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(The Conversation) As part of a joint military exercise with the Philippines, the U.S. Navy is slated to sink a mock warship on April 26, 2023, in the South China Sea.

The live-fire drill is not a response to increased tensions with China over Taiwan, both the U.S. and the Philippines have stressed. But, either way, Beijing isn’t happy – responding by holding its own staged military event involving actual warships and fighter jets deployed around Taiwan, a self-governed island that Beijing claims as its own.

The tit-for-tat war games underscore a reality that U.S. presidents have increasingly had to contend with as the 21st century has drawn on. More than a century after President Theodore Roosevelt made the United States the preeminent maritime power in the Pacific, that position is under threat. China is seeking to displace it.

As a scholar of East Asian security and maritime disputes, I believe that the growing rivalry between the U.S. and China over dominance of the Pacific has the potential to define geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific region for the next half-century… Read More

(GMA News) The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) has amended several rules to authorize the donation of confiscated smuggled sugar to Kadiwa stores and allow its sale to the general public.

SRA Board Member Pablo Azcona said the agency’s governing body, the SRA Board, held a regular meeting on Tuesday to discuss issues concerning the industry.

“Another thing that was urgently taken up was amendments to some of the memorandum circulars of the SRA that will involve the seized sugar. How to treat the seized sugar because, in the SRA, the treatment is either for sale through bidding or destruction,” Azcona told reporters in a Zoom interview on Wednesday.

“We now amended it to allow donations to Kadiwa as well as the sale of these by Kadiwa,” he said.

The SRA Board Member said that a total of 4,000 metric tons of seized smuggled refined sugar is ready to be released for sale at Kadiwa stores, where it will be sold for P70 per kilo… Read More

(Epoc Ttimes New York) A Philippine senator has called for Beijing to recall its representative in Manila “as soon as possible” following his “threat” to the Philippines to oppose Taiwan’s independence. “How dare he threaten us,” Senator Risa Hontiveros said in a statement on April 16. “He, along with his country’s ships and artificial islands in the West Philippine Sea, should pack up and leave.”

Hontiveros referred to Chinese envoy Huang Xilian, who criticized the Philippines for granting the United States greater access to its military bases under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

Huang said the Philippines would “unequivocally oppose” Taiwan’s independence—instead of inflaming the situation by giving the U.S. access to bases—if it “genuinely cared” about the 150,000 Filipinos living in Taiwan.

“We will not renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all necessary measures. This is to guard against external interference and all separatist activities,” he said at a forum in Manila on April 16.

Huang compared the issue of Taiwan’s independence to rebel issues in Mindanao, Philippines, where government and insurgency conflicts had been raging for decades. He said Manila “will never allow any third party to meddle with resolving rebel issues in Mindanao.” Hontiveros said the Philippines respects the right of Taiwanese people to self-determination but would not meddle in the matter of the island’s independence… Read More

(Radio Free Asia) Albert del Rosario, the Philippines’ former top diplomat who successfully led the country in its international arbitration case over a territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea, died on Tuesday, his family said. He was 83.

The Philippine case was considered groundbreaking because it marked the first time that any country had challenged China in a world court over its territorial claims in the waterway.

His daughter, Dr. Inge del Rosario, confirmed the news to reporters, but did not disclose the cause of death. Other sources close to the family said the ex-foreign secretary died while on a flight to San Francisco.

“The family of Ambassador Albert Ferreros del Rosario is deeply saddened to announce his passing today, April 18, 2023. The family requests privacy during this difficult time,” his daughter said.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo confirmed the news.

He called del Rosario “an advocate of protecting and advancing national security and promoting the rights and welfare of Filipinos both in the Philippines and abroad.”.. Read More

(CNN Philippines) Metro Manila — The country’s police chief maintained there was no attempt to cover up the arrest of a police officer during a multibillion-peso drug bust, saying Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos may have been fed with “misinformation to cast doubt on the integrity” of the Philippine National Police (PNP).

“Contrary to what many of our critics say, let me also categorically say that there was no attempt to cover up or to exculpate Police Master Sergeant Rodolfo Mayo from his involvement in the illegal drug operations,” PNP chief Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said in a press briefing on Monday.

This was the first time Azurin publicly responded to Abalos’ allegations last week against several high-ranking police officials.

Azurin said that while he joins the Interior Secretary in his fight against erring police officers, it is important to have enough evidence to support one’s claims.

“It’s very unfair because we are accusing generals,” Azurin said. “Ano pong ebidensya natin? [What is our evidence?]”

“Let us show proof before we even accuse,” he added.

Presenting CCTV footage of the Oct. 8 anti-drug operation in Tondo, Abalos claimed that officials may have attempted to cover up the arrest of Mayo, an anti-narcotics officer, following the confiscation of ₱6.7-billion worth of shabu from his property… Read More

(Bulatlat) MANILA – A Filipino fisherfolk group decried the “no-sail zone” policy in at least five towns in the province of Zambales in the 18-day run of joint military exercises between the US and Philippine troops.

“Placing their fishing grounds under no-sail zone just in time of the peak fishing season is highly unacceptable and detestable. Fishers in the province consider the months between February to May as peak fishing season,” Pamalakaya vice chairperson Bobby Roldan said in a statement.

The ‘no-sail zone’ covers the coastal towns of San Antonio, San Narciso, San Felipe, Cabangan, and Botolan in Zambales.

Balikatan (Filipino word for shoulder-to-shoulder) is an 18-day joint military operation between US and Philippine troops, which will run until April 28. This is one of the biggest joint military drills which experts believe will intensify the tension in the disputed waters of the West Philippine Sea.

Pamalakaya said that this is similar to the fishing ban imposed in the Bicol region in 2009 when the US military conducted their drills. The preparations for the 2009 Balikatan exercises in Bicol also caused the death of a one-year-old when a grenade hit one of the houses where a family has just finished having lunch… Read More

(MusinessMirror) FOR the first time in their 38-year history, Filipino and American forces participating in this year’s “Balikatan” (literally means shoulder-to-shoulder) exercise will be using all their available weapons to bombard and sink a decommissioned World War II-era corvette this coming April 26.

This was confirmed by Col. Michael Logico, Executive Agent of Balikatan 2023 Philippines, shortly after the opening ceremonies of the annual Philippines and US military exercise held at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City, on Monday April 11, 2023.

Logico said the decision to undertake a “sinking exercise,” also known as “Sinkex” in military parlance, was done in line with the goal of “doing something different” every year.

“Every year, we have to do something different, so in the previous Balikatans we would [undertake] exercises [with] the Army and the Air Force through a live-fire: what we [had] never done before is to exercise all three components, Army, Navy, Air Force. We cannot [hold the] exercise [for] the Navy in Crow Valley [in Tarlac] or Fort Magsaysay [in Nueva Ecija] because [both provinces are] landlocked area[s] so we really have to go to the littoral areas,” he added.

And to ensure that these services will not just fire their weapons at the waters sans any particular target, Logico said they decided to simulate a threat coming from the sea… Read More

(PhilStar) MANILA, Philippines — Amid accusations by the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines, the National Security Council stressed that Manila does not want to meddle in the Taiwan strait issue as it reiterated that the Philippines will not be a pawn of any country.

The statement comes after Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian “advised” Manila to oppose Taiwan’s independence if the country “cares genuinely” about the over 150,000 overseas Filipino workers there. China has accused the Philippines of further intensifying the geopolitical landscape in the region by offering US access to some of its military bases.

“The Philippines is primarily concerned about improving its defense capability, modernizing our equipment and assets and developing our infrastructure,” Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya, NSC spokesperson, said in a statement late Saturday… Read More