News Roundup 28 March 2024
Mar 28, 2024 • 5 min Read
Marcos: Philippines won’t be ‘cowed into silence, submission’ by China | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Thursday the Philippines will not be bullied into silence as he vowed actions to counter China’s aggressive behavior in the West Philippine Sea.
“We seek no conflict with any nation, more so nations that purport and claim to be our friends but we will not be cowed into silence, submission, or subservience. Filipinos do not yield,” Marcos said.
The president issued the statement after the China Coast Guard (CCG) once again blocked and fired water cannons at a Filipino supply vessel last Saturday, damaging the vessel and injuring three soldiers.
Marcos said the government will implement a “response and countermeasure package that is proportionate, deliberate, and reasonable in the face of the open, unabating, and illegal, coercive, aggressive, and dangerous attacks by agents of the China Coast Guard and the Chinese maritime militia.”
Marcos added that he has been in “constant communication” with international allies and partners who offered to help the Philippines in protecting and securing its sovereign rights and jurisdiction while ensuring peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.
“I have given them our requirements and we have been assured that they will be addressed,” he said.
United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin III once again reaffirmed Washington’s “ironclad” commitment to Manila in a phone call with Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro on Wednesday.
Full Story at: Marcos: Philippines won’t be ‘cowed into silence, submission’ by China | Philstar.com
FOCAP condemns Chinese embassy’s claims on ‘manipulated’ West Philippine Sea videos | PHILSTAR.COM – MANILA, Philippines — The Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) strongly rejected and condemned yesterday China’s “false and baseless” claims that journalists manipulate videosthey recorded in the South China Sea to present the Philippines as a victim.
“In line with this, the association strongly rejects and condemns the false, baseless claims by the Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying and the Chinese embassy in Manila that journalists ‘manipulate the videos they recorded’ in South China Sea to ‘project the Philippines a victim’,” FOCAP said in a statement.
“FOCAP takes deep offense at the insinuation that the press is a ‘troublemaker’ and in cahoots with the government to forward a political agenda,” the association said.
Members of FOCAP include both Filipinos and foreign nationals from around the world, some of whom have embedded in Philippine missions.
Hua and the Chinese embassy’s claim that the Philippines had journalists manipulate their footage is a “barefaced lie,” FOCAP said.
FOCAP, as part of the larger tradition of the free peers in the Philippines, has demonstrated its credibility in covering both domestic and geopolitical conflicts since its founding in 1974.
“A free and independent press reports not what they are told, but what they observe, framed by historical and political context,” it said.
The footage seen in the press is vetted by multiple sources and newsrooms.
Full Story at: FOCAP condemns Chinese embassy’s claims on ‘manipulated’ West Philippine Sea videos | Philstar.com
2 activists ‘traumatized’ after abduction, says group | INQUIRER.NET – DAGUPAN CITY — The two environmental activists, who were reportedly abducted on March 24, were confirmed to have surfaced, but the police said their families refused requests for talks with the victims as the two men were“still exhausted and under the stage of trauma.”
Francisco “Eco” Dangla III of Lingayen and Joelle “Jak” Tiong sought refuge at the Lingayen-Dagupan archdiocese on Wednesday, but it was not clear if the two were released by their captors or were able to escape from their abductors.
“We do not know [what happened] because they don’t want to cooperate. In spite of that, the [police] will still continue our investigation to ferret out the truth about the reported incident,” Colonel Jeff Fanged, Pangasinan provincial police director, said in a message to the Inquirer.
A police report sent by Fanged said Dangla was still in the custody of the church, while Tiong was already with his family.
Fanged said around 11 a.m. on Wednesday, March 27, the police of San Carlos City, where the two were abducted, received a call from a lawyer saying that Dangla and Tiong were at the St. John Cathedral Church in Dagupan City.
The San Carlos City police immediately went to the church to talk about the circumstances surrounding the men’s disappearance, but their families denied the request.
A sister of Dangla just asked the police to put on record that the two victims were “both in good physical and mental condition.”
In a statement, the progressive Bayan Gitnang Luzon said they were relieved that after three days of persistent and tireless efforts and searches in camps, Dangla and Tiong were no longer in the hands of their abductors.
Full Story at: 2 activists traumatized after abduction, says group (inquirer.net)
Akbayan hits back: Sara need not be president to speak vs China | INQUIRER.NET – MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte does not have to be president of the country for her to call out China’s intrusive actions over the West Philippine Sea (WPS), party-list group Akbayan said on Thursday.
Akbayan party president Rafaela David, responding to statements from Duterte’s brother, Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte, said that empathy and a moral backbone are just what it takes to stand up with fishermen and frontline workers enduring China’s actions in the region.
“Perhaps the congressman needs a reminder: VP Sara doesn’t need to become the president and chief architect of our foreign policy, or even “demonize” China to show solidarity with our frontliners and fisherfolk in the West Philippine Sea,” David said in a statement.
“All that is required is a modicum of empathy and a pinch of moral backbone – qualities one might hope for from the second-highest leader in the country,” she added.
If Vice President Duterte thinks it is not her job to protect and defend Filipinos, David suggested that she resign from her post.
Full Story at: Akbayan: Sara doesn’t need to be president to speak vs China (inquirer.net)
