đź“·: Usapang Kongreso | FB
by Diego Morra
The way nine senators voted on a resolution condemning the Chinese Embassy for practically ordering the Philippine government to “discipline” Philippine Coast Guard Commodore Jay Tarriela for showing a caricature of a Chinese flexing his muscle and holding a Philippine boat and threatening that failure to do so would have dire repercussions on bilateral ties shows just how little regard they have for national sovereignty, territorial integrity and patriotism.
A resolution that should have earned the vote of all 24 senators was instead rejected by nine senators who advanced strange justifications for their choice, none of which buttresses the national interest and instead weakens the reputation of the already tarred upper chamber. For sure, their position earned plaudits from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of China and the Zhongnanhai compound in Beijing as well as the desolation row in The Hague where the unlamented Rodrigo Duterte is being detained, but there can hardly be any approbation for what they did among the millions of Filipinos who oppose the continuing harassment of Filipino fishermen at Panatag Shoal and other atolls and reefs in the West Philippine Sea (WPS.)
Those who rejected the resolution are: Sens. Alan and Pia Cayetano; Ronald de la Rosa; Chiz Escudero; Bong Go; Rodante Marcoleta; Imee Marcos; Robin Padilla, and; Joel Villanueva. The 15 who supported the resolution are: Senate President Vicente Sotto III; Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson; Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri; Sens. Kiko Pangilinan; Erwin Tulfo; Risa Hontiveros; Raffy Tulfo; Win Gatchalian; Loren Legarda; JV Ejercito; Bam Aquino; Camille Villar; Mark Villar; Jinggoy Estrada, and; Lito Lapid.
All senators identified with the Duterte political dynasty voted to reject the resolution that urged the Chinese Embassy to stop its attacks on the sovereign right of the Filipino people to express their opinion on what China is doing within the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), including the denunciation of the belated claims of China on maritime features in the Spratlys that lie 1,000 kilometers from Hainan Island, the only Chinese territory included in the 1602 Ricci-Li map commissioned by the Ming Dynasty. The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, which is the final arbiter on maritime disputes covered by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), has laid to rest China’s claims in its July 12, 2016 decision. As signatory to the UNCLOS, China is mandated to respect the decision. Instead, China repudiated the decision, describing the decision as “a mere scrap of paper.” Strangely, that is the same phrase used by Duterte as he championed the position of China.
Thus, the traitorhood had its birth in 2016, when the country’s own president repudiated the PCA decision that favored the Philippines and eventually argued that the Philippines cannot win a war with China. He forgot that in the two times that Limahong’s pirate fleet tried to take over Manila, it was routed, with the people of Paranaque mounting a strong defense that led to the slaughter of the Chinese pirates. To further flatter Chinese President Xi Jinping, Duterte and his minions showed their fawning servility to latter-day Chinese emperor by saying the Philippines should be a province of China. Xi needed no additional cajoling as he offered at least 20 huge investments in the Philippines worth billions of dollars. In the end, only two materialized. That is how reliable Xi Jinping is. Duterte’s disciples at the Senate apparently think that what Xi says is gospel truth, that he means what he says and says what he means. It did not happen to the Chinese generals whom he has sacked in the past three years.
Yet, we have nine senators believing the canard dished out by the Chinese Embassy, which wants to chain the tongues and hearts of Filipinos, more than 86% of whom disapprove of Chinese baseless “historic rights” to maritime features thousands of kilometers away from China’s territorial seas and internal waters, to the extent that Beijing now claims parts of Indonesian waters, Malaysia’s gas-rich littorals and, perchance, the Sunda Strait as well as Papua New Guinea. Why are these gentlemen and dames of the Upper Chamber so eager to please Xi Jinping that they would act as a choir before the Beijing legate Jing Quan and his subaltern Guo Wei? Supporting the very country which has a protracted dispute with the Philippines is not in the national interest. It serves the interest of the Duterte political dynasty, which opposes any move that promotes our national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
To cut to the chase, the nine senators did their worst performance by appeasing China, refusing to criticize the Chinese Embassy satraps who have been lecturing the entire Philippine to be obsequious to Xi, accept the crazy idea that the carefully-litigated PCA ruling of 2012 was meaningless as China opted out of the proceedings, convinced that it would lose. The option left was for the Philippines to negotiate with China, an approach that Beijing favors since it can pressure, wheedle, cajole and reduce the country into a tributary. This is unacceptable in the face of the PCA’s binding ruling. The nine senators are actually telling Malacanang, the DFFA, PCG, the National Security Council (NSC) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to first discuss with China how the Philippines must react gently to harassment so as not to frazzle Emperor Xi.
Sen. Robinhood Padilla, who will do the country a favor by staying out of the Senate in 2028, has forcefully argued that the country should talk with China, engage in joint oil and gas exploration with China in Philippine waters despite the exploration deal being tagged as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court (SC), appeal to the better angels of Xi’s nature (if he has one) and just surrender our EEZ. Sen. Rodante Marcoleta lectures that in the long run, we should collaborate with China and benefit from its wealth, its altruism and its unlimited generosity. Apparently, these lawmakers forget that you give Xi an inch, he will grab a mile. They do not even question why China is condescending and lecturing us on how to exercise of our freedom of speech, condemning civil liberties in the process and seeking to regulate how we should gag our mouths in the face of China’s abuses.
Sad to say, these nine senators may just join the ranks of what Joshua Garvin regarded as the world’s 20 foremost traitors. Listed in descending order, they are: Robert Ford (1861-1892); Jonathan Pollard (1954-); George Plantagenet, First Duke of Clarence (1449-1478); Adolf Tolkachev (1927-1986); Pedro Paterno (1857-1911); Kim Philby (1912-1988); Ana Montes (1957-); Robert Hanssen (1944-2023); Qin Hui (1091-1155); Stella Goldschlag (1922-1994); Wang Jingwei (1883-1944); Philippe Pétain (1856-1951); Pierre Laval (1883-1945); Vidkun Quisling (1887-1945); Guy Fawkes (1570-1606); Benedict Arnold (1741-1801); Mir Jafar (1691-1765); Ephialtes of Trachis (5th Century BCE); Marcus Junius Brutus the Younger (c. 85-42 BCE), and; Judas Iscariot (? BCE- c. 30 AD)
They will be in good company with their compatriot Pedro Paterno, whom Garvin described as a turncoat par excellence. “Pedro Paterno made a career out of playing every side at once, making sure to profit at every opportunity. He first gained notoriety by brokering the Pact of Biak-na-Bato in 1897. There, he helped end the first phase of the Philippine Revolution by convincing Filipino rebels to accept exile and payoffs from the Spanish. Later, under Aguinaldo’s government, he served as Prime Minister. But when war broke out between the Philippines and the United States, Paterno switched gears again. He advocated for peace and pushed for the country to become a US protectorate. After the fighting stopped, he joined the colonial government. To many, Paterno was the embodiment of an opportunist. In Filipino political slang, Paterno was the original balimbing- or turncoat,” Garvin wrote.#
