Position of strength
DURING the research stage while the Philippines was building up her case for the Hague trial on the West Philippine Sea (WPS), the French academic Francois Xavier Bonnet alerted then Associate Justice Antonio Carpio about a 1987 book that contained interesting annexes and editor’s notes. Carpio was able to secure a copy in a Beijing secondhand bookshop through a friend’s help.
The big catch in the book “Compilation of References on the Names of All Islands of Nan Hai,” published by the Committee of Place Names of Guangdong Province, contained supposedly confidential information that was mistakenly included in the publication as an annex by a lowly clerk.
The interesting reveal talked about a 1937 mission of Huang Qiang, chief of a Chinese military region. The Kuomintang Government sent him to the Paracels supposedly to check if the Japanese were invading the islands, and second, to assert Chinese soveriegnty on the islands. To assert sovereigny, it turned out, was to plant tablets with antedated inscriptions. Around 20 of them contained statements that an inspection by the Chinese took place in 1902.
This bit of anecdote is but a small part in the tome of evidence the Philippines used to fortify her claim over the West Philippine Sea, and indeed, our victory at the Hague renders any other narrative nothing but a bully’s tale. If anything, Huang Qiang’s mission launched early on the overarching farce that China throws around at the expense of its neighbors.
No small irony there that the recent incident of militia boat massing at the WPS took place at the Juan Felipe Reef, named after the great composer of the Philippine national anthem “Lupang Hinirang.”
This week, the Philippines and the US started its Balikatan Exercise, and although this time a scaleddown version of the previous drills, the US, on the other hand, had already launched a “cognitive warfare” over the weekend at the WPS by sending its USS Mustin, a guidedmissile destroyer,
"The funds for the vaccines have always been ready and we have finally realigned it to show our seriousness in combating this virus," he said.
Punsalan, meanwhile, took a swipe at Wong for not allocating funds for the purchase of vaccines when she assumed the mayoralty post from November 2020 to January 2021.
"She was hitting me for not including the purchase of vaccine in this year's vaccine when it was already finished in November. If she really wanted to, she could have done it herself during my suspension and she became the mayor," he said.
Wong, for her part, explained that she was not able to allocate funds for the vaccine as the 2021 budget was approved before Punsalan's preventive suspension took effect.
"They started crafting the budget as early as August and approved it right before he stepped down for his suspension so how can I include it in the budget?" she asked.
She also noted that the local budget officer was mostly on leave when she assumed the mayoral position for 60 days.
"He had all the time to think about the vaccine and include it in the budget but he decided not to. Now he is passing the blame on me when I only had two months and it coincided with the typhoon," Wong said.