Fil-Ams set Aug. 21 global prayer rally for peaceful end to Panatag Shoal dispute



ANDREO CALONZO, GMA NEWS 
A group of Filipino-Americans has set a global prayer rally on August 21 to call for a peaceful end to the territorial dispute between the Philippines and China over the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal dispute.
 
Rogelio Santos, convenor of the U.S. Pinoys for Good Governance (USPGG), said 13,000 Filipinos from 175 sites around the world are expected to participate in the event, which the group called “the Global Day of Prayer for Peace in the Scarborough Shoal.”
 
“It is clear to Filipinos abroad that there is a problem, but the general attitude is that it can be solved. The main aim of this event is to pray, and more importantly, to promote solidarity on this issue among Filipinos here and abroad,” Santos said in an interview.
 
The USPGG is the same group that called for a boycott of Chinese products at the height of the Panatag Shoal dispute last June. 

The USPGG likewise said it expects delegations from the US, Canada, Europe and Australia to take part in the event from their own regions.
 
The Philippines and China have been locking horns for the past months over the ownership of the Panatag Shoal off the West Philippine Sea.
 
The Philippines uses the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as the basis for its claim on the territory, while China relies on historical evidence.

Santos clarified that the prayer rally is not meant to further sour ties between the two countries with conflicting claims on Panatag Shoal.
 
“This is not a show of force. A show of force will be pointless. We just want Filipinos here and abroad to be involved and voice out their opinions on this issue,” he said.
 
‘Not a show of force’
 
In the Philippines, 500 political, religious and civil society leaders are expected to convene at the Rockwell Tent in Makati “to express the unified voice of the Filipino people” on the Panatag issue, according to USPGG.
 
Those expected to attend are Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello, former Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros and Neric Acosta, who serves as presidential adviser for environmental protection.
 
‘Broader perspective’
 
Loida Nicolas Lewis, USPGG chairperson, said she supports the Aquino administration’s diplomatic approach to solving the territorial dispute with China.
 
“The Philippine government is just being realistic. We are a small nation, and we need to be very practical… There is a lot of leeway to talk,” she said in a press conference.
 
Bishop Chito Sanches of the Philippine Council for Evangelical Churches, an alliance of Protestant churches in the Philippines, meanwhile said his group decided to take part in the global prayer rally to “pump up awareness among Filipinos” on the Panatag Shoal dispute.
 
“We have come to a point when we have to look on this issue in a broader perspective. We have to involve all sectors of society and form a broader coalition to come together and to come as a people,” Sanches said in the same media briefing. 
 
“We need to expand our awareness of this issue. This is about the future of our children and our children’s children,” he added. - VVP, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

POPCOM, gagamit ng ‘digital platforms’ para pagtibayin ang mga ugnayang pampamilya

Mas pinalalawig ng Komisyon sa Populasyon at Pagpapaunlad (POPCOM) ang adhikain nitong pagpapalaganap at pagpapabuti ng pakikipag-ugnayan ng mga nakakatandang Pilipino sa kanilang mga anak na nagdadalaga at nagbibinata. Nitong Setyembre 21, ang POPCOM ay nagsagawa ng isang “parent-teen talk webinar” gamit ang Zoom, kung saan ang isang “interactive program” ang nagbigay ng naaayon na kaalaman at kasanayan sa mga magulang, habang tumulong ito sa mga anak na teenager na maabot ang kanilang buong potensyal. Hinikayat din nito ang mga nanay at tatay na sumali sa malayang usapan, lalo na sa mga usapin ukol sa sex at sekswalidad, na nakikitang makakatulong upang bumaba ang mga bilang ng mga pagbubuntis sa hanay ng mga kabataan. Maaaring mapanood ang webinar sa https://youtu.be/lZ9jrJCjYas. Ayon kay Ikalawang Kalihim (Undersecretary) Juan Antonio A. Perez III, MD, MPH, “ang webinar ay naging isang tagapag-simula at ‘padaluyan’ ng pag-uu
Read more

UP Diliman Professors Share Scientists’ Procurement Struggles at Senate Hearing

By Harvey Sapigao Senate hearing of the revised procurement law (Photo credit: Senate of the Philippines) College of Science (CS) Dean Giovanni Tapang held up a little white device as he finished his presentation. “This is a ₱150,000 component,” he described. “Isa lang gumagawa nito sa buong mundo, pero ang hirap pilitin sila na magregister sa PhilGEPS,” he continued, referring to the requirement that foreign companies must first register to the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) before they can sell products to local scientists. Marine Science Institute (MSI) Deputy Director Dr. Irene Rodriguez explained that the small device is a resin that filters metals in water. “May budget tayo,” she said, “pero ang problema ko ay ‘yung resin na ito.” This and other bottlenecks brought about by the procurement law, or the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184), slow down research and development in the country. UPD leaders were invited to the Senate he
Read more

Biden said set to make push for demilitarized Palestinian state as part of new doctrine ---By LAZAR BERMAN

New York Times’ Thomas Friedman, who’s close to the US administration, says emerging doctrine would include Saudi-Israeli normalization, 2-state solution, and campaign against Iran US President Joe Biden’s administration is homing in on a new doctrine involving an unprecedented push to immediately advance the creation of a demilitarized but viable Palestinian state, The New York Times’ Thomas Friedman reported on Thursday. The plan, Friedman wrote, “would involve some form of US recognition of a demilitarized Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that would come into being only once Palestinians had developed a set of defined, credible institutions and security capabilities to ensure that this state was viable and that it could never threaten Israel.” White House officials “have been consulting experts inside and outside the US government about different forms this recognition of Palestinian statehood might take,” revealed Friedman. What he termed the new “Biden Doctrin
Read more