Tag: Philippines

Here is a very interesting interaction between the Filipino Defense Minister and the Chinese delegation during the Seoul Defense Forum in regards to China’s 9-dash line claim in the South China Sea:

Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro speaks during a panel session at the Seoul Defense Dialogue at The Grand Lotte Seoul hotel in central Seoul on Sept. 8, 2026, in this image captured from the forum’s YouTube livestream.

Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro lashed out at China during a Seoul defense forum Tuesday after receiving an audience note defending Beijing’s rejection of a 2016 international tribunal ruling upholding Manila’s maritime claims in the South China Sea. (………)

The secretary read the slip line by line and offered sharp retorts to each point. When the note claimed that arbitration violated fundamental international law, he shot back, “So what you’re saying is UNCLOS violates international law? That’s what you mean.” 

Reading the part where it read the PCA award has “no binding force,” he said, “Because you don’t want to be subjected to UNCLOS,” and to that Beijing “neither accepts nor recognizes” the ruling, with Teodoro quipping, “Of course, because you lost.” 

Teodoro then held up the slip of paper to the room, denouncing the gesture as a display of China’s “desperate and ineffective” stance, accusing Beijing of a complete lack of “basic decency” and utter disrespect for international law. 

“Perhaps basic decency and behavior are what China needs,” he said, drawing applause from the audience. “This is not a gray zone anymore. This is actual coercion, bullying and aggression.” 

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the note was mistakenly given to him by an aide working for China’s defense attaché assigned to South Korea. Teodoro even quipped that he hoped the aide who gave him the note doesn’t end up in a gulag.

Good for Teodoro for strongly standing up for the sovereignty of his country.

Chu-SAM would be a great capability for the Philippines to acquire to develop a layer of missile defense around their country:

Japan’s Defense Ministry has denied a report that it is considering selling surface-to-air missiles to the Philippines, even as it acknowledged that Tokyo may soon loosen long-standing restrictions on arms exports. 

Kyodo News, citing anonymous sources, reported Monday that Japan and the Philippines had held informal talks on exporting Japan’s Type 03 medium-range missile. 

The system — also known as Chu-SAM — is capable of intercepting aircraft and cruise missiles. It is deployed to Ishigaki Island at the far end of the Nansei chain, where it is positioned to counter China’s growing military activity near Taiwan and in the East China Sea.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

As long as China remains threatening to its South China Sea neighbors, the U.S. should base anti-ship and aircraft missiles throughout the Philippines:

The United States is discussing the possible deployment of more missile launchers to the Philippines to strengthen deterrence against aggression in the disputed South China Sea and other Asian security hotspots, but no final decision has been reached by both sides, Manila’s ambassador to Washington said Thursday.

The U.S. military delivered a mid-range missile system called the Typhon, a land-based weapon that can fire the Standard Missile-6 and the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, to the northern Philippines as part of joint combat exercises in April last year. That was followed by the transport by the U.S. military of an anti-ship missile launcher in April this year to the northernmost Philippine province of Batanes, just a sea border away from Taiwan.

Beijing strongly protested the installation of the U.S. missile systems, saying they were aimed at containing China’s rise and warning that these would threaten regional stability. China has asked the Philippines to withdraw the missile launchers from its territory, but officials led by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had rejected the demand.

Stars and Stripes

You can read more at the link.

I have to wonder what job these two Filipinas were illegally working at in Busan?:

Two Filipinas, who were apprehended after leaving the Seoul metropolitan government’s pilot program for foreign domestic helpers without permission, have returned home, the South Korean justice ministry said Monday.

The workers were forced to leave Thursday following several weeks of unauthorized absence from their jobs, according to the ministry. 

They reportedly did not contest the immigration authority’s notification of deportation and expressed a desire to return home during the investigation.

After their departure, the workers were banned from reentering South Korea for a specified period.

They arrived in South Korea on Aug. 6 as part of a six-month project led by the Seoul city government to assign foreign nannies to households with kids or newborns to help with child care and housework, and began working on Sept. 3 after about a month of training.

They, however, left their quarters on Sept. 15, the second day of a five-day Chuseok holiday. They were supposed to return to work by Sept. 18 but did not.

The Busan immigration office and police found they illegally got jobs in Busan and arrested them at their residences early this month.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.