Filipinos should STOP worshipping the 1987 Yellowtard Constitution

June 29, 2019By benign0

Even the Yellowtards themselves whine about their own constitution’s products. It was, after all, a colossal overcompensation to assuage a hysterical fear of a “repeat” of those “awful” years of the “Martial Law Era” that the powers that be of the time harboured.

Because of the 1987 Yellowtard Constitution, presidents can only serve one term — dooming an entire people to imprisonment in a six-year death cycle of unproductive, costly, and intelligence-insulting popularity contests. Worst of all, Presidents have to put up with idiot “vice presidents” who they had no hand in selecting as their partner in government.

A democracy is not a religion. As such, there is no reason why Filipinos need to put up with a piece of scripture written by hysterical pseudo academics indoctrinated in the rabid Yellowtardism that blanketed Philippine society under dark intellectual clouds in 1987. They can ditch the Constitution if they decide that it no longer serves a purpose other than to prop up discredited thinking.

It’s time Filipinos make an important decision!

It’s time Filipinos put their foot down and pull the rug from under a Yellowtard clique that brainwashed an entire people into believing that the 1987 Constitution is holy scripture. Time for a change. Time to get back on the road to building a strong nation and not the snowflake society Yellowtards prefer.

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https://www.getrealpundit.com/2019/06/filipinos-should-stop-worshipping-the-1987-yellowtard-constitution/?fbclid=IwAR1S8j6u5OzfNWIP_NDK4NzhUgDBM894NVREFqO0rV43SaeaTuDe8wLMMcI

Pangilinan offers Spratlys to Chinese oil firm in Reed Bank talks

By Theresa Martelino-Reyes, VERA Files

Posted at Mar 10 2014 06:26 PM | Updated as of Mar 12 2014 12:46 AM

(Conclusion)

Business tycoon Manuel Pangilinan offered China’s state-owned oil firm access to the Spratly group of islands in the South China Sea over which the Philippines has a territorial claim, although he had no legal capacity to do so.

Pangilinan, chairman and chief executive officer of Philex Petroleum Corp, offered to include in his discussions with officials of the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) the Spratlys Islands, even if his company’s contract with the Philippine government is limited to Reed Bank, which is part of Palawan.

In an aide memoire addressed to President Benigno Aquino dated May 7, 2012, Pangilinan reported on his meeting with CNOOC officials led by its president Yang Hua and listed his 11-point proposal which, he said, the Chinese “received positively.”

The 11-point proposal includes a Framework Agreement between Philex and CNOOC “relating to an area of mutual interest which will be defined as the area covered by SC 72.”

“Other disputed areas (such as the Spratlys) could be included by agreement,” wrote Pangilinan.

SC 72 refers to Service Contract 72, signed in 2010, in which the Philippine government awarded Forum Energy Plc. (FEP) exploration rights to a basin within Reed Bank. Philex owns 64.45 percent of FEP, a London-based listed oil and gas exploration firm focused on the Philippines. FEP in turn owns 70 percent of SC 72.

Reed Bank is not in the Spratlys, although China is claiming it as part of its territory under its 9-dash line map in which covers almost the entire South China Sea. Aside from the Philippines and China, Vietnam and Taiwan also claim Reed Bank.

SC 72 is a seven-year exploration contract that can be extended y three years. Its 25-year production period can be extended by another 15 years.

The Spratlys is being claimed either wholly or partially by the Philippines, China, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan.

Pangilinan said, “The period of the Framework Agreement will be from execution up to the date on which the parties reach a determination as to whether hydrocarbon resources in the area of mutual interest are capable of commercial development.”

“The Framework Agreement will cover exclusively commercial and technical arrangements and neither party will take a position on the sovereignty issue which is agreed to be a Government to Government matter,” wrote Pangilinan, who is also managing director of First Pacific Co. Ltd., whose chairman is the Indonesian tycoon Anthoni Salim.

Philex president and FEP executive director Carlo Pablo said neither the Philippines nor China has approved the proposed framework agreement at this time. There is also “nothing agreed yet” on CNOOC’s specific participation in SC 72, he added, nor is there any agreement on the offer to include the other disputed areas, including Spratly Islands.

“The framework agreement will set out an exploration work program to be implemented in stages designed to determine by year 2016 the commerciality of hydrocarbon resources in the area of mutual interest,” the Pangilinan memoire said.

Pangilinan said, “Philex will give CNOOC an opportunity to make an equity investment in Forum Energy Plc under terms to be agreed.”

Legal experts warn that Pangilinan’s offer to CNOOC would violate the Philippine Constitution which states that “the exploration, development, and utilization of natural resources shall be under the full control and supervision of the State.”

The Constitution further provides that “the state may directly undertake such activities or it may enter into co-production, joint venture, or production-sharing agreements with Filipino citizens, or corporations or associations at least sixty per centum of whose capital is owned by such citizens.”

A Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking by the Philippines, China and Vietnam in disputed areas, including Reed Bank, that was entered into by President Gloria Arroyo in 2004 has been questioned in the Supreme Court on the basis of these charter provisions.

Pangilinan’s proposal to CNOOC also states that a separate agreement would be negotiated by the parties if oil and gas of commercial quantity is discovered in the area, including the terms for profit-sharing.

“Any subsequent agreement (including any agreement as to the sharing of any profits after deduction of appropriate capital and operational expenses) between CNOOC and Philex to develop hydrocarbon resource within the area of mutual interest would be conditional on a resolution by the Philippine and Chinese Governments of the dispute relating to the sovereignty of such area,” Pangilinan said in his aide memoire.

Pangilinan clarified that the two parties would agree on their respective roles, “including the terms on which CNOOC might participate in the exploration work program as a technical consultant, and/or advisor, and/or investor.” 

The two firms opted to form a working group that would negotiate and implement the framework agreement subject to approval of their governments. Each party would have two members in the group.

Representatives of the two companies also decided to exchange technical information on SC 72 but again subject to approval of their governments and other possible joint venture partners. The work program would also have to be approved by their respective authorities.

As an additional point, Pangilinan said he would later propose that the framework agreement be subject to “a neutral but internationally-recognized jurisdiction,” preferably British law, as long as this does not go against Philippine laws and the terms of Philex’s contract with the government under SC 72.

Pangilinan was accompanied in the Beijing meeting by Pablo, First Pacific executive director Robert Nicholson, and Pangilinan’s executive assistant Edilbert T. Dungo.

Also sitting on the CNOOC side were the general manager of CNOOC’s legal department Kang Xin, the deputy general manager of the foreign affairs bureau Zhi Yiran, the deputy general of the exploration department Cai Dongsheng, overseas exploration director Cui Hanyun, and director for neighboring affairs Zhang Sheng.

The government has extended until August 2015 the deadline for completing the first phase of FEP’s work program involving an $80 million investment, after it failed to issue a permit for the survey needed before the company can start drilling.

“We are still awaiting Government instructions,” Pablo replied when asked if FEP has been given the go signal to resume exploration.

The decision to grant permits concerning the exploration and drilling activities in Reed Bank should come from Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, who is himself a former director of Philex and a close associate of Pangilinan. The Department of Energy deferred to Del Rosario’s office this authority last year because of its foreign relations implications.

The Philippines has asked the UN Arbitral Tribunal to declare as invalid China’s 9-dash line that covers almost 90 per cent of the whole South China Sea and to declare as part of the Philippine 200 nautical mile the continental shelf rocks, reefs and shoals that are exposed at low tide but submerged at high tide where China has built structures.

The UN tribunal is expected to rule on the Philippine suit, which has been snubbed by China, before the end of the Aquino administration in 2016.

Supreme Court Justice Antonio T. Carpio said a favorable decision by UN Arbitral Tribunal will clarify the situation in Reed Bank.

“There can no longer be any legal dispute that the fully submerged Reed Bank, which is where the rich reserves of gas is located, belongs exclusively to the Philippines, being within 200 nautical miles from Palawan and more than 800 nautical miles from China. The resolution of the legal issue is important for investors,” Carpio said.

(VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin for “true.”)

https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/03/10/14/pangilinan-offers-spratlys-chinese-oil-firm-reed-bank-talks?fbclid=IwAR0cu5uIVok14ifuF6-b1U4SAzkbAxzEQDDIUWvQkasQCEj6m5lEiLArj3Y

PRRD didn't commit impeachable offense over Chinese in PH waters

By Azer Parrocha  June 27, 2019, 7:26 pm 

MANILA -- Malacañang believes that President Rodrigo Duterte did not commit an impeachable offense because he never allowed Chinese to fish within Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the first place.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo insisted that it was “speculative” to assume that the Chinese vessel which allegedly rammed and abandoned a Filipino fishing boat in the Recto Bank (Reed Bank) was indeed fishing in the area when it could have merely been passing through.

“Under the Constitution, merong (there are) provisions on impeachment. Kung naniniwala sila na may ginawa siyang impeachable ground, e di mag-file (if they believe that he did something impeachable ground, then, they should file a case),” Panelo said in a Palace briefing on Thursday.

“But you cannot stop the President from doing measures, steps that to his mind is the correct way to obey the Constitutional command to him to protect and to serve the Filipino people,” he added.

Critics including former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario earlier warned that allowing Chinese to fish in territorial waters violates the 1987 Constitution.

Del Rosario said Duterte's failure to defend the country's territory, including the EEZ, violates the Constitution and is a basis for impeachment.

Following calls of Filipino fishermen for the President to ban Chinese from fishing within Philippine waters, Panelo said Duterte saw no need to prevent them from doing so.

Panelo clarified that Duterte trusts China would not allow their nationals to fish within the country’s 200-nautical mile EEZ since the two countries consider each other as “friends.”

“It is not necessary to prevent them from fishing because they will not do that. In other words, why should I prevent somebody to do something he is not going to do that?” Panelo said.

On Monday, Duterte himself was quoted saying: “I don’t think that China would do that (fish within Philippine EEZ). Why? Because we’re friends.”

Constitutional

Panelo defended Duterte following concerns that entering into a mutual agreement with Chinese President Xi Jinping on fishing rights without the concurrence of Congress is unconstitutional.

“Ano ba ang unconstitutional doon sa napag-usapan nila na wag magkagulo doon sa isang lugar. Kasi tandaan ninyo (What’s unconstitutional about agreeing to prevent conflict in the area. Because remember) this is a disputed territory,” Panelo said.

Duterte earlier admitted the Philippines could not stop China from fishing within the Philippine EEZ because of their previous agreement to allow both Chinese and Filipinos to fish in the area.

“Kasi nagtanong sila (Because they asked), ‘Will you allow the Chinese to fish? Sabi ko (I said) ‘Of course, ‘yan ang pinag-usapan namin noon (that was what we agreed upon),” Duterte said.

Citing the President, Panelo explained that sovereignty in the 1987 Constitution is “not absolute” and allowed certain actions that effectively diminish the sovereignty of this country.

“We allow it, because kailangan din natin iyon (because we need it), and for that matter lahat ng bansa ganyan (all countries are that way),” Panelo said.

“The logic there is we are in a world, we are not in an island ng tayo-tayo lang (with just ourselves). We have to deal with nations of the world,” he added.

Panelo, however, said Duterte was merely goading the United States, Great Britain, and France when he asked them to help the Philippines claim its territories.

“Sa akin, ang tingin ko doon nangangantiyaw siya (For me, I think he was only teasing them),” Panelo said.

Duterte posed this challenge to the three Western countries amid criticism that he has failed to confront China over its aggression in the contested waters.

“Ito ang hamon ko, ang hamon ko sa America, Britain, France, mag-assemble tayo dito sa Palawan tapos diretso na tayo doon sa Spratly. Agawin na natin kung maagaw natin (This is my challenge, my challenge to America, Great Britain, France is that we assemble in Palawan and go straight to Spratly. Let’s claim it if we can),” Duterte said in his speech during the 122nd founding anniversary of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) at Malacañang Park on Wednesday (June 26) night.

Panelo, however, said Philippine government will prosecute the Chinese crew if proven that they were fishing within Philippine waters.

“Then we will enforce the law. If it’s unlawful for them to enter, then we will enforce the law,” Panelo said.

“Basta violation ng batas (As long as it is a violation of the law), under our jurisdiction, we will prosecute,” the Presidential Chief Legal Counsel added. (PNA)

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1073490?fbclid=IwAR3-wxWeJ1W3Wfl6_8pVCLg_-cHiUavnzAfOhy8TA1qx_50eNjMEUMnpBaM

Rock Star

By Concept News Central, June 28, 2019

Slowly but surely, President Duterte is turning out to be the charismatic leader that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) badly needs.

Described as a mere talk shop for its failure to act decisively on issues that concern the region, the 10-member strong ASEAN has time and again been crippled by its consensus-based decision making that critics say prevent it from gaining any global clout in the face of pressures from superpowers like China and the United States.

Observers believe the regional bloc lacks the leaders of the stature of its founding fathers to drive it forward. There is no one they say that can match the charisma of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew or Malaysia’s Mahathir bin Mohamad.

Even Indonesia which is traditionally the most influential in the bloc no longer wields the kind of clout its long-standing foreign minister Ali Alatas did in the 80s and 90s.

A boat incident that no one wanted could have been the defining moment for President Duterte to come out of his own shadow and help steer the ASEAN to where it should go in the community of nations.

After feeling his way early in the regional meetings where he was described as a rock star among leaders in the region, Duterte is turning out to be the go-to guy when it comes to whipping up a consensus.

The 34th ASEAN Summit in Bangkok showed why.

Widely regarded as one who is too friendly for comfort with China, Duterte showed in the Bangkok meet that he could ably fill the shoes of both Lee and Mahathir when it comes to rallying regional leaders into action.

The fiery Philippine leader did not hide his displeasure over the stalled implementation of the 2002 Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea which should have been in force pending the approval of a permanent and binding Code of Conduct.

He rued the absence of a guideline to govern the acts of claimants on the disputed maritime areas. The President similarly expressed concern and disappointment over the prolonged delay in the negotiations for the CoC, pointing out that the longer the delay for an early conclusion of the CoC, the higher the probability of maritime incidents happening and the greater chance for” miscalculations that may spiral out of control.”

In a region confronted by growing tension among the powers on its borders, and challenges like climate change, so says BBC News, it is no longer enough for ASEAN to be the mere talking shop it has been content to be for so long.

And Duterte knows that there will come a time when the regional bloc will have to act fast and decisive.

Duterte’s exhortation during the summit may have egged his fellow leaders into acting with dispatch.

In what could be considered as an unprecedented effort to break free from the clutches of the superpowers as reported by this paper, ASEAN leaders, after a year of discussions, have approved a document outlining the CENTRALITY of the Indo-Pacific region.

This is crucial to the regional grouping in the face of efforts by both China and the United States to exert influence on the bloc.

The document, reports say, is encompassing since it seeks to provide an independent character to the ASEAN in terms of its role in the global economy and overall security of the regional bloc.

An elated Duterte gave a thumbs up to the document saying it will reaffirm ASEAN’s strategic role and the vision of a closely integrated Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean regions.

This should keep the balance of power in the region and prevent a feared confrontation among claimants in the South China Sea that many fear would be the new global flashpoint.

Duterte, true to what he has been saying, is afraid of war, afraid of the consequences it would bring to his people. But he certainly is not afraid to find ways to prevent one.

Tribune.net.ph

Zoom! PH to grow faster than China, Indonesia, Malaysia in Duterte’s last 3 years

The World Bank expects the Philippine economy to grow at a more rapid pace than Asia’s other regional economic powerhouses, such as China and Malaysia, in the second half of the Duterte administration.

‘Just a collision’: Philippines’ Duterte downplays sinking

This is based on the country’s strong macroeconomic fundamentals and sustained implementation of fiscal and tax reforms, the Department of Finance (DOF) said in a statement on Wednesday. Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said WB expected the Philippines’ gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 6.4 percent this year, second only to Vietnam’s 6.6 percent and better than China’s 6.2 percent, Indonesia’s 5.2 percent and Malaysia’s 4.6 percent.

Fitch warns against Duterte going all in with China: A flare-up in WPS could lead to a pull-out of infra investments

In 2020 and 2021, the Philippines’ GDP growth of 6.5 percent would keep it at pace with Vietnam’s 6.5 percent and ahead of China’s 6.1 percent and 6.0 percent growth during the same period. The Indonesian economy is projected to expand 5.3 percent for 2020 and 2021, while Malaysia will maintain its growth at 4.6 percent in both years.

No beef with Duterte on joint deal with China on WPS: As long as it’s constitutional, there’s no problem – Carpio

Beltran said: “The Philippines is expected to remain as an attractive destination for foreign direct investments (FDIs). We are pushing for further liberalization of investment ownership in the country.”

Duterte forms high-powered task force on join WPS exploration with China

Beltran cited the country’s strong fiscal performance and tax reforms,which would support the Duterte’s massive “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure modernization program and ensure that the economy’s “growth momentum will be sustained.”

“Moreover, the Philippines has implemented monetary and non-monetary policies to keep inflation manageable and bring it back to the government’s target range of 2 to 4 percent this year,” he said. “Perceived overheating risks have abated, driven by government measures and policies.”

Beltran said the tax reform has led to a strong revenue performance, with total revenues growing 15.2 percent from P2.473 trillion in 2017to P2.850 trillion in 2018, the first year of implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law.

Tax revenues grew 14 percent from 2017 to 2018 — P2.250 trillion to P2.565 trillion. The 2018 tax effort of 14.7 percent of GDP is the highest in 20 years.

The country’s debt-to-GDP ratio also continued to shrink despite the ambitious infrastructure buildup, with national government debt in relation to GDP at 42.1 percent in 2017, and falling further to 41.9 percent in 2018.

On top of a declining external debt exposure, Beltran said the country has ample gross international reserves (GIR) and a competitive domestic currency.

He also cited the Philippines’ latest credit rating upgrade from S&P Global — from “BBB” with a positive outlook to “BBB+” with a stable outlook, which is only a notch away from “A” rating territory.

https://www.bilyonaryo.com.ph/2019/06/26/zoom-ph-to-grow-faster-than-china-indonesia-malaysia-in-dutertes-last-3-years/?fbclid=IwAR0A7Jo8Oz5bIBguhBUF7xejiHgroVZ4eQftEeGfXoTWTOmpTASdnCYXusk

A plague upon our land

BY ANTONIO CONTRERAS       JUNE 27, 2019

THERE is a plague that is now wreaking havoc on our political landscape, and it is tearing our nation asunder. It is one that has spread because of the anomalous behavior of people attacking their fellow Filipinos not because the latter have committed acts inimical to our national interest or harmful to other Filipinos. The vicious lynching, mainly through social media, is because these people have committed acts seen as inimical to China’s interests.

It behooves us to ask, for example, what crime former secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario has committed for him to be skewered by pro-Duterte cyber trolls and bloggers. Many say that he was a member of the Cabinet of former President Noynoy Aquino. But the hatred appears to be less because of that fact, but rather because of what he has done. Specifically, del Rosario was involved in the prosecution of our case against China over the West Philippine Sea. This is what earned him the ire of many pro-Duterte defenders of China. This is the same reason why Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, who was also involved in the case, is equally hated by this crowd.

What heightened the anger further was when del Rosario, together with former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, filed a complaint against Chinese President Xi Jinping at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for China’s aggressive acts in the West Philippine Sea which they said threatened the livelihood of Filipino fishermen, and endangered the sustainability of our marine ecosystems.

Yet, these are actions that technically do not in any way undermine our national interest, but in fact advance and protect it. It strains credulity to even believe that filing a case against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague was done to harm the Filipino people. It is also bizarre to argue that our national interest was the one impleaded when del Rosario and Carpio-Morales took Xi Jinping to task at the ICC.

Many people would accuse anyone who raises these issues of being naïve, but naiveté is probably now the only weapon we have to remain sane, because otherwise the pragmatic explanation would be damning. It would be one where many of us, including some of our leaders, have subordinated our national interest to that of China’s, that a case filed against Xi Jinping is now construed as harmful to the interests of the Filipino people, and those who brought it to the ICC deserve to be treated as traitors to the Republic.

We would like to believe that this is not the case if we accept the assurances of the President that no inch of our territory and exclusive economic zone (EEZ) will be ceded. This is why it is cognitively dissonant for many Duterte supporters to treat those who fight for the integrity of our EEZ and for the protection of our territorial boundaries, like del Rosario, as if they are enemies of the State.

And yet this is what we witness. Earlier, when Carpio-Morales was held in Hong Kong, many supporters of the President wildly cheered at her misfortune. And the same jubilation erupted in social media when it was del Rosario’s turn, which in his case was even worse because he was actually denied entry. And the theme of the celebration was clear — that both deserved what they got for their audacity to enter Hong Kong after filing a case against China’s President, that they had it coming. Absent is the consideration of the fact that Hong Kong has an autonomous status vis-à-vis Beijing, and that Hong Kong nationals are highly protective of this autonomy. This is precisely why millions of them participated in street demonstrations to demand the resignation of their pro-Beijing leader. It is certainly a blight to our being a sovereign nation when Hong Kong nationals are now the ones taking up the cudgels for del Rosario and Carpio-Morales, while here in our country they are insulted and vilified by fellow Filipinos.

Many people take issue with del Rosario’s use of a diplomatic passport, accusing him of committing some sort of impropriety. But a close perusal of the law and regulations, and of tradition, reveal that it has been a practice not only in the Philippines, but in other countries, to issue diplomatic passports to former foreign affairs secretaries and retired ambassadors. Del Rosario is both. The wording of Article 7(a) of RA 8239, or the Philippine Passport Act, clearly identifies ambassadors as being one of those entitled to be issued diplomatic passports, even as Article 3(g) clearly defines ambassadors as “those who have been appointed as chiefs of mission and have served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary,” for which del Rosario and others like him who have been appointed as chiefs of mission would qualify. The IRR of the law requires that diplomatic passports should be revalidated by the DFA before every use, which del Rosario has complied, with according to DFA. The fact that he was allowed by our immigration officers to leave meant that his travel papers were in order.

There is no disagreement with the argument that Hong Kong has every right to deny anyone, even those carrying diplomatic passports, entry. But nothing is stopping us to politely inquire on behalf of del Rosario the reason for such denial. After all, it is our diplomatic passport holder who was denied without an official explanation.

Apparently, public rage against del Rosario has overpowered rational thinking. One has to deflect the issue away from the fact that Hong Kong authorities acted on behalf of China’s interest by exacting revenge on del Rosario. And the better way to do this is to focus on his use of a diplomatic passport.

But the plague that threatens our country can no longer be contained. And its signs are apparent when many Filipinos celebrate the misfortunes of one of us, simply because he had the temerity to file a case against Xi Jinping and China.

https://www.manilatimes.net/a-plague-upon-our-land/575525/

Del Rosario: The worst foreign affairs secretary in our history

BY RIGOBERTO D. TIGLAO JUNE 26, 2019

IT is disgusting for former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario to use a diplomatic passport thinking this would allow him to slip unnoticed into a country whose head of state he accused of crimes against humanity, in order to attend to his private business, that is, a directors’ meeting of his main income source, the First Pacific Co. Ltd.

But what is more appalling is that, since 2016, he should have given up any claim to being a diplomat.

After all, del Rosario was the worst Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) secretary in the history of the Republic, for three reasons.

First, he is the only — and hopefully the last — foreign affairs secretary directly responsible for losing Philippine territory: Bajo de Masinloc, internationally called Scarborough Shoal, over which both we and China claim sovereignty.

He lost Bajo de Masinloc when he ordered on June 2, 2012 our two remaining government vessels in the lagoon of the shoal to leave the next morning, in effect turning over the disputed area — after eight weeks of that episode called the “Scarborough Shoal Stand-off” — to China, which then sealed it off.

Withdrawal

He claimed to have done this because a US official had told him that he got China to agree to a simultaneous withdrawal of Philippine and Chinese vessels, but then China reneged on the agreement.

To this day, only del Rosario and his boss President Aquino 3rd claim that there was such an agreement.

The US official who supposedly brokered the deal was US assistant secretary Kurt Campbell, the brains of President Obama’s so-called “Pivot to Asia.” That sea change in policy in reality has been the US move to reassert its hegemony in Asia, and to prevent the emerging superpower from rising in Asia. Campbell retired from the State Department, and before that from the Pentagon, in 2013. Why wouldn’t he claim that there was an agreement with China if there was one?

It turns out that del Rosario didn’t even talk to Campbell. It was merely the Philippine Ambassador to the US at the time, Jose Cuisia, and then the American ambassador here, Harry Thomas, who relayed Campbell’s claim that he got China to agree to a pull-out from the shoal.

Why on earth would the Americans fool del Rosario so that we would lose Bajo de Masinloc? The only possible answer is that it wanted to push the Aquino government into filing a case in a multilateral venue against China’s claim to the entire South China Sea, even if this could be undertaken only through a mandatory process disguised as “arbitration.”

Arbitral panel

Three years after the arbitral panel issued its decision, we got nothing, expectedly as China refused to be a part of the “arbitration” — after all it means the agreement of two contending parties to a third-party decision over their squabble. More importantly, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) that the ruling was based on categorically stated that it cannot rule on sovereignty claims.

So, what use was the arbitral ruling? As spun by Western media and scholars — and by del Rosario of course — it painted China as a bully, which does not respect the rule of law. Leaked emails by Hillary Clinton hint that that this was in fact one of the key strategies for Obama’s drive to isolate China in Asia. Convinced that it was an American machination, China was emboldened to build artificial islands on the atolls it occupied, as it controls not a single island in the Spratlys.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes 4th, who was Aquino’s secret envoy to China to resolve the Scarborough stand, disclosed in an aide memoire that China had offered in July to revert the shoal to its status quo ante — i.e, both countries continuously claiming the shoal as theirs but freely allowing their fishermen to go there for refuge after fishing in nearby waters. China would allow this if the Philippines did not push through with its announced plan to file the arbitration case.

Del Rosario pushed Aquino to reject the Chinese offer. So, we have a useless arbitration decision and Bajo de Masinloc lost.

A second reason why del Rosario was our worst DFA secretary is that, from the start of his post, he had a hostile policy against China, which of course he got Aquino — who has totally no idea what foreign affairs means — to embrace. It was with such a belligerent mindset that Aquino didn’t give a second thought to sending the Navy warship BRP Gregorio del Pilar to arrest in April 2012 Chinese fishermen at Bajo de Masinloc, which triggered the eight-week Scarborough stand-off.

Colossal error

That was a colossal error, as it gave the Chinese so much propaganda fuel to claim that the Philippines had militarized the sovereignty dispute by sending out a warship. This of course raised such a howl among the Chinese people — netizens even cried out for the People’s Liberation Army to invade us — that the Chinese leadership had to adopt a hardline stance against us.

Vietnam has had far more serious territorial disputes with China. Vietnam in 1974 even lost 60 soldiers and one warship in a battle with Chinese forces over the Paracel Islands that the two countries claim sovereignty over. Vietnamese fishermen have had more skirmishes with Chinese government vessels than us. Yet China is the country in Southeast Asia with which Vietnam has had the closest relationship with since the 1990s, with no Vietnamese foreign affairs minister ever badmouthing China as del Rosario has done, incessantly calling it “treacherous” and a bully. Aquino’s top diplomat, del Rosario obviously doesn’t know the meaning of “diplomacy.”

Del Rosario in effect has made the Philippines America’s proxy in Asia, infuriating China. What kind of Foreign Affairs secretary is that?

What could be worse than undertaking a foreign policy hostile to a neighbor with the world’s largest population of 1.4 billion, which is emerging as a superpower, economically and militarily?

Superpower

Whatever you think of China, it has emerged a superpower we cannot be antagonistic to. Del Rosario should have followed what other Asian countries — especially Vietnam — have done and are doing. If you have to go against it, do it with other nations. Don’t pretend to be a David going against Goliath — which has been del Rosario’s favorite metaphor. Unlike Biblical mythology, the history of the world is the history of Davids crushed by Goliaths.

The reason why del Rosario was so bold as to be hostile to China is that in his mind he thought he was an American and that US military might was behind the Philippines. Which brings us to the third reason why he is the country’s worst DFA secretary.

How worse can a foreign affairs secretary be when, after decades of our people’s nationalist struggle, he pulled the country back to the US as its protectorate, which in effect reversed the 1992 Senate decision declaring our rejection of such status, when it refused to allow US military bases in the country.

Del Rosario and Aquino almost from the very start of the Scarborough Shoal stand-off declared to the world that the country was under US protection. That was another huge error in the Scarborough Shoal stand-off. For the Chinese, it wasn’t a case of a small country asserting its sovereignty over the shoal but the hegemonic US using the Philippines to wrest control of what it claimed to be its Huangyan Island.

When they lost the shoal on June 3, and realized in the weeks that followed that they had been fooled by a US diplomat, del Rosario and Aquino appealed to Washington to send its warships to escort ours so we could recover our territory.

Insouciance

Obama reportedly was irked by Aquino’s insouciance over US intervention that risked a military confrontation between the two superpowers, which could even have led to World War 3.

But the wily Obama got something out of Aquino and del Rosario’s distressed begging. First, he said we might recover Scarborough if we filed a case in an international court, and the State Department would recommend to us the best lawyers for such a project. That turned out to be the arbitration suit against China, with the best Washington, DC law firm handling it.

As important, Obama told them that if ever the US had to defend the Philippines against China, it would require bases where it could stockpile its war materiel, as the arena of war, the South China Sea, was too far.

A year later, Aquino gave the Americans those bases, disguised as “agreed locations,” our armed forces’ military camps where US forces could pre-position and store defense materiel, equipment and supplies.

How worse can a Foreign Affairs secretary be when he got the government to give back military bases the US had lost here in 1992?

It is a testament to the power of an oligarchic agent like del Rosario that he has kept these truths hidden from us, made possible by the media empire here of Indonesian Anthoni Salim, whose First Pacific Co. he has been with for decades. This media conglomerate includes the Philippine Star group, Business World, TV 5, and the website interaksyon.com. Have you read any article in these media outfits critical of del Rosario?

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https://www.manilatimes.net/del-rosario-the-worst-foreign-affairs-secretary-in-our-history/575008/