In the context of the complex territorial disputes in the Asia Pacific, Albert F. del Rosario has done an excellent job as foreign secretary. He is fulfilling his duty to maintain peaceful relations with all nations, including China, without surrendering Philippine sovereignty. It is not his fault that China is now on a campaign of aggressive territorial expansion, which has brought it in conflict with its neighboring countries. The secretary is peacefully and firmly asserting Philippine sovereignty over territory that is within our 200-mile exclusive economic zone.
It is totally unwarranted for Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV to call the secretary a “war freak.” In fact, the secretary negotiated the retreat of the BRP Gregorio del Pilar early in the conflict and later on June 15, 2012, the final withdrawal of all Philippine coast guard ships from Scarborough Shoal in the hope that China would reciprocate. In response, China put a rope across Scarborough Shoal to prevent Filipino ships from entering and provocatively sent a large flotilla of Chinese fishermen to assert its sovereignty over Scarborough and the Spratlys. In spite of the duplicity of the Chinese, Secretary Del Rosario has continued to push for a peaceful resolution of the conflict and a code of conduct in international and regional forums like the Asean.
In contrast, Trillanes is undermining the Philippine sovereign position by acting virtually as an apologist for China. He takes China’s side when he claims that China never meant to put up a base or structures on Scarborough Shoal. Even so, China has already effectively taken control of the area by announcing a prefecture-level city to administer the area, and a military garrison equivalent to a base protecting the area. Trillanes blames Del Rosario for Asean’s failure to issue a joint statement during its last regional meeting in Cambodia. However, even international newspapers report that the communiqué was aborted due to China’s insistence that no mention be made of the West Philippine Sea conflict and that Cambodia blocked any mention of the issue in the statement.
If we follow Trillanes’ tack of undermining the Philippine sovereign position, the Chinese will never agree to a regional code of conduct, and we will be forced to cede our sovereignty over the islands in the West Philippine Sea in exchange for better relations with what Trillanes slavishly calls “our superpower neighbor.”
We hope that Trillanes will not play the role of Cambodia in the Philippine Senate. And that we continue to support the quest of the Philippines and many other Asean countries for a regional code of conduct that will bring a peaceful resolution to these territorial disputes.
—JOSE ERNESTO DEL ROSARIO LEDESMA,
North Greenhills, San Juan City