Pyrrhic

Adecade after, there seems to be less enthusiasm about our “winning” at the arbitral tribunal to settle our maritime claims.

The Philippines paid for the entire cost of these proceedings – not at all a measly sum. China chose not to participate. In the end, we “won” recognition of our “sovereign rights” under the framework of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

We chose the noisier road that had our brothers in the ASEAN wincing. We chose the path of confrontation, which rarely brings definite rewards. In the end, we stood out like a sore thumb in a region that values consensus and quiet diplomacy.

And we paid for this “victory” in a thousand other ways.

In 2019, we received 1.7 million Chinese tourists. By 2025, that number dropped to 250,000. This represents billions in lost tourism revenues and at a time when the industry is flagging most.

When our bilateral relations warmed during Rodrigo Duterte’s presidency, China became our top trade partner – subsequently our largest export partner. When relations turned hostile, our export sector basically collapsed.

China in 2016 celebrated our reinvigorated partnership by gifting us with three symbolic bridges. We looked forward to increased investment flows and soft loans to meet our infrastructure needs. When the pandemic broke, China rushed 50 million doses of vaccines to help us contain it. During this time, other countries were hoarding their vaccine supplies and banning exports.

On top of that, Beijing promised billions of dollars in investments. But anti-China personalities did everything possible to block any progress on the planned investment projects, producing many lost opportunities for us.

Within days after president Duterte’s visit to Beijing in 2016, Filipino fishermen were allowed to return to Scarborough Shoal. Today, our fishermen are again banned from sailing into the area on the pretext of ensuring their safety during live firing by US and Filipino forces engaged in military exercises.

For good measure, our fishermen are harassed by China’s naval forces when they venture out into areas claimed by the superpower. That is simply Beijing’s way of maintaining pressure. They have the capacity and the will to keep us constantly annoyed.

Last week, a group of Chinese “scholars” claimed the Batanes islands are extensions of Taiwan, which China claims as its territory. True to form, our most prominent spokesmen expressed their annoyance, biting into the bait. This is exactly the response Beijing wanted.

Without much in terms of cordial bilateral relations, Beijing intends of wear us down by way of daily inconveniences. Possibly until such time we are ready for mature bilateral interaction.

Meanwhile, Filipino public opinion prefers to view our relations with the emerging superpower as some sort of cockfight, with zero-sum outcomes. Politicians pander to public opinion by escalating anti-China posturing – mainly to win votes rather than help our economy develop.

We won a skirmish a decade ago only to try very hard to lose the war.

Bidding

We all know many of our regions are lagging behind the development race because of the sheer lack of sufficient energy supplies. The traditional local electric cooperative set-up has been transcended by the volume of power required to ensure industrialization is spread out nationally. The result is rural poverty and congested cities.

Rural power distributors often do not have the capital required to upgrade their service delivery. The solution to this constraint is to foster strategic partnerships between cooperatives and capital-rich distributor corporations.

The Batangas II Electric Cooperative Inc. (BATELEC II) serves an area where power demand has escalated rapidly the past few years. In order to quickly improve its logistical capacity, the cooperative decided to invite a strategic partner.

Last week, the board of BATELEC II decided to require a bidding process. This will be the basis for choosing a private sector partner who can help improve the quality and reliability of its services.

The bidding, formally called the Competitive Selection Process in the energy sector, is the right thing to do. Everything will be laid out in the open. No backroom deals will be cut. Transparency, accountability and consumer protection will be ensured.

This is the only way to go. This is how responsible governance works.

The stakes in the choice of a private sector partner are high. The partnership forged will influence the quality of electric service, operational efficiency, future investments and ultimately the welfare of hundreds of thousands of member-consumers.

The disaster that happened with many partnerships forged between local water cooperatives and large corporate investors instructs us well. The disaster could have been averted had the cooperatives insisted on transparent negotiations rather than on closed-door processes.

By opening its future partnership to a Competitive Selection Process, BATELEC II honors its member-consumers. It likewise recognizes the tremendous economic potential of its service area.

By clearly defining the qualifications, technical requirements, financial standards and evaluation criteria in advance, BATELEC II keeps its constituency engaged in the process and lessens the possibility the final choice will be contested. Too many deals have been delayed, at great cost, by litigation arising from protests happening after a deal is closed.

The BATELEC II board directed a technical working group to prepare the terms of reference consistent with existing laws, regulations and National Electrification Administration policies. Every decision, going forward, will have a common framework to refer to.

The cooperative shows the way for similar deals forthcoming.