Show us the bodies of rebels first

President Digong is right: If the United States, supposedly the world policeman, does not defend our rights over Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, how can a teeny-weeny group of islands called the Philippines stand up to giant neighbor China?

It would be utter foolishness to declare war on China over Panatag and other outcroppings like Benham Rise.

The warmongers—those who want the country to assert our rights to the extent of fighting China—are showing false bravery.

To them applies the local saying, “Malakas ang loob, mahina ang tuhod (Stouthearted but frail).”

How could a nation with a very weak military which can’t even wipe out the Abu Sayyaf, a ragtag bandit group, stand up to a superpower?

“What do you want me to do? Declare war against China? We (would) lose all our military and policemen tomorrow if I did and we would be destroyed as a nation,” said the President.

Mano Digong is just being practical: Instead of fighting China, why not befriend it?

Oh sure, our claim over Panatag Shoal is backed up by the United Nations which declared the shoal indisputably ours.

But what has the UN done after declaring the shoal our territory? It hasn’t made as much as a pip squeak against China’s intrusion on the shoal.

Even Uncle Sam, our ally with whom we have a mutual defense treaty, hasn’t done anything.

“Even the United States could not stop them,” Mr. Duterte said.

The best way to settle our dispute with China is to go back to the negotiating table.

China seems to be a reasonable nation; it wants to be our friend.

Military air and ground assaults on the hideouts of a renegade Moro rebel group killed 21 of its members and wounded 26 others, according to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

But the rebel group Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters said the bombs “only hit trees and the marshland.”

Where did the AFP get the fatality and other casualty figures?

The military should show the bodies of the rebels killed before the public will believe its report.

A government lawyer who’s connected with the Land Registration Authority was recently taken to a hospital in Metro Manila for a suspected heart attack.

For someone who was just 47 years old, his blood pressure and heartbeat were unusually high.

A routine examination for drugs showed that he had used methamphetamine hydrochloride or “shabu.”

The traces of shabu in his blood were “above threshold value.”

Upon the advice of his relatives, he was placed in the hospital’s psychiatric ward.

But he escaped and has been threatening to sue the hospital for serious illegal detention.

See how widespread the drug problem is?