News Roundup 27 June 2020
Jun 27, 2020 • 3 min Read
ASEAN takes position vs China’s vast historical sea claims | INQUIRER.NET – Southeast Asian leaders said a 1982 U.N. oceans treaty should be the basis of sovereign rights and entitlements in the South China Sea, in one of their strongest remarks opposing China’s claim to virtually the entire disputed waters on historical grounds. The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) took the position in a statement issued by Vietnam Saturday on behalf of the 10-nation bloc. ASEAN leaders held their annual summit by video on Friday, with the coronavirus pandemic and the long-raging territorial disputes high on the agenda. “We reaffirmed that the 1982 UNCLOS is the basis for determining maritime entitlements, sovereign rights, jurisdiction, and legitimate interests over maritime zones,” the ASEAN statement said. The leaders were referring to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a 1982 international agreement that defines the rights of nations to the world’s oceans and demarcates stretches of waters called exclusive economic zones where coastal states are given the right to exclusively tap fishery and fuel resources. They said in their statement that “UNCLOS sets out the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out.”
COVID-19 infections in Philippines near 35,000 with 738 new cases | PHILSTAR.COM – The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) tally in the Philippines has reached 34,803 after the Department of Health on Saturday reported 738 more cases. The death toll has reached 1,236 as the Health department confirmed 12 more patients who succumbed to the coronavirus. Meanwhile, an additional 249 survivors brought the COVID-19 recovery count to 9,430.
Keeping jeepneys off the streets will keep drivers jobless – Binay | Manila Bulletin – A government plan to phase out traditional jeepneys while the country is experiencing difficulties caused by the deadly coronavirus disease (COVID-19) comes at the wrong time. Senator Maria Lourdes Nancy S. Binay, chairwoman of the Senate tourism committee, expressed this sentiment as the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) have yet to make a definitive position on when traditional jeepneys would be allowed to resume their routes after more than three months of lockdown. Binay recalled that during a Senate public hearing last year, the DOTr stated that it would no longer allow jeepneys to ply the streets this year. Interviewed by DWIZ radio, Binay expressed fears that keeping these traditional jeepneys off the streets would trigger joblessness from the ranks of jeepney drivers because they find as costly the modern jeepneys being offered as replacement for their units, some of which are already very old and decrepit.
Robredo on Pride Month: Keep on pushing | The Manila Times – “Push lang nang push, mga besh (Keep on pushing, best friends)!” This was the message of Vice President Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo to members of the LGBTQIA+ in celebration of Pride Month as she encouraged them to continue fighting for equal rights. LGBTQIA+ refers to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, genderqueer, queer, intersexed, agender, asexual and ally community “Sa ating pagbuo ng isang post-Covid-19 na mundo, huwag sana kayong panghinaan ng loob; makilahok, makiisa, at huwag magsawang rumampa (As we build a post-Covid-19 world, I hope you will not lose hope; take part, unite, and don’t get tired of strutting on the runway),” she said. Robredo said time would come when “we look back to everything and we will say everything was worth the effort. Everything was worth the sacrifice. Everything was worth the fight.” The vice president recognized the decades-long efforts of the LGBTQIA+ community that has been “tirelessly fighting for equal rights and representation at the frontlines.”
