The country marks Araw ng Kagitingan or Day of Valor today in the shadow of continuing Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea. The special day is meant to honor all those who fought foreign colonizers and invaders, particularly those who repelled Japanese forces in Bataan for four months until April 9, 1942. Following the fall of Bataan, the Filipino and American soldiers who survived the siege were made to walk to Tarlac in the infamous Death March.
Both during World War II and in the revolution against Spanish colonial rule, Filipinos have shown courage in their readiness to fight a superior military force and die for their country. Today, that valor is again being tested as the country faces a challenge to its sovereignty and maritime economic entitlements, which have been officially recognized by an international arbitration court based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
In the past months, Filipino Navy and Coast Guard personnel along with fishermen and civilian boat crew have been injured by water cannon blasts from China Coast Guard ships preventing Philippine vessels from undertaking resupply missions to the BRP Sierra Madre, a rusty ship serving as a naval outpost on Ayungin Shoal. The Chinese also shoo away Filipino fishers from Panatag Shoal.
President Marcos has said his administration continues to talk with China to ease tension in the West Philippine Sea. Instead of easing, however, the tension appears to be escalating, as Beijing insists that Manila had promised to remove the Sierra Madre from Ayungin. Beijing has shown no proof of this promise or identified the Filipino who supposedly made the commitment.
There are conflicting versions of whether Rodrigo Duterte during his presidency had a “gentleman’s agreement” with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for a status quo in the WPS that would effectively make the Sierra Madre disintegrate from disrepair into the sea.
In the absence of a valid confirmation of this supposed agreement, Philippine Navy and Coast Guard personnel backed by civilians continue to brave Chinese harassment within the Philippines’ maritime exclusive economic zone to regularly bring supplies to Filipinos stationed on the Sierra Madre. The observance of Araw ng Kagitingan today is a tribute to their valor, along with those of earlier generations who were not deterred by a superior force in defending their country.