First Public School raised the Philippines Flag in the Spratly Islands

The Philippine flag flies in the breeze as Kalayaan town Mayor Eugenio Bito-onon (center) poses with the teacher, schoolchildren and their parents at the opening of Pag-asa Elementary School on a disputed West Philippines Sea island on June 15. AP/OFFICE OF KALAYAAN MUNICIPAL MAYOR

Spratlys Public elementary School starts its regular classes in the Pagasa Island, Municipality of Kalayaan, Palawan, the territory of the Old Sultanate of Sulu back during the pre-colonial period. The Kalayaan Islands is also known as the disputed Spratlys archipelago after the other neighbors claimed it as their territory.

The old Sultanate of Sulu failed to regain its power to the entire territory and have turned over its rights to the Republic of the Philippines through Sultan Kiram in 1960's.

The weaken and deprived of power old kingdom was seen by the neighbors in doom resulting its claim to the territories under it. In spite of the turnover of the Sultan to the Republic of the Philippines, still neighbors claimed part of the territory as their owned.

Youth is the hope of our Mother land - Education must be given chance

Philippine government defend its opening of the first ever public school in the spratlys islands after china issued s warning against the operation of a public elementary school on Pag-asa Island in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

In a statement, the Department of Foreign Affairs Wednesday (June 27, 2012)  asserted "the Kalayaan group of Islands, which include Pag-asa, is an integral part of Philippine territory as declared in Republic Act 9522 and other relevant Philippine laws."

The DFA cited Kalayaan Mayor Eugenio Bito-on for providing basic services to his constituents, including the establishment of a public kindergarten school.

Raul Hernandez, the DFA spokesman, pointed out "part of the responsibility of (Mayor Bito-on) is to govern his municipality, ensure the progress and development of his locality, and provide basic services to his constituents, including putting up a school for kids in his area of jurisdiction."

For its part, the militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said China is "definitely in no position to be making such absurd demands on the Philippines."

Beijing "must respect Philippine sovereignty and refrain from making threats," said Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes Jr.

"The area being claimed by China already has a Filipino community and has been under Philippine control, being part of the town of Kalayaan in Palawan province," Reyes added.

On Tuesday, Hong Lei, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, told a press briefing in Beijing that China "opposes any illegal activity that may infringe on China's claimed sovereignty in the old sultanate of Sulu"

Manila "should refrain from making any measures that will complicate and exacerbate the current situation and affect peace and stability in the South China Sea," Hong said.

He insisted that China had "indisputable sovereignty" over the Spratly chain of islands and its surrounding waters.

Hong expressed hope "relevant countries will abide by the spirit of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China," which was earlier entered into by Beijing and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

The Philippines and three other ASEAN member-states – Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei Darussalam – are among the Spratlys claimants, along with China and Taiwan.

Home to about 200 Filipinos, Pag-asa Island has been under the Philippine government's control since the 1970s, noted the DFA.

It has a town hall, a health center, an airstrip and a naval station, among other facilities.

Last week, the Kalayaan municipal government inaugurated the Pag-asa Elementary School, a school house built from an old multi-purpose hall using salvaged construction materials. The school held its first class on June 15, with only five kindergarten students. A Philippine flag fluttered in the breeze in the schoolyard.

The school hired one teacher from the mainland, getting her to agree to move her family to the island, which is about 285 nautical miles west of Palawan, or a boat trip that could exceed a full day, depending on the sea condition.

Mayor Bitoon earlier said "maybe in two months, we could open classes from Grade 1 to 3 if we can convince them to return to the island in time before the first grading period."

He said he was aware of the "problem of how children's schooling separated families. That's why; I thought it's high time for us to have a school house here."

Mayor Bito-on is requesting funding from the provincial government and the Department of Education to sustain the school's operation and build more classrooms in the future.

Patriotism in curriculum

Two party-list lawmakers on Wednesday also vowed to support the school, which used to be the old multipurpose hall in the area. The school has two new classrooms.

"Building a school within our territory cannot in any way undermine China's sovereignty… The Philippine government has all the right to make use of its own territory especially to provide social services to its people," Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello said in a statement.

Bello, who visited the disputed territory last year, said China cannot interfere with the Philippine government's duty to provide its citizens with education and infrastructure.

"It's already bad that China is infringing on our sovereignty with its unimpeded incursions. Now it is virtually telling us where we can and cannot implement infrastructure projects within our territory. It is absurd and boorish," he said.

ACT Teachers' party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio, for his part, pledged assistance to the school by sending teaching materials and school supplies to the area.

"This would be a tremendous help in advancing the education of the children in the disputed territory," he said in a separate statement.

He added that more students on the remote island, which lies 527 kilometers west of the Palawan mainland, can now have access to education. Most of the residents there are soldiers stationed on the island to protect the country's claim in the Spratlys.

"The families of students also would not have to be separated so that their children can go to school," he said.

Tinio likewise proposed that lessons on patriotism be included in the school's curriculum.

"The values of patriotism and love of country should be inculcated to the students considering that their homes and school stand in a contested area," he said.

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FATF Blacklists Ecuador, Yemen, Vietnam, Upgrades Philippines

By Samuel Rubenfeld

The Financial Action Task Force said Friday (June 22, 2012) it added Ecuador, Yemen and Vietnam to its list of countries that haven't made sufficient progress in tackling money laundering and terrorist financing.

The three countries were slapped with a label saying they either didn't address deficiencies in fighting money laundering and terrorism finance, or that they didn't commit to an action plan with the FATF to deal with the issues.

"The FATF calls on its members to consider the risks arising from the deficiencies associated with each jurisdiction," it said in a statement.

Ecuador, Yemen and Vietnam have each, the FATF said, taken some steps toward fixing the problem, though none of them have done enough to prevent the blacklisting.

Countries that fail to implement FATF's recommendations run the risk of being labeled as high-risk or uncooperative jurisdictions, thereby making it even more costly and difficult for those nations to do business with the banking systems of FATF members. The FATF's members include the U.S., Mexico, France and the U.K.

The FATF's last plenary was in February, when it updated its recommendations to include tax evasion and smuggling as "predicate offenses" to money laundering. It met last week in Rome.

Turkmenistan was cited as having "largely met its commitments" under the action plan, and is therefore no longer subject to monitoring by the FATF, it said.

In addition, the FATF added Afghanistan, Albania, Kuwait and the Philippines to its list of countries seen as countries making progress toward implementing plans to fight terrorism finance and money laundering.

The countries on the so-called "gray list" have strategic deficiencies in their systems for fighting the issues, but they have committed to action plans and are making progress in dealing with them.

The Philippines is by far the most notable in the list, because it was identified in February after the last FATF plenary session as not having made sufficient progress, putting it on a so-called "dark gray" list.

This month, the Philippines enacted an amendment to its money laundering law and a law to combat the financing of terrorism, both of which were lauded by the FATF on Friday. It "strongly encourages" the country to pass another pending change to the country's money-laundering law.

The FATF's announcement Friday upgraded the Philippines from the "dark gray" list to the "gray list." More coverage of the Philippines is available here, here and here.

Calling the announcement "positive news…particularly for our overseas workers and our economy," the country's Anti-Money Laundering Council said in a statement that the pending legislation would expand the definition of money laundering under Philippine law and increase the predicate crimes to include bribery, human trafficking, tax evasion and environmental crime.

"The Philippines will continue to contribute and support the global efforts against money laundering and terrorist financing in keeping with its commitment to good governance and upholding peace and order," the statement said. 

Wall Street Journal 

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Philippines bests India in call centers

Aegis PeopleSupport workers at their workstations inside the company's offices in Makati City, near Manila, Philippines, Nov. 11, 2011. Many companies have moved their customer service lines to Manila to take advantage of workers who speak American English and are familiar with American culture. Photo: Jes Aznar, New York Times.

Filipino accents and knowledge of America are a big competitive advantage.

It's midnight in Manila, and the capital is slowly waking up to the start of another working day. At the Worldwide Corporate Center office block, thousands of young Filipinos are crowding into endless open-plan offices. Once seated, they quickly start answering the questions and calming the frustrations of vexed American consumers beginning their own day on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

These Filipinos are call-center workers. To outsiders it is hardly a glamorous profession, yet -- despite the antisocial hours -- these men and women have every reason to be as well-motivated and cheerful as they seem. They are well-paid and know that they work at the heart of their country's most dynamic industry.

The rise of what is known as business-process outsourcing (BPO) in the Philippines has been nothing short of phenomenal. The very first calls weren't taken until 1997, but today the sector employs 638,000 people and enjoys revenues of $11 billion, about 5 percent of the country's GDP.

Last year the Philippines even overtook India, long the biggest call-center operator in the world, in "voice-related services." The country now employs about 400,000 people at call centers, India only 350,000.

The Southeast Asian upstart, with a population of 101 million, is unlikely ever to surpass the Indian behemoth of 1.2 billion people across the entire range of outsourcing offerings, which also include all kinds of information-technology services.

Growth expected to explode

Yet, given its extraordinary growth so far, it is hard to ignore the Philippines' projection that its BPO industry could add another 700,000 jobs by 2016 and generate revenue of $25 billion. At that point the industry would make up a tenth of the country's GDP.

As in the call-center business so far, some of these new jobs will come at the expense of India. However, India's relationship with the Philippines in back-office work is more complex than the numbers suggest.

The main reason for the success of the Philippine call centers is that workers speak English with a neutral accent and are familiar with American idioms, which is exactly what their American customers want. Of these, many have taken to complaining bitterly about Indian accents, which no amount of "voice neutralization" coaching seems to have overcome. As a result, some Indian firms have been helping to move jobs to the Philippines by setting up call centers in Manila and other parts of the country.

Infosys and Wipro, as well as scores of other Indian firms, now have substantial operations there. And they aren't drawn to Manila by cheap labor: Wages in the Philippines are slightly higher than in India, since the Filipino accent commands a premium.

It also helps that the country has a big pool of well-educated workers. The million or so Filipinos who graduate every year have few other options to choose from, besides emigrating. Working in a call center is considered a middle-class job: New recruits start at $470 a month.

The big question is whether the Philippine BPO industry, having conquered the call-center market, can now move up the value chain. To keep growing rapidly, and profitably, it needs to capture some of the more sophisticated back-office jobs, such as those processing insurance claims and conducting due diligence. In these businesses, called knowledge-process outsourcing and legal-process outsourcing, India still rules supreme.

Integreon offers a glimpse of what the future may hold. The firm occupies only a few discreet, very secure offices. It employs 300 people in Manila, 40 of them lawyers who help multinational law firms with litigation. Familiarity with America helps.

"It makes it very easy for us to do legal research for American firms," says Benjamin Romualdez, the firm's country manager.

This sort of operation is new in Manila, but Romualdez expects that he can find the skilled workers to double his workforce in the next five years. Western banks also have discovered the Philippines. JPMorgan Chase now has more than 25,000 workers on its payroll in the country, many of whom do much more than answering phones.

In short, the Philippines is set to compete with India across the BPO board.

StarTribune 

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