China is preparing to seize Pag-asa Island Philippine territory. As reported by the Qianzhan (Prospects) business and strategy info site, the Chinese military has drawn up an attack plan for execution this year. The alleged strategy is to contain the hostilities within the disputed Spratly archipelago, at the eastern edge of which are Pag-asa and eight other Philippine islets and shoals.
The nine sea formations comprise the municipality of Kalayaan, Palawan. More than 250 civilians permanently reside in the biggest, Pag-asa, under a mayor and a town council. Most are fishermen, seafood traders, and goatherds. An undisclosed number of Philippine Marines hold base. Pag-asa has its own waterworks, sun- and diesel-powered electric plant, cell phone site, seaport, airstrip, town hall, schoolhouses, and chapels.
China has been lusting for Pag-asa for decades. It claims historic right over all of the Spratlys and the South China (West Philippine) Sea by virtue of an unfounded ancient map. The area is rich in undersea food and fuel (5.4 billion barrels) reserves. A Chinese naval assault of Pag-asa reportedly will spring northward from the smaller Chinese-held Sansha Island, and westward from Mischief Reef, which Beijing grabbed from the Philippines in 1995. In 2012 Beijing also occupied the traditional Filipino fishing grounds, Scarborough Shoal.
Why 2014? Beijing likely sees it best to strike while the Philippines is weakest. A series of natural disasters, including the strongest typhoon in world history and a 7.2-intensity earthquake, leveled its central region. The country is torn by communist insurgency and secession from Moro Islamists. Political dynasties sap the economic life, keeping the people poor and ignorant to maintain their hold on power and the public till. As corrupt and inept is the bureaucracy — China’s signal that the coast is clear for un-repelled attack. Still being retooled from thieving generals, the Filipino army is undermanned and underequipped. The National Police is unfocused. Filipinos have no basic military nor disaster training; the ROTC was scrapped a decade ago after one cadet was slain by an extortionate officer. In the wake of last November’s Super Typhoon Yolanda, the national disaster coordinator refused to dispatch soldiers for emergency rescue and relief, crying the troops might go hungry. Politicking divides even the Philippine Boy Scouts and Red Cross.
Worst for Filipinos but best for Beijing are traitors in Manila and the provinces who give away Philippine metals to Chinese miners. From Cabinet and local posts they grant gold, silver, iron, copper, nickel, lead, chromite, zinc, cobalt, and magnetite sites to Chinese bribers. The precious metals are shipped off to the mainland, to be fashioned into weapons and surveillance systems with which Chinese warships and jetfighters grab Philippine shoals — and will use to invade Pag-asa.
The Chinese mines come in legal and illegal forms — all economically and environmentally destructive. The bribe for the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources merely to entertain a “legal†mining application is P2 million to P5 million, quintuple to approve. Not a single operation admits its true output or pays the right taxes; ores and processed metals are smuggled out.
The going rate at provincial capitols is P200,000 to P500,000 to “license†just one of hundreds of Chinese miners disguised as small-scale Filipinos. Apart from cheating the government, they denude forests, and poison rivers, seas, and the air. Last June in the African state of Ghana, the government cracked down on legal and illegal Chinese mines that polluted the surroundings and oppressed the local workers. In the Philippines, quislings welcome such invaders as investors.
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We’ve all helped in the Super Typhoon Yolanda relief. We may not know who got the food, clothes, toys, tools, and cash we sent. But for sure it saved lives and sanity, restored hope and dignity. We touched hundreds of thousands who lost family members, homes, and livings. For that, we are blessed.
We can never give enough. Yolanda ravaged 4,971 communities in 171 cities and towns across Central Philippines. Survivors are now struggling to rebuild homes, works, and dreams. They still need our help, until they can set out on their own — and be able to save others in distress when the time comes.
One charity that is refocusing from emergency aid to reconstruction is Tzu Chi Foundation. Major news outlets have reported its weeks-long, multimillion-peso cash-for-work to clean up and restart the economy in Leyte. It now intends to rebuild not only dwellings, but also schoolhouses, playgrounds, and village health centers. To donate: call Ms. Lolit (02) 7320001, local 211; e-mail tzuchi_phils@ph.tzuchi.org; 76 Cordillera corner Agno Streets, Barangay Doña Josefa, Quezon City; website www.tzuchi.org.ph.
When we give we receive — in many and wondrous ways. Each of us has a story about it.
One such account, retold in countless versions, is about the father who bequeathed 17 pigs as assets to three sons. His stipulation was strict: the eldest son was to get one-half of the 17 pigs, the middle son one-third, and the youngest one-ninth. When the father passed away, the sons quarreled about how rightly to divide the pigs live. A neighbor who had watched them grow up offered to mediate. He pondered over the division puzzle in the will, and had an idea. He donated his own sow to the sons, so that there were now 18 pigs in all. Hosting breakfast the next morning, the neighbor then proceeded to distribute one-half of 18, or nine pigs, to the eldest son; one-third, or six pigs, to the middle son; and one-ninth, or two pigs, to the youngest. He gave out the 17 pigs, as the father had wished. He retrieved his sow, which after three-and-a-half months begot 12 piglets.
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