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(Conversation Australia) At the end of last week, 1,200 Australian troops took part in a joint military exercise in the Philippines with hundreds of Filipino and American forces. Their mission: simulating the retaking of an island by a hostile force, presumably in the South China Sea.

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles joined Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to observe the drills, reportedly the largest ever between the two nations. Marles then announced Australia would begin joint maritime patrols with the Philippines in the contested South China Sea very soon.

Next week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will also visit the Philippines, with maritime issues, defence and security on the agenda.

Although Marles was careful not to reference China directly during a press conference in the Philippines, Australia’s push to deepen its strategic ties with Manila comes at a time of heightened tensions with Beijing in the South China Sea. (It’s known as the West Philippine Sea in the Philippines)… Read More

(CNN Philippines) Metro Manila – The Philippines and Australia will soon hold joint patrols in the hotly contested South China Sea, it was announced by Australia’s defense chief.

“We are working closely together, doing joint sails is something that we’ve been keen to pursue now for some time,” said Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles in a press briefing on Friday.

“And our two defense forces have been working closely together about how to make that happen and to do that in the most effective way,” he also said.

“And we’re really pleased with the progress of those discussions, and we expect that the first of those joint patrols will happen in the not too distant future,” Marles added.

Troops from the Philippines, Australia, and some reinforcements from the United States conducted on Friday a combined amphibious assault exercise in Zambales.

The joint activity is part of Australia’s Indo-Pacific Endeavour 2023 program, where it seeks to strengthen its defense cooperation with 14 countries in a period of four months.

“We want to see a free and open Indo-Pacific and we want to see that operating on the basis of an established rules-based order which exists,” said Marles.

“And in order to see that, countries which want to live by those rules, it’s really important that they are standing up and asserting those rules,” he added. “And we see that happening through what the Philippines does.”

Aside from the Philippines, other ASEAN member-states such as Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei, as well as Taiwan, also have claims to certain areas of the South China Sea… Read More

(Daily Tribune) More German firms are inclined to invest in the country given the Philippines’ good economic and investment posture, according to a recent survey from the German-Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc.

This was revealed by GPCCI President Stefan Schmitz during his meeting with Philippine Economic Zone Authority director general Tereso Panga last Tuesday, 22 August.

During the meeting, GPCCI presented to PEZA the results of its bi-annual AHK World Business Outlook survey conducted among the GPCCI members.

According to GPCCI, the results of the Spring 2023 survey revealed that the Philippines generally exhibited a better/higher result in the areas of economy, investments, employment, overall situation and expectations.

In terms of investments, the survey revealed that 46 percent of the participating GPCCI members are likely to invest more in the country within the next 12 months… Read More

(Interaksyon) SYDNEY — Australia has a security interest in the South China Sea and will work more closely with the Philippines on joint patrols, Australia’s defense minister, Richard Marles, said on Friday as he observed military exercises.

More than 2,000 Australian and Philippine defense personnel are participating in amphibious landing and air assault drills, with two Australian navy vessels, HMAS Canberra and HMAS ANZAC, conducting bilateral exercises with the Philippine Navy.

The joint exercises, a first for the two nations, come amid renewed tensions between the Philippines and China in the South China Sea.

Marles said in comments to ABC radio that there was a “very significantly growing defense relationship between our two countries” and that Australia wanted more patrols alongside the Philippine Navy… Read More

(Cyprus Mail) It may be dwarfed by other nation’s sporting prowess, but the Philippines’ fervour for basketball is gigantic, and enthusiasm for the sport is only intensifying ahead of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, which opens in Manila on Friday.

Basketball is played everywhere and by almost everyone in the Philippines, which counts the sport as a national obsession along with boxing and beauty pageants.

There is a basketball court of sorts set up near most churches, and whether it is in a cemetery or near a sewer, these places of worship are ubiquitous in this majority Catholic nation of 112 million people which is co-hosting the FIBA world championships from Aug 25-Sept 10 with Indonesia and Japan.

“We are excited since the tournament will happen here. There are many players from the NBA that we are excited to see,” college student James Froilan Almeda told Reuters near championship venue Mall of Asia Arena. The NBA is the U.S. National Basketball Association.

The Philippines might not clinch the 32-nation championship but it can win some games, added Almeda. FIBA ranks the Philippines men’s team 40th globally and the women’s 42nd. Spain and the United States are in the top two spots… Read More

(PRNewswire) – For his outstanding leadership and dedication to climate and disaster resilience, Hans T. Sy, SM Prime Holdings, Inc. Chairman of the Executive Committee, was recently awarded the ‘Dangal ng Pilipino Sa Pag-agapay Sa Ligtas na Sambayanan’ (Filipino’s Honor in Contributing to a Safe Community) by the Office of Civil Defense. He is the first-ever awardee from the private sector.

Hans Sy (middle) receives an award for his outstanding leadership in Disaster Risk Reduction and Management. The award was presented by the Office of Civil Defense Undersecretary Ariel Nepomuceno (left) and Department of National Defense Senior Undersecretary Irineo Espino.

Mr. Sy is also the Co-Chair of the United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Private Sector Alliance for Disaster Resilient Societies or ARISE Philippines and Co-Chair of the National Resilience Council for the Private Sector.

At SM Prime, 10% of the capital expenditure of every project development is allocated for resilient infrastructure. Examples of these are rainwater catchment basins and other infrastructure for flood prevention, fire prevention facilities, and for avoidance of earthquake impacts. SM Baguio recently launched its rainwater filtration system to aid in water security. Mr. Sy established the SM Resilience Center for centralized monitoring and offered the SM Business Continuity Plan (BCP) to Small and Medium Scale enterprise tenants in the malls. The SM BCP provides free remote data storage for essential documents that can help facilitate recovery of operations in the eventuality of a disaster.

Mr. Sy has guided SM Prime towards the support and implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR), as aligned with the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals and the Paris Climate Agreement… Read More

(Daily Tribune) President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Tuesday praised Toyota Motor Corporation for its contributions to the Philippines, saying that the company has helped to create jobs, transfer technology, and boost the country’s economy.

In his remarks during his visit to Toyota Manufacturing Plant in Laguna, Marcos said that Toyota had been a “true partner” of the Philippines in its development.

“We are very happy to have them as our partner,  the Toyota Motor Corporation,” Marcos said. “They have helped us to create jobs, transfer technology, and boost our economy.”

Marcos also noted that Toyota has helped to train Filipino employees in the Japanese culture of production, which has helped to make them some of the most efficient manufacturers in the world.

“They have shown themselves to be one of the most if not the most efficient when it comes to manufacturing and high volume production of products,” Marcos said.

Marcos said that he looks forward to continuing the partnership between Toyota and the Philippines in the years to come… Read More

(RFA) The low-lying Pacific islands face severe threats due to rising sea levels, which are increasing quicker than anticipated, while heightened temperatures impact marine habitats, according to a new U.N. meteorological body report.

The Pacific region is experiencing an approximate increase of 4 millimeters of sea level rise annually in certain regions, which is higher than the worldwide average of 3.4 mm per year, the World Meteorological Organization, or WMO, said in its 2022 State of the Climate report released on Friday.

The Pacific islands most vulnerable to this rising sea level include nations such as Kiribati, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands, and the Maldives. These low-lying nations, often no more than a few meters above sea level, are alarmingly at the forefront of this crisis. Their unique geographies and limited land mass make them especially susceptible to even the slightest increase in sea level, threatening their very existence and the livelihoods of their residents… Read More