Shallow waters in the West Philippine Sea

Exhibiting heretofore unseen strength and resoluteness, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., responding to a Chinese demand to remove the deliberately-grounded BRP Sierra Madre from Ayungin Shoal as supposedly promised earlier, said he was not aware such a promise was ever made, and that if it was, he was immediately rescinding it.

 Now that is why Bongbong is president of the republic and why Senate President Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri will never be. Responding to the same harassment and bullying by China against Philippine assets in the West Philippine Sea, Migz said we should boycott Chinese goods and companies, in effect starting a trade war with our biggest trading partner.

How shallow can anyone get. If Migz were part of the WPS, he would personify Ayungin Shoal, home to a derelict naval asset. You do not start a trade war with the biggest buyer of your exports and the biggest supplier of your imports. Wading even further in the shallows, Migz said we can always find new trading partners, like flipping a switch.

It comes as no surprise, therefore, that he shares the same mind and joins that Philippine Coast Guard spokesman named Jay Tarriela in calling those Filipinos who chose to view the West Philippine Sea issues objectively and sensibly as unpatriotic and traitors. Oh yeah? Why don't you name names and offer proof instead of merely gaslighting them.

Gaslighting those who think objectively about issues in the WPS and what is at stake as a consequence is the common resort of those who are totally clueless about what they are even talking about. No wonder a Senate resolution born of such cluelessness was described by former senator Juan Ponce Enrile as "stupid”.  Such gaslighting is also reckless and irresponsible, putting the lives of those who speak their minds at risk.

Patriotism and love and loyalty for country are not measured by the loudness and public displays of indignation one can summon against China and its bullying. It is in always placing the country's interest first in whatever challenge it faces. If it is in the country's interest to avoid a shooting war and a trade war neither of which it can win, then so be it.

Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, who once had an issue with Migz over a contested Senate seat, has shown why he is a Bar topnotcher by inserting his voice of sense and sobriety amid such loud posturings of nonsense in the Senate. Koko said instead of making such a racket and telegraphing our punches, we should try to outsmart the Chinese.

For example, instead of alerting the Chinese by publicly discussing our next supply run to Ayungin, Koko said we should do our planning in an executive session. Koko is also the only person who approves of the fact that former president Rodrigo Duterte is able to talk to China's Xi Jinping. To Koko, it is good to have an open line of communication with China.

I know where the bravado of Migs and Tarriela is coming from. It is from the same cluelessness that makes them over-reliant on a mutual defense treaty with the United States. It is clear they have not studied how America now conducts its conflicts: By proxy, trade sanctions, or arms for us to fight our own wars. No more US boots on the ground.

But since America loves to act the part that we wager our patrimony upon for it to play, then why don't we ask it to put its money where its mouth is. Surely, in the interest of freedom of navigation and right of passage, the US Navy can "coincidentally" send a warship or two passing by the exact spot and time when we make another supply run to Ayungin.