Senator Rodante Marcoleta went to a hearing and suggested that maybe the Philippines should just give up some of its islands.
Give up parts of the Kalayaan Island Group in Palawan, he said. As if it were a jacket he no longer wears. As if it were too far, too inconvenient, not worth the walk.
What’s strange is this: Marcoleta is an angry man. Always angry. Terminally angry. The kind who bites into ginger in lugaw thinking it’s chicken and keeps chewing anyway, just to punish it. “Nice try.”
That man. Suddenly calm — oddly calm — about being robbed. Interesting. People don’t usually get calm about things they still believe in. Calm is what comes after surrender, not before.
“It’s way beyond our EEZ.” He tried so hard to sound lawful, he forgot to sound Filipino.
Our relatives are far, too, Rodante. Should we snip them out of the family photo?
He pulled out the maps. Big map guy. As if maps defend territory instead of senators.
He said putting Kalayaan on the map would mean “usurping the high seas.” Usurping. An interesting word choice, as if Filipinos woke up one morning and decided to steal their own land.
Here’s the problem Marcoleta can’t erase with a ruler: there are already people there. Soldiers. Families. A flag. Waving at him. Reality has a way of interrupting tidy rhetoric. Are they patriots — or just obstacles to his argument?
So what’s the plan, Rodante? Really. Spell it out. Who goes there to tell Filipinos they’re squatting? Who tells the soldiers? Who lowers the flag?
The Coast Guard has invited him to visit and explain it to their faces.
Do you think Filipinos living there feel represented by “give it up”? Did Palawan’s fishermen vote for surrender or for protection? Because you make it sound like they’re on their own.
If surrender is always the “easiest” option — and you did say you wanted it easy — don’t be shocked when people ask why you ran for office instead of retirement.
If it’s that easy for him to imagine giving up a place where Filipinos already stand, then maybe it’s just as easy for Filipinos to imagine giving him up as their representative.
Marcoleta’s proposal is smarter than invasion. You don’t surrender outright. You make surrender sound reasonable. Too far. Too technical. Repeat it enough times and territory is lost without a shot being fired.
You lower the ceiling so the next push by allies doesn’t look as extreme.
For a “patriot,” he sounds like someone still answering to a camp instead of a country. Like he’s trying to keep Duterte’s China-friendly foreign policy from being declared a failure.
Nobody ever lost a country by saying, this will be hard but worth it. Countries fall when leaders start ranking which Filipinos are worth the trouble.
Marcoleta doesn’t have to say “China” for everyone to see who benefits. No foreign power needs to pay you if you’re already doing the work for free.
So, senator: are you offended by the word traitor — or by how easily your logic walks right up to it?