The incident involving the sinking of a fishing boat by a Chinese vessel cannot be taken for nothing. But more importantly, it cannot also be dealt with emotional politicization and false nationalism.
Here is a case that’s equivalent to a child being bullied in school. It may be unwarranted for the bullied child’s parents to go after the bullies in a tooth-for-a-tooth mindset or engage the bully’s parents man-a-mano. The more prudent thing to do is to find out the truth first before crying havoc.
Even the suggestion to invoke the Mutual Defense Treaty on the Recto (Reed) Bank incident appears to be an unlikely recourse as it is not possible given the provisions that govern the application of the treaty. Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo, a veteran lawyer, said the treaty cannot apply, simply because there is no armed aggression committed by China.
By all indications, the incident appears to be a case of navigational incident made worse by the abandonment of the victims of the sunken boat–in this case the Filipinos side. The act of abandonment is condemnable and inhumane. There is no dispute to that.
The inhumane treatment also deserves condemnation, and if those responsible should be made answerable, there is a forum and process to pursue that. Again, no dispute to that.
However, to say that this is an act of aggression by China against the Philippines may be jumping wrongly into hasty conclusions and could end up costly.
Yes, we do not condone the government sacrificing sovereignty and the welfare of our own people, but it must be done in a way that our emotions or self political interests do not get the better of us.
