Mindanao Revenue is 54% of total Philippine earnings, Federalism the last Option for Peace and Development

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Now it's the Philippines vs taiwan's INVASION in Kalayaan for Oils

Kalayaan, Province of Palawan, Philippines. Taiwan want's to start exploring oil inside Kalayaan Municipality of the Palawan Province.

Chinese in Taiwan are originally from mainland China who were defeated by the China's Communist group so they retreated down south and take over the Formosan Government in Taiwan as a base island for their dream to controll back the communist Mainland China under the Republic of China government.

As the Mainland China is controlled by the Communist group, Taiwan the Republic of China claimed back the Mainland China as their territory which now both Mainland China and Taiwan are claiming each other.

Chinese in Taiwan are of the same ideology as all other Chinese in the world with the chinese in the mainland China.

With the continuous mounting of conflicts in the West Philippines Sea as a result of china's continuous expansionism affecting the Kalayaan Municipality of the Palawan Province in the Southwestern Philippines, taiwan jumps in of the same purpose as china to invade the Philippine territory.

The Kalayaan Municipality in the Kalayaaan Group of Islands is adjacent to the mainland Palawan Island and is part of the Province of Palawan which is within the 370 kilometers or 200 Nautical Miles Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines as granted by the United Nations' UNCLOS.

The now such called Kalayaan Group of Islands was once part of the old Sultanate of Sulu, a kingdom that exist and controlled the territory we back 12th to 15th Century. The old Sultanate of Sulu governed the Palawan Province, the now called Kalayaan Group of Islands or Spratly Islands in the West Philippines Sea together with several provinces in Mindanao Island such as the Province of Maguindanao, Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur, Zamboanga Peninsula, Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-tawi, and North Borneo (now called Sabah); before the invasion of Spain to the Philippines.

The Only country which has the rights and authority over the Spratly Islands or Kalayaan Group of Islands is the Philippines as the original territorial owner which was the old Sultanate of Sulu through Sultan Kiram has turned over his rights to the Philippine Government.

While the Philippines bracing from the China's invasion in the territory, there's another conflict is brewing in the West Philippine Sea, this time between the Philippines and Taiwan over oil and gas exploration around Ligao Island, the largest islet in the Spratlys group as reported by the INQUIRER Global Nation 30th December 2012.

The Philippine government on Saturday asserted its sovereign right to "explore and exploit" resources in the country's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) as Taiwan announced plans to begin looking for oil and gas in  disputed areas of the Spratlys islands chain.

Assistant Secretary Raul Hernandez, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesperson, said Saturday that only the Philippines could explore in those parts of the Spratlys that lies within the country's 200-nautical mile continental shelf.

Reports from Taiwan said island nation's Bureau of Mines and state-run oil supplier CPC Corp. were keen on starting exploration for oil and gas in waters around Ligao Island, the largest Spratlys island that the Taiwanese call Taiping.

China, Vietnam and the Philippines have claims to Ligao Island.

The Philippines earlier this year offered oil exploration contracts in its claimed part of the Spratlys, a move that drew criticism from counter-claimants, especially China.

Without directly criticizing Taiwan for the move, Hernandez said foreign exploration within the Philippines' EEZ must be signed off by Manila in compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).

"The Philippines has exclusive sovereign rights to explore and exploit all types of resources in its continental shelf within the 200 nautical miles measured from the baselines in the western side of the Philippine archipelago," Hernandez said.

"No country can conduct oil exploration in the PH continental shelf in the West Philippine Sea without the permission of the government, as provided for under Unclos," he said.

Known to be dependent on oil imports, Taiwan is initiating the oil exploration to build up its oil resources, the reports said.

Taiwan's announcement came amid renewed tensions between China and the Philippines over reports of Chinese ships patrolling in the West Philippine Sea and plans to fortify Sansha City, an administrative domain established to govern all of the Spratlys.

The Philippines called both developments violations of international law and disrespectful of the Philippines' sovereign right to its EEZ.

China this week deployed an oceangoing ship in the disputed waters, the first time for a Chinese vessel to patrol beyond its coastal waters.  The patrol started ahead of the implementation of a new policing law allowing Hainan province's authorities to board and inspect foreign ships that will pass by the South China Sea, a critical international trading route.

Sources: INQUIRER Global Nation & the Spokesman of Sultan Kiram of the old Sultanate of Sulu

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Philippine Navy sends first patrol ship to West Philippine Sea anew -beg China to respect its sovereign territory

China asked United States of America to respect its national interest in Asia; the Philippines asked China to respect its sovereign territory and it's 370 Kilometers from its coast or 200 Nautical Miles (NM) Exclusive Economic Zone as grants from UNCLOS: US will respect china's interest.

As published in the Business World Online Thursday, The Philippine Government once again calls for China to respect the "territorial sovereignty" and the exclusive economic zone after the former sent its first patrol ship to the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement on Friday.

"The Philippines strongly objects to the Chinese patrol of Philippine maritime domain in the WPS [West Philippine Sea]," DFA Assistant Secretary and Spokesman Raul S. Hernandez said in a text message to reporters.

"Such patrol will not validate the 9-dash lines [China's claim] and is contrary to China's obligation under international law including UNCLOS [United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea]," Mr. Hernandez added.

The government reacted to the reports that a patrol ship was sent from China in the disputed areas in the West Philippines Sea.

The dispute between the Philippines and China escalated after the Scarborough Shoal issue. Other countries such as Malaysia and Taiwan claim ownership of parts of the disputed seas. (read further in the Business World Online)

Philippines objections to new Chinese gunboat in the Spratly

MSN News also published that the  Philippines on Friday said it "strongly objects" to China's deployment of a new patrol vessel in the South China Sea, where the two countries have a seething maritime territorial dispute.

Such patrols will not boost China's claim to the disputed territory where the two countries have had a standoff since April, Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said in a statement.

"The Philippines strongly objects to the Chinese patrol of Philippine maritime domain in the West Philippine Sea," the statement said, using the local name for the South China Sea.

It called on China to respect the country's "territorial sovereignty and EEZ", referring to the Philippines' 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.

China's official Xinhua news agency said on Thursday an ocean-going patrol vessel equipped with a helipad would be deployed to the South China Sea, the first of its kind in the area.

In late November, China said it had granted its border patrol police the right to board and turn away foreign ships entering the disputed waters, raising fears of a confrontation.

Both the Philippines and China have overlapping claims over parts of the South China Sea, a major shipping route that is also believed to hold vast mineral resources.

Tensions between China and the Philippines have risen in the area since April after ships from both countries had a standoff over a rock outcropping known as the Scarborough Shoal.

While the Philippines has withdrawn its ships, it says China reneged on an agreement to pull out its own vessels.

China claims the shoal as well as nearly all of the South China Sea, even waters close to the coasts of neighbouring countries. The Philippines says the shoal is well within its EEZ. (read further in MSN News)

Philippines claims South China Sea islands, How Filipinos Discovered the Paradise in the Kalayaan Group of Islands?

Filipinos have settled on Thitu Island as a means to strengthen the country's claim on the Spratlys.

hitu Island is at the centre of one of the biggest territorial disputes in the world.

It is part of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, which are believed to be sitting on billions of dollars' worth of oil and gas reserves.

Six countries claim ownership of the tiny archipelago, including the Philippines, which has people living on Thitu Island as a means to strengthen its claim on the Spratlys.

Article published in Jazeera's Jamela Alindogan reports from the Spratlys in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

Watch the Video of the Pagasa Island (Thitu Island) of the Paradise Kalayaan Group of Islands, Spratlys, Province of Palawan, (Old Sultanate of Sulu) Philippines.

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Manila Govt irritating Visayas – Mindanao Call Unity for Independence from Manila Government

An Online petition signed by some Visayan and Mindanaoan for a change

The Visayas and Mindanao Language and Culture

The majority Visayas and Mindanao Language and culture have been rejected by the manila Government and discrimination persist to these groups.

In spite of the majority spoken language by the whole country is Binisaya or also called Bisayan (Cebuano), the Manila government insisted that the national language must pattern to Tagalog as the language of the people in the capital.

People in the remote Visayas and Mindanao strive hard to understand Tagalog but always failed and finally give up to get involved in the Manila political discussion as it could not be understood by the majority Filipinos in the Visayas and Mindanao.

People from Visayas and Mindanao are always at the last priority in anyway. Job applicants from Visayas and Mindanao are less entertained compared to the people from the Katagalogan regions.

The discrimination of Visayans and Mindanaoan seems to be never ending which independence from the Manila Government is the best solution. An independence that doesn't need to be a separate country from the Philippines, a genuine independence that the discrimination will end, and independence that the majority Spoken language "Binisaya" could be recognized as official language for both Bisayans and Mindanaoans.

Huge amount of taxes from Visayas and Mindanao are also sip by manila Government for its own development and less prioritized the impoverished remote Visayas and Mindanao Islands. Independence of Visayas and Mindanao could be the solution to have an even development in these regions in par with what is in Manila now.

The root of Conflict

Manila government is so bold to intervene the Mindanaoan government in selective way.

Manila could easily jump in and intervene the governance of any part of Visayas and Mindanao for publicity but not heartily.

Until now the Maguindanao Massacre is not properly addressed. The victims are still hungry for justice but the Manila Government is picky to give justice for the victims.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) wants to focus on the Davao Death Squad (DDS) which victims are drug pushers and drug lords but could not focus on the Maguindanao Massacre which victims are innocent civilian and media people.

It is right that we must not put the justice in our hand but the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) must prioritize the case which victims and innocent civilians and good people. The move of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) is seems to get in favor for giving justice firs for the sore of the society than the innocent people who are victims of the massacre.

Manila Government jump into how Davao governs its people but it could not jump into giving justice for the Maguidanao Massacre.

 Manila culture and Mindanao Culture is absolutely different and direct exposure is important for them to understand what Mindanao is.

What is the root of conflict in Mindanao by the way? Conflict begins when a person is in the state of hunger and could not find any sources of bread to feed the aching stomach. The root of all conflict in Mindanao is hunger, hardship in life, joblessness, and injustice.

As long as the Manila government could not address the needed development in Mindanao, as long as there is not justice, as long as there is no Job; the Iron hand is needed to guide the people.

Rights group finds reason to probe Davao killings

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said it had found a pattern of selective and systematic extrajudicial killings of 206 individuals accused or suspected of committing various offenses by a vigilante group in Davao City from 2005 to 2009.

CHR Chairperson Loretta Ann Rosales presented the commission's findings on the activities of the so-called Davao Death Squad (DDS) in a statement issued Wednesday.

The CHR faulted local officials for failing to conduct any meaningful investigation into the killings, thereby violating the state's obligation to protect the rights of its citizens.

It said the then city mayor, Rodrigo Duterte, as the local chief executive and deputized Napolcom representative with general and operational control and supervision over the city police force, had clearly disregarded information on alleged human rights violations in Davao City, and did not act on them.

Rosales asked the Office of the Ombudsman to look into Duterte's administrative and criminal liability for his inaction and for tolerating such violations in his jurisdiction.

"It is axiomatic in human rights law that where there are human rights violations, there must be accountability," Rosales said.

The CHR investigation was prompted by the search for accountability for the many lives taken arbitrarily by the DDS, a group allegedly responsible for summary executions of delinquents and drug traffickers in Davao.

Rosales said the number of persons killed could even be higher as the 206 figure was only based on what the CHR had in its records.

According to Rosales, dead bodies were piling up in Davao City during that period, consisting mainly of addicts, drug pushers, thieves and young people with police records for petty crimes. Many of the victims were minors.

Then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo established the Melo Commission to look into the killings. Official concern from the United Nations came with the visit of Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, who visited the country in February 2007.

In his report to the UN Human Rights Council in 2008, Alston observed that "it is a commonplace that a death squad known as the 'Davao Death Squad' (DDS) operates in Davao City. One fact points very strongly to the officially sanctioned character of these killings: No one involved covers his face."

The New York-based Human Rights Watch observed that the DDS "typically make greater efforts to conceal their weapons than their identity."

The CHR at the time, then headed by now Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, decided to conduct an investigation into the killings.

The CHR conducted public hearings in Davao City in March, April, May and September 2009.

According to Rosales, the CHR's investigation was hampered by a climate of fear gripping witnesses and by official denials from local government and law enforcement officials that the Davao Death Squad even existed.

Still, enough evidence emerged that there was a pattern in the victims targeted and in the methods of attack, she said.

"The killings were selective: The victim was usually involved or suspected to have been involved in some type of illegal activity. The manner of killing was also distinct: The assailants were usually motorcycle-riding gunmen," she said.

Freedom and Independence of the Visayas and Mindanao Islands

Visayas - Mindanao Independence Not in Hand of Moros but for the Majority People.

It has been several decades which the Manila government controlled the Islands of Visayas and Mindanao Politically but not the economy as it missed the Development Target for the Region because of Priority Development which focused in the Capital Manila.

A call for unity and independence in Visayas and Mindanao is over shadowed with fears and divided the people's vote because of the threat from the migrants Muslims from the islands of Borneo who are in thein the Island who want to dominate over the lumad and the majority Christian Populations in Mindanao.

For several years, Moro group called for the independence of Mindanao but gain only a very less support as their advocacy is over shadowed with crimes, land grabbing and killings of the civilians in the island.

 Recently a mask group of majority Christians and Lumad advocates starts drafting for the "Movement for Independence for Visayas and Mindanao from Manila Government for Peace and Development to attain the dreamed progress and development without Manila intervention to assert their right to freedom and independence as an expression of their right to self-determination..

Right of Self-determination

The right of self-determination is the collective right of peoples to determine their own future free of any outside interference or coercion. It is the right to choose the kind of political status the peoples want and to freely pursue their economic, social, spiritual and cultural development.

The United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights expressly provide that "All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development".

In the exercise of that right, the peoples have wide latitude of choice. At one end, they can demand and pursue within the nation state more political power, active participation in the decision making and administration of government affairs, equitable redistribution of economic benefits, and appropriate ways of preserving and protecting their culture and way of life. On the other end, they have also the right to organize their own sovereign and independent government, or reclaim their lost freedom and independence.

In pursuing that right to self-determination the Christian and Lumad Advocates are opting, as manifested both by the liberation movements and the civil society, for the restoration of their freedom and independence that they enjoyed for more than six centuries prior to the establishment of then country the Philippines in honor of the invader king of Spain.

Long History of Independence

The historical experience of the Mindanaoan people in statehood and governance started as early as 10 century under the Sultanate of Sulu which Mindanao, Sulu and North Borneo as part of this old Kingdom.

By the time the Spanish colonialists arrived in the Philippines the Muslims of Mindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi archipelago and the islands of Basilan and Palawan had already established their own states and governments with diplomatic and trade relations with other countries including China. Administrative and political systems based on the realities of the time existed in those states.

 For centuries the Spanish colonial government attempted to conquer the Sulu states to subjugate their political existence and to add the territory to the Spanish colonies in the Philippine Islands but history tells us that it never succeeded. The Mindanao states with their organized maritime forces and armies succeeded in defending the Sulu territories thus preserving the continuity of their independence.

That is why it is being argued, base on the logic that you cannot sell something you do not possess, that the Mindanao and Sulu territories are not part of what where ceded by Spain to the United States in the Treaty of Paris of 1898 because Spain had never exercise sovereignty over these areas.

The Mindanao resistance against attempts to subjugate their independence continued even when US forces occupied some areas in Mindanao and Sulu. At this time the resistance of the Sulu governments was not as fierce as during the Moro-Spanish wars but group- organized guerrilla attacks against American forces and installations reinforced what remained of the sultanates' military power. Even individual Sulu and Mindanaoan showed defiance against American occupation of their homeland by attacking American forces in operations called prang sabil (martyrdom operation).

Opposition to Annexation

When the United States government promised to grant independence to the Philippine Islands, the Mindanao and Sulu leaders registered their strong objection to be part of the Philippine republic. In the petition to the president of the United States dated June 9, 1921, the people of Sulu archipelago said that they would prefer being part of the United States rather than to be included in an independent Philippine nation.

In the Declaration of Rights and Purposes, the Sulu and Mindanao leaders meeting in Zamboanga on February 1, 1924, proposed that the "Islands of Mindanao and Sulu, and the Island of Palawan to the Spratly Islands be made an unorganized territory of the United States of America" in anticipation that in the event the US would decolorize its colonies and other non-self governing territories the Mindanao and Sulu homeland would be granted separate independence. Had it happened, the Mindanao and Sulu would have regained by now their independence under the UN declaration on decolonization.

Their other proposal was that if independence had to be granted including the Mindanao and Sulu territories, 50 years after Philippine independence a plebiscite be held in Mindanao, Sulu and Palawan to decide by vote whether the territory would be incorporated in the government of the Islands of Luzon and Visayas, remain a territory of the United States, or become independent. The 50-year period ended in 1996, the same year the MNLF and the Philippine government signed the Final Agreement on the Implementation of the Tripoli Agreement.

The leaders warned that if no provision of retention under the United States would be made, they would declare an independent constitutional sultanate to be known as Sulu and Mindanao Nation.

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The Royal Sultanate of Sulu & the Republic of the Philippines will reunite as 1 and United Nations for the Spratlys.

Sulu Sultanate rejects China claim over Spratlys

The Sultanate of Sulu slammed for the claim of China over the Spratly Islands, saying the disputed territory was part of the Sultanate of Sulu long before the Spaniards came to the Philippines.

“China has no right over the Spratly Islands in what it calls the South China Sea because that is part of our ancestral domain, including the marine territory around it and the waters around these islands is part of the Sulu Sea,” Majaraj Julmuner Jannaral, Sultanate information officer, quoting His Majesty Muhammad Fuad Abdulla Kiram I, the reigning Sultan of Sulu and Sabah (North Borneo).

Jannaral said China has launched a “divide-and-rule” strategy over ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) members because it has refused to talk on the Spratlys issue, and instead wants to deal or negotiate with the 10 member countries individually.

“This is unacceptable to me and my people,” Jannaral quoted the Sultan as saying.

He said historically, the proprietary rights over the Spratlys, Sabah(North Borneo), the Sulu archipelago, and Palawan and parts of Mindanao belong to the Sultanate of Sulu and (North Borneo) Sabah even long before the Spaniards came to the Philippines.

“Thus, China is violating our people’s human rights by openly and unilaterally announcing ownership of the Spratlys and the waters around it,” the Sultan said in an official statement.

Jannaral, quoting the statement, said “China may have forgotten that the sovereign political right (not the proprietary right) over the disputed area was given by the Sultan’s late father, Sultan Muhammad Esmail E. Kiram I, to President Diosdado Macapagal in 1962, and later in 1969, to President Ferdinand Marcos to recover particularly Sabah (North Borneo) from Malaysia.”

“But Sabah (North Borneo) is not an issue with China. Our concern here is the Spratlys and what China calls the South China Sea, because the Chinese leaders state this is their core interest,” the statement said.

The Sultanate said that by claiming the Spratlys, China has manifested what President Aquino called “bullying” tactics on the five other claimants – Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Jannaral said the Chinese military has even timed its announcement with the open sea trial runs of its first aircraft carrier in the north-eastern China Sea this month and its formal launch next October with its current verbal exchanges with the US regarding open use of the South China Sea by international commercial shipping.

“My blood lineage dates back from the Mahjapahit and Shrivijaya empires, which extended from Sabah (North Borneo), the Sulu archipelago, Palawan, parts of Mindanao, the islands now known as the Spratlys, Palawan, and up to the Visayas and Manila,” the Sultan’s statement reads.

“The Spanish colonial forces drove my forefathers from Manila and the Visayas but never conquered the territories of the Sultan of Sulu and Sabah because they failed to subjugate us. The Spaniards illegally transferred the Philippines, the Sulu archipelago, Sabah (North Borneo), and Guam to the Americans in their 1898 Treaty of Paris without the Sultan’s consent,” it added.

According to the statement, the Sultan’s direct ancestor, Sultan Jamalul Ahlam Kiram, rented out Sabah to the British East India Company in 1878.

“After the last world war, Britain illegally transferred Sabah to Malaysia when London granted Malaysia its independence in 1963.”

Proof that Britain and Malaysia recognized the Sultan’s proprietary rights over Sabah is the yearly payment as rent, up to this day, which is paid regularly by Malaysia to the Sultan and eight other descendants of the first Sultan.

The Sultan said he agreed with President Aquino’s position that China cannot legally claim ownership of the Spratlys, which are at least 800 miles away from the nearest Chinese territory, while some of the islands are within the 200-nautical mile economic zone limits of the Philippines under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

He said China’s claim violates the UNCLOS, which it signed. The Philippines is also a signatory to UNCLOS.

“President Aquino showed his quality nationalist leadership with his stand that settlement of the Spratly issue and the South China Sea - West Philippines Sea questions must be through peaceful and mutually beneficial diplomatic talks – especially to the members of the ASEAN since these islands are physically closer to us than China,” the Sultan said.

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