FOR TEN years now, since the Scarborough Shoal stand-off between the Philippine “gray” ship BRP Gregorio del Pilar and the numerous Chinese “white” Coast Guard ships, the ‘Fifth Column’ (defined as a group of secret sympathizers or supporters of an enemy that engage in espionage or sabotage within defense lines or national borders) of American in the Philippines had successfully posed as patriots for “defending the West Philippine Sea from China’s intrusion.”
It took the many, long ten years for these US-Salim gagsters to expose themselves through the pattern of their actions on the issue of the South China Sea (SCS) disputes as the real enemies of the Filipino people and not China and its local friends who have been supporting Philippine-China engagement, friendship and cooperation throughout the past decade.
These Philippine-China cooperation supporters have truly helped smooth the seas for Philippine-China relations.
Who are the leading members of the US-Salim gang? The top honcho, of course, is Manny Pangilinan of the Salim group subsidiary Metro-Pacific and the multifarious tentacles into politics and business the global business conglomerate intrudes into.
The latest of the crimes of Pangilinan: in the midst of the crisis spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine War sanctions that resulted to sky-high price of oil, he has profited immensely during the first half of 2022 while the rest of the nation suffered immensely.
Manny Pangilinan’s Meralco profit in the first 6-months of 2022 was P13.1-billion rising 15 percent from the past year month-on-month.
Both the DOE and the ERC have not thus far defined for the past 22 years the ‘Weighted Average Cost of Capital’ (WACC) that enabled power producers and distributors to make “provisional rate increases” of up to 18.5 percent profits for captive markets and capital charged to consumers.
Pangilinan’s connection to the SCS issues is the Salim group’s interests in oil and gas exploration which another of its subsidiaries, PXP Energy Corporation (PXP for short) has a long-held interest – in the Reed Bank oil and gas resources.
Salim’s political clout here thru Metro Pacific made the Noynoy government to appoint one of its own Salim group of companies’ director, Albert del Rosario (also an American green card holder if not citizen), to be foreign secretary to create the troubles in the SCS in the interest of PXP.
In 2014 Pangilinan, after showing he could manipulate the Noynoy government and create big trouble and with the American’s threatening presence, even offered to sell the Spratly’s to the Chinese government in exchange for the Reed Bank (see for evidence – https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/03/10/14/pangilinan-offers-spratlys-chinese-oil-firm-reed-bank-talks ). President Noynoy Aquino and Sec. del Rosario were acting as puppets for Pangilinan and Salim’s profit-seeking.
Everything else in the Philippines’ SCS dispute drama that transpired and followed is part and parcel of the endless and continuing pursuit of the Salim group’s profit interest in coordination with the US geo-political interest of destabilizing Philippine-China relations to keep the Philippines from benefitting (in the way that other ASEAN nations are tremendously benefitting) from the “strategic cooperation” with China.
Former Secretary of DFA Teodoro Locsin, a self-confessed American Boy and co-conspirator of British MI6 Lord Mark Malloch Brown in Edsa I aftermath manipulations, did his part in scuttling the very vital Philippine-China Reed Bank or Recto Bank 60/40 oil-gas development joint venture (JV) that the Philippines so desperately needs to replace the dwindling Malampaya gas.
Locsin with all aplomb announced at the end of Duterte term that the deal has been terminated by the Philippines, an announcement which up to this day is not backed up by any written order.
Fortunately, under the present PBBM administration the restoration of talks on the Reed Bank oil-gas 60/40 deal in favor of the Philippines was quickly put back on the table, as confirmed by DFA secretary Enrique Manalo.
As well, after new DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista visited China’s envoy to Manila Ambassador Huang Xilian, the loans for the 3-train networks project left behind by the Duterte administration is now also back on track.
During the brief hiatus between Sec. Locsin’s arbitrary (it remains so until we see a written order from the former president Rodrigo R. Duterte) termination of the PH-China 60/40 oil-gas joint venture, what did former Noynoy foreign secretary Del Rosario do?
Del Rosario suggested through statements to the media that the Philippines need not wait for China and should proceed with unilateral exploration of the PXP Energy Corp. That would invite a similar clash in 2014 between Vietnamese and Chinese ships which cost 6 Vietnamese sailor’s lives.
Since that 2013 incident Vietnam has been less belligerent and more accommodating of China’s concerns; in 2019 it halted drilling by Spanish oil company in joint venture with Vietnam, Repsol, in consideration of China’s protest.
Vietnam today is the top trading partner of China. Del Rosario’s comment was disregarded by most of media, another chance for creating tension fell flat quickly as the Filipino nation has learned that he is among the real enemy of the nation.