President Benigno Aquino stands in front of a soldier’s tomb during the observance yesterday of National Heroes Day at a military cemetery in Taguig city, south of Manila

The Philippines said yesterday it would bring home its new ambassador to China after she suffered a stroke, but stressed the move would not affect efforts to solve a territorial dispute over the South China Sea.
Veteran diplomat Sonia Brady, 71, who was picked to help ease tensions with China, is “recovering slowly” after she was rushed to a Beijing hospital last week, Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said.
“Hopefully if the recovery rate continues, we may be able to bring her back to the Philippines in about two weeks’ time,” he said.
Del Rosario said there would be “no adverse impact” on the dispute in the South China Sea and the embassy’s charge d’affaires was on hand to take on diplomatic relations.
Brady was named ambassador in May, a month after a territorial row erupted over the Scarborough Shoal.
The government said Brady was picked largely for her familiarity with Chinese culture and politics having already served as ambassador there from 2006 to 2010.
Tensions flared when the Philippines sent its biggest warship to arrest Chinese fishermen at the shoal in the South China Sea.
The outcrop of rocks sits about 230km from the western coast of the Philippines’ main island of Luzon. The nearest major Chinese landmass is 1,200km northwest, according to Philippine navy maps.
China claims the shoal along with most of the South China Sea, even up to the coasts of its Asian neighbours, while the Philippines claims the shoal as being well within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.
The sea is a major shipping route and is believed to hold vast mineral resources.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said del Rosario and President Benigno Aquino had yet to discuss at length a possible replacement for Brady. AFP

Aquino to confer Legion of Honour to Robredo
President Benigno Aquino will confer on the late interior secretary Jesse Robredo the Legion of Honour with the rank of Chief Commander, the highest award the chief executive can bestow without the need for Congress approval, the presidential palace said yesterday.
The Malacanang committee in charge of the funeral arrangements and burial of the late cabinet official said that Aquino will confer the honour on Robredo after his funeral today.
“Secretary Robredo is being conferred the Philippine Legion of Honour for life achievement as Secretary of the Interior and as Mayor of Naga City,” the committee said.
The citation will be read by budget secretary Florencio Abad, while the president will present the insignia to Robredo’s widow Leni. The Philippine Legion of Honour was established by president Manuel Roxas in 1947.