By Mico Agustin

It’s about time.

In a meeting recently with Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III has urged the former to open their market to Philippine bananas after being barred for over 20 years now.

"As former Minister of Agriculture, I will raise with you the issue of the banana imports. We have been working at that for 20 years, probably. And we have not been able to ship to you a single box of bananas," Dominguez was quoted as saying.

Top Food Export 

Dominguez also told Bishop that Philippine bananas, one of the…

Read more: Entry of PH bananas to Australia pushed

CHINA’S hunger for power and control knows no bounds. 

After taking full control of West Philippine Sea, China is now training its sights on Benham Rise which has already been unequivocally declared as part of our country’s 200 mile exclusive economic zone by the United Nations.

The obvious attempt by China to annex our territory showed that it is determined to grab whatever it can from our country despite previous friendly overtures by top Philippine leaders led by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Chinese ships have been spotted inside the area and no less than Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has expressed…

Read more: Is Benham Rise China’s Next Target?

ACTIVE people-to-people exchange, apart from tourism, is still a priority.

That was the assurance given by Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Kazuhide Ishikawa despite the low passing rate for Filipino caregivers and nurses under the people-to-people exchange provisions of the Philippines-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (PJEPA).

He said that this will be a definite point of improvement for the two country’s relations.

The ambassador made the pledge in a speech before the business community during the Makati Business Club’s General Membership Meeting recently.

PJEPA

Signed on September 9, 2006, the PJEPA is considered a milestone in Philippine international trade relations, because…

Read more: Japan prioritizes hiring of Filipino workers

FOREIGN ambassadors come and go. While saying goodbye to them may be hard for those people who have worked with them in the embassies, there will always be a good reason to welcome and be excited for those who would take their place.

Such is the case for John T. Holmes, the new Canadian ambassador to the Philippines, who was posted September 2016 replacing former Ambassador Neil Reeder.

With previous posts in the region, Holmes had served as envoy to Indonesia, with concurrent accreditation to Timor-Leste and the Asean. 

Prior to his arrival in Manila, he headed…

Read more: Canadian envoy wants stronger ties with PH