West Philippines Sea Update

The Filipino fisherfolks may smile with the favorable news of granting the Philippines claim to disputed Kalayaan Group of Islands in West Philippines Sea by UN arbirtrary tribunal over other claims including most of China. However, rejoicing is yet far for us Filipino fishers lest all other claims obediently accept the ruling including China by way of dismantling its structures and facilities in the area as well as leave the group of islands waters, only then we can shout Mabuhay ! Meantime we must be continously vigilant to watching and protecting our sovereignties by pushing our government of what is must and necessary for the good of fishery sector in particular and the Filipinos in general ! ‘NO HISTORIC RIGHTS" ’Int’l tribunal invalidates China’s nine-dash line, massive claimsJuly 12, 2016 5:31pm The Philippines on Tuesday scored a victory against China in a landmark ruling by an international tribunal that invalidated Beijing’s massive claims in South China Sea. "The Tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the ‘nine-dash line’," the Permanent Court of Arbitration said in a news release. "[Although] two Chinese navigators and fishermen, as well as those of other States, had historically made use of the islands in the South China Sea, there was no evidence that China had historically exercised exclusive control over the waters or their resources," it added. The 501-page ruling was handed down in The Hague, Netherlands, more than three years after the case was filed by the Philippines in January 2013. The case, brought by the Philippines in 2013, hinges on the legal status of reefs, rocks and artificial islands in the Scarborough Shoal and Spratly Island group. Manila's 15-point case critically asks the tribunal to rule on the status of China's so-called "nine-dash line", a boundary that is the basis for its 69-year-old claim to roughly 85 percent of the South China Sea. The tribunal will not decide on matters of territorial sovereignty, but will apply the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in determining which countries can claim economic exploitation rights, based on geographic features. "PHL can seek assistance’ South China Sea expert Carl Thayer of the University of New South Wales, Australian Defense Force Academy said the decision "would give the Philippines, other claimants, Association of South East Asian Nations and ASEAN dialogue partners a strong legal and moral case to apply diplomatic and political pressures on China to comply." "[The Philippines] could legitimately seek outside assistance to protect its rights under international law," Thayer told GMA News Online. Despite the ruling, Thayer believes China will retain de facto control over these features “because it is the stronger power.” “Might makes ‘right’ and the Chinese apparently will continue to use coercion and force against the Philippines and other claimants,” Thayer said. Thayer warned that China “is likely to be isolated by the international community, including the major maritime powers ” if it will continue to defy the tribunal’s ruling. GOING BIG Under the 1982 UNCLOS, islands grant their owners a 12 nautical mile radius of sovereign territorial waters. Manila argued in closed court hearings that none of the islands, shoals and reefs in the Spratlys are large enough to grant an additional 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ) for fishing and extracting seabed resources. Prior to the decision, Hofstra University law professor Julian Ku said a decision on the nine-dash-line's legality would signal that the court's judges had "decided to go big." "If the nine-dash line were declared invalid, then in theory all the other countries would be emboldened," he said. The court has no power of enforcement, but the victory could spur Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei to file similar cases. Japan, which is involved in a separate territorial dispute with China in the East China Sea, said its military would closely monitor Chinese activity after the ruling. IGNORING THE RULING China had already said it will ignore the ruling. China has boycotted the hearings, saying it does not have jurisdiction over the dispute. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, asked how China would be getting the ruling, said it would have nothing to do with the court. "We won't accept any of their so-called materials, no matter what they are," Lu told reporters. China's state-run Xinhua news agency said the "law-abusing tribunal" had issued an "ill-founded award". In a dispatch from Manila, it said the award was made "amid a global chorus that as the panel has no jurisdiction, its decision is naturally null and void". The ruling stands to ramp up tensions in the region, where China's increased military assertiveness has worried its smaller neighbors and is a point of confrontation with the United States. CALL FOR SOBRIETY Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Secretary Pefecto Yasay called for sobriety from all parties involved. Yasay made the plea after welcoming the PCAs unanimous decision in favor of the Philippines for the historic rights and maritime entitlements in the arbitration case against the People's Republic of China. "Our experts our studying the award with the fairness that this significant arbitral outcome deserves," he said. "In the meantime we call all concern to exercise restraint and sobriety. The Philippines strongly affirms its respect for this maritime decision as an important contribution to ongoing efforts in addressing disputes to the South China Sea," Yasay added. Responsible member The United States and  other Philippine allies have called on China to comply with the ruling to show that, as an emerging global power and as a responsible member of the international community, it adheres to the rule of law. How the Philippine government under newly-installed Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte would act on the verdict remains to be seen. While Duterte said that he would not compromise the country’s sovereignty in its claimed features in the South China Sea, he has adopted a conciliatory tone towards China, saying he wants to improve strained ties with Beijing and is ready to negotiate bilaterally after the ruling. Such move is a departure from the position of his predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, which initiated the arbitration case, when China took control of Philippine-claimed Scarborough Shoal in 2012 after a tense standoff. —NB/JST withReuters

The West Philippines Sea: What lies ahead with Filipino Fishers ?

The Philippines has new administration and a new look with the issue on West Philippine Sea . With the last administration's diplomatic strategy in reclaiming [to us Filipinos, our sovereign rights over Kalayaan Group of Islands better known as Spratlys Islands,] and China's continous ignoring our claim despite some positive support from other nations, the impact is a burden carried on by our noble fisherfolks who were grabbed of their rich fishing grounds and consecquently thereby pinning them more to poverty. It is for a fact that most of these fishers experienced prohibitions from fishing to the or near the disputed area where in the past they caught fish abundantly.

The CHANGE is Here !

Today is the 30th of June 2016 and the Philippines got a new president after the recently held national election. More than 15 million Filipinos have chosen him from the other candidespite the tremendous effort of the last administration to push up its candidate and the popular controversial candidates. His battle cry CHANGE sweep the heart of the too many "not decent, well-bred and matitino" few + opportunity-authority-money faced pinoys. These too many people are pool of poors, dissatisfied, wary and real filipinos who were all shouting CHANGE in the forsaken Philippines. As President Rodrigo Roa Duterte take his oath, 5m+ and the balimbings once more wished CHANGE of their lives and the coated-cream Philippines !

EARTH HOUR 2016

Earth Hour is scheduled on March 19, 2016. We call every to join the global initiative of reversing climate change by starting to lessen carbon and other heat-holder gases in the atmosphere through an hour of candle light in minimum or a day of no electricity use. Though not enough to made an impact on the current global warming it is the best way of starting in the reversing struggle. Bear in mind EARTH is our HOME ! ! ! #MakeEarthaBetterPlacetoLivein

Of climate change and politics...

Media are drumbeating other nations step toward the use of renewable energy such as wind mills and solar energy. In the Philippine the government proudly presented the salt light yet there is no attempts in halting the use of coal for energy generation nor plans to boost other sources like solar or hydro.

Back to Blogworld

It's been quite some time since I was blogging or feeling I was .

Earth Hour, a success

(This is copied from the news picturing the event around the globe.)

From Sydney Harbour to the Empire State Building, cities and world landmarks plunged into darkness Saturday as a symbolic energy-saving exercise unfolded across the globe. The pyramids at Giza in Egypt, the Acropolis in Athens and the Houses of Parliament in London cut their electricity as part of "Earth Hour," a worldwide call for action to avert potentially devastating climate change.

Some 371 landmarks powered down worldwide, including the Eiffel Tower, Niagara Falls, the Las Vegas casino strip and Beijing's "Bird's Nest" Olympic stadium. The switch-off ended in Honolulu, capital of the US state of Hawaii.

The global event began dramatically as Sydney's iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge plunged into darkness on Saturday night, killing their lights for an hour, followed later by the glittering Hong Kong waterfront. Millions of people turned out in Sydney, while Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city, came to life with a pedal-powered concert and others enjoyed moonlit picnics and barbecues.

The global grassroots movement began in Sydney two years ago, when 2.2 million people switched off their lights. Earth Hour has since grown to include 3,929 cities, villages and localities across the globe. "It is a very positive, hopeful campaign," Andy Ridley, the event's director, told reporters in Sydney. We want people to think, even if it is for an hour, what they can do to lower their carbon footprint and take that beyond the hour."

Ridley said he was aiming for one billion participants, hoping the event would send a resounding message to world leaders about significant emissions cuts. Scientists have warned that global warming caused by burning fossil fuels on a massive scale could devastate the planet, hitting the poorest countries hardest with floods, droughts and disease.

Sceptics criticized the event as little more than empty symbolism, with Danish professor Bjorn Lomborg claiming the use of candles during the hour could produce more emissions than electric lights. But United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a video message earlier this month that "Earth Hour is a way for the citizens of the world to send a clear message. They want action on climate change."

Lights in the "city that never sleeps" began going dark at 8:30 pm (0030 GMT) at some of New York City's most renowned buildings and landmarks, including Broadway theaters, the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building and the signs of several big firms, including Coca-Cola's in Times Square. In Washington, campuses of major universities and several embassies flipped the switch. People gathered at Freedom Plaza, which has an unobstructed view of the US Congress, to watch the lights dim on nearby buildings and hotels. In London, the lights went off at the Houses of Parliament and the famous electronic billboard at Piccadilly Circus. In Paris, hundreds of monuments and buildings, from the Louvre and Notre Dame Cathedral to the Arc de Triomphe, all went dark. For safety reasons, the lights on the Eiffel Tower were switched off for only five minutes. Elsewhere across Europe, St Peter's Basilica in Rome and the Greek parliament in Athens were all plunged into darkness, while entertainers danced in front of the Romanian parliament in Bucharest. In Egypt, the Giza pyramids, the Cairo Tower and the Alexandria Library on the Mediterranean all went dark. In the United Arab Emirates, which has the highest per capita energy consumption in the world, Dubai's iconic sail-shaped seven-star Burj al-Arab hotel turned off its nightly multi-colored light show. The lights went dark in downtown Manila, as they did in the world's tallest completed skyscraper, the Taipei 101 building. In South Africa, Table Mountain was to be seen only by starlight for an hour. And the Weekender newspaper reported that one couple would turn the lights down on their marriage at a vineyard near Cape Town. The event ended in Honolulu, where municipal buildings darkened for the second consecutive year to mark the eco-friendly hour, according to local news reports.

A United Nations-led conference in the Danish capital later this year is meant to approve a new global warming treaty for after 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol for cutting carbon emissions expires.

INSPIRE

The 2nd East Asian Seas (EAS) Youth Forum, one of the major side events of the EAS Congress 2009, is fast coming. It's about the second convening of young participants from countries in the EAS Region, the first of which was during the 2006 EAS Congress. The Forum is a venue for young people in the region to learn more about pressing concerns in the marine and coastal areas, including climate change. It also hopes to strengthen the role of the youth in addressing these issues by providing them with some practical skills that they can apply when they go back to their own countries. The Forum will be divided into four major sub-themes: inform, inspire, involve, empower; adopted from the past YF's core principle, I3 = E.

Inspiring the youth to act, to get involve and to be empowered would mean molding them into a better personality with high self-esteem, self-confidence and self-understanding of what they can be capable to. Molding them into a better individual may be started from boosting their talents. This has to do with the psychological and social building of one's personality. and why are talking about this? Well the answer is simple, Youth especially those in rural areas has less convincing power and oftentimes, if not most of the times, shy and naive. If the youth and children have that confidence, social recognition and maybe fame it would be easier for them to inform, inspire, and involve people to act for changes.

We in ANAKBALAYAN is so happy that one youth participant in the first EAS Youth Forum, Ms. Cris Evert Lato, is indeed applying the EAS Youth Agenda 2006. Below are his brother's HENDRIX GIL LATO's Artwork.

"My 19-year old brother, Hendrix Gil, is taking up BS Architecture at the Cebu Institute of Technology। He was born in this world with a pencil in his left hand and a sketch pad in his right hand. A superb artist! Proud of you Badge!"

Isn't Hendrix art beautiful guys? Can you do it? Evert says the artist used simple art materials such as water color and liquid eyeliner.

Hey, do remember we help in exposing your talents. We can feature you too!

(You can add Evert in Facebook as friend too!)