West Philippine Sea - BBM

Transcript

Boy Abunda: Senator Bongbong, let’s go to the West Philippine Sea. Pag-usapan
natin ito. ‘Pag pinag-uusapan ang West Philippine Sea, Scarborough Shoal, o Baho de
Masinlok; Ah, Panatag, ika nga, and Kalayaan Group na Northeastern part ng
Spratley Islands. Iyan ang inaangkin--hindi inaangkin--iyan ang atin. That’s the West
Philippine Sea na patuloy na inaangkin ng Tsina. Sa Subi Zamora Reef and Mischief
Panganiban Reef ang tawag sa’tin, at iba pa, nagtayo na ang Tsina rito ng mga
underground storage, missile shelters, radar arrays, and other facilities. Noong July
12, 2016, naglabas ng desisyon ang Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) pabor sa
Pilipinas sa issue ng West Philippine Sea. “Atin ang West Philippine Sea,” sabi ng
korte. Pero patuloy pa rin na inaangkin ito ng Tsina. Tuloy rin tayo sa pagpa-file ng
mga diplomatic protest. As of December 2021, we have file 241 protests--diplomatic
protests-- at natanggap naman tayo ng 152 na sagot.

Boy Abunda: Tanong, bilang presidente ng Pilipinas, you are also the chief architect
of foreign policy. My question is, you are applying to be president of this country. If
all diplomatic efforts fail, do you think the Philippines is strong enough and prepared
to fight a defensive war against China to protect our territorial sovereignty?

Marcos: Well, first of all, I will go back to premise. We must not allow diplomacy to
fail. It is the only option that we have. The only way--there are three ways where
territory can be gained or lost and one is to arbitration uh within the agreement of both
parties. Kasi arbitration nga, there are uh--there’s an arbiter between two different
parties. Ang problema diyan sa China ay sinabi na nila, hindi kami signatory diyan,
hindi kami--hindi kami makikinig kung anuman ang magiging findings nung court.
So, nandoon na tayo. So that, arbitration is no longer arbitration if there’s only one
party. So, it’s not--no longer available to us.

Marcos: Uh, the second way that the territories lost again is the war. Now, uh, that I
believe is an option that we must dismiss outright because it is a completely ludicrous
assertion that going to war with China is going to be advantageous to the Philippines
or even to China. For that matter, nobody wants to go to war China, does not want to
go war Philippines. Must not go to war.

Marcos: The third way is by bilateral agreement and that’s what we are left with.
Bilateral agreement with China, we must continue to engage China. So if you talk
about pure military capability, I think we all know that uh the--to compare the
military capability of the Philippines, even if we are building up and we are
modernizing our AFP, uh malayong-malayo talaga tayo sa China when it comes to
men and material and capability to fight a shooting war. So, h’wag na nating pag-
usapan iyon dahil hindi talaga option iyon [war against China]. We must continue to
engage the Chinese and it does--the diplomatic--

Marcos: ‘Pag nagpapadala tayo ng diplomatic protest, hindi sapat iyon. We have to
still continue to try and engage them in all many ways. I always use the example of
the United States and China. Naalala ninyo, naging mas malapit--nag nag uh.
Nagkaroon ng diplomatic relations ang China at ang United States. Nagsimula ang
usapan sa Ping-Pong. Sino naman ang mag-aakala na doo manggagaling ang
solusyon? Kaya’t subukan natin lahat ng paraan. ‘Yong mga negosyanteng Chinese na
may pamilya pa sa China, sabihin naman nila na baka matulungan tayo rito dahil baka
maayos natin ito. ‘Yong unahin natin ‘yong maliit lang na bagay. ‘Yong mga
fisherman na hindi pinapapasok. ‘Yong mga mangingisda natin na--siguro isang
daang taon nang nangingisda doon, eh ngayon hindi na sila pwedeng pumasok.
Unahin muna natin iyon. ‘Yong maliliit--kayang-kaya naman siguro nating kausapin
ang China, pabayaan niyo sila [mangingisda].

Boy Abunda: Senator Bong, tuloy-tuloy na ang ating diplomasya. I mean, uh,
diplomatic. Because you said, diplomacy must not fail. Pero paano ka makikipag-
negotiate sa bayang China. Na nakikipag-usap ka, halimbawa, pero hindi ka naman
sineseryoso. I’ll go to the point of the US and China, the Ping-Pong diplomacy. That’s
fine. But you know, China and uh United States of America are on equal footing:
those are both superpowers. This is the Philippines on China. Maliit na bayan, hindi
tayo sineseryoso. Nakikipag-usap tayo pero patuloy naman ang kanilang pagbi-build
ng structures sa West Philippine Sea. So, how do you continue diplomacy?

Marcos: That’s I-I think that we must engage. We just, there is no other way. Anong
ibang mga solusyon? Sasabihin natin, ‘yong United States, pumasok ulit kayo rito sa
Pilipinas; kayo ang mag-defend sa atin. Eh hindi na pwede iyon. Hindi na, kasi kung
minsan--

Boy Abunda: Pero malaki ang interest nila sa South China Sea.

Marcos: Malaki talaga ang interest nila sa South China Sea.

Boy Abunda: It’s about over 5 Trillion dollar, that past through--

Marcos: But we have to get past the old thinking noong cold war. Na mayroong
tinatawag na spheres of influence. Kaya bawat bansa [ay] namimili: sa US kami, sa
Soveit Union kami. Hindi na ganun ngayon. Ang iisipin lang natin: ano’ng mabuti
para sa Pilipinas? We continue to engage, of course, we have a very strong uh
traditional institutional relationship--special relationship with teh United States--

Boy Abunda: Did you say you would invite the United States to get involved and
help us?

Marcos: No. No. That is the--the problem is between China and us.

Boy Abunda: So, the United States should be out?

Marcos: If the Americans come it, it’s bound to fail. Because the--if you’re putting
the two protagonists together and we , you know, we must undertand. Uh, dalawang
superpower, nasa gitna tayo, ang liit-liit natin. Ang biro ko nga, bumahing lang nang
sabay iyan, mawawala na tayo sa mundo eh.

Boy Abunda: Senator Bongbong, doon lang tayo sa arbitration. Sabi mo nga, paano
ka mag-a-arbitrate? Eh sinabi naman ng Tsina, hindi ko tinatanggap ang iyon uh ang
iyong inbistasyon. Do you think the--is there value of the PCA’s decision saying that
the West Philippine Sea belongs to us.

Marcos: There is value because they confirm--[time’s up]

Summary:
Asked by Boy Abunda during “The 2022 Presidential One-on-One Interviews
with Boy Abunda,” president aspirant Bongbong Marcos dismmissed that arbitral
decision, saying that “[arbitration] is no longer available to us” and the only option
left is “to continue to engage the Chinese” through bilateral agreement--even though
he said himself that China didn’t listen and treats Philippines as a joke.
Furthermore, he told that superpowers (such as US) must not be involved in
the dispute, saying that “the problem is between China and us [Philippines].”
Marcos even said that we can asked the Chinese businessmen who have
families in China to help us talk to China to let the ‘maliliit na bagay’ to slip such as
letting the fishermen in the West Philippine Sea.

In short: Wala siyang magagawa kun’di maki-engage o pakiusapan ang

China. He’s the only aspirant to say that there is no other option to acquire the West
Philippine Sea from the China aside from ‘engagement’ with them, continuing Pres.
Duterte’s ‘friendship’ with the country who claims Philippine Territory.

For further discussion:

 https://opinion.inquirer.net/149557/marcos-jr-s-position-on-west-philippine-
sea-is-vague-and-disturbing/amp