It was a nightmare for the Philippines. The hostage taking and the bloodshed was no one’s wish but it happened. “Why of all the buses in Manila, a foreign one?” was my initial question but as the day of the hostage taking went along, hundreds of questions flood my mind. “Surely, our relations with the international community will be affected specially with China and the Hong Kong”, I concluded after all the things that happened during that day. True enough, I’ve read so many articles with different opinions and sentiments from different people around the globe. A lot criticizes the actions of the authorities regarding the matter and it all boils down to blaming the government, the administration. Fortunately, some tries to understand and not blame but instead, suggests working together for a faster justice.
After the incident, there have been a lot of decisions from both countries. Hong Kong has declared Philippines as part of the blacklisted countries. Yes, they reserve all the rights to do so to help protect their citizens. Surely, this decision will affect the country’s tourism. Many have cancelled flights to the Philippines. Also, there were news that Filipino citizens in Hong Kong are being maltreated and discriminated although there are no official report yet. Personally, I try to understand the Hong Kong nationals, they are emotional and sympathetic about what happened but I plead that they must also realize that the Filipinos in their country and in the rest of the world is not Mendoza, they did not kill not hurt anyone from the country where they are staying then they don’t deserve to be treated as such. With all these, a high delegation was set to go to Hong Kong to explain the incident to the officials of the foreign country but weren’t able to push through since Hong Kong wanted a result once they officially meet. Seeing all these, it will not be easy for the Philippines to neutralize relations with Hong Kong. But our president never loses hope as he said in his speech “Given enough time we can recover”.
I have been reading comments in the articles related to the issue. The comments of our very own citizens break my heart. It seems that we are not working as one nation in here but instead we blame others to be responsible for this incident. Some Filipinos blame the government, some curses the foreign nationals. Most probably, these citizens of the Philippines are not aware of the possible effects of what happened. Maybe they are not aware that breaking our good relations with a foreign country such as Hong Kong and China will affect our economy. I pity our young administration for many are blaming them. I agree that they should have taken part of the responsibility during the day of the hostage taking but not alone in this.
After the Flor Contemplacion case, this one’s the next well-known tragedy that involves the Philippines. If not because of media, this will not be as this big issue. Let’s admit it, from all around the world, there are a lot of foreign nationals being killed and are deprived of justice but getting this much attention from everybody is not the real trend. Media has played a big part in the hostage taking. I just hope that since they were able to show the world what happened during the tragedy, they will also be able to emphasize the actions of the authorities to resolve this problem.
Damage has been done to the relations of the Philippines with the foreign countries. I believe that what we can do now is help each other not blame. I hope our government is doing their best in the investigation to resolve this problem and give justice to all those who died. Let us stop giving so much attention to the little things like PNoy’s smiles during the incident. We have to be more mature in this issue and focus on the things that has to be done to bring back our good relations with the foreign country and continue praying for the souls of those who died.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
August 16 || Philippine Foreign Policy
"Another boring meeting". The session started with this statement from our very own professor. Ironically, this statement made the discussion more interesting for me. I was absent last meeting and fortunately, we had a recap of last week's discussion, the relations of the Philippines with U.S, China and Japan.
For this session, we talked about the major concern of the Philippine Foreign Policy. Alarmingly, we have several major concerns that I think the government must address effectively. First, on the regional arrangements and multilateral organizations. Our government, as expected must promote the national interest in the regional arrangements through development diplomacy. I have been hearing this kind of diplomacy in my other subjects but it is never clear what it means except that it is used to specific areas. In the case of the first concern, development diplomacy is used through trade, investment and technology transfer of course in cooperation with the different international organizations. I've read some articles about Trans-pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). This was mentioned by our professor. This is interesting for me as it is a trade agreement between countries from the different sides of the world.
As our discussion has pointed out, the Philippines' involvement in the the international organizations are sometimes questionable. For example, we support peacekeeping operations of the UN in war-torn areas considering that we have our own "situations" or internal issues. This point leads me to this question: What are our priorities?
I find it important as well that we do not forget the marginalized part of the society such as children and women because for me, who else is going to care for these sectors?
The next part of the discussion is about the territorial rights. I agree with our professor saying that this concern is actually answerable by our constitution. Whatever is written there is the basis of our claims. However, we must always consider that other countries would also have their constitution that could be way different from ours causing disputes among countries, damaging their relations.
Lastly, we tackled direct foreign investments. Again, development diplomacy was mentioned in this part of the discussion pointing out that Europe along with U.S, China, Japan and ASEAN (which includes the Philippines) and these countries could be sources of direct investment, technology transfer and trade. At this point, tourism is considered the main thrust of Philippine Foreign Policy. Honestly, I believe that only if our tourism is well taken care of, it would help our economy so much. After all, our country has a lot of tourist spots.
Our OWFs are important as much as all the above mentioned. As our nationals are scattered in the different parts of the world working and remitting money to our country helping our economy, the more that the government should be keen enough to protect them.
It is a great challenge for this administration to address all the major concerns mentioned above. But, as Filipino citizens of this country, we must not forget that we have our responsibilities too.
For this session, we talked about the major concern of the Philippine Foreign Policy. Alarmingly, we have several major concerns that I think the government must address effectively. First, on the regional arrangements and multilateral organizations. Our government, as expected must promote the national interest in the regional arrangements through development diplomacy. I have been hearing this kind of diplomacy in my other subjects but it is never clear what it means except that it is used to specific areas. In the case of the first concern, development diplomacy is used through trade, investment and technology transfer of course in cooperation with the different international organizations. I've read some articles about Trans-pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). This was mentioned by our professor. This is interesting for me as it is a trade agreement between countries from the different sides of the world.
As our discussion has pointed out, the Philippines' involvement in the the international organizations are sometimes questionable. For example, we support peacekeeping operations of the UN in war-torn areas considering that we have our own "situations" or internal issues. This point leads me to this question: What are our priorities?
I find it important as well that we do not forget the marginalized part of the society such as children and women because for me, who else is going to care for these sectors?
The next part of the discussion is about the territorial rights. I agree with our professor saying that this concern is actually answerable by our constitution. Whatever is written there is the basis of our claims. However, we must always consider that other countries would also have their constitution that could be way different from ours causing disputes among countries, damaging their relations.
Lastly, we tackled direct foreign investments. Again, development diplomacy was mentioned in this part of the discussion pointing out that Europe along with U.S, China, Japan and ASEAN (which includes the Philippines) and these countries could be sources of direct investment, technology transfer and trade. At this point, tourism is considered the main thrust of Philippine Foreign Policy. Honestly, I believe that only if our tourism is well taken care of, it would help our economy so much. After all, our country has a lot of tourist spots.
Our OWFs are important as much as all the above mentioned. As our nationals are scattered in the different parts of the world working and remitting money to our country helping our economy, the more that the government should be keen enough to protect them.
It is a great challenge for this administration to address all the major concerns mentioned above. But, as Filipino citizens of this country, we must not forget that we have our responsibilities too.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
On PNoy's Speech (ASEAN)
"Philippine foreign policy decisions have to be made in the context of ASEAN"
ASEAN is part of the 8 Philippine foreign policy realities, it is that important to our country. President Noy's statement about his plans for the organization then has a big impact on our country's future, if it will be implemented.
The president's speech about ASEAN is very general. He stated things about the importance of our country's relationship with the international community specifically when it comes to the economic aspect as he mentioned investments in the first part of his speech. He mentioned general benefits of having good relations with other countries.
As of action plan during his term, he mentioned about being a "good neighbor, a productive partner and a consensus-builder." All of these are very general. He did not define what a good neighbor or productive partner is meaning there are actually no concrete plans in his speech.
For me, it is good that he has mentioned of the transition in ASEAN. It makes us realize that the ASEAN responsibility today is different from before. Therefore a new challenge. Today's responsibility demands a lot of negotiations and proper implementation.
It is also important that he reiterated the goal of ASEAN by 2015. At least the direction of ASEAN is clear for this administration. He mentioned plans about the three key pillars but then again it was very general. There were no specific or concrete plans mentioned except for the translation of the ASEAN charter to Filipino and disseminating it to the schools. Although this is one way to make the Filipino citizens aware of our Philippine relations, I don't see this step as a priority. Although very general, I think it is important that he has plans for each of the pillar.
To conclude the speech, I can say that this is actually a dream. It is full of promises and good things. It seems like the Philippines will not have a hard time dealing with ASEAN and its goals. Yes, this is very ideal and optimistic, it is just that he was not able to mention the possible considerations and the concrete plans to achieve the goals.
ASEAN is part of the 8 Philippine foreign policy realities, it is that important to our country. President Noy's statement about his plans for the organization then has a big impact on our country's future, if it will be implemented.
The president's speech about ASEAN is very general. He stated things about the importance of our country's relationship with the international community specifically when it comes to the economic aspect as he mentioned investments in the first part of his speech. He mentioned general benefits of having good relations with other countries.
As of action plan during his term, he mentioned about being a "good neighbor, a productive partner and a consensus-builder." All of these are very general. He did not define what a good neighbor or productive partner is meaning there are actually no concrete plans in his speech.
For me, it is good that he has mentioned of the transition in ASEAN. It makes us realize that the ASEAN responsibility today is different from before. Therefore a new challenge. Today's responsibility demands a lot of negotiations and proper implementation.
It is also important that he reiterated the goal of ASEAN by 2015. At least the direction of ASEAN is clear for this administration. He mentioned plans about the three key pillars but then again it was very general. There were no specific or concrete plans mentioned except for the translation of the ASEAN charter to Filipino and disseminating it to the schools. Although this is one way to make the Filipino citizens aware of our Philippine relations, I don't see this step as a priority. Although very general, I think it is important that he has plans for each of the pillar.
To conclude the speech, I can say that this is actually a dream. It is full of promises and good things. It seems like the Philippines will not have a hard time dealing with ASEAN and its goals. Yes, this is very ideal and optimistic, it is just that he was not able to mention the possible considerations and the concrete plans to achieve the goals.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
August 02 || The Visiting Forces Agreement
After talking about Pnoy's State of the Nation Address during the previous meeting, the class went on to discuss an important "treaty" that involves the Philippines and the United States. First, it was a fun challenge for me to read a 4-paged article about the visiting forces agreement or the VFA. Given a limited time of 10 minutes made me think and analyze things faster.;) The article that I got highlighted the flaws of the said agreement. It highlighted three main arguments which are very detrimental to the our national interest.
After reading the article given, the class discussion started with a question of "What then is VFA?". From my side, there was an outpouring number of negative definition and on the other side were the positive ones. I was expecting a little debate over the question but it seems that the other side of the class agrees with our definitions. VFA is indeed an agreement that allows the US to exploit our country and our citizens, at least for my interpretation. As the discussion went on, I've learned about the history of the agreement and the processes done before it was actually considered a "treaty" for the Philippines. It was of great disappointment actually for me to know that our public officials specifically the ones assigned to represent our country allowed such agreement to be enacted or implemented. As how I see it, it is totally pointless. I'm not saying that we should benefit more but I'm more of making it equal in terms of opportunities and benefits. As mentioned several times in the class discussion, in treaties, both parties should be equal. Reading the short article influenced me and convinced me that this agreement should not be honored and implemented in the country unless we decide to surrender ourselves to the Americans and become their slaves not remembering the struggle our nation had to go through to have independence. Not so perfect, right?
As for the powerpoint presentation, it consisted more of VFAs flaws than merits making it more difficult for our side to counter the arguments given in the article which is anti-VFA. Also, I have one pretty question. Is there really VFA I and II because it was mentioned in the discussion but was not tackled in detail.
That's it for this week's meeting. The meetings after midterms seem to be more interesting and enjoyable. :>
After reading the article given, the class discussion started with a question of "What then is VFA?". From my side, there was an outpouring number of negative definition and on the other side were the positive ones. I was expecting a little debate over the question but it seems that the other side of the class agrees with our definitions. VFA is indeed an agreement that allows the US to exploit our country and our citizens, at least for my interpretation. As the discussion went on, I've learned about the history of the agreement and the processes done before it was actually considered a "treaty" for the Philippines. It was of great disappointment actually for me to know that our public officials specifically the ones assigned to represent our country allowed such agreement to be enacted or implemented. As how I see it, it is totally pointless. I'm not saying that we should benefit more but I'm more of making it equal in terms of opportunities and benefits. As mentioned several times in the class discussion, in treaties, both parties should be equal. Reading the short article influenced me and convinced me that this agreement should not be honored and implemented in the country unless we decide to surrender ourselves to the Americans and become their slaves not remembering the struggle our nation had to go through to have independence. Not so perfect, right?
As for the powerpoint presentation, it consisted more of VFAs flaws than merits making it more difficult for our side to counter the arguments given in the article which is anti-VFA. Also, I have one pretty question. Is there really VFA I and II because it was mentioned in the discussion but was not tackled in detail.
That's it for this week's meeting. The meetings after midterms seem to be more interesting and enjoyable. :>
Sunday, August 1, 2010
July 26 || Evaluating PNoy's SONA
I think that taking this subject during this term is perfect! One of the reasons why I am enjoying this subject is because we are updated with the events of our country and we get to evaluate and critic it. Evaluating the things happening to predict and plan for the future. Sounds great right? Just perfect in time after the elections, the new administration is presenting the policies to be implemented.
The entire class period focused on President Aquino's State of the Nation Address or SONA. Unfortunately, I was not able to watch it due to a meeting set on that exact time although I was able to get a copy of his speech. Well enough. Before the discussion, I find his SONA just enough and good to have a grade of 9/10 but as our discussion went on in class, the grade went lower maybe because of the influence of my classmates' opinion and maybe because I was able to have a deeper understanding of what he was actually saying when we started discussing it in class.
The group activity made me have an in depth understanding at least about a certain issue discussed in the SONA. Since the subject is about foreign policy and the SONA did not mention any direct plans for foreign policies, it was a great experience that we were able to relate the domestic policies to possible foreign policies or relations. The Philippines' has been dealing with economic problems (well mentioned during the SONA with specific realities) and his speech mentioned solutions to the problems. Our group has decided to present it in a flowchart beginning with the "Economic Problem" and ending with the "Economic Progress".
It was a helpful exercise for us CDA students.
The entire class period focused on President Aquino's State of the Nation Address or SONA. Unfortunately, I was not able to watch it due to a meeting set on that exact time although I was able to get a copy of his speech. Well enough. Before the discussion, I find his SONA just enough and good to have a grade of 9/10 but as our discussion went on in class, the grade went lower maybe because of the influence of my classmates' opinion and maybe because I was able to have a deeper understanding of what he was actually saying when we started discussing it in class.
The group activity made me have an in depth understanding at least about a certain issue discussed in the SONA. Since the subject is about foreign policy and the SONA did not mention any direct plans for foreign policies, it was a great experience that we were able to relate the domestic policies to possible foreign policies or relations. The Philippines' has been dealing with economic problems (well mentioned during the SONA with specific realities) and his speech mentioned solutions to the problems. Our group has decided to present it in a flowchart beginning with the "Economic Problem" and ending with the "Economic Progress".
It was a helpful exercise for us CDA students.
July 19 || Peace Process
The week after midterms! Miss was just so great that she let us have at least half of the time as our free time after the midterms week. Exhaustive!
Even if the meeting was short, still, the short discussion on peace process made us interested to listed even if we were all tired. The peace process is one of the topics for the midterms. It was never an interest of mine until this meeting. It was so frustrating that the PGMA administration was not able to settle anything after a long time. It was interesting to know facts about this issue like the involvement of the different countries and organizations. It is interesting and frustrating at the same time to know that Malaysia as the mediator did not help at all in the peace process due to its national interest. Why of all countries, Malaysia! I strongly believe that Malaysia has to be replaced as aligned with PNoy's plan regarding the peace process.
It was not a heavy discussion but an interesting one. Rest assured, I'll start reading articles and start updating myself with the progress of the peace process.
Even if the meeting was short, still, the short discussion on peace process made us interested to listed even if we were all tired. The peace process is one of the topics for the midterms. It was never an interest of mine until this meeting. It was so frustrating that the PGMA administration was not able to settle anything after a long time. It was interesting to know facts about this issue like the involvement of the different countries and organizations. It is interesting and frustrating at the same time to know that Malaysia as the mediator did not help at all in the peace process due to its national interest. Why of all countries, Malaysia! I strongly believe that Malaysia has to be replaced as aligned with PNoy's plan regarding the peace process.
It was not a heavy discussion but an interesting one. Rest assured, I'll start reading articles and start updating myself with the progress of the peace process.
July 12 || Formulation of Policies
So far, I find this meeting the most interesting, formulating policies.
The class started with the brief discussion of the Philippines' history, culture and tradition. It made me realize that these are actually part of the factors that we consider in formulating our domestic and foreign policies.
Foreign policy is considered to be the extension of ones domestic policy. The formulation and the implementation of these policies then depend on the different institutions such as the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Labor and Employment and the different interest groups. The class was then reminded of the 3 elements of foreign policies: the national interest or territorial integrity, economic progress and protection of nationals.
The most interesting part of the meeting was the discussion of the foreign policy process. This is something that I find so real and must be studied seriously considering that this will be our future job, hopefully. :) It was a nice learning experience to have tried formulating a policy with my group mates. It made us think critically and have fun at the same time. It's just that, the deadline for the paper is the same date as our midterms causing our attention to be divided.
I am looking forward to having activities such as this :)
The class started with the brief discussion of the Philippines' history, culture and tradition. It made me realize that these are actually part of the factors that we consider in formulating our domestic and foreign policies.
Foreign policy is considered to be the extension of ones domestic policy. The formulation and the implementation of these policies then depend on the different institutions such as the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Labor and Employment and the different interest groups. The class was then reminded of the 3 elements of foreign policies: the national interest or territorial integrity, economic progress and protection of nationals.
The most interesting part of the meeting was the discussion of the foreign policy process. This is something that I find so real and must be studied seriously considering that this will be our future job, hopefully. :) It was a nice learning experience to have tried formulating a policy with my group mates. It made us think critically and have fun at the same time. It's just that, the deadline for the paper is the same date as our midterms causing our attention to be divided.
I am looking forward to having activities such as this :)
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