Perfection is the enemy
That big arbitration win is a beautiful legal victory sitting on a shelf, gathering dust, while our fishermen suffer and our electricity bills keep climbing.
Daily TribuneThat big arbitration win is a beautiful legal victory sitting on a shelf, gathering dust, while our fishermen suffer and our electricity bills keep climbing.
After nearly four years, the Philippines and China are finally talking again about a possible oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea.
During the Bilateral Consultative Mechanism on South China Sea meeting in Fujian, China, in late March, the Department of Foreign Affairs reiterated its firm stance, raised concerns about China’s actions at sea, and pointed to the 2016 arbitral award and UNCLOS.
But it also acknowledged progress in areas like Coast Guard communication. The bottom line: talking isn’t surrendering, it’s just smart. No deal has been signed — only two neighbors feeling each other out again.
Almost immediately, the usual suspects were crying foul. The independent, international research organization Stratbase Institute basically said to shut it down.
Their argument? Any joint energy deal that doesn’t bow down completely to the 2016 Arbitral Award is a betrayal of our sovereignty. Sounds noble, but the problem is it’s a luxury we can’t afford anymore.
That big arbitration win is a beautiful legal victory sitting on a shelf, gathering dust, while our fishermen suffer and our electricity bills keep climbing. How has refusing to talk actually helped things on the water? Because from where we sit, the last four years of frozen talks haven’t exactly brought us peace or prosperity.
Several think-tanks in air-conditioned rooms tend to miss that we have an energy crisis. Demand is going up, our resources are running out, and buying fuel from other countries comes with its geopolitical headaches.
Malampaya? It’s reportedly drying up. So if there actually is oil or gas in the West Philippine Sea — within our exclusive economic zone — walking away from every single conversation with China is synonymous to cutting off our nose to spite our face.
We are not at all selling out our sovereignty. Many say diplomacy isn’t a video game where you win or lose everything at once. The government has been clear that any deal must comply with Philippine law and United Nations sea rules.
The 2016 ruling is still the guide. Demanding that China formally embrace it before we even have a first technical meeting is just asking for a permanent deadlock.
Stratbase isn’t wrong to be suspicious. Here’s the flaw, though, in their all-or-nothing thinking — talking to someone doesn’t mean you agree with them. Discussing how to share resources means recognizing that cooperation in one area might actually lower tensions in another. Diplomats call this “issue linkage.”
Remember the 2005 Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking? It actually worked, at least for a while. It proved that commercial cooperation was possible without anyone having to give up their legal claims. That deal didn’t die because the Philippines compromised too much, but because domestic politics made renewal impossible.
Honestly, what Stratbase is really pushing for is a fantasy scenario. That China will wake up one day and fully accept the arbitration ruling before any deal will move forward. That’s prayer over strategy.
The government definitely deserves criticism when it actually rolls over. But right now, we’re engaging in preliminary exchanges — talking, not signing anything. That’s basic statecraft, not surrender. The alternative is staring contests and standoffs while our energy security keeps sinking, and a powerful ally does whatever it wants anyway.
Sometimes the choice isn’t between perfect justice and national humiliation. Sometimes it’s between sitting at the table and being completely left out of the room.
Take the wise pick.
