13/02/2025

THURSDAY | FEB 13, 2025

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Philippines budgets US$35b for 10-year military buildup

10 million take holy dip on key day LUCKNOW: More than 10 million devout Hindus seeking absolution from their sins took a dip in holy waters in northern India during a span of four hours yesterday, authorities said, as they braced for millions more to swarm the site of the Kumbh Mela. Authorities stepped up the number of police officers and put air ambulances on standby in the city of Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh state on one of the holiest days of the Hindu festival, considered the world’s largest gathering of humanity. “There are more people in this city in one day than the population of many countries, and the numbers are swelling by the minute,” said state police chief Prashant Kumar. The numbers arriving had pushed infrastructure arrangements to the brink, making delays and traffic jams inevitable. Media said vehicles were backed up for hundreds of kilometres from the city. More than 10 million people had bathed by 8am, authorities said, with more expected. The full moon yesterday, known as Magh Poornima , makes it one of the holiest days in the six-week-long festival, held at the confluence of India’s three holiest rivers. Maintaining safety can prove a challenge at the festival, despite stringent precautions. – Reuters Duterte has been embroiled in a long running row with former ally Marcos. She is facing a separate impeachment complaint over the threat she made and for allegedly misusing public funds through her positions as vice-president and education minister. – Reuters Russia offers India advanced jet BENGALURU: Russia has offered to make its fifth-generation stealth fighter jet Sukhoi Su-57 in India for the Indian Air Force, a Russian and an Indian official said. A spokesman for Russian state arms exporter,Rosoboronexport said the fighter jet could go into production as early as this year if the Indian government accepts its offer. A Russian industry source and an Indian official said an informal offer had been made by Russia in talks with officials of the Indian government and state-owned planemaker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. The move comes as the Indian Air Force is keen to shore up its fighter squadrons, which have fallen to 31 from 42, at a time when China is expanding its air force. – Reuters Duterte likely to face criminal charges MANILA: The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in the Philippines has recommended filing criminal charges against Vice-President Sara Duterte over an alleged threat to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and others, the agency’s head said yesterday. “We have finally recommended the filing of inciting to sedition and grave threats against Duterte,” NBI director Jaime Santiago told radio broadcaster DZBB in an interview. Santiago said the recommendation has been submitted to the Justice Ministry, which will decide if it will conduct a preliminary investigation. In a brief comment sent through her media officer, Duterte said the recommendation was “as expected”. The case stems from her remarks in November that she has spoken with an assassin and instructed him to kill Marcos, his wife and his cousin, the speaker of the Philippine House, if she were to be killed. She has denied threatening them and reiterated last week that she made no such threat.

o Shopping list includes submarines and missiles

to defend the entire archipelago without submarines.” In 2022, the Philippines bought a US$375 million BrahMos anti-ship missile system from India, and has orders for more. “We are getting more of this (system) this year, and in the coming years,” Brawner said. The Philippines has previously said it is eyeing mid-range missiles and at least 40 fighter jets to boost its defence capabilities. It is expecting deliveries this year of at least two corvette vessels from South Korea, which last year elevated its ties with Manila to a strategic partnership. Brawner also said Manila is trying to get South Korea to join the Quad, which groups Australia, Japan, Philippines and the US. The Philippines’ military buildup comes as tensions between Manila and Beijing have escalated in the South China Sea, where the two have clashed in recent years. Brawner said the military has observed an

increase in “illegal, coercive and deceptive” actions by China in the South China Sea. “We have seen also an increase in the number of vessels in the West Philippine Sea on a daily basis,” Brawner said, using Manila’s term for waters in the South China Sea that fall within its exclusive economic zone. From 190 vessels in 2021, the Philippines is now seeing a daily average of 286 Chinese ships around Manila’s maritime zone, he said. China’s embassy in Manila did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Chinese authorities have previously said their actions in the region were lawful. Brawner added that a “joint maritime activity” with the US and Canada in Manila’s maritime zone was underway. He said Manila is also eyeing joint activities with France, Italy and the United Kingdom. These activities are meant to ensure an effective presence in the South China Sea, Brawner said. – Reuters

MANILA: The Philippines is looking to buy more military hardware to modernise its arsenal, including additional BrahMos missiles from India and at least two submarines, the chief of the armed forces said yesterday. The Philippines is on the third phase of its modernisation programme called “Horizons”. It has earmarked US$35 billion (RM156 billion) for the buildup over the next decade as it aims to counter China’s military might in the region. “It’s a dream for us to get at least two submarines,” said General Romeo S. Brawner Jr in a speech to leading business figures. “We are an archipelago. So we have to have this type of capability, because it’s really difficult

PIOUS DEED ... Buddhist devotees offering food to monks yesterday in the southern Thai town of Narathiwat to mark Makha Bucha Day, which celebrates the creation of an ideal and exemplary community. – AFPPIC

HK police defend widening activists probe HONG KONG: Police here have questioned at least 10 family members and associates of overseas democracy activists wanted for national security crimes in the span of a month, with the top brass defending the probes as normal police work. National security police confirmed to AFP on six occasions since Jan 13 that it had “brought individuals to police stations” to help with investigations.

unlikely to extradite political activists to Hong Kong or China. The US-based Hong Kong Democracy Council said the latest developments showed how China is “expanding the scope of its tactic of targeting friends and family of dissidents”. Lau and Chung said they have cut ties with former associates still based in Hong Kong. Chung was an executive at one of Hong Kong’s last independent polling bodies, the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute. Aside from government popularity ratings, the institute conducted polls on the political identity of Hong Kongers and their views on the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, which is a sensitive issue in Hong Kong and mainland China. Hong Kong security chief Chris Tang said in January that the move to question Chung’s ex colleagues had “absolutely nothing to do with the results of (the group’s polls)”. The institute said days later that it had suspended all self-financed research activities “due to various technical reasons”. – AFP

At least 10 individuals, including the wife, son, three siblings and three ex-colleagues of former pollster Chung Kim-wah, were questioned during that period. Most left the police stations within hours and no arrests have been made. None have publicly commented on their situation. Under the national security law, those who “assist with the handling of a case” must follow confidentiality rules. Political dissent in Hong Kong was effectively quashed by a sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020 after the huge, sometimes violent protests of the year before. Authorities have placed bounties on 19 overseas democracy advocates since 2023 while scores of opposition figures have been arrested and jailed in Hong Kong. The bounties are seen as largely symbolic given that they are for people living in nations

In December, authorities placed bounties on six pro-democracy figures based abroad for allegedly violating the Chinese city’s national security laws, a move criticised by the United States as “transnational repression”. Deputy police commissioner Andrew Kan said police have looked into the Hong Kong based associates of bounty targets, adding that it is normal to collect intelligence from individuals with links to wanted fugitives. The aunt and uncle of London-based activist Carmen Lau were taken from their Hong Kong home on Monday and were seen leaving a police station hours later. “The national security apparatus has expanded its reach to my extended family. This is nothing more than an attempt to intimidate Hong Kongers,” Lau said on X.