China recently chastised Philippine president Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Junior for his congratulatory remarks on the recently concluded Taiwan presidential elections. The not-so-subtle rebuttal of Marcos Junior’s presidential remarks also reflects how serious China is on the Taiwan straits issue. For them, this is a matter of defense of one’s identity, of Chinese-ness, which the main political party, the Communist Party of China (CPC), places the highest premium.

Honestly, China’s remarks are expected given that the Philippines has been a member of the United Nations since 1949 and agreed to be part of those who recognize the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole representative of the Chinese people since 1971. Unless the Philippines is ready to recognize Taiwan officially as an independent and separate state, then that’s another story altogether.

Anyway, what’s so perplexing is that we are spending hundreds of millions of pesos of public money for our Communications team under the Office of the President (OP). I am sure most of the president’s communication team members are highly intelligent and qualified. We have a lawyer and long-time journalist, Cesar Chavez, as Communications adviser and another lawyer, Atty. Cheloy Garafil is the head of the Presidential Communications Office (PCO), and yet, this statement went through them without being reviewed. Did they not advise the president of such official statements’ possible diplomatic or bilateral repercussions? Or is this part of the government’s strategy and tactics against our favorite nemesis, China?

Whatever the real intention, the result is humiliating– it places our president, the head of our state, as a fumbling simpleton who, if China is right, does not read enough to understand the Taiwan Straits issue. The president, Bongbong, knows about this, but still, it resulted in an embarrassment. Had this happened in another country, someone would have resigned to save the bilateral ties between our country and China. 

I don’t know why our Defense Secretary Gibo Teodoro is all gung-ho against China when he knows his political mentor, former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, is closer to China than any other Filipino politician. Teodoro may be being groomed for 2028–that explains why he reacts immediately whenever there’s an incident between RP and China. Teodoro’s handlers know that the WPS issue has already dominated public discourse and most Filipinos are against China’s aggressive acts. But the more he does this, the more people, including this writer, think that our defense secretary is playing not just fire but politics. Some think Gibo is prepared to sacrifice the nation’s welfare for a few brownie points.

Gibo is a good friend. I helped him during his campaigns. However, Gibo should act in a stately manner. As defense secretary, Teodoro should let our foreign affairs secretary do the talking. Imagine Teodoro is fighting the female spokesperson of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Isn’t that humiliating?

Why are we allowing our very own defense chief to speak for and on behalf of our country on an issue, yes, of vital national security YET, at this stage, curable through diplomacy? The WPS issue is a thorn in the bilateral ties between China and the Philippines. We have yet to get into a serious situation whereby our troops had engaged in a firefight with the Chinese, such as the Vietnamese did several years ago. And look at how Vietnam is approaching this WPS issue. Last December, the Vietnamese government entered into a cooperative venture with China. This shows that our approach must always be of peace and diplomacy and never, ever issue damning statements that might escalate this issue and put us in a very damaging situation that we might regret being into, later.