Belinda Olivares-Cunanan’s March 18 column was like a soothing breeze. Permit me to congratulate her for her comments on Sen. Jamby Madrigal. I was really disappointed when I saw the senator go into hysterics as she expressed her opposition to the promotion of around 24 military officers. Her behavior was unbecoming of an honorable senator of the land.

Her opposition, though based on a procedural rule, was without any sane justification; it was overly oppressive to the officers, who I think should be accorded due respect. In her obvious try at grandstanding and vindictiveness, she has shown Filipinos the true quality of the Senate we have.

And now, with Senators Panfilo Lacson and Antonio Trillanes IV, she is thinking of breaching diplomatic protocol: Drag China into the partisan fray in our country, through a Senate investigation of the joint oil exploration agreement entered into by the Philippines, Vietnam and China.

In this highly competitive world of trade and commerce, we have to befriend (not antagonize) other countries for mutual economic benefit. We can no longer rely on the United States alone, which is slowly going into an economic recession because of its confrontational policies in relation to other nations, or else we will also be sucked into that country’s economic woes.

We need the assistance of China, Japan and India and other emerging and economically powerful neighbors for us to jump-start our ailing economy. The price of oil at one time breached $110 a barrel. Until now, the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement has not been ratified by our Senate. Why?

ROMULO VITOR (via emal)