A world of bullies ever since

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March L. Fianza

It’s history repeating itself. Don’t get me wrong but China and the big nations such as the United States and Russia had been all time bullies to developing nations ever since.

Bullying is a normal animalistic trait inherent in individuals whether they be persons or nations who expect to benefit from the act. Looking back, remember how Spain came to our archipelago and continuously bullied us for 400 years with the use of the sword and the cross.

Bullying is part of the survival instinct of humans, animals and in a larger scale, the big nations. The applications, however, differ depending on the needs. For animals, they attack their subjects based on size and strength while humans bully co-humans by calculation and devious planning.

For a country such as China, it bullies its smaller neighbors by acting like a half animal-half human that attacks its opponents by using its size, military might and by deceitful planning.

Bullying is an act by big nations over their smaller neighbors and that includes the Unites States of America that has been bullying its neighbor Mexico and the other countries in Central and South America.

In Europe, news about Russia bullying smaller independent countries around it does not stop. It bullies its neighbors on all fronts, either militarily or physically, as well as psychologically.

There is power imbalance in that part of the earth, but we read about it then move on with our lives as if we do not care. Maybe Europeans and Americans feel the same way too towards the problems encountered by small nations in Asia such as the Philippines, in relation to giant China.

Comes now the question, “how long can the Philippines take China’s bullying?” This, following the ramming and sinking of a Filipino-owned fishing boat anchored at Recto Bank in the West Philippine Sea, allegedly by a Chinese vessel last June 9, 2019.

Worst, the crew of the ship that rammed the Filipino-owned ship abandoned the 22 fishermen in the high seas, putting their lives at risk. Vietnamese fishermen came to their rescue.

The unfortunate incident should be a wakeup call. Instead, politics raised its ugly head as this administration’s political opponents took advantage of the situation and President Duterte’s unusual silence by trying to egg him into confronting his Chinese friends, to the extent that circumstances could lead to a shooting war.   

I suspect that is the reason behind President Duterte’s silence – the Philippines and the Filipinos will be sitting ducks in a shooting war which nobody wants to happen. Any statement from his mouth will provoke hundreds of interpretations and criticism.

By weighing the situation, it looks like the President preferred to make a sacrifice by absorbing the tirades and attacks by his critics than give in to the egging and make careless statements that could worsen things as it is now. Consider that as prize for being President.

In a confrontation at the Recto Bank that will explode into a shooting war that even our American allies do not want to be involved in, the Chinese will certainly win in three days and the Philippines can be under Chinese control.

In Asia, banks and manufacturing companies of construction material, big landholdings are already in the control of Chinese businessmen even before any shooting war, so that it is not farfetched that trade, commerce and industry will be controlled by them after a quick war.

History repeats itself. Highland vegetable farming and mining that was introduced by the Chinese in Benguet even before the arrival of the Spaniards, may again be controlled by the Chinese. Even Duterte’s political enemies do not want this to happen.

Before I am misunderstood, what I am pointing out is that we have not learned enough from history. We have seen how the Chinese have become successful businessmen from being dirty gold miners in Lepanto, Mankayan and vegetable gardeners in Atok and Buguias.

For centuries, they lived with us and showed us their talents on how to become prosperous entrepreneurs. I once read that Filipinos send their children to school so that they can get employment, while the Chinese children go to school to put up their own businesses and provide employment to people.

With that employee-employer relationship, certainly we are open to bullying. Just look at the department stores, restaurants and hardware. The employers are Chinese and the workers are Filipinos.

We have not learned from our past about what we should do to improve our lot. What we have been perfecting instead is the art of dirty politics, which is indeed an acknowledged Filipino past time.

But unwittingly, that is what the Chinese really want us to do – Filipinos fighting Filipinos. By studying the political tirades waged against each other, the Chinese simply rams a Filipino fishing vessel and we become a weaker nation.

The Filipinos have been bullied by the Chinese for the longest time. And so, the answer to the question, “how long can the Philippines take China’s bullying,” is for Filipinos to simply keep fighting each other.

By the way, I have not heard for a long time since politics was invented, the song that used to go “united we stand, divided we fall; and if our backs should ever be against the wall, we’ll be together.”

Oddly, the British pop group that performed the song in the early 70s was called “The Brotherhood of Man”.