WesWorld

Radio Manila, Friday, 9 December 1949

“The Foreign Ministry emphatically rejected the most recent demand by the Chinese Government that it be permitted to establish regular air traffic between Canton and Shanghai and several cities in the Philippines. The Chinese demand comes in the wake of the move by Cathay Pacific Airway of Hong Kong to open direct flights from Hong Kong to Manila. Air services to China were suspended at the outbreak of the South China Sea war in 1940 and have not been resumed, despite regular Chinese demands that they be.”

“In other news, the Admiralty Court in Puerto Princesa, Palawan, ordered the condemnation of three more impounded Chinese fishing vessels as lawful prize following their arrest for illegal fishing in the waters surrounding Loaita Island in the Kalayaan archipelago.”

The Manila Times, Monday, 12 December 1949

The Ministry of Defense announced today that twelve SH-40 Tourbillon helicopters are to be procured for the Army Air Corps. Deliveries are expected to commence in the early spring of 1950.


The Mindanao Journal, Friday, 16 December 1949

Naval Operating Base Cavite, Tuesday, 20 December 1949

Kapitein-luitenant ter Zee Phillip Buis sat among the other dignitaries listening to the speech delivered by De la Vega, the Philippine Minister of Defense. It was, he thought, variation number three on his set speech delivered on the occasion of the commissioning of a new ship. It was a speech Buis had heard a number of times before. The light cruiser Tarlac was today’s ‘guest of honor’ – draped in flags and bunting. Across the bay the Tarlac’s sister, Sorsogon, would soon follow. De la Vega concluded his speech and the band struck up the naval anthem, at which the assembled dignitaries stood.

Buis mused that the Tarlac would join the growing Philippine cruiser-destroyer force intended to meet an invasion by China head-on. He was no longer certain that this was in the offing, despite the confrontation with France over Macclesfield Bank.