, Macon Ramos-Araneta, Vince Lopez, and Rio N. Araja

THE United States, Japan, Australia, and the European Union on Sunday denounced China's use of water cannons to disrupt resupply efforts by the Philippine vessels near Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.

In a statement, the US State Department said China Coast Guard’s firing of water cannon and employing unsafe blocking maneuvers against Philippine Coast Guard (PCC) vessels on Saturday, Aug. 5, “interfered with the Philippines’ lawful exercise of high seas freedom of navigation and jeopardized the safety of the Philippine vessels and crew.”

“Such actions by the PRC are inconsistent with international law and are the latest in repeated threats to the status quo in the South China Sea, directly threatening regional peace and stability. By impeding necessary provisions from

By Rio N. Araja, Darwin G. Amojelar and Alena Mae Flores

TRANSPORT leaders on Sunday called

By Vince Lopez and Macon Ramos-Araneta

PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. over the weekend assured consumers that the country had a sufficient supply of rice, and told farmers that the Philippines would not import the grain as long as this remained true.

In a video message, Mr. Marcos said the two recent typhoons did P3 billion worth of damage to crops, affecting 142,000 hectares of agricultural land, but the supply of rice was still enough.

"So that it's clear to us, I want to on the government to release the P6,000 fuel subsidy to all public utility vehicle drives and operators as promised to mitigate the impact of the rising fuel costs as the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) urged the Department of Budget and Management to release the P3 billion earmarked for this program.

Boy Vargas of Transport Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines, in a Super Radyo dzBB interview, said they have already coordinated with the government on the subsidy release.

“The LTFRB was saying there was some budget. We hope that this budget will be released. And if the Senate and Congress can hear us, they can allocate a budget to help our drivers,” he said.

The LTFRB said it would provide a P6,000 fuel subsidy to all PUV drivers in August.

Mody Floranda, Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (PISTON) national president, said the fuel subsidy must be given separately to drivers and operators.

“The subsidy for the operators must be different because of the high price of the vehicle parts, and to the drivers who are the primary ones affected by the increase in the price of petroleum products,” he said.

He said he has already raised the concerns of the many operators before