Perhaps, there has been more than a million times that the challenge hurled by then US President John Fitzgerald Kennedy to his countrymen - to ask not what their country can do for them but to ask what they can do for their country - has been quoted by leaders around the world. I am sure that ordinary citizens, young and old, might have also relished paraphrasing the idea.
There is no better time than now to remind us of Kennedy's thought. We have to ask ourselves what we 'can do for our country' today that this modern imperialist super power named Communist China is trampling on our rights with utter disregard of our national existence and in total contempt of international law as well.
To recall, few years ago, Communist Chinese authorities drew the 9-dash line on globe replicas it peddled around the world. This line indicated the extent of the territory China claimed to be its own. The line hemmed close to the western shores of Luzon and Palawan and placed the Spratleys group of islands within its supposed territory. In simple language, this 9-dash line, if tolerated, would effectively remove from our national territory these islands that have historically been part of the Philippines.
Yes, our country resorted to legal channels, the only ones available to us, anyway. In fact, we won the initial obstacle when an international body recently ruled it has jurisdiction over our territorial concerns.
Then, several months ago, the communist Chinese government started occupying our territory. These chink-eyed monsters of our neighbors completely violated a written protocol asking signatories thereto (these are states with overlapping claims over the Spratleys groups of island) to avoid doing anything that tends to disrupt the status quo. Because it has resources to move men and equipment, Communist China quickly built military installations on these islets. And indeed, last week, it landed jetliners on so-called test flights. So, the physical occupation of Philippine territories by China is now an accomplished fact.
The truth is that we cannot afford to show any kind of force to protect our territorial domain because we have nothing to show. Our country cannot offer any form of resistance to this aggression. A token force of refurbished US coast guard vessels now flying our colors will only be pulverized. Our soldiers are ill-equipped to face a modern army of many millions. While armed confrontation is heroic, it can only add insult to our known injury. So, to preserve whatever pride and dignity we still cling to, we must no longer give marching orders to our armed forces only to end in their massacre. Honestly if physical battle is going to be fought, I will volunteer my old body to shoot it out with these invaders.
We, the Filipino nation must now recall the challenge of the American president in asking ourselves what we can do for our country.
Allow me to suggest one action. Last Christmas, I went to the malls near my place for few items. All of the things I wanted to buy were labeled "Made in China." They carried foreign, meaning non-Chinese, brand names but apparently assembled in the factories located within communist Chinese soil. Notwithstanding my need, I refused to buy what I wanted. Thinking that the newly opened malls would carry the items I was looking for, I went there only to find out the same scene.
Most, if not all the shelves in our shopping malls sell goods that are produced in China. From the standpoint of profit generation, this must be good for our businessmen. Millions of Filipinos prefer to buy cheap and because the economics of scale always factor in production, Chinese made products are comparably cheaper than those produced in other countries including our own goods.
It is easy to admit that China has dominated our own market even if they sell inferior quality. Ang tinuod, ngil-ad nang produkto sa China. Mora tag naglabay sa atong salapi kon mopalit ta ana ilang hinimo! Are we counting billions of pesos here buying useless goods? Chinese manufacturers sell such innocuous goods as toothpaste to expensive items as cars that totally corner Filipino buyers and siphon our pesos.
Let us give a push to showing our indignation against imperial China. What about if we, Filipinos, volunteer to refuse to buy all merchandise labeled "Made in China"? If we avoid patronizing Chinese products, our businessmen will be forced to stop importing from China. Better still our merchantmen themselves should initiate the move by refusing to import goods from China. Let them find other sources of merchantable products. This economic war is for us, the entire Filipino nation, to wage. This is what we can do for our country.