Misguided Roque missile

I was appalled to hear the comment of Secretary Harry Roque on the dramatized virtual confrontation between the world’s super powers, United States of America and the People’s Republic of China, on the islands dotting the West Philippine Sea. The statement of Secretary Roque, an acknowledged intellectual, revolted against whatever little understanding I, as an ordinary resident of this republic (and a senior citizen at that), have on such concepts as territorial integrity and national sovereignty. Being the official mouthpiece of our government, Roque, I assumed, had the authority of President Rodrigo Duterte when he said “we do not wish to be a part of a US-China intramural.” This early, if Roque thought it was a presidential missile he launched, it was a misguided one.

To recall, an American naval asset, reportedly a DDG, to mean a guided missile destroyer, recently passed the waters close to the Scarborough Shoal. It was not revealed though if the warship cruised under the international law precepts of freedom from navigation or innocent passage. Whatever legal justification the American navy ship availed of, China reacted in a manner that was meaningfully belligerent. This Asian world power declared that the US vessel intruded into Chinese territory. It was in the ensuing exchange of verbiage without, as yet, any attendant saber-rattling between these two countries, that Secretary Roque came up with a seeming Philippine position of non-interference.

Let me, in my insignificance, dare say it straight to our almighty press secretary. Use your profound learning to express what is right. Do not be weighed down by the privileges of power. If your moral perception is somehow getting blurred by the kleg lights of prominence, at least speak of the legal truth. It always prevails in the end. Remember power is but fleeting. Never be swayed by your temporary stay in Malacañang to cover a truth.

The truth is that we are not witnessing a US-China intramural. The Scarborough Shoal is part of Philippine territory. It is our land that is seized by China. It is forcibly taken from us. Our country is a victim of an international usurper. China’s pretensions to owning the Scarborough Shoal, though propped up by its invincible force, is debunked by the ruling of the international arbitral court. You know all these, Secretary Roque. The Philippines, not the Chinese state, has the legal territorial claim to the islands rising above the waters in the West Philippine Sea. Please do not mislead us, the Filipinos, into thinking that China owns Scarborough Shoal and neighboring islands thereabout. That is what you are trying to project within the context of your released statement.

We understand, of course, the preference of President Duterte. Since day one of his administration, he has rolled the red carpet of amity to China on one hand and released a fusillade of bitter, harsh, and unfriendly remarks against America and some European countries, on the other hand. The president’s vague cover was, as it continues to be so, formulating a new independent foreign policy. As the new leader of the country, he has the authority to craft a paradigm shift of international relations that he believes could be good for us. We have to give it to him. With this new tack, the president has suppressed the significant impact of ruling of the arbitral court. What he probably failed to realize was that in his haste to stamp his leadership mark in designing a novel foreign policy, he might have demonstrated less fealty and vigor to uphold the rule of law.

I am afraid that this Duterte mind is what Secretary Roque is assimilating in order to do his job as presidential spokesman. We can understand that the secretary had to abandon his previous articles of faith (my mildest equivalent for his ideological treachery) in favor of his newly acquired garb. But in the process, he is mouthing what his boss cannot do, in spite of his immense popularity. While President Duterte cannot forever remain mum on the claim of China over the Scarborough Shoal and nearby islands over our integrity as a sovereign state, it is not the duty of Roque to lace that presidential silence with an even more confusing declaration. Here is more. The Chinese outburst was not just aimed at America. It was a militarist warning to us, the Philippines, not to take any form of initiative to assert our valid territorial stand vis-a-vis the West Philippine Sea which Secretary Roque, by his misguided missile, lent some authoritative aura.