High-level group going to HK, Beijing

By Jay Chua and Victor Reyes

Malaya, Thursday, August 26, 2010

PRESIDENT Aquino yesterday said he is sending a high-level
delegation to China and Hong Kong to explain to their leaders
what happened during the hostage-taking on Monday which left
eight Hong Kong residents dead.

Vice President Jejomar Binay is leading the delegation which
includes Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo and presidential
spokesman Edwin Lacierda. The group is leaving this morning.

"They’re conducting the necessary arrangements with the embassy
to travel to Beijing and to Hong Kong. In Beijing, they will
personally deliver our messages to President Hu Jintao and also
the foreign minister (Yang Jiechi) and they will then proceed to
Hong Kong to talk to the chief of the Special Administrative
Region, Mr. Donald Tsang, again to deliver our letters," Aquino
said.

A chartered Cathay Pacific flight left yesterday afternoon for
Hong Kong, carrying eight survivors and 19 relatives, and the
bodies of the eight fatalities in sealed containers. Also aboard
the Airbus 330 were some 30 officials and 26 media members,
according to Jose Angel Honrado, general manager of the Manila
International Airport.

Cabinet officials sent them off.

Sixty Navy men in white acted as pall bearers. The sailors also
provided plane-side honors.

Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo, Navy spokesman, said the honors were
meant to show the Filipino people’s unity with the victims’
families and with other Hong Kong residents in mourning the
deaths.

Arevalo could not say when the last time the Navy provided
similar honors to foreigners. He said such honors are usually
given to a military dignitary or hero.

Arevalo said the sailors paid honors without firearms, without
a military band, and in white uniforms in keeping with Chinese
tradition.

Arevalo said Navy chief Rear Adm. Danilo Cortez ordered the
honors on the instruction of Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin,
after coordinating with Social Welfare Secretary Dinky Soliman.

The sealed coffins started to arrive at the Miascor Cargo Center
at about 3 p.m. in eight funeral cars.

Media men were prevented from going near the coffins. They were
also not allowed to take pictures, reportedly on orders of
Interior Secretary Jessie Robredo.

Aside from Robredo, the other officials who were at the airport’s
Dignitaries’ Lounge were Lacierda, Soliman, Executive Secretary
Paquito Ochoa, Tourism Secretary Bert Lim and Sen. Ferdinand Marcos
Jr

The survivors were ushered into pre-departure gate Number 1 to
wait for their 7 p.m. departure.

Some covered themselves with blankets, evading cameras. All of
the survivors refused to be interviewed.

An elderly woman could not hold back her tears and kept saying
"zhe-zhe (thank you)" to all of the officials who shook her hands.

New Marines chief takes over

Philippine Daily Inquirer, Wednesday, August 25, 2010

The battle-ready Philippine Marine Corps had a new commandant
as part of the Armed Forces' reorganization under the Aquino
administration.

Brig. Gen. Rustico Guerrero, former commander of the Sulu-based
Joint Task Force Comet, officially assumed his post as Marines
commandant Tuesday.

He replaced Maj. Gen. Juancho Sabban who was assigned as commander
of the AFP Western Command (Wescom) based in Palawan.

Navy Flag Officer in Command Rear Admiral Danilo Cortez presided
over the turnover ceremonies.

Tour of Navy vessels

By ERNIE PENAREDONDO

The Philippine Star, Friday, August 13, 2010

A young cancer patient shares a meal with Navy officers at the
Philippine Naval Base in Sangley Point, Cavite yesterday.
Children with cancer and chronic illnesses were treated to
aircraft and boat rides and a tour of Navy vessels during an
activity organized by Canon Marketing Inc. in cooperation with
SM Supermalls and the Kythe Foundation.

If ever, Navy wants lease payments in kind

BY VICTOR REYES

Malaya, Friday, August 13, 2010

THE Philippine Navy prefers equipment, instead of cash, as
payment for the planned long-term lease of its headquarters
in Manila and the Bonafacio Naval Station in Fort Bonifacio.

"The proposal of the Navy is goods, items already, and not
money…It should be Navy assets because under the Philippine
laws, it’s hard to procure," Armed Forces chief Lt. Gen.
Ricardo David told reporters in Camp Aguinaldo Wednesday
night.

David said accepting equipment from the firms willing to rent
the Navy properties will also spare officials of complications
of procurement like cases that may be filed by losing bidders.

David said there are instances when a losing bidder would
claim corruption, file a case before the courts, and
subsequently get restraining orders, delaying the acquisition
of needed equipment.

Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo said they prefer to be
paid "in kind because we will be avoiding long processes like
the bidding process."

Nevertheless, Arevalo said there is still nothing definite on
the lease of the Navy properties, adding discussions are ongoing.

He said the Navy is just part of a AFP technical working group
discussing the possible lease.

Navy chief Rear Adm. Danilo Cortez said at least three firms
have shown interest in renting Navy properties but would not
give details.

Cortez would not say how much they expect to be generated from
the lease.

President Aquino, in his state of the nation address last month,
said the government could get about $100 million from the planned
lease.