An exercise in futility

Since when did trading with China become a national threat?

As I write this, China is the major trading partner of more than 170 countries around the world. On top of the list is the United States. If we follow the logic of President Bongbong Marcos and Defense Secretary Gibo Teodoro, we have a situation where China is a threat to all these countries.

This is, of course, sick logic, borne of paranoia that just 18 months from now, as Marcos himself counted, Vice President Sara Duterte will be elected president, if she is not impeached.

The Sinophobia strategy comes as a desperate attempt to stir national condemnation against Sara, but the attempt is sophomoric, in fact, ridiculous.

Long before the VP was born, the Philippines had been trading with China. The Davao Region, home to the second-largest Cavendish banana plantations in the world, had been exporting its crops to China.

These include banana chips, which Marcos and Gibo are now telling us undermine national security and pose a serious threat.

These days, nearly everybody, even those who are not anybody, carries the ubiquitous cellphone with a foreign brand outside, but with the major parts inside and the whole thing made in China. Are they now saying these units are listening devices?

From the air and seaports of Davao, fresh durian and pineapples, and fresh and processed tuna and exotic marine products are exported to China. Small durian growers have come together to meet the volumes demanded by importers, which today come from as far as Oman.

A threat to national security?

Bongbong and Gibo are creating their own monster and are childishly terrified of it. But more than anything, it’s part of the grand plot to oust VP Sara from the presidential race by hook or by crook. And they have to do it at the expense of China.

Gibo, who has dual citizenship, and BBM, whose term will end shortly after the 8 May 2028 presidential elections, think they can stir up the Filipino electorate by linking Sara to their Sinophobia strategy.

But the hoi polloi are having none of what they picture China to be. To them, China is confined to the Chinese-Filipinos who own most of the malls they go to, the Chinese restaurants they patronize on special occasions, the airlines that take them to places, and the online stores they order things from.

The learned may know about the issue of Scarborough Shoal, which BBM and Gibo are ranting about and are blaming on former President Rodrigo Duterte, whom they perceive as being “pro-China,” then dragging in VP Sara at every opportunity.

This informed sector knows the Philippines lost Scarborough to China when the late President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III ordered the Navy to pull out of the atoll in 2012, thus leaving the China Coast Guard to occupy it. This resulted in our fishermen being deprived of that rich fishing ground. It took President Duterte to engage China in bilateral talks to reduce the tension and allow our fisherfolk to resume fishing in the area.

China even proposed to explore and develop the oil deposits in the South China Sea or the West Philippine Sea in a joint venture under a 60/40 sharing, with the Philippines getting the bigger share. But this was called off as the term of PRRD was ending.

When BBM came to power, a radical shift in foreign policy took place. His initial action was to fly to the US and assure then-President Joe Biden of additional Philippine territories to establish five more EDCA bases. These were peddled to the public as quick-response points in case of calamities and emergencies.

Well, we have been through severe calamities and emergencies, but we still have to see any demonstrative action to prove the importance of EDCA.

When Marcos appointed Gibo Teodoro secretary of national defense, critics knew there would be major reversals in the Philippines-China relationship, and that is exactly where we are today.

We are in a situation where exporting banana chips and durian is considered a security concern, with VP Sara as the prime suspect.

But the insanity elicits amusement, which could only be equaled by the laughter following that ingenious idea of buying balde, or pails, to save water to address the impact of the prolonged dry spell estimated to last from now up to March next year.

Meanwhile, Bongbong Marcos is still in the dumps in his net satisfaction ratings. On the other hand, in the presidentiable surveys, Sara Duterte — the unbowed object of attacks from phalanxes of varied critics from within the Marcos administration and commercialized media platforms — has steadily increased her ratings.

In the impeachment court where VP Sara has been subjected to denigration, the prosecution panel has withdrawn not only its much-ballyhooed witnesses but also three of the four Articles of Impeachment, apparently for lack or absence of evidence.

Given the failure of the prosecution to prove the culpability of the Vice President on the three sets of charges, the Senate impeachment court should terminate the trial, as everything which transpired in the last 39 days (as of this writing) was, after all, an exercise in futility, dramatics, and extravagance.

Given that scenario, what is actually hounding BBM and Gibo is the fear deep in their subconscious that Sara will exact a pound of flesh from them.

Security concern? Tell that to the Marines. China will never create a scenario in the West Philippine Sea similar to that in the Gulf of Hormuz. The WPS, or the South China Sea is the principal route to the 170 countries around the world China is trading with.