菲律賓在「蘭嶼旁」建海事基地！堵住台灣門口 菲軍稱：守護領海 ETtoday 20180322

【Comment】

Mavulis island, or Y’Ami, is the north most uninhabited point of the Philippines.  The Philippines military announced in late March 2018 that they would establish a military post there and station marines to boost defense arrangements, discourage poachers and to monitor the Balingtang Channel, the busy marine route as well as a naval choke point connecting South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.  The station was done in June.

That is a measure to counter Taiwanese fishermen, as they said.  However, the fact that the military announced the information which should be done by the Coast Guard, and the purpose includes “improving information gathering,” is definitely having back stories.

Two decades more ago, Taiwan once proposed to lease Mavulis as a gunnery range for its military in change of a F-5 fighter for patrol purpose.  The proposition did not realize.

Seeing the establishment of PLA’s extremely low frequency (ELF) radio waves communication, which need a permanent monitoring station off Taiwan as a map indicates, the Mavulis military station can be transferred into it for PLA in a night. 

5個紐約大 中國超低頻發射站恐致癌 自由20190102

That is really something big.

The key sponsor of the project is the Republic Cement and Builders Materials Incorporated, a subsidiary of the AEV CRH Holdings, Inc.  And Dong Hoon Lee, a board member of AEV CRH, as well as a member of the Management Team at Republic Cement & Building Materials, Inc.

菲律賓在「蘭嶼旁」建海事基地！堵住台灣門口　菲軍稱：守護領海    ETtoday 20180322

菲律賓軍方22日宣佈消息指出，為了打擊魚場被非法盜捕，軍方將在菲國最北方小島雅米島（Mavulis）興建海事基地，提升海域監控能力，預計4月就會開始動工。因為雅米島距離我國蘭嶼僅98公里，基地建成後是否會影響我國漁民權益，導致兩國的海域衝突升溫，值得關注。

綜合國際媒體報導，因為漁汛期即將到來，菲律賓為了防止非法盜捕，菲國海執法單位上已經開始準備。菲國軍方北呂宋軍區發言人納托（Isagani Nato）22日在新聞稿中表示，他們預定在巴丹群島（Batanes）的雅米島（Mavulis）興建混泥土據點。

菲國軍方發言人納托指出，「雅米島現在無人居住，因此為了捍衛我們的海域，打擊漁業盜捕，必須在雅米島興建設施，使漁民有安全的據點，所以將會派遣一個小型海軍部隊駐紮，藉此增加軍事存在，同時蒐集周圍訊息，興建工程預計將於下個月（4月）開始動工。」

根據了解，雅米島位於巴丹群島最北端，同時也是菲律賓最北邊的小島，距離台灣鵝鑾鼻東南方約141公里、蘭嶼約98公里處，屬於距離台灣最近的菲律賓領土。台灣與菲國因為經濟海域重疊，過去海上衝突事件不斷，2013年才發生「廣大興28號」遭菲國人員槍擊，導致兩國關係一度跌入冰點。

Philippines plans Marine base on northernmost island    Reuters 20180322

MANILA - The Philippines will start building a Marine base next month on its northernmost uninhabited island, near Taiwan, to boost defense arrangements and discourage poachers from its fishing grounds, a military spokesman said on Thursday.

The two nations' coast guard ships have confronted each other in the rich fishing waters where their exclusive economic zones overlap, and the neighbors nearly cut ties in 2013, after a Philippine vessel fired on a Taiwanese fishing boat, killing a fisherman.

"We need to have a presence there," said Lt. Col. Isagani Nato, spokesman of the Northern Luzon Command of the Philippines, adding that building work on Mavulis island would start next month.

"It's still uninhabited, that is why we are going to put up a facility to guard our maritime domain, and against poaching during the fishing period."

Nato said a small Marine unit would be stationed on the island, also known as Y'Ami, about 80 kilometers distant from Taiwan, to increase the military presence and improve information gathering.

He did not give details of the size of the unit, but added that the structures on the island would also afford shelter to fishermen.

The base will help monitor ships passing through the Balintang Channel, an international trade route in the northern Philippines used by vessels crossing from the busy waterway of the South China Sea to the Pacific Ocean.

Taiwan and the Philippines also have overlapping claims in the South China Sea, along with Brunei, China, Malaysia and Vietnam.

More than 20 years ago, Philippine defense officials said Taiwan had proposed to lease the uninhabited island as a gunnery range for its military, promising to donate a secondhand fighter as part of the deal.

Nothing came of the agreement as Manila recognizes Beijing's one-China policy, although it has a de facto embassy in Taipei, where thousands of Filipinos work in homes and factories.

Engineering works for fishermen’s shelter in Mavulis Island continues    Manila Bulletin 20180618

Construction of the fishermen’s shelter, a multipurpose facility being jointly built by different stakeholders of the Armed Forces of the Philippines-Northern Luzon Command (AFP-NoLCom) continues in the most isolated and northernmost uninhabited island of the country.

AFP-NoLCom spokesman Lt. Col. Isagani Nato said building the facility for the fishermen in Mavulis Island of Itbayat in Batanes province was a big challenge for NoLCom as it ensures the natural obstacles and other hindrances they meet along the way.

The project, which started its consolidation and transport of building materials in the first week of April, is expected to be completed by the end of August.  No less than AFP-NolCom is spearheading the project.

“A difficult task to meet as the ground works and transportation are affected by the weather and proximity of the island to its adjacent inhabited island of Itbayat,” Nato said.

“Moreover, the Mavulis project has a unique set of works program being monitored on a weekly basis since it started.  It allows flexibility of sequence as it engages stakeholders’ efforts in the share of construction materials,’ he added.

Nato said that due to inclement weather throughout the adventurous ship-to-shore unloading of materials, the project is currently 10 percent below critical path as scheduled.

He said this means that difficulties in the loading and unloading of materials from its point of origin to the island were experienced by NoLCom personnel and civilian volunteers.

“As a result, the earthworks have started late (10 percent completion) while the timeline reaches week 9 (first week of June).  However, as the weather permits, scope of works can be expedited given the available materials onsite and the number of personnel available for the construction (100 percent complete for both the troop hutment and hauling of construction materials),” Nato said.

He said the completion of the fishermen’s shelter will increase presence of local fishermen in the region contributing to the protection and management of our marine resources, as well as enhancing the information gathering around this northern maritime area.

Nato said the materialization of this endeavor is through the active participation and cooperation of the local government units (LGUs) of Batanes and the community, with the AFP.  On March 23, a presentation of manifesto of support by the LGUs of Batanes and a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the AFP and stakeholder sponsor was signed in Basco, Batanes.

Signatories to the MOA were the AFP chief of staff, AFP, the NoLCom commander, Batanes governor and the president of Republic Cement and Builders Materials Incorporated as key sponsor.

The key sponsor of the project is the Republic Cement and Builders Materials Incorporated is a subsidiary of the AEV CRH Holdings, Inc.  And a board member is Dong Hoon Lee. [1]

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[1]  Mr. Dong Hoon Lee serves as the President of Lafarge Cement Services (Philippines) Inc. (LCSPI). Prior to LCSPI, Mr. Lee served as the Chief Executive Officer of Lafarge Cement (Vietnam) JV Stock Company for 2 years. He has been the Chairman of Southeast Asia Cement Holdings Inc. since December 2010. He has been a Non Executive Director of Republic Cement & Building Materials, Inc. ( also known as Lafarge Republic, Inc.) since November 23, 2010. He served as a Director of Southeast Asia Cement Holdings Inc., since December 13, 2010 until June 28, 2013. He is a Graduate in Chemical Engineering from University of California and also holds MBA from London Business School.