ACT Party-list’s ‘pork’ to fund school on Pag-asa island Spratly

PAG-ASA CLASS OF 2012 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 Philippine Sea island on June 15. AP/OFFICE OF KALAYAAN MUNICIPAL MAYOR

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) party-list group will use the second tranche of its Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), more popularly referred to as pork barrel, this year to construct a two-story six-classroom elementary school building on Pag-asa, the largest island in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) occupied by the Philippines.

ACT Rep. Antonio Tinio said the project was proposed by the local government led by Kalayaan Mayor Eugenio B. Bito-onon Jr. In his proposal, Bito-onon raised the need to address the Pag-asa children's right to education after 34 years.

The school will stand on a one-hectare property provided by the local government. Initial estimates by the municipal engineer set Phase 1 at P4.3 million.

"A school standing on Pag-asa is an earnest affirmation of Philippine sovereignty in the Spratly group of islands—the provision for education, a basic social service," Tinio said.

"This school will guarantee that the hope of Pag-asa's children for a better future is secure," he added.

Tinio urged Malacañang to do the same for similarly disadvantaged schools in other areas nationwide.

Several lawmakers have called on the national government to strengthen its territorial claim on the disputed Spratlys by fortifying existing structures on the island chain.

Pag-asa Island is part of Kalayaan town in Palawan. Home to about 200 Filipinos, the island has been under the Philippine government's control since the 1970s. It has a town hall, a health center, an airstrip and a naval station, among other facilities.

Last week, China warned the Philippines against operating a public kindergarten on Pag-asa.

Hong Lei, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson in Beijing, said that China "opposes any illegal activity that may infringe on China's sovereignty."

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

Last week, the Kalayaan municipal government inaugurated a public kindergarten.

The school was inaugurated without fanfare on June 15 with five students, their parents and a teacher. A Philippine flag stood in the schoolyard.

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

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Filipinos in USA boycott Chinese products – Continue Worldwide

Loida Nicolas-Lewis, chair of the US Pinoys for Good Governance (USP4GG), in a protest rally in June against Chinese attempts to dominate the South China Sea, including territories historically and geographically belonging to the Philippines. Photo by ELTON LUGAY/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

A group of Filipinos based in the United States, who led a worldwide day of protest against China in May, is spearheading a continuous boycott of Chinese products.

Loida Nicolas-Lewis, chair of the US Pinoys for Good Governance (USP4GG), said the group's move to stop using all kinds of Chinese products was a way of matching China's diplomatic and military arrogance in claiming Panatag Shoal and the Kalayaan Group of Islands in the West Philippine Sea.

The USP4GG is an umbrella organization of professional Filipinos with a membership of thousands.

"The 'Boycott China Products Initiative' will not be limited to Filipinos. This campaign will be carried out worldwide," Lewis said in a press conference.

Immigration lawyer Ted Laguatan, the group's spokesperson, said he expected the campaign to go viral.

"We hope to achieve the level of response and outrage that was generated when the Americans found out that the US Olympic team's uniforms for the London 2012 Olympics were made in China, despite being designed by Ralph Lauren, who is a distinctively American designer," Laguatan said.

Laguatan further said that China's claim to the Kalayaan Group of Islands and Panatag Shoal, which are within the Philippines' 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone, should not be taken seriously.

"As a basis of their claim, they are using a 2,000-year-old map produced during the Han Dynasty which showed that all the territory covered by the waters of the South China Sea belonged to China.

"The argument is about as valid as Italy claiming that the whole of Europe and parts of Africa and Asia are theirs because it was once a part of the Roman Empire, or Macedonia claiming also most of Europe and Africa because it was once part of the Alexandrian Empire," Laguatan said.

"It is no wonder China does not want the United Nations' International Tribunal on the Laws of the Sea to settle the issue regarding its claim. They know the ridiculous argument will fail," he added.

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Cambodia a Pro-China Might be KICK-OUT from ASEAN over BIAS Summit

45 Years Association of Southeast Asia Nation (ASEAN) is founded by the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand on August 8, 1967 signed in Ministry of Foreign affairs in Bangkok, Thailand.

ASEAN is a geo-political economic organization to promote the rights of every member to lead its national existence free from external interference, subversion or coercion, Effective cooperation between members, justice, equality, freedom and integrity in ASEAN countries.

Cambodia an adopted member of ASEAN is entitled of a rotation chairmanship as ASEAN member but during the recent summit for the existence of ASEAN for 45 years, Cambodia is showing it's less capability to promote justice, and lost its integrity to favor a country which is not an ASEAN member for a return of economic favor. This summit is hinted with a massive corruption of Cambodia and embarrassment to the world. 

Cambodia might face sanction from ASEAN members or might be kickout from ASEAN bloc for its violation and betrayal to other ASEAN member and founder of the organization

Philippines, one of the founder of ASEAN is disappointed of the bias Cambodia..

Despite its disappointment over the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' failure to reach an accord on handling disputes in the West Philippine Sea, the Philippines is not keen on cutting ties with ASEAN chair Cambodia.

But deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said Malacañang is leaving to the Department of Foreign Affairs on what the Philippines' next action will be.

"We share the disappointment of the other foreign ministers. We have seen statements from different foreign ministers that attended the meeting in Cambodia. I think in 45 years this is the first time this happened, a communiqué was not issued despite the fact that Asean had dealt with contentious issues in the past," Valte said on government-run dzRB radio.

She said this has prompted the Philippines to consider its options, but deferred further comment on the matter to the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Asked if the Philippines should reconsider its ties with Cambodia amid perceptions it is "pro-China," Valte indicated this is a remote possibility.

"There are things that can still be hammered out without going down that road," she said.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario addresses the media during a press conference in suburban Pasay City, south of Manila, Philippines, after his return from the ASEAN Regional Forum in Cambodia on Friday, July 13, 2012

When asked if President Benigno Aquino III will attend the upcoming ASEAN summit this November, she said he has not indicated he would back out of it.

"Wala siyang sinabing anything to the contrary, that he will not (Aquino has not indicated he will back out of attending the summit)," she said.

On the other hand, Valte said the Philippines will respect China's claim that the ASEAN summit was productive.

"We will respect that assessment in the same way we have our own assessment," she said.

The ASEAN, with Cambodia holding the rotating chairmanship, on Friday (July 13, 2012) failed to reach consensus on handling disputes in the South China Sea.

Cambodia had rejected a compromise on the wording of a joint communiqué, amid China's assertiveness in the disputed waters.

But China said the foreign ministers' talks at the ASEAN summit had been "productive."

The DFA had deplored the non-issuance of a communiqué at the 45th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting, saying it was "unprecedented in ASEAN's 45 year of existence."

In a statement, the DFA also said the Philippines "takes strong exception" to the statement made by the Chair of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting that this will be "the first time that ASEAN is not able to issue the Joint Communiqué due to bilateral conflict between some ASEAN Member States and a neighboring country."

Also, the DFA said the competing claims in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) involve four ASEAN member states – the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei – and so this dispute is not a mere bilateral conflict with a northern neighbor but a multilateral one.

Does Cambodia's chairmanship for ASEAN Bloc is justified? 

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