Obama to renew Asia pivot in 2014

From the Daily Tribune (Nov 21): Obama to renew Asia pivot in 2014

President Barack Obama will visit Asia in April to push closer ties, an aide yesterday said, after his earlier cancellation of a trip raised questions about US staying power.

Susan Rice, Obama’s national security adviser, acknowledged disappointment after the president called off a trip in October to negotiate with Republican lawmakers who shut down the US government in a failed bid to stop his health care reforms.

Rice said Obama would make up with his trip next year, saying: “Our friends in Asia deserve and will continue to get our highest-level attention.”

“No matter how many hot spots emerge elsewhere, we will continue to deepen our enduring commitment to this critical region,” she added.

Rice said US assistance to the typhoon-hit Philippines, which includes the deployment of more than 1,000 Marines, represented a broader pledge to all of Asia.

“America’s commitment won’t expire a few months or a few years from now. The United States of America will be there — reliable, constant, strong and steady — for the long haul,” she stressed.

Rice did not specify Obama’s itinerary.

Kyodo News reported that Obama’s stops would include Japan, his first visit there since conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe returned to power.

Obama had planned stops last month in the Philippines, Malaysia and, for international summits, Indonesia and Brunei.

Even US allies quietly voiced concern over Obama’s no-show, which offered an outsized role to Chinese President Xi Jinping at the meetings.

Obama pledged in his first term to “pivot” US foreign policy toward Asia, where the regional order is being transformed by the rapid growth of China’s economy and military.

But in his second term, Obama has focused on Syria’s civil war and easing hostility with Iran. The United States has also put a priority on taming its debt after two wars and a recession.

In the renewed regional push, Vice President Joe Biden will tour China, Japan and South Korea next month.

Biden met last Wednesday with Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong and discussed China’s latest reforms, the White House said.

Rice said that Secretary of State John Kerry, who has invested most of his time in the Middle East since taking office, would return to Asia in December as well.

She added the US would stay true to its pledge to shift most of its navy toward Asia by 2020 and would pursue the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade pact that Obama hopes will shape the coming order in Asia.

The national security adviser also voiced alarm over China’s disputes with its neighbors, including US allies Japan and the Philippines, calling the tensions a “growing threat to regional peace and security and to US interests.”

http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/obama-to-renew-asia-pivot-in-2014

CPP/NDF: NDFP-EV denounces Aquino government’s inutility in aiding calamity victims, calls for speedy humanitarian assistance

Posted to the CPP Website (Nov 21): NDFP-EV denounces Aquino government’s inutility in aiding calamity victims, calls for speedy humanitarian assistance

Fr. Santiago Salas (Ka Sanny)
Spokesperson
NDFP Eastern Visayas Chapter

 

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines in Eastern Visayas commiserates with the millions of people who suffered losses of lives and properties in the region and elsewhere in the country due to Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) last November 8. We condemn the gross incompetence and unreadiness of the Aquino government even though weather forecasts had already warned days in advance of the category 4 superstorm and the expected massive flooding from the storm surge. The Aquino government only made token announcements and evacuations, did not stock food and water, and did not prepare emergency services. Rather than passing the buck to the local government, it should have been the responsibility of the national governmment to ensure the safety and well-being of the people because of the scale and scope of the calamity.

It is simply untrue that the New People’s Army has been harassing relief operations to the people and that the NPA is sowing disorder after the storm. In reality, the NPA along with other revolutionary forces and the People’s Democratic Government has been striving to aid the stricken people and working to ensure the speedy delivery of humanitarian assistance. The Communist Party of the Philippines also showed concern for the people by declaring a unilateral ceasefire from Nov. 14-24 in the areas affected by Typhoon Yolanda. It is in fact the Aquino regime that is antagonizing the people by garrisoning Tacloban City, the hardest hit area, with police and military troops who impose a virtual martial law. It is the Aquino regime that is causing disorder and anarchy because of its slothful and disorganized relief operations.

Thousands are believed to have been killed especially in Tacloban and Ormoc cities in Leyte, as well as Basey and Guian towns on Samar island, among other areas. After the storm, the people had to fend for themselves as the Aquino government’s relief efforts were virtually nonexistent. Indeed, more than a week after the storm, food and water have yet to reach Guiuan and other areas, and many of the dead have yet to be buried.

The presence of Aquino and other top governmment officials in the region after the storm were nothing more than publicity gimmicks. They were posing for the media, while outside, the people whose homes had been destroyed were living on the streets and dying of thirst and starvation. In the crucial days after the storm, the people had to commandeer food, water, medicine and other supplies because there was absolutely nothing coming from the government. Displaying utter heartlessness and contempt to the people despite their plight, instead of emergency supplies Aquino sent in armored cars and armed troops as a “show of force” to “stop the looting.” What little food and water arrived the people had to walk several kilometers to go to, and had to form long lines under the rain and under the heat of the sun. The Aquino rehimen is surely adept in stealing from the people through the pork barrel scam and patronage system, but lazy and despicable when the people desperately need help.

The Philippine and US governments make much of the psywar gimmick of some US troops participating in relief and rehabilitation, and there is talk of additional foreign troops. Do they have other, ulterior motives in doing so? In fact, there are more than 10,000 military and police troops in Eastern Visayas, but the Aquino regime is loath to shift them away from “counterinsurgency” operations and make them actually useful to the people by clearing roads, building shelters, repairing infrastructure, and restoring agricultural production. But the main concern of the military troops is to watch the people in the name of “peace and order” and to provide security for the publicity gimmicks of politicians, who take advantage of the people’s miseries to bolster their political ambitions. We condemn the Aquino government for putting more importance into its war with the NDFP, rather than in alleviating the people’s sufferings.

The damage to the region and elsewhere from Typhoon Yolanda may take years of social recovery. The natural calamity underscored the man-made calamity that is the Aquino regime. Having suffered for so long under the rotten semifeudal and semicolonial ruling system, the people surely resent the added ordeal the Aquino government made them undergo aside from the natural calamity and the long years of uncertainty ahead.

In the face of the plight of the many victims of calamity, the NDFP-EV is appealing to the people’s organizations in the Philippines and abroad to help the people of Eastern Visayas. The NDFP-EV is also calling on the New People’s Army, the revolutionary mass organizations and the People’s Democratic Government, to persevere in the relief operations they are already undertaking and to participate in the reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts. There can be a unity of efforts to ensure that aid and supplies contributed by private individuals and groups, as well as by foreign aid agencies, non-government organizations and government organizations can directly and speedily reach the intended recipients.

The NDFP-EV also calls on the people to rise up and protest the scarcity of emergency supplies and the arrogant and callous method of distribution. The calamity victims and the people must also join hands and bring the Aquino regime to account for its incompetence and ill-preparedness, and demand as a matter of social justice the appropriate rehabilitation and recovery after the devastation of Typhoon Yolanda.

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/statements/20131121_ndfp-ev-denounces-aquino-government-s-inutility-in-aiding-calamity-victims-calls-for-speedy-humanitarian-assistance

CPP/NDF: NDF calls for united front of disaster victims

Posted to the CPP Website (Nov 21): NDF calls for united front of disaster victims

Rubi Del Mundo
Spokesperson
NDFP Southern Mindanao Chapter

 

The survivors of Typhoon Pablo must unite with the survivors of Typhoon Yolanda in the face of the Aquino government’s blatant ineptitude, corruption, state neglect and the worsening crisis of the semi-feudal economy. The Filipino people cannot simply rely on the spin of Aquino and Aquino’s men, as well as from debt-laden imperialist donors. While reeling from their loss, Yolanda victims have only to look at the experiences of disaster survivors in Southern Mindanao to learn that only through militant struggle and revolutionary perseverance can they survive the nightmare of Yolanda.

Nearly one year after Typhoon Pablo walloped the vast forests and farms of millions of indigenous peoples, peasants, banana workers and other agricultural workers, Typhoon Pablo survivors continue to wallow in utter poverty and oppression. Pablo victims in many of the revolutionary base areas have only received scant relief goods from the Aquino government, under conditions of unrehabilitated farms,roads and infrastructure. The relief goods were sparsely distributed over delayed periods of time. Worse, some of the relief goods and rehabilitation materials like galvanized steel were maximized and utilized for political patronage in the recent barangay elections.

The scanty relief goods and an even pitiful rehabilitation program for Typhoon Pablo worsen the already dismal situation of peasants. Because of the inherent problem of nonexistent government subsidy for agricultural production and because of usury, the lives of Typhoon Pablo survivors remain as miserable as ever.

Some have received vegetable seedlings but because of the lack of government subsidy and support that could have increased farmgate prices, income from these farms are virtually negligible. They could not earn much out of the dirt cheap prices of their produce. For instance, how can a peasant’s family earn with a P1 per kilo of squash?

Others who have made use of paltry incomes derived from cash-for-work schemes and small capital intended to rehabilitate their damaged farms are confronted with the ancient problem of usury. Loan sharks and small commercial traders and landlords exploit the niggardly situation of poor peasants and tenants who are made to survive Pablo with increased land rents and high interest financing schemes.The usurious schemes thrive under the very noses of local reactionary functionaries and bureaucrats who, ironically, boast of and falsely peddle that they are helping Pablo victims.

The reactionary government and its local functionaries ignore the deteriorating conditions of the peasantry while abetting this wanton crisis of feudalism in the Typhoon Pablo-hit countrysides. Customs officials are reported to exact bribes so that imported relief goods sourced out from well-meaning independent donors can be released to Typhoon Pablo victims.

Oplan Bayanihan operations and its attendant human rights abuses also aggravated the sad state of relief and rehabilitation in Typhoon Pablo areas. At the onset of Typhoon Yolanda, the AFP and the Aquino regime singled out looting as the very reason for their deployment of military troops and the military-led disaster agency to supposedly restore normalcy amid chaos. Hungry Typhoon Pablo survivors were also looked upon as thieves over their own lands when they took what they can when Pablo disaster struck and when, two months later, they confiscated undistributed relief goods at the DSWD.

Indeed, this is a government that would rather ignore disaster preparation, comprehensive relief and rehabilitation,and genuine land reform. This is a government that would rather resort to shooting the dispossessed and surviving people, and consider itself blameless.

Hence, the National Democratic Front Southern Mindanao calls for a united front of Filipino disaster survivors to remedy their abject suffering. Then and now, revolutionary forces and the masses persevere in rebuilding their lives and their lands.

Survivors in Eastern Visayas must unite with Southern Mindanao survivors, along with other disaster victims nationwide to struggle against the US-Aquino regime’s criminal negligence and fight for freedom from oppression and exploitation.

http://www.philippinerevolution.net/statements/20131121_ndf-calls-for-united-front-of-disaster-victims

MNLF: In the Midst of the MNLF Renewed Freedm Struggle: OIC asks MNLF and PGH to Continue Peace Process

Posted to the MNLF Website (Nov 21): In the Midst of the MNLF Renewed Freedm Struggle: OIC asks MNLF and PGH to Continue Peace Process



CONTINUING FREEDOM STRUGGLE AND PEACE PROCESS

After the 19-day war in Zamboanga City last September, 2013 between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (soldiers) and the freedom fighters of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) led by Ustaj Khabir Malik, the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) has issued notice to continue the peace process to find a comprehensive solution to the Filipino-Moro war in Mindanao.

The Bangsamoro Grand Mufti, Al-Ustaj Abdulbaki Abubakar, who is the Secretary-General of the MNLF Foreign Affairs Committee, has provided mnlfnet.com  with the OIC communication to this effect. Full report is the following:

"OUTCOME OF THE OIC-PCSP MEETING ON 4 NOVEMBER 2013, THE OIC HEADQUARTERS, JEDDAH

(1) Due to time constrain, the planned 5th Tripartite Meeting between the Government of the Philippines (GPH), Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will be held after 40th Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) in Guinea.

(2) OIC General Secretariat will communicate with Mr. Nur Misuari, Chairman of MNLF, to appoint a delegation to represent the MNLF at the 40th CFM and 5th Tripartite Meeting. Appeals to the Government of the Philippines to take into account the historic and important role of MNLF Chairman Mr. Nur Misuari in the peace process.

(3) Chair of the PCSP, Indonesia, will prepare the report to the next CFM. The report will be communicated to the members of the PCSP, through the Secretary General, before submission to the CFM. The report will include the factual part and the following recommendations of the committee:

(a) The Committee reiterates its commitment to continue to engage in contributing to the comprehensive solution  for peace in Southern Philippines and importance of the continuation of the facilitating role of the OIC for the peace process between the Government of the Philippines and the Moro National Liberation Front.

(b) Acceleration efforts for the activation of the Bangsamoro Coordination Forum.

(c) Invite Member States, subsidiary organs and specialized and affiliated institutions as well as Islamic charitable organizations to increase their humanitarian assistance with a particular attention to humanitarian attention in the City of Zamboanga after the incident in September 2013."

HISTORIC, IMPORTANT AND POSITIVE ROLE OF CHAIRMAN MISUARI

On this OIC notice, MNLF Chairman Prof. Nur Misuari has expressed positiveness to attend the 2013 40th Conference of Foreign Ministers in Guinea as being the sole spokesman and representative of the Bangsamoro people of Filipino-colonized Mindanao through MNLF representation.

The MNLF Chairman has expressed confidence on the OIC General Secretariat to listen to the aggrieved side of the oppressed Bangsamoro people against the Aquino government that showed no respect towards the implementation of the Septemver 2, 1996 MNLF-OIC-GRP Jakarta Peace Agreements.

It is seen that the negative attitude of the Aquino government to ignore the correct and complete implementation of the 1996 peace Agreement led to the 19-day September AFP-MNLF war in Zamboanga City. The bloody war resulted in the burning of 10,160 houses and mosques by the AFP soldiers, big number of casualties and devastating humanitarian disaster situation. Until now more than 100,000 refugees mostly Muslims are still desperately suffering homeless in the city public grandstand. Worse, children have become sick and 25 already died. The death toll may just continue because the Aquino government have no definite program for their welfare and suffering.     

MNLF IS RECOGNIZED BY THE
OIC AS THE SOLE LEGITIMATE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE
BANGSAMORO PEOPLE.

SUPPORT THE BANGSAMORO
STRUGGLE FOR SELF-DETERMINATION
AND INDEPENDENCE!

 

 

http://mnlfnet.com/Articles/OIC%20Asks%20MNLF%20and%20PGH%20to%20Continue%20Peace%20Process.htm

..

CPP slams AFP offensives

From the Visayan Daily Star (Nov 21): CPP slams AFP offensives

The Communist Party of the Philippines slammed the military in Negros for allegedly waging offensives against the New People’s Army, despite the ceasefire, citing the recent encounter in Brgy. Magballo, Kabankalan City.

The CPP said in a statement it issued that it is apparent that the AFP leadership is completely oblivious to the state of calamity and difficulties being experienced by the people of Negros.

The two successive encounters between the 47th Infantry Battalion and about 25 NPA members, that lasted for 10 minutes, caused injuries to a member of the Philippine Army, who is now in a stable condition.

It also claimed that NPA units in Negros, including those that figured in an armed encounter with 47th IB, have gone on active defense mode to extend assistance to calamity victims, in line with the ceasefire declaration issued by the CPP from November 14 to Nov. 24.

“If they are for the people, they (CPP-NPA) should stop the disasters that they are creating on the people”, Col. Jon Aying, 303rd Infantry Brigade commander, who supervises the internal security operations in Negros Occidental, said.

The CPP said “it is apparent that the Aquino regime does not want to reciprocate issuance of a ceasefire declaration because it does not want the AFP to cease its offensives against the NPA in the vain hope of meeting the targets of its Oplan Bayanihan war of suppression against the people”.

It said the ceasefire declaration, that covers NPA units in typhoon-hit regions, including Negros island, will remain in effect until Nov. 24. The declarations directs concerned units of the NPA to concentrate on the immediate task of assisting typhoon victims to carry out rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts. The CPP also cautioned NPA fighters against hostile movements of the AFP.

While the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Peace Process acknowledged the CPP-NPA 10-day ceasefire in typhoon-affected areas, it said it will need more than a token suspension of armed hostilities in a limited area.

“We therefore urge the CPP to extend a humanitarian ceasefire indefinitely and nationwide, and join the rest of the country in mobilizing all necessary resources in a human chain of service to our people,” the OPPAP said.

http://www.visayandailystar.com/2013/November/21/topstory10.htm

Operation Damayan airlift operations intensify

From DVIDS (Nov 19): Operation Damayan airlift operations intensify

CLARK AIR BASE, Philippines – Airmen from the 36th Airlift Squadron launched 24-hour C-130H aircraft night operations in support of Operation Damayan Nov. 18, substantially multiplying the joint airlift component here and increasing the flow of airlifts from Tacloban, the region most affected by Typhoon Haiyan.

Five C-130H crews from Yokota Air Base, Japan, are conducting multiple nighttime sorties that each carry up to 42,000 pounds of humanitarian aid and relief supplies from Manila to Tacloban. After offloading cargo at Tacloban, the crews airlift approximately 120 Tacloban residents per mission to Manila.

“Airlifters are working around the clock to support the joint airlift operation,” said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Menasco, 36th Airlift Squadron commander.“Our team is focused on providing professional airlift as we take part in this historic mission to help our Philippine allies.”

As joint service and Armed Forces of the Philippines members escorted passengers onto the aircraft at Tacloban Airport, special care was taken to assist the elderly and parents with infants.

“We are assisting evacuees with the utmost dignity and respect,”Menasco said. The people of the Philippines are our friends and neighbors - our forward presence here in the Western Pacific and close relationship with regional allies allows us to rapidly respond to crises.”

While the crews began nighttime operations, a team of eight operators from the 36th deployed forward to Camp Aguinaldo to assist in standing up Air Component Coordination Element, Joint Task Force-505. The unit interfaces and provides air liaison with host-nation, joint and multinational response entities during Operation Damayan.

“As this operation builds, we look forward to refining our interoperability and improving upon lessons learned across the joint and combined operations community,”Menasco said.

The 36th AS arrived at Clark Air Base Nov. 16 after an airdrop exercise with their Bangladeshi counterparts. The training proved to be timely and useful, offering the opportunity to rapidly set up an off-station operations center and integrate with host-nation assets. Now, they are tasked to put the training to real-world use.

Airlift planners from the 36th jumped into action upon arriving, establishing a makeshift mission-planning cell collocated with Marine Aircraft Group 36, 3rd Marine Expeditionary Battalion, Air Combat Element. The Marines, along with airmen from the 353rd Special Operations Group at Kadena, provided the 36th AS with the most current information and operational points of contact for their situational awareness.

The flight line at Clark Air Base is a veritable "who’s who" of joint air assets such as Air Force MC-130 Talons, Navy P-3 Orions, Marine MV-22 Ospreys and C-130Js. Yokota’s C-130H aircraft are a welcome addition to the lineup, substantially increasing the capacity of the response effort.

“The C-130 Hercules is a proven workhorse that is capable of flying into the remotest of regions,”said 1st Lt. Travis Wilkes, a C-130H pilot assigned to the 36th AS. “Combined with our nighttime capability, the Herc is an unstoppable force when it comes to executing tactical airlift.”

The 24-hour airlift operations continue to launch from Clark Air Base this week. The 36th Airlift Squadron supports the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade in assisting the Philippine government's ongoing relief efforts in response to the aftermath Typhoon Haiyan.

http://www.dvidshub.net/news/117034/operation-damayan-airlift-operations-intensify#.Uo2PUY4o4cA
 

61 foreign aircraft, 14 naval ships helping in 'Yolanda' relief efforts --AFP

From the Philippine News Agency (Nov 20): 61 foreign aircraft, 14 naval ships helping in 'Yolanda' relief efforts --AFP

The Armed Forces of the Philippines said on Wednesday that 61 foreign aircraft and 14 naval ships are working hand-in-hand with Filipino rescue agencies in the ongoing relief and rehabilitation efforts for the victims of supertyphoon "Yolanda."

The AFP said the total is broken down as follows:

-- Australia: two C-17s and three C-130s.

-- United States: eight naval ships (one aircraft carrier, two destroyers, two cruisers, one marine tender, one dry cargo ship, one pathfinder ship, 10 C-130s, two C-12s, two C-2s and five V-22s.

-- Canada: two cargo planes.

-- India: one C-130.

-- Indonesia: three C-130s.

-- Israel: one Boeing 747.

-- Japan: one KC-767, two C-130s.

-- Malaysia: five C-130s, one Boeing 727.

-- Qatar: two C-17s.

-- Russia: one Antonov and three IL-76TA.

-- Singapore: two C-130s.

-- South Korea: three C-130s, three C-130H, three Harmony and two C-130 Harmony.

-- Sweden: one C-130.

-- Taiwan: four C-130s.

-- Thailand: one landing platform dock and two Seahawk helicopters and one landing ship tank.

-- United Kingdom: one destroyer and helicopter.

On the AFP side, 500 vehicles of all types, along with 23 aircraft and 31 naval vessels, are being utilized in the ongoing "Yolanda" relief works.

Meanwhile, Joint Task Force (JFT) commander Lt. Gen. John Wissler, who is also the head of the 3rd Marine Expedition Force, is pleased to note that recovery efforts have taken a great stride in the past two days.

Wissler noted that "Yolanda" has been one of the most devastating typhoons to hit the Philippines in a long time, the magnitude of which would have been difficult for any country to overcome.

"But the resilience of the Philippine people and the coordination of both the Philippine government with the US military, the joint force that’s here and also with all of the international and US national aid organizations is making a great difference every day. It saves lives," the JTF 505 commander said.

He stressed that their short-term goals for the moment are literally to restore relief supplies or to get relief supplies to the Philippine people.

"We want to restore some normalcy in their lives. What that particularly means is food, water and shelter. We've begun an air bridge between Manila and the City of Tacloban which has initiated a significant surge in these relief supplies. From Tacloban, we pushed supplies out to other areas, Ormoc and Guiuan. And from there out in individual endeavors to the people outside those major hubs in a hub- and-support system that has worked very well," Wissler said.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=588781

1 of PAF C-130s now undergoing maintenance

From the Philippine News Agency (Nov 20): 1 of PAF C-130s now undergoing maintenance

One of the three Lockheed C-130 "Hercules" cargo aircraft being used by the Philippine Air Force (PAF) is now undergoing maintenance.

This was confirmed by PAF spokesperson Col. Miguel Ernesto Okol Wednesday.

"(The aircraft is undergoing) normal maintenance activities. It should be operational within a day or two," he added.

Okol stressed that no damage has been sustained by the aircraft, adding that it is normal for the latter to be taken out of the flight line every now and then for maintenance work.

The PAF's C-130s have been the aerial workhorse of the government in terms of mercy and relief flights in the "Yolanda" battered provinces in the Visayas Region.

Okol also declined to comment on reports that fuel stocks of the PAF are running out.

"There's no announcement on that yet," he added.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=588982

DND to bid out P18.2 billion requirements for 2014 to 2017

From the Philippine News Agency (Nov 21): DND to bid out P18.2 billion requirements for 2014 to 2017

The Department of National Defense (DND) announced Thursday the allocation of P18.278 billion for its requirement and the military's on petroleum, oil, lubricants (POL) for 2014 to 2017.

The money will be sourced from the General Appropriations Act.

The four-year contract can be broken down into:

-AFP GPOL Requirements for NCR: P2,394,692,511.81

-AFP GPOL Requirements for Luzon: P4,578,070,573.80

-AFP GPOL Requirements for Visayas: P1,863,211,604.25

-AFP GPOL Requirements for Mindanao:P5,471,073,669.01

-AFP AVGAS Requirements Nationwide: P3,649,769,320,29

-DND GPOL Requirements Nationwide: P321,953,901. 82.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino-owned corporations or businesses or with those outstanding capital stocks or interests owned 60 percent by Filipinos.

Pre-bid conference is on Nov. 27 and bid opening at Dec. 10.

Both will be held at the DND Bidding Awards Committee Conference Room, Right Wing, Basement, DND Building, Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

Bid documents are now available at the Bidding and Awards Committee Secretariat for P75,000.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=589082

U.S. reiterates 'pivot' to Asia policy

From the Philippine News Agency (Nov 20): U.S. reiterates 'pivot' to Asia policy
 
The United States reassured its allies in Asia on Wednesday that its pledges to the "critical region" remain the centerpiece of its foreign policy.

No matter how many hot spots emerge elsewhere, Washington will continue to pay its "highest level attention" to Asia and deepen its "enduring commitment to this critical region," said Susan Rice, U.S. President Barack Obama's national security advisor.

Rice outlined the Obama Administration's rebalance to Asia, dubbed as a "cornerstone" of its foreign policy at an address in Georgetown University.

She also said Obama would visit Asia in April to strengthen U.S. ties across the region, after a canceled trip to Asia in October due to government shutdown.

Stressing security as an underpinning of all progress, Rice said 60 percent of U.S. fleet will be based in the Pacific by 2020.

"Our military presence in the region is vital, not only to deter threats and defend allies, but also to provide speedy humanitarian assistance and unmatched disaster response," said Rice, citing U.S. military aid to typhoon rescue operations in the Philippines.

One of the most pressing security goals for the United States is to roll back the threat posed by the nuclear program of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), said Rice.

The United States will continue to join with international partners, especially with China, to pile pressure on the DPRK to denuclearize, she said.

Rice threatened to expand both national and multilateral sanctions against the DPRK as "costs to future provocations."

The United States seeks to operationalize a new model of major-country relations with China, said Rice, adding that it involves managing competition while forging deeper cooperation on issues of common interest, such as the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

As many of Asia's most vexing security challenges are transnational security threats, the United States will increase its engagement with regional institutions like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the East Asia Summit, said Rice.

"America's commitment won't expire a few months or few years from now," she said, claiming that the United States will be a reliable, constant, strong and steady being in Asia for the long haul.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=&sid=&nid=&rid=589178

DND allots P216M to modernize PH Navy ship

From the Manila Bulletin (Nov 20): DND allots P216M to modernize PH Navy ship

In line with the on-going Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) upgrade and modernization, the Department of National Defense (DND) on Wednesday announced that it is allocating P216 million for the modernization of Philippine Navy’s BRP Artemio Ricarte (PS-37), one of the three Jacinto Class Patrol Vessels (JCPV).

BRP Ricarte was acquired by the Philippine government from the United Kingdom in August 1997.

Based on a notice released by the DND Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), the money being allocated for the project will be used to update the ship’s marine engineering upgrade.

This means development, design, operation, and maintenance of watercraft propulsion and on-board systems such as power and propulsion plants, machinery, piping, automation, and control systems for marine vehicles.

The project is phase 2 of the JCPV upgrade with phase 1 being the installation of the new Raytheon gyro compass, Sperry Marine Naval BridgeMaster E Series Surface Search Radar, GPS, anemometer, and EM logs completed in 2005.

An invitation to bid published by the DND said interested parties must have completed a similar project within the last five years.

It added that winning bidders must be able to deliver the goods or required service within 180 calendar working days upon the opening of the letter of credit.

Pre-bid conference is set on Nov. 22 at the DND Bidding and Awards Committee Conference Room, Right Wing, Basement, DND Building, Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.

http://www.mb.com.ph/dnd-allots-p216m-to-modernize-ph-navy-ship/

Foreign military aid relief efforts; AFP plans orchestrated program

From Malaya (Nov 20): Foreign military aid relief efforts; AFP plans orchestrated program

AFP spokesman Maj. Gen. Domingo Tutaan said 17 foreign armed forces, including the United States which has brought in several ships, are helping in the delivery of relief supplies to the victims.

 

He said other foreign countries that have sent military personnel and assets to the country are Japan, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Indonesia, Israel, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and Vietnam. 

 

Tutaan said the plan is to scatter these foreign troops so that all areas are serviced. American forces will reportedly focus in the worst-hit Tacloban City, Ormoc City and Guiuan town in Samar.

 

“There are too many of them, there are plenty of them so we have to orchestrate, so that there will be synchronization of efforts,” said Tutaan.

 

Yolanda hit nine regions after it made landfall on November 8, including three in the Visayas, with Tacloban the worst hit. Yolanda also left 3,982 dead. At least 1,600 are missing. Authorities continue to recover bodies and are planning to dig a new mass grave.

 

President Aquino returned to Manila yesterday afternoon after three days of visiting some of the devastated areas in Samar and Leyte.

 

Upon arrival at the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City, he proceeded to Pier 15 in Manila to inspect the loading of relief goods to ships that would take these to the typhoon victims.

 

Aquino earlier said that he would return to Manila only after he is satisfied with the situation on the ground, including relief and rebuilding efforts.

 

“The President noted the significant improvement in the situation. But of course, there is much work left to do,” said Ramon Carandang, head of the Presidential Communications Strategic and Planning Office. 

 

He said Aquino also has a number of important meetings in Manila, including a budget meeting.

 

Lt. Gen. Roy Deveraturda, commander of the military’s Central Command based in Cebu City, said the plan is to divide up the typhoon-hit areas and decide which military forces operate where, so that relief efforts would be maximized.

 

“We’re planning to ask the British Royal Navy to concentrate on the Western Visayas region to assess and deliver food, water and supplies to smaller islands... We already have the Americans in Samar and Leyte and Israeli doctors and relief teams in the northern tip of Cebu,” he said.

 

About 50 US ships and aircraft have been mobilized in the disaster zone, led by the USS George Washington, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The USS Freedom, a combat ship for coastal waters, arrived in Brunei on Monday en route to the Philippines.

 

A British destroyer anchored off Cebu and its helicopters were flying mercy missions to smaller islands, Deveraturda said. Once a larger British carrier arrived with seven helicopters, that would be the best platform for relief for the Western Visayas. A Canadian team with a C10 plane has been operating in and around the western island of Iloilo.

 

“We are doing another assessment of the affected areas to determine the needs and match them with our available resources. For instance, we have three Japanese ships with ground mobility and heavy equipment arriving in several days and we’ll look at where and how they would be effective,” Deveraturda said.

 

ORCHESTRATING EFFORTS  

 

Tutaan said the Philippine and foreign armed forces are organized under Joint Task Force Yolanda which was activated last Saturday. A multinational coordinating center was also put up in Camp Aguinaldo to coordinate the efforts. The task force and the coordinating center are headed by AFP vice chief Lt. Gen. Alan Luga.

 

“The general intent is to orchestrate all our efforts,” he said.

 

He said the task force was established also to “prevent a duplication of efforts, thereby not leaving any areas not being service.”

 

The task force and the center will be coordinating with the National Disaster and Risk Reduction Coordinating Council “to better synchronize and systematize the collusion of efforts,” he said.

 

“The primordial concern is to be able to bring the necessary relief and other necessities for the victims of typhoon Yolanda, to where it is needed. This is part of the national government’s efforts in order that all areas will be addressed and will be serviced as soon as possible and to start off later on probably, in the very near future, with rehabilitation efforts,” said Tutaan.

 

‘OVERWHELMING’ SUPPORT

 

The United Nations has expressed fears that some islands may still not have been reached by aid workers, but the government denied this.

 

“Basically, we’ve provided everyone with relief. What we are doing right now is sustainment,” said Eduardo del Rosario, executive director of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

 

He said government is getting   “overwhelming” support from the international community.

 

“We are now in the early recovery and rehabilitation phase,” said Del Rosario, adding the recovery and rehabilitation effort overlaps with the ongoing relief operations.

 

“While the relief operation is ongoing, we’re proceeding with the early recovery and the rehabilitation phase. While we are on the rehabilitation phase, we can undertake relief operation,” said Del Rosario

 

The government said on Tuesday 24,770 personnel, 1,306 vehicles, 104 ships and boats and 163 aircraft had been deployed. A total of 88 medical teams, 43 foreign and 45 local, have spread out across the region.

 

Asif Ahmad, the British ambassador to the Philippines, said the relief operations could last months, if not longer.

 

“How long would it take to grow a coconut tree?” he asked. 

 

NEW GRAVE SITE

 

Authorities are considering putting up a new grave site in Tacloban City to accommodate more cadavers that are expected to be recovered.

 

“The grave site is almost filled. That’s why we’re planning to excavate (a new one) near the burial site,” said Senior Supt. Pablito Cordeta, commander of the Task Force Cadaver which is in charge of recovering bodies.

 

Cordeta, director of the Bureau of Fire Protection in the Eastern Visayas, said the task force recovered 151 bodies in various sites Monday, and these were buried in the mass grave in Barangay Diit.

 

“Up to this day, our recovery operation is ongoing and we have information that many are still to be recovered in the area,” he said.

 

Last Saturday, the task force recovered 780 bodies, and 125 on Sunday. 

 

Aquino, before leaving for Manila, Aquino ordered officials to set up a tent city in Basey town, Western Samar for displaced residents.

 

From Basey, Aquino proceeded to Ormoc City and inspected the damage to the airport and the city hall. He also met with local officials.

 

He said he would return to Ormoc in a week and hold meetings with his Cabinet members on concrete actions that can be done for the city.

 

He also returned to Tacloban City and had a closed-door meeting with local government officials led by Mayor Alfred Romualdez, before returning to Manila.

 

‘BETTER’

 

Mayor Romualdez said “things are getting better” for the residents.

 

He said there had been difficulties in transporting the relief supplies. But now aid is coming to the city and distribution of food packs is fast, he said.

 

Romualdez, however, said he could not be sure if all families have been given relief goods. He said some families do not go to barangay halls when goods are being distributed. Some others go to barangays to which they do not belong. To avoid trouble, he said, personnel from the social welfare department give goods to everyone.

 

He said drinking water is also now available as water purifiers   have been sent to identified areas.

 

He said what the city needs are more portalets.

 

Tecson John Lim, city administrator of Tacloban, said the national government has been trying to do its best.

 

“The President has been through a lot. Perhaps some of the things he mentioned might not have been exactly prudent,” he said. “... I think he has seen and is learning to put this aside, whatever biases he might have had.”

 

‘MANY MORE PEOPLE’

 

The World Food Programme said it had reached 1.9 million people in need of food. “The reality is we know that there are many more people who have been impacted by the storm,” said executive director Ertharin Cousin.

 

“We knew that there were at least 2.5 million (in need of food) when we performed our initial assessment.”

 

Medecins Sans Frontieres painted a bleak picture across the Visayas, especially in Leyte.

 

In the hardest-hit city, Tacloban, it was clearing a car park to set up a tent hospital which should be up and running within days.

 

Health Secretary Enrique Ona said government is exerting efforts to ensure access to medical services, supplies, and even newborn care.

 

 http://www.malaya.com.ph/business-news/news/foreign-military-aid-relief-efforts-afp-plans-orchestrated-program

Obama seeks to renew Asia role with rescheduled trip

From InterAksyon (Nov 21): Obama seeks to renew Asia role with rescheduled trip

US President Barack Obama will visit Asia in April to push closer ties, an aide said Wednesday, after his earlier cancellation of a trip raised questions about US staying power.

Susan Rice, Obama's adviser for national security, acknowledged disappointment after Obama called off a trip in October to negotiate with Republican lawmakers who shut down the US government to stop his health care reforms.

Rice said Obama would make up with a trip in April, saying: "Our friends in Asia deserve and will continue to get our highest-level attention."

"No matter how many hotspots emerge elsewhere, we will continue to deepen our enduring commitment to this critical region," Rice said in an address at Georgetown University.

Rice said US assistance to the typhoon-hit Philippines, which includes the deployment of more than 1,000 Marines, represented a "broader pledge" to all of Asia.

"America's commitment won't expire a few months or a few years from now. The United States of America will be there -- reliable, constant, strong and steady -- for the long haul," she said.

Rice did not specify Obama's itinerary in April. In October, he planned stops in the Philippines, Malaysia and, for international summits, Indonesia and Brunei.

Even US allies quietly voiced concern over Obama's no-show, which offered an outsized role to Chinese President Xi Jinping at the meetings.

Obama, who spent part of his childhood in Indonesia, pledged in his first term to "pivot" US foreign policy toward Asia where the regional order is being transformed by the rapid growth of China's economy and military.

But in his second term, Obama has focused on Syria's civil war and easing hostility with Iran and the United States has put a priority on taming its debt after two wars and a recession.

Rice said that Secretary of State John Kerry, who has invested the most time in the Middle East since taking office, would return to Asia in December.

China welcome in trade pact

Rice said that the United States would stay true to its pledge to shift most of its navy toward Asia by 2020 and would pursue the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade pact that Obama hopes will shape the coming order in Asia.

Rice reached out to China, which in the past has called the trade pact -- which is also unpopular with much of Obama's labor base -- an effort to encircle it.

"We welcome any nation that is willing to live up to the high standards of this agreement to join and share the benefits of TPP -- and that includes China," Rice said.

But Rice also called on China to take action on US concerns including cyber-espionage. Earlier Wednesday, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a government advisory panel, urged the United States to consider tougher actions including possible sanctions to stop spying.

Rice also voiced alarm over China's disputes with its neighbors including US allies Japan and the Philippines, calling the tensions a "growing threat to regional peace and security and to US interests."

Rice urged all sides to "reject coercion and aggression" and renewed the US call for a code of conduct to govern disputes in the South China Sea.

In a potential indication that White House is thinking of its legacy, Rice hailed democratic reforms in Myanmar and tied them to Obama's outreach to the longtime pariah state since the start of his presidency.

"If progress continues, by the end of President Obama's second term we hope to have helped Burma re-establish itself as a regional leader and as a thriving, if nascent, prosperous democracy," Rice said, using Myanmar's former name.

But Rice said that Myanmar needed to do more to protect minorities including the mostly Muslim Rohingya and to ensure free elections in 2015.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/75270/obama-seeks-to-renew-asia-role-with-rescheduled-trip

China's hospital ship Peace Ark embarks on relief mission to the Philippines

From InterAksyon (Nov 21): China's hospital ship Peace Ark embarks on relief mission to the Philippines



China's state-of-the-art hospital ship the Peace Ark

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy's hospital ship the Peace Ark will depart on a typhoon relief mission to the Philippines on Thursday, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Wednesday.

With full-load displacement of 14,300 tons, the hospital ship has 300 beds, 20 ICUs, eight operating theaters, and can accommodate 40 major procedures a day.

"We hope its mission will help ease the lack of medical services in the disaster areas in the Philippines, as a token of Chinese people's friendship to the Philippine people," Hong Lei said at a daily press briefing.

The death toll from Typhoon Haiyan (local name: Yolanda) stands at 4,011, the Philippine disaster agency said Wednesday. The number of those injured has risen to 18,557, while 1,602 people remained missing.

China is keeping a close eye on the disaster and wants to help heal the wounded by sending manpower and humanitarian assistance, Hong said.

Besides the hospital ship, emergency medical and rescue teams of 16 rescue workers from the China Red Cross departed on Wednesday, he said.

A second batch will depart on Saturday and another medical team of 51 emergency personnel will depart "soon," Hong said.

Th China Soong Ching Ling Foundation (CSCLF) has provided 200 prefabricated houses, worth about 3.2 million yuan (about $525,000). Chinese humanitarian aid arrived on Monday and Tuesday in the central Philippine city of Cebu, a center for relief goods distribution.

The relief aid, including tents and blankets, was shipped by a China Eastern Airlines cargo plane and handed over to the Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development. It will now be sent to Tacloban, one of the worst-hit cities in the central Philippine province of Leyte.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/75276/chinas-hospital-ship-peace-ark-embarks-on-relief-mission-to-the-philippines

LIKE 'MINI-SUBIC' | DND to bid out P313.6-M naval project on Oyster Bay, near Spratlys

From InterAksyon (Nov 21): LIKE 'MINI-SUBIC' | DND to bid out P313.6-M naval project on Oyster Bay, near Spratlys

In a move seen to raise alarm bells yet again in Beijing, a Philippine defense department panel will open early next month bid documents for a P314-million project to modernize the naval base facility at Oyster Bay, overlooking the West Philippine Sea.

Philippine officials stressed Wednesday the improvements at the facility—touted to boost territorial defense and serve as shelter for naval warships, including those of the United States that is seeking an agreement to increase its military’s rotational presence in the country---are not directed at any particular country.

One official, however, described the envisioned look of the facility after the upgrade as like a “mini-Subic,” a reference to the now-bustling Freeport that for seven decades served as the largest US naval base outside the US mainland. Though the US base at Subic was dismantled with the defeat of a treaty extending its lease in 1991, Subic Bay has been hosting an increasing number of US warships on recreation and refuel trips the past few years.

The Oyster Bay area in Palawan, meanwhile, is just 160 kms away from the Spratly island chain,  an oil-rich area being claimed in whole by China and which includes the Philippine-occupied Kalayaan Island Group.

The Department of National Defense has set Dec. 2 for the opening of the bid documents of participating firms for the construction and improvement of the Oyster Bay facility, an undeveloped in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan, said an announcement issued by Assistant Secretary Efren Q. Fernandez, chairman of the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) for the Bases Support and Logistics System project for the Philippine Navy.

Fernandez did not name the firms expected to bid for the multi-million project.
Earlier, the commander of the Naval Forces West (NAVFORWEST), Commodore Joseph Rostum O. Peña likened the conversion of Oyster Bay into a naval facility as like building a “mini-Subic”.

The project has two segments: construction of pier and harbor at the Naval detachment (Lot 10) worth P237,121,130.22 with a timeframe of 406 calendar days from opening of the Letter of Credit; and construction of support naval facilities (Lot 11) worth P76,493,826.89 with 250 calendar days.

The bidding process began November 11 with the purchase of bid documents, followed by a pre-bid conference on Nov. 19.

The development of Oyster Bay is projected to be finished before President Benigno Aquino III’s term ends in 2016.

China the past 18 months has stepped up its incursions into the West Philippine Sea [how the Philippines refers to the South China Sea], maintaining both civilian and military ships in Ayungin Reef in KIG and Bajo de Masinloc (Panatag/Scarborough Shoal) in Masinloc, Zambales.

Deflecting criticism that developing Oyster Bay might be seen as an “in-your-face’ move by the Chinese, the spokesperson of the Western Command (Westcom), 1Lt. Cheryl Tindog, said the mandate of the Philippine Navy is to develop its naval facilities, and developing a place like Oyster Bay is not directed at any country like China.

Tindog said: “It’s for our territorial defense, for our internal security operations. Actually, that’s part of our mandate of territorial defense . . . It shouldn’t be surprising. What would be surprising is our failure to improve our capability for something like that despite the fact it is part of our mandate.”

She added that the Navy is “happy that these efforts to improve our capability in terms of territorial defense has materialized.”

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/75265/like-mini-subic--dnd-to-bid-out-p313-6-m-naval-project-on-oyster-bay-near-spratlys