blackshama's commentary on Philippine issues

The ongoing territorial claims spat between China and the Philippines is historically significant since for the first time in millennia, China gets a firm "no way" from what it has traditionally considered as vassal states. This is what the social and "classical" media have missed out in their analysis is in the Scarborough shoal standoff. China has had threatening territorial problems from its eastern and northeastern neighbours but not from the south. Only Korea can be considered as a vassal state here. Japan has been the traditional nemesis and the Mongols have conquered China in the last 1000 years. Beijing is the clear loser and has more to lose than what some op ed columnists opine . Why do I say this? And it was completely unprepared for dealing with a Tsinoy President, Noynoy Co Juang Co Aquino! First of all it is economic. Traditionally Beijing has used its economic clout to "teach" ASEAN countries not to diss it out. But these ASEAN nation...

The Philippine Navy deployed its fastest and most modern warship the BRP Gregorio del Pilar to interdict Chinese boats allegedly illegally fishing on Scarborough Shoals which is within Philippine territory. Sailors from the warship boarded one of the boats and found a catch of endangered giant clams and sharks. However Chinese civilian surveillance ships prevented the del Pilar to apprehend the Chinese resulting in a tense standoff . China claims the shoal as part of its territory. As of this writing the warship was ordered withdrawn by the naval command and replaced by a civilian coast guard cutter. This proves that the Philippines can project its naval power as a blue water navy even with limited assets. President Noynoy Aquino has put much priority in upgrading the naval and air assets of the armed forces and in decisively standing up to Beijing sent a message that China cannot treat its so called "China Sea" as its own lake . China will have to think twice. Another ...

The Noynoy administration by fiat has called a part of the South China Sea as the West Philippine Sea . All government agencies like PAGASA and the blurbs have followed suit. However I do not agree that the President had to make the name change at this time. It will just inflame the geopolitical situation with China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan and the Philippines having claims overlapping or otherwise in the possibly oil rich area. China has the most powerful military in the region and has warned all countries to desist in conducting oil exploration work. The Philippines has the weakest military in the region with very little capacity for external defence. China has been putting markers to claim its territory so close to Palawan and definitely within the country's EEZ.China bases its claim on historical grounds for the sea was a vital trade artery. It is still today. But if we look at the origin of the sea's name, it was named by European traders first by the Port...

St Nicholas of Myra (a.k.a. Santa Claus) saves an innocent man from execution On March 30 three Filipinos will be executed in China for drug trafficking offences for which they have been convicted under Chinese law. They were convicted of trafficking more than 50 gms of heroin into China. The Noynoy Aquino government has done the little too late effort of pleading clemency and sent the Vice President Jojo Binay to speak with the Chinese. However he was reminded that under Chinese law, there is no one who can grant executive clemency not even the President of China. The authority to issue death warrants or take them lies only with China's Supreme Court. In most countries, the Head of State has the power to pardon or commute sentences. This power derives from the Divine Right of Kings . While the whole idea of a King being above the law has been largely abandoned, the power to pardon, commute or reprieve penalties is the last remaining vestige of this right in a republic and the P...

The Philippines joins the list of human rights friendly countries such as Iran,Serbia and Russia in boycotting the Nobel Peace prize conferment on an Chinese pro-democracy dissident. Apparently the Noynoy administration has caved in to Beijing's pressure. The Philippines has had significant Chinese investment but many of these have been clouded by corruption allegations. And to shaft Ricky Carandang, the Philippines is no small country. It just has a small minded government! Noynoy Aquino is  a beneficiary of a democratic restoration. He seems not to realize the heat involved in defending liberty now that he is President! Dear old  mom and dad knew what the heat meant, but he sure has fallen short of living up to what his parents had to go through.

In the wake of the hostage taking incident in Manila last August 23 which ended in tragedy, we have noticed things that Filipinos may pass on as humor and others as plain insanity. First of all are the jokes on what SWAT means. It supposed to mean Sorry wala akong training Sugod, wait, atras, takbo among other meanings Nonetheless while we Pinoys may use these as a coping mechanism, other cultures may think it's offensive. None was as offensive as a group of college students taking photos and smiling in front of ill fated bus. And worse the police officers posing for a group shot in front of the same bus! In both instances, they were smiling! These photos are all over the social media sites. The Philippines is now on the map for hostage tourism! It is good that there are still sane voices, almost all (or practically all!) of them came from the Chinese side. Take for example HK gigastar Jackie Chan's remarks which came out as the headline in the print edition of t...

Thanks to Karate Kid 2010 , starring Will Smith's chip off the old block Jaden Smith and Kung Fu Artist and Hollywood Star Jackie Chan, everyone in America [most especially in Hollywood] and on Planet Earth knows that China is THE SUPERPOWER. It's obvious from the plot. Motortown USA is now a dump and an African American single mother has to move to China to work for a car plant [probably that famous European brand bought by the Mainland Taipans last year]. She says to son Dre Parker "There is nothing left for us in Detroit. This [Beijing] is home!" [Filipinos should read that as "There is no future left in America. This [Asia a.k.a. China] is the FUTURE!] The movie promotes Air China and shows China's Olympic status symbols, the Bird's Nest, tall office towers, busy streets, fast cars and of course the touristic staples of the Forbidden City, Great Wall, Guilin's Karst Landscape and a real Shaolin temple. Unlike in the original 1984 Karate Kid starr...

Jordan, Guimaras - The hotel I am now has Solar Sports (which we don't have on SkyCable in Kyusi) which they get from Satellite TV. Back from a grueling field work day, we watched the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics . The ceremony not only was an important didactic tool for teaching the Party's version of Chinese history, but displayed the Middle Kingdom's technological savvy with that giant scroll on the Bird's Nest stadium's tarp. One thing is sure. This Olympics not only marked China's coming out party but belatedly inaugurated the Asian century. We have heard that this 21st century is Asia's but it was hard to believe that it really is until now. While Superpower Lame Duck Prez Dubya was on the reviewing stand, he didn't get as much airtime as backstage Russian Prez and now PM Vladimir Putin got when Russian athletes marched by. It was probably because as the Russians paraded along the track, their tanks paraded into Georgia ! Bush and Putin...