News in Pictures: August 4, 2024

A WEEK OF FIRSTS FOR PH, ALLIES

French Ambassador to the Philippines Marie Fontanel meets with Brig. Gen. Guillaume Thomas, Commander of Pegase 2024, the French mission to the Indo-Pacific which stopped by Clark Air Base in Pampanga on July 28-the first visit to the Philippines by the annual mission. Meanwhile, French Air and Space Force personnel (inset, top) do a maintenance check on their aircraft, the Airbus A400M, one of two military transport planes deployed together with two Rafale jet fighters for the Pegase mission.

It had been a full week for the Philippines in terms of strengthening ties with its allies, amid China’s occupation of parts of the West Philippine Sea. On Tuesday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid a courtesy call to President Marcos before the 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue that day with their Filipino counterparts, Gilberto Teodoro Jr. and Enrique Manalo.

July 30 2024 President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. meets with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin during a joint courtesy call at the Malacanang Palace for the 4th Philippines-US Foreign and Defense Ministerial Dialogue. The 2+2 meeting will highlight the two countries’ defense and security and economic cooperation and further boost their alliance. INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ.

The meeting, which is usually in Washington, was held for the first time in Manila. The four officials agreed, among other things, to strengthen operations in the nine Philippine locations under the country’s Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with the United States. —PHOTOS BY GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE AND MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

ENDANGERED WATERS

Seashells and crabs are sold at a makeshift stall (above, left) along Centennial Avenue in Kawit, Cavite, on Friday, despite an executive order in the province and an advisory by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources warning against the consumption of marine products caught there.

OIL SPILL EFFECT / AUGUST 2, 2024 | INQUIRER PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES

An oil leak from the MT Terranova which sank on July 25 in Limay town, Bataan, has affected the waters of the provinces surrounding Manila Bay, including Bataan and Cavite. Another motor tanker, the Jason Brad-ley, was reported to have sunk near Bataan two days later.

LIAN, BATANGAS / AUGUST 2, 2024 | INQUIRER PHOTO / RICHARD A. REYES.

In Batangas, the coast of Luyahan village in Lian town, a popular tourist spot about 60 kilometers south of Manila Bay, appears to have been spared from the spread of the oil leak as of Friday. But marine experts warn that the spill may reach that area. —PHOTOS BY RICHARD A. REYES