The Amazing Race Asia Season 5 Episode 1 Recap

Wazzup Pilipinas!

After a much-needed rest, the teams depart early for their second leg of the race to Taman Mini Indonesia. Although Alphaeus & Brandon are the first to arrive, Taman Mini Indonesia only opens at 6am, giving all the other teams an equal footing at the start of the challenge.

Here, the nine remaining teams have to ride on Grab bikes to spot marked letters that spell out the clue to their next destination – BANDUNG. JK & Mike make great progress, finding the clues first while Yvonne & Chloe and Alex & Will misread their clues, putting them behind in the race.

After Taman Mini Indonesia, the teams race to Cikole National Park for their next Detour challenge. They need to decide between ‘Basket Bikes’ and ‘Bandung Biathlon’. In ‘Basket Bikes, teams must ride along a 5KM bicycle trail and deliver 2 dozen sellable eggs in their baskets to the egg merchant. In ‘Bandung Biathlon’, teams must hit a set of targets with traditional bamboo guns while trekking in a pair of tandem land skis.

JK & Mike (#TARAJKMike), Parul & Maggie (#TARAMagParul), Rach & Vicky (#TARAVickRach) and Alphaeus & Brandon (#TARABrandonAlph) choose ‘Basket Bikes’ while Tom & Anita (#TARATomAnita), Eric & Rona (#TARAEricRona), Will & Alex (#TARAAlexWill), Yvonne & Chloe (#TARAChloeYvonne) and Treasuri & Louisa (#TARATrezLou) choose ‘Bandung Biathlon’. 

Duterte's China visit: A Missed Opportunity to Present a Truly Independent and Progressive Foreign Policy

Wazzup Pilipinas!

There is no question that the Philippines needs to move towards a more independent and progressive foreign policy position. To achieve this, the government must make a strong commitment against superpower games to accumulate power and influence against each other.

An independent and progressive foreign policy must be founded on the principles of equality and human rights, particularly the right to life and dignity. It must have strong gender and ecological lens in finding peaceful resolutions to sovereign disputes. It must also be in solidarity with different countries, pursuing principled cooperation based on mutual respect of each other's national sovereignty and integrity.

"From one colonial master to another"

Unfortunately, President Rodrigo Duterte's visit to China missed the unique opportunity to present such a foreign policy. He missed the chance to represent the collective aspirations and independence of the Filipino people. Behind President Duterte's fiery anti-west rhetoric is a confused foreign policy riddled with contradictions.

President Duterte must understand that the country cannot possibly have a respectable foreign policy by ditching the chains of one colonial master in exchange for another, by rejecting US imperialism only to accede to the Chinese government's regional bullying and "social-imperialism", by preferring another power because it turns a blind eye on the government's alleged human rights violations. Sadly, it appears that President Duterte has capitulated to the very same superpower realpolitik that he wants to veer away from.

The shelved Hague ruling

Equally disheartening is the government's decision to shelve our historic victory at the Hague tribunal in its bilateral talks with China. This victory was the product of determined diplomatic work on the part of our foreign affairs representatives and the thousands of ordinary Filipinos who marched to the streets to defend our sovereignty. President Duterte's attempt to make a deal with China in grave disregard of the Hague ruling is wrong. That we have to get China's "approval" in order for our fishermen to gain access to Philippine marine resources is absurd. This renders our hard-fought victory hollow and our sovereignty severely compromised.



The risk of Chinese loans

I also raise my concerns on the multi-billion loans that the Duterte government received from China. Firstly, it appears that we traded the West Philippine Sea to China for these loans. On this basis alone, we are at the losing end of this "bargain." Secondly, Chinese loans, while devoid of attached neoliberal economic prescriptions, come with grossly unfair and unconscionable terms that will bind us to Chinese contractors and Chinese state industries. The implementation of these loan-funded projects also lacks transparency and integrity. We do not have to go too far back in history to find evidence against Chinese loans: the hallmark of Chinese-funded NBN-ZTE and Northrail projects during the time of the Arroyo government was high-level, high-value corruption. It is also worth remembering that China attempted to illegally lease 1M hectares of Philippine agricultural lands, violating patrimony and land reform laws. While loans are not inherently bad, President Duterte himself must see to it that these will not be abused, he must ensure that these will not compromise our laws and sovereignty; these loans must benefit the people without imposing an unnecessary burden.

We should not underestimate the importance of a concrete strategy when it comes to foreign affairs, the promotion of national interests and peaceful cooperation with other countries. I urge the president to conduct extensive foreign policy dialogues and consultations with his Cabinet, the legislature, foreign affairs experts and other stakeholders to craft a foreign policy truly reflective of the Filipino people's interests and aspirations.

An extremely important matter such as this simply cannot be left to the mere judgment of one man alone.

- Statement of Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros

Duterte Witnesses Signing of Globe with Huawei, Nokia, Wuhan FiberHome

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Increasing investments to continuously improve internet services in the country, Globe Telecom signed several agreements involving its technology partners Huawei Technologies, Nokia and Wuhan Fiberhome International Technologies amounting $750 million over a period of 5 years to accelerate use of new LTE technologies to enhance its data services and improve customer experience.

"Globe is deeply committed in giving a wonderful experience to our customers by continuing to build and invest on our network. We are confident that our collaboration with Huawei, Nokia and Wuhan FiberHome will translate into a more robust Globe network that will meet the country’s future digital demands,” Globe President & CEO Ernest Cu said.

The agreements signed by Globe include the deployment of new LTE spectrum in the country. Specifically, Cu and Globe Director Fernando Zobel de Ayala signed a memorandum of confirmation with Chen Yuhua, the head of Nokia international business, relating to the implementation of this project in Visayas and Mindanao. A similar memorandum of confirmation was signed between Globe and Huawei CEO Kevin Gao relating to deployment of LTE spectrum in Luzon.

This project aims to provide wider LTE coverage and better indoor penetration, through an estimated 4,600 sites in the country. The project will increase data and fixed-wireless broadband capacity to provide telecommunications services in many areas in the country that at present have no access to broadband services. In addition, the project will strengthen telecommunications infrastructure and address the adverse impact of typhoons that constantly hit the country as well as enhance support to the government’s thrust for higher availability of broadband internet services.

Mike Wang, President at Nokia Networks Greater China, said: “This is a significant agreement with a longstanding collaborator. It strengthens Nokia’s position as Globe Telecom’s premier end-to-end solution provider. We are committed to delivering technologies that allow operators to smoothly transit to intelligent, virtual networks and seamless connectivity, to change how people communicate and connect.”

“Huawei is very happy to sign the MoC and through these cooperation, we hope to provide high quality products and professional services and work with our Philippine partners to bring a better connected service to this country,” Gao said.

Globe also signed a separate memorandum of confirmation with Huawei and Nokia relating to a capacity expansion program for its corporate data network. The fixed line network modernization project will improve the quality of its corporate network with capabilities, capacities, features and functionalities that are constantly responsive to business and enterprise requirements. The project will re-design and transform the network to make it future-proof and meet specified minimum engineering and technology end-state requirement, making the network more agile in serving the heavy data traffic of its enterprise customers.

In addition to these, Globe signed another memorandum of confirmation with Huawei and Wuhan FiberHome relating to the company’s plan to build a fiber infrastructure to support the rollout of fixed broadband lines in Filipino homes. With a robust fixed broadband network, more customers will be better served by high speed internet connections.

Globe signed the agreement with Wuhan Fiberhome International Technologies President Zhiqiang Fan, Wuhan Fiberhome International Technologies Philippines CEO Hui Liu and Huawei CEO Kevin Gao.

“It is a great honor to be the partner of Globe on its nationwide broadband building program which will provide Filipinos with the state-of-the-art fiber technology. We believe that FiberHome’s expertise in telecommunications over the last 40 years will be of great value to Globe Telecom’s infrastructure build. We are proud to contribute to a vision of building a fiber network that will benefit Filipinos nationwide and we look forward to further enhancing our partnership with Globe," said Fan.

Aimed at improving the coverage and capacity of Globe Telecom’s fixed broadband network, the project involves deployment of fiber optics in 20,000 barangays by 2020, which is expected to provide ultra-fast internet access to around 2 million homes nationwide.