20 NOVEMBER 2018
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Tuesday, <strong>20</strong> November <strong>20</strong>18<br />
Daily Tribune<br />
COMMENTARY<br />
5<br />
“Fostering<br />
friendship<br />
with China<br />
is a wise<br />
choice.<br />
“If Robredo<br />
sincerely<br />
wants to<br />
help promote<br />
our national<br />
interest,<br />
she should<br />
just shut up<br />
on matters<br />
of foreign<br />
policy.<br />
“President<br />
Fidel<br />
Ramos was<br />
criticized for<br />
his expensive<br />
solutions to<br />
the massive<br />
power outage<br />
problem he<br />
inherited<br />
from Mrs.<br />
Aquino.<br />
Thoughts on China and President Xi Jinping’s visit<br />
the reason why I was invited<br />
In October <strong>20</strong>16, when I was<br />
to form part of the delegation<br />
still a member of the House of<br />
during his trip to China in<br />
Representatives, I joined President<br />
<strong>20</strong>16 and part of the reason<br />
Rodrigo Duterte on his state visit<br />
why I was personally asked to<br />
to China as part of his official<br />
become his spokesman.<br />
delegation. For me, the purpose<br />
However, let me clarify that<br />
of the trip was clear: President<br />
in pursuing an independent<br />
Duterte wanted to pursue an<br />
foreign policy and befriending<br />
independent foreign policy and he<br />
states other than our<br />
wanted to foster closer ties with<br />
traditional allies, we maintain<br />
China. I think it is very clear from<br />
BRIEFING ROOM<br />
our sovereignty. Choosing our<br />
the President’s pronouncements Harry Roque<br />
friends is an exercise of that<br />
that he wants to be closest to China among all sovereignty.<br />
the countries with which we have diplomatic While it may make certain sectors<br />
ties. He has repeatedly expressed his admiration uncomfortable to acknowledge it, fostering<br />
for Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is friendship with China is a wise choice. We<br />
scheduled to visit the Philippines starting today. cannot ignore that China today is an economic<br />
Even before I became his spokesman and giant, arguably the world’s most dominant<br />
even now that I no longer speak for him, I economy. There are clear economic benefits to<br />
support the President’s position in pursuing an positive ties between our states. To illustrate:<br />
independent foreign policy. I believe this was we received over $25 billion worth of foreign<br />
Vice President Leni Robredo tried to get cute again, but fell<br />
flat on her face instead.<br />
In a radio interview, Robredo said the Duterte administration<br />
should stand firm behind the Philippines’ claim in the West<br />
Philippine Sea (WPS) because the country’s sovereignty is<br />
at stake.<br />
Robredo made the comment in reaction to<br />
Duterte’s statement during the Association of<br />
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Singapore<br />
that China is “already in possession” of the<br />
disputed sea.<br />
She parroted the yellow line that the Philippines<br />
should be more assertive in its stance in the WPS<br />
territorial dispute by invoking the <strong>20</strong>16 decision of the<br />
Permanent Court of Arbitration against China’s nine-dash<br />
line claim.<br />
Like a programmed<br />
automaton, Robredo<br />
disgorged the clichéd and<br />
equally malicious charge<br />
that the administration has<br />
given up on our claims to<br />
the WPS territories, saying<br />
this would deprive a lot of<br />
our citizens their means of<br />
livelihood.<br />
Worse, she lamented<br />
the country would lose the<br />
opportunity to benefit from<br />
the rich resources in the<br />
area, which may include vast<br />
oil and mineral deposits.<br />
Either Robredo was<br />
not paying attention to<br />
State affairs or just too<br />
preoccupied with her own<br />
because, had she bothered<br />
to get a full briefing on the<br />
ASEAN Summit, she would<br />
not be blabbering idiotic<br />
comments on a delicate<br />
diplomatic situation with<br />
immense implications.<br />
If she carefully read the<br />
reports and not just the<br />
headlines, she would have<br />
realized that the real import<br />
of Duterte’s statement is<br />
simple and wise: nobody<br />
should do anything that<br />
could ignite war in WPS.<br />
Here’s the report on<br />
Duterte’s ASEAN statement:<br />
“He reiterated that China<br />
is effectively in control of<br />
some of the features in the<br />
strategic waterway as he<br />
warned of a potential ‘bad<br />
miscalculation’ as a result of<br />
‘friction’ between China and<br />
other nations with interests<br />
in the South China Sea.”<br />
It’s been 80 years since<br />
the Filipinos headed their<br />
own government under the<br />
Commonwealth of the Philippines.<br />
Through those decades, corruption<br />
and abuse of privileges were endemic<br />
in many high places in government.<br />
Commonwealth President Manuel<br />
Luis Quezon spent public funds to<br />
favor his political allies. He hosted<br />
lavish parties either at Malacañang,<br />
or at the plush Manila Hotel, or on<br />
board the presidential yacht.<br />
For the record, Quezon City<br />
was created by the national legislature during<br />
Quezon’s incumbency as president. Quezon<br />
himself signed the law creating the city named<br />
in his honor.<br />
The last time something like that happened was<br />
about four years ago when the University of the<br />
Philippines College of Business Administration<br />
was renamed the Cesar E. A. Virata School of<br />
Business. Virata, who is still alive today, was both<br />
Prime Minister and Finance Minister of President<br />
Ferdinand Marcos. A clause in an existing law<br />
allows the renaming.<br />
President Elpidio Quirino’s administration<br />
was haunted by charges of corruption, including<br />
the acquisition of a costly P5,000 four-poster<br />
bed and a golden chamber pot. Quirino’s critics<br />
estimated kickbacks in government contracts<br />
at 10 percent.<br />
Diosdado Macapagal, the fifth president of<br />
the Republic, had his share of accusations. His<br />
term was stalked by the controversy created<br />
by the infamous Harry Stonehill, an American<br />
Corruption in past administrations<br />
businessman who dominated<br />
the news stories of that period.<br />
Stonehill controlled many<br />
industries in the Philippines.<br />
When it was suspected that<br />
Stonehill had many highranking<br />
government officials in<br />
his private payroll, Macapagal<br />
ordered his Justice secretary to<br />
investigate Stonehill.<br />
In 1963, after the<br />
investigation threatened to<br />
link Macapagal to the Stonehill<br />
payroll, Macapagal ordered the<br />
deportation of Stonehill. Macapagal’s Justice<br />
secretary resigned in protest and joined the<br />
opposition Nacionalista Party.<br />
The administration of President Ferdinand<br />
Marcos was mired with charges of graft and<br />
corruption. Those accusations are embodied<br />
in documentation made public after Marcos<br />
voluntarily relinquished power in February 1986.<br />
Marcos’ demise in 1989 pre-empted any<br />
possible criminal prosecution against him. Cases<br />
resolved against Marcos were pursued ex parte<br />
or without his participation.<br />
His widow, incumbent Ilocos Norte Rep.<br />
Imelda Romualdez Marcos, was recently<br />
convicted of graft by the Sandiganbayan. Her<br />
lawyers intend to appeal her conviction.<br />
President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino’s<br />
administration was likewise stalked by charges<br />
of corruption. The news media back then<br />
reported widespread anomalies which they<br />
attributed to Aquino’s relatives. They also coined<br />
the term Kamag-anak Inc. to highlight the extent<br />
THE SCRUTINIZER<br />
Victor Avecilla<br />
investment pledges from China in <strong>20</strong>16 alone,<br />
upon the Duterte administration’s efforts to<br />
normalize relations with China. Clearly, the<br />
strained ties between the Philippines and China<br />
in the recent years was a reason for Chinese<br />
investors to shy away from the Philippines.<br />
Admittedly, tensions<br />
between our two countries<br />
“I hope that<br />
this growing<br />
closeness will<br />
soon present<br />
us with an<br />
opportunity<br />
to bring up<br />
the WPS<br />
without China<br />
leaving the<br />
table.<br />
exist over portions of the<br />
West Philippine Sea (WPS).<br />
The Philippines filed a case<br />
hoping that a ruling would<br />
bring an end to the dispute.<br />
As a former professor of<br />
Public International Law, I<br />
was gratified by the findings<br />
of the Permanent Court of<br />
Arbitration because, to my<br />
mind, the law is very clear:<br />
there is absolutely no basis<br />
for the nine-dash line.<br />
Nonetheless, the heart of the problem is<br />
Cleaning up the yellow mess<br />
Duterte had warned: “One day a bad miscalculation could<br />
turn things – Murphy’s Law. If anything can go wrong, it will<br />
go wrong.”<br />
That is precisely the reason President Duterte backed moves<br />
for full and effective implementation<br />
of the Declaration on the<br />
Conduct of Parties in the<br />
WPS and the expeditious<br />
conclusion of an<br />
effective Code of<br />
Conduct.<br />
of the problem.<br />
Mrs. Aquino’s most glaring controversy was<br />
when she virtually exempted the Cojuangco<br />
family-owned Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac from<br />
the coverage of the Comprehensive Agrarian<br />
Reform Law.<br />
For his part, President Fidel<br />
Ramos was criticized for his<br />
“The<br />
alleged<br />
corruption<br />
under the<br />
Marcos<br />
regime is<br />
nothing in<br />
comparison<br />
with the<br />
anomalies<br />
under Aquino<br />
III.<br />
expensive solutions to the<br />
massive power outage problem<br />
he inherited from Mrs. Aquino.<br />
His decision to get power<br />
barges and to commit payment<br />
for unconsumed electricity<br />
was decried because it made<br />
electricity very expensive in<br />
the country.<br />
Many retired military<br />
officers were given key posts in<br />
the Ramos government. Ramos,<br />
after all, was a soldier before<br />
he joined the civilian government under Mrs.<br />
Aquino. Ironically, the bulk of Fort Bonifacio, a<br />
military reservation which Marcos did not touch,<br />
was sold off during Ramos’ term.<br />
Plunder charges were lodged against<br />
President Joseph Estrada during his time. He is<br />
the first Philippine president to be tried by the<br />
Senate as an impeachment court. The Estrada<br />
camp asserts that there was no deficit spending<br />
during the Estrada administration.<br />
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s<br />
term was rocked by controversies. She was<br />
installed president by what appears to be<br />
the manipulation of then Supreme Court<br />
Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. The ZTE<br />
that there is no way to enforce the ruling<br />
without China’s cooperation. Confrontation<br />
has never worked out in our favor, which<br />
leaves us with limited practical options.<br />
I cannot say what the best option<br />
is — not in the long run. But I do know<br />
for certain that we gain nothing from<br />
alienating China. We need China at the<br />
negotiating table if we are going to work<br />
out a resolution on the disputed waters that<br />
China will actually abide by.<br />
In the meantime, with President Xi<br />
Jinping’s historic visit to the Philippines,<br />
I hope that the warmer ties that the<br />
President has fostered with China will<br />
continue to bear fruit for our economic<br />
growth. After all, the genuine change we<br />
all hope for is to uplift the lives of every<br />
Filipino. I hope that this growing closeness<br />
will soon present us with an opportunity<br />
to bring up the WPS without China leaving<br />
the table.<br />
Refuting criticisms that Duterte’s love for China policy<br />
is putting the Philippines in greater risk because of its<br />
implications on freedom of navigation in the WPS, Foreign<br />
Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. tweeted: “What about this:<br />
DU’s love China Policy prompted US to commit its full panoply<br />
of power to the Indo-Pacific — stretching from Persian Gulf to<br />
waters lapping the shores of San Diego; something US held<br />
back from saying because its natural economic and trading<br />
partner is China.”<br />
The US Navy’s Indo-Pacific Fleet is reportedly considering<br />
a plan to “carry out a highly focused and concentrated set of<br />
exercises involving US warships, combat aircraft and troops”<br />
across the South China Sea and Taiwan Straits, a move seen<br />
to preserve intact the freedom of navigation in the disputed<br />
waters.<br />
By the way, Robredo should be reminded that President<br />
Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino’s inept handling of the<br />
Scarborough Shoal standoff in <strong>20</strong>12 led<br />
to the rising tension in the WPS.<br />
President<br />
Benigno<br />
“Noynoy”<br />
Aquino’s inept<br />
handling<br />
of the<br />
Scarborough<br />
Shoal standoff<br />
in <strong>20</strong>12 led<br />
to the rising<br />
tension in the<br />
WPS.<br />
“Scarborough<br />
Shoal is widely seen<br />
as the most palpable<br />
erosion of stability<br />
in the South China<br />
Sea since <strong>20</strong>12,” said<br />
the Asia Maritime<br />
Transparency<br />
Initiative (AMTI),<br />
which is under the<br />
Center for Strategic<br />
International Studies.<br />
“The Philippines’<br />
decision to deploy a<br />
warship rather than its coast guard<br />
to seize the Chinese fishermen likely<br />
helped trigger the standoff,” AMTI said.<br />
It was also the consensus of experts<br />
that the Aquino administration’s illadvised<br />
decision to withdraw first from<br />
the shoal gave China the upper hand. To<br />
save face, the previous administration<br />
ran to the arbitration tribunal.<br />
It is now President Duterte who<br />
is cleaning up the mess the yellow<br />
administration created and succeeding at it.<br />
Robredo’s comments woefully<br />
exhibit her utter ignorance and shallow<br />
understanding of foreign relations and<br />
the intricacies of diplomacy.<br />
Her own words vindicate President<br />
Duterte’s aversion for Robredo to<br />
succeed him because she could<br />
jeopardize the country’s national<br />
interest and endanger our national<br />
security with her naïve confrontational<br />
stance that history has proven would<br />
not work unless backed by sufficient<br />
force.<br />
If Robredo sincerely wants to help<br />
promote our national interest, she<br />
should just shut up on matters of<br />
foreign policy. It would do us a lot good.<br />
telecommunications anomaly plagued her<br />
term as well. In the “Hello Garci” scandal,<br />
it was learned that Arroyo tried to influence<br />
an election commissioner to protect her votes<br />
in the <strong>20</strong>04 presidential polls. Arroyo had to<br />
make a public apology on television for that<br />
scandal.<br />
When Arroyo was charged and tried for<br />
plunder, she wore a neck brace to support<br />
her request to seek needed medical treatment<br />
abroad. Her request was denied. After the cases<br />
against her were dismissed, her neck brace was<br />
gone. She remained strong enough to seize the<br />
speakership of the House of Representatives<br />
from Pantaleon Alvarez earlier this year.<br />
President Benigno Aquino III of the Liberal<br />
Party takes the cake. His administration bought<br />
defective trains for the metropolis, acquired<br />
defective helicopters for the Armed Forces<br />
and allowed 44 Filipino police operatives to be<br />
massacred in Mamasapano in Maguindanao.<br />
Aquino’s underlings likewise embezzled more<br />
than P186 billion of the Malampaya gas fund<br />
and misused the pork barrel fund. Indeed, the<br />
alleged corruption under the Marcos regime<br />
is nothing in comparison with the anomalies<br />
under Aquino III.<br />
President Rodrigo Duterte, who is nearing<br />
his midterm in office, has not been associated<br />
with any corruption. His management style<br />
may be authoritarian, but he does not tolerate<br />
corruption. That explains why Duterte is very<br />
upset about the rampant anomalies in the<br />
Bureau of Customs, so much so that he has<br />
asked the military to help clean up the mess<br />
there.