Philippines can t pursue independent foreign policy with alliances expert By JOVILAND RITA, GMA News
Published April 14, 2021 4:01pm The Philippines cannot claim to have an independent foreign policy and yet maintain alliances as it seeks to address Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea, an expert said on Wednesday. “We don t know the meaning of alliance. Alliance is a two-way street. We expect assistance from the US yet we have our political leaders talking about independent foreign policy,” said Dr. Rene de Castro, a Philippines-US-China relations expert, in a forum by the Stratbase ADR Institute for Strategic and International Studies. “We cannot have independent foreign policy along as we have alliances,” he added.
Philippines to use ties with US to address West PHL Sea situation , says DND gmanetwork.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gmanetwork.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Published January 20, 2021, 5:35 PM
Four senators are seeking to institutionalize the 1989 accord between the University of the Philippines (UP) and the Department of the National Defense (DND).
Following the DND’s unilateral decision to terminate its three-decades-old agreement with UP, Senators Joel Villanueva, Sonny Angara, Nancy Binay, and Grace Poe filed Wednesday Senate Bill No. 2002 which places the accord in the UP Charter (Republic Act No. 9500).
“The bill will institutionalize the accord that was designed to nurture academic freedom and promote cooperation and mutual respect between the university and the State in pursuing justice, peace, and freedom,” Villanueva, a member of the UP Board of Regents, told reporters in a message.
The University of the Philippines is willing to engage in a dialogue with the Department of the National Defense (DND) following the one-sided cancellation of the pact that kept state forces out of its lands for three decades, the chancellor of its flagship campus said Tuesday.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III and House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco
Senate President Vicente Sotto III and House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco both affixed their signatures on the ratified 2021 General Appropriations Bill (GAB) which will be transmitted to President Duterte for his approval.
Sotto told reporters that the bill might be forwarded to Malacañang tonight or on Friday morning, December 18.
Last December 9, both houses of Congress ratified the 2021 GAB, which will finance programs for the country’s COVID-19 response and recovery, along with all government operations.
Under the ratified bill, the education sector would get the lion’s share in the P4.5-trillion national budget, with P708,181,173,000 to be distributed to the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education, state universities and colleges, and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.