EDITORIAL - The friendly, unassertive approach

As if to rally his allies, President Rodrigo Duterte called former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile to appear during his regular televised address apparently to voice his agreement with his policies.

And of course, Enrile delivered, praising the president to high heavens for his handling of our territorial dispute with China and even offering his own “advice”.

"Kailangan na friendly ang approach natin d’yan, hindi hard assertive and aggressive approach... Kung hindi tayo magkakaunawaan sa Tsina, madadamay ang interes ng ating mga kababayan, ating ekonomiya pati na rin ang ating seguridad dito sa usapin na ito," Enrile said.

Never mind Enrile’s appearance from out of nowhere, the president can invite whoever he wants to his public addresses. Let’s focus on what Enrile said instead.

Sure we can be friends with China, friendship is good. But we can’t be any friendlier to China already. We have accommodate their contractors and construction workers, we have accommodated their POGOs along with generous tax exemptions, and most of all we have already alienated a long-time ally in favor of their attention.

If we were any friendlier with China we might be mistaken as one of their provinces.

But being friends is one thing and being submissive is totally another. Because the way things look now we are just letting China push us around in our own backyard.

There is a whale of a difference between being a friend and being a victim, and a willing victim at that.

As for the “not assertive” approach, we should still be assertive when it comes to insisting on what is ours. Again we like to point out that a shooting war isn’t the only way to resolve this territorial issue, but then again it seems that this administration has decided that that is the only way we can settle it.

And not just that, we are refusing to use the best weapon we have against such a bully. Not an actual weapon, but a binding ruling.

Enrile is a veteran politician with a long career that has become the stuff of legend, but it’s sad that even he seems to favor a passive approach to our dealing with China and doesn’t see any another solution to this issue that doesn’t involve bloodshed.