A Letter of Protest

To one Chinese nation: I salute you, China, ancient and wise nation of old and Taiwan (ROC) in particular - peace be with you and all your generations:



I condemn in the strongest way possible the continuing violence against my compatriots in your territory. I do not think I can watch idly by while my countrymen and women are presently subjected to the pain and duress of this unjust threat that looms over their citizenship with me.

They have absolutely nothing to do with the issue at hand and do not deserve to suffer for its evil - an evil we can only together attempt to address that it may withdraw its foul presence from the peace of our region, sooner than later.

These are our citizens, human beings who have sought in good faith to apply for and to work an honest job within your economy under your nation's patronage and your government's protection.

Rest assured we will honor our obligations to shelter and protect your citizens or any other citizens from any nation who came in peace to the shelter of our Republic, and uphold their human rights within our territory not because it is expedient or "politically correct" to do so right now but because it is only the natural way of things for this nation and so it shall be this way for my Country till the end of time - peace embraced with peace: It is only right and just.

Are we not a democracy? Both of us know the strengths and weaknesses of our chosen system. Right now, the effects of your lack of action to shelter the innocent in your care and protection is weakening what reason now prevails, both in the popular and in the political domain, that preserve those courses of action that will allow us to peaceably and responsibly resolve this unwanted and unneeded sea row, an issue now necessary and vital to our mutual national concerns and freely determining from what is true and what is not, how to effectively proceed.

I do not know the source of your belligerence and am admittedly still confounded by it. I hold no memory in my remembrance of our history of a division like this ever plaguing our peoples.

Yet as I seek to be prudent with what is weak in our systems, I trust also in the strengths of democracy as I must and so should advise you now most urgently that your failure to address the safety concerns of my compatriots in your care is stymieing the process instead of helping it.

None of us can resolve this issue on our own, only together - empowered in our will by the good will of both our peoples - can we run the gauntlet that will bring our Countries back into the fold of the peace our peoples have always steadily and quietly enjoyed.

Let us return again to the root of your passionate protests and know that we are just as passionate a people as you are in loving and protecting our own. I know that in this regard we both agree, we must truly love our peoples. And do so because both our nationhood hold to the truth that all human life, with all its foibles and vulnerabilities is of precious value and unlimited potential, each endowed equally and individually with natural rights and that this is the reason we are both a work of freedom; a democracy - to unleash in our citizenry the creativity, greatness, and nobility of the human potential and to protect and preserve their life and dignity.

I believe if we reflect upon this thinking more deeply, we will understand each other. We will understand as I do now hope we understand - that each human life to us is sacred - that you may feel how we too value our own and so understand the reason I must appeal in this protest to your reciprocal sense of civic solidarity:

Please extend to my people under the shelter of your care, the safety and the respect they deserve.

I am truly sorry for your loss, I truly am. Please, I humbly implore you - let us work now to reverse the tide.
I am just as eager for justice to give adequate redress to your sense of loss - to unveil the truth, properly compensate Hung Shih-cheng's next of kin, and pay the debt of remembrance both our nations now owe your deceased compatriot by recognizing in the living memory of his hope and the pain of his family and friends the present need to strengthen the mechanisms and institutions that work to help prevent similar tragedies from reoccurring, safeguard the integrity and completeness of the laws that serve to govern, protect, and conserve our seas and its riches, and affirm the peace both our sovereign peoples have always enjoyed together.

I believe agreements may only be made from seeds born from common understandings. Furthermore, I believe we are able to reach these understandings because we are simply born from the same spirit and that this seeking to freely allow truth itself to prevail - because truth ultimately will - is simply part of our strength as a democracy. For I do believe in us and desire for both our nations along with all our kindred nations, a future worthy of our common humanity.

Thank you so much for your patience. I am hopeful you will receive with reason and compassion, my most sincere and humble letter. God bless us all.

Mabuhay!
---<--@


UPDATE 20130527: Thank you, Mayor Hau Lung-pin - for being one of the first who stood up for peace and sanity between our peoples - peace be with you - Mabuhay, Taipei!

Salutation #145

Look to the sea,
look to the flow.

Look to the heavens,
down here below.



(Hope Taking Wing [in Asia])

Listen.

In a small pond,
we may seem like little fish -
because we are.

But the world
upon which our nation is established
is a much, much bigger pond.

It is a veritable sea
with much, much more fish
of every size, disposition, and spirit.

In this living sea,
everything is growing and breathing,
everything is in everything,
and this everything is in motion.

If
our perspective
is that of a small pond,
we shall remain little.

But
if our perspective
becomes large enough
to encompass the living sea,
we shall long for this one sea
and this longing shall
carry us forth.

In such a way,
little fish do not always remain little
nor do big fish live to belong in a pond.

This
is the way we are
at this present moment
with the PRC.

- selah -

Now
our Asia can not be
without China
and

just as equally true is that
our Asia can not be
without the Philippines.

Our Asia can not be
without all the Asian nations together.
Period.

For
no Asian can ever truly experience
the true spirit of Asia as a continental belonging
without all the Asian nations
belonging together
and at peace with one another.

If we do not rise to meet her,
if we choose to remain in our own little ponds,

if we do not brave the journey to the one sea,
we will never realize this unity.

And
if we do not realize this unity,
we will always be lacking
either as our parts (national) or
as the sum of our parts (regional)
in the necessary strength
to overcome the vast problems
that have plagued our Asia
for centuries.

We, that is all of Asia,
and the generations after us
will suffer these same problems
multiplied by the spirit of the times.

But we have a choice!

---<--@


The one Quest

View in Review 20120623

We're half-way through 2012!



I think we're doing splendidly, my brother and sister Filipinos.

You must ask yourselves today, have the first part of this year of years made us stronger together, even slightly stronger, than the days before?

And you must ask this bearing into mind and heart the reality of our nationhood, who we are, as well as the present guardianship of our Republic replete with her memory and institutions, what we stand for, even as you reflect on where time itself has taken our freedoms today.

I personally think we have become stronger for our coming together.

For our liberty as one nation is bound by the strength of our freedoms together.

This liberty is our Republic pursuit, the fullest extent of which is happiness for all our citizens - in this world (of trial and probation) and if we are wise, in that promised world that is to come forever.

Let us remember to stay focused for the rest of this year of years bearing into mind that - yes indeed!

Little things matter, invisible things matter, for these are the essential things.



I recently saw a documentary about the prophesies related to 2012. 

These would have proved disturbing to me have I not learned to anchor my heart upon the prevailing spirit of the times which the LORD has ordained specifically to bring these events into order and perspective that we may each have a choice away and apart from all the confusion.

We have a prophesy of our own we can lean upon... (refer to Daniel 12).

So that if things do get difficult and confusing, we know with the understanding of faith and conviction of heart to all the more place ourselves in the responsible and human service of each other as a nation among nations - under and before - God, our King.

Bear always into mind and heart also, my compatriots, that ye may have a good measure of the horizons of our hope spread in their arcs across time, we have the year 2046 as our intended destination.



For it shall take two generations -
two generations to sow, nurture, and establish
the necessary changes in our Country
and allow for it to take root in the soil of our land,
two generations to work out the labor of peace
that will restore our Republic to herself
blessing all those who patiently wait
for the blessing of the LORD.

So let us give each other a little more love each day -
loving our own and loving others like our own.

Let us be understanding of our weaknesses,
considerate of our brokenness,
accommodating of our own common human needs,
unyielding in our determination to see this undertaking of Country
we call the one Republic of the Philippines through this longest night
and into the new morning of that promised day...

After all, are we not the Land of Promise, 
my brothers and sisters of the Promise?

Remember,
our democracy is to be nurtured like a tree,
its fruits are virtues eternal, and golden like the stars -
our Country which is our labor is to be honored with fidelity
and our nation which is our community cared for with kindness and love,
for these are the blessings of our peace and defended with vigilance and sacrifice.

Is this not the truth?

We are a free nation

because we have rightly chosen

(in the course of our history in time)

in our hearts and across our generations

to be guided and ruled by authentic human freedoms

where each our free and human choices

no longer become one governed by chance,

but by each individual strength of will

and the power of God's own grace;

freedom giving its life to freedom,

liberty shedding its light for all.

Sometimes these days,

and these days are becoming more frequent again

when I reflect on our population issue -

I think about

the prevalence in our collective thought

(as a free nation among the nations upon the earth)

either of (1) randomness (fatalism, or the "bahala na" habit)

(which in a free nation is a moral evil)

or of (2) free and human choice (relativism, amoralism)

(which is evil BUT ONLY if it is left to chance

for freedom that is irresponsible is anathema to itself).

Now,

of these two evils,

the question we must gauge is

which is presently the greater evil 

and so the one we must subdue;

between the one answer and the other -

a proper formation of a moral conscience 

is the arbiter.

   

One can not forsee

all ends in the RH bill debate,

and as a devout Roman Catholic,

I am anguished by its many nuances

BUT notwithstanding our action or inaction 

we are left to deal here with a clear and present evil

which is poverty and the increasing means and degrees

to which individuals and families within our own population,

have become helplessly subject to its many afflictions.

Indeed 

poverty has now become 

a social justice issue in this Republic

where failure to act decisively is consequently

a failure in the prevailing morality of our culture.

   I would even go as far as 

   to consider poverty as a national security issue

   for I am of the growing conviction that 

   poverty in our Country is becoming life-threatening

   to this Republic.

Admittedly, 

there are many facets to this issue

but in the context of the RH Bill debate 

adequate and effective population management

which is a primary responsibility of individual family units

within the peace of a democratic society such as ours

when it is left irresponsibly managed by our common failures

as a Republic whole to redeem our prevailing culture 

from the evil of randomness and chance - will and does - 

become a burden to our nation as a whole

and this burden when it becomes debilitating 

needs the swift action of our Justice and our Law.

What we do about it matters.

What we don't do about it matters even more.

A little mental exercise #1

If tomorrow it is declared, without a shred of a doubt,

that there are absolutely no petrochemical deposits

lying in the bottom of the West Philippine Sea,

I wonder how this will affect the region?

Will it soften the self-destructive stances of the politics of conflict?

Will it serve to alleviate the military tension in our common sea?

Will it add to the peace of our neighborhood and therefore, lead to a further strengthening of our futures together?

What if there really is no economic value?

What then are we really fighting for?

What for are we committing the lives of our most faithful sons and daughters...

...the desolation?

A little mental exercise #2

There is a dispute on Bajo de Masinloc (Scarborough Shoal).

And this dispute involves two sovereign undertakings of Country -

the RPH and the PRC.

Do we recognize there is a dispute?

Do the two parties recognize there are two parties in this issue?

Do the two parties recognize each other?

Do the two parties who recognize each other recognize there is a respective claim of sovereignty over the area?

Have any of them already made up their mind to deny it?

Unless these questions are answered meaningfully with due regard for the greater good of the region, of Asia, and of our world - this division will remain unchallenged and unhealed; a neglected space in time wherein the contagion of War may fester and spread.

Peace may only be built on agreements.

- selah -

If the PRC insists on a bilateral remedy to the dispute without even considering the equality of our claims of sovereignty over the area, what it really is implying is a peace enforced by force of arms.

We may not win this fight in the short term but this shall prove ruinous for a power like Beijing in the longer term view of things where the value of any civilization is actually invested in time. 

It shall be to the mutual interests of both our Countries to pursue, if not through the ITLOS, a regional solution worked out with an independent regional or multinational tribunal (probably the ASEAN+China or other recognized body) bearing into mind the vital significance of the longer view of things, especially in this new age of spirit and thought, and the larger good of our Asia (and remembering the number for peace is 3). 

The truth is we can not live without the PRC and the PRC can not live without us either: We can not change the geography of our region, the currents of our common markets will lead and evolve into each other, nor the connected nature of our cultures, they shall always share an affinity wrought in spirit and blood - we may have these passionate disagreements today but all indications are we shall have to make this peace work.

And the sooner we can work this out the better.
---<--@

If we find ourselves,
despite everything and in spite of all,

still dead-locked on Panatag Shoal

and in the Spratlys,

let no bad news be good news,

let no (military) action be good action -

BUT always, 

we should be mindful

of our building together from within,

we should always be mindful

of the real labor of our nationhood,

and all these things shall turn out

for the good of the nation

that is faithful to its own truth

and to the one LORD of all truth.

For in the meantime, 
we shall build.
---<--@

Between War and Peace is indecision and this is the worst choice of them all.

"so because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth." 

- Revelation 3:16

View in Review 20120511

While there are other note-worthy articles I should like to include in this Review, for today, I am going to delve exclusively on the one issue that seems to loom in the horizons of my mind - Scarborough Shoal.

(I initially did not expect this incident to become so protracted...)



Scarborough Shoal is NOT a population center.

It is an economic resource.

For what else is it?

There is a difference here, a subtle but significant one.

- selah -

Sovereignty lies chiefly in the nation - in the reality of we, the people who under God and before our laws and constitutional ideals are ordered and arrayed (in time and dimensional space) as one nation.

And from the nation extends to those spheres proper to our Republic undertaking of Country.

Why is it then that in the issue of Scarborough Shoal we are becoming so willing to undertake with China (PRC) burdens proper only for the defense of a population center?

Sovereignty has degrees just as equally as defense has depths yet sovereignty in all its places must be equally well-defended.

How we undertake this defense - against War, against each other - lies chiefly in how we must succeed in its conduct.

If we do not succeed in a diplomatic course of action as history has always been so eager to point out, we shall have no other recourse but an armed confrontation - a low-intensity conflict, as it were.

In this particular outcome, if we allow it to be, we shall be in control with China (PRC) only of how much damage we shall each be willing to sustain, for in this particular outcome, all parties would have already lost even before formal hostilities will have already begun.

We can not subdue China (PRC) neither can China (PRC) subdue us.

In this particular outcome, the longer view of things both obscures itself from our vision and denies itself from our foresight.

For we certainly could pursue the Scarborough Shoal issue through to its military means but to what ends, my fellow Filipinos, to what uncertain ends?

So instead of going into that exercise in sheer futility that in this particular case is armed conflict, it is to our common benefit with China (PRC) to find a way to share the advantages as well as inherent responsibilities of maintaining a common marine area as a mutual resource meant for the peace of both our peoples.

There is a middle ground to be found here. War shall not avail us anything.

And this middle ground has got to be found, recognized and commonly agreed upon through the use of an innovative approach that seeks to let go of old and antiquated ways of thinking... for the times are truly changed.

My personal position here (in support of President Noy) is to clarify, communicate, compromise, recognize, coordinate, legislate, and conform - exhaust every means, take every opportunity to transform this unwanted incident into an achievement of good worth to our nation (with armed confrontation only as a means of last resort in the conduct of the defense) - all for the greater good of our common regions in Asia, for the good of our Asia, and from our Asia to our needful world so much in need of respite and repair.

Moreover -



Scarborough Shoal is well within our 200 nautical mile EEZ or Exclusive Economic Zone (a compensatory advantage of our Archipelagic nature) and its continuing and responsible maintenance as an integral part of our territorial seas is sanctioned by UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea).

Of the substance of this truth, lettered in international law, and witnessed by many of our kindred nations, we may indeed constantly rely.

It is more costly, in terms of the national wealth, for the PRC to do what our naval forces and maritime law enforcement agencies must be able and indeed are able to accomplish in these waters. This is to maintain the law of our Republic and extend forth the sovereign peace of our one nation into this maritime territory - not to make it ours - but to preserve it as a resource for the good of our nation.



The PRC's over-extension (inherent in its claim to the whole of these waters west of our Republic) is also a cause for concern among other Countries in our world whose vital interest it is to keep those international shipping lanes within and beyond our EEZ free; whose nations need assurance that these sea lanes are kept open and available as a common trust of all nations.

However, the law by itself is troublesome if we ignore the fact that that the PRC is laying a claim to Panatag or Scarborough. This is why it is important to meet the PRC in the middle and preserve not only the dignity of both our Republics but also the viability and value of the shoal for the use of our future generations.

The US commitment to our defense may only be as strong as our own commitment to our own defense.

We must be able to take this in principle: Our primary defense in the context of the common defense and in concert with the mutual defense of our allies is always our responsibility.

We must be a friend to our friends and they shall be a friend to us.

The old mold of our ASEAN, however tenuously, may still understandably prevail.

That our ASEAN of late may still feel itself a random and accidental falling together of unrelated interests within our region instead of that purposed, principled, unified, Providential gathering of kindred nations into one focused and decisive regional force for collective peace and human community within our Asia may be evident in the uncertain stance that our own region is now taking here in our own region.

Therefore, we, as a defense partner with the United States and as part of the one ASEAN Neighborhood, must take both of these vital considerations arising from this unwanted incident as an impetus to spur forward the transformation of our Republic as well as that of our region with ASEAN and recognize its potential as an integral part of our diplomatic initiative.

We must do everything in our power to amicably resolve this standoff with the PRC.

Mabuhay! God be with us all.
---<--@

The Human Cost of War

Indeed,
my fellow Filipino compatriots,

the first ones to suffer the pains of War 

are ever the weak and the vulnerable.

- selah - 

Not our politicians,
not our able soldiery, 

not our middle classes,
not our wealthier classes, 

not even the criminally inclined, 

it is our small fisherfolk 

and their humble, hungry families 

who bear the brunt of this stand-off.

People whose minds (and stomachs) 

dwell furthest off of this brewing crisis!

We must bear in mind and heart 

that the human cost of this deadlock 

begins with them and is now counting...

   (Indeed,
   War will not cease
   until all of us
   - from least to strong -
   are made weak and vulnerable.
 
   For the spirit of War is a devourer of peoples!)

If we who are able
do not consider their plight 

to lend to our sense of urgency 

a deepening sense of justice, 

we might find ourselves taking stands 

on the wrong foundation.

---<--@

Salutation #122

Here we are, locked in a moment...

Here we are, searching for a way...
Here we are, seeking what questions to ask...

What shall we fill this moment with?

Where shall this moment take us?

All the while, 

history waits for an answer.

And history can not wait forever.

---<--@

(Scarborogh Shoal)

I want to tell you, China - again -
you are a valued nation
among the nations of this world.

In your completeness,
I see you not as a thing of War.

This is my hope for you - success!

For peace is what I desire for you.

And in those same terms,
may you be able to also respect mine.

For I too belong to a nation
- just the same as yours -
fully engaged in a work of completion
upon this same earth
as a particular undertaking of Country
unique to my people.

We are a particular responsibility
established in peace and human community
- human and imperfect -
yet free, and able, and willing to grow
by grace of God and our own determination
as a sovereign labor of living life
upon this world.

Sovereignty is what lays claim
to a national responsibility
that can (and must) be defined
but can never be shared.

To impugn on sovereignty
is to deny the right of any nation
to array itself across time
as a particular undertaking of Country.

We can not share sovereignty -
neither can you share yours.

But resources,
perhaps this,
we can.

But Scarborough Shoal 
is not just about resources.

- selah -

It is about the future shape of things.
And of this - we all have a stake.

For the future of our failing world
is a vision that we all must quest for
- and - if the history of the last 2000 years
have sufficiently taught
the memory of all our nations,
one that must be shared.

The destiny of this planet
is both a burden and an endowment
we must commonly bear
the labor and the responsibility for -
as nations dreaming together this time.

You seek to isolate us
from the judgment of our kindred nations
to expose us to thy military might
and speak to us in the terms of War
but this is not thy spirit
and this is not thy tongue.

We can not prosper unto an agreement
if we have already surrendered it
to the War that seeks to pit us
against each other as pawns.

For War is the bane of our existence!

Shall War distinguish between us
which of our people it shall devour?

Nay! 

War shall take us to a place
- even our angels dare not tread -
a lonely and desolate place.

Let us then affirm,
O my kindred Chinese nation -
Peace is the craft of our nations.

- selah -

I go back to the words
my own President spoke to you
about this vital area of sea - that -
more than it separates our nations
are waters that connect us
and connect us better - and more deeply -
than we at present
may claim to understand.

It is a sea of friendship (and harmony)!

(Its waters being purposed

as a medium of peace, goodwill, and justice

between our nations, 

between all the nations in our region, 

our continent, and our world.)

Let those words come back to us now
in this moment, in this space between our hopes,
and let the history of the present
be written in the spirit.
of our mutual determination
see to it that this work of division
does not overcome our common desire
for a better world - for our Asia -
and for all the nations of our Mankind.

- selah -

How do we settle this dispute?
---<--@


Madness

Standoff at Scarborough Shoal

Everybody seems to be concentrated on how weak we are, on how under-equipped our Navy and Coast Guard is, but what we don't immediately realize here is that it takes greater courage to confront a stronger nemesis, which in this instance, in Scarborough Shoal, are those Chinese marine surveillance ships. 

Let me reiterate here that we are not at war with China (PRC), however, in this particular instance only, our Armed Forces, in particular that arm to which is entrusted by our nation, the security and wholeness of our seas, finds itself on an opposite disposition, out of sheer necessity, with that Country.

Just this morning, it was asked in a current affairs program if those Chinese vessels were armed. Of course they are, at the very least, one has to assume that these vessels are defended by weapons, these are after all, reconnaissance ships.

Therefore, our sailors were and still are in real danger. This to me is not weakness - it deserves recognition in the highest order. 

Indeed, it could have turned out badly. It still could. However, chances are if an incident like this one does not immediately escalate, it will de-escalate.

We must remember things aren't always as fortuitous in the South China Seas or West Philippine Sea (depending on which parallax of war we subscribe with - fact is, everybody knows there is but one sea in question).

My brother and sister Filipinos, we can not rely on the workings of Providential grace exclusively for our national defense. 

We have to forge a plan for the credible defense of this Republic. And we must stick to it.

China, it seems to me, is becoming what she hated in the past; that thing of War that she knew and hated and suffered under... it makes me sad to think about it.

Now, a diplomatic solution that would preserve the dignity of both our sovereign Republics must be worked out. 

Compromises have to be made and given in order to secure a longer term solution to the much larger, more powerful Spratly divide that threatens to suck the whole of our region into conflict (and mire the whole of our continent of Asia in War for an indeterminable amount of time, further depleting what stores of human spirit and human potential our nations have managed to preserve thus far). 

This is by far not the only way out of this standoff at Scarborough Shoal but this is the only one - the only one - which will cost  less in terms of the ultimate price it shall exact upon the lives and fortunes of both our nations (and consequently, of all our nations). 

Mabuhay. May God be with us all.

---<--@