China’s PLA filling the void?
This is in connection with the articles “DILG probes Sino soldiers in Pogos” (News, 3/7/20) and “Duterte has chosen: Province of China” (Opinion, 3/5/20), the latter by retired senior associate justice Antonio Carpio.
We are very much concerned with these developments. The entry of able-bodied Chinese nationals into the country posing as Pogo workers, the influx of hundreds of millions of dollars, the permission given to Chinese firms to build communication infrastructure inside Philippine military bases, the shooting range in a subdivision in Parañaque, and the surreptitious “visits” of Chinese warships in Davao are a serious cause for concern.
The stories my late grandfather told us come to mind. Before Imperial Japan invaded the Philippines in December 1941, there were thousands of Japanese citizens working here as buyers of used bottles, scrap iron, and old newspapers. When the war broke out, those Japanese turned out to be officers of the Japanese imperial army.
President Duterte’s unilateral abrogation of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with the United States, simply because he was irked by the visa cancellation of Sen. Ronald de la Rosa, now looks to be a lame excuse. As we see it, the abrogation may have been nudged by
China. With the VFA gone, China’s People’s Liberation Army fills the vacuum. This is similar to US President Donald Trump’s order to pull out the US forces in Syria to satisfy Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose troops took the place the US Army vacated.
If the allegations of Senators Panfilo Lacson and Richard Gordon are true—that there are 3,000 PLA soldiers posing as Pogo workers here, then we are in very deep trouble. Why is Mr. Duterte silent about all this?
The reason for his reticence may be his earlier statement that in case there is a move to oust him from power, “China is going to protect him.” This then gives credence to Carpio’s March 5 column.
Where are the patriotic officers and men of the Armed Forces of the Philippines?
RAMON MAYUGA,
