THERE was a time when President Rodrigo Duterte sounded very angry because the Filipino fishermen’s catch was confiscated by China’s coastguards at Panatag Shoal (better known as Scarborough Shoal) at the West Philippine Sea. All they had to show for their misfortune were bottles of wine and packs of cigarettes that the Chinese had thrown at them.
However, realizing he might have stepped on bigger toes, the President assured the fisherfolk that he would remind Chinese President Xi Jinping about his promise to allow Filipinos to fish at Panatag Shoal. In effect it was an admission of subservience to China even if the Arbitral Court at The Hague had junked China’s claim over any part of the West Philippine Sea.
There was also a time when President Duterte warned against exploring oil and uranium in the disputed waterway: “Diyan magkadiperensiya na tayo, diyan mo na makita si [Interior Secretary Gen. Eduardo] Año, magdadala ng itak doon, pagtatagain ang mga Intsik.”
Alas, the President was obviously “joking.” For as subsequently revealed by his spokesperson Harry Roque, “We are following the specific provision in the Constitution that foreigners can participate on a 60-40 basis, meaning 60-percent Filipino-owned, 40 percent foreign-owned.”
Let us recall that previous President Benigno Simeon Aquino had refused joint exploration with Beijing, saying the latter only wanted to play by its rules.
Vietnam, on the other hand, has openly opposed China’s “provocative” actions in maritime disputes and has blamed the United States for its passive stance. To Vietnam’s President Tran Dai Quang – who died just last Friday, Sept. 21 – it is unthinkable for the US to just look while China is reclaiming land on a reef in the oil- and gas-rich South China Sea; and while it is building what appears to be an airstrip on it.
To us Filipinos, it is unthinkable that despite our tested alliance with her through the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), the US appears unmindful of our new relationship with a big communist bully. Indeed because of rampant graft and corruption in government, poverty and lawlessness, we would not want to be left alone.
No less than Dr. Jose Rizal – believing we were not yet ready for independence in his time – had actually wished that United States would take over our country from almost four centuries of Spanish colonization. He foresaw the transition of the Philippines from being a colony of Spain to that of the United States, hoping that the latter would prepare us for self-rule.
In 1897, General Emilio Aguinaldo issued a decree establishing a dictatorial government following the mysterious death of Andres Bonifacio. His government, however, was ignored by the United States. And so he agreed to go into exile in Hong Kong in exchange for 400 thousand pesos – a princely amount at that time.
Indeed, by the time the American naval squadron under Commodore George Dewey bested the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay in 1898, American business expansion had already taken the islands by storm – what with the American Sugar Refining Company controlling 95 percent of sugar trade.
To make the long story short, Spain ceded the Philippines to the United States on Dec. 10, 1898 through the Treaty of Paris.
Between that year and the US’ grant of Philippine Independence in 1946 was a period of 48 long years, during which we had familiarized ourselves with the workings of American democracy.
Going fast forward today, the United States has its own problem over China’s “unfair trade practices.” But that’s another story. (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
