Japanese warships near disputed waterway
Power outage cripples Manila airport, thousands stranded
SUBIC BAY FREEPORT ZONE, Philippines, April 3, (AFP): Two Japanese destroyers and a submarine docked at a Philippine port on Sunday near disputed South China Sea waters, where Beijing’s increasingly assertive behaviour has sparked global concern.
Manila is seeking to strengthen ties with Tokyo as tensions mount over the disputed waterway, almost all of which is claimed by China.
Japanese submarine Oyashio and destroyers JS Ariake and JS Setogiri docked in the Subic port Sunday for a routine visit at a sprawling former US naval base just 200 kilometres (125 miles) from a Chinese-held shoal.
“The visit is a manifestation of a sustained promotion of regional peace and stability and enhancement of maritime cooperation between neighbouring navies,” Philippine Navy spokesman Commander Lued Lincuna said.
The Ariake was equipped with an anti-submarine helicopter, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.
The port call came on the eve of war games between the United States and Filipino soldiers in the Philippines, which is seen as a showcase of a longstanding military alliance that the Philippines is counting on to deter China.
Outgunned
Seriously outgunned by its much larger rival China, the Philippines has turned to allies like the United States and Japan to upgrade its armed forces in recent years.
In February, Japan agreed to supply the Philippines with military hardware, which may include anti-submarine reconnaissance aircraft and radar technology.
Tensions in the South China Sea -through which one-third of the world’s oil passes -- have mounted in recent months since China transformed contested reefs into artificial islands capable of supporting military facilities.
Aside from the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan
time rival China.
Public Security Minister and police general Tran Dai Quang, 59, received 436 votes from 465 assembly members also have overlapping claims.
Japan and China are locked in a separate dispute over an uninhabited island chain in the East Sea.
The Philippines has asked a United Nations-backed tribunal to declare China’s sea claims as illegal and the government expects a decision this year.
Gunmen on a speedboat have kidnapped four Malaysians from a ship off the east coast of Sabah state in waters where Abu Sayyaf militants are known to operate, the Malaysian government said Saturday.
If the Philippine Islamist group is confirmed to be behind the kidnapping, it would be their second such hostage-taking in as many weeks and comes amid an uptick in such attacks.
“Malaysia strongly condemns the senseless and barbaric act,” a foreign ministry statement said.
The ministry added it would work closely with Philippine authorities on investigations and towards securing the Malaysians’ release.
Philippine regional army spokesman Felimon Tan said the military was verifying the reported kidnapping after Malaysian authorities informed them of the incident on Friday.
“Whether or not they were seized by the Abu Sayyaf or brought to the Philippines, we have yet to confirm,” Tan told AFP. Sabah police commissioner Abdul Rashid Harun told Malaysia’s official news agency Bernama that authorities were still investigating if the kidnapping occurred in Malaysian or international waters.
“The area is vast and we have our assets there. So we are investigating whether it happened in or off our waters,” he was quoted as saying by Bernama.
“The five other individuals in the ship comprising Myanmar and Indonesian nationals were released.”
Malaysia’s foreign ministry said the
who cast their votes, the Communist government said on its website.
In Vietnam, the president is the head of state and chief commander of the kidnapping occurred while the MV MASFIVE 6 barge was returning to Malaysia from the Philippines.
Many Western and other embassies routinely issue warnings against travelling to most of the Philippines’ Muslim-populated southern regions, which lie just northeast of Sabah, because of the risk of being abducted by the Abu Sayyaf.
On Tuesday, officials said that 10 Indonesian sailors had been kidnapped in waters off the southern Philippines. The incident was believed to have happened last Saturday.
Hideout
The Philippine military said initial information indicated the sailors may have been taken by an Abu Sayyaf faction to Sulu, a remote southern island that is a hideout of the militant outfit.
Someone claiming to be from Abu Sayyaf called the vessel’s owners to demand a ransom for the sailors’ release.
Other recent kidnappings, including of two Canadian tourists and a Norwegian resort owner in areas previously considered beyond the group’s reach, have further raised fears.
Suspected Filipino Muslim militants seized four Malaysian crewmen of a tugboat in the second such attack at sea in recent weeks, sparking a new security alarm, officials said Saturday.
Eight gunmen on board a speed boat took the Malaysians from the MV Massive 6 Friday night but left behind five other crewmen from Myanmar and Indonesia as the tugboat sailed to Tawau island in Malaysia’s eastern state of Sabah from the Philippines, Malaysian officials said.
The tugboat owner managed to establish contact with the remaining crewmen, who reported that they had been robbed and that four Malaysian colleagues had been kidnapped. The tugboat continued its voyage to Tawau
military, while the prime minister — to be chosen next week — oversees the economy. Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong holds the top job. with a security vessel escorting it after the attack, the officials said.
Philippine military officials said they had received sketchy reports about the new kidnappings and added that Philippine authorities were coordinating with their Malaysian counterparts.
Philippine forces “remain on alert and have taken appropriate action to address the situation,” said Maj. Filemon Tan, who speaks for the military command in charge of securing southern provinces where Abu Sayyaf militants have an active presence.
Ten Indonesian crewmen of a tugboat and barge were kidnapped recently by suspected Abu Sayyaf militants while en route to the Philippines from Indonesia’s Kalimantan region, Indonesian and Philippine officials said.
A rare power outage plunged a major section of the Philippine capital’s main airport into darkness overnight, forcing flight cancellations that stranded thousands on Sunday.
As many as 78 flights by the country’s largest carrier Cebu Pacific were cancelled, affecting nearly 14,000 passengers, the company said in a statement. Flag carrier Philippine Airlines also said some of its flights were cancelled or delayed but could not immediately say how many.
The blackout hit Terminal 3, which services mostly domestic flights, late on Saturday and power was not restored until before dawn on Sunday.
Exhausted passengers sprawled on the floor as check-in counters and luggage carousels shut down. Long queues formed outside the terminal as entrances were closed until power was restored.
Terminal 3 of Ninoy Aquino International Airport, named after the assassinated father of incumbent President Benigno Aquino, handles an average of 350 domestic and international flights daily, according to data from the transportation ministry.
Both men are members of the powerful 19-member committee that effectively rules the country. (AP)
Maldives breaks up protest:
Police in the Maldives used tear gas and pepper spray Sunday to break up a protest by journalists and activists accusing the government of stifling press freedom, arresting 11 of the demonstrators.
The Maldives, a South Asian archipelago nation known mainly for its luxury resorts, became a multiparty democracy in 2008 after decades of autocratic rule. However, democratic gains have been rapidly declining in recent years.
The protesters were rallying near the president’s office against the government’s move to criminalize defamation, as well as other measures allegedly taken against the media. President Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s ruling party has presented a bill in parliament that proposes heavy fines and jail terms for defamation.
The demonstrators also accused the government of having a part in a court order that suspended publication of the Maldives’ oldest newspaper. Other issues raised during the protest included delays in investigating the disappearance of a journalist two years ago and some media organizations being barred from court reporting. (AP)