News Roundup 07 August 2024
Aug 07, 2024 • 5 min Read
China launches air, sea patrols near flashpoint reef as US holds joint drills | PHILSTAR.COM – BEIJING, China — China carried out a combat patrol to test “strike capabilities” near a flashpoint reef in the South China Sea on Wednesday, as the United States and its allies held joint military drills in the same waters.
Tensions in the disputed waterway have spiked following a series of escalating confrontations between Chinese and Philippine vessels that have fanned fears of a wider conflict that could draw in the United States due to its mutual defence treaty with Manila.
Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, brushing off rival claims of several Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines, and an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
Its claims include the waters around Scarborough Shoal — which Beijing seized from Manila in 2012 — where the Chinese military’s Southern Theater Command said Wednesday it had held joint sea and air patrols.
The triangular chain of reefs and rocks is 240 kilometres (150 miles) west of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon and nearly 900 kilometres from the nearest major Chinese land mass of Hainan.
Beijing said the manoeuvres tested “the reconnaissance and early warning, rapid mobility, and joint strike capabilities of theatre troops”.
The announcement came as the Philippines on Wednesday launched two days of sea and air exercises with the United States, Canada and Australia.
The Philippine military said those drills were taking place west of the Philippine island of Palawan, which is south of Scarborough Shoal and the nearest major landmass to the also-contested Spratly Islands.
Full Story at: China launches air, sea patrols near flashpoint reef as US holds joint drills | Philstar.com
Trillanes files plunder case vs Duterte, Go over P16-B frigate deal | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV has once again filed graft and plunder charges against former president Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Bong Go.
This time, the lawsuit includes several former officials of the Department of National Defense over the allegedly anomalous P16 billion frigate acquisition project.
The 50-page complaint, filed before the Department of Justice on Wednesday, claims that the supposed “modern frigates or state-of-the-art warships” were downgraded into ordinary naval ships due to the “manipulation” of Duterte, Go and the Presidential Management Staff.
The frigate acquisition project is part of the Horizon 1 phase of the armed forces’ modernization program, which ran from 2013 to 2017. During this phase, the government allocated P75 billion for the purchase of two frigates for the Philippine Navy.
The complaint stems from the selection of the combat management system for the frigates, where the government was given a choice between the Hanwha system from Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries or the Tacticos Thales system from France.
According to Trillanes’ complaint, Duterte and Go, with the assistance of former Budget Usec. Christopher Lao, “actively interfered” during the execution of the subject contract agreement by favoring the Korea-based corporation, which is “cheaper,” “disadvantageous,” and “non-compliant” compared with the Tacticos Thales combat system preferred by the Philippine Navy.
Full Story at: Trillanes files plunder case vs Duterte, Bong Go over P16-B frigate deal | Philstar.com
Duterte, dela Rosa invited to House hearings on Pogos, drug trade links | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — Both former President Rodrigo Duterte and Senator Ronald dela Rosa would be invited to the hearings of the four House of Representatives committees on the interconnection between illegal activities surrounding Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) hubs and the drug trade.
The invitation for the two personalities was confirmed by the committee heads in a press briefing at the Batasang Pambansa complex on Wednesday. According to Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr., chair of the House committee on human rights, they will send another invite to Duterte so that he can defend himself from accusations.
Previously, an invite was sent to both Duterte and dela Rosa for the extrajudicial killings (EJK) probe on the past administration’s drug war, but they did not attend any of the hearings.
“We invited the former president to come, and he didn’t come. We will invite him again; the thing is, even the other committee would want to invite the former president because he alone can answer some questions,” Abante said.
“Yes, yes we are going to invite him (dela Rosa), definitely we will,” he added.
Full Story at: Duterte, dela Rosa invited to hearings on Pogos, drug trade links (inquirer.net)
400 AFP officers securing VP Duterte? That’s excessive, solon says | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — Having 400 military officers securing Vice President Sara Duterte is excessive, Santa Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez said on Wednesday.
Responding to questions about Duterte’s security, Fernandez in a press briefing at the Batasang Pambansa complex said that if the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) has 150,000 personnel and if the Philippines has over 7,600 islands, 2,000 of which are inhabited, only 75 soldiers can be assigned to each island.
However, having 400 soldiers under Duterte’s security detail reduces the number of personnel the AFP can deploy.
“With AFP, which stated that she (Duterte) has — I’m just not sure if this is confirmed that she has 400 AFP personnel securing her, but if it is, we will base it on analytical data and mathematical computation regarding the distribution of security […] since we have 150,000 AFP personnel, if you spread that to 2,000 islands, you will have 75 soldiers assigned to each island.
“If VP Sara has 400 soldiers assigned to her, and we have 75 soldiers per island, I think that is excessive and that is somehow irrational. Being a public official we must be prudent, right, to see the bigger budget of our government,” Fernandez said.
Furthermore, the lawmaker said Duterte should just be thankful that she gets a security detail of this number, as the AFP also has a lot of duties to fulfill.
Full Story at: 400 AFP officers securing VP Duterte? That’s excessive, solon says (inquirer.net)
