THE PHILIPPINES’ FORUM FOR INTERNATIONAL READERS SINCE 1981
June 26-July 9, 2016 Vol. XXXIV No. 19
OUT SOON!
www.expatphilippines.ph
Newspaper
There is no app for this – a couple of kids demonstrating how it was to cultivate friendships and enjoy the outdoors like people used to back in the day. Photo snapped by Expat’s Macjanry Imperio at a river that meets the sea at Pacific Recreation Kamp in Real, Quezon
Duterte keen on accepting China’s ‘goodwill’ W
Youth cited among strongest assets in Phl By RICHARD RAMOS
By TIMOTHY JAY IBAY
China offers to build railway systems amidst territorial dispute
D
uring a speech last week, Presidentelect Rodrigo Duterte divulged that according to Chinese envoys, China could build the Philippines a railway from Metro Manila to Clark, Pampanga in two years. “The ambassador said, ‘We will do the railway immediately and we will solve your Clark-Manila railway. We’ll use the shortest way.’ I don’t know how they’ll do it, but we will complete it in two years,” the President said at a Davao forum with businessmen and his Cabinet appointees. According to a Rappler report, Duterte then turned the tables on the businessmen he was addressing. “Can you match the offer? Because if you cannot match the offer, I will accept the goodwill of China. My job is to see to it
that the people are comfortable,” the long-time Davao mayor said. The creation of railway systems has been a staple of Duterte’s voiced infrastructure projects. Last month, when he still held press conferences, he bared that his big-ticket projects include railway systems that will link Manila to the three points of Luzon, as well as one for the whole of Mindanao. Duterte was also singing the same tune back in February—“ Build us a rail for Mindanao, build us a railway from Manila to Bicol, I will be happy, let us not fight. Build us a railway because no nation on earth ever progressed without a railway,” he was quoted during a gathering of a group of supporters, interestingly enough called Forum of Women Action
with Rody Duterte (Forward Women). Deal outside of dispute? The President-elect said that China’s offer to build railways came outside of discussions about the territorial dispute. “I was not ready to talk about [the dispute]. I was just asking how you can help us with the railway,” Duterte said during the recent Davao forum. As noted by the Rappler report, on his campaign trail, Duterte had mentioned he would accept such an offer from China in exchange for agreeing to joint exploration of the disputed West Philippine Sea. “If the negotiation is not bepage 3 ing done, or it is in still waters
hile the rest of the industrialized world continues to be affected by populations of advanced ages and declining productivity, the Philippines enjoys a very young population with unlimited potentials and talents that will propel the country to even greater heights while remaining relatively unaffected by global economic setbacks. To note, the Philippines glows as probably having Asia’s youngest citizens with an average age of just 22. In comparison, many advanced Asian countries have much higher averages than the Philippines. 34 is the average age of a Singaporean, 36 in China, 39 in Taiwan, 40 in South Korea, and 43 in Hong Kong; thus affecting productivity for the short and longterm periods. “This is the problem of all developed nations. There are more old than young. And this can impact on their national economies indefinitely,” cited Dr. Bernardo page 3 Villegas, senior vice president of