Robin is braver than Batman. So, it seems.
The senator, who stands out, or is the odd man out,in the House of the Wiser, on the burning issue on the West Philippine Sea dispute, has braved the shining sea on his own. And on a rickety banca, mind you, not on a ship. He did one better than a former president who threatened to be the first to cross the sea on a jet ski but found out later he was just kidding. He was friendlier. Better to win the war, or what passes for it , without fighting. It’s an old Chinese saying, and the former president delighted in it.
Chill up, Robin told his older and veteran colleagues. China hasn’t been a bad boy with its nine-dash line. Not even with its new ten-dash line. No escalation out there, or anywhere, according to his surprise and secret ocular inspection. When was the last time the country’s maritime expert visited the controversial sea? His colleagues and others must be seeing things, like “mist and snow”.
There is a problem they, his colleagues, refuse to see: the old man who’s poking its nose in the current spat between China and Taiwan. We have no business allowing the old man to use our backyard to meddle in the spat and make more serious than it is. Can’t we fight our own battle by ourselves without bringing back an “old threat” we kicked out from their bases a long time ago?
Of course, on his banca, it was understandable for Robin not to see the massive pillage on the country’s coral reefs deep down in the WPS . He was not fired with a water cannon , as a footage, which can’t lie, showed a Filipino boat encountered days before he made or divulged that secret trip. Apparently, he did not see the swarms of Chinese militias and the Coast Guard ships nearby ready to block any attempt to resupply the Sierra Madre at the Ayungin shoal.
Robin’s brave act raised more questions than gave answers, or assurance. Who authorized his daring act that a former president failed to do? Who knew about it, and failed to use the intelligence fund? How come he was able to look into the alleged escalation in the sea without being noticed by both sides? Was it a trip under a diplomatic arrangement?
Robin’s revelation needs some explanation. In a nation troubled by wild allegations that China has its own “friends” to ramp up its propaganda that it is a gentle, not a misbehaving, beast, pushing its weight around its neighbors, Robin’s brave trip is worrisome. It’s bad, really bad, when a senator appears to act like one.
May be he was on a singular mission to tell like it is as opposed to what is being peddled around. It may even patriotic even if some see it the other way. Or photos and videos show and tell for the world to know. He, for all we know, may be deserving of an heroic medal for defying the common perception that China is slowly but surely pushing its boundary, illegally, against its neighbors.
A privilege speech will be a great service to the nation, once and for all. His story and his patriotic ache about a US Navy plane flying over the WPS is unnerving him. It is causing the escalation that his fellow senators, for one, and its potential harm don’t see. What if the Chinese flew their own plane on the same air space?
Already his narrative is a causing stir among the people. It polarizes them. According to a quick survey, it is dividing people,almost 50-50. A bad boy has triggered a bad reaction to a security issue that requires unity, according to Marcos Part II who vowed that not an inch of the WPS that belongs to the nation will be given away. It’s his pipe dream, apart from bringing back the price of rice to P20 per kilo. So far, the price has been capped at around P40. Nice try.
Is Robin aware that it’s not only the Americans but others like the Japanese, Australians and others who are willing to do a joint patrol to stop China on its expansionary moves in the WPS. We need allies, according to his colleagues and other patriotic souls in the land, to stop the new hegemon from eating us alive and whole. Now, not later. The sooner the better for Filipino fishermen who have been harassed and taken away their means of livelihood by a so-called friendly neighbor for so long.
Before things get worse, Robin should make a public confession on why and how he did the secret trip he said he made bravely and , well, recklessly. It’s should be the story of the year. It may be the best or baddest in espionage or counterespionage. The country’s armed forces can learn from it and make a better presence in the WPS without alerting foreign invaders or threats.
For one, it will confirm or invalidate John Suart Mills theory on the evils about election in a representative government. These evils, Mills said, may be reduced to two , general ignorance and insufficient mental qualifications, the danger of its being under the influence of interests not identical with general welfare of the community. The last one, he said, is one to which a representative government is liable.
Mirror, mirror on the wall, queried the bad Queen , who is the fairest—or bravest – of them all? Alone, all alone, in the wide sea, cried the Ancient Mariner, and never a saint took pity on my soul in agony!
Or Mills is right.
