Rattling sabers

I’m glad the P-Noy (President Benigno Aquino III) administration is at least making a show of refusing to be bullied by China. Though it would probably advance its cause farther by diplomatic rather than physical means, such as by rallying the Asean countries to support its position, which is a perfectly reasonable one.

I say “physical” rather than “military” because “military means” is, to put it kindly, a fairly exaggerated way of describing our sending the BRP Rajah Humabon to patrol the Scarborough Shoal, an atoll facing Zambales that China is unilaterally claiming. The Rajah Humabon is a World War II destroyer acquired from the United States in 1978, and what it is capable of destroying in the second decade of the 21st century only the Philippine Navy knows.

In the event of a confrontation with the fast-moving and well-armed Chinese patrol ships, its best bet would be to offer gallant but futile resistance, “always outnumbered, never outfought,” in the hope that if it is sunk it will create an international incident. An international incident that will lead to the condemnation of China by the world and the cementing of the Philippine claim to the disputed islands if only by way of commiseration.

Unfortunately, however, Gen. Gregorio del Pilar’s exploit at Tirad Pass has not had many contemporary manifestations. Nor has the Japanese capacity for self-sacrifice, as shown by the willingness of its nuclear reactor workers to risk radiation to spare their communities a catastrophe of apocalyptic proportions, rubbed off on us. So I don’t know that being thrilled or intimidated, depending on which side you’re on, will be the reaction of most everyone at the sight of that vintage vessel steaming across the high seas.

Still, I’m glad for the show of belligerence. P-Noy has declared that as a matter of national policy, we will not allow ourselves to be bullied by China. That is so especially as the dispute involves all-important implications. The disputed islands are known to hold substantial oil and gas deposits, which would be of enormous use to this energy-strapped country. It is added incentive to standing by principle: We are not going to allow those things ripped off from us.

It’s a commendable move and policy. But I’m astonished that no one has yet commented on the contrast between the way we’re standing up to China and the way we’re not before other countries, specifically the United States. In fact, in the case of the United States, we’re not only standing up to it, we’re groveling before it. Ultimately, what’s terribly funny in the most tragic sort of way is not the spectacle of our sending out an aging warship to meet invaders, sa manlulupig, di ka pasisiil, it is the way we’re doing that manfully with China but not with the United States.

The immediate objection of course is that the United States is not bullying us, it is being a friend to us.

Not at all.

Arguably the bullying has been replaced by insinuating, the coercion has been replaced by persuasion, the imposing of will has been replaced by making us believe what we are being made to do was our idea in the first place. The latter has never been hard to do, we’ve always believed America has our best interests at heart, even as it made rehabilitation funds after the War dependent on our passing parity rights, even as it littered the country with its bases as a condition for independence, even as it conscripted us to its wars, diplomatically at least if not militarily, from fighting Vietnam to fighting Iraq, from fighting world communism to fighting global terrorism.

But that change of tack is just a recent thing. Some 20 years ago, the United States was still bullying the country into renewing the US bases lease after it expired, even getting Cory to pressure the Senate to agree to it by way of a show of People Power at the Luneta. The people never came. It took an act of will and an act of Fate, an act of Senate and an act of heaven, to thwart the bullying. The senators, led by Jovito Salonga, voted to reject the renewal of the bases treaty. And concurring with that vote, God sent lahar flowing into the bases sites with the explosion of a dormant Mt. Pinatubo, turning the debate moot and academic.

Today, 20 years later, it’s as if that debate never took place at all. It’s as if the bases never left at all. American servicemen, open or disguised, are all over the place courtesy of the VFA, especially in Mindanao, Kristie Kenney even going to Malaysia to witness the signing off of a huge part of Mindanao to an independent Bangsamoro state. Officially of course that’s not bullying. Unofficially, it’s worse.

Not quite incidentally, Subic and Clark, whom defenders of the bases treaty said would go to seed after the bases left, flourished mightily afterward. It should be interesting to see how the Philippines, whom defenders of American military presence here say would go to seed if that presence disappeared, would fare afterward. That is, if the P-Noy government should find the wit and will, with or without heaven’s concurrence, to make it so.

Yes, I’m very glad government has found the guts, or a body part in the lower regions, to face up to China. I’m glad it’s saying you can’t just muscle us, bully us, shove us aside anytime you want to, we’ve got our pride, we’ve got our dignity, we’ve got our independence, and we’ll fight every inch for these things. But you’ve got to wonder why we can’t say that to everyone. You’ve got to wonder why we can’t tell America enough already, you’ve battered us enough, you’ve made fools of us enough, you want us to be friends, fine, but we’re not going to do the bidding of the lunatics who once controlled your government and are poised to do so all over again.

Everything else is just rattling sabers in the end.