Buy Filipino and create jobs

by Mario Casayuran and Reuters, Manila Bulletin

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto counseled the Duterte administration to tap local industries in modernizing the military before snapping up a $500-million loan being offered by China to modernize the Philippine military.

“The Philippines must stop relying on foreign suppliers to modernize the military equipment of its armed forces,” Recto said.

Recto gave this advice after Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the country plans to utilize the loan to procure defense equipment from China.

China has offered to donate $14 million worth of military hardware to the Philippines, plus a soft loan for $500 million in Chinese arms.

But Lorenzana said they plan to use China’s money if the military’s five-year P100-billion ($2-billion) budget for modernization is insufficient.

“There is no need to borrow from China. We should tap our domestic industries for the equipment needed by our policemen and soldiers,” Recto urged.

He cited the existence of a vibrant local firearms industry that has been exporting its products for many decades now.

“Some of them were licensees of world’s leading gun makers,” he noted.

FILIPINO FIRST

There are many of them, from boat builders to vehicle manufacturers to firearm/ammunition makers who can step up to the plate once there are firm orders from the government, Recto pointed out.

“We should look inward and develop our own capability. It is cheaper to produce and maintain them locally, than to import them. That way, jobs are created for the Filipinos and the local industries are given the chance to grow,” he added.

The only equipment or parts we should import, according to Recto, are those which the country cannot produce locally.

“We should not bypass local industries which can provide parts or whole of the defense equipment being sought,” he said.

“Hindi naman pwede na mula helmet hanggang boots (We should not import everything from helmets to boots) imported. If some of the things can be made locally and the products are of the same price and quality as the ones bought abroad, then let us manufacture them here,” Recto said.

Military and police vehicles can be supplied by local car manufacturers. The President’s home province of Cebu , for one can build patrol ships.

“We have a world-class shipbuilding industry in Cebu, but our government agencies have yet to harness its potential as a major source of military and civilian boats,” he stressed.

“Buy local, create jobs. This should be the new mantra of the government,” he added.

CONDITIONS

The United States has provided its defense treaty ally with most of its major hardware, like ships, fighters, helicopters and small arms, but the Philippines is now looking to China and Russia for drones, planes, fast boats and rifles to fight communist rebels and Islamist militants behind an unrelenting spree of piracy and kidnapping, he said.

Lorenzana said acquiring weapons and equipment from the United States had become difficult because the process was slow and there were conditions tied to sales.

“That’s why we are discouraged from getting from them because of these conditions,” Lorenzana told reporters in Beijing.

“We need airplanes, we need drones, we need fast boats,” he said. “We need them in the south so that we can deter kidnappings and bring about development.”

Weapons procurements could also be complicated by bipartisan attempts by some US lawmakers to ban the transfer of arms to the Philippines that could be used in a war on drugs that has killed thousands of Filipinos, and has been condemned by Western governments.

At the sidelines of a Belt and Road summit in Beijing, Philippine President Duterte on Sunday met several Chinese state-owned corporations, including a defense contractor blacklisted by Washington for selling to Iran items that were banned under US laws.

NO DIFFERENCE

Duterte, who is working hard to strengthen ties with China has complained about the useless US “hand-me-down” merchandise given its treaty ally.

Lorenzana confirmed China’s Poly Group Corporation and Poly Technologies were among companies which called on President Duterte and the defense department is sending a technical team to look at the Chinese equipment.

Lorenzana said he signed a letter of intent with state-owned China Poly Group to buy military equipment from but no specific materiel had been decided yet.

“Yes, I signed a letter of intent with Poly Group. (However) there is no specific equipment or arms yet. We’ll let the services decide what they went to acquire from China,” Lorenzana added.

The defense chief assured there is no difference whether Western or China-made.

“The weapons are almost the same now. They are used the same way. Puede namang i-tailor made yung requirements natin (The materiel can be customized according to our requirements). Doctrine and training is peculiar to an Army so it won’t be affected,” Lorenzana said.

He is due to sign a defense agreement with his Russian counterpart next week for possible purchases of weapons and drones. The Philippines is also acquiring drones from Israel. (With reports from Hannah L. Torregoza and Francis T. Wakefield)

Senator Cayetano as new DFA Secretary

Office of Senator

Alan Peter S. Cayetano

Rm. 602 GSIS Complex Senate of the Philippines Roxas Blvd Pasay City

         

PRESS RELEASE

17 May 2017

Cayetano vows to help Du30 admin fulfill promise of change as new DFA Sec

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano vows to continue helping President Rodrigo Duterte in fulfilling his promise of promoting the welfare of the Filipino people, as well as the country's national sovereignty and interest, territorial integrity, and national security.

This was the pledge of Cayetano when he faced members of the Commission on Appointments at the Senate for the confirmation of his post as Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Members of the CA unanimously voted for the appointment of Cayetano during the plenary session. 

"To the Honorable members of the Commission on Appointments... I have the honor and privilege to be before you today as you exercise your constitutional mandate to assess and decide on my fitness to serve the DFA as its Secretary," Cayetano said in his opening speech before the commission.

The senator stressed that while much has been done in the field of foreign relations, "there is still so much to do" in order to affect more genuine changes for the country.

As Secretary, Cayetano will introduce initiatives aimed at "advocating and pushing for our national interest, strengthening our bilateral and multilateral relations with other countries and organizations around the world, and of course the protection, welfare, and comfort of our Filipinos overseas, particularly our modern day heroes."

The senator also took the opportunity to thank his colleagues in Congress "for helping President Duterte in fulfilling his mandate and vision."

Cayetano had been a public servant since 1992. He was first elected as the youngest Councilor of the then municipality of Taguig, and was voted as Vice Mayor of the same municipality. He served three terms as Representative of the Lone District of Taguig-Pateros, and was elected as Senator in 2007.

He currently holds the position of Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. The senator had since been accompanying the President during his state visits to different countries. 

"These foreign trips have... given a face to our 10 million kababayans abroad. They are working hard, sacrificing much, asking for little.They are hungry for change," Cayetano stressed, as he expressed commitment to promoting the welfare of OFWs here and abroad.#

More (global) cyber attacks

WED, MAY 17, 2017 BY THE MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR LEAVE A COMMENT

IN MY OPINIONKlaus Doring

Several weeks ago, I mentioned in this corner that the German government plans cyber attack ‘hackback’ ahead of national elections in September. Indeed, there are many cyber attack fears ahead of it. How much more now!

Latest example: several British NHS (National Health Sysyem) divisions reported problems with their computer systems on Friday afternoon local time (May 12, 2017)  –  while hospitals in London, northwest England and other parts of the country alerted patients to the temporary closures.

“We are aware of a major IT secure system attack. All IT systems have been tem-porarily shut down,” Derby-shire Community Health Services said on Twitter. NHS Merseyside in the north of England reassured its patients via Twitter that it was working to solve the problem. Sure!

The NHS later confirmed several hospitals’ computer systems had been hit by the Wanna Decryptor ransom-ware variant, but that patient data had not been accessed. “This attack was not speci-fically targeted at the NHS and is affecting organizations from across a range of sectors,” NHS Digital, a division of NHS England that handles information technology issues, said in a statement.

Ransom-ware attacks  are becoming more more frequent. British hospitals have been hit by ransom-ware attacks before, with hackers typically encrypting files and demanding a bitcoin bounty to unlock the files. The malware typically spreads through networks.

In 2016 an NHS division canceled operations and diverted major trauma cases when it was hit by a virus.

Intel Security reported in 2016 that hospitals were increasingly being targeted by ransom-ware operations, with one operator earning almost US$121 million (111 million Euro).”A combination of legacy systems with weak security, a lack of employee security awareness, a fragmented workforce, and the pressing need for immediate access to information has led the criminal underground to prey on hospitals,” the report said.

In 2016 British leaders unveiled a multibillion-pound national cybersecurity strategy that included new police units to target organized online gangs and even retaliation for major attacks.

Already 2016, hackers hold German hospital data hostage. Several hospitals in Germany have come under attack by ransom-ware, a type of virus that locks files and demands cash to free data it maliciously encrypted. Ac-cording to present know-ledge, it was an attachment in an email that allowed the virus to enter the system. It will take weeks until all systems are up and running again. First thing, one might notice the system isn’t running smoothly anymore. Error messages are popping up, and the system is suspiciously slow.

Hospitals have fallen victim to ransom-ware – a type of malware that makes data inaccessible to its rightful owner. Hackers then demand ransom payments in ex-change for a key that unlocks the files.

Ransom payments happened also in Hollywood. Blackmailing hospitals into paying ransom has also been reported in other parts of the world, most notably in the US state of California where a Hollywood hospital paid about $17,000 (15,000 EURO) in the digital currency bitcoins to hackers this month.

Import is to have regular backups.  If the virus encrypted data is being backed up, one just restore the backup files. Fact is, each one of us and our surroundings are being watched by Big Brother…. A world of glass!

Philippine Government on top of Palawan Situation

‘Government on top of Palawan situation’

By Alexis Romero (The Philippine Star)

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The US and the UK have issued travel advisories warning their citizens about supposed plans by terrorists to kidnap foreigners in Palawan, including in the capital Puerto Princesa City and areas surrounding the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park. File

MANILA, Philippines - The government is on top of the situation in Palawan.

Malacañang gave the assurance yesterday after the US and the United Kingdom warned their citizens against traveling to the province, citing terrorist threats.

The US and the UK have issued travel advisories warning their citizens about supposed plans by terrorists to kidnap foreigners in Palawan, including in the capital Puerto Princesa City and areas surrounding the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park.

The warnings came after the US, UK and several other foreign governments cautioned their citizens about kidnapping threats in Bohol, the site of a clash that left five Abu Sayyaf militants and four government troopers dead last month. 

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the military and police are working closely to thwart any terrorist activity in Palawan, a known tourist site. 

“Public safety is everyone’s concern. We assure everyone that the government is on top of the situation and authorities, particularly those in the Western Command which covers the province of Palawan, are on heightened alert to prevent any untoward incidents,” Abella said. 

Headlines ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1

“All units and assets are being utilized to ensure maximum security to deny any terrorist group’s entry and access in the high seas and coastal areas,” he added. 

Abella said the Armed Forces of the Philippines Western Command, the Philippine Coast Guard, the Philippine National Police and the local government of Palawan “are in close coordination in enforcing law and order.”

“We urge everyone’s cooperation, including residents and tourists, to be mindful and immediately report to law enforcement units any questionable individual or activity in the areas,” Abella said. 

President Duterte has ordered the military to “shoot on sight” Abu Sayyaf bandits, saying the situation is “a problem of security, law and order.” 

“My order to the security forces is stalk, shoot them on sight. Kill them, do not waste your bullet, then we take care of them in hospital. Expend your bullet to finish the problem because it is really a problem,” Duterte stressed in a press conference on Wednesday.

“If you encounter them, kill them. Filipinos are in great number. Next year there will be more – there will be about 125 million of us. We can always replenish the supply, do not worry,” he added. – Roel Pareño

Global environment voices

FRI, MAY 12, 2017 BY THE MINDANAO DAILY MIRROR LEAVE A COMMENT

IN MY OPINIONKlaus Doring

If I meet people fighting for our clean environment, you might find me at their site. Activists have started a eight-day push to get individuals and institutions to divest from oil, gas and coal corporations. Investing in the fossil fuel industry equals pumping money into climate change, they say.

Fossil fuels seem to be losing their unquestioned position as the world’s primary source of energy, particularly after the Paris climate agreement. Even so, governments and private investors continue to sup-port fossil fuel businesses worldwide.

The Global Divestment Mobilization (May 5 to 13, 2017) will draw together thousands of people from across 39 countries on six continents to push forward divestment from fossil fuels, in favor of renewable energy. In other words, to convince investors to withdraw their financial support fossil fuel companies – and in doing so, protect the climate.

Environmental activists and concerned individuals ask for an immediate freeze of any new investment in coal, oil or gas companies. The movement has spread across the world over the past five years. It’s based on the argument that investing in fossil energies fuels the climate crisis.

As a project of the environmental nonprofit organization 350.org, the Global Divestment Mobilization started in United States universities in 2012. But the movement has now reached global dimensions. “Everything is growing very rapidly,” Melanie Mattauch, Europe communications coordinator told international media.

The network includes now countries from Asia, Latin America and Africa. The development of the movement in Brazil, for instance, has been particularly exciting for Mattauch. “There, many bishops and Catholic groups are engaged,” she said. “They want the Vatican to react as a great moral authority – and a great investor.”

And the movement has also been very successful, Mattauch said, pointing to its growth. More than 700 public institutions worldwide have already committed to divest, including educational institutions, philanthropic foundations and governments. Just last week, the German city of Göttingen has become the fourth German city withdrawing investment in coal, oil and gas companies. As German citizen I am happy to learn about it.

Faith-based organizations represent around 20 percent of the total divestment reached yet.

“Christians in the Church have a particular moral and religious obligation to speak out on climate change,” a spokesperson from the Christian Climate Action group told German media. She didn’t want to be named, out of professional reasons.

This is indeed all about raising awareness and making pressure.

Some accuse fossil fuel companies of only surviving thanks to governmental subsidies. Oil Change International issued a 2015 report that G20 governments provided more than $400 billion (360 billion Euro) per year to fossil fuel production, including some of the world’s most carbon-intensive and polluting ones. Let’s face it: unless governments stop propping up fossil fuel companies, divestment will be limited, even with clean energy becoming ever cheaper.

Summer 2017: Tarsier sanctuary-turned-resort shows a different side of Bohol

By: Jeeves de Veyra

Abs Cbn

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A view of Tarsier Botanika from offshore. Photo by author

When one thinks of Bohol, images of beaches and Chocolate Hills immediately come to mind. An image of a forest paradise is probably not on that list. And yet, that is exactly what Tarsier Botanica is: a resort situated in the middle of a forest.

Tarsier Botanika is an exclusive resort nestled in the forests of southern Panglao. It used to be a tarsier sanctuary until the local government moved the endangered creatures to their facility in Bohol. With only 14 villas in the entire complex, this resort guarantees privacy and a place to really get away from it all.

This resort was dreamed up by its architect owners. There is a museum that houses collectibles and objets d’art that they have brought home from their travels. The curated collection in the museum reflects the European and Asian aesthetics that has made its way into the resort.

Birds diving in and out of the water can sometimes be seen at the swimming pool. Photo by author

Everything in the resort was made according to the owners’ designs: the resort layout, the villas, the restaurant, and special furniture in the buildings.

As a guest in Tarsier Botanika, you don’t walk through claustrophobic hallways to get to their rooms. Rather, you wander through lush forest paths to get to your villa with the soundtrack of the wind rustling through the leaves and birds chirping in the trees.

Every step inside the resort is a picture waiting to be taken. Photo by author

A Balinese reclining Buddha in the forest pathways. Photo by author

A Santorini-inspired deck. Photo by author

With every step on the paths is an Instagram moment waiting to be captured. There’s a sleeping Buddha from Bali, there’s the Santorini-esque cliffside walkway that leads down to a private beach, the swimming pool which occasionally has birds diving in and out of the water,

And then, there are the villas themselves.

The grand interiors of a Tarsier Botanika villa. Photo by author

The villas, which resemble large nipa huts, dwarf a standard hotel room. It can easily house an entire family. The bathroom is massive with storage space for luggage. A comfortable king size bed adorns the main room with a classy desk and a breakfast nook in a corner, which comes with a CBTL Caffitaly espresso machine with a complete selection of espresso pods.

The coffee nook has its own espresso machine. Photo by author

Tarsier Botanika is not shy about the construction of the villa as the massive structures that support the roof are there to see when you lie down on the bed. The supports are an imposing sight and yet, it just shows how well made these houses are. Little touches like a foot wash outside the villa and various drying racks show how much thought was given to the design of these levelled up huts. The villa just invites guests to cocoon themselves inside for the duration of their stay.

And yet, there is a lot more to do and see in Tarsier Botanika. There is a mini-zoo that houses all sorts of birds and animals from the island. There is a stable with horses and ponies that guests can ride though their Tarsier Equestria package. Professional equestrian athletes from Cebu regularly come here for dressage and Show Jumping practice.

Tarsier Botanika has a stable and equestrian grounds. Photo by author

There is also a Tarsier Aquatica package that includes boat trips to nearby islands for scuba diving guests.

Though Tarsier Botanika has its own beach, guests can catch a boat and sun themselves at the beaches of nearby Pamilacan Island. The resort occasionally hosts beachside barbecue brunch for guests which also features snorkeling at the nearby marine sanctuary to check out Bohol’s marine biodiversity.

Barbecue brunch at Pamilacan Island. Photo by author

For those looking for a party atmosphere, the resort provides a shuttle to Panglao Beach. The resort’s shuttle station is located at its similarly named sister restaurant. The beachside branch’s menu is more down-to-earth than the gourmet menu of the resort.

A sample of desserts from the Tarsier Botanika branch at Panglao Beach. Photo by author

Tarsier Botanika is an emerald in the sea of Bohol’s beach resorts. It offers is not just a resort offering a place to stay, it is a complete experience for the world-weary who’re looking for a couple of days of disconnection from the world and a place to enjoy peace and quiet.