Our wrong sense of ‘independence’

FOR the “second time” this year, according to a report by the Business Mirror last April 8, 2021, the US Navy, thru the ‘Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group’, conducted last April 4, 2021, another ‘pass-through’ at the South China Sea/West Philippine Sea, under the guise of ‘freedom of navigation’ (FON).

And instead of being indignant that the Americans, an outsider in the region who is not even a signatory to the ‘UNCLOS, and who has been violating our territorial waters (including our air space) since God knows for how long now, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rodriguez, even gloated over this violation of our sovereignty.

Heck, he even wants the US Navy to “crisscross that area more often… including international waters and a large part of the Philippine EEZ.”

Cong. Rufus’ stand on the issue of course, is typical among the ‘Amboys’ in our midst, not very much unlike the stand on the Julian Felipe/Whitsun Reef brouhaha of our own defense secretary, Delfin Lorenzana and most officials in our national security establishment.

They too have a corrupted sense of the meaning of ‘national independence,’ that is, it is okay if ‘Uncle Sam’ is f***ng us all the time; it is right to protest, nay, go to war if necessary, if the suspect is China.

But if we really, fully understand, the meaning of national sovereignty, the way China, Vietnam and other countries understand it, then we should be indignant, regardless of who is doing the violation of our territories, the United States included.

Or, do these officials, patriots we would like to believe, traced their genealogy to Emilio Aguinaldo who, in declaring our ‘independence’ in 1897, added that it is “under the protection” of the United States?

The most dangerous thing that the Amboys are trying to make us believe is that when push comes to shove, the United States would honor its treaty with us.

Of course, Uncle Sam would—but we have to wait while the US Congress decides first in what shape, form or manner, this would be. And finally, if helping us would be to the overall interest of US Imperialism.

In other words, if there is dying and killing to be done, it won’t be the bodies of the US Navy, Army or the US Marines. The dying and the killing would have to come first from the ranks of its most loyal stooge this side of the Pacific—the Philippines. And rest assured, the likes of Cong. Rufus would not be among them.

If we really take pride in our being an independent and sovereign state, we should drop this “idea” that Uncle Sam is the “guarantor” of our national independence.

And speaking of China, Vietnam and Whitsun Reef, we can all agree that yes, Jose, we have sovereign rights there being part of our so-called “exclusive economic zone” (EEZ).

The trouble here is that, the same area is also being claimed as theirs by both Vietnam and China.

And twice before, both of their armed forces clashed over there to assert their own “sovereignty.”

In the “noise” that we are creating over Whitsun/Julian Felipe Reef against China, Vietnam, which has the most numbers of structures there, must have been grinning from ear to ear.

Heck, we are actually doing them a huge favor at this point, are we not?

Our wrong sense of national independence has truly put us in a bind.