Brunei Sultan, Phil President Aquino vow closer cooperation

EYE-CATCHING The President's sister and incidentally the country's No. 1 taxpayer, Kris Aquino, at the state luncheon Tuesday hosted by her brother for Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah who was here on a two-day state visit. EDWIN BACASMAS

President Aquino on Tuesday vowed closer cooperation with visiting Sultan of Brunei Haji Hassanal Bolkiah and other regional leaders to find a peaceful solution to territorial conflicts in the South China Sea.

At a state luncheon for the Sultan, the President said the government wanted to "move forward" with negotiations on a code of conduct to reduce disputes in the international waterway.

The President referred to rival claims by the Philippines and fellow Asean members Malaysia and Vietnam, along with Taiwan and China over the Spratly islands and the Scarborough Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.

"This is our pledge: to continue working with our neighbors in implementing the commitments of Asean member states in the Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, and in moving forward with negotiations for the adoption of a Code of Conduct," Aquino said.

The Sultan's visit comes a week before leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations converge in Bandar Seri Begawan on April 24 and 25 for their 22nd summit. Brunei is this year's chair of Asean, which also includes the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Burma (Myanmar).

Bolkiah, for his part, vowed to foster peace and stability in southeast Asia. He also praised Aquino for his peace initiatives with Moro rebels in Mindanao.

Bolkiah said Brunei, as Asean chair this year, would "continue to work closely with the Philippines towards achieving concrete outcomes in economic growth and social progress, and in promoting regional peace and stability."

Aquino welcomed Bolkiah to Malacañang at past 10 a.m. after the latter laid a wreath at the monument of national hero Dr. Jose Rizal at the Rizal Park. A 21-gun salute boomed as the President and the Sultan stood on a platform while the anthems of both countries were played.

Bolkiah was set to fly out at around 3 p.m.

INQUIRER Global Nation

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Philippine Research Institute Bred RICE with salt gland for Coastal areas; India and Bangladesh could benefits

International Rice Research Institute - Philippines

Salt-tolerant Rice Bred at Philippine Institute  

Scientists have successfully bred a rice variety that is salt-tolerant, which could enable farmers to reclaim coastal areas rendered useless by sea water, a Philippine-based institute said Tuesday.

The International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) near Manila said its researchers are in the process of perfecting the variety of rice that would be the most salt-tolerant ever developed before field testing it widely.

"They hope to have the new variety available to farmers to grow within four to five years," the institute said in a statement.

IRRI's media office said the new variety would offer twice the salt-tolerance as previous attempts to breed such a variety.

India and Bangladesh could potentially be the biggest beneficiaries, the IRRI said, remarking that about 20 million hectares (49 million acres) of rice farms worldwide have been affected by salinity.

The new variety was bred by crossing an exotic wild rice species found in brackish water with one cultivated at the institute.

The result is a "new rice line that can expel salt it takes from the soil into the air through salt glands it has on its leaves", the statement said.

"This will make saline stricken rice farms in coastal areas usable to farmers," said lead scientist Kshirod Jena.

"These farmlands are usually abandoned by coastal farmers because the encroaching seawater has rendered the soil useless."

Incidents such as the 2011 tsunami in Japan which flooded thousands of hectares of rice farms with sea water have spurred the development around the world of new varieties of rice that can grow in such areas.

Rice is considered one of three major domesticated crops that feed the world, along with wheat and corn, and scientists have been continuously looking to develop new varieties to increase production.

Yahoo News!

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Philippine Populations, Birth Rates as Growth Engine? Or a demographic time bomb

Birth Rates as Growth Engines

As Japan, many countries in Europe and now China wrestle with shrinking labor pools, a host of emerging nations are grappling with a different problem: how to reel in the benefits of a fast-growing population and avoid having too many people chasing too few jobs.

Swelling populations helped buoy industrializing economies in the U.S. and Europe in centuries past. They transformed South Korea, Taiwan and China in the 1980s and 1990s. Economists call the phenomenon the demographic dividend: It happens when droves of young people enter the workforce and choose to have fewer children or delay parenthood, leading to a sharp increase in spending and a faster-growing economy.

But a young population isn't enough on its own to underwrite a generation of growth, as the Philippines is learning.

When Asia's industrial powers embarked on their economic transformation in the 1970s and 1980s, the Philippines was left behind. Under dictator Ferdinand Marcos, corruption surged, as did grisly insurgencies involving Maoist guerrillas and Islamist separatists. Many Filipinos left. Today more than 10 million of the country's 100 million people work abroad, sending home more than $20 billion a year, providing a lifeline for their families left behind, according to government and central-bank figures.

Other countries have struggled to capitalize on their growing populations. Many Latin American countries enjoyed a similar demographic profile to East Asia's booming economies in the 1980s, but chaotic politics and poor economic planning limited how much they benefited from it.

Today, Africa's leaders face a similar test. The United Nations projects the continent's population will double to two billion people by 2050, while around 40% of the population of both sub-Saharan and North Africa is under the age of 15 today.

The U.N. projects the world's population will expand to 9.3 billion in 2050 from about 7 billion now, with most growth coming from developing nations.

Some African nations are making headway in harnessing the economic potential of a youthful population. In Rwanda, where genocide claimed the lives of some 800,000 people in the 1990s, the government has boosted tourism and services, delivering economic growth rates above 8% for the past five years. President Paul Kagame has encouraged the use of contraceptives, which has contributed to average fertility rates dropping from 6.1 births per woman in 2005 to 4.6 in 2010, according to the World Bank.

Without an effort to boost productivity and create jobs, the demographic dividend can easily become a demographic time bomb.

The Philippines is trying to avoid that fate. This former American colony has one of the highest population-growth rates in Asia, expanding by 1.9% a year, compared with 0.5% in China, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation—and one of the region's highest unemployment rates, at around 7%. To help the country's economy absorb a wave of job seekers, President Benigno Aquino III has made corruption his primary target, figuring that cleaner government is the basic building block for business confidence and job creation.

Tougher oversight has helped reduce wasteful government spending. And the economy is gaining momentum, expanding 6.6% last year.

Among other things, the Philippines has overtaken India to become the world's largest provider of voice-based outsourcing services. Banks such as HSBC, Wells Fargo and Citibank have set up back offices in the islands. To sustain the momentum, the government is paying to train 100,000 people a year in call-center "finishing schools." There they learn to handle customers and perfect their American accents. Recruiters are now heading out to find agents in places such as Davao, where vigilantes used to parade the severed heads of Communist guerrillas through the streets.

"I don't think we've seen this level of collaboration and support before," says Benedict Hernandez, head of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines. "The government used to be a model of inflexibility, but that's all changed in the past year or two."

In another break from the past, Mr. Aquino is going against the wishes of the Roman Catholic Church by promoting wider use of contraceptives. That could reduce the number of children each working-age citizen supports—and help free up the spending power of the new generation now entering the workforce.

Problems remain. Poor infrastructure means the Philippines struggles to draw in the kind of manufacturing investment that economists such as the Asian Development Bank's Rajat Nag say is required for a lasting transformation in the islands. A Communist insurgency also continues despite a peace deal with the largest Muslim secessionist group.

Yet the country is beginning to win over skeptics. In late March, Fitch Ratings upgraded the Philippines's credit rating to investment grade for the first time.

Others are warming, too. David Bonderman, founder of private-equity group TPG Capital, told an investment conference in Hong Kong late last year that "the Philippines, for the very first time in my adult life, is thought to be a place we can do business without counting our fingers afterwards."

Wall Street Journal

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WB and ADB sees 6.2% expanded growth for the Philippine economy in 2013, 2014

World Bank and Asian Development Bank's forecast for the Philippine economic growth for 2013 and 2014

The World Bank expects the Philippine economy to expand by 6.2 percent this year and 6.4 percent in 2014, with the growth to be supported by the country's strong economic fundamentals.

The WB estimate is higher than the ADB forecast of 6 percent for this year and 5.9 percent for next year.

In its "East Asia and Pacific Economic Update" report released yesterday, World Bank cited the Philippines as one of the middle-income countries in the East Asia and Pacific region that outperformed expectations last year.

"The Philippines led the ASEAN-4, accelerating from 3.9 percent GDP growth in 2011 to 6.6 percent in 2012, spurred by robust private consumption, a recovery in government spending, strong performance of the construction sector and of exports," World Bank said.

With the country's robust performance last year, World Bank maintained its outlook for the Philippines, unchanged from the forecasts it made in December 2012.

The World Bank's 6.2 percent forecast for this year is within the national government's 6 to 7 percent growth target for this period.

"In the Philippines, the fundamentals remain strong, policy responses have been appropriate so far, and reform efforts by the government appear sustainable," the report said.

The Asian Development Bank earlier revised upwards its forecast for the Philippines to 6 percent for 2013 from its previous outlook of 5 percent.

For 2014, ADB expects the Philippine economy to expand at a slower pace of 5.9 percent.

ADB said that strong consumption and rising investments are expected to boost the Philippine economic performance this year.

It added that the upbeat business and consumer sentiment will support growth. Fiscal spending will remain robust, along with construction activity, driven by the strong demand for housing and office space.

Both the World Bank and ADB also cited the first investment grade credit rating recently given by Fitch Ratings for the Philippines, which is expected to improve the investment climate.

However, World Bank said that to sustain and increase inclusive growth in the developing East Asia and Pacific region over the medium-term, investments in both infrastructure and in skills must be increased.

The agency said that raising the levels of investment would raise growth prospects in the region.

"In the Philippines, lagging infrastructure development is a long-standing impediment to private investment," the report said.

"Catching up on government infrastructure spending will provide the fiscal spark that is still missing in the country's growth path, although infrastructure spending is gearing up recently. In 2012 it was equivalent to 2.4 percent of GDP, up from 1.6 percent of GDP in 2011," World Bank said.

Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda yesterday said while the World Bank's growth forecast of 6.2 percent for the Philippines is at the lower end of the country's own growth forecast of six to seven percent, it still recognizes that correct measures are being done by the Aquino government to continue to improve and grow the economy.

Lacierda said Malacanang still welcomes the growth forecast of the World Bank but the Aquino government will continue to hope and strive to reach its target of six to seven percent growth this year.

"Certainly, we welcome that. I think that's a lowside of our forecast. Our forecast is around six to seven percent. But, certainly, it's a welcome recognition on the part of World Bank that the Philippines has been taking the correct steps in improving the economy and also in having equitable progress for the—for our countrymen," he said.

The World Bank has maintained its GDP forecasts of 6.2 percent for the Philippines citing that the country continues to show signs of sustained growth.

It also forecasted growth of 6.4 percent and 6.3 percent for the Philippines in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

World Bank also projected that regional growth would rise moderately to 7.8 percent in 2013 and ease to 7.6 percent in 2014.

With report from Malaya Business Insight

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Philippine Coast Guard discovered Butchered pangolins on Chinese poacher boat

This undated handout photo received on April 10, 2013 and released by the Philippine coast Guard (PCG) shows coast guard personnel inspecting the Chinese fishing vessel which ran aground off Tubbataha reef in Palawan island, western Philippines. A Chinese fishing boat has run aground on a World Heritage-listed coral reef in the Philippines, roughly 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) from China's nearest major landmass, authorities said April 9. AFP PHOTO/PCG

The Philippine coast guard said Monday it had found hundreds of frozen scaly anteaters, or pangolins, in the cargo hold of a Chinese boat that ran aground in a protected marine sanctuary last week.

Wildlife officials have been informed of the surprising discovery, which could lead to more charges for the 12 Chinese men arrested on charges including poaching after their boat was stranded in Tubbataha Reef last week.

"We found 400 boxes containing anteaters aboard the vessel, and we are now determining where these came from," coast guard spokesman Lieutenant Commander Armand Balilo told AFP.

He could not say whether the pangolins were frozen alive, or had already been butchered as meat.

A protected species, pangolins are widely hunted in parts of Asia for their meat, skin and scales. In China, they are known as a delicacy and are purported to have medicinal qualities.

According to the International Union of Conservation of Nature, all eight species of the insect-eating mammals are protected by international laws around the world.

Two – the Malaysian and Chinese pangolins – are in its "red list" of endangered species.

Pangolins are also found roaming in the wild in the western Philippine island of Palawan, the nearest land area to Tubbataha Reef where the Chinese boat had been marooned.

Balilo said the vessel remained stuck in Tubbataha, while the coast guard awaited arrival of a salvage ship to tow it away.

Prosecutors charged the 12 Chinese fishermen last week with illegal poaching and with corruption for attempting to bribe Filipinos officials, and if convicted they could face long jail terms.

It was not immediately clear however what additional charges, if any, are to be filed against them with the discovery of the pangolins, Balilo said.

The grounding of the 48-metre (157-foot) boat came amid deep tensions between the Philippines and China over competing territorial claims to the neighboring West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

China claims virtually all of the South China Sea on historical grounds, including waters close to the shores of its neighbors.

The Philippines, as well as Vietnam, have accused China of bullying other claimants as it aggressively stakes out its claims.

INQUIRER Global Nation

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BBC: "Apocalypse Now" Vietnam Village is faked: It was in Baler Philippines

Released in 1979, starring Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando and Robert Duvall (pictured), Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam war film follows Captain Willard (Sheen) deep into the Vietnamese jungle in search of the renegade Colonel Kurtz (Brando). Now acclaimed as a classic, the film's production was famously beset by a number of disasters, including a tropical storm which destroyed the original set. "We had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little we went insane," reflected Coppola in Hearts of Darkness, the acclaimed documentary about the film.

How Apocalypse Now inspired Filipino surfers

When a scene from Apocalypse Now was shot on an obscure beach in the Philippines in the late 70s, little did the film-makers know they were giving birth to the country's surfing culture

"Charlie don't surf," says the reckless and irrepressible Colonel Kilgore, in one of the most memorable lines of the Vietnam War film Apocalypse Now.

Charlie is the American soldiers' derogatory nickname for their enemy, the Vietcong, and the surf-mad colonel is trying to persuade his troops to ride the waves, despite the bombs falling all around them.

Apocalypse Now, released in 1979, depicts the madness and mayhem of conflict, and is widely regarded as one of the most powerful war films ever made.

But it also has another legacy - something that the director, Francis Ford Coppola, could not possibly have intended.

Apocalypse Now was not actually filmed in Vietnam, but in the little fishing town of Baler in the northern Philippines.

As the cameras rolled, local Filipinos like Edwin Nomoro watched from the sidelines.

Nomoro was 10 at the time, and he came down to the beach every day to see it transformed into a battle scene, complete with an entirely fake Vietnamese village and helicopters swooping overhead.

But what excited him most was the sight of the actors surfing - something he'd never seen before.

Watch some video of "Apocalypse Now" movie here..

"When the filming finished, some of the crew left their surfboards behind, and my friend and I picked up the boards and taught ourselves how to surf," he says. "We've been surfing ever since."

At first, Nomoro and his friends found it difficult because there was no-one around to teach them.

Edwin Nomoro saw the film being made: "We've been surfing ever since"

"But we studied it, and learned, and now - no-one can explain what it feels like. Only a surfer knows the feeling," he says, smiling.

Once they got the hang of it, the boys started teaching others, and as word spread, tourists began coming to the little town to learn to ride the waves at Charlie's Point, as it became known.

Nomoro was able to turn his passion into a way of making a living, and more than 30 years on, he still earns money from the industry he helped to create.

"I have several rooms to rent. I also have some surfboards for hire," he says. "It's really improved my life. It helps me feed my family."

Baler is now very different from the sleepy fishing town where Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall and Marlon Brando stayed decades ago.

Several big hotels line the seafront, and more are being constructed. According to the local tourism office, at least 50,000 people came here in 2012.

Most visitors are Filipinos - Manila residents who just want a weekend of surfing - but an increasing number are foreigners.

One of the earliest arrivals was Donny Cope, who turned up in Baler in 1997 with "a surfboard, a backpack and a sense of adventure".

He has stayed at the beach on and off ever since, and now runs a small guesthouse.

"Last year we had surfers from the Czech Republic, Switzerland and a bunch from France," he says.

Baler's success as a surfing centre has rippled out to other parts of the Philippines, such as Surigao, La Union and Pagudpud.

"Baler is the birthplace of Philippine surfing," says Mac Ritual, a local tour guide.

"Other places saw a lot of good things here in Baler, and they also wanted to be popular because of surfing."

Ritual often takes his tour groups to see the main sites featured in Apocalypse Now.

The most famous is a headland where a major attack on the Vietcong was staged. It was nicknamed Charlie's Point in the film, and now even local Filipinos use this name.

Going there now, it's quite difficult to recognise anything from the film.

The fake Vietnamese village was blown up at the time, and the trees which were burnt down as part of a simulated napalm attack have all regrown.

But there's no chance of the beach nearby going back to the way it once was.

All the way along it, people are surfing - beginners screaming excitedly as the waves crash over them, and seasoned professionals perfecting their technique on the breakers.

This town has come a long way since the days of Apocalypse Now.

Perhaps the best way to sum up its changing fortunes is a little shop on the seafront.

Its name? Charlie Does.

BBC news

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Best Investments 2013: Buy the Philippines Top-Performing Emerging Market of Q1

While the Standard & Poor's 500 Index 10% first-quarter gain was great, it wasn't the world's best.

One of the standout performances in 2013's first quarter was in a market that's off many investors' radar screens: the Philippines.

The Philippine stock market, valued at about $236 billion, rose by 17.8% in the first quarter.

Money Morning's Global Investing Strategist Martin Hutchinson told us to invest in the Philippines back in November. Hutchinson said the BRICs - Brazil, Russia, India and China - are no longer the best investments for overseas growth. Instead, it's time to focus on the true rising stars in the emerging world, like the Philippines.

As Hutchinson says, "With the right emerging markets, real growth is easier than you think."

Here's why the Philippines is expected to continue this growth in Q2.

The Best Emerging Market of Q1

The Philippines has been on the rise ever since the election of Benigno Aquino as President in 2010. Aquino's policies - to boost spending while cutting the fiscal deficit and attacking corruption - have led to a boom in both consumption and investment in the Philippines.

Last year alone, the Philippine economy grew at a robust 6.6%, up from just 3.9% in 2011. Among its Asian peers, this puts it behind only China and Thailand.

The World Bank forecasts the Philippine economy to stay strong. It predicts growth of 6.2% this year and 6.4% in 2014.

In March, the country won its first ever investment grade rating from Fitch. The ratings agency raised the rating on Philippine government debt from BB+ to BBB-. It cited the country's resilient growth, strong fiscal management by the government ("governance reforms") and solid policies by its central bank to control inflation.

And according to the Financial Times, Fitch also said that the country's external balance sheet was similar to countries with an A rating rather than those with BB or BBB ratings. No surprise then that the Philippine peso is Asia's best performing currency over the past year, rising 5% versus the U.S. dollar.

The Philippines may receive another ratings upgrade sometime in the first half of this year from Standard & Poor's. In December, S&P raised its outlook of Philippine government debt from stable to positive. It cited the stability of the Aquino administration and the country's economic growth.

Currently, S&P has the country rated one notch below investment grade.

When the upgrade happens, it will allow fund managers that can only buy investment grade bonds to buy Philippine government debt. In anticipation of this event, traders have already pushed the country's benchmark 10-year government bond yield down from 4.7% last October to 3.5% now.

Best Investments to Play Philippine Growth

Asian fund managers remain positive on the market. The head of equity capital markets at Religare Capital Markets, John Sturmey, told Bloomberg News, "We are very bullish on the Philippines for this year and the following years."

Sturmey forecasts gains of 20%-30% for 2013.

Paul Joseph Garcia, fund manager at BPI Asset Management - the Philippines second-biggest fund manager - is also bullish. He sees the economy expanding at near a 7% rate in 2013.

Garcia also believes the index may gain 29% this year to the 7,500 level. If so, the value of the stock market, for the first time ever, will exceed the size of the economy.

U.S. investors can easily track the performance of the Philippine stock market through an exchange-traded fund, the iShares MSCI Philippines Investable Market Index ETF (NYSEArca: EPHE). It's up about 18% so far this year.

One cautionary note: it is an expensive market, trading at about 18 times projected 12-month earnings. But the profit potential of EPHE is huge.

In his 2013 Emerging Markets Forecast, Martin Hutchinson delivered two other economies he ranks among the best investments to play emerging market growth. You can get those economies' names here. Forget About the BRICs Buy These Rising Stars Instead

Money Morning

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Noynoy Aquino — a Filipino or a Foreigner?

Letter to the Editor

10 April 2013

Before the formal announcement of the of Balikatan exercises 2013, US warships, drones and jetfighters had already been frequently visiting and freely strolling around the Philippine jurisdiction.

Last January 6, 2013, a farmer in Masbate was able to retrieve a crashed drone.  The US embassy admitted that the US Navy is using it for reconnaissance operations and clandestine missions.  No immediate action was made by the government.  In fact, the AFP supported the US embassy and set an atmosphere that aimed to perpetuate USA's aggression.

The issue about the toxic waste discarded in Subic waters alerted the country, yet remained unresolved.  The alarm heightened when the USS Guardian ran aground some 4,000 square meters of coral reefs in Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park in Sulu Sea which has long been declared a Wildlife Protected Area and a UNESCO heritage park.

Investigations were conducted but to guarantee if they're serious is still a question.  Up to this day, there were no perpetrators brought to the bars of justice.  Justice is elusive to the affected residents in Subic and to Ahbam Juhurin, the fisherman who died during the routine maritime activity of Joint Special Operations Task Force-Philippines and Philippine security forces in Basilan.  Indeed, the Aquino regime has no backbone in asserting the country's sovereignty, in protecting the country's patrimony and in providing security for the people.

As of this moment, despite the intense friction between North Korea and US-backed South Korea, Aquino never put a second thought in participating in Balikatan exercise that permitted US troops with their weapons of war sent here in the Philippines opening the country to perilous possibilities of inclusion in the declared war.

The US troops' humanitarian projection is no less than lie.  They wanted to strengthen US bases in Southeast Asia in order to control flow of oil and other natural resources, serve as watchdogs looking after other developing countries that impose threats to the US economy, defeat the firmly established socialist system of economy in DPRK, and kill the patriotic movements within their colonies that advance sought for liberation.

This particular careless act of Aquino gained criticisms and condemnations from the broad masses.  How could he place the Philippines in such possible danger to think there are a number of internal issues in the country that urgently need to be discussed and resolved?

In the North and South Korea dispute, the Philippine president's bias is loud and evident.  He has been so attentive in giving speeches of support to South Korea while during the Sabah dispute, we can recollect his long silence and leaning to the Malaysian government despite the extensive killings of Filipinos in Sabah.

Well then, clearly, we can therefore conclude that Noynoy's boss is not his compatriots but the foreign, imperialist, US.  Had he been truly a public servant of the Filipinos, as what he used to blub before he was elected, Hacienda Luisita and all other vast lands owned by big landlords should have already been given to our poor peasants.  Had he been truly a servant of poor Filipinos, he would have established national industries that would provide job opportunities to the Filipino community, he would have put as his top priority the provision of accessible basic social services.

For reference:

Mariel Moralde

Spokesperson

Anakbayan UP Mindanao

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Philippines offers US its military bases in case of North Korea war

The US would be allowed to station forces at military bases in the Philippines if it went to war with North Korea, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said Saturday citing a treaty between the allies.

"Our mutual defense treaty calls for joint action if either the Philippines or the United States is attacked," del Rosario said in comments sent to AFP at a time of heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula.

"It would then be logical to assume that in the event of an attack on the Philippines or on our treaty ally, the US would be allowed to use our bases," he added.

Del Rosario was responding to a question about whether the archipelago, a former US colony, would allow the stationing of American troops on its soil in case war broke out between the US and North Korea.

The Korean peninsula has been engulfed by escalating military tensions and dire threats of nuclear war since North Korea conducted a rocket test last December and a nuclear test in February.

On Friday Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said the government was prepared to undertake "extreme measures" including allowing US bases in the country, in the event of an "extreme emergency" on the Korean peninsula.

The US and Philippines are allied by a 1951 mutual defense treaty.

In the early 1990s US forces vacated Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Base, two large facilities used during the Vietnam War, after a disagreement over rents.

In recent years the Philippines has been seeking to improve its defense ties with the United States amid a festering territorial dispute with China over parts of the South China Sea.

Some of its facilities are being used in ongoing annual joint military exercises between the Philippines and the United States, where the Pentagon deployed a dozen F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets.

More than 8,000 Filipino and US troops are taking part in the 12-day drills which end on Wednesday.

NDTV

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Philippines awash in illegal firearms; Citizens armed themselves due to Government's incapability to protect civilians

Citizens lack confidence in ability of security forces to protect public

Bespectacled and clean-shaven, 37-year-old Jomari Paraas could pass for a typical office employee in the Philippines — except he has six guns in his backpack that he will soon sell.

The father of two is a prolific player in the country's enormous and lucrative weapons black market, which has been under scrutiny following a spate of high-profile massacres and shootouts this year.

"Why do I trade guns? Because there is a demand for it. And it's extra income," said Paraas, a community organizer for a nongovernmental organization and a former communist guerrilla.

Speaking in a crowded Manila slum where he was planning to sell the six guns, Paraas said he had been a firearms trader for more than a decade, starting in his late 20s. He started selling used guns and knockoffs of foreign brands made by illegal gunsmiths in the central and southern Philippines before moving to more expensive weapons smuggled from abroad.

The American-made .22-caliber Magnum Black Widow revolvers in his bag were ordered by a buyer through a shadowy network of small-time gun runners who take advantage of the city's urban squalor to peddle their deadly wares.

Their clients range from security-conscious housewives to slum dwellers and members of "private armies" employed by political warlords.

"They are light and easy to move, and in demand from many people because they primarily use it for self-defense," Paraas said of the revolvers, which he sells for 5,000 pesos ($120) each. "Higher caliber guns and automatic rifles can also be bought, at a higher price."

The proliferation of firearms in the Philippines has been in the spotlight since January, following a series of shooting-related deaths, including of two children hit by stray bullets on New Year's Eve. A drugs-crazed gunman also killed seven people in a slum rampage, and a shootout linked to a gambling turf war left 13 dead, among them corrupt police and military officers.

The Philippines has a strong gun culture dating back centuries, with a history of armed struggle against Spanish and U.S. colonial rulers.

Firepower to spare: A sales assistant demonstrates how to convert a 9 mm handgun into a compact submachinegun at a weapons store in Manila on April 4. | AFP-JIJI

Today, people typically carry guns because they lack confidence in the country's security forces to protect the public, according to security analysts and firearms traders. There were 1.2 million registered firearms in the Philippines last year, with another 600,000 unlicensed firearms in circulation, according to national police data.

Getting a license to own a conventional gun is easy, but getting one without a police clearance can be even easier. Security analyst Ed Quitoriano, who regularly advises foreign embassies on threat issues, said there could be as many as 4 million unlicensed guns across the country.

The gun culture can be unsettling, particularly for foreign visitors. Private security guards with loaded, sawed-off shotguns infest the crime-plagued cities, protecting small and large private businesses. Restaurants, nightclubs and banks often have signs asking patrons to leave their firearms at entrance counters.

Foreigners are warned by long-time expatriates to avoid any incident that could escalate into violence, because of the potential for a gun to be used on them.

President Benigno Aquino III launched a high-profile campaign at the start of the year to get unlicensed guns off the streets. But government data shows this has so far netted fewer that 2,200 firearms, highlighting what Quitoriano said was the government's lack of resolve and capabilities to tackle the issue.

He said many powerful figures, including soldiers, police and politicians, profited from the firearms trade — part of a huge corruption problem that plagues all sectors of society.

Quitoriano also said the climate of fear fueled the black market: "If the public trusted the government more, there would be no need for them to protect themselves by arming."

Alexander Reyes, who owns self-defense specialty shop Aquila Firearms and Ammunition Corp. at a Manila mall, agreed. "It used to be for prestige, because guns equate with power," Reyes said. "But nowadays, it is mostly for protection. The police cannot protect you 24/7."

Japan Times

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The Philippines as a BRIC Economies Successor

Recently, the BRICS nations met in South Africa. Due to severe debt crises in the advanced nations, the growth prospects in these economies are no longer immune to the turmoil in the West.

Among the emerging economies, the Philippines is best-placed for an upgrade. It is favorably positioned to sustain growth in an exceptionally grim international landscape. It could even become a BRIC nation – with continued reforms.

In the sweet spot    

During the past decade, I have used much time exploring and consulting on the transformation of the major advanced and large emerging economies worldwide. What most nations find particularly intriguing are the growth lessons of the BRICs.

When Goldman Sachs identified the emerging group of potential successors to the BRICs a few years ago, the Philippines also made it into the list, in the footprints of two other major Southeast Asian nations. However, Indonesia and Vietnam have attracted much more FDI, so far.

In the aftermath of the Ramos era, the role of the Philippines as a BRIC successor was based mainly on its economic potential rather than a sustained growth record. In 2002, the Philippines gross domestic product still amounted to $81 billion, in current prices. Today, it has tripled to $241 billion.

In the aftermath of the global crisis, the Philippines is one of the few nations in which forecasts are revised up by financial analysts. In January, it reported 6.8 percent year-to-year growth, which made it the growth leader in Southeast Asia.

Almost half of the recent growth can be attributed to private consumption, which has been coupled by investment, especially in construction. Due to the impending mid-term elections in May, government spending will accelerate through the spring.

The acceleration of domestic demand since the first quarter of 2012 reflects the country's solid macroeconomic fundamentals, stronger government finances, and confidence in the Aquino government's commitment to reform.

Along with current account surpluses and foreign exchange reserves, the growth record has given rise to a more diversified export basket, while shielding the economy from very challenging international headwinds.

Complacency is not an option

The beauty of the BRIC projections is that they allow policy architects to reflect on (very) long time perspectives. The trap of the same projections is that, when they create a sense of inevitability, they can lull even the most promising growth stories into complacency.

In the Philippines, delivering the growth promise is predicated on accelerated structural progress.

According to various competitiveness indicators, the country has made dramatic strides in improving competitiveness, though often from a very low base. The perception is that corruption and red tape are finally addressed decisively. With the strong macroeconomic performance, the financial sector has become supportive of business activity.

Despite these positive trends, weaknesses remain to be addressed, including the poor infrastructure, various market inefficiencies and labor market rigidities.

As the Aquino administration knows only too well, the economy needs to shift from consumption towards investment, both public and private. Sectorally, this requires rising productivity in agriculture, less dependence on low-wage and low-skill services and more on labor-intensive manufacturing and high value services.

In BRIC economies, such changes have typically preceded periods of sustained growth. However, in order to raise the incentives for job creation and entrepreneurship, they require difficult policy reforms in agriculture, manufacturing, business and labor regulations, and social protection.

In turn, these reforms make possible greater public investment in health, education, and infrastructure.

BRIC future requires more inclusive growth              

In the absence of adverse developments, the Philippines is at the verge of receiving an investment-grade rating, by the major rating agencies.

Nonetheless, significant challenges of poverty remain. Growth is not yet inclusive.

Except for Brazil, inequities have typically increased in all emerging economies during their high-growth phases, while job-creation has been strong and unemployment low. In the Philippines, the story is different.

Even in 2011-2012, unemployment rate stayed at 7%, while underemployment rate rose to 22.7% since the number of full-time jobs declined by half a million in the same period.

In the next half a decade, GDP growth rate in the Philippines could climb close to that of China. But in order to be sustained, this growth must become more inclusive.

In the Philippines, the BRIC future has potential for a large consumer economy, with some 150-170 million people by 2050. That objective is predicated on huge expansion of consumption – but it is only viable through more inclusive growth.

Due to the historical legacies of the Philippine political and economic institutions, there remain strong vested interests in the current status quo. That, in turn, makes vital reforms challenging to implement.

The Aquino administration has proven able and willing to make difficult decisions. In all BRIC nations, sustained growth has been neither inevitable nor automatic. It does not just happen. It must be made to happen. And sometimes that requires painful decisions in the short-term because they make possible sustained growth in the long-term.

An abbreviated version was published by The Philippine Daily Inquirer on April 1, 2013

Economonitor 

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Navy Admits "Cannot Guard Philippine Maritime Domain" Chinese poachers arrived 'undetected'

A Chinese fishing vessel that ran aground on Monday in Tubbataha Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is pictured in Palawan Province, west of Manila April 10, 2013 in this picture provided by Tubbataha Management Office. REUTERS/ Tubbataha Management Office Handout (PHILIPPINES - Tags: ENVIRONMENT) ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

Dismal resources hound PH's ability to guard territorial waters

Chinese poachers arrived 'undetected'.

Lack of resources takes its toll on Philippine maritime protection, officials admitted, after a Chinese vessel got stuck on Tubbataha Reef late Monday.

Both the rangers of the Tubbataha Management Office (TMO) and maritime law enforcement agencies were unable to detect the Chinese vessel before it ran aground the protected marine park.

The TMO radar was turned off when the fishing vessel hit Tubbataha barely a mile away from the rangers' station, its head Angelique Songco said.

"We switch on our radar every three hours... Sometimes it's between those three hours that our rangers are blind," state-run Philippine News Agency quoted Songco as saying.

"We do not have the resources to keep the radar equipment on 24/7," Songco said further.

The Philippine Navy for its, part admitted that it "cannot guard every nook and cranny of our maritime domain."

Ships do not stay on guard in one area all the time, said Col. Edgard Arevalo, Navy spokesman for West Philippine Sea issues.

"Our borders are porous, and our coastline vast," he said, adding that "we have only a number of ships and aircraft to patrol our territorial waters."

Reuters/Reuters - A Chinese fishing vessel that ran aground in Tubbataha Reef, a UNESCO World Heritage site, on Monday is pictured in Palawan Province, west of Manila April 10, 2013 in this picture provided by Naval Forces West. REUTERS/ Naval Forces West Handout (PHILIPPINES - Tags: ENVIRONMENT POLITICS) ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

The latest grounding on Tubbataha Reef comes barely two weeks after the wreckage of a U.S. warship that hit the protected marine park had been removed.

The Philippines is asking the U.S. to pay P58 million ($1.4 million) in compensation for at least 2,345 square meters of the reef damaged by its minesweeper USS Guardian.

The incident also happened while the Philippines and China are embroiled in a dispute over territories in the West Philippine Sea.

The unnamed 48-meter Chinese vessel is still stuck in Tubbataha as of press time, but the 12 suspected poachers aboard it have been escorted to Puerto Princesa where they will face charges.

The fishing boat is the seventh Chinese fishing vessel caught inside the Tubbataha Reef since 2002, the TMO said in its website.

No marine life was found in the vessel, but Songco had said the entry of foreign fishing vessels is "prima facie evidence they are engaged in fishing".

The Tubbataha Reef is no-take area in the middle of the Sulu Sea, which has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

In addition to poaching, unauthorized entry, and damage to the reefs, corruption of public officials will also be filed against the Chinese nationals, TMO said.

This, as it noted how rangers reported that the foreign fishermen attempted to bribe them with $2,400.

Yahoo News

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