Squealing tiger cubs stuffed into carry-on bags. Luggage packed with hundreds of squirming tortoises, elephant tusks, even water dragons and American paddlefish. Officials at Thailand's gateway airport proudly tick off the illegally trafficked wildlife they have seized over the past two years.
But Thai and foreign law enforcement officers tell another story: Officials working-hand-in-hand with traffickers ensure that other shipments through Suvarnabhumi International Airport are whisked off before they even reach customs inspection.
It's a murky mix. A 10-fold increase in wildlife law enforcement actions, including seizures, has been reported in the past six years in Southeast Asia. Yet, the trade's Mr.Bigs, masterful in taking advantage of pervasive corruption, appear immune to arrest and continue to orchestrate the decimation of wildlife in Thailand, the region and beyond.
And Southeast Asia's honest cops don't have it easy.
"It is very difficult for me. I have to sit among people who are both good and some who are corrupt, says Chanvut Vajrabukka, a retired police general. "If I say, 'You have to go out and arrest that target,' some in the room may well warn them,'" says Chanvut, who now advises ASEAN-WEN, the regional wildlife enforcement network.
Several kingpins, says wildlife activist Steven Galster, have recently been confronted by authorities, "but in the end, good uniforms are running into, and often stopped by bad uniforms. It's like a bad Hollywood cop movie.
"Most high-level traffickers remain untouched and continue to replace arrested underlings with new ones," says Galster, who works for the FREELAND Foundation, an anti-trafficking group.
Galster, who earlier worked undercover in Asia and elsewhere, heaps praise on the region's dedicated, honest officers because they persevere knowing they could be sidelined for their efforts.
Recently, Lt. Col. Adtaphon Sudsai, a highly regarded, outspoken officer, was instructed to lay off what had seemed an open-and-shut case he cracked four years ago when he penetrated a gang along the Mekong River smuggling pangolin.
This led him to Mrs. Daoreung Chaimas, alleged by conservation groups to be one of Southeast Asia's biggest tiger dealers. Despite being arrested twice, having her own assistants testify against her and DNA testing that showed two cubs were not offsprings from zoo-bred parents as she claimed, Daoreung remains free and the case may never go to the prosecutor's office.
"Her husband has been exercising his influence," says Adtaphon, referring to her police officer spouse. "It seems that no policeman wants to get involved with this case." The day the officer went to arrest her the second time, his transfer to another post was announced.
"Maybe it was a coincidence," the colonel says.
In another not uncommon case, a former Thai police officer who tried to crack down on traders at Bangkok's vast Chatuchak Market got a visit from a senior police general who told him to "chill it or get removed."
"I admit that in many cases, I cannot move against the big guys," Chanvut, the retired general, notes. "The syndicates like all organized crime are built like a pyramid. We can capture the small guys but at the top they have money, the best lawyers, protection. What are we going to do?"
Chanvut's problems are shared by others in Southeast Asia, the prime funnel for wildlife destined for the world's No. 1 consumer — China — where many animal parts are consumed in the belief they have medicinal or aphrodisiacal properties.
Most recently, a torrent of rhino horn and elephant tusks has poured through it from Africa, which suffers the greatest slaughter of these two endangered animals in decades.
Vietnam was singled out last month by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) as the top destination country for the highly-prized rhino horn.
Tens of thousands of birds, mostly parrots and cockatoos plucked from the wild, are being imported from the Solomon Islands into Singapore, often touted as one of Asia's least corrupt nations, in violation of CITES, the international convention on wildlife trade.
According to TRAFFIC, the international body monitoring wildlife trade, the imported birds are listed as captive-bred, even though it's widely known that the Pacific Ocean islands have virtually no breeding facilities.
Communist Laos continues to harbor Vixay Keosavang, identified as one of the region's half dozen Mr. Bigs, who has been linked by the South African press to a rhino smuggling ring. The 54-year-old former soldier and provincial official is reported to have close ties to senior government officials in Laos and Vietnam.
Thai and foreign enforcement agents, who insist on anonymity since most work undercover, say they have accumulated unprecedented details of the gangs, which are increasingly linked to drug and human trafficking syndicates.
They say a key Thai smuggler, who runs a shipping company, has a gamut of law enforcement officers in his pocket, allowing him to traffic rhino horns, ivory and tiger parts to China. He frequently entertains his facilitators at a restaurant in his office building.
According to the agents, Chinese buyers, informed of incoming shipments, fly to Bangkok, staying at hotels pinpointed by the agents around the Chatuchak Market, where endangered species are openly sold. There they seal deals with known middlemen and freight operators.
The sources say that when they report such investigations seizures are either made for "public relations," sink into a "black hole" — or the information is leaked to the wrongdoers.
Such a tip-off from someone at Bangkok airport customs allowed a trafficker to stop shipment of a live giraffe with powdered rhino horn believed to be implanted in its vagina.
"The 100,000 passengers moving through this airport from around the world everyday are oblivious to the fact that they are standing in one of the world's hottest wildlife trafficking zones," says Galster.
Officials interviewed at the airport, one of Asia's busiest, acknowledge corruption exists, but downplay its extent and say measures are being taken to root it out.
Chanvut says corruption is not the sole culprit, pointing out the multiple agencies which often don't cooperate or share information. Each with a role at Bangkok's airport, are the police, national parks department, customs, immigration, the military and CITES, which regulates international trade in endangered species.
With poor communication between police and immigration, for example, a trader whose passport has been seized at the airport can obtain a forged one and slip across a land border a few days later.
Those arrested frequently abscond by paying bribes or are fined and the case closed without further investigation. "Controlled delivery" — effectively penetrating networks by allowing illicit cargo to pass through to its destination — is rare.
Thailand's decades-old wildlife law also awaits revision and the closing of loopholes, such as the lack of protection for African elephants, and far stiffer penalties.
"The bottom line is that if wildlife traffickers are not treated as serious criminals in Southeast Asia we are just going to lose more wildlife," says Chris Shepherd, TRAFFIC's Southeast Asia deputy director. "How often is anyone arrested? They just run off, they must be the fastest people on Earth."
Chalida Phungravee, who heads the cargo customs bureau at Suvarnabhumi, says just the sheer scale makes her job difficult. The airport each year handles 45 million passengers and 3 million tons of cargo, only some 3 percent of which is X-rayed on arrival. The main customs warehouse is the size of 27 football fields.
But seizures are made, she said, including boxes of tusks — the remnants of some 50 felled elephants — aboard a recent Kenya Airlines flight declared as handicrafts and addressed to a nonexistent company.
"We have cut down a lot on corruption. It still exists but remains minimal," she said, citing recent computerization which has created a space — dubbed "the Green Line" — between customs officials, cargo and traffickers.
Galster says unlike the past, traffickers are no longer guaranteed safe passage, describing a daily battle at Suvarnabhumi with "undercover officers monitoring corrupt ones and smugglers trying to outwit them all."
Such increased enforcement efforts in the region have slowed decimation of endangered species, he says, "but there is still a crash going on. If corruption is not tackled soon, you can say goodbye to Asia's tigers, elephants and a whole host of other animals."-The Philippine Star (August 16, 2012 02:04AM)
Regional tensions flared on the emotional anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender as activists from China and South Korea used Wednesday's occasion to press rival territorial claims, prompting 14 arrests by Japanese authorities.
China's official Xinhua News Agency said the arrests had caused tensions over its territorial dispute with Japan to surge "to a new high."
The 14 people had traveled by boat from Hong Kong to a set of uninhabited islands controlled by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan. Japanese police initially arrested five activists who swam ashore in the East China Sea chain, known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.
Japan coast guard officers later arrested nine others who stayed on the fishing boat, the Kai Fung 2, including two who had earlier landed on one of the islands and went back on board, officials said. Coast guard officials said the activists are likely to be taken to Naha, the capital of Okinawa prefecture which has jurisdiction over the islands, for further questioning.
"We want the world to know that this is — way back in history — the territory of China, and as Chinese people we can go there fishing, touring at our own right," David Ko, a spokesman for the activists, said in a telephone interview from Hong Kong. "The Japanese have no right to stop us."
Chinese activists last landed on the island in 1996, and seven who were arrested were repatriated quickly.
China urged Japan to refrain from taking any action that could endanger Chinese citizens or their property, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement.
Japan says it has controlled the five main islands for over 100 years. It has been trying to place four that are privately held under state ownership to bolster its territorial claim.
Chinese patrol vessels have been spotted frequently in the waters, prompting Tokyo to repeatedly protest and beef up its own patrols in the area.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Japan historically and by international law owns the islands and there is no room for its sovereignty to be questioned. He called the trespassing "extremely regrettable."
The handling of the arrested activists is extremely sensitive. Japan has the option of repatriating them or sending them to criminal court.
Japan's arrest and weekslong detention of a Chinese fishing boat captain in 2010 after his vessel collided with Japanese patrol boats near the disputed islands triggered the worst diplomatic row in years between the two countries, prompting Beijing to suspend some exports and cancel high-level talks.
Also Wednesday, a group of South Koreans reached another set of disputed islands controlled by South Korea in a demonstration aimed at belittling Japan's claims to that territory.
The anniversary of Japan's surrender in 1945 revives long-running territorial disputes in Asia as well as emotional memories of Japan's brutal colonial occupation of many neighbors that ended only at the close of the war. While Japan routinely apologizes for its wartime actions, its politicians often anger neighboring countries by visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, a memorial to Japan's war dead, including top war criminals.
Dozens of Japanese lawmakers visited the shrine Wednesday, including two Cabinet ministers.
At a solemn ceremony elsewhere in Tokyo, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda apologized to victims of Japanese atrocities, mourned the dead and renewed Japan's pledge to renounce war.
"We have caused tremendous damage and pain to many countries, particularly the Asian people, during the war. We deeply regret that and sincerely mourn for those who were sacrificed and their relatives," Noda said. "We will not repeat the same mistake."
Emperor Akihito, whose father made the unprecedented 1945 national radio address announcing that the war could not be won, also offered prayers for the dead.
Simmering tensions between Japan and its neighbors have threatened to boil over in recent weeks.
Last week, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak visited contested islands in the Sea of Japan called Takeshima in Japanese and Dokdo in Korean. His visit was seen by many as an attempt to play up anti-Japan sentiment ahead of elections later this year.
Japan lodged a protest to South Korea over Lee's comment Tuesday that Akihito should apologize to Koreans if he wants to visit the country, saying Tokyo has never discussed or pushed for an Imperial visit. Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba also said Japan is considering taking the island dispute to an international court.
A group of South Korean protesters, swimming across the sea in a relay, reached the island on Wednesday.
In a ceremony Wednesday celebrating Japan's defeat, Lee condemned Japan for forcing thousands of Korean women into sexual slavery for Japanese soldiers during the war.
Historians say up to 200,000 women from Korea, China and the Philippines were forced to provide sex to Japanese soldiers at military brothels during the war. Japan has apologized and initiated a private fund as a way to pay the women without providing official compensation, but many of the women rejected the offer, demanding a formal apology and state compensation.-The Philippine Star (August 15, 2012 9:42PM)
Myanmar's parliament has appointed the country's naval chief as one of the nation's two vice presidents.
Upper house speaker Khin Aung Myint announced Vice Admiral Nyan Tun's appointment during a legislative session in the capital Naypyitaw on Wednesday.
The 58-year-old Nyan Tun is seen as a political moderate. He has been Myanmar's naval commander since 2008.
His predecessor Tin Aung Myint was considered a hard-liner, and there has been speculation that he had disagreed with President Thein Sein's reformist agenda.
Tin Aung Myint's resignation, officially for health reasons, was announced last month.
Nyan Tun was selected by military lawmakers, who make up 25 percent of the legislature and have the have the right to name one of the country's two vice presidents.-The Philippine Star (August 15, 2012 12:22PM)
Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist Bill Gates on Tuesday launched a search for a new toilet better suited to developing countries.
The charitable foundation founded by Gates and his wife kicked off a "Reinvent the Toilet Fair" in Seattle and awarded prizes for promising innovations.
"Toilets are extremely important for public health and, when you think of it, even human dignity," Gates said in a statement at thegatesnotes.com.
"The flush toilets we use in the wealthy world are irrelevant, impractical and impossible for 40 percent of the global population, because they often don't have access to water, and sewers, electricity, and sewage treatment systems."
The Toilet Fair was described as a swirl of about 200 inventors, designers, investors, partners and others passionate about creating safe, effective, and inexpensive waste management systems.
Universities from Britain, Canada, and the United States were awarded prizes in a competition launched a year ago challenging inventors to come up with a better toilet.
First place went to the California Institute of Technology for designing a solar-powered toilet that generates hydrogen gas and electricity.
Loughborough University came in second for a toilet that transforms waste into biological charcoal, minerals, and clean water.
Third place went to the University of Toronto for a toilet that sanitizes human waste and recovers minerals and water.
"Four in 10 people worldwide don't have a safe way to poop," the Gates Foundation said in a message beneath a Reinvent the Toilet video at its gatesfoundation.org website.
Approximately 2.5 billion people worldwide don't have access to safe sanitation systems for handling the basic and vital need to dispose of bodily waste, according to Gates.
"Beyond a question of human dignity, this lack of access also endangers people's lives, creates an economic and a health burden for poor communities, and hurts the environment," Gates said.
Food or water tainted with fecal matter causes intestinal diseases that kill 1.5 million children annually -- a figure higher than deaths from AIDS and malaria combined, according to Gates.
"Inventing new toilets is one of the most important things we can do to reduce child deaths and disease and improve people's lives," Gates said.
"It is also something that can help wealthier countries conserve fresh water for other important purposes besides flushing."-Interaksyon (August 15, 2012)
The United States on Tuesday warned against any attempt to "divide and conquer" in the tense South China Sea, and voiced hope that Beijing and Southeast Asian nations would reach an accord this year.
Several Southeast Asian nations have accused China of aggravating friction in the South China Sea, but foreign ministers from the 10-nation ASEAN bloc failed at a meeting last month to reach an agreement on the way forward.
China has favored individual talks with each nation.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland reiterated that the United States preferred a deal that included every country with claims in the South China Sea.
"An effort to divide and conquer and end up with a competitive situation among the different claimants is not going to get where we need to go," Nuland told reporters, without explicitly naming China.
"What we're most concerned about at the moment is that tensions are going up among the stakeholders. So we want to see a commitment to a deal that meets the needs of all," she said.
The United States has been pushing for a code of conduct in the South China Sea that would set up formal channels to resolve friction and prevent miscalculations in the waters through which half of the world's cargo passes.
But ASEAN, the Association for Southeast Asian Nations, is divided. The Philippines and Vietnam are strongly critical of China but Cambodia, the host of the July talks of foreign ministers, has close relations with Beijing.
Attending the talks in Phnom Penh, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton encouraged China and ASEAN "to work together on a code of conduct and for all of them to commit as soon as they can -- to do that work and ideally to do it this year," Nuland said Tuesday.
Nuland was reacting to a commentary by China's state-run news agency, Xinhua, which denied charges that Beijing was sowing division in Southeast Asia and hit back hard at "some Western countries."
"What in fact is blocking unity within ASEAN and between its allies is the meddling of some Western countries that are betting on a divided Asia. They loathe to see Asia's incredible economic vitality while their economies are waning, as is their influence in the world," Xinhua said.
President Barack Obama has vowed a renewed US focus on Asia. The United States has sought to reassure US-friendly Asian nations through its military presence and plans to shift the bulk of its naval fleet to Asia by 2020.-Interaksyon (August 15, 2012)
Two ethnic Tibetan men set themselves on fire together in southwest China to protest Beijing's rule, causing clashes between residents and security forces, rights groups said on Tuesday.
A monk and former monk set themselves alight Monday in Aba town in Sichuan province, sparking a protest that authorities quelled by beating demonstrators with batons, Free Tibet and the International Campaign for Tibet said.
Additional security forces have been deployed to Aba, the site of several such self-immolations and attempts, said London-based Free Tibet.
One man, whose name was given as Lungtok, died and the other, Tashi, was taken to hospital with severe injuries, it said in a statement.
Nearly 50 people have set themselves on fire in recent months in Tibetan-inhabited areas of China in protest at repressive government policies, according to Free Tibet.
Officials from the Aba police and government, reached by telephone, denied knowledge of the latest incident.
Ethnic Tibetans in Tibet and surrounding regions have long-resented Chinese rule, saying it has curbed their religious freedom and diluted their culture through an influx of Han Chinese, the country's main ethnic group.
China counters that Tibetans enjoy religious freedom and have enjoyed improved living standards thanks to China's economic expansion.
The Tibetan capital Lhasa saw violent anti-Chinese government protests in 2008 that later spread to other areas inhabited by Tibetans. Authorities have kept the city under tight security since then.-Interaksyon (August 14, 2012)
The $400-million Asia Submarine-Cable Express (ASE) optical fiber system was completed last Friday, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. said in a statement Tuesday.
"This is the largest-capacity international submarine cable system ever to land in the Philippines," said PLDT president and CEO Napoleon L. Nazareno, noting, "It is also the most secure."
Among members of the ASE consortium are NTTCom of Japan, StarHub of Singapore, and TM of Malaysia. The submarine cable system was supplied by NEC Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd.
The system initially links Japan, Philippines, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore.
With its landing station at Daet, Camarines Norte, the ASE provides the first and only direct cable connection from the Philippines to Japan that avoids the earthquake-prone seas south of Taiwan which the cable systems of other carriers pass through.
"The timing of this project is excellent," said Nazareno. "This will enhance the country's global competitiveness in attracting investments for business process outsourcing industry and other ventures at a time when investor interest in the Philippines is on the upswing," he added.
In December 2006, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake off the southwest coast of Taiwan damaged several undersea cables and disrupted telecoms services in several Asian countries including the Philippines.
"The ASE cable system thus significantly raises the resiliency of the country's international communications links," according to the PLDT president.
It can be expanded to other economically vibrant Asian countries, such as China, Vietnam and Indonesia. The ASE can also be connected to other major cable systems to Europe, the Middle East, other parts of Asia, and the United States.
"We can also expand our broadband services with new bandwidth-heavy applications requiring international access such as IP-based data, external video content and other external multimedia services," Nazareno noted.
PLDT said it invested $55 million in the 7,200-km undersea cable network which uses 40 Gigabits per second (Gbps) technology upgradeable to 100 Gbps, with a minimum design capacity of 15 Terabits.
Philippine internet connection for upload and downloading speed is expected to up and continue to vie the European countries which is important for the outsourcing business.-Rebuilding the Better Philippines (August 14, 2012 10:55PM)a
Construction workers on Tuesday laid the last piece of a railway that will link southwest China's Yunnan Province with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries.
The Yuxi-Mengzi Railway has a total length of 141 km with a designed maximum speed of 120 km per hour. It passes through 35 tunnels and crosses 61 bridges, which together account for 54.95 percent of the line's total length.
The railway is part of the eastern line of the planned Pan-Asia Railway network, an international railway project that will also consist of central and western lines.
Funded by the Ministry of Railways and the Yunnan government, the railway has a total investment of 4.5 billion yuan (US$ 709.78 million).
The railway is expected to become operational later this year and will boost land transportation between China and ASEAN countries.
The Pan-Asia Railway network is designed to start in Kunming, capital of Yunnan, and pass through the cities of Yuxi, Mengzi and Hekou in Yunnan to connect with Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Singapore. -Interaksyon (August 14, 2012 8:03PM)
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Del Rosario on Tuesday asked the Senate Committee on Finance for an executive session after Senator Manny Villar insisted that he reveal the real score on the country’s maritime dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea.
At the budget hearing of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Villar asked Del Rosario to give a quick briefing on the latest situation in the Panatag Shoal, where Philippine and Chinese boats have been engaged in a standoff since early April.
Del Rosario said the DFA has a three-track approach on the issue with China in order to solve the dispute peacefully, but sought an executive session considering the sensitiveness of the matter.
“We have a three-track approach. One is the political approach. In this political approach, we are utilizing ASEAN , we are also utilizing international partners; the second is the legal approach, we are looking at how to pursue a dispute settlement mechanism under UNCLOS. And thirdly, we are trying to pursue a diplomatic strategy that involves bilateral consultations,” he explained.
“May I ask Sir, if I can provide a full briefing on exactly where we are in terms of the challenges presented by the South China Sea under an executive session? I think that it would be more appropriate, and I would be able to share with you complete information in terms of how to assess the situation,” Del Rosario said.
The DFA chief said the country looks at China as a friend, neighbor, a partner and welcomes its emergence as a prosperous country with a strong economy, and a strong military but at the same time, “we also hope that . . . China is a responsible nation.
On the economic side, Del Rosario said the Banana issue is a technical one spurred by Beijing’s banning of the entry of Philippine bananas on phytosanitary grounds, but which some quarters view as sanctions related to the maritime row.-Interaksyon (August 14, 2012 6:58PM)
As part of its force posture strategy in the Asia-Pacific, the United States is eyeing the transfer of some of its logistics assets being drawn down in Afghanistan to the Philippines and other areas in the region, the US Department of Defense (DOD) said.
The planned pre-positioning of its logistics assets aims to support future disaster response or other contingency in the region as the US Pacific Command (US Pacom) implements President Barack Obama's guidance to make the Asia-Pacific a top priority.
It comes along with more rotation deployments of US forces in the region.
In a report by the American Forces Press Service posted on the DoD website, it was stated that, "As US forces draw down in Afghanistan, Pacom is working with the Defense Department and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to identify what materiel assets might be transferred to the Asia-Pacific."
Air Force Gen. Mark M. McLeod, Pacom director for logistics, was quoted as saying that part of what his office is doing "is looking at the options of where we can forward locate humanitarian assistance capabilities in the theater."
"We want to posture them somewhere in the theater that would allow us to react very quickly," he added.
Among the materials to be disassembled from the expeditionary camps in the US Central Command area of operation in Afghanistan include tents, blankets, and generators, which McLeod said could be vital in a humanitarian crisis.
The report noted that, "although no part of the world is immune to natural disasters, none experiences them in the number or severity as the Asia-Pacific region. Located on the earthquake-prone ring of fire, it also suffers from cyclones, tsunamis, flooding, wildfires, and volcanic eruptions," thus the plan to move some of the US military's logistics assets closer to where it could be of more use.
McLeod said that with equipment and supplies being moved out of the combat theater (Afghanistan), "logic dictates sending at least some of it where it's most likely to be needed."
"As opposed to bringing it home [and] putting it in central storage facilities, it might make more sense, when we do this calculus, to forward move [materiel] to a place where we could get access to very low-cost storage capabilities," he said.
The Pacom official noted several locations, such as Singapore and the Philippines, "which offer not only low-cost warehouse space, but also good airfield and port access."
"Even regional nations not comfortable with a visible US military presence on their soil tend to be open to accepting pre-positioned equipment and supplies, typically tucked away in shipping containers and storage facilities, to support a humanitarian response."
"It supports the local economy while providing a ready force of equipment and supplies for US troops to fall in on if called to support a disaster response. That, in turn, allows them to move in faster and hit the ground running because they don't have to transport it thousands of miles to where it's needed," said McLeod.
"So it is very much a win-win... We are looking for the opportunities to place those assets out there that will help us address that tyranny of distance," he further stated, although he also admitted that "budget constraints demand good decision-making and business practices."
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) welcomed the report, saying that the pre-positioning plan of the US Pacom to the Asia-Pacific is a welcome development, especially for countries like the Philippines that are perennially hit by natural disasters and calamities.
"The Logistics assets of the US Pacom will be of great help in complementing the efforts of the AFP in its humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations," said AFP spokesman, Col. Arnulfo Marcelo B. Burgos Jr.
"This will also allow for rapid responses and quick reactions to emergency situations brought forth by typhoons, earthquakes, and other natural calamities that frequent the Asia-Pacific region," he added.
The AFP spokesman went on to say, "As we have already established strong ties with the US Armed Forces and other foreign military partners, exemplified mainly through the numerous bilateral exercises, training, and other undertakings such as the Balikatan, CARAT and Pacific Partnership, the pre-positioning plan will augment and support our efforts to improve and enhance further our interoperability and effectiveness in conducting HADR (humanitarian and disaster response) operations."
On Friday last week, in the wake of the deadly floods that hit Metro Manila and Central and Southern Luzon, a senior US military official arrived in the country to offer their unique capabilities to help further enhance the AFP's disaster response capability.
General James F. Amos, the United States Marine Corps (USMC) Commandant, met with Defense Secretary Voltaire T. Gazmin at Camp Aguinaldo where they discussed about further strengthening military cooperation between the United States and the Philippines.
During the meeting, both Gazmin and Amos expressed their mutual interest in forging stronger ties, especially in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response (HADR).
The AFP together with the US Armed Forces are also set to undertake the month-long Pacific Unity 12-6 (PU 12-6) in Pampanga and Tarlac from August 20 to September 20.
Pacific Unity is a Pacific Command (Pacom)-funded humanitarian assistance mission. It is a bilateral and joint engineering civic action program conducted in cooperation with the provincial government of Pampanga and Tarlac.-Rebuilding for the Better Philippines (August 14, 2012 11:39PM)
In light of the failed issuance of a joint communique in early July, the question arises whether this will lead to an end to Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) centrality, while Asean experts suggest that the bloc upgrade the secretariat's capacity in order to strengthen the collective entity.
Dr Amitav Acharya, an international relations professor from the American University and a renowned expert on Southeast Asian affairs, said in regard to the so-called "Cambodia Incident", people tend to miss looking at it through the historical view.
He explained that one of the problems today is that people only started paying attention to the region when the Obama administration gave prominence to Asean. "But their expertise and knowledge goes back to 2009, and not to 1967," he said.
"So there's a tendency to interpret Asean from a short-term perspective, missing out on the long-term picture, and [they] have a very inflated expectation of what Asean is and what Asean can do."
Dr Acharya pointed out that a lot of the commentary on the previous Asean ministerial meeting in Phnom Penh missed out the fact that a lot of the problems had to do with Cambodia. In 2009, Cambodia appointed Thaksin Shinawatra, a fugitive, as an advisor. For whatever logic, he said, this was not consistent with the way Asean conducts business.
"Now we have a situation where every other member country had accepted the communique and one country held back … there was no chance of a consensus because of very single-minded insistence on the part of Cambodia," he said.
Cambodia issued a statement on July 26, saying that it has never been an Asean tradition to discuss contentious bilateral disputes, which was why it could not go ahead with discussing or mentioning in the joint communique the positions of the Philippines and Vietnam on maritime territorial disputes with China.
Dr Acharya said that in fact, the disputes in the South China Sea are not strictly a bilateral dispute, as Asean thinks of them as a multilateral issue as much as anything else, and wants to talk to China multilaterally.
Regarding Asean's non-interference norm between member countries, China is not a member of Asean. Thus, it is not an intra-Asean dispute, according to the regional affairs expert.
Asean is a group of relatively small states that, because of a collective willingness to stick together on some common principles, have made a much better impact on international relations than would otherwise have been the case, Acharya said.
He added that the Southeast Asian bloc needs to make some serious adjustments to the way it conducts business: first, by improving the analytical capacity of the Secretariat. A good analytical capacity on the part of the Secretariat should have allowed officials to realise that a problem was brewing and to prepare options or alerted member states.
"The officials of the Asean Secretariat still think like they belong to their own member governments rather than working for Asean as a collective entity. It is a serious weakness. You cannot expect to run a regional organisation with a very weak secretariat, and Surin Pitsuwan, the secretary-general, has also warned of this challenge," he said.
"The Asean secretariat must think like a collective entity, like the community that Asean is supposed to become. Not like a conglomeration of individual states."
Through the help of the original members, Acharya said countries like Indonesia and Thailand now have a special responsibility in guiding Asean through this tough time. He spoke positively of Indonesia, which has been playing a bigger role in the region since it became democratic 10 years ago.
"I don't think this is the end of Asean centrality. Asean has faced crisis before; it will face crisis in the future. What is critical is that Asean carries on keeping in mind that its centrality comes with very serious responsibilities."
Next year, Brunei is set to take the chair of Asean and because it is a small but rich country, it is expected to be very pro-Asean. Like any other small nation in the region, it needs the bloc as a platform to reach out on the international arena.-Asia News Network (August 14, 2012)
Malaysian activists and bloggers are protesting against the newly introduced Section 114A to the Evidence Act 1950 with the campaign Internet Blackout Day, which started this morning replacing home pages with black screens.
The initiative is aimed to create awareness among Internet users about the negative impact of the amendment on online expression.
According to the law (Section 114A), an Internet user is deemed the publisher of any online content unless proven otherwise. It also makes individuals and those who administer, operate or provide sites, responsibles for content published through its services.
"In other words, if defamatory comments are posted on a blog, the blog owner is likely to be sued or charged with criminal defamation”, Malaysiakini said in a statement on its website. Therefore, this presumption of guilt goes against the fundamental principle of justice.-New Europe Online (August 14, 2012)
The Philippines is the brightest economic star in Asia now, according to an economist of multinational Deutsche Bank AG.
In an August 9 interview with Bloomberg's Susan Li, Duetsche's chief economist for Asia Michael Spencer touted the Philippines as the strongest as well as the safest place for funds to be.
"The strongest performing economy in Asia today is the Philippines," he said when Li asked him where the best place to be across the Asia-Pacific region.
This southeast Asian country recorded an impressive 6.4% growth in the first 3 months, making it the best performing economy in the region next to China.
Spencer's bold pronouncements is the newest addition to the long-awaited attention from foreign investors that had traditionally included only neighbors Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia in their investment radar.
Already, eastward-bound hot money have made it to the Philippine Stock Exchange, which hit record highs almost 20-times since President Aquino took over in 2010.
Is Philippines safe for investments?
Bloomberg's Li quickly followed-up Spencer: "Safest, as well?"
It's a question constantly considered by fund managers who have been stuck in western countries previously considered safe but are now in economic crisis.
To stress that the Philippines is indeed safe, Spencer cited the country's relatively low trade exposure to the U.S. and Europe, both now experiencing fiscal pains.
"Historically it's at least been very less dependent on the U.S. and Europe. Although what's really been driving growth today is exports [which is] surprisingly enough for them," said Spencer.
"There seem to be exports to Japan. I suspect there's something of a Japan outsourcing after the earthquakes last year from the Philippines. They've suddenly have discovered a billion dollars a month almost is the last two or 3 months. For them it's huge," said the chief economist.
Other economists and investors have also noted the Philippines relatively low budget deficit of 2.6% of gross domestic product (GDP), a measure of the overall economy.
A low deficit-to-GDP ratio is a traditional indicator that the country has the ability to pay back its debts or repay its investors.
Philippine Exports
A day after Spencer's interview, on August 10, official exports data for June and the first 6 months of the year was released.
Exports in June slowed to 4.2% and volume stood at USD$26.75 billion for the month. This was a reversal of the impressive 19.7% growth of the exports sector in the month of May.
Overall for the past 6 months, exports grew 7.7%, or better than the 4.13% experienced in the first 6 months of 2011.
These show the sector's continuing vulnerability to conditions abroad.
A dampened global demand for trade products hit the Philippines hard in 2011, contributing the most to the deep cuts in the annual GDP growth to 3.7% in 2011 from 7.6% in 2010.
Nonetheless, Spencer focused on the Philippines' top destination for exports, Japan. This north Asian neighbor absorbs over 16% of Philippine exports.
Spencer surmised that after the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan in 2011, export orders poured into the Philippines to help support reconstruction efforts and fill the need for new products.
While exports to Japan shot up 81.5% in May, there was a sharp 24.7% drop in June.
"It's back to reality. The initial euphoria brought by a 19.7% increase in [total] exports [in May 2012] has been dashed back to a more realistic level in June," noted former budget secretary Benjamin Diokno.
Another reality check was the goings on in China, also a key trade partner of the Philippines.
Spencer and Li discussed the political revamp among China's top leaders, as well as inflation situation and monetary policy moves.
China's economy grew at its slowest pace in 3 years, as investment slowed and demand fell in key export markets such as the US and Europe. It reported a 7.6% GDP growth in the 2nd quarter, down from 8.1% in the previous first quarter.
Cooling growth in China has been a concern for other Asian economies and the global recovery. China is the destination for 12% of Philippine exports and a key source of investments and aid.
OFW (Economy Army) Remittances
Another source of dollars -- bigger than exports -- and also a major indicator of the strength of the Philippine economy is its resilient remittance story.
Millions of Filipinos working abroad have been sending about U$19 billion a year to loved ones abroad, fueling consumption, a pillar of economic growth.
Despite the global economic woes, which hit world trade, remittances to the Philippines maintained growth.
Remittance money has kept banks awash with cash (and helps them remain stable compared to peers in other crisis-hit countries), malls and other retail outlets active and thriving, and real estate investments thriving.
Remittances have also kept the country's levels of balance of payments and international reserves healthy.
Sustainable Growth?
In his 3rd State of the Nation Address (Sona), President Aquino touted the economic gains of the country under his watch.
He cited not just the impressive 6.4% first quarter growth, but also the 7 credit rating upgrades from international agencies and the historic highs achieved by the main stock index.
Can these be sustained?
The upcoming announcement of the Philippines' 2nd quarter growth rate this August will be telling. The economic managers have expressed optimism another 6.4% is attainable, though they are keeping year-end targets of 5% to 6% growth.
Already, neighbor Indonesia has announced an impressive 6.4% in the second quarter.
On Monday, August 13, a key Philippine economic indicator - the performance of the agriculture sector - was not impressive.
Farm output in the first 6 months of 2012 only grew a mere 0.93%, way below the government's year-long growth target of 4% to 5%.
The agriculture sector, hit by a fishing ban in the first two months of the year, makes up 1/5 of the economy and employs a third of the working population. Economists are mixed over whether the low initial figures will impact GDP growth for 2012.
Still, the Philippines has a number of factors working in its favor.
The country benefits from resilient consumers, a young population base that can boost consumption, and an expected pick-up in government infrastructure projcts this 2012 and 2013, financial analysts from COL Financial Group Inc recently told Rappler.
The government's capital-intensive infrastructure projects under the Aquino government's public-private-partnership (PPP) scheme was meant to take off in 2011 but were delayed due to good governance checks, officials said.
So far, the bidding for two big-ticket road projects -- the ₱20-billion LRT-Cavite extension project and the ₱13-billion NAIA Expressway project -- are scheduled to be finished this year.
When construction starts next year, the hope is these will spur economic activity through the supply chain and employment.
Meantime, the local stock market has been hailed the 2nd best performer in the world year-to-date, but also now the most expensive market in the region, twice as expensive as South Korea's Kospi and twice as expensive as Hong Kong's Han Seng.
The Philippines seems to be on an upward trajectory but there are bumps on the road.-Rebuilding for the Better Philippines (August 13, 2012)
Indonesian bonds have gone from the worst to best performers in Asia this quarter as a more stable rupiah lured funds such as HSBC Global Asset Management and Pioneer Investments to Southeast Asia’s highest yields.
Local-currency notes have gained 4.1 percent since June 30 after being the only debt from the 10 major Asian emerging markets to post a negative return in the second quarter, according to an HSBC Holdings Plc index. Their average yield of 6.2 percent is the highest in Southeast Asia and compares with 5.2 percent in the Philippines and 3.5 percent in Malaysia.
The rupiah weakened 2.8 percent against the dollar in the second quarter as Indonesia posted trade deficits in each of the three months, the first shortfall since July 2010. Since then, the currency has lost just 0.8 percent and foreign funds have added 13.7 trillion rupiah ($1.4 billion) to their debt holdings, finance ministry data show. The more stable rupiah is helping to revive interest in the country’s notes, said Gordon Rodrigues, investment director at HSBC Global in Hong Kong.
“We are cautiously positive on Indonesia,” Rodrigues, who helps oversee $32 billion of Asian fixed-income assets, said in an interview on Aug. 7. “In a more stable environment for bonds, being underweight for a long period of time on Indonesia, which is a relatively high-yielding country, tends to hurt you.”
Cooling inflation and slower economic growth in Asia may prompt regional policy makers to reduce interest rates further, supporting gains in debt from the region. The GBI-EM Global Diversified Index of developing-nation bonds returned 8.6 percent this year, exceeding 2011’s 8.4 percent gain, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co., which compiles the data.
Fast Growth
Southeast Asia’s largest economy expanded 6.37 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, official data show, more than the 6.10 percent forecast by analysts and the 6.32 percent in the previous three months. That was the fastest growth among the Group of 20 nations after China. Consumer prices rose 4.56 percent in July from a year earlier, within the central bank’s 3.5 percent to 5.5 percent target range for 2012.
Bank Indonesia kept its reference rate at a record low of 5.75 percent for a sixth month on Aug. 9, a decision predicted by 25 of 26 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The policy rate will probably be left unchanged for the rest of the year, according to a Goldman Sachs Group Inc. research note by analysts Mark Tan and Hui Ying Chan released after the decision.
The central bank has intervened repeatedly to support the rupiah this year as the faltering global economy prompted investors to reduce holdings of emerging-market assets. The rupiah traded at 9,502 per dollar as of 2:24 p.m. in Jakarta. The nation’s foreign-exchange reserves dropped almost 15 percent to $106.6 billion at the end of July from a record-high of $124.6 billion on Aug. 31, 2011, central bank data show.
Spread to Narrow
Foreign funds pulled $1.3 billion from Indonesian stocks and bonds in May, as the 12-month non-deliverable forward reached the highest level since September 2009 on May 25. Forwards are agreements to buy or sell assets at a set price and date. Non-deliverable contracts are settled in dollars. The central bank started offering dollar term deposits in June to ease the pressure on the rupiah.
HSBC Global is rebuilding its Indonesian bond holdings, while hedging the currency, as “we would like to see stability in the way the exchange rate is managed,” Rodrigues said.
Pioneer Investments, which oversees 154 billion euros ($189 billion) of assets, said it favors longer-dated Indonesia debt and that it expects purchases by foreign investors to narrow the difference in yield between short- and long-tenor securities, the so-called bull flattening pattern. The gap between the two- and 10-year yield shrank to 56 basis points on Aug. 6, the least since January 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Full-Year Deficit
“We think there’s some value at the mid to long-end part of the yield,” Hakan Aksoy, the London-based global emerging markets and high yield portfolio manager at Pioneer, said in an Aug. 7 interview. “But we remain cautious of foreign-exchange risks” as the rupiah may remain volatile, he said.
Indonesia posted a trade deficit of $1.3 billion in June, following shortfalls of $207 million in May and $765 million in April, official data show. Exports fell 16.4 percent in June, while imports rose 10.7 percent. The country will probably have a full-year trade deficit of $3 billion this year, Tim Condon, chief Asia economist at ING Groep NV in Singapore, wrote in a report on Aug. 3. That would be the first full-year deficit since Bloomberg began tracking the data in 2008.
Edwin Gutierrez, who helps oversee about $8.5 billion of emerging-market notes as a portfolio manager at Aberdeen Asset Management Plc, said he would avoid Indonesian securities as the strong import growth could weaken the rupiah further.
‘Better Places’
“There are better places for me to put my money where I don’t have the same currency concerns due to the weakening balance of payments,” London-based Gutierrez wrote in an e-mail on Aug. 6.
The worsening trade shortfall is a consequence of increasing levels of foreign investment which necessitate imports for large projects, Luky Alfirman, director of macroeconomic policy at Indonesia’s finance ministry, said in Singapore on Aug. 3.
There was $5.9 billion of foreign direct investment in Indonesia in the second quarter, the Investment Coordinating board said last month. That was the most since Bloomberg began tracking the figures in 2004, according to government data. The current-account deficit, the broadest measure of trade, widened to $6.9 billion in the three months through June from $2.9 billion in the previous quarter.
‘Silver Lining’
The central bank said Aug. 10 it is taking steps to reduce the country’s rising current-account deficit, including giving foreign investors the flexibility to hedge foreign-exchange transactions to as short as one week. Policy makers also raised the floor of the money-market rate by 25 basis points to 4 percent to help strengthen the rupiah against the dollar.
“The silver lining is a more investment-driven current- account deficit,” HSBC’s Rodrigues said. “If the trend continues toward more investment rather than consumption, then that would be a positive” for the rupiah in the medium term as it would boost the nation’s productive capacity, he said.
Bank Indonesia said on Aug. 9 that it expected the economy to expand 6.1 percent to 6.5 percent in 2012 and 6.3 percent to 6.7 percent in 2013, supported by domestic consumption and foreign investment. Gross domestic product increased 6.46 percent last year, official data show.
Albert Ma, a Taipei-based bond fund manager at PineBridge Investments LLC, which oversees $67 billion of assets worldwide, said he prefers Indonesian debt among Asian local-currency notes.
“Overall, we still like the growth story,” Ma said in an interview on Aug. 6. “Together with tamed inflation, the bonds should continue to do well.”
‘Great Credit Story’
Credit-default swaps on five-year Indonesian government debt slid 48 basis points this year to 161 on Aug. 10, according to data provider CMA, which is owned by McGraw-Hill Cos. and compiles prices quoted by dealers in the privately negotiated market. The contracts pay the buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities should the issuer fail to adhere to debt agreements. A basis point equals $1,000 annually in a contract protecting $10 million of debt.
Indonesia regained investment-grade rankings from Fitch Ratings in December, followed by Moody’s Investors Service in January, with both companies citing the country’s strong and resilient economic growth. Standard & Poor’s assigns Indonesia its highest junk level.
“The prevailing hunt for yield which investors seek at the moment within emerging markets, plus a great credit story, makes Indonesia one of the best places to be,” Sergey Dergachev, who helps manage $8.5 billion of emerging-market debt as a senior portfolio manager at Union Investment Privatfonds in Frankfurt, said in an Aug. 3 interview.-Bloomberg (August 13, 2012)
Police in Thailand say that they will charge a member of the Thai parliament with causing death by negligence for accidentally shooting his secretary dead with a submachine gun.
They say that the accident happened in a restaurant on Sunday night.
Senator Boonsong Kowawisarat took out a 9mm Uzi submachine gun while waiting for food, the Bangkok Post reported.
He told police the gun accidentally discharged and his secretary was shot in the stomach.
Police say that the shooting happened in Phrae province, northern Thailand.
Police say that because Mr Boonsong was in shock after the incident, the restaurant owner rushed the secretary to hospital where she succumbed to gunshot wounds.
Correspondents say that it is not clear whether Mr Boonsong knew the gun was loaded before the shooting.
"From our initial inquiry, the secretary's family will not sue because they were relatives and it was an accident - he did not mean to do it," a local police officer told AFP by telephone.
Officials said it was also unclear why the senator was armed at the meal.
Police have yet to arrest the senator - a member of the upper house of the Thai parliament - as he is protected by parliamentary privilege, the Bangkok Post reported.
Mr Boonsong faces a maximum of 10 years imprisonment and a 20,000 baht ($636;£405) fine if convicted.-Bristish Broadcasting Corporation (August 13, 2012)
The country is finally eyeing legal remedies before international forums to resolve its territorial dispute with China over the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario said yesterday.
“We can tell you that we are now exploring with great initiative the legal option,” he told the House committee on appropriations, which conducted a hearing on the 2013 budget of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
“We can’t reveal the details of our move in public, but we can provide them to you in a closed-door session,” he said.
Del Rosario made the statement in response to questions raised by Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, who said the government should now bring the Panatag Shoal issue to international bodies such as the United Nations for “compulsory arbitration.”
“I think we should do that because diplomatic and political efforts to resolve it have failed due to China’s intransigence,” he said.
Rodriguez said the disputed area is clearly within the country’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone under the UN on the Law of the Sea. The shoal is just 124 miles off Zambales, and more than 400 miles from the nearest Chinese territory.
He lamented that for the first time in decades, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) failed in its recent meeting in Cambodia to come up with a joint communiqué containing its common stand on the problem in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
“That was because of China’s influence over Cambodia. A Cambodian diplomat even had the gall to turn off the microphone while you were speaking, Mr. Secretary,” Rodriguez told Del Rosario.
The DFA chief also said China appears to be taking its own sweet time in considering an ASEAN proposal for a Code of Conduct in the West Philippine Sea.
“China has taken a position that it would consider discussing the proposed Code of Conduct with ASEAN when the time is right. We don’t know when that would be. The proposed code would be binding on all parties,” he said.
He said the Philippines has suggested “some fundamental elements” that have been incorporated in the code.
Del Rosario agreed with some members of the appropriations committee that only the DFA should speak for the country when it comes to foreign relations-related issues like the conflict over Panatag Shoal.
“That should be the appropriate protocol. But there are officials who have been asked about this issue and they have responded in their own way. I think the protocol should be restated,” he said.
Manila Rep. Zenaida Angping, who presided over the hearing as head of a subcommittee in charge of the DFA budget, said even lawmakers should avoid making statements on the country’s territorial dispute with China.
Zambales Rep. Mitos Magsaysay said President Aquino’s spokespersons Edwin Lacierda, Ricky Carandang and Abigail Valte have issued statements “that further incensed China.”
“As a result, they retaliated by banning the entry of Philippine bananas in their territory,” she said. -The Philippine Star (August 14, 2012)
