OFFBEAT MAIL

I'm not in favor of what Israel had done to impose total blockade against Gaza Strip. But I'm not in favor either of what the Hamas Group is doing by ignoring the repeated calls of Israel to stop sending rockets to its territories. If the Hamas militants do not stop their threats against Israel, there is no reason for them to call Israel's blockade as "immoral and inhuman." I don't think that what the Hamas militants are doing right now against Israel can be considered an act of gratitude for allowing the Palestinians to come and go in Israel' territory. The present scenario that is taking place in that part of the Middle East can be compared to a neighborhood where the lawless elements in a neighbor's house should be ignored even if they are harming or killing innocent people inside the community. And I think that there are members of Hamas who are intelligent enough to understand the situation at the moment. As the saying goes: "Beggars cannot b

The Philippines has yet to benefit from the US$500 million North Rail Agreement between the Philippines and China, even if its blueprint for implementation has been prepared many months back. Reason? The Chinese government has yet to see a sealed agreement that will eventually allow China to explore part of the Philippine continental shelf in the Spratly Group of Islands, where the Philippine government has established sovereignty over the Kalayaan Group of Island, as part of a concession signed by the present administration and that of Vietnam. Vietnam used to contest the joint exploration in that part of the South China Sea. The controversy came out after an article published by the Far Eastern Economic Review outlined this tripartite undertaking in violation of the 2002 Asean-China Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea. Barry Wain, a former Wall Street Journal Asia editor and now writer-in residence for the Singapore-based Institute for Southeast Asian Studies