The border

Those of us who have lived most of our lives not in gated subdivisions are familiar with the problem of neighbors encroaching into the boundaries of our property. It is always a touchy problem when it comes. Having a bad relationship with your next door neighbor can be one of the worst problems you can have especially if that neighbor is rather aggressive and obviously envious of what you have.

In most cases, problems like this eventually solve themselves in a long cyclical process of tension, conflict and resolution. As much as possible we want the problem solved in a friendly manner. Failing that, we call the police or file a case in court. As much as possible we do not resort to violence. This is not a completely sufficient metaphor of the problem we have with China over the Scarborough Shoal, but it is a useful one if only because it is the most familiar.

No use wondering if China has expansionist designs. Of course it has. The question is really how far and in what manner it will pursue its goals. No use wondering if we are standing in its way. We are. The question is how far and in what manner we can hold our position and stay where we are now.

The Japanese bombed the Philippines the very same day they bombed Pearl Harbor. They invaded us at the first opportunity when the last war began. And yet, if that war proved anything at all, it proved how porous we are as a country. We have borders that could not be successfully defended by the United States and the Japanese in their turn. If that war ever came to us once again, we would become open ground. This might clue us of our potential to defend our islands in the West Philippine seas. If that conflict ever came to war, we will lose. In fact, the presence of Chinese ships around the shoals now show exactly how much we have lost.

There is much talk of spending more to improve our armed forces. It is talk that is at least 20 years too late. At best, its effect will be more apparent than real. Nothing much can be done at this point unless we factor in the psychological rewards of fooling ourselves or at least the more gullible among us. In any case, we take no pride in our armed forces. Indeed, the armed forces had been used as a tool to oppress our own people in the time of martial law. It was the force we went up against in EDSA. The same armed forces which negated any potential for growth and development after EDSA by launching a string of adventurist military coups. Is there anyone out there who would entrust the resolution of this problem to the armed forces?

The only option we really have if indeed we have any is to pursue our defense through peaceful means. We have a laudable tradition of people power. Can we focus this towards this particular conflict? It will require us to make this issue attractive to worldwide media. How we can do this is easy enough. The real question is whether or not we have the resolve or even the slightest inclination to do this. That this question is even pertinent tells of a deeper problem in our collective psyche.

Abu, the family dog marks his territory by pissing persistently on its borders. He barks at the slightest sign of possible incursion. There is peace among the neighborhood dogs usually. But it lasts only until the smell of a bitch in heat pervades. And then all bets are off. The borders become contested ground.

It is not just the smell of oil which makes these islands attractive. These are also rich fishing grounds. And if one speaks of maritime access to and from Asia  the map shows we have a most strategic position in the Pacific when it comes to servicing and protecting a naval force either in peace or wartime. The good thing about this conflict is that it might show us and the rest of the world how truly important the Philippines is.

And yet we carry with us the burden of thinking we are only a poor and humble group of islands in the Pacific which has been poorly managed since post-war times. People of the provinces think all the country’s resources have been dumped rather wastefully into the national capital with only marginal results. On the other hand, most of the people at the national capital go about their lives with very little concern for life outside its urban borders. And so we are a disunited country scattered as far and wide as the archipelago itself. Our real problem is not the incapacity to hold on to our islands. We lost the shoals and we would lose more because our problem is really the lack of self-love and self-respect. Ours is a problem of collective self-esteem. At best we should be ready to lose these islands with our dignity intact. And we may as well learn what can be learned.

In the end, we should all say the cost was well worth it if we realized along the way that if we want to keep our borders we would first have to see exactly where they are and see exactly as far. They lie far beyond the borders of our cities. The country is bigger than that. We will have to do more and better than we have done so far.