A good move by President Aquino

 Philippine media helped, the other day, in recording a fact that disturbed my sense of equanimity. I suppose that it was an ABS-CBN crew that went on board a Filipino fishing vessel trying to supply our famished soldiers (and replace them with new warm bodies) on the Second Thomas shoal and they should be congratulated. Their undisguised intention of letting us know what was happening within some shoals on that not-too-distant part of our republic deserves the commendation of all freedom-loving Filipinos.

As we saw it on television, the smaller Filipino vessel approached the islet where an old navy vessel that served as temporary shelter of our armed forces was left aground. (By the way, the front page of The Freeman issue last Sunday gave a colored picture of the action.) When the boat neared its destination, larger, much larger, ships marked as belonging to the Chinese coast guard, started to shoo our countrymen away. It was only the acumen of our navy personnel that made them to outmaneuver the Sinos and succeeded to land some needed materiel.

Why would my sense of equanimity be disturbed? I have always believed that these islets, since their being included in the map drawn by Filipino navigator named Tomas Cloma and which drawing was followed by the administration by the Philippine government to the exclusion of any other state, are indisputable parts of our national territory. That had been the status for many years until the projection of the huge deposit of oil in the area surfaced when neighboring countries understandably started posturing.

Any arrogant claim against the Philippines by other states over these islands especially if their pretense is veiled by a display of superior firepower shakes my respect for their virtual discard of international law. Indeed, why do super powers behave as if their military might is a poor but brutal substitute for legal means of settling disputes?

It was also reported few days ago that the Philippine government filed a complaint, to use a generic and less legal lingo, with the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal against certain acts of the Peoples' Republic of China. In broad terms, it protested the act of the Chinese in claiming a great part of Philippine territory, west of the archipelago. It was precipitated by the failed attempt of units of Chinese coast guard to prevent elements of the Philippine Navy from bringing fresh supplies to Filipinos in few islets.

His Excellency, President Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III, deserves our praise. The nation has to rally behind him specially that China, true to its arrogant stature issued warnings (I call them threats) for our government's resort to international legal structures.  Albeit late, the president said he is un-cowed by these Chinese threats. However that statement is taken to mean, it demands our solidarity of thought and action with our president.

How can we really galvanize our support to the action taken by our president? First of all, everyone in the government shall sing the same tune as the president. This is an issue where, notwithstanding our democratic system, nobody questions the president's move. In fact, all political parties should convene their highest officialdom to come up with a resolution supportive of President Aquino.

Second. Information is the key. All of us Filipinos must know the details of all of these unfolding political events because bits of facts, being only half-truths are useless. High government officials with profound knowledge of the legal and historical basis of our sovereignty over these islands need to come down from their air-conditioned rooms to bring this cache of information to our level of understanding. If the layers of information dissemination have to be set up for this purpose, let them do it now. This is the best time in our political history to know how solid the basis of our claim of territorial sovereignty is because if everyone is equipped with such knowledge, the movement will just snowball.

Professional groups need not wait. Lawyers, doctors, accountants, engineers, nurses, the religious and academicians (and what-have-you?) have to organize their own forums of discussions and they must welcome into such intellectual groupings anybody and everybody, willing to know.

When we shall attain unanimity of position in this regard against the arrogance of the Asian super power, we have accomplished what there is to be done and let God show signs what to do next.

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