Some brilliancy move?
Among the difficult works I ever came across in my readings was a statement that seemed to top them all in terms of sheer incomprehensibility or downright idiocy. I neither remember exactly how it was written, nor recall its author, thanks to my senior moments, but "out of confusion, some brilliancy can evolve" could be a fair recollection. For a while then, I thought that whoever wrote it must be confused and probably did not truly understand what he was talking about. Indeed, if Webster defined confusion as a state of being confused, how could any brilliant development stem from it?
Here was a great moment of our national existence. Towards the end of former president Noynoy Aquino's term, the Philippines won its case against China on our territorial assertion over islands in the West Philippine Sea. President Rodrigo Duterte, then Davao City mayor, who was seeking the presidency, declared he would ride a jetski to the disputed islands to defend our claims. We applauded. Both leaders provided the symbolic stature that steadied our legal territorial assertions against China.
Following the great news came a convolution. My confusion began to set in when Duterte, shortly after assuming power, appeared to make a u-turn on the legal victory. Rather than lean on a favorable ruling, he lent no weight on the decision. I didn't think he was simply cowed by China's might when he lifted no finger to stop it from establishing military bases on those islands. Whatever stratagem he adopted in this international paradigm confused me. Our dignity as a sovereign state got sullied with our inability to push what was ruled as rightfully ours. Coupled with the slew of belligerent declarations he directed at USA and some states of the European Union while praising our chink-eyed neighbor, Duterte appeared to have abandoned our valid cause and probably portions of our territory.
The next scene righted a flawed Philippine international policy in the process of formulation. Our government was not to give up on some islands ruled as ours, after all. Duterte, to show our administration over the disputed islands, publicized that Malacañang ordered the construction of structures on a West Philippine Sea island ostensibly as shelters for Filipino fishermen and security forces. In International Law, this action was necessary to perfect our claim.
Just as I began to feel comfortable with this assertion of our territorial rights, a new seed of my confusion arose. Secretary of National Defense Lorenzana declared the construction of shelters on Philippine-owned island was halted. The order came from Duterte, but the purported reason confused me. Apparently, Duterte acted upon China's request.
The other day, Duterte said that he would bring up to ASEAN discussion the code of conduct to guide all contestants to the islands in the West Philippine Sea and I remembered "out of confusion, some brilliancy can evolve". Pushing for this code is not too far away from the rubric of the ruling. When all states disputing some islands observe such a code, not only do they respect international law, they put in observable substance. If Duterte was not lying to the people, as he every now and then does, he might have a brilliancy move behind all the confusion he earlier sowed.
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