{"id":53575,"date":"2015-06-29T16:27:08","date_gmt":"2015-06-29T08:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=53575"},"modified":"2015-06-29T16:44:57","modified_gmt":"2015-06-29T08:44:57","slug":"ph-postpones-repair-on-airstrip-in-disputed-spratly-islands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/06\/29\/ph-postpones-repair-on-airstrip-in-disputed-spratly-islands\/","title":{"rendered":"PH postpones repair on airstrip in disputed Spratly Islands"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_53577\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-53577\" style=\"width: 591px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Pagasa-island.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-53577\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Pagasa-island.png\" alt=\"Pagasa island (Photo by Joseph Holandes)\" width=\"591\" height=\"390\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Pagasa-island.png 591w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Pagasa-island-300x198.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 591px) 100vw, 591px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-53577\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pagasa island (Photo by Joseph Holandes)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>MANILA \u2013 Amid China\u2019s continuous reclamation activities in the disputed Spratly Islands, the Philippines opted to halt repair on its small airstrip in Pagasa (Thitu) Island in the region as the country pursued international arbitration.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe repair has been stopped because we uphold the principle of keeping the status quo in the areas involved,\u201d President Benigno Aquino\u2019s spokesperson Herminio Coloma said in an Agence France-Press report.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is part of our strategy for a rules-based and diplomatic approach where we have filed an arbitration case with the UN tribunal,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Pagasa Island has been home to a small Filipino community, which used to rely on cargo planes to bring in supplies. However, the community started to use cargo ships instead as the airstrip had steadily deteriorated over the years.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from the postponed repair of the airstrip, the Philippines had also suspended exploration works at the Recto (Reed) Bank, also in the South China Sea.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnder the terms of the force majeure, all exploration work at SC72 (Service Contract 72) is immediately suspended until the DOE (Department of Energy) notifies the company that it may commence drilling,\u201d Forum Energy Plc. said.<\/p>\n<p>Forum originally drilled two appraisal wells for oil and gas explorations at the Recto Bank, prospecting a Sampaguita natural gas plant in the region.<\/p>\n<p>A Forum survey ship was reportedly almost rammed by Chinese patrol vessels in 2013.<\/p>\n<p>The Philippines earlier challenged China\u2019s claim on almost all territories in the South China Sea, asking The Hague to look into the matter and see if China\u2019s reclamation works and control over the seas violated the international law. Hearings on the case will begin next month.<\/p>\n<p>The Philippines believed that arbitration was the peaceful and diplomatic route to settle territorial disputes. China, however, asserted that the UN court had no jurisdiction over the issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MANILA \u2013 Amid China\u2019s continuous reclamation activities in the disputed Spratly Islands, the Philippines opted to halt repair on its &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":53577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[249],"class_list":["post-53575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-rewrite","mauthors-cyra-moraleda","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}