US-China meeting only worsens tensions over balloon, Russia

The provision makes a rash generalization that cases filed by lawyers in the seafaring practice are merely after financial gain, and not to protect the seafarer’s rights, all based on an unsubstantiated and likewise unfair generalization that all such lawyers are ambulance chasers.

By Courtney McBride | Bloomberg Opinion

There is an invalid classification that runs counter to the Constitutional provision, which provides that “no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws.” (Article II, Section 1).

The constitutional right of equal protection shall mean that all persons or things similarly situated should be treated alike, both as to rights conferred and responsibilities imposed.

Class legislation denies rights to one which are accorded to others, or inflicts upon one individual a more severe penalty than is imposed upon another in like case offending. ( Executive Secretary v. Court of Appeals, GR 131719, May 25, 2004)

The Supreme Court elucidated upon the concept of equal protection of the laws in the case of Nuñez v. Sandiganbayan, (197 Phil. 407): “xxx that the laws operate equally and uniformly on all persons under similar circumstances or that all persons must be treated in the same manner, the conditions not being different, both in the privileges conferred and the liabilities imposed. Favoritism and undue preference cannot be allowed. For the principle is that equal protection and security shall be given to every person under circumstances which, if not identical, are analogous. If law be looked upon in terms of burden or charges, those that fall within a class should be treated in the same fashion, whatever restrictions cast on some in the group equally binding on the rest.”

Legislative bodies are allowed to classify the subjects of legislation. If the classification is reasonable, the law may operate only on some

Continued from A10 of intent and agreement signed during the productive trip. MEC in 2022 entered the Philippine residential market through a partnership with the Villar Group. We have formed a 60:40 joint venture that will develop a mixed-use, high-rise condominium along the Taft University Belt—home to 100,000 col-

In the same vein, the provision should highlight the fact that the act of ambulance chasing transcends other fields of practice, and is not solely found in the seafaring practice.

The provision is unduly oppressive, unreasonable, and is repugnant to the Constitution.

It undermines the Constitutional mandate to protect the rights of OFWs and to promote their welfare when it deprives seafarers an avenue to receive the fruits of their legal battle.

Gabriela party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas sought the deletion of escrow provision, claiming that it places primacy on the discretion of employers in determining the contested and uncontested amount.

“This is a big red flag. This overturns the hard-fought battle of seafarers for their claims. The ruling of the NLRC commissioners should suffice for the awarding of benefits and claims. Why should we let seafarers suffer for any potential error in judgment by the commissioners?” legiate and post-graduate students, faculty members and administrative personnel, and with at least 13 universities and colleges over a four-kilometer stretch.

Brosas explained.

The escrow provision will downplay the seafarers’ rights guaranteed by the constitution instead of protecting their rights and promoting their welfare.

Atty. Gorecho heads the seafarers’ division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan law offices. For comments, e-mail info@sapalovelez.com, or call 0917-5025808 or 0908-8665786.

Agriculture and tourism investments are also among the agreements covered by the state visit.

Japan’s prime minister supported the President’s priority agenda to maintain the competitiveness of Philippine agriculture and achieve food security, while increasing

The US and China came to Germany last weekend looking to patch up a new rift opened by the uproar over a Chinese balloon. But a meeting between their top diplomats showed how difficult it will be to compromise.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China’s State Councilor Wang Yi traded barbs on everything from the balloon and Taiwan to North Korea and Russia in their first meeting since the high-altitude craft traversed the US and provoked an acrimonious round of finger pointing.

The top US diplomat also said China was weighing whether to give Russia weapons for its war in Ukraine, a move that would ratchet up tension even further.

It all underscored how, for all the claims from President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping about their desire to steady ties, neither side seems capable of doing so. What was meant to pave the way for a Blinken trip to Beijing—he canceled a visit once the balloon was spotted—only seemed to make prospects more remote. And while Biden said last week he would speak with Xi to defuse tensions, there was no indication of when that might happen.

“The relationship is becoming more brittle,” said Kori Schake, director of foreign and defense policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute who has previously worked in the US State Department and Pentagon. “If China mirrors to Russia the assistance the West is providing Ukraine, it will cement the RussoChinese alliance and also Western perceptions of China as a malevolent international force.”

The rest of the world is watching. Leaders from places like Brazil and farm productivity and farmers’ income.

To sum it up, the results of President Marcos’s Japan’s state visit are encouraging for Philippine business and the ordinary Filipino. It is an occasion for our chief executive to pitch first-hand the Philippine economic success story to foreign investors.

For comments, send e-mail to mbv_secretariat@vistaland.com.ph or visit www.mannyvillar. com.ph

Singapore have warned about the military and economic spillovers of a prolonged clash between the world’s two biggest economies— and expressed their unwillingness to choose between them.

Blinken sought to offer assurances, saying the US is “not looking for a new Cold War” after Wang had said the “Cold War mentality is back.”

The rocky meeting and sharp rhetoric around it demonstrated just how sour the US-China relationship is, and how both sides appear willing to squabble over petty issues. In its readout of the talks, China refused even to call it a meeting, referring to it as an “informal contact” and arguing that the two only spoke because the US made a request.

In keeping with an aggressive counter-messaging campaign the administration rolled out before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Blinken quickly did interviews with Sunday morning shows back home. He made sure Americans turning on their television sets Sunday morning heard the warning about the growing Russia-China partnership.

“We are very concerned that China is considering providing lethal support to Russia in its aggression against Ukraine,” Blinken told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And I made clear that that would have serious consequences in our relationship.”

China’s Wang rejected what he called the US’s “finger-pointing” when it comes to Russia, and said

Continued from A10 turn, it will push lower most of the population from the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum because The Middle Class is the economic driver.

Hinder or damage The Middle Class, you destroy the economy, and that is what is happening in the West.

China would release a new peace proposal for Ukraine in the coming days that would be in keeping with previous efforts by Xi. Wang, who was set to fly to Moscow for meetings with top Russian officials after his stay in Munich, also met Ukraine’s foreign minister and condemned attacks on nuclear power stations.

“We oppose attacks on nuclear power stations, attacks on civilian nuclear facilities,” Wang said. “We have to work to prevent nuclear proliferation and nuclear disasters.”

‘Almost hysterical’

BU T the US appeared in no mood to consider that plan, especially given its accusation of China’s deepening ties with Russia. For months the US had warned China against providing more support to President Vladimir Putin.

What the world heard from Blinken about China’s role “underscores that we’re going to have to really up our diplomatic game,” Fiona Hill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “A lot of other countries just don’t buy that there’s as big an issue as we see with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

Blinken had been caught off guard earlier Saturday after Wang lashed

What’s unclear is whether the latest squabble on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference represented some healthy venting that they can now get past, or yet another signal that the US and China remain stuck in a cycle of recriminations that is only going to push them closer to conflict. Villar.

They are facing a move to Neofeudalism, “the rebirth of policies reminiscent of those which were present in feudal societies. Such aspects include unequal legal rights, dominance of societies by small powerful elite groups, and relations of lordship and serfdom between those elite and the people.”

“The net result of hyper-globalization and hyper-financialization is the crumbling of the middle class, which has seen its share of wealth out at the US during a speech, calling Biden’s decision to shoot down the balloon over American airspace and the heightened state of alert “incomprehensible and almost hysterical.”

The US said the balloon over the US was part of a fleet of spy devices directed by China’s People’s Liberation Army. China countered that the craft was a harmless weather balloon that had blown off course and claimed the US had flown similar airships over China—claims the White House has rejected.

‘Better than nothing’ and income eroded for the past 45 years, a trend that accelerated in the past 20 years,” says Charles Hugh Smith. Protect The Middle Class and you protect the economy. Grow The Middle Class and you grow the economy, and then everyone benefits.

W H AT ’S unclear is whether the latest squabble on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference represented some healthy venting that they can now get past, or yet another signal that the US and China remain stuck in a cycle of recriminations that is only going to push them closer to conflict.

There are areas where the two sides would benefit from cooperation, such as climate change and nuclear proliferation.

In a readout from the meeting, State Department spokesman Ned Price said Blinken had condemned a new intercontinental ballistic missile launch by North Korea “and emphasized the need for responsible powers to respond to such significant international challenges”—diplomatic language for the US demand that China exert its influence and curb such launches.

“A meeting is always better than nothing,” said Henry Wang Huiyao, founder of the Center for China a nd Globalization, a policy research group in Beijing. “Both sides appeared to be tough—they both have domestic audiences to cater to.” With assistance from Jing Li / Bloomberg.

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