IMOA
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FACT CHECK: Photo of PH Navy supply airdrop is from 2021 Christmas mission
SUMMARY Claim: A social media post shows the Philippine Navy air-dropping packages onto the BRP Sierra Madre (LS-57) in Ayungin Shoal. Why we fact-checked this: The Facebook post containing the claim was posted on June 23 by a page with 54,000 followers, and has 2,300 shares, 7,000 comments, and 53,000 reactions as of writing. The same Facebook page has made…
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Marcos on Ayungin incident: Deliberate action by China, but not armed attack
SUMMARY MANILA, Philippines – The China Coast Guard’s (CCG) effort to disrupt Manila’s resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal on June 17 was not armed an attack, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in his first media interview since the incident. The incident – which severely injured a Filipino soldier – saw CCG officers use tear gas, brandish bladed weapons, tug at…
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FULL TEXT: Foreign Secretary Manalo on false narratives on the West Philippine Sea
SUMMARY On Wednesday, June 26, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo delivered the keynote address at the East-West Center’s 2024 International Media Conference, which Manila hosted for the first time. The conference is held once every two years and brings together journalists from the United States, Asia, and the Pacific to discuss key regional issues and challenges facing the media. This…
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US envoy tells China: ‘Cease harassment of Philippine vessels’
SUMMARY MANILA, Philippines – United States Ambassador to Manila MaryKay Carlson on Wednesday, June 26, urged China to “cease harassment of Philippine vessels,” more than a week after Chinese harassment resulted in the mutilation of a Filipino soldier’s thumb. “When the United States sees our partners being bullied in their backyard, we speak up. And we encourage others to speak…
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Archbishop Villegas starts rosary campaign to defend Philippines from China
SUMMARY MANILA, Philippines – One of the Philippines’ most popular Catholic bishops launched a 50-day rosary campaign beginning Thursday, June 27, to defend the Philippines from China as tensions rise in the West Philippine Sea. Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said the rosary campaign will run until August 15, the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, or the Catholic belief that…
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Philippines files protest vs China over ‘aggressive’ acts in Ayungin resupply
SUMMARY MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines filed a protest over China’s disruption of a June 17 resupply mission to a military outpost in the West Philippine Sea, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo told reporters Wednesday, June 26. Manalo said that a note verbale had been sent by the Philippines. “We have already sent a note verbale,” Manalo told reporters on…
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China blocked evacuation of injured soldier from Ayungin Shoal
SUMMARY MANILA, Philippines – Even until the very end – as Filipino soldiers were trying to evacuate a severely injured comrade from Ayungin Shoal to mainland Palawan – personnel of the China Coast Guard (CCG) blocked and harassed Philippine ships in the West Philippine Sea. The disclosure was made by the injured soldier himself, Seaman First Class Underwater Operator Jeffrey…
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[Just Saying] Invoke the Mutual Defense Treaty
SUMMARY Apparently alluding to the Ayungin shoal incident where China Coast Guard personnel attacked Filipino soldiers with knives and clubs to prevent them from delivering supplies, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. recently said: “We are not in the business to instigate wars.” Unfortunately, such statement – sounding so cliché – does not rise to the level of a declaration exuding national consternation. If at all, it…
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[Just Saying] Invoke the Mutual Defense Treaty
SUMMARY Apparently alluding to the Ayungin shoal incident where China Coast Guard personnel attacked Filipino soldiers with knives and clubs to prevent them from delivering supplies, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. recently said: “We are not in the business to instigate wars.” Unfortunately, such statement – sounding so cliché – does not rise to the level of a declaration exuding national consternation. If at all, it…
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[Rappler’s Best] Divided we fall
SUMMARY In case you missed it, Vladimir Putin was in the neighborhood – driving a limousine with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, signing a military pact with the rogue state, and then flying to Hanoi, where he earned lavish praise from its communist leaders. That’s enough to rattle an already-rattled region that, early in June, played host to Putin’s nemesis, whose…