Peacekeepers

I am happy to share that I had the honor of graduating alongside the brilliant women and men of Class Masinag from the National Defense College of the Philippines (NDCP), earning my Master’s Degree in National Security Administration (MNSA) last Friday (June 7, 2024). As a public servant, having a specialization in national security at this juncture in our nation’s history is critical. The NDCP’s MNSA program has reinforced my understanding of the profound consequences of safeguarding global peace, stability and prosperity. The Philippines is now at the forefront of regional peace and stability. Peacekeeping has now been thrust upon us Filipinos. We, the peacekeepers.

Proper recognition and commendation must be made in favor of the brave men and women of our military who ultimately defended the peace last May 19, 2024 under tremendously challenging circumstances. The Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) personally seized and threw away food and other provisions meant for our soldiers on the BRP Sierra Madre. CCG also attempted to obstruct the medical extraction of our sick soldiers. Let me emphasize that all of these violent and unhumanitarian actions at sea occurred within our own territory and to the detriment of our patriotic, hardworking and isolated fellow Filipinos. Senators Angara, Binay, Ejercito, Hontiveros, Revilla and Villanueva were completely justified in condemning CCG’s actions as aggressive, coercive, demeaning, illegal, inhuman and wasteful. As I write this, I could not help but remember a quote. According to Isaac Asimov, “violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”

President Marcos Jr.’s statements during the 21st International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)’s Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore last May 31, 2024 were hence on point and timely. IF a Filipino dies due to the CCG’s violent actions, that is “almost certainly a red line” where “we certainly have crossed the Rubicon.”

Does it mean that we should allow ourselves to be bullied by China in the interim? Our answer should be a definite “no!” Sa manluluping, di tayo pasisiil.

We should reject China’s gaslighting. Not violence but intelligence is needed. It’s the reason we pursue a national security policy of “assertive transparency.” Our fight includes an ongoing information war of fact against fiction. Against lies, there is the enviable truth that the WPS belongs to the Filipino people. We can all do our part in this information war. As President Marcos Jr. underscored, “the [territorial and maritime jurisdictional] lines that we draw on our waters are not derived from just our imagination, but from international law.” China hates hearing it, but the entire South China Sea (SCS) belongs to the world, not to it alone.

China is alone; solitary in its indefensible position against international law. No nation freely, and without duress, supports China’s contrived claims. In contrast, a multitude of nations respects our legal claim to the WPS. One of the greater blunders we could commit now is to fall prey to a loss of restraint, discipline and life, turning WPS into a flashpoint of no return. In the vernacular, ang pikon talo. It means staying true to our constitutional commitment that the Philippines “renounces war as an instrument of national policy, adopts the generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the land and adheres to the policy of peace, equality, justice, freedom, cooperation and amity with all nations.” Indeed, as the President has categorically said, WPS is a “world issue.”

Protecting WPS thus requires a world-class approach involving several nations collaborating towards the rule of law, and for a free and open Indo-Pacific. The new “Squad,” involving the Philippines, Japan, Australia and the United States, related joint naval exercises from April to May 2024 (this one including France), new arrangements with Japan including the Official Security Assistance (OSA) and with our regional neighbors like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), are veritable advancements strengthening the military aspect of our national security paradigm. Apart from the nearly 200 diplomatic protests of the Marcos Jr. administration, we must support the filing of new cases against China for their violation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and their irreversible annihilation of coral reefs in Philippine territory.

Economics is the greatest factor in the Philippine-China national security equation. Our reliance with China’s economy and its embeddedness into our own is crippling. We must work on our enhanced economic independence without resorting to isolationism. Though we ought to heed and support Defense Secretary Teodoro’s efforts to closely monitor workers employed by China’s state-owned companies involved in the previous administration’s awarded government contracts and who may be held responsible for unlawful “covert economic and information activities.” Included in the discussion are Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs), arguably rebranded as internet gaming licensees (IGLs), whose presence throughout the Philippines, from exclusive villages to provincial universities in close proximity to Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites, are not only suspected but already linked to criminal activities such as human trafficking, cybercrime, money laundering, espionage and usurpation potentially through now infamous figures like Tarlac, Bamban Mayor Alice Guo.

The 2022 US National Security Strategy identified the Indo-Pacific region as the “epicenter of 21st century geopolitics.” If we are to be prepared for what is to come, then we must be in honest confrontation of ourselves. China’s bullying is a problem along with externalities like stubborn global inflation or real estate crises, but dysfunctions at home remain. “A house divided cannot stand.” We need to do more to encourage a strong sense of nationalism and keep the peace. In the face of the fear of war, I know that violence is not the answer. We should fight indeed, but we should fight for PEACE.