Former speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and his allies' projection that the escalating geopolitical tensions between the Philippines and China, intensified by the country's alliance with the United States, will lead to a war is nothing but pure "hallucination," thus said Surigao del Norte Rep. Ace Barbers, the chairperson of the House committee on dangerous drugs and Alvarez's fellow Mindanaoan, in an interview on Sunday.
"China is a big economy. And it will be counterproductive for them if they start a war here," Barbers said. "You know the warmongering, the one who says there will be a war, I guess they're just hallucinating right now."
Alvarez recently called on the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to withdraw support from their commander-in-chief, Marcos, to stave off a potential war between the Philippines and China, which has been embroiled in a maritime confrontation over the hotly contested West Philippine Sea (WPS).
The Davao del Norte lawmaker, a long-time ally of Marcos' predecessor, former president Rodrigo Duterte, swiftly retracted his statement just days after it drew widespread criticism, particularly from his peers in the House of Representatives.
He, however, asserted that he made the "seditious" remark out of his love for the Philippines, which is an underdog in terms of Beijing's military advantage, including having nuclear weapons.
Duterte, who reportedly made an unwritten "gentleman's agreement" with Chinese President Xi Jinping concerning WPS and merely sealed it with a handshake, has repeatedly insisted that the country cannot afford war against China.
Barbers, on the other hand, vehemently contested that China will not compromise its economic growth by starting a war against the Philippines and that China is merely giving an "aggressive positioning."
"I don't think it will serve the purpose in the interest of the Chinese. China's economy and our neighboring countries will lose a lot if we have this kind of tension," he averred.
Philippine-China tensions continue to heat up with the latter's persistent aggression in the contested waterway, including the firing of water cannons, military-grade laser pointing, and collusion of boats, among others.
China has territorial claims in nearly the entire South China Sea, which overlaps the WPS, notwithstanding a 2016 arbitral ruling that deemed its sovereignty assertion baseless.
The ruling affirmed the Philippines' 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone in the WPS.
China continues its trick of playing the victim by pinning the blame of the growing dispute in the South China Sea on the Philippines' provocation.
