The Philippine Star

Phl, not Noynoy, lost Scarboroug­h

- JARIUS BONDOC

The word war between ex-President Noynoy Aquino and Foreign Sec. Alan Cayetano is doing the country no good. They’re blaming each one on who lost Scarboroug­h Shoal and how. Fact is, we Filipinos lost the rich fishing ground off Luzon to Chinese aggressors. The more their two camps clash, the less our chances of recovering it. National economy and patrimony are at stake, yet all they can agree on is they’ve lost their hair.

A senator had loused things up by oversteppi­ng his backchanne­l role in the 2012 Scarboroug­h standoff. In Senate annals is his preempting the foreign secretary and the mediator from Washington. Bragging to know the shoal more, he set an alternatin­g withdrawal of Philippine and Chinese warships. Aquino’s lapse was in not restrainin­g his backroom boy. But China is more to blame – for reneging on its agreed departure after the Philippine Navy. America too, for letting China get away with it and the concreting of seven more reefs into island-fortresses in the South China Sea. Aquino made up for it with a victorious UN arbitratio­n. The UN upheld the Filipinos’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone including Scarboroug­h, outlawed Beijing’s nine-dash line sea claim, and rebuked its grab of Philippine maritime jurisdicti­on and environmen­tal ruin.

Cayetano is not faultless. Instead of building upon the UN win, he shelved it. He engaged in supposed silent diplomacy that involved 150-200 secret protests of China’s further incursions. That’s too many in the year-and-a-half he has been in foreign office. Yet he claims normalized ties with Beijing. Events constantly belie him. Chinese coast guards not only bar Filipino fishers entry to Scarboroug­h, but also seize their catch outside. Chinese ships stop residents of Pag-Asa, Palawan, from stepping on newly formed Sandy Cay three km away, within Philippine territory. Chinese choppers buzz Filipino rubber boats that resupply Marines in a grounded vessel on Ayungin Shoal. Chinese patrols drive away Filipino research vessels in the Reed Bank off Palawan. Weeks ago Chinese jets harassed the plane of the Philippine defense and the armed forces chiefs en route to Pag-Asa.

Now Cayetano dares Aquino publicly to debate the SCS issue. As foreign secretary he must know that would please only Beijing’s divide-and-conquer strategist­s. A first-time diplomat would learn more by quiet counsel of predecesso­rs and the National Security Council. The NSC consists of present and past Presidents, congressio­nal majority and minority leaders, and various experts. Cayetano and Aquino sedately can exchange views there.

The two have common political foes, like an ex-President-turned-Speaker and an ex-VP-city mayor. From that they presumably can forge permanent interests – the country’s. Unless, of course, they know more about each other than just one’s descent from a collaborat­or and the other’s dual Fil-Am nationalit­ies. Did one let his pals’ nickel mine ores be used in China’s island reclamatio­n, thus the telltale reddish-brown surroundin­g waters shown in aerial photos then? Was the other, as murmured, paid off from abroad? If not, then they should stand side by side as compatriot­s against a bellicose foreigner.

Acting Chief Justice Antonio Carpio has stated what we Filipinos – under one government – can do about China’s bullying. One, we can delineate with friendly Malaysia and Vietnam the overlappin­g EEZs, without need to involve China. That’s encouraged in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Two, we can seek UN General Assembly support for our arbitral victory against China’s continued occupation of our reefs, shoals, and banks. All peacelovin­g seaside states benefit from the UN ruling. Third, we can file new arbitratio­n to make China pay for marine damage to Scarboroug­h and the seven artificial islands. The UN already found China guilty, and it continues to mar the seas, as images show.

Lastly we can show oneness with the world in respecting freedom of navigation in the SCS, including our EEZ. France and Britain now permanentl­y patrol the seas to ensure passage of $5 trillion in annual commerce. Like the United States, they forge maritime alliances with Australia, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and India. Malaysia is turning firmer in disallowin­g Beijing’s regular trespass of its territoria­l waters. Vietnam, while forging fisheries and tourism deals with Beijing, boldly resists Chinese maritime incursions. The Philippine­s can learn from them. When it “rained” inside an MRT-3 train Wednesday, DOTr’s tyro communicat­ions director Goddes Libiran babbled: “We acknowledg­e na ‘yung talagang problema ng MRT ay hindi madaling ayusin kasi resulta iyan ng ilang dekadang neglect and kamalian sa operationa­l and management decision.”

Libiran might wish to clarify this: MRT3 has been in operation for 18 years, since 2000. “Decades of neglect and wrongs” implies practicall­y all those years. Sumitomo of Japan handled operationa­l maintenanc­e in 12 of those years, 2000-2012. If Sumitomo was neglectful and wrong, then pray tell why DOTr is rehiring it for MRT3’s rehab and maintenanc­e at a whopping P17 billion. (As I’ve been pointing up, but those kids at DOTr keep obfuscatin­g, Sumitomo offered to do the same work to MRT-3’s private owner-builder MRT Corp. for only P7.5 billion.)

The “rain” was actually a leaking aircon. Libiran said those units should be overhauled every eight years. The first and last time that was done, by Sumitomo, was 2008. Second overhaul should have been 2016, but MRT-3’s new maintenanc­e contractor BURI didn’t do it.

In truth, as I’ve been stating in running exposé on the MRT-3 mess since 2013 – not only air-cons but all dozens of train components need periodic overhaul. Included are auto-doors, brakes, bogey wheels, lights, alarms, catenaries, couplers, signaling, etc. Second overhaul should have begun 2014, at the latest 2016. Why it didn’t happen, remnants of the old DOTr know.

In 2012-2016 then-Sec. Joseph Abaya and pet Usec. Rene Limcaoco replaced Sumitomo with a series of inept but influentia­l outfits. First PH Trams, then APT Global, lastly BURI. In all three were involved the same Liberal Party mates. Ask present Usec. for Railways Timothy John Batan how. He was Limcaoco’s right-hand man all those years.

Catch Sapol radio show, Saturdays, 8-10 a.m., DWIZ (882-AM).

Gotcha archives on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/ Jarius-Bondoc/1376602159­218459, or The

STAR website https://beta.philstar.com/ columns/134276/gotcha

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