Derek Fisher plans to play in exhibition games in the Philippines

LA Lakers guard and National Basketball Players Assn. President Derek Fisher plans to play in a pair of exhibition games in the Philippines this weekend, his manager, Jamie Wior, confirmed Monday.

Fisher will join the likes of Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Derrick Williams, Tyreke Evans and Javelle McGee representing the MVP Sports Foundation, according to a person who was familiar with the roster but wasn't authorized to speak about it publicly.

The team is expected to play in a pair of exhibition games July 23 and 24 against the Philippine Basketball Assn.'s All-Star team and the Smart Gilas national team at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

Chot Reyes, a coach of the Philippine team Talk N' Text, had also tweeted the news over the weekend that Fisher would join Bryant, Paul, Durant and Rose as part of what he called the "NBA superstars fly in." Numerous reports from the Philippines also indicated this, although it was unclear what the finalized roster would look like.

Because of an unforeseen NBA lockout, many players have been considering playing overseas. The Times' Baxter Holmes reported that Bryant and Fisher could also be part of a barnstorming tour of exhibition games in China, organized by their agent, Rob Pelinka, who represents 18 NBA players through the Landmark Sports Agency.

ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported that Bryant also has showed interest in joining Deron Wiliams with the Turkish team, Besiktas, but that talks are currently on hold in the wake of the club's complicated finances related to soccer match-fixing scandal.

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Philippines lawmakers visits Spratlys on fact-finding mission

A visit for a new kickstart

Five Philippines lawmakers have scheduled a short trip to the eight-island chain claimed by the Philippines on the contested Spratly Archipelago that sits on the South China Sea.

The trip will be a fact-finding mission to help government kickstart strong maritime defense and sustainable economic activities there, one of the lawmakers said.

"We will gather data in aid of legislation, leading to the strengthening of defense and the creation of more economic activities at the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) in the Spratly Archipelago," Congressman Walden Bello said.

Above all, "the mission aims to support the Philippine government's rightful claims to the country's 320km economic zone and the islands in the Spratly archipelago that lie in the zone," said Bello.

The visit is meant to "underline the fact that no one country owns the West Philippines Sea [also known as the South China Sea], and will echo the government's call for a multilateral resolution to the territorial dispute," Bello explained.

The Kalayaan Island Group is considered part of Palawan province in the southwestern Philippines, according to a presidential decree issued by former strongman Ferdinand Marcos in 1978.

It is composed of an eight-island chain claimed by the Philippines on Spratly's 700 atolls, islets, and reefs in the South China Sea. The island chain is the only territory claimed in the Spratly Archipelago which has an active local political structure.

It is also the least developed in Palawan province with Palawan's local government unit subsidizing the board and lodging of the island chain's community of 300 people — which includes 100 soldiers and 200 civilians.

Bello and Congressman Arlene Bagao of Akbayan, a sectoral party in the House of Representatives, will lead the official mission scheduled 3^rd week of July.

Accompanying them are Congressmen Emmeline Aglipay of DIWA, another sectoral party; Ben Evardone and Teodoro Baguilat Jr, who represent Eastern Samar in the central Philippines and Ifugao in northern Luzon.

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