After two weeks

The decision of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) favoring the Philippines against the intrusion of China into territory long considered part of the Philippines has long been expected. There is simply no basis for China’s claim and aggressive takeover of islands within the territorial boundaries of our motherland. The situation now demands two things:

1. The skilled and effective efforts of the government to leverage the Unclos declaration in favor of the Philippines to convince China that mutual respect, even between a giant and a small country, is to its best interests too;
2. Filipino citizens now have one less option. The legal option has produced good results but more must happen to maintain our territorial integrity. We must assume that China is serious about its own stand not recognizing the Unclos process and decision. We must assume that China will not only leave our territory alone and may even occupy more islands. What then? Will Filipinos fight and die to defend its sovereignty? Who among us will, and how many? When a possible carnage begins, with more Filipino lives than Chinese, how far can we go?

The defense of one’s territory does not primarily begin with the help of another nation, or many other nations. The Philippines belongs to Filipinos, and Filipinos must honor that divine inheritance and responsibility. Well and good when reason, fairness, and civility rule the actions of other countries. But history tells us about bullies, about aggression, about violent incursions by foreign powers against the innocent. The age of colonialism may be dead to most but not to the rapacious and ambitious, or to the deluded and belligerent.

We cannot be lulled into complacency or confidence by the presence of American forces in our land and seas. We must not assume that America will engage China is an armed conflict over a defense treaty it has with us. Our relationship with the United States is deeper than a treaty, especially with millions of Filipinos who are now either American citizens or green card holders—and who can be conscripted into the US military. But the interests of America will be the primary motivation of American action, not our historical and present bonds. Will Americans die for Filipinos when Filipinos are not willing to die for their motherland?

Justice is an ideal. Peace is an ideal. Cooperation and friendly relations are an ideal. But we all know about the ideal compared to the reality that we live in. We do not have to go to China”s bullying to understand about many other bullies who abuse, exploit and terrorize. If anyone is not sure, talk to the poor, talk to the hungry, talk to the weak. There are millions and millions of them, many times more than those who do not experience their fears.

The world, even with America, or because of America in the eyes of many, is truly an imperfect reality. By simply monitoring international news daily, we will be exposed to the myriad forms of imperfections that beset nations, one against the other, or those caught in violence internally, citizens against citizens. We have our own festering insurgency fed by our poverty and corruption.

The communist rebellion should have long taken over government by the sheer numbers of the poor and marginalized. Unfortunately for itself and those who have carried big dreams for it, too many mistakes and weaknesses have weakened their natural advantages. It can now be said that this rebellion was once like the disease called herpes—that it could not be cured but it was not fatal either. Maybe the leaders of the rebellion can research what is now the status of herpes against man and take a hint from it. Lessons learned are more powerful than a friendly president and administration, and more permanent, too.

The Muslim secessionist rebellion, too, has had a history that truly points out to the control of Mindanao in the hands of Muslims and Lumads. But superior force, modernization, technology, and most of all, economic progress, worked in favor of Christians for several centuries. It is only the willingness of enough Muslims to keep fighting and dying as they have had from generation to generation that keeps a native dream and a rebellion alive. Hopefully, a measure of justice and a new framework of Muslim governance can begin the process of peace and the catch-up journey to equitable prosperity.

And while we are besieged by China, the NPAs and the MILF/MNLF, we face an even greater force called illegal drugs. The drug addiction of millions, the misery of their families and friends, and the scourge of the illegal drug trade that has crept into the integrity of government and law enforcement agencies are choking all of Philippine society. Many of us have closed our eyes to this societal nightmare and just hoped that it would be gone when we wake up. But no, the nightmare had become a daytime reality. To kill it, or even to simply reverse the trend, only the most radical of moves can work.

To suppress the supply, government has to take drastic action. It has started to do so with President Duterte himself leading the fight. But one man can do little until many others take up the fight and make it as personal as the daily fear of what illegal drugs have done to our neighborhoods. The message of the President, though, has been seen, heard and felt. As a first response, hundreds have been killed, by vigilantes, or by the police themselves if evidence can be shown to prove their complicity. As much as general society cheers, it is repulsed as well. That is the price of allowing a monster to grown unimpeded in our midst, that we will be caught in fear of one or the other, like cancer or its radical treatment.

Change is coming? You bet. We can be a part of it and influence its ways and course. Or we can just be swept by it.