
FAKE news or not, placing the country as part of China is a bad joke, if not scandalous. It disregards the sacrifice of our heroes who fought and died for our independence from the clutches of colonial powers. It adds salt to the gaping wound in the hearts of many Filipinos, yellows, reds, DDS or whatever, who see China as a bully, unreliable friend and despot nation rolled into one.
But can this joke have basis that worry many of us? On July 12, 2018, President Rodrigo R. Duterte (PRRD) in his speech before a crowd of Filipino-Chinese businessmen in Manila said that Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom he described as “man of honor” assured him that his government will not build anything in the contested Scarborough Shoal at the West Philippine Sea. He even said that “gawin nyo na lang kaming probinsya sa China para walang problema.”
But the realities of our claim and China’s action at the West Philippine Sea since that speech are different. In fact, while the country is crumbling and struggling because of coronavirus 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic, Chinese government is hastily building military installations and infrastructure facilities in many contested islands, which are claimed not only by the Philippine government but also by many countries in the Southeast Asian region.
In retrospect, on April 30, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) issued a statement to China through its embassy in Manila objecting to what is called “illegal designation” of the said island as a regional administrative center in the hotly contested Spratly archipelago.
The statement called on China to adhere to international law, and reminding them of a 2002 agreement that urged contesting governments to exercise self-restraints and avoid actions that would escalate the disputes and undermine regional stability. Towards the end of the President Noynoy Aquino administration in 2016, the Philippine got an affirmative ruling from the UN Permanent Court of Arbitration on the South China Sea stating that “there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights over the region.”
But China has remained a good friend of the Philippines. The country welcomes Chinese nationals to operate a vast gambling empire in the country called the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operation (POGO), (which I think may be appropriately named Chinese Offshore Gaming Operation-COGO), to the consternation of anti-gambling groups and the Roman Catholic church. A bill is now pending in congress to institutionalize POGO in the country.
In return, China has become an instant Big Uncle, a rich benefactor for the country’s every-growing needs, be it in the form of medical supplies and medical equipment against Covid-19 (which may also come from their ragtag laboratory in Wuhan), to soft loans and financial perks to bankroll the multi-billion “Build, Build, Build Project” of the government.
Cesar Torres, a former Political Science professor at UP-Diliman and chairman-emeritus of the Worldwide Filipino Alliance (WFA) and who is now based in San Francisco, California has been worried of the relentless incursion of Chinese in the motherland. In his last post at the WFA chat group, he shared an article of alleged Chinese “invasion in Zambales, blowing up mountains, killing farmers, seizing nickel into hi-tech weapons to sabotage the Philippine military and economy” koreanewsonline.blogspot.com).
Can all of these be just a tip of the CCP’s military and economic agenda in the Philippines and the whole of Southeast Asia? Are we looking for a future Chinese Corporate Philippines? To tell you the truth, it is not farfetched. Chinese are everywhere. Without the Chinese “mainlanders” physically coming to the country, they can use their vast resources to come here. In fact, they are right here!
Now let’s see what’s cooking in congress. The POGO bill may not be a priority of the senate, if we are to believe the statement of Senator Imee Marcos due to certain tax evasion and criminality issues. But after the effect of Covid-19 pandemic slowly subsides and the smell of the 2022 national election is lingering in the air, the story may be different.
On March 10, 2020, 136 lawmakers in the lower house of congress voted yes to House Bill No. 78, allowing foreigners to fully own public services in the Philippines. The senate’s version of the bill remains pending at the committee level and has yet to go through the required 2nd and 3rd readings before being sent to Malacañang for the president’s approval.
Under HB No. 78, public services are those which are “non-rivalrous or imbued with public interest,” such as marine repair shop, wharf or dock, canal, public market, irrigation system, gas, electric light, heat and power, water supply and power, petroleum, sewerage system, telecommunication system, and wire or wireless communication system.
There it goes. Now we are aware what types of services that Chinese investors can have 100 percent ownership—the first step of the “Chinanization” or the China Corporate Philippines. Of course the next step is to change the constitution because it is the stumbling block of the Chinese agenda.
Section 11, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution “reserves the ownership, operation, control, and management of public utilities to Filipino citizens or to corporations or associations, and at least 60% of its capital stock should be owned by Filipinos.”
Are we ready for it? Chow!