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July 28, 2013 | ISSN 439

Av 21, 5773

Grain, New Wine & Oil

Ministries, #4 Gen. BautistaStreet, Bgy. Batis, San JuanTels.: 744-5216 / 359-6299Email: [email protected]

Global Day of Protest: Stop Chinas Invasion of the Philippines

The Poster around the world and some from GNWOM and other churches taking to the street

China is flexing its new-found military sea power by extending its presence by occupying strategic islands,

reefs and shoals in spite of the multiple claimants. The Chinese walk the talk and flaunt the reality that

possession is 9/10ths of the law by creating facts on the ground, air and sea. Their 9-Dashed Line Claim is a

jingoistic declaration of a nascent superpower confronting the Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnamand even Japan that even collectively, we are out-gunned navy, air force, army, marines and coast guard-wise

The formerpaper dragon has become a bully and sees the West Philippine Sea as theirs for the taking for whocan stop them? They perceive the Philippines as just another barbarian country that cannot even take care of

its own citizens, how much more, of their own shoals. They tried to buy the islets by bribing a former

President during her term but nationalists stood in the way of this affront to sovereignty so now, they will take

while they can and what can the Filipinos do anyways?

Prior to our mass action, Pst. Ching orienting us of the biblical tenets we adhere to and why we are doing this. ImagineBible-thumping, turn-the cheekers who again leave the sanctuary of the church to be on the street to stand up! Afterwards

breaking up to prayer cells for equipping and praying for the peaceful success of the event.

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TAPAT SA PROMESA July 28, 2013 / Av 21, 5773 | ISSN 0439 Page 2

On-line are many sites on how to deal with bullies. China has its Handy's first rule of dealing with Bullies isStay Calm. Here is more on how you can do this when confronted.

Act brave. When you're scared of another person, you're probably not feeling your bravest. But sometimes just

acting brave is enough to stop a bully. If you walk by as though you're not afraid and hold your head high, a

bully may be less likely to give you trouble.-thats why July 24 was organized

Ignore a bully. Simply ignoring a bully's threats and walking away robs the bully of his or her fun. Bullieswant a big reaction to their teasing and meanness. Acting as if you don't notice and don't care is like giving no

reaction at all, and this just might stop a bully's behavior.- thats why July 24 was global

Stand up for yourself. Kids can stand up for themselves with words by telling the bully to stop it, and thenwalk away. Kids also can stand up for each other by telling a bully to stop teasing or scaring someone else, and

then walk away together.-President Aquino is doing this by standing up for our sovereignity in his speeches and

actions, now only if the DFA would say that it is more than just a private event-it is a Filipino event!

Be a buddy. Kids who are being bullied can use the buddy system. Make a plan to walk with a friend or two on

the way to school or recess or lunch or wherever you think you might meet the bully. Offer to do the same for a

friend who's having trouble with a bully.-together with other ASEAN countries we are trying to appeal for

peaceful solutions, if only Kampuchea would join our DFA efforts.

Don't bully back. Don't hit, kick, or push back to deal with someone bullying you or your friends. Fighting

back just satisfies a bully and it's dangerous, too, because someone could get hurt. It's best to stay with others,

stay safe, and get help from an adult.-we did this in peace and called on our big kuya (not the US, not the UN

but Christ, our Lord

One way is to stand your ground and declare to a bully, Stop. Jesus when he saw what was going on at the

temple did not avert his eyes and look the other way. He charged into the stalls of the money-changers, vendors

and merchants and used action, not just Words. With this maritime invasion of formally fishermen but nowarmed modern warships in this out-of-view take-overs of our islands just outside of Bataan and Palawan, they

are taking the highgrounds (since some of the reefs are underwater during high tide) occupying what is ours

which we cannot hold.

One can just be busy at work, sing Praise & Worship songs and simply pray orwith acts, not just faith, put onthe armor of God and stand up to this dragon and that is what Grain, New Wine & Oil Ministries did: it joined

not just those who called them nationalists but in the end realized that if no one will stand up for us, VFA-

withstanding, then WE must stand up OURSELVES and what should we fear with the opinion of the worldfocused on this issue and our realization that not by might nor by power but by the Spirit of the Lord. If they

will be guided by Sun Tzus Art of War, we will use the mighty Bible especially: I Corinthians 13 and James

2:14.Meeting at the church by 9AM church members who took time away from work and family met at the San Juanchurch and got our black Tshirts with mine declaring, Blessed are the Meek for they shall inherit the OIL of

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the earth with dove carrying an olive twig in its beak with the rainbow of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control and the fruits of the HolySpirit.

Taking it All, A Map of Chinas Claim ignoring geography just military projection. Pst. Francis assisted by Bro. BJ as heleads the Opening Prayer

In 4 different vehicles we left San Juan to be confronted by the traffic that was created by the rally occupyingthe eastbound side of Buendia fronting the Chinese Embassy. This mass action had in turn made the embassy

ignore us by, cancelling that day as a work day so our protests was felt but not heard or seen by the embassy

itself though some were saying pictures were taken by those involved.

Part of the crowd festively adorned in red, black and yellow with posters and streamers while the police dutifully providedperipheral security and courtesy to all attendees. Lisa reading Loidas message with a crowd of photographers and

cameramen recording the event that went around the world.

The organizers on the ground were ready and waiting by the time Pst. Francis gave the Opening Prayer then

talks were given by politicians and Lisa Soriano read the message by Ms. Loida N. Lewis while she was in theUnited States spearheading the actions that took place in San Francisco and New York and in front of other

consulates and embassies to make this a global issue. Those who spoke included Ms. Riza Hontiveros, Reps

Golez and Alunan and Sen. Saguisag. The happy fervor of the crowd matched the heat of the noon time sun

when just a day before flash floods hit the city as heavy downpours snarled traffic. By 145PM the police werepolitely reminding the organizers that the Rally Permit was just from 12-2PM. Those from GNWOM had lunch

and then returned to the church.

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BRILLIANT STRATEGY

WRITTEN BY SOLITA COLLAS-MONSOD ON MAY 30, 2013. POSTED IN FEATURE, JULY 24- Published in, Business World | May 29, 2013

Calling a Spade a Spade

SUPREME COURT Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio has been in the news lately because of his

commencement address at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) Graduate School of Law a couple ofweeks ago. Rightly so. His discussion of the issues involved in our West Philippine Sea (WPS) dispute with

China (actually, both Chinasthe mainland and Taiwan) is the clearest I have come across so far. He

obviously has had a hand in the shaping of the governments legal strategy to be pursued in its case to bebrought before the UN arbitral tribunal.

GNWOM members and others listening to the speeches and trying to cool it

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It is a brilliant strategy. If the case the Philippines would present were about maritime boundary delimitations,

i.e., China staking claim to areas outside of the limits described by UN Convention on the Law of the Sea

(UNCLOS), then we would lose even before we started, because that kind of dispute is excluded from the

UNCLOS compulsory dispute settlement system, and China could cite that as a reason to refuse arbitration. Myimpression was that China was pretty sure that would be our strategy, and was pretty cocky about the outcome.

But as it turns outand here is where Carpio must have come inthe Philippines isnt mentioning a word

about maritime boundary delimitations. Instead, it brings the fight all the way into the Chinese camp. It asks the

UN arbitral tribunal to rule on whether Chinas so-called 9-dashed line claim (under which practically all of theSouth China Sea is considered its inland waters) or its domestic laws can take away the Philippines exclusive

economic zone, and extended continental shelf in the WPS.

The Philippines is also asking the arbitral tribunal to rule whether China can occupy and erect structures onfully submerged reefs and on low-tide elevations; whether China, again under its 9-dashed line claim or

domestic laws, can unilaterally appropriate for itself maritime space in the South China Sea beyond the

exclusive economic zone of any coastal state (i.e., the high seas, which under UNCLOS no state can subject to

its sovereignty).

According to Justice Carpio, the Philippines comes to the arbitral tribunal with clean hands, because our 2009Baselines Law scrupulously followed the UNCLOS. China, on the other hand, does not, because its 1998 Law

on Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf has provisions that are in gross violation of the UNCLOS.Which is why the Philippines is also asking the arbitral tribunal to direct China to bring its maritime laws inconformity with UNCLOS.

In other words, China is obviously the bad guy here.

Carpios speech also discusses Plan B what if (and this is a very big if, he says) the arbitral tribunal rules that

an island in the Spratlys is capable of sustaining human habitation or economic life of its own, thus generatingan exclusive economic zone? Carpio, covering all options, is also prepared for that eventuality: that the dispute

then becomes a maritime boundary delimitation dispute, in which case the arbitral tribunal no longer has

jurisdiction, because China will not submit to arbitration.

Under those circumstances, Carpio points out, compulsory conciliation, as provided in UNCLOS, will kick inand China cannot opt out of that. And here, Carpio also points out, the compulsory conciliation commission

will have to consider Palawans more than 600-mile coastline versus the less than one-mile opposing coastlineof the largest island in the Spratlysand distribute the economic zones proportionally.

Carpio is pretty sure we will have the law on our side. Justice is another matter, he says, because apparently theUNCLOS does not provide for enforcement measures (Carpio calls it a black hole in the Rule of Law), and we

certainly cant do it ourselves. Even if we brought it before the UN Security Council, China has veto power

there.

Is it all for naught, then?

Of course not, says Justice Carpio. We have one last recoursethe appeal to world opinion. And this is whereCarpio challenges the PLM graduating class to make it their mission to help shape world opinion that a nation

that refuses to follow the Rule of Law should be considered a rogue nation, an outcast in the community of

nations. And China, as an aspirant to global leadership, will think twice about flouting that opinion.

But while Carpios PLM commencement address made the headlines, an at least equally important speech ofhis, did not, mores the pity. These were remarks delivered at the launching of UPs Institute of Maritime

Affairs and Law of the Sea (IMLOS) two months earlier.

On this occasion, Carpio emphasized the importance of an IMLOS, because, he asserts, the most importantforeign policy issue that the Philippines will face in the next 25 years or more will be the dispute with China in

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the West Philippine Sea. If China succeeds in enforcing its 9-dashed line claim, he says, it will be a national

catastrophe: we stand to lose, in the Reed Bank alone (which is within our economic zone), resources

amounting to almost one-half of the total proved and provable oil and more than one-fourth of the total

natural gas resources in the South China sea. And thats not counting the fishery resources in the area, whichaccount for at least a quarter of our total fishery resources.

What makes winning our dispute with China even more crucial, according to Carpio, is that the mineral

resources in the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) will be our only remaining natural resources, after

squandering our inland natural resources above and below the ground.

He elaborates: We allowed loggers to denude our forests in exchange for negligible forest fees. We our

allowing our inland mineral resources to be extracted for a pittance. In the words of the 1995 Mining Act, the

total government share in a mineral production agreement shall be the excise tax on mineral products. Underthe Tax Code, the excise tax is a mere 2% of the market value of the mineral ore at the time of removal from the

mine site. We are the only country in the world giving away our mineral resources almost for free.

Carpio urges the IMLOS to not only craft the legal strategy to protect our EEZ from encroachment by foreign

countries, but also to craft a fair and reasonable profit-sharing formula between the State and the private

companies that will exploit the mineral resources in our EEZ. Because, he asks, of what use is protecting, atgreat effort and expense, ourEEZ from foreign encroachment if it will not benefit the Filipino people? Good

question.

And getting that fair share will accomplish another objective: we will have all the money we need to acquire

and maintain a minimum credible self-defense force, without which, he avers, we may still lose our EEZ inthe WPS even as international law and world opinion may be on our side.

He makes eminent sense. He may have not gotten the position he deserved. But he stands mighty tall in the

Supreme Court.

Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit (Zech 4:6)

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