Aid to flood-stricken China despite Spratlys tension sought





Thursday, June 23, 2011
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SENATOR Ralph Recto on Thursday called on the government to send rescue teams to flooded areas of China despite tension with the Philippines over the disputed Spratly islands.
Manila should show Beijing that tension in the West Philippine Sea, also called the South China Sea, will not keep the Philippines from being a good neighbor, he said.
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He announced this proposal a day after Japal Guiani, Cotabato City mayor, criticized the National Government for alleged inaction over flooding in the city and Maguindanao province in recent weeks.
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"After more than a week of saber-rattling with China, we should take a pause by rushing to the side of a neighbor in need, which may be regarded as powerful but still not exempt from natural devastations like us," Recto said.
He said sending rescue and humanitarian aid teams to flooded regions in southern China will be a sincere gesture from a regional neighbor with "its own share of natural calamities, like the deadly Ondoy-induced floods."
Recto previously urged more trade between the Philippines and China to secure an "economic victory" against the world's second-largest economy.
He said "we now have an opportunity to open a new door of engagement which is humanitarian and relief effort."

According to the senator, rescue teams from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), Philippine National Police (PNP), and the civilian Philippine Red Cross would be worth "thousand Philippine patrol boats in Spratlys waters."
NDRMMC Executive Director Benito Ramos refused to comment about Recto's proposal, saying "this (would be) a government-to-government arrangement."
Senior Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr., Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesman, said the police are ready to deploy teams to China as soon as the order is given.
He said the police have gained experience in rescue operations from natural calamities in the past, notably the 2009 Typhoon Ondoy that submerged much of Luzon in floods.
"We also have enough rescue equipment in our inventory," Cruz told Sun.Star in a text message.
China has been experiencing heavy rains in recent weeks, causing flooding along the Yangtze river.
The floods have reportedly affected 36.57 million Chinese in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi,Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the municipality of Chongqing.
China and the Philippines have been at odds over Chinese incursions into areas of the Spratlys claimed by the Philippines.
The Philippines has sent its flagship, BRP Rajah Humabon, to patrol the islands.
China also sailed a maritime patrol ship, the Haixun 31, through the disputed area and on to Singapore.
On Wednesday, President Benigno Aquino III visited Cotabato to oversee relief operations but the Cotabato City Mayor said the relief goods given away were from the local government.
Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Juliano-Soliman has denied this.
"I am surprised about the statement because a C130 came yesterday and the day before, carrying 2,000 food packs from the national warehouse," Soliman said in a radio interview Thursday. (Jonathan de Santos/Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)