A crew member of the BRP Cabra issues a radio challenge to China Coast Guard (CCG) Vessel No. 3103 as it sails closer to the coast of Zambales province on Friday. The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said it was able to keep that ship at a distance of 157 to 166 kilometers from the coastline, but CCG 3103 was later replaced that afternoon by a bigger and faster vessel, CCG 3304. The PCG said that ship had apparently intended to outmaneuver the Cabra, which continued to issue hourly radio challenges. At Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal that day, the Philippine Navy conducted its first resupply mission this year to troops stationed at grounded vessel BRP Sierra Madre. The Armed Forces of the Philippines said the resupply was completed without any harassment from China, whose coast guard said, however, that it had granted “permission” to that mission. But in the waters of Sandy Cay also on Friday, vessels of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) were harassed by Chinese ships and a Chinese helicopter, forcing the BFAR to suspend its maritime survey in that area south of Philippine-controlled Pag-asa (Thitu) Island. China said that operation did not have its permission. —PCG
LEGISLATING SEX EDUCATION
Supporters of a Senate bill aimed at discouraging teen pregnancy and promoting comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) hold a news conference on Friday to call for its enactment, amid opposition by conservative groups to what they perceive to be liberal provisions in the bill. Last week President Marcos himself criticized Senate Bill No. 1979 for what he described as “woke” provisions such as “trying out different sexualities.” But the bill’s author, Sen. Risa Hontiveros, said there was nothing in her measure about the said provisions cited by its critics. On Wednesday she filed a substitute bill emphasizing, among others, “age appropriate” information on CSE and consent by parents or guardians on reproductive health services. —LYN RILLON
PROCESSION, DANCE FOR STO. NIÑO
Girls dressed in costumes sewn with electric lights perform the “ILOmination” Street Dance in Iloilo City on Friday night during the Dinagyang Festival held in honor of the Santo Niño. Earlier that day, devotees join a weeklong procession of the Sto. Niño de Cebu which began on Jan. 17 in Mandaue City, Cebu. Various parts of the country continue to hold the feast of the Eternal Child Jesus, the country’s oldest Catholic icon, as the month of January, the traditional period for this celebration, comes to an end. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
WELCOMING SERPENT YEAR
Residents of Manila’s Binondo district, the center of festivities nationwide marking the Chinese New Year this Wednesday, witness the lighting of a “prosperity tree” on Jan. 24, one of many ceremonies in Metro Manila and other parts of the country ahead of the Year of the Snake, another time anticipated to be of good fortune and rebirth. The Philippines’ Chinese heritage and the country’s solidarity with its Chinese-Filipino community remain a celebrated facet of the country’s diversity, no matter China’s actions in Philippine waters. —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
