October 26th, 12:25am October 25th, 10:41pm TDTWithout Fear Without Favor

Vice President Leni Robredo branded as “nonsense” the policy of friendly engagement with China of President Rody Duterte as she asserted a tougher position, which would expectedly bring back the past icy relations between both nations under the yellow ringleader, former President Noynoy Aquino.

In a long interview with a foreign news service, Robredo said, “The Philippines would gain more from joining the United States, Australia and Britain in freedom of navigation exercises and drafting conventions with claimants like Malaysia and Vietnam to try to isolate China.”

Robredo should be asked, “Have we not tried that?” Under Noynoy’s term, the effort to isolate China led to the massive buildup in the West Philippine Sea as the Asian giant indicated that it is not recognizing an arbitral award invalidating its nine-dash line claim over the contested region.

Her stated position was not to squander the advantage of an international arbitration award that invalidated Beijing’s sweeping sovereignty claims and to take a tougher line with China.

The stated thrust is rigidly aligned with the Western position, primarily that of the United States, which has been wary of the increasing diplomatic contact with Russia and China, which was not even dreamt of under the previous regime.

“My question is, if China is really a friend, then why are they doing a lot of things that are a threat to our sovereignty and our territory?” Robredo asked.

She would be better off posing the query to Noynoy during whose term China became aggressive in pushing its claims after years of a status quo on the sea conflict.

“Nonsense” should apply to her position of belligerence as the Philippines had increasingly relied on China as a partner for economic development.

Just this week, Department of Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III and Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua sealed documents containing commitments of China to finance crucial projects and assist in putting these up, including infrastructure for Marawi City which was devastated by a five-month battle between terrorists and government forces.

With warmer relations since the start of the Duterte administration, the two countries have so far signed loan agreements amounting to $493.08 million and $430.82 million worth of grants.

Robredo is apparently jockeying for a good vantage point in case her ill will on Rody becomes real.

Lately, she has been harping on the health of the President, demanding that the Palace give “the public,” which means her, a medical update.

In the more than three years she was in office, the public could not remember any worthwhile project of Robredo except for some perfunctory community visits, which can be temptingly associated with her future political agenda.

Instead, her main preoccupation is to destabilize the administration of Rody and again short-circuit the political process through mob rule.

Also, her mandate has not been established through all the years that she claims to be working for the restoration of the democratic process when, in truth, she’s trying to demolish it through destabilization plots that she has been part of.

Every word she utters truly dooms both hers and the Liberal Party’s political future.