RP MUST NOT ABANDON CLAIM OVER SPRATLY - TEODORO
MANILA, FEBRUARY 17, 2010 (STAR) The Philippines must not abandon its territorial claim over the disputed Spratlys group of islands in the South China Sea, Lakas-Kampi-CMD standard-bearer and former defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. said.Teodoro said the government may use the recently enacted baseline law as basis for asserting its territorial claim over the Spratlys or the Kalayaan Group of Islands.
“We have secured our baselines already before the international community. We have to use that as a starting point,” Teodoro said at a forum for presidential candidates at the Mandarin Oriental organized by the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) last Monday.
“At the end of the day we must agree as a country that we will not relinquish the institutionalization of our territorial claims no matter how powerful any country is,” he said.
Teodoro’s pronouncement was in response to a question on what he thought could be a potential flashpoint in Southeast Asia.
China, Vietnam, Taiwan and Malaysia also have claims over the potentially resource-rich island group.
The Philippines has a small military contingent in Kalayaan, as do the other claimant countries.
“We must stand our ground and build up ourselves in order to credibly assert our claim,” he said.
He said the country must build a “legal infrastructure in order to prosecute these claims” before an appropriate international body.
The “expertise to pursue these claims, he said, “is with specific people who other countries probably would hire or have already hired.” – Jaime Laude
'If Villar wins, GMA can become Speaker' By Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star) Updated February 17, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - President Arroyo can become Speaker of the House of Representatives if Sen. Manuel Villar Jr. wins the presidency on May 10, Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros said yesterday.
Hontiveros, a Liberal Party senatorial candidate, said there is no way Mrs. Arroyo can be elected Speaker if LP standard-bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III wins.
“(Mrs. Arroyo) can be Speaker under a Villar presidency. Lakas could coalesce with Sen. Villar’s Nacionalista Party (NP) to maintain its hold in Congress. It will then be a Villarroyo administration,” Hontiveros said.
She said Mrs. Arroyo is doing all she can to prepare herself for the eventuality of facing plunder and other criminal charges once she leaves office on June 30.
Hontiveros though said membership in the legislature could not protect Mrs. Arroyo from such charges.
“Even the speakership won’t grant her special immunity,” she added.
On Monday, Villar told The STAR his NP would field a candidate against Mrs. Arroyo if she runs for Speaker.
However, unlike Aquino, Villar did not say if he would derail the President’s reported plan to become Speaker if he wins the presidency.
“I am not saying that we are going to win. I’m just saying that we are going to nominate (a candidate for Speaker),” Villar said.
Aquino, for his part, has vowed to move fast to gain a majority in the House if he is elected president on May 10.
Having been a Tarlac congressman for nine years before becoming senator, Aquino said he knows the political dynamics in the larger chamber of Congress.
Aquino did not go into specifics, but he was obviously referring to the possibility that a House run by Mrs. Arroyo and dominated by her allies could hold his legislative agenda hostage - or worse, they could impeach him.
LP campaign manager Florencio Abad said the President may be forgetting history if she thinks she can win the speakership under an Aquino presidency.
“Before even thinking about the speakership, they should worry about winning the presidency first, unless they are thinking of another candidate,” Abad said.
“With the race down to a two-person contest, the Arroyo-controlled Lakas-Kampi may be betting on another horse.”
Abad, a former Batanes congressman, said no House member has ever won the speakership without the support of the sitting president.
He recalled that when Fidel Ramos won the presidency in 1992, most of the winning congressional candidates were not his supporters.
But Ramos and his allies gained a majority in the House and elected Pangasinan Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr. as speaker.
In 1998, when Joseph Estrada was elected president, most of the newly elected congressmen belonged to Lakas.
But Lakas congressmen led by then Las Piñas Rep. Manuel Villar Jr. defected to Estrada’s camp, and Villar was subsequently elected Speaker.
Lakas to Noynoy: Debate with Gibo, too By Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star) Updated February 17, 2010 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - The administration Lakas-Kampi party pleaded with Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to also debate with their candidate, former defense secretary Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro.
Lakas-Kampi lawmakers made the appeal after Aquino challenged his principal rival, Sen. Manuel Villar Jr., to a one-on-one debate on wide-ranging issues.
Villar, in a reaction yesterday, said he would gladly accede to Noynoy’s challenge if the intention was to “present plans and programs of government to the general public,” and not to mudsling.
“Name the place, name the time, I will be there. If, however, it is the intention of anyone – individual or party – to find a platform or senseless argumentation and mudslinging with the hope of calling attention unto oneself, then I will have to decline,” Villar said.
Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez took a swipe at Aquino yesterday, saying he should “not use his popularity as basis for choosing who should participate in political debates.”
“Survey ratings have nothing to do in considering who will debate with whom. It’s not like boxing, where only top contenders can fight,” he said.
He said among all presidential aspirants, it is Teodoro who has been shining in most political symposiums.
“Teodoro got an overwhelming support from academe and business groups,” he added.
Another Lakas member, Rep. Pedro Romualdo of Ca-miguin, said Aquino should not be choosy on who he would tackle issues with.
“If he is raring to debate, then he must have the guts to go up against Gibo, not just Villar,” he said.
For his part, Baguio City Rep. Mauricio Domogan said the fact that Aquino is leading in all presidential surveys does not give him the privilege to be selective.
“He should be humble,” he said, adding it is the tail-ender in surveys “who has the moral right to challenge those leading the pack, not the other way around.”
Aquino dared Villar to a one-on-one debate after the LP candidate and six other presidential aspirants appeared before foreign news correspondents.
Villar did not attend the forum as he was on his way to Manila from Hong Kong.
Aquino and Teodoro are cousins. They have vowed not to resort to personal attacks against each other.
Noynoy welcomes Villar’s acceptance to debate
Aquino welcomed yesterday Villar’s acceptance of his challenge to a one-on-one debate and called for a meeting of representatives from both camps to iron out details of the event.
The senator from Tarlac earlier lamented that the formats for previous presidential debates had constraints that didn’t allow a candidate to “go beyond the sound bite.”
A one-on-one debate, Aquino said, would give voters the opportunity to compare their platforms and allow both candidates to elaborate on their positions on key governance issues. He said the meeting would focus on the venue, date, format, and other details of the debate.
“I think it’s time to end the proxy war. This would give Senator Villar a chance to do what he wasn’t able to do on the Senate floor: take direct questions regarding the Senate’s findings on the C-5 deal and other issues that have remained unanswered by him,” he said.
Aquino also said he was open to shed light on Villar’s allegations on the Hacienda Luisita controversy and his family’s alleged violations of farmers’ rights.
Aquino said that he also hoped they would discuss their stand on education reforms, taxes, electoral campaign finance reform, foreign policy issues like the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) and Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement, food security, and constitutional amendments.
Aquino has not ruled out the possibility of including former President Joseph Estrada and Teodoro in the debate but would like to start with Villar. – With Aurea Calica
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2010 by
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved