Dredging or intelligence-gathering?

When the Japanese forces invaded the Philippines in 1941, the Japanese Imperial Army landed on the beaches of Vigan in Ilocos Sur, Aparri, and Gonzaga, Cagayan (Dec. 10); Legazpi, Albay (Dec. 12); Lingayen, Pangasinan (Dec. 22); and in Mauban, Atimonan, and Siain, Tayabas (Dec. 24), all in Luzon Island, as a prelude to the attack on Bataan and Manila, the seat of power.

Prior to the invasion, there were already Japanese spies residing in the said areas, and what were they doing there? They were covertly preparing for the planned military invasion, such as testing the sand samples in the beaches for permeability for tanks, combat vehicles, and other landing units.

Today, what are the reasons for the presence of two foreign vessels in our territorial sea—a dredging ship off the coast of Bataan and another survey ship on our eastern side? There is no more need for a foreign country to deploy human intelligence to gather sand samples along the beach; they will just send a ship, disguised as a dredger or a survey vessel, that has a laboratory inside to test the sand samples or conduct topographic or hydrographic surveys, and immediately send the test results electronically to their own country.

They will deploy their “civilian” vessels near Bataan or Lingayen (western Luzon), another in Aparri (northern Luzon), and another one in eastern Luzon, just like the Japanese in 1941, and from these vantage points the landings for the invasion of Luzon will take place. Why Luzon? In Luzon we have Malacañang, Padre Faura, Batasan, Aguinaldo, Bonifacio, Villamor, Magsaysay, Del Pilar; and if Luzon falls, the rest of the country will follow, as in the 2013 movie “Olympus Has Fallen.”

And if the results of the topographic or hydrographic surveys are favorable—in the roads, streets, avenues, boulevards, highways, and expressways of Luzon, our people will witness the rumblings of hundreds of Type 99 Main Battle Tanks, ZBD-04 Infantry Fighting Vehicles, and FAW MV3 Tactical Trucks, among others. The Kalayaan Island Group in the West Philippine Sea, as well as the Batanes and Fuga islands in the north, will be the first to fall into enemy hands, and most likely the invaders will use the islands as their staging area for the invasion of Luzon.

The invasion will only happen if our Senate will terminate our 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States.

Is it really dredging, or is it intelligence preparation for the battlefield?

JOBET GARCIA PAULINO,
San Juan City,
[email protected]