Its been awhile since I last wrote anything here. You did’nt see me writing about important national issues like the impeachment of the Supreme Court Chief Justice, the daily brownouts in Mindanao, the coming together of the “trapos” in support of Binay’s super mega early presidential bid and so on. BUT,
when it comes to Philippine sovereignty, I find I cant completely ignore it for long. Quarrels within the same modest house seems petty to me now compared to
when its people from the next door mansion who wants to eject you from your own home.
So when did I write the first part of this again??? I just checked, and I wrote “Dangerous Waters Part 1” not even one year ago and China and The Philippines are at it again!!! The bone of contention between China and the Philippines this time is not Reed Bank(Recto Bank) but somewhere even closer to Luzon, in Zambales to be precise… the Scarborough Shoal. The Philippine military found 3 chinese vessels in the area and onboard are different species of marine life that are considered endangered under Philippine laws. When they were about to arrest these Chinese fishermen, 2 chinese military vessels came and prevented their arrest. That’s how this latest crisis started. Well, its bound to happen, actually, it’s inevitable. Based on previous exploration since the 1970’s granted by the Philippine government*at that time China was completely silent about the whole thing* that area holds some natural gas deposits. So really, its the insatiable appetite for natural resources of the giant bully versus the poor weakling who couldn’t do anything but raise a holler.
And now the very thing that I wrote in the first part, the one I dread the most, will happen before the end of this month… Juan de la Cruz begging for Uncle Sam’s help AGAIN!!! the “drama queen” part of me wants to literally shed a tear at the thought that after ALL THIS TIME, we are still attached to Uncle Sam’s apron strings*nakakalungkot pero may magagawa ba tayo?* So much for Pinoy Pride when we threw them out in the 80’s *i was all for it then* only to realize now that Cory Aquino was right all along… that letting them go at a time when our military is still weak is NOT A GOOD IDEA. I cant imagine China doing this to us if the US still maintains a military base here, can you ? Now i dont think i cant blame people when they say we shouldnt have thrown out the American bases... it may not be NOBLE but PRIDE cannot guarantee our national security. Sad but True.
Don’t get me wrong I fully support the idea of us going to the US of A for help, really, do we have a choice??? When youre being bullied by an economic and military superpower, you go and find an even bigger economic and military super power and hide behind her back. as of today, only the US is bigger than China on both score so, even if it’s a sad thought… I’M ALL FOR IT. meanwhile, the “natural” enemies of the US in the Philippines, the militants… the Reds a.k.a. BayanMuna, AnakPawis and others, as far as THIS ISSUE IS CONCERNED, are getting more and more ridiculous and irritating everyday. In light of the current ongoing military exercises in the country, The Balikatan, just a few days ago these militants stormed the US Embassy demanding that they get out of the Philippines and for our government to revoke the VFA(Visiting Forces Agreement). it may be a legitimate issue BUT IS IT THE RIGHT TIME TO DO THAT??? can’t we just help each other here FOR NOW instead of blocking our government’s efforts to solve this military standoff with an outsider? Is that too much to ask from you people? don’t you think that again, FOR NOW, it’s better to deal with the devil you know than the devil you don’t know right?
Some sectors are saying that going to the United States for help is not the answer to this problem in the long term, and that the proper forum for this is the United Nations. OH YES, I COMPLETELY AGREE! But what do we do in the meantime when there are Chinese and Filipino vessels dangerously staring at each other RIGHT NOW in that area and our every effort to engage China by suggesting to them that we take this to ITLOS(International Tribunal on the Laws of the Seas) IS BEING IGNORED! Should we continue to be made to look like a fool by this bully while it continues to ORDER US TO GET OUT OF THERE? what do we do in the meantime while Chinese and Filipino hackers are currently in a battle in cyberspace defacing and trying to crash each other’s websites??? *at least dun tingin ko patas ang laban* The legal route is long and tedious while the situation out there could turn volatile at any time, so please don’t comdemn your own government if she wants to know NOW who’s got her back in any eventuality.
I will no longer write about the legalitities of our claim to these areas of dispute ‘coz I already wrote about that and about EEZ and UNCLOS in “Dangerous Waters Part 1” so I’m not gonna go there, besides that’s best left to the courts and hello, I’M NOT A LAWYER^^ What I want to see now is for Filipinos to come together and show their strong support behind the government in its effort to find a solution to this problem and not add to it, ‘coz that is really sooo frustrating. Sometimes, I ask myself why am I sooo affected by national issues… it could be pretty stressful you know*nakakapagod din ha!* But what can I do, it is like a disease, even if you don’t want it, when it enters your system you have no choice but to endure it and deal with it. what’s worse is that I don’t think it can be cured. I wonder who gave me this bug. When did I even catch it? it has only one symptom …before you know it, something becomes the “object” of your concern or affection. The disease is called NATIONALISM or PATRIOTISM and the object of my concern and affection is the PHILIPPINES. Please don’t hate me for saying this BUT, I hope it is a highly contagious disease so that every individual on this planet with a drop of Filipino blood in their body will be infected by this. Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!
