MANILA, Philippines - In international relations, there is only one rule that guides states: Any nation must protect, maintain and enhance only its own interest.

History validates this postulate. Before World War II, Germany, Japan and Italy went on a rampage for territorial aggrandizement. The era of colonization witnessed the United States, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Great Britain expand their spheres of influence around the world. Not too long ago, Britain engaged Argentina in a naval contest over Falklands or Malvinas Island. Now Russia is reluctant to forgo Chechnya and South Ossetia. Serbia has great reservations about an independent Kosovo. And America maintains its foothold in Guantanamo, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Mindanao.

Indeed, from the dawn of history to the 21st century, nations have not readily given away territories. On the contrary, they have occupied foreign territories and strengthened their grip on them. Some have even carried out protracted conflicts to subjugate their enemies, as in the case of Israel in the occupied Arab lands, especially Palestine.

One exception is the Philippines. In the name of misplaced friendship, it mothballed its Sabah claim. For the ostensible purpose of marine and seismic exploration, it allowed China and Vietnam access to Palawan and some islands in the Spratly, which is being claimed by the Philippines and some other countries. And apparently fatigued by four decades of fighting Moro separatists, the Arroyo administration?unmindful of several territorial disputes between or among states unresolved for ages?secretly and unconstitutionally yielded to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front?s demand for ?ancestral domain? (which could include Manila for having been ruled by Rajah Sulayman before the Spaniards came).

The Supreme Court, haughtily ignored by the MILF, stopped the formal signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) in the nick of time. Had it been signed, a mini-state of Bangsamoro inside the small Republic of the Philippines would have become a fait accompli. For immediate international recognition would have ensued from the active sponsors of the MOA-AD?the United States, Australia, Japan, Malaysia and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Such countries appear to be unduly interested in the dismemberment of a politically naive Philippines, although it is headed by a foxy President who promotes self-interest and insatiable lust for power in her hidden agenda of federalism and Charter change.

?NELSON D. LAVIÑA,
ambassador (Ret.) via e-mail