GMANews.TV - Monday, April 12
Three soldiers were killed in an encounter with communist rebels in Davao City on Sunday, a military spokesman said.
The soldiers, whose identities were withheld pending notification of their relatives, were earlier wounded in the clash but later died, according to Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang, spokesman of the Armed Forces’ Eastern Mindanao Command.
Cabangbang said the troops were on security patrol when they caught up with a team of New People’s Army (NPA) rebels under Leoncio Pitao alias Kumander Parago in Lumiad village at about 7:10 a.m.
The military dispatched MG-520 attack helicopters to provide close air support during the encounter, but the rebels were able to flee toward the hilly portion of the village.
It was the third setback suffered by the military in two months from the hands of NPA rebels, which President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo wants crushed before her term ends on June 30, 2010.
Last month, an NPA attack in Oriental Mindoro left 11 soldiers dead. An Army investigation discovered that there was a lapse on the part of the operating troops. Six soldiers, including two officers, were sanctioned for it.
Also last month, NPA rebels attacked and burned detachment in North Cotabato, killing a militiaman and carting away dozens of firearms. - KBK, GMANews.TV
Sunday, April 11, 2010
ASEAN summit tackles Myanmar polls
by Sarah Stewart Sarah Stewart – Fri Apr 9, 6:42 am ET
HANOI (AFP) – Southeast Asian leaders on Friday pressed troublesome member Myanmar to ensure its elections this year are fair and inclusive, at a summit focused on binding together the sprawling region.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in Vietnam's capital Hanoi has been overshadowed by the Myanmar issue, as well as political drama in Thailand which forced its premier to stay at home.
"The main message that's coming out from the summit is the importance of the elections that are coming up in 2010, and not any type of elections," said Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa
"But instead an election that is free, that is fair, that is democratic, that is credible. These are qualities that Myanmar itself has said they want to fulfil. So I think the clarion call... is the importance for Myanmar to live up to the commitments."
The United States has led international condemnation of laws Myanmar has enacted for the ballot, the first in the military-run country in two decades, which effectively bar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from participating.
ASEAN members are divided on how to handle Myanmar, which has always escaped formal censure from the 10-nation group as it adheres to a principle of non-interference in each other's internal affairs.
But as Myanmar's poor record -- including allegations of massive human rights abuses as well as a failure to shift to democracy -- again threatens to discredit the region, its neighbours reminded it of its obligations.
"The elections should be fair, democratic, with the participation of all parties," the summit's host, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, said in unusually candid terms at a closing news conference.
"This will help... stabilise the country and focus resources on development," he said, adding that he had "forwarded ASEAN's message" to the ruling generals during his visit to Myanmar last week.
The main order of business for the two-day summit was efforts to propel ASEAN towards a 2015 goal to establish a community of nations encompassing 600 million people with economic, security and social ties.
"While important progress has been made... much remains to be done," Dung said as he opened the talks.
Although the meeting's slogan is "from vision to action", analysts say ASEAN is hampered by wide development gaps within the region, entrenched domestic interests and the shortcomings and instability of some members.
Its diverse membership ranges from Laos, one of Asia's poorest nations, to the Westernised city-state of Singapore, the absolute monarchy of Brunei and the vibrant democracy of Indonesia.
The group this week took another step towards tackling long-neglected human rights concerns with the inauguration of a commission to address the rights of women and children.
Ministers also fleshed out their vision of a rules-based regional community by signing a protocol to help member nations resolve conflicts.
In a joint statement, the leaders called on regional governments to prepare to wind down economic stimulus measures brought in during the global financial crisis.
They also said they want vital road, sea and air links completed more quickly to complement efforts to integrate regional economies.
And in a separate document, the leaders called for a legally binding global pact on climate change and urged richer nations to provide them with "scaled-up" financial help to combat its effects.
ASEAN also discussed expanding relations with Russia and the United States. The 43-year-old bloc is trying to ensure it is not pushed aside by proposals for new regional groupings.
"It's very important that we stay in the driver's seat," Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said.
The group invited US President Barack Obama to attend its next summit in Vietnam later this year, to deepen ties with the region on which he has placed a renewed focus.
Indonesia said it would chair ASEAN in 2011, swapping with Brunei as the venue of the group's summits and meetings, because of a scheduling clash with its APEC host duties in 2013.
HANOI (AFP) – Southeast Asian leaders on Friday pressed troublesome member Myanmar to ensure its elections this year are fair and inclusive, at a summit focused on binding together the sprawling region.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in Vietnam's capital Hanoi has been overshadowed by the Myanmar issue, as well as political drama in Thailand which forced its premier to stay at home.
"The main message that's coming out from the summit is the importance of the elections that are coming up in 2010, and not any type of elections," said Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa
"But instead an election that is free, that is fair, that is democratic, that is credible. These are qualities that Myanmar itself has said they want to fulfil. So I think the clarion call... is the importance for Myanmar to live up to the commitments."
The United States has led international condemnation of laws Myanmar has enacted for the ballot, the first in the military-run country in two decades, which effectively bar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from participating.
ASEAN members are divided on how to handle Myanmar, which has always escaped formal censure from the 10-nation group as it adheres to a principle of non-interference in each other's internal affairs.
But as Myanmar's poor record -- including allegations of massive human rights abuses as well as a failure to shift to democracy -- again threatens to discredit the region, its neighbours reminded it of its obligations.
"The elections should be fair, democratic, with the participation of all parties," the summit's host, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, said in unusually candid terms at a closing news conference.
"This will help... stabilise the country and focus resources on development," he said, adding that he had "forwarded ASEAN's message" to the ruling generals during his visit to Myanmar last week.
The main order of business for the two-day summit was efforts to propel ASEAN towards a 2015 goal to establish a community of nations encompassing 600 million people with economic, security and social ties.
"While important progress has been made... much remains to be done," Dung said as he opened the talks.
Although the meeting's slogan is "from vision to action", analysts say ASEAN is hampered by wide development gaps within the region, entrenched domestic interests and the shortcomings and instability of some members.
Its diverse membership ranges from Laos, one of Asia's poorest nations, to the Westernised city-state of Singapore, the absolute monarchy of Brunei and the vibrant democracy of Indonesia.
The group this week took another step towards tackling long-neglected human rights concerns with the inauguration of a commission to address the rights of women and children.
Ministers also fleshed out their vision of a rules-based regional community by signing a protocol to help member nations resolve conflicts.
In a joint statement, the leaders called on regional governments to prepare to wind down economic stimulus measures brought in during the global financial crisis.
They also said they want vital road, sea and air links completed more quickly to complement efforts to integrate regional economies.
And in a separate document, the leaders called for a legally binding global pact on climate change and urged richer nations to provide them with "scaled-up" financial help to combat its effects.
ASEAN also discussed expanding relations with Russia and the United States. The 43-year-old bloc is trying to ensure it is not pushed aside by proposals for new regional groupings.
"It's very important that we stay in the driver's seat," Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said.
The group invited US President Barack Obama to attend its next summit in Vietnam later this year, to deepen ties with the region on which he has placed a renewed focus.
Indonesia said it would chair ASEAN in 2011, swapping with Brunei as the venue of the group's summits and meetings, because of a scheduling clash with its APEC host duties in 2013.
Thai "red shirts" defiant after 21 die in clashes
By Ambika Ahuja Ambika Ahuja – Sun Apr 11, 11:49 am ET
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thai "red shirt" protesters ruled out negotiations with the government on Sunday and said they would not give up their fight for early elections a day after clashes with security forces killed 21 people.
Bangkok was quiet, but with no resolution in sight and the prospect of more violence, the stock market, one of Asia's most buoyant, is likely to be hit when trading starts on Monday.
"The time for negotiation is up. We don't negotiate with murderers," red shirt leader Weng Tojirakarn said.
The red shirts, mostly rural and working-class supporters of ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a coup in 2006, want Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva dissolve parliament and leave the country, the scene of 18 coups since 1932.
Saturday's fighting, the worst political violence in the country since 1992 with some of it taking place in well-known tourist areas, ended after security forces pulled back late in the night.
The red shirts, still numbering in the thousands, have occupied two main areas of the capital, a city of 15 million that has been under a state of emergency since Wednesday. They made no attempt to come out of their bases on Sunday and troops did not make any move toward them.
Thaksin, writing on his Twitter account (http://twitter.com/Thaksinlive), accused the government of "bringing troops from all over the country" to crush the protests.
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thausuban vowed to return order to the streets, although he conceded that troops would not be able to take control immediately after the damage suffered in Saturday's clashes.
"The government will continue the operation to take back the roads from the protesters because their occupation is unlawful," Suthep told reporters on Sunday.
Thai political historian Charnvit Kasertsiri said the lack of an outright winner in Saturday's clashes meant the chance of more fighting was high.
"The public didn't take it lying down and were responding in kind," he said. "When the government is no longer the only user of force, then it spirals into anarchy."
"TOURISM TO BE HIT"
Foreign investors have been plowing money into Thai stocks this year, boosting the market by 7.5 percent, but the outbreak of violence since the middle of last week caused them to pause. The stock market is open on Monday but closed from Tuesday to Thursday for the Thai New Year.
"Tourism will be the very first sector to be hit and the Thai stock market should react negatively on Monday. The heavy foreign buying we have seen in the past month will hold back until the political situation is clearer," said Kasem Prunratanamala, head of research at CIMB Securities (Thailand).
There was tension outside Bangkok as well.
Thai media said around 500 red shirts again forced their way into the grounds of a Thaicom satellite earth station north of Bangkok, a flashpoint on Friday when the authorities blocked an opposition TV station.
Other reports said an M79 grenade was fired at the headquarters of the army-owned Channel 5 TV station in the northern province of Phayao early on Sunday.
On Saturday, hundreds of protesters forced their way into government offices in two northern cities, raising the risk of a wider uprising against the 16-month-old, army-backed government.
"There is no precedent for something so massive, prolonged and disruptive on the part of the underclasses," said Federico Ferrara, a political science professor at the National University of Singapore.
THAKSIN ALLIES
The protesters say Abhisit lacks a popular mandate after coming to power in a 2008 parliamentary vote following a court ruling that dissolved a pro-Thaksin ruling party. Thaksin's allies would be well-placed to win fresh elections.
Thaksin, who was elected twice but has been in self-imposed exile since 2008 when he was sentenced to jail for graft, was despised by many of the Bangkok elite but remains popular with the poor for policies like cheap health care and microcredit grants to villages.
More than 870 people were wounded on Saturday as troops fired rubber bullets and tear gas at thousands of demonstrators, who fought back with guns, grenades and petrol bombs near the Phan Fah bridge and Rajdumnoen Road in Bangkok's old quarter, one of the two bases for the month-old protest.
Four soldiers were among those killed.
Abhisit expressed regret to the families of the victims and said the army was only allowed to use live bullets when "firing into the air and in self-defense."
Among those killed was Reuters TV cameraman Hiro Muramoto, a 43-year-old Japanese national. Japan's Foreign Ministry urged the Thai government to investigate Muramoto's death.
(Additional reporting by Damir Sagolj, Warapan Worasart, Viparat Jantraprap and Jason Szep in Bangkok, Kevin Krolicki in Tokyo; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by David Chance and Michael Roddy)
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