Local and Abroad: Job hiring Treands

PH defense companies fight for “buy Filipino”

It was not your usual errand. Several days ago, the head of the security force tasked with protecting President Aquino, toured a small three-storey plant in a Manila suburb that manufactures M4 assault rifles, the standard battle rifle of the US Army.

In April, United Defense Manufacturing Corporation sent a letter inviting Aquino to visit and see what the company could do for the military. In line with his efforts to modernize the armed forces, Aquino forwarded the letter to the Presidential Security Group and ordered them to take a look.

Last May 16, General Chito Dizon, who heads the PSG, went himself to see if the rifles will meet the requirements of the PSG’s Special Reaction Unit, which responds to an emergency at a moment’s notice. Dizon was impressed. If United Defense’s rifles pass further testing, the PSG will place an order for its elite unit.

This is a welcome relief for Gene Cariño, president of United Defense. Since the company started in 2009, Cariño could only look as the country’s military and police forces bought rifles and other weapons from abroad. Because of requirements imposed by law, his company is not qualified to bid for government contracts for assault rifles.

Earlier this month, the Department of National Defense awarded a contract for 50,000 M4s to US company Remington. The other bidders were legendary American firearms company Colt, Manroy and Sig Sauer.

“We are really no match for foreign brands,” Cariño says, exasperated.

It is a frustration shared by Bert del Mundo, vice president for corporate planning and corporate development for local gun company Armscor. Last year, the company lost a bid for a Philippine National Police contract for 60,000 9mm pistols to an importer of the Austrian-made Glock. Armscor was the only Philippine company that made a bid.

In an attempt to change the landscape, del Mundo called on several local defense companies, including United Defense, to explore the possibility of putting up an association to push their “buy Filipino” cause. Two representatives showed up at the meeting on March 28 at Armscor’s Ortigas Center office.

One idea for the proposed Defense Manufacturers Association of the Philippines, is for it to form a core group of defense contractors that will meet the needs of the military and other security forces.
“We submit a plan to the government telling them, ‘This is the focus of each group member.

’ We match the government’s future requirements. That is the concept of the Self-Reliant Defense Program (SRDP),” says del Mundo, referring to the government efforts for the country to develop its own defense industry and rely less on other countries for weapons.

In 1974, when the Philippine military was still the envy of Asia, Ferdinand Marcos issued Presidential Decree 415, establishing the SRDP. However, it was discontinued for some reason. By the time Marcos was ousted by a popular revolt in 1986, the military had become among the world’s weakest because of neglect, corruption and incompetence.

The Aquino administration has revived the SRDP following China’s seizure of Scarborough Shoal from Philippine control last year.

Cariño was unable to attend the Armscor meeting, but had sent his thoughts to del Mundo in a letter. One, that the SRDP be made into a law to ensure continuity. “Enacting SRDP into a law by Congress will hopefully bring it forward as a mandate rather than as a mere initiative by the current and future administrations,” he wrote.

Two, seek court relief from a government procurement law, Republic Act No. 9184, that Cariño says “unwittingly tends to favor foreign manufacturers”.

Expecting Congress to take forever to act, Cariño said the group should file a “petition for declaratory relief with the proper court with the objective of hopefully gaining the court's favorable ruling that the SRDP takes precedence and importance over and above RA 9184 and other laws that tend to impede upon the SRDP program.”

Del Mundo explains how the government procurement law stunts the local defense industry: “When you hold a public bidding, the agencies are not required to name any specific brand because it is an open bidding. So, for example, when they need a standard pistol, it should be generic — 45-caliber pistol, period. If you state a specific brand, you are favoring that brand, which is against the law. Since it’s an open bidding, anybody can bid whether you are local or foreign.”

Cariño has a long-term view for the proposed defense association. He envisions its members pooling their assets and resources into research and development and produce more sophisticated weaponry. “Size is might when leveraging with the banks and other creditors,” he says. Cariño points to South Korea, which produces its own rifles, fighter planes, tanks, missiles, navy ships and other weaponry.

Cariño intends to push for the creation of the defense association and lead the “buy Filipino” charge, saying that to back off now would only waste the millions he has already invested in his company.

“There is strength and influence in numbers. No matter how noble and novel your idea is, if you are just one company, you are weak,” he says. “It becomes more difficult if the company driving the novelty is up against a government that seems to favor foreign brands.”

Justice Carpio: appeal to world opinion vs Chinese defiance to rule of law

Here we go again. This time it’s over Ayungin Reef (Ren’ai Reef to the Chinese.)
The Philippine Navy reported sightings of Chinese ships in the vicinity of Ayungin shoal as early as first week of May, the last stretch of the May 13 elections, and before the May 9 incident in Balintang Channel where the Philippine Coast Guard fired upon a Taiwanese fishing vessel and killed one of the fishermen.

The Department of Foreign Affairs filed a diplomatic protest on Chinese presence near Ayungin shoal May 10.
DFA Spokesman Raul Hernandez said in their protest, they cited “the provocative and illegal presence of the Chinese government ships around Ayungin Shoal.”

He said that “Ayungin Shoal is an integral part of our national territory” stressing that shoal is located 105.77 nautical miles from Palawan and constitutes part of the country’s 200-nautical mile continental shelf as provided under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

China, of course, insisted that Ayungin Reef, which they call Ren ‘ai Reef, is theirs being a part of Sansha City, established last June in the southernmost province of Hainan. The Philippines had also protested the inclusion of Macclesfield Field, one of the largest underwater atolls in the world, covering an area of 6,500 square kilometers which is in Philippine territory, under Sansha city.
An article in a Chinese online publication, Global Times, under the headline, “Ren’ai Reef under actual control of China” said, “ Wang Xiaopeng, a scholar studying issues pertinent to territorial seas at China’s Academy of Social Sciences, commented that the Chinese Foreign Ministry never made mention of the Ren’ai Reef when, back in April, it released eight Chinese islets and reefs currently seized by the Philippines, which means the Ren’ai Reef is already under China’s actual control.”
The eight islets that the Chinese acknowledged being occupied by the Philippines are Lawak, Patag, Parola,Pag-asa,Kota, Panata,Rizal, Likas.

The article further said:“Ren’ai Reef… is part of the Chinese territory and, an area over which China proclaims sovereignty and vows never to yield an inch to others. “

Obviously, China ignores the fact that in Ayungin shoal, there’s BRP Sierra Madre, a Philippine Navy ship that was purposely beached in the islets following the occupation by China of the Mischief or Panganiban Reef in 1995. Ayungin Reef is 25 miles away from Mischief Reef.

What does the Philippine government do in the face of what many fear is another expansionist act by China in the disputed waters of Spratlys.

Not much really. The Philippines has filed a petition with the United Nations’ Artbitral Court to look, among other issues, into the legality of China’s nine-dash line map,which is the basis for its claim of the whole South China Sea including islands in the territorial waters and exclusive economic zones of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.
But the petition has not deterred China from going into disputed areas they consider part of their territory.

Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio, in his speech before the graduating class Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila College of Law last week, warned of the dangers of China’s 9-dashed line.
“In the case of the Philippines, China’s 9-dashed line claim takes away our exclusive economic zone and extended continental shelf in the West Philippine Sea beyond 30 to 50 NM from the baselines of the Philippines. That deprives the Philippines of 80% of its exclusive economic zone, and 100% of its extended continental shelf, in the West Philippine Sea.”

But even Carpio acknowledges the difficulty of enforcing the decision of the U.N Arbitral Court if it’s adverse to China, which has refused to participate in the case.

“So what can the Philippines do?,” Justice Carpio asked.
Carpio said “The only remaining recourse for the Philippines is to appeal to world opinion.”
He told the graduates: “As life-long students of the law with an abiding faith in the Rule of Law, it is your mission from now on to help shape world opinion that a nation should follow the Rule of Law if it wants to be accepted as a member and leader of the community of civilized nations. If a nation refuses to comply with the Rule of Law, then it becomes a rogue nation, an outcast in the community of civilized nations where adherence to the Rule of Law is the norm.

A nation that aspires to be a world power but refuses to follow the Rule of Law is a danger to peace and stability in our world.”

Carpio said a favorable decision from the arbitral tribunal, and world opinion also in our favor, time will be on the side of the Philippines.

“In matters of sovereign rights among nations, our time horizon should span several decades or even longer. In the battle to defend a nation’s sovereign rights from encroachment by other states, there is no such thing as instant success. Even nations with the Rule of Law and world opinion on their side must persevere for a very long time to succeed,” he said.

Alien Planets Could Shed Light on Earth's Climate Future

A Comparative Climatology Symposium held at NASA Headquarters on May 7 focused on new approaches to climate research by highlighting the similarities and contrasts between the environments of the rocky worlds Venus, Earth, Mars and Saturn’s smoggy moon Titan. The symposium also included discussions about exoplanets, the sun and past, present and future space missions. John Grunsfeld, Associate Administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said that the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope will be able to make important observations of the atmospheres of exoplanets. He said JWST won’t be able to locate the exoplanets, only study them, but the recently selected TESS mission could act as a planet scout for JWST targets. It is estimated that TESS will discover around 300 "super-Earth" alien planets, many of them in the habitable zone. But the number one challenge, Grunsfeld noted, is figuring out the climate of our own planet. Understanding climate change Jim Green, NASA’s Planetary Science Division Director, said that one goal is to examine a variety of planetary bodies as a system, to see if there are trends or similarities. He also pointed out that from a planetary scientist’s perspective, climate change on our planet is not a new thing. "Earth’s climate has done nothing but change," Green said. Green said that three Earth-observing satellites will be launched this year, and they will help us better understand how the climate is currently changing and the implications that has for our planet’s environment. David Grinspoon, holder of the first Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress chair in Astrobiology, talked about Mars’ "ferocious and interesting" meteorology, and how Martian global dust storms may help unravel what happened on our planet during the K-T extinction 65 million years ago, when an asteroid hitting the Yucatan Peninsula is thought to have eradicated 75 percent of animals and plants on Earth, including the dinosaurs. [Wipeout: History's Most Mysterious Extinctions] The 'Venus mafia' As for Venus, Grinspoon said scientists believe current-day volcanism on Venus is thought to be necessary to sustain the planet’s thick clouds. He added that the active surface has eradicated most ancient rocks, preventing us from easily understanding Venus’ early history. Grinspoon also discussed the unique climate of Titan, noting that the methane cycle on this moon of Saturn is "like Earth's hydrological cycle on steroids." Studying the climates of Mars, Venus, Titan and even exoplanets could help us refine our climate models of the Earth. However, Grinspoon said that "clouds are the biggest uncertainty in understanding the past of Venus and predicting the future of Earth." Tying climatology to astrobiology, Grinspoon said that our expectations of the other planets, in the absence of data, were that they'd be much more Earth-like than they actually are. We still haven’t found a planet quite like our own, although astronomers are zeroing in on exoplanets that should have habitable conditions. But, Grinspoon said, "it may be that conditions for life's origin aren't rare, but the hard part is the persistence of habitable conditions." Venus was a popular topic during the symposium. Roald Sagdeev, University of Maryland professor and former director of the Space Research Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, said during an overview of the Russian missions to Venus that "from the point of view of habitability, Venus is like having a dead body to study, which is of course very useful for learning anatomy." David Crisp, Senior Research Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology, said that sending weather balloons to Venus taught us a lot about atmospheric physics. And Roger Bonnet, Executive Director of the International Space Science Institute, said there was no chance for a big "flagship" mission to Venus, since the viewpoint among many amounts to "Who cares about clouds and wind on Venus, when we have so much of that on Earth? We want to see little green men!" One participant noted the presence of "the Venus mafia" at the symposium, inferring that the focus on Earth’s "twin planet" had muscled out discussion of other places of interest. Habitable exoplanets But in addition to studies of Venus and other terrestrial worlds, there was a talk about our sun and its influence on space weather, and general discussions about refining climate models, defining habitable zones, and the importance of basic research. The participants seemed to agree that, most importantly, planetary climate studies needed to be interdisciplinary, with scientists from different fields communicating and collaborating. Michael Meyer, lead scientist for the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters, also pointed out that we should never become complacent in our scientific understanding. For instance, he said that while climate models have not been able to make early Mars warm enough to sustain liquid water on its surface, the same can be true for models of the young Earth. And when it comes to understanding where a planet needs to reside in its solar system to be habitable — the so-called Goldilocks Zone where the temperature is just right for water to be liquid rather than ice or gas — he commented that "the approach [to the habitable zone] is very Goldilocks in that it's almost a fairy tale." Finally, Meyer noted, just when we thought we understood how planets are made, we discovered hot Jupiters and other unusual exoplanets that "turned all of our planet formation models on their head." "And that’s a good thing," he added.

Happy Mothers Day

Letter From Mom And Dad
 Today May 11, 2013 special day for my mom it because a mothers day. I love you Mom thank you for everything the caring the love and protect me everyday since I was born in this world. I miss you so much Mom. I love you so much I cannot direct to say I love you to you It because you are now in heaven. Thank you for your sacrifice. Mother you are my hero and my Idol.

Philippines admits to shooting at Taiwan boat

The Philippines admitted Friday that its coastguard fired at a Taiwanese fishing boat in an incident that authorities in Taipei said left a crewman dead and triggered widespread outrage on the island. Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou demanded that the Philippines apologise for Thursday's shooting, which the Taiwanese government said killed a 65-year-old fisherman and badly damaged the vessel. But Philippine coastguard spokesman Commander Armand Balilo said the incident took place in Philippine waters and the Filipino personnel had been properly carrying out their duties to stop illegal fishing. "If somebody died, they deserve our sympathy but not an apology," Balilo told reporters. Balilo said the incident happened just north of the main Philippine island of Luzon in the Balintang channel, which is part of the Philippines' territory and not claimed by any other country or Taiwan. "This is part of Philippine waters," he said. Balilo said the 30-metre (100-foot) coastguard vessel initially saw two fishing vessels and tried to approach them. He said the coastguard crew fired at the smaller of the two vessels after it tried to ram the Filipino boat. "They fired at the machinery to disable it. They were able to disable the vessel although they were not aware at the time that somebody had been hit," he said. Balilo said the coastguard quickly left the area after it saw a third vessel, "a big white ship", come into view. "Our people felt threatened so they left the area," he said. In Taipei, Ma insisted the Philippine side was at fault. "We demand the Philippines investigate and clarify the truth, to apologise, apprehend the killer and compensate," he told reporters. Taiwanese Foreign Minister David Lin also said he was "very angry". The incident dominated Taiwanese media, which strongly condemned the Filipinos and carried reports from the boat's captain insisting he did not cross over into Philippine waters. "Barbaric Philippine vessel fired at our fishing boat, seasoned fisherman shot dead," read the headline of a front-page story in the Taipei-based China Times newspaper. Hung Yu-chih, the captain of the boat who is also the dead man's son, told the China Times that Philippine gunmen fired several shots at them. He said one of the shots hit the fuel tank of the vessel, which had only four people on board. Two Taiwanese fishing boats came to Hung's rescue after he called for help, and towed the boat back to a port in southern Taiwan. In 2006, a Taiwanese fishing boat skipper was shot dead off the northern Philippines. Taipei protested then to the Philippines over what it said was the improper use of weapons. Taiwan has ruled itself since 1949, but China still considers the island part of its territory. The Philippines, like most countries, officially recognises China over Taiwan but maintains trade ties with the island. The incident comes at a time of heightened tensions around the region over rival claims to the nearby South China Sea. China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei all have competing claims to parts of the sea. China's increasingly aggressive tactics to assert its authority over the waters in recent years have raised alarm among the rival claimants. China said on Tuesday it had sent one of its largest fishing fleets into the sea.

NBA Playoffs 2013

The NBA Playoffs 2013 are not yet done, but we've definitely seen enough to hand out a few early postseason awards, haven't we? I mean, how many more takeover performances do we need to see from Kevin Durant to know that he's keeping his team alive all by himself? And haven't we watched Tom Thibodeau turn lead into gold often enough to proclaim him the best coach of this postseason? There's plenty of room to debate both the timing and the merits of these awards, but one thing's beyond doubt: Players like Stephen Curry, Roy Hibbert and Metta World Peace (I'll explain later) are deserving of some recognition for their playoff work. Unlike the real MVP award, there's only one voter involved in this process. So each of these honors will be unanimous, which will be a nice change, don't you think?