FA-50PH arrival re-scheduled to Saturday due to bad weather in SoKor

From the Philippine News Agency (Nov 26): FA-50PH arrival re-scheduled to Saturday due to bad weather in SoKor

The scheduled arrival Friday of the country's first two FA-50PHs was moved to Saturday due to prevailing bad weather over South Korea.

The first two of 12 units of the fighter aircraft were scheduled to arrive at Clark Air Base, Angeles City, Pampanga.

This was disclosed by Department of National Defense Public Affair Service media officer Prime Berunia in an advisory Thursday.

"Arrival of FA-50PH tomorrrow (Friday) was re-scheduled to Saturday, same time and venue, due to bad weather in (South) Korea," he added.

The F/A-50 (the other designation for the FA-50PH) has a top speed of Mach 1.5 or one and a half times the speed of sound and is capable of being fitted air-to-air missiles, including the AIM-9 "Sidewinder" air-to-air and heat-seeking missiles aside from light automatic cannons.

It will act as the country's interim fighter until the Philippines get enough experience of operating fast jet assets and money to fund the acquisition of more capable fighter aircraft.

The F/A-50 design is largely derived from the F-16 "Fighting Falcon", and they have many similarities: use of a single engine, speed, size, cost, and the range of weapons.

KAI's previous engineering experience in license-producing the KF-16 was a starting point for the development of the F/A-50.

The aircraft can carry two pilots in tandem seating. The high-mounted canopy developed by Hankuk Fiber is applied with stretched acrylic, providing the pilots with good visibility, and has been tested to offer the canopy with ballistic protection against four-pound objects impacting at 400 knots.

The altitude limit is 14,600 meters (48,000 feet), and airframe is designed to last 8,000 hours of service.

There are seven internal fuel tanks with capacity of 2,655 liters (701 US gallons), five in the fuselage and two in the wings.

An additional 1,710 liters (452 US gallons) of fuel can be carried in the three external fuel tanks.

Trainer variants have a paint scheme of white and red, and aerobatic variants white, black, and yellow.

The F/A-50 uses a single General Electric F404-102 turbofan engine license-produced by Samsung Techwin, upgraded with a full authority digital engine control system jointly developed by General Electric and Korean Aerospace Industries.

The engine consists of three-staged fans, seven axial stage arrangement, and an afterburner.

Its engine produces a maximum of 78.7 kN (17,700 lbf) of thrust with afterburner.

http://www.pna.gov.ph/index.php?idn=1&sid=&nid=1&rid=831468

The Philippine Left and the 2016 elections

From the Asian Correspondent (Nov 25): The Philippine Left and the 2016 elections



Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is throwing his hat into the presidential derby and he is making the 5-corenered race a close call.Pic by Edwin Espejo

THE Philippine Left has always considered elections as a panacea and a cosmetic political exercise to address the basic ills of society. It sees the election as a non-violent means to resolve contradictions among the ruling elite.

As a matter of principle and policy, the Underground Left – meaning the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front – will never participate in a ‘bourgeois’ election.

But the tactical error in the 1986 snap presidential election that the CPP-NPA-NDF boycotted led to the chagrin of their leaders in the open mass movement. The boycott proved to be costly as it was left in the fringes of government immediately after the Marcos dictatorship.

With the opening up of the democratic space as a result of the EDSA popular uprising, the Left supported, if not organized, a political party and fielded progressive candidates from the ranks of its allies and leaders in the legal front.

Officially however, the CPP-NPA-NDF still did participate as it was still an illegal organization trying to strike a peace deal with the Corazon Aquino administration.

The results of the 1987 elections for the revived Philippine Congress proved to be less encouraging for the Left. It lost all its candidates that ran for the Philippine Senate under Partido ng Bayan while winning only two seats at the House of Representatives.

The Partido ng Bayan has since been dissolved and the Left continued to ignore the Philippine elections until 2001 when its allies first ran for party list representatives in Congress and won the maximum three seats allowed by garnering over 1.7 million votes.

Buoyed by the success of Bayan Muna, the progressive Left expanded its party-list base to include Anakpawis in 2003. It further widened to include Gabriela, Kabataan and Alliance of Concerned Teachers and improved the number of its party list representatives to seven in the 2013 elections.

In between, Bayan Muna and the coalition of allied party list organizations – the Makabayan – attempted to forge formal alliance with mainstream political parties and there had been informal tactical cooperation with individual candidates for national posts.

Senators Grace Poe (left) and Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero are front runners in next year’s general election. Pic: Edwin Espejo.

 

In 2010, Satur Ocampo and Lisa Maza were included in the line-up of the Nacionalista Party which fielded Manny Villar as its presidential candidate despite sharing the same slate with Ferdinand Marcos Jr who won as a senator.

Ocampo and Maza landed nowhere near the top 12 and lost, as did Villar.

Humbled by the failed experiment in forging formal alliance with established and mainstream political parties, then outgoing Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño decided to run for senator as an independent in 2013.

Casiño however also lost although he scored high in the emerging social media community.

Close call

The 2016 elections will probably go down as the closest presidential race in the post-Marcos era.

With five viable candidates vying for the country’s top position, a plurality of 30 percent of the total votes cast for the president could mean victory, in which case, the Philippines will again have a ‘minority’ president.

The entry of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte in the presidential race to crowd Vice President Jejomar Binay, former Aquino cabinet secretary Mar Roxas, senators Grace Poe and Miriam Santiago is giving the Left opportunity as well as debate where and how it should conduct its alliance work.

The Left has, at one point or another, had and continues to have tactical alliance and political relationship with Binay, Poe and Duterte. Roxas’ father, the late Senator Gerardo Roxas, was also a known ally during the anti-dictatorship struggle.

His son Mar Roxas however has not manifested the same attitude towards the Left. On the contrary, his political base and operators are known to be rabid anti-Left. Only Santiago did not have known and established relationship with the Left – both above ground and underground.

If the left were not so successful in forging tactical and working alliance with presidential candidates in the past, they seem to be the unintended beneficiaries of next year’s election.

With last term Bayan Muna party list Rep. Neri Colmenares the first to be announced as part of the senatorial line-up of the Grace Poe-Chiz Escudero tandem, it gives the impression that Makabayan will give its all-out support to the leading pair.

But Binay’s past relations with Bayan Muna and its allied organizations in Makati is something also worth looking into. Bear in mind that Binay has not issued any statement that would indicate he has beef with the Left.

 

Erstwhile presidential front runner and Vice president Jejomar Binay has slipped down in the survey. Pic: Edwin Espejo.

 

The Duterte ‘problem’

Then there is Duterte. Duterte is one of the very few local government officials who openly flaunted his ‘friendship’ with the Communist Party of the Philippines, offering slots to his slate in the election to known mass leaders in Davao City with leftist orientation.

It began in 1992 when the late Erasto ‘Nonoy’ Librado, then the Mindanao secretary general of Kilusang Mayo Uno, and Gabriela’s Nenen Orcullo were included in former Lakas ng Dabaw slate for the city council. Both won.

That tradition continued until 2013 and it appears it will go on again next year.

In all likelihood, the Left will have space in any of Binay, Poe or Duterte presidency.

Should Roxas win and his core of ‘yellow brigade’ continuing to hold sway in the political front, the allies of the Left could be marginalized.

But Roxas’ impetuous character and unabashed defense of his class origin could play into the CPP-NPA-NDF’s recruitment campaign.

Unlike Binay, Poe and Duterte, Roxas may not be in the mood to pursue peace negotiations and the war in the countryside could escalate, further polarizing the country. His indecisiveness will likewise give rise to the hawks in government who see the crushing of the communist insurgents as the ultimate objective of governance.

It could turn bloody but it will galvanize the position of the Left that the only viable option for all encompassing change in the Philippine society is armed struggle.

The Left attraction

What makes the Left attractive to all presidential candidates with a good shot at winning is its base of 4.3 million command votes which, in a close election, could become a decisive factor.

By accumulating and consolidating its electoral base over the years, the Left, while still incapable of winning a Senate seat let alone the presidency by itself, is now in the position of being able to sway and tilt the balance in the expected close presidential race next year.

No wonder Poe pulled the gun first by recruiting Colmenares into her Senate slate. In 2013, both Poe and Escudero courted the Left vote, running as independents but accepting guest roles in the coalition party led by Aquino’s Liberal Party.

Poe’s adoption of Colmenares came when Duterte had just announced he was then not running for president.

But with Duterte throwing his lot into the presidential race, the Left may be facing a dilemma in coalition building and alliance work.

Between Poe and Duterte, the latter has proven his consistency and has a long track record of accommodating the Left. He has in fact taken up issues propounded by the militants as his own.

His open support for negotiated political settlement with the communist insurgents is hard to dismiss as against Poe’s adoption of Colmenares and their very brief but still untested ties.

But it will not appear good if the Left will urge its forces and allies who have already made commitment to Poe. On the other hand, neither is it appealing not to support Duterte with whom it has a long history of political and personal links.

But with Duterte, the Left could extend its coalition and alliance work far beyond its political ties with the Davao City mayor.

It can revive and solidify its alliance with Manny Villar and the Nacionalista Party to add to Duterte’s PDP-Laban. Duterte is himself expected to get support from the majority of the Nationalist People’s Coalition. And if he can prove his ability to win, former President Joseph Estrada may decide to shift support for him.

If that happens, Poe and Escudero could end up without a political machinery. Nobody has won the Philippine presidency while running as independent.

Duterte, who in the 1st week of September before he first announced he is not running reportedly only has P60 million in campaign funds, is also not lacking in financial supporters.

He has admitted that aside from Villar, also expressing their willingness to give financial support to his p[residential bid are billionaire Enrique Razon of ICTSI, Lucio Tan of Philippine Airlines, Lucio Co of Puregold and even Gabby Lopez of ABS-CBN.

The possibility of being able to become a formidable and tilting force in the presidential election is both appealing and challenging for the Left.

The Poe-Duterte debate aside, the Left is in the best position to be a major factor in the presidential election for the first time ever.

http://www.asiancorrespondent.com/2015/11/the-philippine-left-and-the-2016-elections/

Lumads tell NPA to leave them alone

From the Manila Bulletin (Nov 25): Lumads tell NPA to leave them alone

Lumads, or indigenous peoples of Mindanao, want the New People’s Army (NPA) to leave them alone.

This was the stand made by Lumad leaders at a recent dialogue with local government officials on the occasion of the “Peace Walk” held at the Provincial Capitol of Sarangani province last week.

According to the organizers, the Lumad leaders “demanded that the communist NPAs be driven out of their ancestral lands.”

The Lumads also said the NPA and other organizations should even be made to ask their permission before they enter their ancestral land.

They also condemned the recent attack staged by NPAs at Sitio Akbual, Barangay Upper Suyan when they disrupted the construction of a school building donated by Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao by assaulting troopers of the 73th Infantry Battalion and barangay officials who were guarding the project.

In a separate statement, 102nd Brigade Commander Colonel Ronald Villanueva said that the communist insurgents did not want a school building to be built in the area because they wanted the Lumads to remain uneducated.

“They can be easily recruited if they are uneducated,” Villanueva pointed out.

But this was very much against the wishes of the elderly Lumads, he added, saying that they wanted their children to have access to quality education that is duly recognized and accredited with the Department of Education (DepEd).

Villanueva said that the construction of the school building must continue without the distraction from the NPA.

Tenth Infantry Division (10th ID) commander Maj. Gen. Rafael Villanueva also expressed his support for the Lumads in Sarangani.

“Our Lumad brothers and sisters want their voices heard. They are the ones truly affected by the attacks of the NPAs. We want them to benefit from the services that the government can provide them. Thus, we cannot allow the NPAs to terrorize the Lumads,” he said.

B’laan tribesmen joined the “Peace Walk” and came from their villages located in Upper Suyan in Malapatan town and from sitios Lower Kilotong, Balataan, Basyawan of Barangay Pagasa in Alabel.

“The Lumad walk started from the sitios until they reached the covered court of Brgy. Tuyan, Malapatan, Sarangani Province,” said Capt. Ryan Batchar, Army spokesman in the region.

http://www.mb.com.ph/lumads-tell-npa-to-leave-them-alone/

Ex-Red warriors live life as ‘marked men’

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Nov 26): Ex-Red warriors live life as ‘marked men’

Ellen Carandang lives a life in constant fear and there is no getting used to it.

Her anxiety level skyrocketed when communist guerrillas abducted and killed Mayor Dario Otaza of Loreto, Agusan del Sur province, a rebel-turned-peace advocate, and his son Daryl last month. Their bodies were found in a village in Butuan City.

“I’m afraid. Most rebel returnees are also in fear when we heard the  news of the killings,” Carandang, who once roamed the hills and forests of Southern Tagalog as a New People’s Army (NPA) fighter, told the Inquirer.

Carandang, along with 42 other purported health workers, was captured by policemen and Army soldiers in a controversial raid in Morong, Rizal province, on Feb. 6, 2010. They were accused of being NPA members undergoing training for bomb-making and were later dubbed “Morong 43” by media.

President Aquino has ordered the charges against them withdrawn. They were freed before Christmas that year, but Carandang and four others chose to remain with their military captors.

“Once an NPA leaves the movement then cooperate with the government and the military, he or she will be a target for liquidation regardless of the passage of time,” Carandang, 36, said in an interview arranged by Lt. Col. Randolf Cabangbang, spokesperson of the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division based in Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal.

“That’s the scary reality that we’re facing every day,” she said.

The woman now stays in Capinpin with her five children and tends a sari-sari store as a livelihood project. Though she and her family feel secure inside the military camp, she lives the reality that she is markado (marked for liquidation) by her former comrades.

“I want to give my children quiet and peaceful lives. But the rest of my comrades went back and rejoined the movement,” said Carandang, who joined the NPA in 2009 as a member of its armed propaganda unit operating in Quezon province. Her former husband is still with the rebel movement.

The circumstance behind the murders of Otaza and son and the manner of the killings bore marks of an NPA assassination, Carandang said. “He left the movement and cooperated with the military against the NPA, he is really a target,” she said.

Otaza and his son were abducted by men wearing shirts with the letters “NBI” and pretending to be agents of the National Bureau of Investigation on a mission to arrest the mayor. The next day, they were found dead in a mountainous area. Their hog-tied bodies were riddled with bullets.

Otaza, a rebel returnee and later became mayor of Loreto, became an outspoken critic of the NPA. He helped convince fellow indigenous people who joined the rebels to surrender to the government.

She urged all rebel returnees to always observe safety measures in all their movements. “The NPA would just let time pass but they will eventually return and kill us,” she said.

Aside from those staying inside Camp Capinpin, she said other former rebels had chosen to remain with the military in different parts of Southern Tagalog.

Cabangbang, the veteran spokesperson of Mindanao-based military commands before his current assignment in Camp Capinpin, said the executions of Otaza and his son signified one message—that candidates for the May 2016 elections all over the country should be ready to pay the NPA the so-called “permit to campaign” (PTC) fees should they want to campaign unharmed in rebel-controlled areas.

He noted that the victims and the manner of killings had attracted media attention nationwide.
“That’s the intention of the NPA killers—to gain widest attention to bring the message across. That they are still a force to reckon with and capable to inflict violence against anyone, particularly politicians, who will not give in to their demands,” Cabangbang said in a phone interview.

Candidates should not hesitate to ask for government protection during their campaign sorties, he said.

Last month, five suspected rebels were killed in an encounter with government troops in Nasugbu, Batangas province. According to the military, they belonged to an NPA unit from Mindoro island which moved to Batangas to start preparations for collecting PTC fees.

Three days later, the guerrillas retaliated and killed two Army soldiers in an ambush in Calaca town, also in Batangas.

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Visaya, commander of the Armed Forces Southern Luzon Command (Solcom), said the military would deploy more soldiers to Batangas to stop the insurgents from regaining their base and to maintain peace and order.

Visaya said Solcom was also ready to provide security to candidates against harassment and extortion by NPA rebels. He advised them not to give in to rebel demands for PTC fees. http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/742500/ex-red-warriors-live-life-as-marked-men

Philippine Air Force receiving South Korean FA-50 jets

From UPI (Nov 25): Philippine Air Force receiving South Korean FA-50 jets

The Philippine Air Force is receiving the first two jet aircraft ordered from Korea Aerospace Industries as part of its aircraft modernization program.



The FA-50 fighter and trainer ordered by the Philippines from South Korea. Photo courtesy KAI

The Philippines will receive on Friday the first two of 12 FA-50 Golden Eagle jets from Korea Aerospace Industries.

The planes, lead-in fighter trainers, will arrive at Clark Air Base, a former U.S. facility of the Philippine Air Force, as part of the PAF's modernization effort, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.

The FA-50, built by the Korean company with assistance from Lockheed Martin, has a maximum speed of 1,020 miles per hour and range of 1,150 miles. It can be fitted with air-to-air missiles, heat-seeking missiles, and light automatic cannons. It can also carry a variety of bombs.

"This is the first time that we will have supersonic capability since 2005 when our (F-5) jets were decommissioned, said PAF spokesman Col. Enrico Canaya. "This is the revival of the supersonic jet age."

The newspaper said the remaining 10 aircraft from South Korea are to be delivered by 2017.

The Philippines earlier this year sent three PAF pilots to South Korea to undergo training in operating the aircraft.

The delivery of the aircraft comes amid continuing tension between the Philippines and China over ownership of small islands off the Philippines and Chinese military construction in the area.

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2015/11/25/Philippine-Air-Force-receiving-South-Korean-FA-50-jets/8781448477968/

4 drown, 3 rescued in Bulacan river

From the Manila Times (Nov 25): 4 drown, 3 rescued in Bulacan river

Four teenagers died while three of their companions were rescued from a raging flash flood while swimming in a river in Barangay Matictic of this town Tuesday afternoon.

Bulacan Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) head Liz Mungcal identified the drowned victims as 18-year-old Lovely Lacaba and Nelson Godin; 14-year-old Butch Harold Nario and 16-year-old Christian Palen, all students and residents of Barangay Citrus, City of San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan.

Rescued were Daryll Aglosolos, 15; Lucrisiano Palen, 18 and Luigi Manaay, 17.

A report by Bulacan PDRRMO said the seven students were having fun swimming in Pugpog Bakas River located at Sitio Kanyakan at around 2:45 p.m., when raging waters swept them away.

The flash flood was reportedly caused by heavy volume of water from the mountains following heavy downpour on Tuesday.

The four victims were recovered lifeless at different deeper areas of the river.

Rescue teams from Norzagaray, San Jose Del Monte City and 48th Infantry Batallion of the Philippine Army Rescue Squad responded and managed to rescue only the three victims.

http://www.manilatimes.net/4-drown-3-rescued-in-bulacan-river/231185/

Enrile wants to beef up defense budget by P20B

From the Manila Bulletin (Nov 26): Enrile wants to beef up defense budget by P20B

Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile yesterday sought an additional P20-billion appropriation for the Department of National Defense (DND) in the wake of global terrorism affecting other countries.

Enrile made the suggestion even after the Senate agreed to raise the budget of the DND.

Senator Loren Legarda, Senate Finance Committee chair, admitted that the P116.2-billion proposed DND budget for 2016 is not enough despite a P250-million augmentation fund to the Office of the Secretary of the DND for its quick response fund (QRF).

The senator said there is a possibility the Philippines may find itself facing terrorism threats that European communities and other countries are dealing with right now.

“The strategic situation in the world and this region is not very encouraging for the country,” Enrile told reporters in an interview at the sidelines of the budget hearing.

“There is no perceptible threat now but it is possible, probable that as a part of the planet, we will be involved in the problems that are now occurring in Europe and in other parts of the world,” he stressed.

“You know these things, you cannot plan just tomorrow; you have to plan it within a certain frame of time,” said the veteran lawmaker.

He cited the downing of a Russian plane by the Turkish government straining relations between Russia and Turkey.

Add to that is the United States’ global travel warning due to the increased terrorist threats following ISIS attacks in Paris, France.

The Philippines, itself is, is trying to defuse tensions with China amid its aggressive reclamation activities in the West Philippine Sea.

“That is just the problem of terrorism, but this morning, Turkey shot down a jet of the Russians,” he said.

Asked how much augmentation should be given, he said it must be around “P10 to P20 billion.”

During interpellations on the DND’s budget, Legarda said she is open to augmenting the DND’s budget given that apart from the P250 million, the Philippine Army has put forward additional fund requests.

According to Legarda, the DND proposed a budget of P202.3 billion but the House of Representatives slashed their budget to P115.8 billion.

She said the Senate finance panel approved a higher budget of P116.2 billion.

“The chair is open within the limits of the P3.002-trillion budget to augment the budget of the Defense (department),” Legarda said in response to Enrile’s queries.

Enrile said there is a need to scrutinize the entire budget and “sacrifice some in order to protect ourselves.”

http://www.mb.com.ph/enrile-wants-to-beef-up-defense-budget-by-p20b/

Military in Eastern Visayas vows not to tag some journalists as propagandists for rebels

From InterAksyon (Nov 25): Military in Eastern Visayas vows not to tag some journalists as propagandists for rebels



Army commanders inspect NPA paraphernalia,7 November 2014. FILE PHOTO BY EDWIN ESPEJO

The Philippine Army in Eastern Visayas has vowed to treat all media practitioners fairly, including those who it identified as helping the rebels spread propaganda.

The military made the commitment after some journalists raised their concern that government troops are branding them as allies of New People’s Army (NPA), an armed wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

Army’s 8th Infantry Division assistant commander Lt. Gen. Remy Tejeras said that media practitioners are strong partners of the military in its campaign against insurgency. This is the reason why they shouldn’t be branded as NPA supporters.

“As media practitioners it is in their nature to always (seek) balance and (to) report the views of those against the government,” Tejeras added.

He also recognized that media is a strong partner of military programs as they provide information that helps familiarize the public on the military task of ensuring national security.

Tejeras said that his office is also educating the soldiers to be careful about branding progressive groups as fronts of insurgents.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/120664/military-in-eastern-visayas-vows-not-to-tag-some-journalists-as-propagandists-for-rebels

‘Shoebox’ aims to bring out a soldier’s smile

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Nov 26): ‘Shoebox’ aims to bring out a soldier’s smile

CHILDREN of indigenous people in the Sierra Madre in northern Quezon province receive shoeboxes filled with emergency kits. DELFIN T. MALLARI JR.

Organizers of Project Shoebox, a gift-giving campaign of a college sorority and the Philippine Army that has so far benefited nearly a quarter million public schoolchildren, have decided that they will be reaching out next to those outside of the box but close enough to it.

Members of Sigma Alpha (SA) sorority based in the University of the Philippines in Los Baños (UPLB) intend to honor and give recognition to their longtime partners—the Army soldiers—for their service to the nation and the people even in the midst of criticisms against men in uniform over lumad (indigenous peoples) killings in Mindanao.

Welfare

“We think it’s time that we have to also look at the welfare of our soldiers,” says Terry de Jesus, a UPLB-SA alumna and one of the original proponents of the project. “The idea is showing them that we don’t have to look far …. We wanted them to feel our appreciation for the heroism and unconditional support when they are needed wherever they are.”

Project Shoebox was started three years ago by the sorority, in partnership with the Philippine Army, in Camp Nakar in Lucena City. Its name was derived from solicited shoeboxes filled with basic school supplies and personal care items and distributed among poor students in remote areas of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

On Nov. 4, SA members launched Project Shoebox: “Bayanihan para sa mga Bayani ng Bayan” (PS Bayanihan) in Los Baños, Laguna.

De Jesus brushed aside criticisms against the Armed Forces of the Philippines for allegedly organizing paramilitary groups which were reportedly behind the killings of lumad leaders and human rights abuses in indigenous communities in September.

Though no one from among the donors have brought up the issues against their intended beneficiaries, she said the group was “ready with our answer that in organizations anywhere and everywhere, there would always be imperfections and flaws, strengths and weaknesses, and maybe because we do not give our military its due attention.”

“That is why we thought of turning our attention to them. Everyone needs to do their share in making a change,” she added.

So far, the project has benefited 219,000 students in 693 public schools nationwide, De Jesus said.

ts volunteers had also brought boxfuls of donations to students who survived Supertyphoon “Yolanda” (international name: Haiyan) and Agta children in the Sierra Madre mountain ranges.

In 2012, soldiers and sorority members lifted the Christmas spirit of more than 5,000 poor families through the “Noche Buena Mo, Nasa Shoebox Ko,” distributing boxes full of traditional holiday goods, such as spaghetti and ham.

Two years later, they repurposed the humanitarian mission and filled up shoeboxes with emergency kits given to communities in disaster-prone areas in northern Quezon.

Big businesses, such as National Bookstore and SM malls, supported the project. The cargo firm 2GO Express volunteered to transport the shoeboxes to the places of beneficiaries.

The project was conceptualized by Col. Thomas Sedano Jr., then commander of the Army’s 4th Light Armor Battalion based in Camp Nakar, in partnership with SA members after the sorority found that it had collected enough school supplies to donate to poor children but did not have the means to give these out.

Sedano, now deputy head of the Army’s civil military operations based in Fort Bonifacio, thought of the PS concept from a charity event he had seen while in the United States for his military schooling in 2007.

For PS Bayanihan, the proponents aim to fill the boxes with personal care and clothing items, reading materials and other stuff that the soldiers may need while on field assignments in Mindanao, especially those assigned to Sulu and Basilan. These could also be “personal notes of appreciation” to motivate them while they are far from their families.

Gratitude

Lt. Gen. Eduardo Año, Army commander, expressed gratitude to the sorority for giving extra attention to the men in the field. He invited other sectors to support the project.

“In the spirit of Bayanihan, our simple act of kindness and generosity will surely ripple in magnitude, awakening heroism within ourselves and inspiring others to become heroes that our country need,” Año said in a statement.

De Jesus said donations would be turned over to their Army partners in February next year for distribution on March 22 in time for the celebration of the 119th anniversary of the Philippine Army.

(Donations are received at Sigma Alpha office, DMST/Vanguards barracks in UPLB, any 2GO. [https://www.facebook.com/pages/2GO/107703842583583] outlet nationwide, and McDonald’s branch at Fisher Mall [https://www.facebook.com/McDoFisherMall] in Quezon City. Project sponsors may be contacted at 0906-7871807 or 0933-5609175.) http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/742494/shoebox-aims-to-bring-out-a-soldiers-smile

South China Sea feud puts Japan’s U.S. alliance, Asian partnerships under spotlight

From The Japan Times (Nov 24): South China Sea feud puts Japan’s U.S. alliance, Asian partnerships under spotlight



Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Barack Obama deliver remarks to reporters before their bilateral meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Manila on Thursday. | REUTERS

Jetting from Turkey to Southeast Asia in mid-November at a time when the U.S.-China rivalry is playing out in the hotly contested South China Sea, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has painstakingly painted a picture of an ever stronger Japan-U.S. alliance and a tight network with Asian friends.

During a series of regional summits in Kuala Lumpur, Abe defied Beijing’s objections to raising the South China Sea issue multilaterally and expressed his “serious concerns” over China’s massive land reclamation activities and building of outposts, and pointed to unilateral attempts to change the status quo at sea.

According to Japanese officials, Beijing’s muscle-flexing in the South China Sea, which is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes and believed to be resource-rich, has highlighted the need for Japan and the United States to be more engaged in the Asian region, especially in light of Japan’s new security laws, furthering their partnership in upholding freedom of navigation and the rule of law.

“I want to create a network (with like-minded countries), with the Japan-U.S. alliance as the cornerstone, to ensure peace and stability” in the region, Abe was quoted by Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroshige Seko as saying in his talks with President Barack Obama in Manila.

Pushing his policy of “rebalancing” toward Asia, Obama said he welcomes a forward-leaning Japan, which includes further promoting ties with India and Australia, and said his meeting with Abe was a way to “examine how we can work with some of the regional organizations like ASEAN in order to maintain the stability that has been the hallmark of this region.”

In past years, Japan has been proactively promoting a foreign policy that maintains the alliance with the United States while at the same time attaching increased importance to its engagement in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and with India and Australia, one of the officials said.

In Manila, Abe met with Philippine President Benigno Aquino III and they broadly agreed on a deal for the transfer of defense equipment and technology, and to assist the Philippines, which is embroiled in overlapping territorial claims over the South China Sea with China, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and Taiwan.

“Through cooperation on defense equipment and boosting maritime capability, we will equip ASEAN countries with skills to protect the sea,” Abe told ASEAN leaders in Kuala Lumpur.

Washington, for its part, has unveiled a plan to transfer two ships to the Philippine Navy, with Obama assuring his nation’s commitment to defending the Southeast Asian country.

China saw last month’s passage of a U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer within the 12-nautical-mile (22-km) territorial limit claimed by China at one of its artificial islands in the disputed Spratly archipelago as a provocation. It has frowned on involvement by Japan and the United States in a part of the world where they are not directly affected.

But Alexander Vuving, an associate professor at the College of Security Studies of the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, based in Honolulu, said, “China’s efforts to transform geography and rewrite the rules in the South China Sea cannot be kept in check without the involvement of powerful stakeholders such as the United States and Japan.”

While there are concerns that U.S. exercising its “freedom of navigation” has ratcheted up tensions in the South China Sea, fast becoming one of the world’s flash points, Vu-ving defended the U.S. operations as “necessary to maintain international law and balance of power” and “deter bullying behavior.”

“If the United States does not conduct freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea, China may think, based on what has happened so far in this region, that it can do whatever it wants, even in disrespect of international law,” Vuving said.

China insists its island building activities are civilian in nature, but smaller Asian claimants are uneasy over Beijing’s fast-paced land reclamation work and what is perceived as a “fait accompli” in the South China Sea.

“What is troublesome is that several years down the road, the territorial claims would be blurred because China has changed the status quo and no one was able to stop it,” a diplomatic source said.

India, which is becoming concerned about China’s presence in the Indian Ocean, also raised the issue in its summit with ASEAN representatives as well as in bilateral talks with Japan, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed Japanese participation in U.S.-India naval exercises.

Australia, another key partner for Japan and the United States, has also joined in expressing concerns over the South China Sea issue. On the same weekend, foreign and defense chiefs of Japan and Australia who met in Sydney for their “two-plus-two” security talks urged all claimants to “exercise restraint.”

The United States says it will continue the freedom of navigation operations.

Standing by Japan’s ally, Abe said at the news conference wrapping up his latest diplomatic tour that he “supports” the U.S. patrols.

Greater Japan-U.S. cooperation following the revision of bilateral defense guidelines in April and the enactment in September of the new security laws that expand the potential overseas role of the Self-Defense Forces does not automatically mean Japan will join the patrols.

“SDF activities are separate and our country will not join (the U.S. operations),” Abe said, adding that the SDF is not patrolling the South China Sea now and there are “no specific plans” at the moment to be engaged in such activities there.

While Japan is not directly involved, it regards the area as vital to its economy: It is a key shipping route for oil and other imports. Every year, $5 trillion worth of global trade passes through these waters.

Nozomu Yoshitomi, a Nihon University professor and retired Ground Self-Defense Force officer, said he believes the SDF has the capability to conduct joint patrols in the South China Sea, but whether Japan wants to use its limited assets in this fashion is another question.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/11/24/national/politics-diplomacy/south-china-sea-feud-puts-japans-u-s-alliance-asian-partnerships-spotlight/#.VlYdO7SFP3h

Fighter jets’ arrival set

From the Manila Times (Nov 24): Fighter jets’ arrival set

The Philippine Air Force (PAF) will finally have more force than air with the arrival on Friday of two of the 12 brand-new fighter jets that were ordered from a South Korean company.

The two FA-50 Golden Eagle lead-in fighter/trainer jets are scheduled to land for the first time on Philippine soil at Clark Air Base, PAF spokesman Col. Enrico Canaya said in a statement.

The aircraft, purportedly patterned after the US-made F-16 Fighting Falcon, was acquired from the Korea Aerospace Development Industries for P18.9 billion.

The rest of the FA-50 jets are scheduled for delivery by 2017.

The Golden Eagle has a rated top speed of Mach 1.5, or one and a half times the speed of sound and could carry a weapons load of up to 4.5 tons, according to the website airforcetechnology.com.

It said the aircraft can be armed with AIM-9 Sidewinder short-range air-to-air missiles, AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground tactical missiles, GBU-38/B Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM), CBU-105 Sensor Fused Weapon (SFW), Mk-82 Low Drag General Purpose (LDGP) bombs and Cluster Bomb Units (CBUs).

The FA-50 is also mounted with an internal, three-barrel 20mm Gatling gun and a rocket launcher.

“The wide range of weapon systems aboard the FA-50 allows it to counter multiple threats in today’s complex battlefield scenario,” the website said.

Three PAF pilots were sent to South Korea early this year to learn how to fly the FA-50s.

“This is the first time that we will have supersonic capability since 2005 when our jets were decommissioned. This is the revival of the supersonic jet age,” Canaya said as he referred to the moth-balling of the 10 remaining F-5A Freedom Fighter aircraft that were once the envy of air forces in the region when it joined the PAF arsenal in 1965.

The country’s airspace was virtually left defenseless after its decommissioning in 2005 as the Air Force had to make do with sub-sonic Italian-made S-211 trainer jets and Vietnam war-era propeller-driven OV-10 Bronco aircraft and SF-260 trainers that were reconfigured as light attack aircraft.

Early this year, PAF and the Philippine Navy took delivery of armed and unarmed variants of the Augusta Westland 109 helicopters as well as eight brand-new Bell 412 combat utility helicopters as part of the country’s revitalized armed forces modernization program.

The program, however, was mired in a controversy after The Manila Times exposed an allegedly anomalous transaction involving the acquisition of 21 refurbished combat utility helicopters as revealed by Rhodora Alvarez–whose identity was initially hidden under the code name “Joey”–who claims that she was privy to the deal.

The contract awarded to a joint venture between Rice Aircraft Services Inc. and Eagle Copters was eventually canceled by the Department of National Defense.

Alvarez is now under the custody of the Department of Justice Witness Protection Program.
One of the UH-1D helicopters that was delivered to the PAF before the deal was called off recently crashed in Sarangani province in Mindanao.

Crash investigators had reportedly ruled out human error in the accident where nine soldiers were hurt. The crashed helicopter was written off after it was declared beyond economic repair.

Subic naval base

 Defense department spokesman Arsenio Andolong early this year revealed that the FA-50 fighter jets, along with several frigates to be acquired for the Philippine Navy, would be stationed at the soon to be reopened Subic Naval Base, which faces the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

“They are ideal. [Subic] has a deep-water port, the runways are perfect for the FA-50,” Andolong was quoted as saying.

US President Barack Obama last week announced that the US would transfer another decommissioned US Coast Guard high endurance cutter to the Philippine Navy in a bid to beef up the country’s maritime security capabilities.

The Philippines is engaged in a bitter maritime dispute with China, which claims the entire South China Sea as its own by virtue of a nine-dash line theory, which Manila had questioned before a United Nations arbitral tribunal in The Hague (See related story).

China took advantage of the country’s weak military presence in the disputed areas by annexing territories and reclaiming land within the Philippines’ 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone.

http://www.manilatimes.net/fighter-jets-arrival-set/231032/

The Philippine Navy: Pursuing Islands of Good Governance

From The Diplomatic Courier (Nov 24): The Philippine Navy: Pursuing Islands of Good Governance (by Justin Goldman)



As an archipelagic nation, its maritime geography is a defining feature of the Philippines. As President Benigno Aquino III opened the Philippines Chairmanship of the Asia-Pacific Cooperation Summit (APEC) summit for 2015, he emphasized the importance of reforms built upon good governance. In the APEC Connectivity Blueprint for 2015-2025, it identifies the need for the organization to “help facilitate the efficient and effective operation of maritime transportation and shipments.” This is needed for the Philippines to realize the growth potential of its extensive marine resources. As it prepared to host the APEC Summit and as the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) moves towards greater economic integration, effective governance was identified as critical to thriving in this environment. The Islands of Good Governance (IGG) initiative is co-led by the Institute for Solidarity in Asia and the National Competitiveness Council, which launched it in March 2013. Twelve government agencies committed to this initiative in October 2013 and their progress as part of the IGG initiative will be on display during the APEC Summit.

The Aquino Administration has committed critical resources to the Navy as the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have sought to transition from an internal security focus to the traditional role of territorial defense. Less than a year after President Aquino took office in June 2010, Secretary of National Defense Voltaire Gazmin expressed his frustration with limited naval capability when a submarine was detected in the Sulu Sea but the country’s lack of assets made it unable to respond to the intrusion in a timely manner. Since then however, the Philippines has been steadily building its defenses as well as acquiring new platforms to enable it to perform its intended role as the “sentinel of the sea.”

Capitalizing on the IGG initiative is a sound way to continue this progress. The Institute for Solidarity in Asia and the National Competitiveness Council developed a solution tailored to the Philippines that builds on the concept of the balanced scorecard, a systemic approach to planning and management that seeks to better align the activities of an organization in pursuit of its vision and strategy. The outcome of the collaboration was the Performance Governance System, designed to evaluate government agencies by measuring their performance against established strategic goals.  In 2003, the Joint Defense Assessment between the Philippines and her treaty ally the United States found deficiencies in defense institutions, highlighting shortcomings in acquisitions and policy planning. Prior to the Aquino Administration the Philippine Navy was moving to address these areas, crafting its strategic direction and determining its desired future state, which produced the “Philippine Navy Strategic Sail Plan 2020.”

The Philippine Navy has a clear mission to “organize, train, equip, maintain, develop and deploy forces for prompt and sustained naval and maritime operations to accomplish the AFP mission.” Crucially, their mission is accompanied by their own balanced scorecard that groups strategic objectives into thematic areas such as personnel, organization, resources, and capability. With a key initiative focused on organizational reform, the Philippine Navy sought to get certified by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) by having its core systems and process achieve the ISO 9001 certification as a quality management system. This was awarded to the Philippine Navy’s Finance Center in January 2012, the first entity within the AFP or the Department of National Defense (DND) to achieve the ISO certification.  Measuring the pursuit of such objectives kept a focus on institutional reform and now 14 Philippine Navy units and offices have achieved the ISO certification.

In December 2012, President Aquino signed into law a revised AFP Modernization Act allocating 75 billion Philippine Pesos (around USD$1.69 billion) for capability upgrades over five years. With this injection of funds, in August 2013 the DND selected PT PAL Indonesia to build two Strategic Sealift Vessels for the Philippine Navy. These vessels will have the ability to embark two medium helicopters, around 500 personnel such as a Philippine Marine Battalion Landing Team, and the necessary logistics. The ships are on track for delivery in May 2016 and May 2017 respectively. As the Philippines will continue to contend with natural disasters, this amphibious lift will allow the Navy to rapidly bring essential humanitarian assistance to a crisis. Perhaps most importantly, the IGG initiative has led to the establishment of three research and development units in April 2013, including the Office of Naval Strategic Studies. As staff to the Philippine Navy Flag Officer in Command, Rear Admiral Caesar C. Taccad, they are responsible for conducting studies and providing assessments for Navy leadership to support strategy formation and decision-making. As Rear Admiral Taccad provided clear guidance on his intent upon taking command to remain focused on the Active Archipelagic Defense Strategy, the office is diligently working to refine this strategy document. The strategic direction is essential to the Navy’s achievement of its stated goal from the Sail Plan to be “strong and credible” in 2020.

[Justin Goldman is currently an Associate Research Fellow in Military Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore and a Young Leader with Pacific Forum CSIS.]

US raises military funding for PH

From ABS-CBN (Nov 25): US raises military funding for PH

MANILA - The Philippines is set to receive a "high amount" of foreign military funding in 2016 after receiving $79 million in bilateral assistance from the US this year, US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg confirmed Wednesday.

Speaking to ANC's Headstart, Goldberg said US President Barack Obama has promised that a big part of $140 million in foreign military funding in the region in 2016 will go to the Philippines.

"A good sum of that will go to the Philippines. We have upped our foreign military funding for the Philippines. It will be somewhere in the range of US$79 million this year. It was originally targeted at $50 million. And 2016 will be a high amount as well. It's increasing and what has been proposed is something called maritime security initiative in the region," he said.

The White House earlier said the Philippines remains the largest recipient of maritime security assistance, which is largely focused on "building the training and logistical base for expanding the Philippine Navy, Coast Guard, and Air Forces’ ability to conduct operations within waters off the Philippines’ coasts."

Goldberg also confirmed the US government will be donating two vessels - the research vessel R/V Melville and the US Coast Guard cutter, the Boutwell - to the Philippines next year.

US President Barack Obama earlier said the R/V Melville can be used for research in maritime areas, while the Boutwell can be used to beef up patrols in the West Philippine Sea.

Obama: US to give 2 more ships to PH

The ambassador said the two vessels will be donated to the Philippine government as part of the US' Excess Defense Articles (EDA) program to rapidly enhance the capability of the Philippines.

"The hydrographic ship, the research ship, will be here sometime in the middle of next year," he said.
He added the Coast Guard cutter will be transformed into a frigate by the Philippines and brought to the country by the second half of 2016.

Goldberg said that under the EDA program, equipment retired by the US military is offered to its allies. This is what happened to the BRP Del Pilar, which was formerly the high endurance cutter "Hamilton" that was commissioned into the US Coast Guard in March 1967.

The 3,390-ton naval ship was transferred to the Philippine government and commissioned into the Philippine Navy on December 2011.

"The Coast Guard cutter was highly desired by many countries but because of our close relationship with the Philippines, we decided... and the need here got the Philippines bumped up in the list. They are getting the Coast Guard cutter. There are costs involved. There are transfer costs, there are upgrades, there are training costs and those are incurred by the receiving country but the ship itself is donated," Goldberg said.

The ambassador said the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), which is now being questioned before the Supreme Court, will also be beneficial to Manila's territorial claims.



US President Barack Obama delivers remarks to reporters after touring the Philippine Navy's BRP Gregorio Del Pilar at Manila Harbor. Reuters

EDCA was among the topics discussed by President Aquino and US President Barack Obama last week.

Although the agreement is not directly tied to the West Philippine Sea, Goldberg said it will help boost US presence in the region and promote peace while boosting the military capabilities of the Philippines.

"EDCA is in the mutual security interests of both countries. The reason that it is in the interests of the Philippines is because of what we propose to do under the EDCA. We proposed more cooperation in terms of maritime security, an issue that has emerged as a new interest and a new challenge for the Philippine armed forces. We will be able to pre-supply equipment and put things here. We will be able to have rotational forces all on sovereign Philippine territory, these are not bases and not anything like what we have in the past," he said.

Goldberg said he is disappointed that China did not participate in the UN arbitration process with regards to its competing claims in the West Philippine Sea.

He said the US supports a peaceful diplomatic solution to the sea row, which is one of the steps agreed upon with the Philippines to ease tension in the disputed territory.

"And that's why the United States has supported the Philippines to bring that case even if we haven't made our claims ourselves, even if we haven't had any positions on the claims themselves. We think those should be settled in the context of international arbitration or through bilateral negotiation whichever way is done in a peaceful manner, not through unilateral steps," he said.

US President Barack Obama earlier said China must stop land reclamation in the disputed South China Sea and the West Philippine Sea. He said he and President Aquino "agreed on the need for bold steps to lower tensions including pledging to halt further reclamation, new construction, and militarization of disputed areas in the South China Sea."

"As President Aquino indicated, disputes need to be resolved peacefully, that's why the United States supports the Philippines' decision to use arbitration under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to peacefully and lawfully address differences," Obama said.

https://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/11/25/15/us-raises-military-funding-for-ph

Senators agree to augment Defense department budget

From the Philippine Daily Inquirer (Nov 25): Senators agree to augment Defense department budget



Sen. Loren Legarda is one of the senators who believe that the Department of Defense needs a bigger 2016 budget considering “multifarious threats” facing the Philippines. PHOTO from Office of Sen. Loren Legarda

The proposed budget of the Department of National Defense (DND) for 2016 did not only get the nod of the Senate on Tuesday but senators also agreed to raise its appropriation to address possible security concerns of the country.

No less than the chair of the Senate committee on finance, Senator Loren Legarda, admitted that the P116.2-billion proposed DND budget next year was not enough despite the P250-million augmentation contained in her committee report.

Legarda made this admission in response to a series of questions of Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile.

“Given the security environment of the country, Madam Chair, do you think that is really a budget reflecting the concern of the government regarding the security of the country?” asked Enrile.

“Considering the multifarious threats not only domestically but internationally and in the region Mr. President, I personally believe that this is not a sufficient budget,” Legarda said.

READ: PH in record defense spending plan amid China tensions | DND hoping for approval of P25-B military budget

“In fact as we know, there had been already AFP modernization program to my mind, the first has not yet been fulfilled by Congress. In fact, there’s a second modernization plan which we are funding and so I’m certain that the National Defense establishment will say that they will make do with present resources allocated by Congress,” she added.

Legarda also pointed out that the DND’s proposed budget to the Department of Budget and Management was P202.3 billion but it was slashed to P115.8 billion at the House of Representatives. Her committee approved a higher budget of P116.2 billion.

“So if it’s not enough, is the chair of the finance committee defending and presenting this budget agreeable to augmenting the budget of this department in order to secure the safety and security of the Filipino people, given the (present) security environment of the country?” Enrile asked again.

“Of course, Mr. President. In fact before your interpellation and during the weekend when we were working, I already augmented their budget based on the amendments presented and contained in my committee report today and that includes a P250 million to the Office of the Secretary DND QRF (quick response fund) which was not grated by Congress for year 2015,” Legarda said.

“Apart from the P250 million, there were other requests of the Philippine Army… however, this is still not enough Mr. President. The chair is open within the limits of the P3.002 trillion budget to augment the budget of the Defense,” she added.

Enrile then saw the need to scrutinize the entire budget and “sacrifice some in order to protect ourselves.”

Legarda agreed to Enrile’s proposal, saying that “At a proper time, I would be happy to receive amendments from my colleagues or realignments from other agencies for augmentation to the defense budget.”
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/742312/senators-agree-to-augment-defense-department-budget

Suspected NPA leader in Bicol nabbed in Cavite

From GMA News (Nov 25): Suspected NPA leader in Bicol nabbed in Cavite

Police and military operatives arrested on Wednesday an alleged top leader of the New People's Army in Bicol.

Col. Cesar Idio, commander of the Philippine Army's 903rd Infantry Brigade, said Andres Hubilla alias Ka Magno was captured in Trece Martirez City, Cavite.

Idio said Hubilla is a member of the Bicol Regional Party Committee (BRPC) and a former secretary of Komiteng Probinsya ng Sorsogon (KOMPROB SORSOGON).

The suspect is facing charges of murder and attempted murder at the Regional Trial Court of Sorsogon.

Idio said seized from Hubilla during the arrest were hand grenades, cellphones and documents with alleged high intelligence value. 

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/545742/news/regions/suspected-npa-leader-in-bicol-nabbed-in-cavite