News Roundup 15 February 2024
Feb 15, 2024 • 4 min Read
PH urged to invoke High Seas Treaty for West PH Sea protection | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — The country should invoke the new international accord known as the ‘High Seas Treaty’ to protect its interest in the West Philippine Sea, an expert said on Thursday.
Speaking before a Stratbase ADR forum in Makati City, Mary Kristerie Baleva, who is the Asean Center for Biodiversity’s Director for International Affairs and Treaties, said the Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations could leverage the agreement to advance its interests in the South China Sea.
“The synergies among multilateral environmental agreements are gaining traction, providing legal, diplomatic, and political pathways to address biodiversity issues beyond national borders,” Baleva said during the forum.
“Leveraging multilateral environmental agreements offers a promising avenue for the Philippines and other Asean states,” she added.
Parts of the South China Sea on the western section of Manila’s exclusive economic zone are locally referred to as the West Philippine Sea
For his part, Tohoku University International Law Professor Nishimoto Kentaro said the High Seas Treaty serves as an additional legal instrument that supports the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).
Full Story at: PH urged to invoke High Seas Treaty for West PH Sea protection | Inquirer News
Batanes residents urged to enlist as Army reservists | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — Residents of Batanes are encouraged to become Army reservists as the government plans to bolster the military capability of the island province, the nearest Philippine territory to Taiwan.
Philippine Army chief Lt. Gen. Roy Galido said such a call was in line with Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.’s order to increase military presence and develop military structures in Batanes.
“We’re not planning to deploy. We are encouraging our fellow Filipinos [in Batanes] to volunteer, to be [a] patriot and be a reservist,” he said in a press conference at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City on Thursday.
“We don’t need to deploy them because they are already residents in the area,” he added.
Galido wants to tap the eligible men and women of Batanes, which has a population of 18,831 as of 2020, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.
Full Story at: Batanes residents urged to enlist as Army reservists | Inquirer News
Senate OK’d AKAP fund – lawmakers | PHILSTAR.COM – Zubiri, Romualdez agree on ceasefire; Imee sets probe
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Imee Marcos knew about the P26.7 billion allocated for the Ayuda sa Kapos ang Kita program (AKAP) under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) as she signed the bicameral conference committee report when the Senate approved the 2024 national budget.
This was the assertion of members of the House of Representatives yesterday in defense of Speaker Martin Romualdez amid accusations that the cash assistance program for the “near-poor” was at his beck and call.
Senior House Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. showed Congress reporters a copy of the page where the senator affixed her signature in the bicameral conference report containing funds for AKAP.
“AKAP is part of the 2024 national budget. The Senate gave its stamp of approval when it passed the then proposed P5.768-trillion outlay for this year in plenary last Nov. 28,” Gonzales recalled.
Media reports showed 21 senators voted “yes” in the plenary for the national budget, with one abstention and no negative vote.
Marcos, who defended the DSWD budget for 2024 in the Senate, said she did not notice the item as she pointed out that her signature on the document was electronic, and there was no proper discussion about AKAP during the bicameral conference.
She said she would set a separate probe on the issue.
Gonzales said the Senate ratified the bicameral conference report on the budget, which was signed by committee members led by finance panel chairman Sen. Sonny Angara and his counterpart, House appropriations committee chairman and Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Zaldy Co.
Reps. Geraldine Roman of Bataan, Raul Angelo Bongalon of Ako Bicol and Rodge Gutierrez of 1-Rider party-list appealed to Marcos to stop maligning the Speaker and “putting political color” into the project, whose implementation will be carried out by the executive, and not legislative, department.
Full Story at: Senate OK’d AKAP fund – lawmakers | Philstar.com
Davao de Oro landslide death toll rises to 90 | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — The death toll from a massive landslide that hit a gold-mining village in Davao de Oro has climbed to 90, the local government reported Thursday.
Lea Añora, a member of Maco municipal government’s “Management of the Dead and the Missing” unit, said the figure includes “complete bodies and body parts.”
Thirty-seven individuals were still missing.
The landslide triggered by relentless downpour buried a bus terminal for employees of Apex Mining Co and nearby houses last week.
According to a separate report by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the floods and landslides caused by heavy rain affected more than 1.5 million people in Mindanao. Of those, 312,422 individuals were displaced from their homes.
Full Story at: Davao de Oro landslide death toll rises to 90 | Philstar.com
