Trillanes the Real Villain

Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrels, as a wise man once said. Reminds me of this quote when I totally understood the clash between Senator, the former, Juan Ponce Enrile, and Senator, the former too, Antonio Trillanes IV in a Senate hearing some years ago. In truth it was the confrontation that interest us. A simple argument turned out to be personal. The quarrel what made us amused and not the content of what was revealed.

The backdoor talk with the Chinese was the highlight. Trillanes didn't want that. The Enrile 'favoritism' issue in the Senate should have been the agenda. But no. Trillanes failed. Enrile is too wise a man and too old a man you can outsmart. It's too difficult to win with this man. How can you argue with this man? 94 Years Old with a brain still sharp. Imagine the experience he had undergone. The history he witnessed that you can only read in books. This heated exchange revealed some dark secret of Trillanes. Trillanes was caught in his own actions. Like frying in its own oil. Trillanes blew himself up. Had it not been for his privilege speech he would have been saved from that embarassment. He threw himself off a high cliff. This is where I discovered his capacity to commit evil. It's only now I realized the more evil in him. It's only now I understood the whole story, what he really did on that backdoor talk with Chinese officials. It is only now that I learned all these because I watched and listened carefully the video up to the end. Well, there is always the other side of the story. Maybe. Maybe what Enrile told us was the only story we could digest. Maybe the other side of the story could have been worse. That's politics anyway. A man doesn't choose evil because it is evil. He only mistaken it for the good he seeks. We can always settle at that.

Duterte VS Carpio

(By Ex Senator Juan Ponce Enrile) A few days ago, I saw on TV a mini verbal tussle between President Rodrigo Duterte and retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio. Their topic was the opposing claims of the Philippines and of China over certain islands, islets, reefs, atolls and sandbars in what we call the West Philippine Sea. Evidently, the clash between them involves two different approaches to a foreign policy concern of the country. Justice Carpio wants the President to take a harder, more assertive, and more aggressive stance against China. The position of Justice Carpio is the best approach, if we have the wherewithal to back it up. But, to me, it is not feasible at the moment under our current national circumstance. All we have right now are our patriotism, our courage, our sovereignty, our rights under generally accepted international law and under UNCLOS, and under our arbitral decision and victory. No doubt our arbitral decision was a great feat and a proud feather on our national cap.

But realistically, we are not Japan, nor a Taiwan, nor a South Korea - not even a Malaysia or a Vietnam - in terms of armed capability. Our economy is not that big and strong enough to enable us to make a credible challenge against a country like China. Our fishermen and our naval and air capability are no match to the swarm of Chinese fishermen, to the swarm of Chinese Marine Militia, and to the swarm of Chinese Coast Guards operating in the contested area. We have too much to lose, if we make a wrong move. If we make a harder, more assertive, and more, aggressive stance, we might imperil our people, our core territory, and our economy. We might even dishonor ourselves in the eyes of the world, if we cannot back up our rhetoric with or military strength. There is no world government with an international police organization to protect us. We have to protect our national interest ourselves. The UN cannot help us against China. It has no capability to enforce its decisions, and its members have their own individual interest to protect. Besides, there is the veto power of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, which include China. Neither can we depend on the United States to protect us against China. It has its own national interest to serve, besides its internal and external problems that limit her capability to help anyone. To me, it is better for us to bid our time, male our economy bigger and stronger, and strengthen and modernize our defense and military capability before we raise our fists..

President Duterte Shows Mockery Of His Own Joke in 2016

President Duterte on his latest speech, May 10, 2021, in Davao City, responded once and for all the 'jestski' boruhahas. He said that he really bought a jetski but it was not brand new. It was slightly used, second-hand. And that he thought of the size and number of tanks of the jetski that he was finding solution on how to get gasoline for those tanks. He said he tried going to the sea but then all he found was all water. There was no gasoline stations around. President Durterte obviously joked around here. He intentionally mocked the critics in response to his previous statement in the 2016 Elections campaign that he said, or rather promise, he would go to the Scarborough Shoals with a jestski and bring a Philippine flag around. He said it has a bravado, to meant that really was ready to die for his people; for his country.

{Image above: Davao Vice Mayor, and Presidential son, Baste Duterte with his jetski and the Philippine flag. Image from Philippine Star: https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/05/16/1815714/we-are-not-giving-west-philippine-sea-rights-duterte}