Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. looks on as he meets with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, at Malacanang Palace in Manila, Philippines, March 19, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Philippines has been chosen to host the board of the “Loss and Damage” fund created by U.N. talks, marking another step towards providing financial help for countries to recover and rebuild from the impact of global warming.

Last month, the World Bank’s board approved a plan for the bank to act as interim host of the fund for four years.

Some countries, however, voiced concern that allowing the World Bank to host would give donors, including the United States that appoints the World Bank’s president, too much influence.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr announced his country’s election from a pool of seven contenders in a post on X on Tuesday.

Hosting the board, Marcos said, “reinforces our dedication to inclusivity and our leadership role in ensuring that the voices of those most affected by climate change shape the future of international climate policies”.

The Philippines must enact legislation before it can become host and Marcos did not say when it would take on its role.

An archipelago of more than 7,600 islands, the Philippines, which also has a seat on the fund’s board, is frequently hit by typhoons and other climate-change induced disasters.

As host, Manila could focus attention on the Asia-Pacific region, where many countries struggle with limited resources, hindering their ability to respond to the effects of climate change.

Who pays for loss and damage has been among the most intractable issues at U.N. climate talks, as developed countries blamed for producing the most emissions historically have been nervous about how much of the bill for redressing damage they might face.

COP27 in Egypt in 2022 however managed to establish a U.N. “loss and damage” fund dedicated to addressing irreparable climate-driven damage from drought, floods and rising sea levels, but did not decide on detail.

Lidy Nacpil, coordinator of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD), said it was up to the Philippines to demonstrate political leadership.

They should demand developed countries “fulfil their historical, legal, and moral obligation to provide reparations for climate devastation,” Nacpil said in a statement.

Image used for representative purpose only
| Photo Credit: AP

The Philippines said on May 24 it had opened a coast guard post in the country’s far north to boost security following China’s “military build-up” near Taiwan over the past two years.

The outpost “shall gather essential maritime data and intelligence, enabling the (Philippine Coast Guard) to respond effectively to threats such as illicit trade, trafficking, piracy, and foreign intrusions”, National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano said in a statement.

“In 2022, the area around Itbayat witnessed a military build-up as China responded to political developments between Taiwan and the United States,” Ano said, announcing the opening of the station on the Philippines’ northernmost inhabited island.

Itbayat is located around 150 kilometres (93 miles) south of Taiwan’s south coast.

“Securing peace, stability, and freedom of navigation along the Luzon Strait is crucial for ensuring Philippine national security and economic prosperity,” Ano said.

Ano added he sees the Luzon Strait, which lies between the Philippines and Taiwan, both as a “vital international waterway” and “a potential flashpoint for regional and international conflicts”.

Jay Tarriela, the Philippine Coast Guard spokesman for South China Sea issues, said the Itbayat station “will enable effective monitoring of vessels passing through” the strait.

“Notably, there have been instances of People’s Republic of China vessels being observed in this maritime area as they cross to the Philippines’ eastern seaboard,” Tarriela said in a statement.

The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The waters off the north coast of the main Philippine island of Luzon were the focus earlier this month of major annual joint military exercises between Manila and its longtime ally the United States.

These included using missiles and artillery to repel an imaginary sea-borne invasion force.

Last year, the Philippine government also granted the US military use of a navy base on Luzon’s north coast and a nearby airport as part of a defence cooperation agreement.

Beijing and Manila are in a bitter diplomatic dispute over rival claims to parts of the South China Sea.

China has built artificial islands and military installations in waters close to the Philippines.

Its efforts to enforce its claims have in recent years included water cannon attacks by China Coast Guard vessels that damaged Philippine government boats and injured several crew members.

Itbayat is just outside the area designated by a vaguely defined map of dashes that China uses to claim most of the South China Sea.

Ano made no reference to war games that China began on Thursday in which it encircled Taiwan with warplanes and naval vessels.

Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro talks during the closing ceremony of U.S.-Philippines Balikatan joint military exercise at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, metro Manila on May 10, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

The Philippine military must evolve fast because of threats to a “free and open” Asia-Pacific region, Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said on May 10 at the end of annual exercises with the United States.

Mr. Teodoro, whose comments were made against the backdrop of a festering maritime row with China, said the military must “try to focus on actual soldiering”.

“The worst thing in a kitchen is a dull knife, and a good chef hones the knife every day,” Mr. Teodoro said.

“We will be increasing the pressure continuously for them to evolve as soon as possible into a multi-threat, multi-theatre operating armed force,” he said.

The annual “Balikatan” war games, involving around 11,000 American, 5,000 Filipino and 100 Australian troops, began on April 22 and were concentrated in the northern and western parts of the archipelago nation, near the potential flashpoints of the South China Sea and Taiwan.

The area has seen increased confrontations between Chinese and Filipino vessels around shoals in the South China Sea claimed by Manila, as well as stepped-up Chinese air and naval activity around nearby self-ruled Taiwan.

Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, brushing off rival claims from other countries, including the Philippines, and an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

It deploys hundreds of coast guard, navy and other vessels to patrol the contested waters.

China’s coast guard has blasted Philippine vessels with water cannon off Second Thomas Shoal and Scarborough Shoal in the disputed sea this year, causing damage and injuries.

“No amount of malign, or for lack of a better term, perverse attempts to subvert our goal for a free and open Indo-Pacific and a rules-based international order will stop our shared advance towards upholding these internationally accepted norms come what may,” Mr. Teodoro said, using the United States’ preferred term for the Asia-Pacific the region.

‘Shoulder to shoulder’

Lieutenant General Michael Cederholm, commander of the U.S. First Marine Expeditionary Force, said the joint exercises — dubbed Balikatan, or “shoulder to shoulder” in Tagalog — “directly built warfighting readiness” for the allies.

“It should also give pause to any adversary who does not believe in a free and open Pacific, who does not believe in transparency, who does not seek peaceful resolution but would seek to use force to impose their will on other sovereign nations,” he said.

The row between the Philippines and China took another turn on Friday when Manila’s top security adviser called for the expulsion of Chinese embassy staff he accused of “malign influence and interference”.

The Chinese embassy said in a statement on May 3 that diplomats had reached an informal agreement with the Philippine armed forces, through its Western Command, to handle disputes around Ren’ai Jiao, China’s name for Second Thomas Shoal, in the South China Sea.

Mr. Teodoro said on Monday there was no such agreement with Chinese diplomats.

On Friday, Philippine National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano accused the Chinese embassy of “repeated acts of engaging in and dissemination of disinformation, misinformation, and malinformation”.

He said those “responsible for these malign influence and interference operations must be removed from the country immediately”.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Friday that Beijing “solemnly requires that the Philippines effectively ensures that Chinese diplomats can perform their duties normally, (and) stops infringement and provocation”.

Second Thomas Shoal is garrisoned by Filipino troops stationed on a grounded naval ship who are frequently resupplied by boat with food, water and other provisions.

The resupply missions to the remote reef have become a flashpoint between the rival claimants.