The government should adopt the position of former President Fidel V. Ramos on our confrontation with China over the Spratlys.
Ramos says we should not be confrontational in threshing out problems with China over our claim to the group of islands off Palawan.
The Cold War is over and China should no longer be considered an enemy but an economic partner, says the former President.
Let’s listen to Ramos, an Army veteran who fought in Korea in the 1950s as a lieutenant. In a war with China, we would certainly lose since we have a weak Armed Forces.
If we can’t lick them, let’s join them.
That’s not cowardice, that’s being practical.
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The country is reportedly shopping for arms in the US because of our confrontation with China over the Spratlys.
Why don’t we just shop for more books and medicine to educate our youth and cure the sick, most of whom are poor?
The country should focus more on education and health because these are more important than military might.
If we buy arms, these should be limited to those we can use against bandits, insurgents and terrorists.
In dealing with foreign aggression, we have the United States to rely on because of our mutual defense treaty with it.
Let’s be realistic: We can never win a war against China.
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China is already past the Cold War stage, the period in which it was supporting communist revolutions in many parts of the world.
Now, its concern is to dominate the world economically, not through military power.
As Ramos says, our enemy is terrorism, not communism since China has already become a capitalist country.
So, let’s be partners with China in its march toward progress since we are also an Asian country.
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Vice President Jojo Binay’s recommendation for the late President Ferdinand Marcos to be buried in Ilocos Norte with full military honors is feeble.
It’s neither here nor there, it’s meant to please both sides but succeeds only in displeasing both.
It’s either Marcos be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani or not interred in the cemetery of war heroes at all.
Burying him in Ilocos Norte with full military honors does not give justice to his war exploits—as a fighter in Bataan and a guerrilla leader.
Forget about his alleged martial law misdeeds; the guy served the country so well during the war.
If that military officer who was killed by National Bureau of Investigation agents during a buy-bust operation years ago was buried at Libingan, why not Marcos?
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Besides, burying Marcos at the Libingan would conform to the people’s wish.
Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez says that aside from the law, public sentiments favor Marcos’ burial at the Libingan judging from recent surveys.
Surveys conducted by the Social Weather Stations showed that the majority of Filipinos want his remains entombed at the Libingan.
In addition, 219 congressmen, including Rodriguez, or three-fourths of the House of Representatives have endorsed a bill urging President Noy to bury Marcos there.