Cutting across the seas

Foreign policy is not decided by a majority vote without full-blown debate in the halls of Congress. While our 1987 Constitution declared the President as our country’s chief foreign policy architect, it vested upon the Senate the task of oversight to check the acts of the Chief Executive on international agreements and treaties that bind the State to other nations of the world.

When tensions rise, the pressure on the Senate is always to move fast. Pass a resolution such as but not limited to expressing the sense of the Senate. Although not binding, a Senate resolution shows strength and unanimity. This was the direction of the Senate majority when it moved to adopt a resolution condemning recent statements by the Chinese embassy in Manila.

The numbers were already there, with 15 senators purportedly backing the measure. The message was meant to be firm, resolute and immediate. However, Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano rightly argued that the issue was too serious for a hasty, if not rushed, decision. Instead of adopting the resolution in plenary, Cayetano proposed a committee hearing.

A majority vote can express anger, but it cannot replace careful judgment. And it should be wisely remembered that in diplomacy, restraint is not weakness. It is responsibility.

Foreign policy does not end with a vote.

Cayetano’s position was not about avoiding action but about choosing the right one. He stressed the need to fully understand what were said, the context of the exchanges and the broader implications before the Senate takes a position.

Such national issues and international security concerns are nothing new to a veteran lawmaker like Cayetano who, for a short while, dabbled with them as the secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).  Cayetano served in the Cabinet of former president Rodrigo Duterte. He got appointed on May 10, 2017 when the one-year ban on election candidates lapsed. 

Cayetano ran but lost in the May 2016 election as vice presidential runningmate of the former Davao City mayor. But he resigned on Oct. 17, 2018 in order to run again in his congressional district in Taguig City and later became House speaker. 

As the chief diplomat during his brief term as DFA secretary, Cayetano championed an “objective-based” foreign policy, prioritizing negotiation and maintaining diplomatic ties over what he called “microphone diplomacy” in the West Philippine Sea (WPS). 

It was during the Duterte presidency that the “China pivot” came into play despite the July 2016 arbitral ruling that favored our country’s claims as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Cayetano’s tenure at the DFA was described as being known for his efforts “to balance independent foreign policy with strengthening bilateral relations, particularly with China and ASEAN neighbors.”

A Senate resolution was reportedly being passed around to get the senators to sign it. Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III clarified, however, the draft resolution supposedly seeks to declare persona non grata Wei Guo, the deputy spokesman of the Chinese embassy in Manila. 

Being declared persona non grata – person not welcome – is an extreme diplomatic tool used to remove immunity and expel foreign diplomats immediately out of a country. As such, expelled diplomats are officially banned from entering or staying because they are unacceptable to the host country.

Wei is reportedly being taken to task initially for locking horns with Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) Commodore Jay Tarriela, who is the official spokesman on WPS-related matters. As a uniformed officer, Wei demanded from higher officials of the Philippine government to sanction Tarriela for alleged public defamation of President Xi Jinping of China on the disputed overlapping maritime claims in the South China Sea (SCS). 

This got worse after the Sangguniang Bayan (SB) of the municipality of the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG) declared the ambassador of China as “persona non grata” in a resolution unanimously passed during its Jan. 27 session. As the lawmakers of local ordinances, the SB has jurisdiction over the KIG that includes Pag-asa as its biggest island in the WPS.

In turn, Counsellor and spokesman Ji Lingpeng of the embassy of China issued a lengthy, strongly worded statement. Ji doubled down in saying there is no need for such Senate resolution against the Chinese embassy deputy spokesman since President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. (PBBM) himself can simply declare Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan persona non grata.

“As Ambassador, he bears responsibility for all words and actions of the Chinese embassy,” Ji pointed out. Ji added he and the rest of his 12-man media affairs and public diplomacy team at the embassy are ready to go back to Beijing.

Malacañang, through press officer Claire Castro, asserted PBBM naturally backs Philippine government officials defending our WPS claims. While still recovering from his diverticulitis, Castro sought out to clarify from the President himself on the calls to expel the Chinese ambassador. According to Castro, PBBM replied with a terse “No.” PBBM accepted the official credentials of Ambassador Jing on Dec. 11 last year.

This brings to mind former DFA secretary Teodoro Locsin, who succeeded Cayetano. In a foreign policy statement, Locsin cited “the door to diplomacy should remain open, especially to reduce tensions and deter armed conflicts.” Now ambassador to the Court of St. James in London, Locsin often articulates the Philippine foreign policy as stated in our country’s Constitution.

“In the face of today’s changing realities, I refined this to ‘Friend to friends, enemy to enemies and a worse enemy to false friends.’ We renew our solidarity with our true friends who have stood by us in this farce. But we will not tolerate any form of disrespect or acts of bad faith. There will be consequences, far-reaching ones,” Locsin declared.

Public condemnations affect diplomatic relations, economic ties and Filipinos working abroad. More than 200,000 Filipinos live and work in China, Hong Kong and Macau. Any escalation has consequences that go beyond the Senate floor. And for this particular matter, it literally cuts across the seas.