The Philippines recorded 6 times Alarming invasion of China in the West Philippine Sea

The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) shows the light Blue Dotted line as 200 Nautical Mile Economic Zone for the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, China and Indonesia. The Blue dotted line includes most part of the Kalayaan Island Group (Spratly) of the Philippines. UNCLOS did not show any territorial rights for China in the West Philippine Sea in the South China Sea which is closer to the Kalayaan Island Group of the Philippines. The Philippines recorded already 6 invasion by china to the West Philippine Sea.

Philippines - Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said on Wednesday that he will raise the issue of intrusions by China at the West Philippines Sea islands in the disputed Spratlys before the 2011 Asian Security Forum.

The forum, which is also called the Shangrila Dialogue, will be held in Singapore this weekend and will be attended by defense chiefs in Asia.

Gazmin said the military has monitored fresh intrusions by China in the disputed Spratlys.

In a press briefing organized by the Philippine Information Agency, Gazmin said the first intrusion occurred last May 21 when Chinese Defense minister Liang Guanglie and his party arrived Manila for a goodwill visit.

The second intrusion occurred last May 24, or a day after Gazmin and Liang met in Camp Aguinaldo, where the two defense chiefs vowed to ensure affect stability in Spratlys, which are also known as the Kalayaan Island Group.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has filed a diplomatic protest against China, the second since last March when the DFA also protested the harassment by 2 Chinese vessels of Department of Energy oil exploration ship at Reed Bank.

Gazmin said a buoy and posts were set up by a Chinese transport ship and 2 missile boats at the Amy Douglas Bank, which is near the Philippine-occupied Likas and Patag islands. The bank is about 100 miles off Palawan.

"We were not able to get a closer look on what the ship was carrying but we were certain that it was a flatbed ship," he said.

The defense chief said that the Chinese put up the buoy and the posts as part of their strategy to claim the island. "This means that they are putting up (structures) in our areas where we have no guards. In other words, they want to hoist their flag so that they can say the area is theirs," he added.

"The report that came in to us states that the fishermen were responsible in removing all these materials and these were turned over to the military… What we found there are steel posts and buoy," the defense chief revealed.

Gazmin said President Benigno Aquino III has been already informed of the Chinese intrusions. "The President has given instructions to do some actions on this," he said.

"The options open to us is first, the diplomatic protest. We are in no position to confront the force that are intruding into our territory simply because we do not have the capability, that is why we are in the process of actively pursuing our modernization program and the capability upgrade of our maritime assets," he added.

Gazmin said they have recorded at least 6 intrusions by China, which he considers as "alarming."

When asked what happens if the intrusions continue, Gazmin said:  "We will continue to file diplomatic protests."

"The most we can do is file diplomatic protest, that is the most civilized thing to do at the moment," said Gazmin, adding he is somewhat "affected" by the latest Chinese intrusion, noting that these occurred during the visit of Liang in Manila.

"We talked to them properly and our agenda is that all problems can be resolved through dialogue. But while we were doing these (talks), something is happening in our area,: he said.

"Before making a judgment, we want to know if the (defense) leadership is aware of that incident or if the (Chinese defense) minister is not aware of this plan."

The Chinese defense minister is expected to attend the Asian Security Forum.

"I will be raising the issue if and when we will have the chance to go on a bilateral or meeting between ourselves. Given the chance, I will," said Gazmin.

Armed Forces chief Gen. Eduardo Oban said he ordered the AFP Western Command to step up patrols in the area.

 

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6 American companies investing $ 100Million in BPO, generating 10,000 jobs in the Philippines

Six American firms with combined estimated investments of $100 million are outsourcing their non-voice services to the Philippines and are expected to create 10,000 jobs, Board of Investments managing head Cristino L. Panlilio said.

Panlilio, who has just arrived from an investment mission abroad, refused to identify these firms but said these are new players in the market.

Earlier, the BoI also reported that leading American insurance firm AETNA will tap Filipino nurses without jobs to provide clinical support for its insurance claims and to provide service to home care patients in the US .

Board of Investments executive director Fe Reyes-Agoncillo said there are two components for this niche project.

“There are 30,000 unemployed nurses in the country and some of them have the opportunity to provide clinical support to these American patients,” Agoncillo said.

AETNA has tapped EXL Service, a local firm that directly transacts business with AETNA .

For the first project component, Agoncillo said that 250 nurses are already working to provide assessment on medical claims by patients who are going to undertake treatment of their illnesses.

The potential is to hire a total of 500 Filipino nurses who would undertake the job.

According to Reyes, Filipino nurses’ job here is to evaluate requests for insurance coverage and relay back to the US their assessments. Filipino nurses, however, cannot deny a patient’s requests for insurance coverage.

Should their evaluation say a particular request should be denied because it is not covered, all they have to do is forward it to the US where an American doctor would be the one to convey the denial of such request.

This job was used to be undertaken by nurses and doctors in the US but the American insurance firm has decided to outsource this service to the Philippines Nurses would fit this job because they are at least familiar with the technical terms and ailments.

The other project component also involves the hiring of services of nurses to provide home care patients to American patients.

This team of nurses will take on the services that nurses in the US used to provide to home care patients. Nurses in the US either call or visit home care patients to check on them, if they have already taken their medicines, among others.

In this case, the Filipino nurses in Manila will call the home care patients to check if they have taken their medication and determine if they are well.

This team will start with 250 nurses in the next 12 months and is hoping to ramp up to 1,000 in a couple of years as more business come in.

This is a niche job, a combination of voice and non-voice, Reyes said

 

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Oil and Natural gas, Spratlys issue top agenda of Aquino, Bolkiah in Sultanate of Brunei

Brunei Darussalam  - Oil and atural gas exploration and the West Philippine Sea of the South China Sea dispute were on top of the agenda when President Aquino and Brunei’s Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah met here on Wednesday, as the sultanate received the Philippine president in full royal regalia.

The two countries also signed separate five-year memoranda of understanding to promote cooperation and encourage greater private sector participation in developing shipping, tourism, agriculture and sports.

Speaking about the Spratlys dispute in a briefing at the Rizqun Hotel here, Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said Aquino sought oil-rich Brunei’s help in developing natural gas infrastructure in the Philippines.

“The President invited Brunei to look at the development of infrastructure for natural gas so that this can be used as the main fuel for transport in the Philippines. The two leaders agreed that a working group will be formed in order to flesh out the implementation of the agreement,” said Coloma.

From his two-hour flight from Manila, Aquino arrived aboard a Rolls Royce at the Istana Nurul Iman, the royal residence, at 11 a.m. on Wednesday and was welcomed by a royal gun salute.

Bolkiah, the rest of the royal family, Brunei ministers and members of the diplomatic corps lined the palace’s main hallway to welcome Aquino.

The Philippine delegation brought a dozen boxes of ice cream in different flavors, a royal favorite, as a gift to Bolkiah, according to embassy officials.

During bilateral talks, the two leaders “expressed a desire to maintain peace and stability in area through multilateral dialogue with claimant countries,” Coloma said.

“During talks, the Sultan also said that it’s best to have good relations with China.  Two leaders have repeatedly [emphasized] the need for peaceful approaches and peaceful solutions,” Coloma said.

Brunei and the Philippines both have partial claims to the Spratlys, a resource-rich group of islands in the West Philippine Sea of the South China Sea. China, Vietnam and Malaysia also claim ownership of the islands in part or as a whole.

Aquino recently discussed the Spratlys issue with Chinese defense minister Liang Guanglie when the latter visited the Philippines two weeks ago. He warned that an “arms race” might ensue between the two nations if China continued to provoke the Philippines through military movement in the islands.

“The concept that the two leaders discussed is multilateral dialogue, participated in by ASEAN and all claimant countries and China in the spirit of cooperation.  If the objective is peace and stability, the stance being taken by the sultan is to engage in multilateral talks,” said Coloma.

Asked if Aquino mentioned recent incidents between China and the Philippines in the Kalaayan group of islands, Coloma said: “The President alluded to certain challenges in the area, but that did not constitute a lengthy discussion.”

“The President simply told the sultan that, recently, there had been some developments in some area, that leads us to be more purposive and determined in seeking peaceful cooperation and dialogue,” said Coloma.

Aquino also invited Bolkiah to visit the Philippines to inaugurate a learning center and a grand mosque built through Brunei funding in Cotabato City, Coloma said.

The President also expressed gratitude for Brunei’s participation in the international monitoring team keeping watch on peace talks between the Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Aquino also met with the Filipino community in Brunei Wednesday afternoon, recalling his first visit in the country 23 years ago during the presidency of his late mother, President Corazon Aquino.

Some 18,000 Filipinos work in Brunei, among them engineers, teachers and service workers.

 

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