Filipinos are antsy because it is a regular occurrence for China Coast Guard and People’s Liberation Army ships to block Philippine Coast Guard boats trying to deliver supply for a small number of Filipino military personnel manning BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal. With more than a hundred diplomatic protests already filed by the Philippine government against China’s harassment and dangerous maneuvers at sea that threaten lives of Filipino fishermen and Philippine Coast Guard staff, nothing positive is happening because such protests always fall on deaf Chinese ears.
The latest irritating incident involved two resupply ships surrounded by more than 10 Chinese ships and experienced another water canon attack. China doesn’t respect our small country, as it continues to disregard the decision of the International Arbitration Tribunal in 2016 stating that there is no legal basis for China’s nine-dash-line rule that claims most of South China Sea. China has reclaimed and militarized many disputed areas therein, including shoals that clearly belong to the Philippines based on international law, such as UNCLOS (UN Convention on the Law of the Sea).
We do not want war, but it is cowardice to just give up our sovereignty because we’re not militarily healthy and able to fight a giant that has become a hungry monster. We know why China desires our waters. Aside from our closeness to Taiwan, our waters are rich, very rich, in fact, not only with fish and other natural resources below, but with oil and natural gas! Thus, when former President Rodrigo Duterte said, “It’s only water why don’t we just give it to China?” I smelled something really fishy there. Is it just because our former president knows that China can easily defeat the Philippines in case war erupts and he doesn’t want that to happen? Or he’s eyeing to be China’s permanent governor-general in case the Philippines becomes a Chinese colony, or province (as Duterte used to say).
I really have a lot of questions why up to this point, we still have the Chinese Embassy in Manila, and we haven’t done anything beyond filing diplomatic protests against China’s bullying and harassing actions toward our coast guards! One thing in my mind is sure … that China hasn’t bribed our present president, Pres. Bongbong Marcos, Jr. I am quite sure that Marcos is sincere when he said that he won’t allow even an inch of our territory to be claimed by any other country. So, what’s keeping him from doing actions similar to those being done by other nations that refuse being stepped upon by Chinese militiamen and fishermen? When Chinese “fishing” boats/ships enter their territory, they arrest them and sink their boats/ships!! Can we not do the same? Are Filipinos too scared to do that?
We have been receiving a lot of repudiation from China’s Foreign Ministry, even calling Filipinos as entering their territory without asking permission from their government. In reality, the Chinese are the ones occupying areas that legally belong to us. And these sea areas are clearly closer to us and too far from Chinese shores!
Some Philippine Senators penned a resolution to ask the United Nations to intervene and impose the 2016 arbitral ruling and UNCLOS. However, it is questionable whether majority of UN member-countries would have the balls to go against China. It would seem that many of them are beholden to Beijing, for economic reasons mainly.
As an ordinary Filipino trying to analyze what could happen in my country anytime, I believe that war in South China Sea is in the horizon. While we want a peaceful co-existence with our neighbor, China, the Goliath of Asia, we won’t allow ourselves to be colonized again. “Never again,” as they say … and to express wholeheartedly my feeling, I’d sing part of our National Anthem, “…Ang mamatay nang dahil sa ‘yo.” (I am willing to die because of you.)
