News Roundup 14 May 2021
May 14, 2021 • 4 min Read
COVID-19 cases in the Philippines hit 1,131,467 | PHILSTAR.COM – Health authorities on Friday recorded 6,784 additional coronavirus infections, bringing the national caseload to 1,131,467.
- Active cases: 58,986 or 5.2% of the total
- Recoveries: 2,972, pushing total to 1,053,523
- Deaths: 137, bringing total to 18,958
Carpio creates online petition urging Duterte to retract West Philippine Sea statements | PHILSTAR.COM – President Rodrigo Duterte should retract his unconstitutional statements on the West Philippine Sea, retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said as he urged Filipinos to demand the same. In a Change.org petition that has garnered close to 800 signatures as of this writing, Carpio called on Duterte to rescind the following statements:
- The July 12, 2016 Arbitral Award is just a scrap of paper that deserves to be thrown to the wastebasket
- The Chinese fishermen can fish in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in the West Philippine Sea
- China is in possession of the West Philippine Sea
“These statements are contrary to the Constitution, waive our sovereign rights under the Arbitral Award and even concede to China possession of the West Philippine Sea when in fact China is not physically and legally in possession of the West Philippine Sea,” Carpio said. This comes after the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea on Wednesday flagged the presence of 287 Chinese maritime militia ships near the Municipality of Kalayaan in Palawan, both within and outside the Philippine exclusive economic zone. Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Thursday ordered another round of diplomatic protests in response to the report. The ships were spotted less than two months after the task force first reported the presence of 220 Chinese ships at Julian Felipe Reef. In a pretaped address aired Friday, Duterte in response to the new development said Philippine ships “will not move an inch backward.” But he again derided the arbitral ruling that invalidated China’s expansive nine-dash line claim as “just a piece of paper.” The president also belittled the United Nations, something he does often, calling the organization useless. Duterte further reiterated his “utang na loob” or indebtedness to China and his refusal to go to war with the regional power over its outized presence in the West Philippine Sea. Critics of government policy in the West Philippine Sea, including Carpio, have stressed that war is not the only way to assert sovereignty in Philippine waters.
Petitioners seek to strike out Esperon’s testimony during SC hearing on terror law | INQUIRER.NET – Anti-terror law petitioners on Friday asked the Supreme Court to expunge from its records the testimony of National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr. during the oral arguments last May 12. In a Joint Omnibus Motion, petitioners also asked the high court to cancel Esperon’s appearance at the continuation of the oral arguments on the constitutionality of Republic Act No. 11479, known as the Anti Terrorism Act of 2020, on May 17. The high court is currently hearing the numerous petitions questioning the constitutionality of the law, which shall be administered by the Anti-Terrorism Council, the body tasked to draft the guidelines and formulate measures and programs to suppress terrorism in the country, of which Esperon is a member. Esperon, during his court appearance, testified that Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison, in 1987, had named the 18 progressive groups allied with the communist movement under the supposed National Democratic Revolution. Part of his testimony was a two-minute video where Sison supposedly identified these so-called allied organizations. Central to the petitioners’ objection was that Esperon had testified even without being sworn, while the two videos that he played had not been properly authenticated. “Petitioners submit that respondent Esperon’s statements and so-called evidence should be stricken off the record because they are not responsive to the questions posed,” read the petitioners’ omnibus motion.
Ex-DFA chief Del Rosario to Duterte: Don’t blame 2012 Scarborough Shoal episode on Filipinos | Manila Bulletin – Former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario debunked continuing allegations from the Duterte administration that he should be held accountable for allowing the Philippine Navy ship to withdraw from Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal during the 2012 standoff. In a statement, Del Rosario explained that as foreign affairs secretary, his mandate was in the conduct of diplomacy and foreign relations and his position was “not part” of the chain of command that is present in the military, the Navy and the Coast Guard. “Thus, in the 2012 Scarborough Standoff, the Secretary of Foreign Affairs has no authority to order the withdrawal of ships from Scarborough Shoal,” he said. What is more important, according to the former top diplomat, is no Filipino is to blame for having the word of honor in following the United States-brokered agreement for the two sides to withdraw and peacefully leave the Scarborough Shoal. He recalled the Philippines withdrew one or two of its ships from Scarborough Shoal while China deceitfully breached the United States-brokered agreement by not withdrawing their more than 30 ships.
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