Drills to warn China

By Herbert Vego

IMAGINE what could have crossed the mind of China’s President Xi Jinping on the day (Sunday, April 7) when four ships were cruising in a single line along the West Philippine Sea.  The ships represented the navies of the United States, Australia, Japan and the Philippines participating in the first in a series of sea drills known as Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity (MMCA), aimed at containing China’s worsening aggression in our small islands and shoals.

We did not ask our aforementioned allies to scare away China’s Coast Guard. They acted on their own volition to help us stop the “bullies” from blasting water  on Philippine Coast Guard boats bringing supplies to Filipino marines manning the grounded BRP Sierra Madre at Ayungin Shoal.

The drill also served as a warning to China to stop bullying Filipino fishermen at the West Philippine Sea.

Unfortunately, however, there are so-called “progressive organizations” that speak badly of the multilateral drill.  One of them is the Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) whose chairman told the streamline media, “It is the Filipino fisherfolk all over again who will bear the brunt of China’s retaliation against these provocative naval drills with other countries.”

That is inaccurate. Everybody knows that by their sheer presence in our exclusive economic zone along the western shoreline from Aparri to Jolo, elements of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) are the ones provoking us. And what keeps them hesitant to use bullets instead of water is their fear of igniting war with our allies.

To quote US President Joe Biden, “The United States’ defense commitment to the Philippines is ironclad,” referring to the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty binding the US and the Philippines into defending each other in the event of an armed attack.

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‘REIGN OF GREED’

WE are familiar with “The Reign of Greed,” the English version of José Rizal’s El Filibusterismo, which ends with the character Simoun throwing his jewels into the Pacific Ocean so that they would not be used by the greedy for self-aggrandizement.

Greed is what makes politicians scramble for power. It disunites politicians who used to comprise the united opposition against the party in power.

A case in point is the ballyhooed political split between Iloilo City Mayor Jerry P. Treñas and re-electionist Rep. Julienne “Jamjam” Baronda, supposedly triggered by the intention of the mayor’s daughter, Raisa Treñas-Chu, to run against her.

However, it is hard to believe the story that Jamjam would give up her re-election bid to give way to Raisa.

You see, both ladies have taken steps to be identified with today’s most powerful Filipinos, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and First Lady Liza. For Raisa, it means joining the President’s Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP).

Baronda waxed enthusiastic in spreading the news that she attended an “appreciation dinner” in Malacañang on April 3.

But this would not leave Raisa out in the cold.  She could be inducted to the same party, too, like many other politicians in Western Visayas who have signified their intention to join the PFP mass oath-taking within this month.

If my informant told me right, Iloilo Governor Art Defensor Jr. is so far the only Ilonggo politician who have officially joined PFP.

We would not be surprised to wake up one day to see Partido Federal in the city grow wings – the Treñas wing and the Baronda wing.

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MORE POWER LAUDS CNP ENERGIZATION

“This will be a significant relief for us at MORE Power and the entire Panay Island.”

Thus said MORE Power President Roel Castro during the ceremonial energization of the substation of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) at Barotac Viejo, Iloilo and of the Cebu-Negros-Panay (CNP) 230-kilovolt (kV) backbone project which will benefit Iloilo City and the entire Panay Island.

When asked about the possibility of another round of a 4-day blackout scenario, similar to what occurred in January, Castro stated that while there is a probability, it is now significantly reduced due to the CNP project.

“If before the energization of the CNP project there was a 50% probability of experiencing a 4-day blackout,” Castro opined, “now the probability is only 10-20%.”