Is Sec. Roque doubling as Chinese spokesman?

The health protocols spawned by COVID-19, and which are apparently designed for the well-being of our elderly, including me, are, in fact, oppressive to some of us. Since the pandemic struck, we have been so restrained in our movements that, in my case, I have gone beyond our gates only in the rarest of occasions. True indeed, in spite of our good health (thank God), my lady Carmen and I have been in a kind of house arrest. Since I cannot go out even just to buy newspapers, I have arranged for a newsboy to bring me copies of my preferred dailies. Recently though, for reasons unknown to me, the newsboy had stopped delivering. To fill my desire to know what is happening around me, I have learned to open the internet.

The other night, I read from the net a report attributing to Secretary Harry Roque a statement that confused my idea of the role of a presidential spokesperson. It was reported that Roque on Monday said: “The question is: Where were these dredging vessels used? Maybe these were used in some areas of the country with the permission of the local government.” Upon reading it, I initially imagined the chance that Roque was misquoted. By golly, I imagined wrongly.

The Malacañang mouthpiece was quoted in connection with the report that Jia Geng, a supposed research vessel owned by Communist China, has been seen again intruding into Philippine waters. The operative word is “again.” In 2020, it was spotted in the northern Philippines. The report said that Jia Geng entered the country’s exclusive economic zone on January 25. Two days later, Ryan Martinson of the US Naval War College posted on Twitter that the ship was “back operating in the Philippines exclusive economic zone. Current location about [242 kilometers] east of Samar.” On January 29, it accordingly dropped anchor in Cabugaw Bay, Catanduanes. While in Philippine waters, “[i]mmediately, PCG Catanduanes deployed boats to board said vessel,” a report by the Coast Guard said. “But the captain [of Jia Geng] refused…due to health protocols.” What?

As an ordinary Filipino, I have grown accustomed to seeing how Communist China has bullied our country and violated our territorial rights. Proof? Just view the military installations built by China in the West Philippine Sea islands which the International Arbitral Court adjudicated as part of Philippine territory. The presence of Chinese ships in Philippine waters invited enough attention of our lawmakers that congress has called an inquiry. Muntinlupa City Rep. Ruffy Biazon, the vice chair of the House national defense and security committee, was correct when he was quoted as declaring that “the government should not allow these unauthorized incursions to go unchallenged because it is [an] affront to the country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty whenever foreign vessels operate within Philippine waters without prior coordination and authorization.”

I am deeply personally troubled to have discerned that the friendliness of President Rodrigo Duterte with China might have goaded Roque to become a virtual propagandist of this communist superpower. When there was mention of Red Chinese dredgers also found in Philippine waters, Roque ignored the major incursions by Chinese vessels and instead chose such dredger issue saying, “MAYBE xxx they were used xx with the permission of local government”. (Emphasis mine). Is my personal perception of trouble a seeming representation of Philippine helplessness such that the presidential spokesman appears to double as that of Red China?