Happy Women’s Month!

I’d like to treat you to a boat ride to one of the most controversial and talked about places of all time….. the West Philippine Sea. 

Aye, captain!

As the tension in the West Philippine Sea continues to escalate, different ideas and suggestions also continue to come up in countries affected by the maritime dispute. While China claims there is a historical basis for its so-called 9-dash line, the Philippines, for its part, has a legal basis and an arbitral ruling from The Hague favoring the country’s territorial claim. 

For several months, the West Philippine Sea has been in the headlines of broadsheets and on TV and social media news — from the series of  harassments including water cannonades, to the stories of the poor fishermen just trying to make a living — this has been the issue we are confronted with. 

But how do we really make ourselves part of the solution rather than the problem? I think that should be the most appropriate question right now while we leave matters of national security to the leaders of the countries involved. 

Is there something you and I, ordinary Juans, can do to help? Are social media posts enough? Or maybe we can do something else? That is the question.

There was a recent online poll I saw that asked if there was a pressing need to revive the ROTC program or modernize the armed forces to get the country ready in the midst of the increasing tension in the West Philippine Sea. The results were mostly about modernizing our armed forces rather than reviving ROTC. 

Some said that instead of imposing ROTC on people who have more meaningful ways of expressing their patriotism, the ROTC should be institutionalized and redesigned for the current situation to prevent  abuse and corruption in the program, like a better version of the old ROTC. 

Some said the survey was misleading because to build a modern armed forces, there should be a strong reserve citizen force, while others said reviving the ROTC was the way to go. 

In a recent Senate hearing, Senator Ronald dela Rosa lamented that keyboard warriors were only keen on ranting on social media but when there is a call to action, will the keyboard warriors be ready to fight?

Just this week, more than a hundred Navy reservists graduated from basic military training, including rifle and combat training, and are set to be deployed to boost security in Northern Luzon. At least there is a pool of soldiers who are ready to fight. 

Of course we do not want war, because as Herodotus poetically said: “In peace, sons bury their fathers, but in war fathers bury their sons.” Then there is that famous quote from Sophocles: “War loves to seek its victims in the war…”

Well, the threat is external but we also have some internal resolutions to make. Do we really need to protect our waters using our own hands or do we leave the physical fighting to the soldiers? 

Can we lessen our rants on social media and be more spreaders of facts-verified news rather than proliferators of fake news? Can we support our troops by being good citizens and by following simple rules? If we can, then maybe we are on the right track in our fight for our sovereign waters. 

As our boat ride is about to end and as we are about to return to our homes after traveling through the West Philippine Sea, allow me to greet our Muslim countrymen in this season of fasting and prayer as well as forgiveness and peace — Ramadan Mubarak to our Muslim brothers and sisters!

Now folks, after this boat ride, the decision and the thoughts are with you… 

Remember that whatever we do, we are all interconnected because we are riding in the same boat!