The Philippines' sovereignty: To our country we stand

Sovereignty allows a certain country to manage it on its own, we shall have the biggest part in taking the control. Amidst big countries such as the United States and China, we are powerless over them because they are bigger than us, economically and military speaking. Since that point, we have a problem in standing up as a free country to make policies without foreign influence. In negotiating with foreign powers at the end of the day, we have the biggest loss.

The present Philippine admin terminated the Mutual Defense Treaty with the US. The question goes on, doesn't the administration want to enforce Philippine sovereignty? For a long time, we have been pressured to take part in the US agreement because they are a strategic ally. For a long time, any decision to scrap the Visiting Forces Agreement is met with hostility, not until the administration has finally terminated it.

Recently, the present Philippine admin is embracing with arms wide open to partner with China. But never did the Chinese respect our sovereignty such as our jurisdiction over the West Philippine Sea. "We might as well just be friendly, improve our commerce, and let time heal. Tomorrow will take care of itself, (that's) one thing for sure and like any other historical claim, the world is always changing and we did not really do it at the expense of the lives of Filipinos," Duterte said in an article. Chinese would harass our fishermen and usurp our own resources within our legal boundaries. Is the assertion of Philippine sovereignty followed? They even pressured the Filipino fishermen to take back the statement against the Chinese Navy Vessel who crashed into them. In the same story, the Philippines Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO), only 17.7% of workers are Filipinos while 82.3% are foreigners. Issues associated with the surge in POGO operations include payment of current taxes and even the entry of fugitives who end up working here. This has given rise to questions of our assertion of sovereignty. Who is making decision for our country? Us or the foreigners?

Moreover, the House of Representatives approved the amending 84-year-old Public Service Act allowing the foreigners to own the Philippines' public utilities. This allows for foreign ownership in the public service sector including the transportation, communication and power industries. At this point, we are little by little losing our own sovereignty, our own will to manage and control our country.

Smaller countries like the Philippines are prey to larger countries like the US and China. We cannot assert our own decisions because we are the mercy these countries if they pull out all their business or military support from us. Either way, whoever is in charge, we'll have a hard time standing on our own if we don't assert our own sovereignty. Is the current Philippine administration promoting sovereignty through the abrogation of VFA when he is open to Chinese? Is the US a better partner and did they really promote our own will to manage the Philippines? What can the Philippines do to assert sovereignty? How can we prove that we can be on our own?

Juvil Amista and Andre Canonigo

University of San Jose-Recoletos

Bachelor of Arts in International Studies