TWO main grounds sum up former senator Francis Tolentino’s claim to nationalistic fame.
One is the provision of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) that 200 nautical miles of the sea from a country’s baseline comprise that country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Such is the West Philippine Sea, which encompasses Bajo de Masinloc or Scarborough Shoal, the site of frequent skirmishes between the China Coast Guard (CCG) and Philippine Coast Guard (PCG). Also lying within that perimeter is Ayungin Shoal, off the coast of Palawan, where for nearly three decades now, the PCG has been regularly supplying provisions to Marines troops guarding the grounded BRP Sierra Madre.
The other rationale Tolentino cites as ground for Philippine ownership of the West Philippine Sea is the 2016 ruling by the arbitration tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague that the Chinese nine-dash line within which the sea lies is illegal.
With regard to Unclos, while it does provide that EEZ measures 200 nautical miles from a country’s baseline, it nonetheless recognizes, or so professor Anna Malindog-Uy asserts, that such a provision has no prejudice against existing limitations. China’s nine-dash line (first published as 11-dash line) was promulgated in 1947 while Unclos came into being only in 1994, nearly half a century after.
You just can’t argue against history.
Get the latest news
delivered to your inbox Sign up for The Manila Times newsletters By signing up with an email address, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
At any rate, this now brings us to Tolentino’s second invocation: a revisit of the 2016 arbitration tribunal ruling which marks its 15th anniversary on the 12th of this month. A significant aspect of that ruling is that it declares the Chinese nine-dash line map as illegal. Trolls and American mouthpieces in the media continue to enjoy a heyday citing it as affirming the US demonizing of China in regard to the West Philippine Sea. Theirs is a grand distortion of the truth.
Granting for the sake of argument that the tribunal’s ruling was correct, it does not follow that the Philippines is the beneficiary of the verdict. There are other claimants to the disputed waters (Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, Brunei, etc.). Anyone of them could claim the award. Until such time that there is an explicit ruling awarding the region to the Philippines, the West Philippine Sea remains disputed.
Advertisement
That’s putting it bluntly.
We are into a crucial stage of our nationhood when candor is the better part of valor.
We must be honest about the real issue in the West Philippine Sea if we are to correctly navigate the waves of conflict rocking the nation today.
It’s not about the Philippines being deprived by China of its rightful sea. It is about the Philippines being ceaselessly immersed by the United States in a trumped-up animosity with China as a leverage for gaining hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region.
Advertisement
Those media play ups of supposed skirmishes between the CCG and PCG are nothing but China’s strict enforcement of its maritime laws. Each detail, harsh as it may seem (i.e., water cannoning, laser beaming and accidental ramming of vessels), is actually standard law enforcement measure from China’s end.
But a sinister plot has evolved whereby satellite images of such incidents are taken by the United States, posted on X (formerly Twitter) as attacks by CCG on the PCG, which are then fed to Philippine mainstream media as legitimate news. In this manner, mass hysteria among Filipinos against China is generated and simmers increasingly.
Admit it or not, Tolentino has simply joined the host of media hirelings propagating American lies.
The phenomenon is the handiwork of a former officer of the US Air Force, Raymond Powell.
Advertisement
It would appear that the former senator had been hooked on the Powell gambit. Not only did he author two bills having the effect of institutionalizing the Philippine claim of ownership over the West Philippine Sea. He also made the Powell slant his main campaign line in his losing attempt at another Senate term; that he lost in the election must attest to the unpopularity of his anti-China cause.
A day after his term ended, Tolentino got a well-deserved sanction from China barring him from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao.
Just as the Chinese reprimand was well in place from the standpoint of Chinese nationalism, so did it serve as one more occasion for Tolentino to boast of his own Filipinistic bravado.
Oh, how great of him to proclaim: “This sanction is a badge of honor, and a testament to my unwavering commitment to protect our national interest and our people’s dignity.”
Advertisement
Tolentino failed to realize that standing up to China is a punch to the moon. No way you could hit.
Look at what happened to the aborted attack by India when it got cajoled by America to war with Pakistan.
Hardly had the six top-notch French-made Rafale jet fighters that India sent crossed the Pakistani border than missiles provided by China to Pakistan downed all six.
Like a dog with a tail protectively cupping its genitals, America promptly egged India to stop the war.
Advertisement
If America admits having grown inferior to China economically, militarily and otherwise, how condescending of Tolentino to even think that China will give in when pushed against the wall.
To the China sanction, he declares, “No foreign power can silence me or weaken my resolve to uphold our sovereignty. I am, and will always be, proud to be a Filipino.”
Bravo!
Except for one inscrutable reminiscence.
Advertisement
That was in the year 2019. Having been led to believe that the senator was a nationalist, I thought of offering him the role of President Dr. Jose P. Laurel in the filmization of my book “Nation Above Self,” a documentary on the travails of President Laurel in carrying the nation in those difficult times of World War II.
All systems go for the project, the shooting to begin in the Laurel ancestral home in Paco, Manila. Such was my joy that I would be making at long last the film which I had hoped to be my lasting legacy to the world: the whole truth about the ruthless bombardment by America of Manila, which through the entire four years that the war lasted (1941-1945) had remained in its pristine beauty as the Pearl of the Orient. But was, in General Douglas MacArthur’s carrying out his words “I shall return,” reduced to rubble, the blood of 200,000 Filipinos killed, rendering the gory picture of Manila as the second most ravaged city of World War II, next to Warsaw, Poland.
But what do you know, on the eve of shooting, Tolentino called a meeting, demanding to portray the former US Governor General Francis Burton Harrison as Philippine hero and much revision of the script in order to glorify America.
Hide the American atrocities in the Philippines!
No way, I said.
And there occurred the eternal frustration of my masterpiece.
Now you brag you are a Filipino.
It’s one thing that you fight for Philippine sovereignty. It is atrocious that you parrot that fight as being for the Philippines when in fact it is for serving America.
