News Roundup 12 May 2021
May 12, 2021 • 4 min Read
Active COVID-19 cases hit 53,214 after Philippines logs 4,842 new infections | PHILSTAR.COM – Local health authorities on Wednesday recorded 4,842 additional coronavirus infections, bringing the national caseload to 1,118,359.
- Active cases: 53,214 or 4.8% of the total
- Recoveries: 8,312, pushing total to 1,046,431
- Deaths: 94, bringing total to 18,714
Jet ski boast was pledge to assert sovereignty in West Philippine Sea — analysts | PHILSTAR.COM – The fisherman on the receiving end of President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign boast that he would jet ski to the West Philippine Sea on Wednesday acknowledged being hurt that the remarks have since been dismissed by the chief executive as “a joke” and those who believed it as “stupid.” But legal and political analyst Tony La Viña told Philstar.com that while the jet ski comment was “clearly” a hyperbole, it was also a “[promise] to defend our national territory with all the powers of the presidency.” “Our feelings were hurt by what [Duterte] said, we were hoping he would do it,” Carlo Montehermozo, the fisherman from Dagupan who came face to face with then-candidate Duterte in 2016, told DZMM Teleradyo in an interview in Filipino. “It hurts. He made a promise, then he didn’t keep it … I’m not a stupid person,” he said. While he voted for Duterte later that year, hoping that he would help as promised, Montehermozo said he now believes that his presidency has been a “joke.” For La Viña, a former dean of the Ateneo School of Government, the disappointment is not over Duterte’s exaggerated manner of speaking but the “serious message” underlying it. “Nobody, including the fisherman, expected him to jet ski to the West Philippine Sea. But we expected him to strongly resist China’s incursions and attacks on our national territory,” he said over a text exchange. “That is why the fisherman is hurt and all of us are.” Michael Yusingco, a senior research fellow at the Ateneo Policy Center, told Philstar.com that Duterte’s confusing rhetoric “violates the constitutional prescription that public office is a public trust.” “Filipinos should be able to see their public officials, most especially the president, as a paragon of honesty and integrity,” he said. This means, Yusingco added, that “citizens should be able to trust every utterance coming out of the mouths of these public officials.” The “flippancy” displayed by Duterte, Yusingco said, actually “betrays a lack of serious understanding about the WPS issue, at the very least.”
Pangilinan: Is Roque getting his salary from China? | INQUIRER.NET – Is presidential spokesperson Harry Roque getting his salary from China? Senator Francis Pangilinan raised this question on Wednesday after President Rodrigo Duterte’s official mouthpiece asserted that Julian Felipe (Whitsun) Reef had “never” been in the possession of the Philippines and is not within the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). But the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has clearly debunked Roque’s claim and maintained that Julian Felipe Reef is well within the EEZ of the Philippines. “Sa China ba sumasahod ng sweldo nya si Roque? Sa pagtatalo ng mga myembro ng Cabinet, walang in-charge ang ibig sabihin nito,” Pangilinan said in a text message. (Is Roque getting his salary from China? Conflicting pronouncement of Cabinet members only means no one is in charge.) On Tuesday, Roque downplayed the parking of hundreds of Chinese vessels around Julian Felipe Reef and said the matter was merely being “bloated.”
PH officials’ inconsistent statements on West PH Sea to benefit China – maritime expert | Manila Bulletin – The Philippine government officials’ inconsistent statements in the country’s stand on the territorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea will benefit China and other countries in the future, a maritime expert said on Wednesday, May 12. Professor Jay Batongbacal, director of the UP Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, said the contradicting statements by the Philippine officials can be used as “declaration against interest” in the country’s claims in the disputed areas. “Over the long run yung inconsistency sa statement at position gagamitin po yan (it will use) against us that is evidence that will be used against us. Ang tawag po dyan ay (It is called as) declaration against interest. So baka sabihin nila na (They will say) it is proof na in the first place hindi naman talaga sigurado ang Pilipinas kung ano ang sa kanya (the Philippines is not really sure what belongs to it),” Batongbacal said in an interview over Super Radyo dzBB. Batongbacal said these contradicting pronouncements from the officials will give China an upper hand on the case if it will be settled in the future. He then urged government officials to be consistent on the country’s statements in the West Philippines Sea to strengthen its claims in the disputed areas. “Kaya nga po mahalaga na kelangan pong consistent tayo sa position natin na ‘yan kasi in the future kung sakaling mag-uusap ang mga bansa na pag-desisyon na lang sa korte ang titigann po nila is yung statement niyo at yung action niyo sa lugar na ‘yan at base po sa past actions and statements (That is why it is important that we need to be consistent in our position, because in the future, if the countries talk about making a decision in court, they will only look at our statements and action in that area, which was also based on our past actions and statements),” he added.
