Our Own Monster Ships

By Michael Henry Yusingco, LL.M

Beijing, like a peacock on shabu, has been flexing its maritime muscle directly at our faces these past weeks. Its mighty armada, including its vaunted “Monster Ship”, has been illegally traversing our EEZ. The question that should be lingering in our minds now is why we do not have a monster ship of our own? As an archipelagic state, we need at least three to properly defend our marine wealth!

The truth is we are at an intractable impasse. President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party will stand by its 10-dash line claim even though practically the whole world does not recognize their stance. We will not give up our claim as well, especially given the fact that our position is confirmed not just by the arbitral ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration but by the entire international community.

There are three possible ways out of this stalemate. First, one side just surrenders. This is highly unlikely, of course. But some argue that this almost happened to us during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte. Looking back now, it does seem that there was a conscious effort on the part of President Duterte to weaken our resolve and allow Beijing to dominate the situation.

Second, both sides just retreat from their respective intransigence and then exert genuine effort, with the aid of the international community, to arrive at a workable arrangement. One that will palpably benefit both countries and the region. This seems to be the more appealing, and attainable, option. But it is still very challenging to pursue given the ongoing rivalries between other protagonists in this geopolitical drama.

The third and the least desirable option is to just wait until patience and grace from both sides run out and everyone just decides to have a shootout at the OK Corral. The West Philippine Sea will turn red for sure. Millions of lives will be adversely impacted and the whole world will be rocked to its core. All would agree that this one should be genuinely avoided.

The Marcos administration is fully aware of option three. And it is quite clear that surrendering our position, such as the policy of the previous president, is out of the question. Its plan moving forward falls within option two. Although, President Marcos recently showed exasperation with this rant during a media interview in Cebu:

“Let’s make a deal with China: Stop claiming our territory, stop harassing our fishermen and let them have a living, stop ramming our boats, stop water cannoning our people, stop firing lasers at us, and stop your aggressive and coercive behavior, and I’ll return the Typhon missiles. Itigil nila ‘yung ginagawa nila, ibabalik ko lahat ‘yan,”

Lamentably, President Marcos just revealed here that he is still more content to have Uncle Sam as a crutch to rely on than to lead us on that arduous path to be a maritime powerhouse in the region. The irony is showing an unequivocal resolve to fight the bully with our own fists would probably jolt Beijing to start second guessing their current strategy.

Nonetheless, efforts to build up our armed forces is already ongoing. The most recent boost to this gargantuan endeavor is the enactment of the Self-Reliant Defense Posture Revitalization Act. Pertinently, at the signing ceremony, President Marcos conceded that, “It’s a logical move forward for a country that finds itself at the fulcrum of geopolitical shifts and volatilities. At its core, this act is about cultivating a robust and sustainable national defense industry.”

The reality is, establishing a self-reliant defense posture is a herculean responsibility that must be borne by taxpayers. Protecting our seas for future generations will exact a steep price. If we want to have our own monster ships, then we must be willing to pay for it. Otherwise, we will continue to be a hapless pinball amidst the “geopolitical shifts and volatilities” in our region. The sooner we accept this fact, the closer we will get to a resolution in the West Philippine Sea.