life imprisonment vs death penalty....mas maau pang mamatay....labina ma priso ka sa laing nasud...
life imprisonment vs death penalty....mas maau pang mamatay....labina ma priso ka sa laing nasud...
Is China playing PH card? - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
(Editor’s Note: The writer is a journalist who stayed in China for 10 years.)
MANILA, Philippines—The question facing the Philippines is what concessions it will give China in exchange for Beijing’s decision to postpone the execution of three Filipinos convicted of drug trafficking.
The answer: We will pay a stiff price but through skillful diplomacy and tested wisdom, we can navigate a solution favorable to our national interest.
China’s carefully worded decision centers on the phrase “postpone the execution within the scope of Chinese law.” A masterpiece of nuance crafting, it is an open-ended declaration that the fate of the three drug traffickers hangs on whether the Philippines can deliver on Beijing’s expectations.
Philippine-China relations are generally improving but some contentious issues remain. The Spratlys dispute is one of them.
The Philippines may have to moderate its claim to the island group by making less arrests, or none at all, of Chinese fishing boats on the territorial waters. The previous exercises of enforcing our maritime laws in the area will have to yield to a larger use of pragmatism on the ground, or on the waters, as the case may be.
Can we afford the cost of appeasing what may be perceived as Chinese inroads into our national pride and sovereignty?
It bears noting that China’s territorial claims are non-negotiable and irreversible given its geographical conflicts with Vietnam, the Soviet Union, Japan and most prominently, Taiwan.
Way out of Spratlys
Still, we can discover a way out of the Spratlys impasse by concentrating on the oil deposits of the territory where China has a more flexible position that hardly poses a threat to Philippine sovereignty.
Beijing has made known that it welcomes the joint exploration by claimant countries of the fossil fuel resources in the contested territories.
Quietly dropping our Spratlys claim, as we did with the Sabah claim, in favor of sharing the wealth that lies beneath the ocean with China opens a window of accessible opportunity and leeway.
Instead of expending weapons of war on a fruitless historical quest, our involvement in discovering a vital resource can bear lasting rewards. It can well be our contribution to making the South China Sea a zone of peace, security and development.
On a larger scale, China sees its reprieve to the doomed Filipinos as another window for leveraging the issue of US military dominance in the East Asia Pacific region.
As home to the visiting forces of the American military, the Philippines is collaterally seen as an ally of a superpower out to contain China’s military rise in the region.
Binay reshapes ties
In a word, Vice President Jejomar Binay’s Beijing trip last week has reshaped the contours of Philippine-China relations.
Any Philippine move to scrap the Visiting Forces Agreement, a pact so one-sidedly favoring the US interest, may well be the plum in the reprieve trade-off. China hopes it can neutralize the American security presence by offering military hardware to our armed forces at a premium discount.
How the United States deals with its former colony’s turn to the East bears watching for the rich geopolitical lode it mines. It won’t be farfetched to see a joint Philippine-China military exercise in the near future in aid of the growing partnership between two armies that were once enemies on the battlefield.
Against these unfolding events, aren’t we courting the danger of jumping from the security of one superpower to that of another? Can there be real parity between a rising powerful country and an undeveloped Third World country?
The guarded answer: Yes, it is possible. China, for all its rapid climb to power and influence, has always had a soft spot for the Philippines.
Our strategic location and cultural affinities make us natural partners this side of the Pacific. We can learn to live in China’s shadow but never be its ward, much less its hostage, so long as we play our cards well. The way they do.
Mao na ni ang resulta sa pag konsinte nila sa mga bitayonon...
naa karon sa DZMM .. nag prescon sila vice pres binay about sa china drug case
murag layo ra kaayo sa prescon ni noy2x nga murag cge kompara sa uban nasug ug murag nag tula
naa jd na tinaguan nga deal between China and Phils aron masuspend ilang execution. In 2009, a British national was executed in China for smuggling nearly 4kg of illegal drugs. Walay nabuhat ang Britain pero ang pinas nga tulo pa kabuok plus more than 4kg ang gsmuggle nakalusot tsk tsk tsk...
this is one valid point. nakakita ang China ug alliance and there would come a time nga kelangan mopili ang pinas to ally either sa US or China.
wala man ta klaro nga systema mao nang makasibat ra sila as long as makapyansa or makabribe. China doesnt care whether you are poor or rich as long as makasala ka, priso jd ka.
IMO,
theres no point on saving the lives of the 3 Drug carriers. They know that their job is illegal. they know it could lead to death penalty esp. Internationally.
last, i wouldn't trade them for something bigger in return. like Spratlys or whatever is ask in return and also, we respect their laws as they respect ours, its like were promoting illegal stuffs are good and were saving them for illegal doings. how lame. i would prefer an OFW saved if they're plain innocent at the first place. like an OFW killed someone due to Self Defense or illegally framed up. These guys are not.
^^very well said sir.
they are bringing shame on us...
ayaw namo angal, para na pakitang tao sa inyung Agta na VP. Para makaingon pud siya na dili usik ang mga millions na nagasto ug magasto pa sa iyang "OFFICE"
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