Manila bombers who plotted attacks on international airport, Chinese embassy arrested

WuMaoCleverbot said:

Beware: Anti-Chinese mayhem could be Beijing’s handiwork
GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc (The Philippine Star) | Updated September 3, 2014 - 12:00am

Malacañang dismisses as an isolated incident Monday’s bombing attempt at the Manila international airport. This is to project an illusion of political stability. For, rumors spread that the arrested bomb makers, because army reservists, are anti-P-Noy admin putschists.

Pretentious admin mouthpieces would do well to stand aside. This is a criminal investigation. Weeks ago the NBI had detected the bomb plot, said to be by extremists disgruntled with P-Noy’s “softness” on the West Philippine Sea (WPS) issue. The NBI prudently had installed CCTV cameras at the airport parking lot to spot the plotters. Presumably there are more of them out there, who disagree by violence with P-Noy’s smart pitch for UN arbitration of the maritime row. Let the lawmen do their work without political interference.

Any anti-China mayhem should be suspect. The (foiled) bombing is as dubious as perennial calls for retaliatory violence against Chinese Filipino businesses. Thinking Malay Filipinos should be wary. Beijing no less might be fomenting havoc, as an excuse to escalate its sea invasions.

Beijing knows that the Philippines is militarily weak. A century of US military basing, Armed Forces corruption, and communist and Moro rebellions have left the Philippine navy and air force decrepit. Beijing is taking advantage of this to expand its sea territory into Philippine waters.

Years ago Beijing grabbed Panganiban (Mischief) Reef and Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, to build naval facilities or station warships. Today it is embedding markers at Recto Bank, within Philippine territorial seas where lies the Sampaguita oilfield. It is also reclaiming with surrounding sand the Burgos (Gaven), McKennan (Hughes), Calderon (Cuarteron), Malvar (Eldad), and Mabini (Johnson South) Reefs.

Beijing’s intent shows in the work in Mabini. It now looks like an islet, with a concrete blue-tint building fronted by newly replanted palm and coconut trees. The “island look,” albeit artificial, is crucial for Beijing. For, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea considers only islands, not reefs or shoals, as baselines for sea territories. Beijing’s dress-up of Mabini still falls short of UNCLOS standards, though. The pact defines an “island” to have its own source of fresh water, which the stolen Philippine reef doesn’t.

Still, Beijing might well name its erection on Mabini the “Sonny Trillanes Hall.” The Philippine senator is shamelessly pro-Beijing. Two years ago when Manila’s Dept. of Foreign Affairs and ambassador to Beijing were denouncing the invasion of Panatag, Trillanes, then visiting China, declared there was nothing bad going on in the WPS. He claimed to know whereof he spoke as an ex-navy officer, whereas the Filipino diplomats supposedly were saber rattling.

Trillanes then outed himself to be in China as no less than P-Noy’s secret personal envoy. In truth he was also traveling in behalf of a Manila basketball association controlled at the time by notorious human trafficker Graham Chua Lim. Months later P-Noy reportedly deported the persona non grata alien. It came only after successive failures of five immigration chiefs, two Supreme Court rulings, and three Presidents to throw him out.

Beijing employs Filipino agents to promote its interests by various means — political, military, terrorism. Violence is a trademark of China’s communist rulers. Bombings and agitations to hurt Chinese Filipinos would divide the country, the easier for it to conquer. Beijing could instigate adventurist politicos and generals to strike at Chinese occupation forces in Philippine waters. This would mar not only Manila’s arbitration case at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, but also its lead role in ASEAN to get China to sign a long overdue Code of Conduct in the disputed waters. Beijing in turn would have all the pretexts to push its mythical Nine-Dash Line sea claim.

Beware: Anti-Chinese mayhem could be Beijing’s handiwork | Opinion, News, The Philippine Star | philstar.com

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Nihonjin1051 said:

The Chinese Filipinos are integrated into society there and do consider the Philippines to be their home. I've had past experiences, personal and professional, with many Filipinos of Chinese decent whilst I was in Manila, Cebu, Iloilo and Bohol. Let's not overcomplicate the matter by saying that Chinese Filipinos are considered persecuted minorities, nay, they are part of the general Philippine society. Also, the Philippines is a mixture of many ethnicities and cultures, there are Filipino-Chinese mestizos as well who make up some 25% of the entire Filipino population. The Chinese-Filipinos (those who are pure blooded Chinese) account for about 1% of the population. That's one thing I admire about Chinese immigrants to the Philippines; their ability to adapt and assimilate to the local culture and society.

The Philippines, or once known as Maharlika in the Malay tongue, was an ancient trading partner for both Japan and China. Records of the Dai Tekkoku records the interaction of Japanese maritime ships reaching port in present day Luzon. The relations between ancient Philippines and China , Japan predates the Spanish conquest and consequent Hispanization of the archipelago. So it is best to be comprehensive and objective when discussing the Philippines. They are natural partners for not only Japan, but also China. The rich historical interaction between Chinese traders in the ancient Philippines is testament to this flourishing trade between the two peoples. There is no need to have such unnecessary hate and animosity to them now. Be pragmatic.

Perhaps other Filipino members can add to the rich dynamic of the many cultures ; be they Chinese, Malay, Spanish, Japanese, American -- woven into the greater tapestry that is inclusive in the 'Filipino' identity.

@JayMandan , @Zero_wing , @Cossack25A1 , @Bob Ong , @Pinoy , @Pinoy Pride

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Edison Chen said:

Three men have been arrested over a foiled attempt to bomb the Philippine capital’s airport, and police said on Tuesday they were also planning to attack the Chinese embassy and one of Manila’s biggest malls.

The men, who were detained at the airport with an explosive-laden van on Monday, had planned a series of consecutive attacks, apparently to publicise their anti-China grievances, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said.

“Apparently this is a misguided group. They claim to be defenders of the Filipino people and consider China and [Filipino-Chinese] oligarch taipans’ monopolistic business practices and illegal mining as enemies,” she said.

De Lima said the men appeared to be particularly angry over the Philippine government’s perceived “soft” stance towards China in a dispute over competing territorial claims in the South China Sea.

“They want this administration to espouse a tougher stance in this dispute with China,” she said.

De Lima said the group, which may involve more people than those detained, had planned a series of attacks on Monday at buildings linked to China or the Chinese-Filipino business community.

“They also had plans yesterday to firebomb SM Mall of Asia in Pasay city and strafing the Chinese embassy and the DMCI building,” she said.

SM Mall of Asia is owned by Henry Sy, the Philippines’ richest man, who was born in China.

DMCI is a construction firm owned by David Consunji, another ethnic-Chinese Filipino whom Forbes magazine lists as the sixth richest man in the country.

Nevertheless, de Lima said investigators were not convinced that the group’s real intention was to express anger against China and Chinese interests.

“We want to know how big this group is, what is their capacity really to create all this havoc, and what is their real agenda,” de Lima said.

“Are they on their own or are there [people] behind them? We will investigate all these.”

De Lima said the leader of the group claimed to belong to a secretive fraternity of police and military figures that had been linked to coup attempts in the 1980s that failed to topple then-president Corazon Aquino.

She said this claim had not yet been verified.

The current president is Benigno Aquino III, Corazon’s son, who has been an extremely popular president during his four years in office but has endured a few months of brutal political battles over a series of controversies, including about misspent funds and .

One senator who is an ally of Aquino alleged in July that retired military officials were trying to recruit troops to destabilise the government.

The military reaffirmed its loyalty to Aquino following the senator’s comments.

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Nihonjin1051 said:

The Chinese Filipinos are integrated into society there and do consider the Philippines to be their home. I've had past experiences, personal and professional, with many Filipinos of Chinese decent whilst I was in Manila, Cebu, Iloilo and Bohol. Let's not overcomplicate the matter by saying that Chinese Filipinos are considered persecuted minorities, nay, they are part of the general Philippine society. Also, the Philippines is a mixture of many ethnicities and cultures, there are Filipino-Chinese mestizos as well who make up some 25% of the entire Filipino population. The Chinese-Filipinos (those who are pure blooded Chinese) account for about 1% of the population. That's one thing I admire about Chinese immigrants to the Philippines; their ability to adapt and assimilate to the local culture and society.

The Philippines, or once known as Maharlika in the Malay tongue, was an ancient trading partner for both Japan and China. Records of the Dai Tekkoku records the interaction of Japanese maritime ships reaching port in present day Luzon. The relations between ancient Philippines and China , Japan predates the Spanish conquest and consequent Hispanization of the archipelago. So it is best to be comprehensive and objective when discussing the Philippines. They are natural partners for not only Japan, but also China. The rich historical interaction between Chinese traders in the ancient Philippines is testament to this flourishing trade between the two peoples. There is no need to have such unnecessary hate and animosity to them now. Be pragmatic.

Perhaps other Filipino members can add to the rich dynamic of the many cultures ; be they Chinese, Malay, Spanish, Japanese, American -- woven into the greater tapestry that is inclusive in the 'Filipino' identity.

@JayMandan , @Zero_wing , @Cossack25A1 , @Bob Ong , @Pinoy , @Pinoy Pride

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Pinoy said:

I couldn't say it any better. You seem more Pinoy than me Nihonjin1051 hehe. Personally I have no problem with Chinese who have embraced this country as their own - appreciate, practice or share the same customs and traditions . They are definitely not Chinese but true Pinoys like those of our heroes in the past who have proudly claimed their Chinese heritage. For me, the abominable Chinese are those who keep their own identity apart from other Pinoys and look down at non-Pinoy-Chinese as if they are a uniquely dominant and superior class of people. They should be hauled all back to China for good.

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Pinoy said:

Anti-Chinese group wants to kill Filipinos? Can they take a look at their targets? If true then these stupid airheads aren't thinking at all. Who do they think will be affected by their moronic act? They should bring their anger right to the doorstep of the enemy to make their crusade more credible.


I couldn't say it any better. You seem more Pinoy than me Nihonjin1051 hehe. Personally I have no problem with Chinese who have embraced this country as their own - appreciate, practice or share the same customs and traditions . They are definitely not Chinese but true Pinoys like those of our heroes in the past who have proudly claimed their Chinese heritage. For me, the abominable Chinese are those who keep their own identity apart from other Pinoys and look down at non-Pinoy-Chinese as if they are a uniquely dominant and superior class of people. They should be hauled all back to China for good.

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IsaacNewton said:

Pretty stupid IMO.

They hate Chinese so they want to bomb a Filipino airport? That doesn't even make sense.

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Grand Historian said:

Blame the Chinese government for wanting to kill ethnic Chinese

Really how low do native Filipinos have to go,to deny that there are some extremist elements?

Judging by some posts, racism against ethnic Chinese alive and well.

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Cossack25A1 said:

Racism is everywhere and those who say there is no racism is a fool.

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Grand Historian said:

But making conspiracy theories that the Chinese are instigating an attack on themselves is a bit ridiculous.

Why are you even trying to justify Anti Chinese racism?

Just because racism exists in other places doesn't mean you should do the same.

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Cossack25A1 said:

That is not just the only conspiracy theory available - the other being this "attack" and possibly more in the future will be used to justify Aquino's term extension.

My negative views about Chinese is more of a personal matter and I am not justifying it, I am just sick of hearing people saying "there is no racism/discrimination here and there."

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Grand Historian said:

When have I ever stated that racism doesn't exist worldwide?

I find it funny that the perpetrators are playing the victim here and that people are sympathizing and blaming the Chinese.

Whether you want to say racist things is up to you.

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Zero_wing said:

You again So called Great historian we are not racist on chinoys or chinese we hate the chinese government so shut up get out of our thread jerk

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Zero_wing said:

You again So called Great historian we are not racist on chinoys or chinese we hate the chinese government so shut up get out of our thread jerk

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