WEST PHILIPPINE SEA – A QUESTION ON VFA AND  PHILIPPINE SOVEREIGNITY

Belarmino Dabalos Saguing, Rome, Italy 11.07.2013 09931 ICT

News item : PH: China  turning sea into itts lake   http://globalnation.inquirer.net/80367/ph-china-turning-sea-into-its-lake

 China is turning the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) into a “one country’s lake,” Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, expressing precisely what China is actually doing now, practically claiming the whole area as its own playground, throwing into the can the sovereignity of several nations in the area, including the Philippines.

With regards to the Philippines, which is largely affected by Chinese bullying, having the longest EEZ claimed by China as theirs, where, at stakes, is the livelihood of thousands of Filipino fisherfolks, and most of all, the wealth of natural resouces embedded underneath the disputed waters, many Filipinos are asking what, aside from the present ‘word war’ with China and displaying its tight friendship with the USA and some foreign powers thru the VFA, is the Philipine government’s concrete plans to defend our sovereignity over the disputed waters?

We must bear in mind that China’s military prowess is one of the strongest in the world, and the Philippines’ puny AFP is good only for the Filipino State's wars against the regime’s critics whom they have tagged as commies and terrorist bandits. 

While we agree that China’s action is unjustifiable at the least, it is also true that our government is not up to answer  the China challenge, but we must not ‘sell’ our sovereignity to other powers in our bid to defend the very same sovereignty. The VFA, which was forecefully rammed into every Filipino's throat, is an effontry to our sovereignity although the Filipino state cannot not see it with their neo-colonialist-blinded eyes. 

We, Filipinos must face the music. We are not a hundred percent sure of USA et al’s willingness to do a shootout with China should the present word war failed, if it goes against their own interests. 

We have to do it alone if and when worst comes to worst.

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