Ayungin supply runs be played smarter

When the Philippine Senate first took more than just a cursory interest in things Ayungin, nobody paid any attention to what Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III was saying. Media attention was caught  between what some angry senators were saying and what a few remarkably ignorant colleagues of  theirs were proposing.

That was not surprising, however. Only Pimentel talked sense, and chances are, when you talk sense,  the media misses you by a mile. Here is what Pimentel said: "Let us not telegraph our punches. And let us play smart. "Well, telegraphing our punches is exactly what our talkative AFP officials love doing.

Removing the element of surprise is never smart.

Just days ago, another supply run to Ayungin was successfully made by two chartered boats escorted  by two Philippine Coast Guard ships. Even more dramatic forms of harassment and bullying were employed by China Coast Guard and militia ships. Video clips taken at the scene can be infuriating. But they can also be enlightening.

This is the first time that the narrative had slightly given more weight to the supply run's eventual  success than the harassment and bullying that attended it. And that is good. At least, on things Ayungin, we are starting to swing from the negative to the positive. For our anger we can now add a dash of  jubilation.

Okay, at this point there are a few voices suggesting that we succeeded only because China never  meant to detain the supply deliveries but only to keep harassing and bullying us to show who is the king of the block. A variation of this scenario is China merely trying to show displeasure over our cozying up  to the US. I must admit all of this is entirely plausible.

But I would prefer to keep that at the back of my mind. I would rather dwell on the success part  because that is where playing smart can enter the picture. Watching the video, it is difficult to say whether China did throw the game or, by some stroke of irrepressible ingenuity, we did manage to outsmart the enemy.

Since all of us seem caught up in the euphoria of the supply run's success, regardless of how it was  attained, I think it is demanded of us now to go back to that video and study not how we were bullied  and harassed but how we made it through the gauntlet. Let it now be a game of chess for everybody. A game of wits.

Our board is the vast South China Sea, with its deep open waters and its treacherous rocky shallows.

The pieces are almost all sorts of seacraft big and small, fast and slow. Additional pieces may be added  depending on the imagination and capacity to improvise.

We do have one distinct advantage over China. China is angry at us. It shows on the video. Anger can be manipulated. Angry people can be driven to do foolish things. It is not us who are taking great  calculated risks in playing this dangerous game in an angry frame of mind. If China loses it, the VIP  spectators watching the game may just clear the board.

I do not think we have an existential stake in Ayungin the way China has. The burden on our weary  shoulders is lighter, that is, without meaning to belittle the needs of our Marines in Ayungin. So let us  get smart. If we "succeeded" then, there is no reason we cannot again and again. Let us outwit the angry Chinese. Let's get smart.