The Philippine Territory

 

Hundreds of armed men who claimed to be from the Moro National Liberation Front attacked several cities in Zamboanga this morning.

Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) director general Datuk Mohammad Mentek said operations are on full alert following the attack.

"We are monitoring the situation closely and at the same time we are coordinating our safety and security measures on our end," he said.

Mohammad also denied claims by the Philippine media that the MNLF had mobilised 4,000 fighters embedded in Sabah and Sarawak.

According to the Phillipine Star, the fighters were being mobilised to protect southern Filipinos following a crackdown by Malaysian authorities against illegal immigrants.

The MNLF led by former Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao governor Nur Misuari launched the offensive in Zamboanga this morning, according to reports from the Philippine media.

At least six people were killed, dozens injured and hundreds of people stranded in hotspots where there have been gunfights in the city where schools and offices were ordered closed.

Read more: UPDATED: Malaysian security forces on high alert following Zamboanga crisis - Latest - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/latest/font-color-red-updated-font-malaysian-security-forces-on-high-alert-following-zamboanga-crisis-1.352303?cache=03%2F7.198169%2F7.207977%2F7.207361%2F7.207361%3Fkey%3Dmalaysia%2F7.281797%2F7.478578#ixzz2eRC3hUER

Less than 30 percent of air assets of the Philippine Air Force are currently operational, a senior PAF official said even as he underscored the immediate need of the command to acquire airassets to perform its mandate.

Maj. Gen. Raul Dimatatac, vice commander of PAF, noted that currently only 71 out of the 265 air assets, or around 26 percent, of the PAF are serviceable.

Out of the 265, 95 were considered as beyond economical repair (BER), or for disposal, and 58 are recoverable. It was not clear, however, how many airplanes are currently operational.

Of the operational assets, 21 are helicopters.
The PAF has a total of 79 helicopters in its inventory but 33 are BER while 25 are on recoverable status.
Currently, the PAF is eyeing 21 refurbished UH-1H or Huey helicopters, which are considered as the work horse during combat and search and rescue missions, to augment its fleet.

“These 21 (Hueys) are very important for us to fill the needs not only of the Armed Forces but also other agencies that need the services of UH-1H helicopters,” Dimatatac said.

But the third bidding for the acquisition of 21 Hueys was declared a failure again last week.
Aside from the Hueys, the PAF is program to acquire 12 brand new lead-in fighter jets and combat utility helicopters as part of the ongoing P75-billion modernization program and capability upgrade of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

The Department of National Defense failed to mention the reason for the failure of the first two bids earlier this year.
With the failure, the bid documents will be returned to the PAF and the military service will be directed to make a study and a recommendation on how to pursue the “Huey” acquisition program.

The project is worth P1.2 billion.
Source: http://www.tribune.net.ph/index.php/headlines/item/18976-only-71-out-of-265-military-air-assets-operational

Fifty-three New People Army (NPA) fighters have surrendered to the units of the Capiz-based 3rd Infantry Division for the first nine months of 2013.

Major Ray C. Tiongson, the unit spokesperson, attributes this to their intensified "Bayanihan Team" operations.

Tiongson added the rebels also surrendered three high-powered firearms, 10 low-powered guns, two hand grenades and one rifle grenade.

Recently, a certain Jerome Billamac alias "Maisa" turned himself in to Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo and was accompanied by barangay officials.

Billamac, 24, a resident of Sitio Katipunan, Barangay San Roque, San Jose, Negros Oriental, was handed over to Col. Christopher Estella, 302nd Infantry Brigade deputy commander and officers of the 79th Infantry Battalion for custodial debriefing.

He was a member of the NPA involved in several encounters with the government security forces in Negros Oriental.

Billamac was the vice squad leader and a machine gunner of Squad 2, Sentro de Grabidad (SDG), Southeast Front (SEF), Komiteng Rehiyonal-Sentral Bisayas (KR-SB) operating in the hinterlands of Negros Oriental.

“This indicates the waning strength of the CPP-NPA and support from the people. The people support the democratic government and believe in the government’s principle of 'Daang Matuwid' as espoused by our President His Excellency Benigno S. Aquino III,” 3rd Infantry Division commander Brigadier Gen. Aurelio B. Baladad said.

“More rebels continue to realize the futility of armed violence and believe in the objectives of the Internal Peace and Security Plan 'Bayanihan' as well as in the sincerity of the government in bringing peace and development in the countryside," he added.

Last May, two former rebels in Negros Oriental who returned to mainstream society have received a P50,000 financial assistance each through the government’s Comprehensive Local Integration Program (CLIP).

The cash given to former rebels as livelihood assistance aims to ensure their successful integration to the community and to improve their socio-economic status.

Billamac on his part will also receive and avail of the same assistance and benefits from the local government after going through the process to be facilitated by the military.

Meanwhile, four high ranking NPA rebels in Panay traded their guns for the future of their families in July of this year.
The ex-rebels received cash from the AFP Guns for Peace Program which they used as seed money for livelihood while living in peace with their love ones.

The AFP’s Guns for Peace Program offers cash incentive to members of the NPA who return to mainstream society with their firearms.

For every high-powered firearm turned-over to the government, immediate cash incentive is given. The seed money is intended to start a new life for the rebels while transitioning back to the community.

Among others, allocated for them are cash incentives as high as P200,000 for light machine guns, P50,000 for Colt M-16 rifle, P60,000 for M-14 carbine and P40,000 for M-203 grenade launchers.

Aside from this, former rebels may also avail of the skills training seminar for their livelihood to start a new life with a bright future ahead for their families.

“Much remains to be done. We should stop fighting first before we can truly achieve peace. We continue to call on other NPA rebels to pursue the right path and be part in building a better community instead of fighting the government authorities," Baladad stressed.

Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid&nid=1&rid=562955

At least six communist rebels were believed killed in air and ground assaults launched by the military in North Cotabato against New Peoples Army (NPA) rebels who torched a rubber processing plant.

Quoting community leaders, 1st Lt. Nasurallah Sema, spokesman of the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion, said village officials claimed the rebels had more than six fallen comrades whom they carry as they fled by nightfall Wednesday.

Villagers in Talun-Talunan, Makilala, North Cotabato were obviously mad at communist rebels who torched the Standard Rubber Development Corporation (Standeco) rubber processing plant Sunday night which cost P20 million and rendered more than 700 rubber workers jobless.

It was the worst NPA attacks in North Cotabato’s multinational firms who provided employment to the locals.
North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza said the farm workers displaced by the NPA attack have no way but let their children stop from their schooling since they have no other source of income, or any alternative livelihood needed to sustain their families.

“The real victims of the atrocity were the families, the children of the affected workers,” said Mendoza.
Sema said the military launched air and ground assaults against 50 guerrillas sighted in the village of Kabilao, also in Makilala.
A soldier was killed when the NPA set off a roadside land mine near Barangay Kabilao.

”We have information they suffered heavy casualties from the two day punitive action,” Sema said, adding that the masses are no longer supporting the NPA.
In a statement, the NPA claimed responsibility for the burning of rubber plant.

The Makilala municipal peace and order council members have branded the burning of the rubber processing factory in Barangay Talun-Talunan as a “crime against humanity,” something they have never experienced before.
Source:  http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=2&sid&nid=2&rid=562553

Be afraid, ASEAN countries. Of a South China Sea code of conduct, I mean. The only code of conduct worth having would be one by which China renounces its nine-dashed line of the region and the associated territorial claims; matches its words with deeds by evacuating sites it has poached from other countries' exclusive economic zones; stops asserting the right to proscribe certain foreign naval activities within the nine-dashed line; and agrees that the purpose of any code of conduct is to lock in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea as the regional status quo.

Anyone want to place odds on Beijing's doing any one of these things? Me neither. All of them? Fuggedaboutit. If ASEAN consents to a code of conduct anyway, it will have ratified the current state of affairs, including China's seizures of Scarborough Shoal and Mischief Reef, deep within the Philippine EEZ. Southeast Asian countries will have consented to a region wide protection racket, in hopes that letting China keep its past gains will purchase its forbearance and goodwill in the future.

Read More:  http://thediplomat.com/the-naval-diplomat/2013/09/05/asean-should-reject-a-code-of-conduct-in-the-south-china-sea/

MANILA, Philippines (Updated) — Congress threatens to derail the plans of the Department of National Defense (DND) to shift its focus from fighting insurgency to defending our territory in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

"To me, priority should be addressing internal security. If we only address the exernal security relative to the West Philippine Sea, whatever we do we will not be able to acquire the capability to match the threat there," Muntinlupa Rep Rodolfo Biazon said in a hearing on Monday, September 2.

Biazon, who chairs the House committee on national defense and security, said the Philippines should focus on the arbitration case over the territorial dispute lodged before the United Nations.

Biazon argued the DND should rethink its plan to buy fighter aircrafts. He said the priority should be the acquisition of helicopters that government can use in, among others, disaster response.

"I would suggest you frontload the acquistion of helicopters against fighters. Otherwise, baka mahirapan kayo sa budget na 'yan. Who will you fight, China? Maski ano gawin natin diyan," Biazon added. (You will have difficulty getting that budget approved.... There's nothing we can do about that.)

Armed Forces deputy chief of staff for plans Maj Gen Jeffrey Delgado said they will have to sit down with the lawmakers to explain the planned acquisitions.

"We will have to sit down with them and discuss this. We have a basis for determining the weapons systems.... We have to consider the suggestion," he told Rappler.

Manila is caught in a row with Beijing over the West Philippine Sea. The Philippines has sought the assistance of treaty ally US on maritime security. The Philippines and US are also negotiating a new agreement focused on miltary-to-military cooperation on maritime security and maritime domain awareness.
The government is posed to buy 12 fighter aircraft from South Korea for P18 billion. The defense department is waiting for Malacañang's approval of the government-to-government contract so it can proceed with the acquisition.

Read More:  http://www.rappler.com/nation/37937-congress-questions-plans-to-buy-fighter-jets

SENATOR Miriam Defensor-Santiago has raised the necessity to “destroy” the concrete blocks reportedly laid by Chinese forces in Panatag Shoal off Zambales, which is within the Philippine exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

She made the remark following the revelation made by Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin that the Philippine.Air Force had spotted concrete blocks in the disputed Panatag Shoal (or Scarborough Shoal) which appears to be “a prelude to construction.”

MANILA, Philippines - A Taiwanese man has been arrested for illegal fishing in the Philippines, police said Thursday, September 5, as the two neighbors seek to mend fences after the shooting death of another Taiwanese fisherman in May.

Tsai Po, 54, was detained on Tuesday, September 3, while diving for lobsters off the coast in the Batanes group of islands near the maritime border with Taiwan, provincial police officer Victor de Sagon told Agence France-Presse.

"They have been doing this for a long time. This is rampant poaching," said de Sagon, adding that Tsai was among a group of suspects who were illegally fishing just off Siayan island.

He is to be charged with poaching, which is punishable by a US$100,000 fine, confiscation of his catch, fishing equipment and fishing vessel, the officer added.

The Philippines’ complaint against China’s massive claim over the resource-rich South China Sea is moving forward after an international tribunal finalized the rules of procedures on the case and ordered Manila to formally present its petition on March 30, 2014.

China claims "indisputable sovereignty" over the entire waters, where undersea gas deposits have been discovered in several areas. China's claims overlaps with the offshore territories claimed by Asian neighbors surrounding the South China Sea.

Manila sought international arbitration in January and asked a tribunal formed under United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and based in The Hague, to declare China's massive territorial claim as illegal and invalid.

MANILA, Philippines — Amid long-running tension between Manila and Beijing over the hotly-contested West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin admitted that China has committed fresh violations over the disputed territory.

“We do not want to preempt the information…it has to go through channels yet. They made new violations [Meron silang panibagong violations],” he told reporters at Camp Aguinaldo but did not give further details, emphasizing that these violations were “very recent.”