ABS-CBN “visit” to WPS another CIA provocation?

On Apr 13, 2021

A video grab from the ABS-CBN report last April 8, 2021, partly showing one its reporters, Chiara Zambrano, looking out into the sea as her group allegedly tried to visit ‘Ayungin Shoal,’ one of the reefs owned by the Philippines. The expedition did not push thru after they were allegedly “chased away” by the Chinese Coast Guard. The claim was however denied by the AFP’s Western Command as also shown in the video grab. Was this incident a purely journalistic endeavor or another provocation by the United States to put China and the Philippines on the path to war?

THE ABS-CBN news team that allegedly tried to visit the ‘Ayungin Shoal’ in the Kalayaan Island Group at the West Philippine Sea/South China Sea (WPS/SCS) last April 8, 2021, to “gather information” on the presence of “hundreds of Chinese vessels” within the country’s ‘exclusive economic zones’ (EEZs), should now come clean if the venture is really on its own initiative as a journalism enterprise in the pursuit of truth or, as part of a bigger plan by a foreign vested interest to provoke armed conflict between the Philippines and China.

This, after information reached Pinoy Exposé that the sortie to the West Philippine Sea has long been on the drawing board of the ‘Institute for War and Peace Reporting’ (IWPR), which has close ties to the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAF) and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), both of which are known conduits of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States.

Significantly, the “expedition” by the ABS-CBN news crew to the West Philippine Sea came exactly two years to the day after a similar attempt involving the Otso Diretso candidates.

The KAF, thru the Konrad Adenauer Asian Institute for Journalism, is presently based at the Ateneo de Manila University. The information further bared that ABS-CBN reporter, Chiara Zambrano, who purportedly led the expedition to Ayungin Shoal, finished her master’s degree at the said institution.

The KAF is a creation of, but independent from, the Christian Democrats and was named after Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer, the first chancellor of Western Germany. It was founded in 1964.

The KAF and the CDU had worked closely with the CIA during the Cold War years between the United States and the Soviet Union. Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, is a member of the CDU.

Based also on the information, the IWPR/KAF was similarly behind the media stunt of four of the ‘Otso Deretso’ candidates—Gary Alejano, Florin Hilbay, Semira Gutoc and Chel Diokno—last April 9, 2019, when they tried to visit Panatag Shoal.

A file photo from ‘Rappler,’ showing four of the eight senatorial candidates of ‘Otso Diretso’– Gary Alejano, Florin Hilbay, Semira Gutoc and Chel Diokno— on their attempt to go to the Panatag Shoal, West Philippine Sea last April 8, 2019. This election-related publicity gimmick was also arranged by local and foreign groups closely tied to the Central Intelligence Agency.

However, for their own safety, they were prevented by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) from reaching their destination and had to confine themselves in Masinloc, Zambales.

The Otso Diretso was the senatorial slate of the already discredited political opposition coming from the Liberal Party, prominent for its subservience to US Imperialism and consorting with the Communist Party of the Philippines.

The political gimmick, however was for nothing after the entire Otso Diretso candidates were annihilated at the polls several weeks later.

Significantly, the “expedition” by the ABS-CBN news crew to the West Philippine Sea came exactly two years to the day after a similar attempt involving the Otso Diretso candidates. The information added that the media stunt has been planned by the IWPR as far back as February this year.

A browse in the Internet disclosed that IWPR, founded in 1991, claims to be an “independent, not-for-profit,” tax-free, non-government organization, based in London but also has “coordinating offices” in the United States and the Netherlands.

In its webpage, IWPR, proudly made known the fact that among its biggest “supporters” are the European Commission, the National Endowment for Democracy and, the US State Department.

The information also disclosed that IWPR is very much active in procuring the services of Filipino journalists and organizations by offering money (read: giving out bribe money) for limited “engagements” lasting from one month to six months.

These include money for the local media’s “transparency and media resiliency fund” and actual “content fund” such as:

“Opinion/editorials” (P13,000), “radio reports” (P16,000), “investigative/in-depth report” (P25,000) and, “investigative research and multi-media reporting” (P51,000).

IWPR is also willing to give money for the Philippine media’s “literary fund” and “media champions and expert analysts’ fund” at a minimum of P150,000 each.