Binay on PH-China rift, squatters, and politics

Talk. That’s the only way to settle the dispute between the Philippines and China over the Panatag (or Scarborough) Shoal.

That was the answer of Vice President Jejomar Binay to the question: How would you solve the dispute if you become President? Binay was the lone guest at the Kapihan sa Manila at the Diamond Hotel last Monday. Binay will seek the presidency in 2016.

We are no match militarily to the giant China. We can’t afford a shooting war over the shoal. It would be like David fighting Goliath, but this time David cannot defeat Goliath with his slingshot.

We are no match to China economically, either. Even now, China is using economic pressure on the Philippines by banning the importation of Philippine bananas and pineapple. Chinese tour operators have also cancelled tours to the Philippines by Chinese tourists. China is the Philippines’ fourth biggest source of tourists. The loss of Philippine banana and pineapple exports to China and the loss of Chinese tourists are a big blow to our economy.

Binay said, however, that the ban on Philippine bananas, allegedly due to “pest infestation,” was imposed a month before the start of the Panatag standoff, when both China and the Philippines sent warships to the shoal, a favorite fishing spot for both countries. Both countries are also claiming the shoal as part of their territories. A vast lake of oil and natural gas is believed to be under the shoal, and that is really the root of the problem, not the fish. The shoal is a string of reefs, rocks and islets in the West Philippine Sea. It is only 124 nautical miles off Zambales province but 472 nautical miles from the nearest Chinese coast.

In a meeting with banana farmers in Mindanao, President Aquino advised them to look for markets other than China for their bananas. He also said the Department of Tourism and tour operators should entice tourists from other countries to come here. Vice President Binay’s advice is to keep talking to the Chinese.

Some Filipinos have proposed a boycott of Chinese products, but Filipino traders, especially the retailers in Divisoria where most of the cheap Chinese products are sold, protested, saying that similar products made here and in other countries are expensive.

To boost friendly relations and negotiations with China, the President has appointed two special envoys to China, Cesar Zalamea and Domingo Lee, who was earlier appointed as the regular ambassador to China but was bypassed three times by the Commission on Appointments.

Binay’s position in the Cabinet is that of housing czar tasked with providing homes for millions of homeless Filipinos. Binay told the Kapihan that starting this year, the National Housing Authority (NHA) will begin constructing medium-rise buildings within Metro Manila as homes for squatters, who would have to pay for their dwellings in small instalments. If the dweller no longer needs the unit, he cannot sell the rights to it and must surrender it to the NHA, which will award it to the next qualified applicant. That is to prevent speculation in government housing.

One of the incentives to squatting is that relocated squatters can sell the rights to the homes or lots awarded to them and then go back to squatting, hoping to be given another relocation lot which they can again sell. And there are many willing buyers because the lots are cheap.

Another incentive to squatting is politics. In many areas, candidates themselves bring in the squatters to vote for them. The squatter colonies get bigger and bigger as more squatters arrive, encouraged by the barangay captains and other politicians who use them as voters and collect a little fee or rent from each for themselves.

Many squatter colonies have associations (whose officers are not elected by the members but are appointed by themselves) that force each squatter to pay monthly dues. Nobody knows where the money of the alleged association goes. But each squatter family has to pay or else it is forced out of the colony which is owned by some hapless lot owner who cannot get any help from the government to get back his property.

One reason relocated squatters go back to squatting in Metro Manila is that the relocation sites are very far from where they eke a living and transportation costs eat up most of their earnings. Medium-rise buildings within Metro Manila for the squatters will remedy that, Binay said. The commuter trains of the Philippine National Railroad may also give relocated squatters free rides so transportation won’t be a problem for them.

On politics, Binay named five candidates who are already in the senatorial ticket of UNA, the political party that he heads. They are Senators Aquilino Pimentel III and Gregorio Honasan, and the sons of three entrenched politicians: Rep. JV Ejercito, son of former President Erap; Rep. Jackie Enrile, son of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile; and Joey de Venecia, son of former Speaker Jose de Venecia.

What about former Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, who was earlier reported to be in the ticket but whose entry was opposed vehemently by Pimentel (president of PDP-Laban, one of the parties comprising UNA)? Zubiri has joined Erap’s Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP), Binay’s principal partner in UNA.

With Zubiri a senatorial candidate of PMP, can Pimentel still resist his inclusion in the UNA ticket?

Binay’s reply: “I am still the chairman of UNA. What I say goes.”