Enemies within?

One can’t help but feel that the Philippine Coast Guard, caught in a veritable tempest with its auxiliary unit enlisting Chinese nationals as members, is desperately trying to batten down the hatches of accountability.

Make no mistake about it: we owe the men and women of the PCG and the Navy big time for their valiant efforts to secure our maritime borders, especially against the antics and shenanigans of that backyard bully in the West Philippine Sea, China. 

We thank the officers and grunts of the Navy and PCG  for their service. Never blinking in face-to-face confrontations with the Chinese, they constantly remind us of the saying, “It’s not the size of the dog that matters, but the size of the fight in the dog.”

Picture my Great Dane, Venom, taller than this Contrarian standing and certainly beefier and heavier, backing down from a fight with my diminutive dachshund, Chilli, or the later’s temperamental sister upstairs, Sylvia.

Do I hear DAILY TRIBUNE nation editor Elmer Manuel singing Michael Jackson’s riposte to Paul McCartney in “That Girl is Mine” — “Paul, I think I told you, I’m a lover, not a fighter.”

At any rate, the PCG leadership must show the same resolute will its officers are showing in the WPS by assuming full accountability for the Chinese intrusion — yes, intrusion — within the PCG Auxiliary Unit or PCGA’s backyard.

The PCG cannot distance itself from the PCGA with statements like it’s an entity separate from the PCG or that the PCGA is a non-governmental organization. There’s no picture of the PCGA as a life raft adrift off the PCG main ship as a waves tower threatening to sink them both

Let’s remind the PCG of its very own pronouncements in 2018, as it was investigating the PCGA commander for the “unauthorized” recruitment of a Filipino politician, that under Republic Act 9993, the PCG exercises sole authority over the PCGA’s recruitment and membership.

Let the axe fall where it should, as this matter of Chinese nationals being allowed to join the PCGA is a travesty, one that runs against common sense that no law is needed to prohibit it.

Yet it happened, and so pass that darn law that would expressly prohibit foreigners, not just Chinese, from joining any government agency imbued with defense or police functions.

The PCG assures us that the Chinese nationals, delisted in December 2023 for lacking security clearances, were not spies for Beijing and were not hackers. That’s an assertion as flimsy as a paper life vest. Pray tell how the PCG decrypted that when it had failed to detect the presence of Chinese nationals at the PCGA for years. 

Why should the recruits have been subjected to a rigorous background check when their being foreigners should have automatically disqualified them off the bat? Did an ample donation by the good-hearted Chinese torpedo logic and plain and simple sensibility?

No matter how well-meaning, intentions are irrelevant in this scenario. National security isn’t a charity gala where foreign nationals would be allowed access with a hefty check. The PCG’s justifications reek of desperation, claiming the Chinese were recruited in 2015, a time of calmer seas with China.

Does this imply a sliding scale of national security based on changing geopolitical headwinds?  Are “friendly” Chinese spies (oh, wait, they’re not spies) preferable to the “hostile” variety who harass Philippine vessels in the WPS?

The lingering questions remain. Who greenlighted their recruitment?  Were there financial incentives involved, a quid pro quo for their “humanitarian assistance?”  A full-dress investigation, not an executive session shrouded in secrecy in the House of Representatives, is a must.

The Filipino people deserve better than this Keystone Kops routine. The PCG must navigate away from these murky waters and steer a clear course toward transparency and accountability. National security is not a plaything for a bureaucratic shell game.