Tag: Manila

Former Florida Congressional Candidate Charged for Election-Related Threat

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A former Florida congressional candidate was charged for an election-related threat to kill his primary opponent, U.S. Representative Anna Paulina Luna.

An indictment was recently unsealed charging the Florida Republican with threatening to kill his primary opponent in the 2021 election for the 13th Congressional District of Florida and a private citizen and acquaintance of his opponent.

According to the indictment, 41-year-old William Robert Braddock III, of St. Petersburg, and Victim 1 were candidates in the Republican primary election to represent the 13th Congressional District of Florida in the U.S. House of Representatives. Victim 2 was a private citizen and acquaintance of Victim 1.

According to 2021 court documents, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna reported that Braddock was stalking her and wanted her dead.

On June 8, 2021, Braddock made several threats to injure and kill Victim 1 and Victim 2 during a telephone call with Victim 2. Specifically, Braddock threatened, in part, to “call up my Russian-Ukrainian hit squad” and make Victim 1 disappear. After making the threats, Braddock left the United States and was later found to be residing in the Philippines. Braddock was recently deported from the Philippines to the United States and made his first court appearance in Los Angeles.

The former Republican Florida congressional candidate is charged with one count of interstate transmission of a true threat to injure another person. If convicted, Braddock faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg for the Middle District of Florida made the announcement.

The FBI Tampa Field Office is investigating the case with support from the St. Petersburg Police Department. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs, FBI’s Office of the Legal Attaché in Manila, and U.S. Marshals Service provided substantial assistance. The investigation also benefited from foreign law enforcement cooperation provided by the Philippine Department of Justice and Philippine Bureau of Immigration.

Trial Attorney Alexandre Dempsey of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section (PIN) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Carlton Gammons for the Middle District of Florida are prosecuting the case.

This case is part of the Justice Department’s Election Threats Task Force. Announced by Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and launched by Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in June 2021, the task force has led the department’s efforts to address threats of violence against election workers, and to ensure that all election workers — whether elected, appointed, or volunteer — are able to do their jobs free from threats and intimidation. The task force engages with the election community and state and local law enforcement to assess allegations and reports of threats against election workers, and has investigated and prosecuted these matters where appropriate, in partnership with FBI Field Offices and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices throughout the country. Three years after its formation, the task force is continuing this work and supporting the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and FBI Field Offices nationwide as they carry on the critical work that the task force has begun.

Under the leadership of Deputy Attorney General Monaco, the task force is led by PIN and includes several other entities within the Justice Department, including the Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, Civil Rights Division, National Security Division, and FBI, as well as key interagency partners, such as the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

To report suspected threats or violent acts, contact your local FBI office and request to speak with the Election Crimes Coordinator. You may also contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324) or file an online complaint.

Complaints submitted will be reviewed by the task force and referred for investigation or response accordingly. If someone is in imminent danger or risk of harm, contact 911 or your local police immediately.

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October 14, 2024
Indonesia arrests a fugitive former Filipino town mayor wanted for illegal online gaming scams

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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A dismissed town mayor who fled the Philippines after being accused of helping establish an illegal online gaming and scam center catering mostly to clients in China has been arrested near Indonesia’s capital, officials said Wednesday.

Indonesian authorities arrested Alice Guo at a house in Jakarta’s satellite city of Tangerang just before midnight on Tuesday, according to Khrisna Murti, chief of the international division of the National Police.

Guo was in custody and awaiting deportation to the Philippines, Murti said, adding that her arrest was the result of “cooperation between Indonesian and Filipino’s police.”

Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. thanked the Indonesian authorities.

“Let this serve as a warning to those who attempt to evade justice,” Marcos said and added that arrangements were being made to bring Guo back to the Philippines where she faces a slew of criminal charges.

After Guo fled the Philippines in July, she was tracked in Malaysia and Singapore before turning up in Indonesia. Two companions, who reportedly slipped out of the Philippines with her without going through normal immigration and clearing procedures, were recently arrested in Indonesia.

Guo ran as a Filipino candidate in 2022 elections and won as mayor of the rural town of Bamban in Tarlac province north of Manila. She was accused of helping establish a massive complex with several buildings near the town hall as a hub for an illegal online gambling and scam outfit that catered mostly to clients in China, where gambling is forbidden.

A Senate committee ordered Guo arrested after she refused to appear in hearings looking into the illegal gambling business that flourished under Marcos’s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who nurtured cozy ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping while often criticizing the United States and European countries.

Guo has also been accused of concealing her Chinese nationality to run for public office, which is reserved for Filipino citizens only. At the time, a few senators suggested she may be working as a Chinese spy.

Guo has denied any wrongdoing but was dismissed from her post for grave misconduct by the Ombudsman, an agency that investigates and prosecutes government officials accused of crimes, including graft and corruption.

In July, Marcos ordered an immediate ban on widespread and mostly Chinese-run online gaming operations, accusing them of involvement in human trafficking, torture, kidnappings and murder.

The crackdown on the Chinese-run online gambling outfits — estimated to number more than 400 across the Philippines and employing tens of thousands of Chinese and Southeast Asian nationals — was backed by Beijing.

It resulted in the shutdown in the Philippines of sprawling complexes, where authorities suspect thousands of Chinese, Vietnamese and other nationals mostly from Southeast Asia have been illegally recruited and forced to work in dismal conditions.

Philippine senators say the massive online gambling industry has flourished largely due to corruption in government regulatory agencies and big payoffs to officials.

Indonesia and the Philippines signed an extradition agreement in 1976.

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Gomez reported from Manila, Philippines. Associated Press writer Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.

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September 5, 2024
Indonesia deports an ex-Philippine town mayor accused in Manila of cybercrimes

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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia on Thursday deported a dismissed Philippine town mayor accused in Manila of helping establish an illegal online gaming and scam center and evading an investigation by the Philippine Senate.

Alice Guo, 34, will continue her legal process in Manila, according to a written statement from Indonesia’s Law and Human Rights Ministry’s Directorate General of Immigration.

Indonesian police arrested Guo Tuesday in the outskirts of Jakarta. In exchange, Indonesian authorities hope that the Philippines will repatriate Australian Gregor Johann Haas, one of Indonesia’s most-wanted drug suspects, who was arrested in central Philippines in May.

Guo was scheduled to undergo a medical checkup at the police headquarters before being handed to the Philippine Senate.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. thanked Indonesia Wednesday for the arrest of Guo, who was accused in the Philippines of helping establish an illegal online gaming and scam center catering mostly to clients in China.

Guo was also accused of being a Chinese spy and of faking her Filipino citizenship, which allowed her to be elected in 2022 as mayor of the rural town of Bamban in Tarlac province north of Manila.

Guo, who denied wrongdoing, was dismissed from her post for grave misconduct by the Ombudsman, a Philippine agency that investigates and prosecutes government officials accused of crimes including graft and corruption.

After Guo fled the Philippines in July, she was tracked in Malaysia and Singapore before turning up in Indonesia. Two companions, who reportedly slipped out of the Philippines with her, were recently arrested in Indonesia and immediately deported to the Philippines.

In July, Marcos ordered a ban on widespread and mostly Chinese-run online gaming operations, accusing them of involvement in human trafficking, torture, kidnappings and murder.

Khrisna Murti, chief of the international division of the national police, said Wednesday in Jakarta that “exchange efforts are still being negotiated” over the return of Haas.

Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos and Philippine National Police chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil flew to Jakarta Thursday to hold talks with their Indonesian counterparts.

Asked about the reported detainee swap, Indonesian Ambassador to Manila Agus Widjojo told the state-run People’s Television Network that “the talks have only just started” Thursday.

Haas, reportedly the father of a rugby star in Australia, has been described by the Bureau of Immigration in Manila as a “a high-profile fugitive for being an alleged member of the Sinaloa cartel, a large international organized crime syndicate based in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico that specializes in drug trafficking and money laundering activities.”

Indonesian authorities alleged that in December Haas tried to smuggle into Indonesia a shipment of floor ceramics filled with more than five kilograms (11 pounds) of methamphetamine, a highly addictive stimulant which is prohibited in Indonesia and the Philippines.

Australia, which had abolished the death penalty, is concerned that Haas may potentially face capital punishment if he’s repatriated to Indonesia, a Philippine official told the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.

Under Indonesia’s strict drug law, Haas could face the death penalty by firing squad.

Australia’s extradition law doesn’t allow anyone to be extradited to a country that would execute that person regardless of nationality.

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Associated Press writer Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines, and Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia are contributed to this report.

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September 5, 2024
NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week

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A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

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Video of a post office on fire in the Philippines misrepresented as library in France during riots

CLAIM: A video shows a major library in France burning during riots sparked by the police killing of a 17-year-old.

Oregon Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek has appointed a new secretary of state. LaVonne Griffin-Valade will take over from Shemia Fagan, who resigned in May after coming under fire for her consultancy work for a marijuana business.

Oregon’s most populous county is suing more than a dozen fossil fuel companies to recover costs related to extreme weather events.

Oregon lawmakers are rushing to approve hundreds of bills and a budget for the next two years before the legislative session ends on Sunday.

Oregon lawmakers have passed amended versions of the two bills that were at the center of a six-week Republican walkout.

THE FACTS: While the facade of a library in Marseille was reportedly vandalized during the unrest, the widely shared video shows the fiery destruction of a historic post office in the Philippines in May. Social media users are nevertheless claiming the video shows a storied library in France set ablaze by rioters during the European nation’s unrest. The dramatic aerial footage shows a massive structure with Roman-style columns along the water fully engulfed in flames. “France’s national library being culturally enriched,” wrote one user on Instagram who shared the video. “How do you feel about the arson attack on the Bibliothèque nationale de France?” “Now this is tragic. I’m truly shocked and can’t comprehend this. The biggest library in France (in Marseille) burnt down by rioters,” wrote a Twitter user who also shared the video. The footage actually shows a massive fire in the Philippines that tore through the Central Post Office in the capital city of Manila on May 22. News reports at the time, including from The Associated Press, feature similar video clips of the classically-designed building with flames and dark billowy smoke pouring out. Spokespersons for Manila’s Public Information Office, which provided the aerial footage to the AP, confirmed the video being widely shared showed the Central Post Office burning in May. Elodie Vincent, a spokesperson for France’s National Library, also confirmed in an email that the Parisian library was unharmed during the unrest. What’s more, the exteriors and locations of the two French libraries referenced in social media posts are vastly different from that of the five-story Manila post office, which sits along the banks of the Pasig River. France’s National Library is a lower slung building built in the Beaux Arts style that’s located a few blocks away from the Seine, near the Jardin du Palais Royal. The Alcazar Library is similarly located blocks away from the waterfront, in Marseille’s central commercial district. The library reopened Tuesday after its front windows were shattered and entry vandalized by rioters, according to local news reports.

— Associated Press writer Philip Marcelo in New York contributed this report.

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A video of an Australian parking lot fire is being misrepresented as a protest in Marseille

CLAIM: A video shows a parking lot of cars that was set on fire by protesters in Marseille, France.

THE FACTS: The video shows a fire at an auction yard in Perth, Australia, in April. The dramatic footage showing dozens of cars going up in flames spread on social media this week, following violent unrest in France after the fatal police shooting of a 17-year-old in suburban Paris. The video shows a large parking lot with vehicles stacked three levels high on racks. One section of the yard is completely engulfed in flames, and loud pops can be heard as sparks erupt from cars on the top level. “Marseille: Rioters set fire to a parking lot filled with brand new vehicles,” read one tweet shared hundreds of times. While there is real footage of cars set ablaze during the recent protests, this video was taken several months earlier and on the other side of the planet. A reverse image search shows the footage matches a clip posted to Twitter on April 28 of a fire at a lot owned by Pickles, an Australian auction house. The Twitter user, Jacey Knowles, confirmed to The Associated Press that she took the video near her home in Bibra Lake, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Pickles said in a statement at the time that a fire had broken out that day at a storage yard housing salvage vehicles in Bibra Lake. Kelly Drew, a spokesperson for Pickles, said in an email Monday that the video circulating on social media this week looks like the same fire, pointing to an article in The West Australian newspaper that showed similar footage from a different angle. The footage also matches imagery on Google Maps of the lot. One other clue gives away the video’s real location: People can be heard speaking in Australian accents in the background.

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Oregon does not have more registered voters than residents, despite claims

CLAIM: Oregon has more registered voters than state residents.

THE FACTS: The population of Oregon is more than 4 million, according to the most recent U.S. Census, while state election records show approximately 3.2 million people are eligible to vote in the state and approximately 2.99 million are actually registered. Social media users falsely claimed the state now has more registered voters than people because of HB 2691, a 2021 law that requires county officials to mail a notice to voters 75 days prior to an election if their registration has been deemed inactive. It also prohibits voters from being classified as inactive for not voting or updating their voter registration. “Thanks to the Democrat Super Majority in 2021, Oregon has more registered and active voters than the entire population of the state,” wrote one Instagram user, sharing a clip that claims voter registration data “by county” shows more than 4.2 million “active voters.” “This indicates a major problem and possibility that we may have hundreds of thousands of phantom voters.” But the population of Oregon remains sizably larger than the total number of people eligible to vote in the state and the number of those actually registered is smaller than both figures, according to federal census and state voter records. During last November’s election, the northwestern state had a total population of 4,266,560, of which 3,190,451 were eligible to vote, according to a report at the time from the Oregon Secretary of State’s office, which oversees elections. Of those eligible, 2,985,820 had actually registered to vote. The number of registered voters has inched up slightly since to 2,987,447, according to the most recent county-by-county breakdown of voter registration data released by the office last month. But that’s still nowhere close to the 4,237,256 counted in the 2020 Census, let alone the more recent population estimates cited in the state’s post-election report. Ben Morris, a spokesperson for the secretary of state’s office, also rejected the notion floated in one of the social media posts that county level data contradicts the state figures and shows evidence of so-called “phantom voters.” “This is false. The state keeps the voter registration list and there is no ‘county’ data that isn’t represented in the numbers I gave you earlier,” he wrote, referencing the June voter registration report. Brian Van Bergen, elections and recording manager for Marion County, which includes the state capital of Salem, confirmed Oregon’s voter registration system is a single database used by all 36 counties in the state. “The thought that county-level data is somehow different than statewide data is completely false,” he wrote in an email. “It is all the same data.” Officials also disputed the notion that HB 2681 prohibited elections officials from updating voter rolls and automatically turned all inactive voter registrations into active voter registrations. “Oregon still updates voter registration lists continuously to remove deceased people, people who move and people who become ineligible for other reasons,” wrote Morris.

— Philip Marcelo

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Fabricated image tweeted by a Russian embassy shows a made-up Politico article about Ukraine

CLAIM: A screenshot shows a Politico article about the war in Ukraine titled, “20 000 000 lives for the sake of freedom,” which reported that Ukraine will need to sacrifice tens of millions of lives to win its war against Russia.

THE FACTS: The screenshot of the article is fabricated and the news outlet has never published such a story, a spokesperson for Politico confirmed to The Associated Press. Russia’s embassy in South Africa tweeted the falsified image this week, suggesting that the political news outlet had published the article to its website. “#Ukraine will need 20 000 000 lives to ‘return’ territories – Politico,” reads the post. “As they have already said, #NATO is pushing a war to be fought until the last Ukrainian.” The fabricated image mimics how an article would look if viewed on Politico’s website from a mobile device. It includes the outlet’s logo and a tag above the headline that reads, “Research,” but the text is also full of grammar and punctuation errors. For example, the headline, which reads, “20 000 000 lives for the sake of freedom,” is missing two commas. “And this, as turned out is almost the entire working-age population,” reads a subheadline, which leaves out the word “it,” among other mistakes. Searches on Politico’s website show no record of such an article and Melissa Cooke, a spokesperson for the outlet, confirmed in an email to the AP that “this article was not published by POLITICO.” The Embassy of the Russian Federation in the Republic of South Africa did not immediately respond to a request for comment about its tweet.

— Associated Press writer Melissa Goldin in New York contributed this report.

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Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck

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July 12, 2023
Inferno tears through Manila’s historic Central Post Office | CNN

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Hong Kong
CNN
—

A massive fire broke out at the historic Manila Central Post Office in the Philippine capital late Sunday, with teams of fire fighters battling for more than seven hours through the night before it was finally brought under control.

The fire started around 11:45 p.m. local time and the situation was raised to the highest fire alarm level just before 6 a.m on Monday morning, according to the Bureau of Fire Protection.

The blaze was brought under control around 7 a.m., leaving behind a charred roof and upper levels of the structure.

Pictures and footage showed flames and thick smoke billowing from the windows of the neoclassical building, known for its grand entry lined with ornate columns.

The building sits within the historic old Manila town near other tourist landmarks along the Pasig River that flows through the capital.

The post office was first built in 1926 and designed by Filipino architects Juan M. Arellano and Tomás Mapúa. It was severely damaged during World War II but rebuilt in 1946, preserving most of its original edifice.

It was declared an “important cultural property” in 2018, meaning the country’s oldest post office was of “exceptional cultural, artistic, and historical significance to the Philippines,” according to CNN affiliate CNN Philippines.

The building currently houses the Philippine Postal Corporation, the government-run postal service that handles everything from regular mail, parcels and special stamp collections.

Mark Laurente, chief of staff of the postmaster general, said that national identification cards were spared from the fire as those were stored in another city, CNN Philippines reported Monday morning.

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May 21, 2023
The Philippines will briefly shut its airspace later this month in a bid to tackle recent airport outages | CNN

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Editor’s Note: Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel’s weekly newsletter. Get news about destinations opening, inspiration for future adventures, plus the latest in aviation, food and drink, where to stay and other travel developments.

Hong Kong
CNN
—

“It’s more fun in the Philippines” is the tourism tagline that draws travelers from around the globe to explore the country’s pristine beaches and lush mountains.

But getting there is not always a smooth journey, as anyone unfortunate enough to be at Manila’s airport during two crippling power outages this year discovered.

Those outages, on Labor Day and New Year’s Day, caused widespread chaos with hundreds of flight cancellations affecting tens of thousands of passengers.

In a bid to solve that issue, the Philippines will close the whole country’s airspace for 6 hours on May 17 to replace malfunctioning electrical equipment.

“It’s the entire Philippine airspace that will be shut down,” Bryan Co, senior assistant general manager at the Manila International Airport Authority, said in a press briefing on Tuesday.

The work will replace the uninterruptible power supply for the air traffic management center and the airspace closure will take place between 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. local time, usually a period of lower air traffic, Co added.

Co called on airlines to prepare for its airspace going dark by re-arranging their flight schedules and advising passengers on alternative arrangements early on.

Built 75 years ago, the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL) in Manila – the country’s main international gateway – has been struggling to cope with soaring passenger traffic since flights resumed after pandemic restrictions were lifted.

On May 1, the airport’s Terminal 3 suffered an almost nine-hour outage that led to the cancellation of 48 Cebu Pacific’s domestic flights on the Labor Day long weekend holiday.

Crowds of unhappy passengers lining up at Cebu Pacific’s counter heckled staff over a lack of clarity on flight arrangements, according to videos from CNN affiliate CNN Philippines.

A full electrical analysis is being conducted in the aftermath of the incident and an audit may take up to 90 days to assess which updates need to be prioritized, the airport authority said.

Just days before the chaos, a newly-formed Manila International Airport Consortium (MIAC) had made proposals to the national government outlining a series of upgrades at the country’s largest airport, aiming to double annual passenger capacity to 62.5 million by 2028, the group of six conglomerates said in a statement on Thursday.

The airport handled 48 million passengers in 2019, despite being designed to handle 31.5 million, it said, and the revamp is expected to cost $1.8 billion (100 billion Philippine pesos).

Upgrades had long been overdue especially after tens of thousands of travelers were stranded in the Southeast Asian hub after severe power interruptions impacted air traffic control at the country’s largest airport on New Year’s Day this year. Nearly 300 flights were either delayed, canceled or diverted to other regional airports and at least 56,000 passengers were affected.

The Philippine government launched an official investigation into what led to a severe outage on New Year’s Day, which took place during the busy year end travel season that sees large numbers of foreign tourists as well as overseas citizens flying into the country from abroad to mark Christmas and New Year.

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May 2, 2023
As US and Philippine defense ties grow, China warns over Taiwan tensions | CNN

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Hong Kong
CNN
—

Sandwiched between two Pacific superpowers, the Philippines has long had to tread delicately when it comes to dealing with Beijing and Washington’s competing interests, a complex juggling act that has been on vivid display in recent weeks.

April has been a particularly busy month for Philippine diplomacy with the country hosting its largest joint military drills yet with the United States while also receiving a top envoy from China, which has grown increasingly rattled – and outspoken – about the archipelago’s defense ties.

Only a few years ago US-Philippine relations were in a delicate place.

The country’s then leader, Rodrigo Duterte, routinely launched obscenity laden rants against US counterpart Barack Obama while downplaying longstanding territorial disputes with Beijing and seeking to attract investment from its giant neighbor to the north.

But the election of his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, last year has returned relations to a more even keel, in part because Manila has become wary of a more assertive China.

Marcos Jr, who has been on a charm offensive to mend ties with Manila’s historical ally, is set to fly to the United States to meet with President Joe Biden in Washington next week.

He visit caps a month of frenetic exchanges with the United States.

More than 12,000 American troops joined some 5,000 soldiers from the Philippines over the last three weeks to take part in the largest “Balikatan” joint military exercises to date, an event Beijing’s state-run media has labeled an “attempt to target China.”

The climax of the war games came Wednesday when US and Philippine forces fired on a mock enemy warship in the West Philippine Sea, the part of the South China Sea that encompasses the Philippines Exclusive Economic Zone.

Just as those drills kicked off, the US also hosted two top diplomats from the Philippines, for talks during which both sides agreed to complete a roadmap for the US to provide security assistance to its regional ally the next five to 10 years, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a “2+2 meeting” in Washington.

Last year the US granted $100 million to boost the Southeast Asian country’s defense capabilities and military modernization. It also plans to allocate $100 million for the improvement of military bases to which the US has access under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

In February, the Philippines granted new rights to the US military to add four bases to the five originally covered under the EDCA. The new facilities include three on the main island of Luzon, close to Taiwan, and one in Palawan province in the South China Sea (SCS).

That appears to have alarmed China.

Earlier this month Beijing’s ambassador in Manila, Huang Xilian, accused the Philippines of “stoking the fire” of regional tensions by offering expanded military base access to the US, saying that the goal was to interfere in China’s affairs with Taiwan.

China’s ruling Communist Party has never controlled Taiwan but claims the self-ruled island democracy as its own and has repeatedly refused to rule out taking it by force, a threat which Manila perceives as reason to ramp up its guard with help from Washington.

Huang also appeared to threaten overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Taiwan, which prompted a backlash in the Philippines.

“The Philippines is advised to unequivocally oppose ‘Taiwan independence’ rather than stoking the fire by offering the US access to the military bases near the Taiwan Strait, if you care genuinely about the 150,000 OFWs,” Huang said.

National Security Council spokesperson Jonathan Malaya responded to the Chinese ambassador’s remarks by saying that “the Philippines has no intention of interfering in the Taiwan issue,” and added that the EDCA sites were “not meant for offensive operations against China or for interference in the Taiwan issue.”

With tensions high over the Beijing ambassador’s comments, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang arrived last Friday for a three-day visit to Manila, where he met with Marcos Jr and Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo.

The readouts suggested both sides were keen to calm the waters with Marcos Jr announcing “more lines of communications” to resolve conflicts between the two countries over the West Philippine Sea and Manalo also pledging to “overcome difficulties and interference.”

Qin said Beijing hoped the Philippine side would “properly handle Taiwan-related and maritime issues in line with the overall interests of regional peace and stability.”

Analysts say the positioning of the Philippines makes the archipelago vital for anyone wanting to project power across the Pacific.

“The Philippines is crucial in safeguarding the national security interests of both China, as well as the security or strategic interests of the United States in the Pacific,” said Aries Arugay, a visiting fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

“And this is why both superpowers are very sensitive every time the Philippines is being perceived as leaning more towards one or the other,” he added.

What the last month has shown, added Anna Malindog-Uy, vice president of the Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute (ACPSSI), is that Filipinos “do not want to be compromised for the geopolitical interests and agenda of the United States in the region.”

Manila may be thousands of miles away from Washington, but their defense alliance dates back to the end of World War II, as America sought to protect its interests in the Pacific.

The Philippines was a former US territory and used to be home to two of the US military’s largest overseas installations, Clark Air Base and Subic Bay Naval Base, which were transferred to Philippine control in the 1990s.

A mutual defense treaty signed in 1951 remains in force, stipulating that both sides would help defend each other if either were attacked by a third party.

Moderninzing the Philippines’ military capabilities by working with the US, and establishing well-connected regional defense cooperation with players like Japan, South Korea and Australia, is a priority for Marcos Jr, according to Richard Heydarian, senior lecturer in international relations at the University of the Philippines Asian Center.

Heydarian describes the approach as a “multi-vector foreign policy of maximizing ties with all major powers without excessively relying on any one of them.”

“He’s doubling down in the Philippines’ alliance with the United States so that we deal with China from a position of strength,” Heydarian said.

Heydarian added that China has to rethink its strategy towards the Philippines, as the Marcos Jr administration is openly more aligned with the US.

China remains one of the top trade partners of the Philippines, while Marcos Jr also continues to negotiate energy and agriculture investments from Beijing.

But Manila’s growing caution towards Beijing in recent years has been furthered by recent maritime aggressions – including accusations China used a high-powered laser against a Philippine Coast Guard vessel in February – Beijing’s increased drills around Taiwan as well as maritime patrols in the South China Sea, said Chong Ja Ian, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore.

“These give the Philippines a lot of reason for caution towards Beijing. But at the same time, they do want to keep relations with Beijing on an even keel,” Chong said.

Support for the expanded defense ties with Washington is far from unanimous.

Some worry Marcos Jr might be giving too much access to the US, especially when it comes to bases and facilities close to Taiwan, Heydarian said.

The president’s own sister, Sen. Imee Marcos, has publicly questioned why the Philippine government should rely on foreigners for its external defense, urging for defined limitations on the EDCA pact should the country be dragged into regional conflict.

As the US-China rivalry intensifies the Indo-Pacific, their competition for influence has been localized within the Philippines, particularly in the provinces where American bases are located, Arugay added.

There were pockets of protest in Cagayan province, the northern mountainous region where three out of the four new EDCA sites are to be built.

At least 5,000 people in Cagayan held demonstrations and prayer rallies, as they believed that America’s self-interest were prioritized before the native residents, according to the Cagayan Provincial Information Office.

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April 27, 2023
Philippines’ Marcos Jr. heads to China amid sea disputes

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MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. flew to China on Tuesday for a three-day state visit, saying he looks forward to his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as they work to boost bilateral ties.

“As I leave for Beijing, I will be opening a new chapter in our comprehensive, strategic cooperation with China,” he told officials and diplomats, including the Chinese ambassador, prior to boarding his flight from an air base in the capital.

“I look forward to my meeting with President Xi as we work towards shifting the trajectory of our relations to a higher gear that would hopefully bring numerous prospects and abundant opportunities for peace and development to the peoples of both our countries,” he added.

Alluding to the two countries’ territorial dispute in the South China Sea, he said he looks forward to discussing bilateral and regional political and security issues.

“The issues between our two countries are problems that do not belong between two friends such as Philippines and China,” he added. “We will seek to resolve those issues to mutual benefit of our two countries.”

China claims virtually the entire South China Sea and has ignored a 2016 ruling by a tribunal in The Hague that invalidated Beijing’s claims to the waterway. The case was brought by the Philippines, which says China has since developed disputed reefs into artificial islands with airplane runways and other structures so they now resemble forward military bases.

Most recently, a Filipino military commander reported that the Chinese coast guard forcibly seized Chinese rocket debris that Filipino navy personnel had retrieved in the South China Sea last month.

China denied the forcible seizure. Marcos said he would seek further clarification on his visit to Beijing.

Accompanied by a big business delegation, Marcos said they will seek cooperation in various areas including agriculture, energy, infrastructure, trade and investments, and people-to-people exchanges. He said they expect to sign more than 10 key bilateral agreements during the visit.

China accounts for 20% of the Philippines’ foreign trade and is also a major source of foreign direct investment.

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January 3, 2023
Floods in Philippines leave 51 dead, over a dozen missing

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MANILA, Philippines — The death toll in the massive floods that devastated parts of the Philippines over the Christmas weekend has climbed to 51, with 19 others missing, the national disaster response agency said Monday, as affected residents struggle to get back on their feet.

Photos on social media showed residents in Misamis Occidental province in Northern Mindanao sweeping away thick mud from the floors of their homes. In the seaside village of Cabol-anonan, coconut trees were uprooted and huts made of light material were nearly flattened.

The Northern Mindanao region in the south bore the brunt of the disaster, reporting 25 deaths, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. Most of the deaths were from drowning and landslides, and among the missing were fishermen whose boats capsized.

Floods have subsided in most of the areas hit by bad weather that disrupted Christmas celebrations in the eastern, central and southern Philippines. But over 8,600 of the nearly 600,000 affected people remain in emergency shelters.

Over 4,500 houses were damaged by the floods, along with roads and bridges, and some areas still have disrupted power and water supply, the disaster management agency said. The government sent food and other essentials to flood-hit residents, deployed heavy equipment for clearing operations, and provided iron sheets and shelter repair kits, officials said. Teams from the capital Manila were sent to assist communities with limited clean water in setting up water filtration systems.

At least 22 cities and municipalities have declared a state of calamity, the disaster management council said. The move will allow the release of emergency funds and hasten rehabilitation efforts.

A shear line — the point where warm and cold air meet — triggered heavy rains in parts of the country last week, causing the floods, the state weather bureau said.

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January 2, 2023
US seeks expansion of military presence in Philippines

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MANILA, Philippines — The United States is seeking an expansion of its military presence in the Philippines under a 2014 defense pact, U.S. and Philippine officials said, one of the initiatives that will be discussed during Vice President Kamala Harris’s visit that focuses on the defense of its treaty ally in the face of China‘s sweeping territorial claims.

Harris will hold talks with President Ferdinand Jr. and other officials on Monday during a two-day visit that will include a trip to western Palawan province facing the disputed South China Sea, which Beijing claims virtually in its entirety.

She was expected to reaffirm U.S. commitment to defend the Philippines under the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty in case Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under attack in the disputed waters.

“The United States and the Philippines stand together as friends, partners, and allies,” a statement issued by Harris’s aides said. “Now and always, the U.S. commitment to the defense of the Philippines is ironclad.”

A range of U.S. assistance and projects would also be launched by Harris to help the Philippines deal with climate change and looming energy and food shortages.

The Philippines, a former American colony, used to host one of the largest U.S. Navy and Air Force bases outside the American mainland. The bases were shut down in the early 1990s, after the Philippine Senate rejected an extension, but American forces returned for large-scale combat exercises with Filipino troops under a 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement.

In 2014, the longtime allies signed the Enhance Defense Cooperation Agreement, which allows larger numbers of American forces to stay in rotating batches within Philippine military camp, where they could build warehouses, living quarters, joint training facilities and store combat equipment, except nuclear arms. The Philippines could take over those buildings and facilities when the Americans leave.

After the agreement was signed, the Americans launched construction projects in five Philippine camps and areas, including in the country’s south, where U.S counterterrorism forces have helped train and provide intelligence to their Filipino counterparts for years. Many of the projects were delayed by legal issues and other problems, Philippine defense officials said.

Large numbers of American forces stayed in local camps in southern Zamboanga city and outlying provinces at the height of threats posed by Muslim militants, which have eased in recent years. More than 100 U.S. military personnel currently remain in Zamboanga and three southern provinces, a Philippine military official told The Associated Press.

A U.S. official told reporters new areas have been identified and would be developed to expand joint security cooperation and training. He did not provide details, including the type of military facilities, locations and the number of American military personnel to be deployed in those sites, saying the projects would have to be finalized with the Philippines.

Philippine military chief of staff Lt. Gen. Bartolome Bacarro told reporters last week that the U.S. wanted to construct military facilities in five more areas in the northern Philippines.

Two of the new areas proposed by the Americans were in northern Cagayan province, Bacarro said. Cagayan is across a strait from Taiwan and could serve as a crucial outpost in case tensions worsen between China and the self-governed island that Beijing claims as its own.

The other proposed sites included the provinces of Palawan and Zambales, he said. They both face the South China Sea and would allow an American military presence nearer the disputed waters to support Filipino forces.

The Philippine Constitution prohibits the presence of foreign troops in the country except when they are covered by treaties or agreements. Foreign forces are also banned from engaging in local combat.

On Tuesday, Harris is scheduled to fly to Palawan to meet fishermen, villagers, officials and the coast guard. Once there, she’ll be the highest-ranking U.S. leader to visit the frontier island at the forefront of the long-seething territorial disputes involving China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

The Philippine coast guard said it would welcome Harris on board one of its biggest patrol ships, the BRP Teresa Magbanua, in Palawan, where she is scheduled to deliver a speech, according to coast guard spokesperson Commodore Armand Balilo.

Harris will underscore the importance of international law, unimpeded commerce and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, according to the U.S. official, who said that she would affirm a 2016 ruling by an international tribunal that invalidated China’s vast territorial claims in the South China Sea on historical grounds.

China has rejected the decision by an arbitration tribunal set up in The Hague under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea after the Philippine government complained in 2013 about China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the disputed waters. Beijing did not participate in the arbitration.

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November 20, 2022
Philippine prisons chief charged in journalist’s killing

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MANILA, Philippines — Philippine authorities filed murder complaints on Monday against the top prisons official and an aide, accusing them of masterminding the killing of a radio commentator in an elaborate crime they said showed that the country’s prisons system had been turned into a “criminal organization.”

The complaints were filed against Bureau of Corrections chief Gerald Bantag, who has been suspended from his post, prisons security official Ricardo Zulueta and other key suspects in the Oct. 3 fatal shooting of Percival Mabasa. The journalist had fiercely criticized Bantag and other officials for alleged corruption and other anomalies.

Mabasa, who used the broadcast name Percy Lapid, is among the latest media workers killed in a Southeast Asian country regarded as among the most dangerous for journalists in the world.

A joint statement read at a news conference by top justice, interior and police officials said three gang leaders locked up in the country’s largest prison under Bantag’s control were tapped to look for a gunman to kill Mabasa for a 550,000-peso ($9,300) contract.

After the killing, however, the gunman, who was identified by police as Joel Escorial, surrendered in fear after government officials raised a reward for his capture. He then publicly identified an inmate, Jun Villamor, who he said was assigned by detained gang leaders to call him and arrange Mabasa’s killing. The gang leaders later killed Villamor inside the prison by suffocating him with a plastic bag allegedly on orders of Bantag and Zulueta, officials said.

“Bantag had a clear motive to effect the murders,” officials said in the statement.

Mabasa was shot to death for his critical exposes against the prisons chief, and Villamor was killed by gang leaders as a cover-up after he was publicly identified by the gunman as the inmate who arranged the killing behind bars, they said.

Bantag has denied any involvement in the killings. He and Zulueta have also been charged for the killing of Villamor. No warrants have been issued yet for their arrests, officials said.

The investigation of the killings bared “the unfortunate transformation of a pillar of justice – the correction pillar – into a deep, large-scale and systematic criminal organization,” officials said in their statement.

“This will be the cause of many reforms in government and the strengthening of current mechanisms to ensure that nothing of this nature will happen again,” they said.

As suspicions grew over Bantag’s involvement in the two killings, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered him suspended indefinitely and replaced with a former military chief of staff, Gregorio Catapang Jr.

A recent search of the maximum-security prison complex under Bantag’s control yielded more than 7,000 cans of extra-strong beer, bladed weapons, cellphones, laptop computers and suspected drugs in a discovery that deepened long-held suspicions of prison anomalies involving officials and guards, Catapang said.

“There are many crimes that we have to look into,” Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla told a news conference. He cited the beer, drugs and other contrabands smuggled into prison and the deaths of 18 detained drug lords supposedly of coronavirus infection followed by their cremation in a span of 75 days.

Aside from Bantag, Mabasa had also strongly criticized former President Rodrigo Duterte, who oversaw a deadly crackdown on illegal drugs. Duterte ended his turbulent six-year term in June.

Duterte appointed Bantag as Bureau of Corrections chief in 2019 despite pending criminal complaints. Bantag had faced charges for a 2016 clash that killed 10 inmates when he was the warden in another detention center. A court later cleared him.

Media watchdogs have condemned Mabasa’s killing, saying the attack underscores how deadly the Philippines remains for journalists.

Nearly 200 journalists have been killed in the country since 1986, when dictator Ferdinand Marcos was overthrown, according to the journalists’ union. The group led a protest Tuesday night and called on the government to do more to stop the killings.

In 2009, members of a powerful political clan and their associates killed 58 people, including 32 media workers, in an execution-style attack in southern Maguindanao province that horrified the world.

The mass killing, linked to a political rivalry, demonstrated the dangers journalists face in the Philippines, which has many unlicensed guns, private armies controlled by powerful clans and weak law enforcement, especially in rural regions.

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November 7, 2022
50 dead, dozens feared missing as storm lashes Philippines

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MANILA, Philippines — Flash floods and landslides set off by torrential rains left at least 50 people dead, including in a hard-hit southern Philippine province, where as many as 60 villagers are feared missing and buried in a huge mudslide laden with rocks, trees and debris, officials said Saturday.

At least 42 people were swept away by rampaging floodwaters and drowned or were hit by debris-filled mudslides in three towns in Maguindanao province from Thursday night to early Friday, said Naguib Sinarimbo, the interior minister for a five-province Muslim autonomous region governed by former separatist guerrillas.

Eight other people died elsewhere in the country from the onslaught of Tropical Storm Nalgae, which slammed into the eastern province of Camarines Sur early Saturday, the government’s disaster response agency said.

But the worst storm impact so far was a mudslide that buried dozens of houses with as many as 60 people in the tribal village of Kusiong in Maguindanao’s Datu Odin Sinsuat town, Sinarimbo told The Associated Press by telephone, citing accounts from Kusiong villagers who survived the flash flood and mudslide.

Army Lt. Col. Dennis Almorato, who went to the mudslide-hit community Saturday, said the muddy deluge buried about 60 rural houses in about 5 hectares (12 acres) section of the community. He gave no estimate of how many villagers may have been buried in the mudslide, which he described as “overwhelming.”

At least 13 bodies, mostly of children, were dug up Friday and Saturday by rescuers in Kusiong, Sinarimbo said.

“That community will be our ground zero today,” he said, adding that heavy equipment and more rescue workers had been deployed to intensify the search and rescue work.

“It was hit by torrents of rainwater with mud, rocks and trees that washed out houses,” Sinarimbo said.

The coastal village, which lies at the foot of a mountain, is accessible by road, allowing more rescuers to be deployed Saturday to deal with one of the worst weather-related disasters to hit the country’s south in decades, he said.

Citing reports from mayors, governors and disaster-response officials, Sinarimbo said 27 died mostly by drowning and landslides in Datu Odin Sinsuat town, 10 in Datu Blah Sinsuat town and five in Upi town, all in Maguindanao.

An official death count of 67 in Maguindanao on Friday night was recalled by authorities after discovering some double-counting of casualties.

The unusually heavy rains flooded several towns in Maguindanao and outlying provinces in a mountainous region with marshy plains, which become like a catch basin in a downpour. Floodwaters rapidly rose in many low-lying villages, forcing some residents to climb onto their roofs, where they were rescued by army troops, police and volunteers, Sinarimbo said.

The coast guard issued pictures of its rescuers wading in chest-high, brownish floodwaters to rescue the elderly and children in Maguindanao. Many of the swamped areas had not been flooded for years, including Cotabato city where Sinarimbo said his house was inundated.

The stormy weather in a large swath of the country prompted the coast guard to prohibit sea travel in dangerously rough seas as millions of Filipinos planned to travel over a long weekend for visits to relatives’ tombs and for family reunions on All Saints’ Day in the largely Roman Catholic nation. Several domestic flights have also been canceled, stranding thousands of passengers.

The wide rain bands of Nalgae, the 16th storm to hit the Philippine archipelago this year, enabled it to dump rain in the country’s south even though the storm was blowing farther north, government forecaster Sam Duran said.

The storm was battering Laguna province Saturday night with sustained winds of 95 kilometers (59 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 160 kph (99 mph) and moving northwestward — just south of the densely populated capital Manila, which had been forecast for a direct hit until the storm turned.

More than 158,000 people in several provinces were protectively evacuated away from the path of the storm, officials said.

About 20 typhoons and storms batter the Philippine archipelago each year. It is located on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a region along most of the Pacific Ocean rim where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur, making the nation one of the world’s most disaster-prone.

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Associated Press journalists Joeal Calupitan and Aaron Favila contributed to this report.

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October 29, 2022
Philippines shuts 214 illegal online gambling operations

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MANILA, Philippines — Philippine officials say they have shut down at least 214 illegal Chinese offshore gambling operations and deported the first six of nearly 400 Chinese workers who have been detained under a renewed crackdown.

A spate of crimes victimizing Chinese workers at illegal online gambling businesses, including kidnappings and sexual abuses, sparked the crackdown and calls for the banning of even legitimate operators in the lucrative industry.

Called Philippine offshore gaming operators, or POGOs, the Chinese-run gambling firms are based in the Philippines, but their customers are overseas. They began growing rapidly in 2016, generating about 30 billion pesos ($508 million) in gambling revenues and fees from 2016 to this year, officials said.

The current crackdown is directed against Chinese operators who have not paid taxes or revenue shares or have committed other violations of the law. The visas of their estimated 48,000 mostly Chinese workers will be canceled, and they can either leave on their own or face mass deportations, Justice Assistant Secretary Jose Dominic Clavano said by telephone.

“All of these illegal POGOs cannot operate in the country and the people who work for them are violating our laws and we should make sure that they leave our country,” Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla told reporters at Manila’s international airport, where the six deported Chinese workers boarded a commercial flight on Wednesday back to China.

Beijing has backed the crackdown on online gambling operations, which cater to clients in China despite Beijing’s ban on gambling.

“Crimes induced by and associated with POGO not only harm China’s interests and China-Philippines relations, but also hurt the interests of the Philippines,” the Chinese Embassy said in a statement last week.

“It is, therefore, widely believed that social costs of POGO far outweigh its economic benefits to the Philippines in the long run,” the embassy said.

The six deported Chinese were among 372 mostly Chinese workers who have been detained by Philippine authorities starting in September from different offshore gambling sites, Clavano said.

The identities of the other Chinese are still being verified with Chinese authorities in an often-tedious process prior to their deportation, Clavano said.

Remulla said authorities are also checking how many of the more than 48,000 Chinese workers currently remain in the country because some may have left.

More than 200,000 to 300,000 Chinese were believed to have worked in the online gambling operations when the business peaked starting in 2016, boosting real estate, transport and food businesses in cities where they were based. But a considerable number were forced to leave due to sporadic government crackdowns, a more stringent tax law and the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.

Philippine legislators have debated whether to ban the online Chinese gambling industry altogether.

“It is true that they contribute to the coffers, but it comes at significant social costs, which in turn pose a reputational risk that can affect our business and investment climate,” Sen. Grace Poe told a Senate hearing on the issue early this month.

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October 19, 2022