Ignorance, pragmatism, willingness

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. recently slapped Senator Risa Hontiveros silly and, quite predictably, she didn't even know it. Well, maybe it was because PBBM, being the gentleman that he is, didn't quite make it appear the slap that it really was. He couched it in matter-of-fact words that sounded instructive rather than insulting.

What happened was that Hontiveros filed a proposed resolution in the Senate that would urge the Marcos administration to bring the matter of China's aggression in the South China Sea to the attention of the United Nations, specifically to its General Assembly. This action by Hontiveros and Marcos' reaction to it are very instructive.

In reply to the resolution, the president said: Hontiveros "is free to file whatever resolutions she wants but I do not know how that will translate into any action that will reach the UN General Assembly. The United Nations entertains governments, not parts of government." OUCH! Make that a DOUBLE OUCH!

In a very subtle manner, Bongbong lectured Risa on how things get done over at the United Nations, that it is not a simple P.O. box to which just about anything can be sent. At the same time, and without actually saying it, Bongbong told Risa that he alone is the chief architect of the country's foreign policy and that he was not about to do her bidding.

Senator Hontiveros, like any other patriotic Filipino, must have the country's interests at heart. That much can easily be conceded and cannot be begrudged her. But sometimes one has to learn to tame one's passions. Runaway emotions are sometimes the surest way to taking actions we can only regret later. Or be embarrassed about.

The proposed resolution did trigger a flurry of activities at the Senate, including an executive session with the country's top security officials in attendance. Apparently, there are quite a number in the chamber who are woefully as gung-ho as Hontiveros in dealing with China but are not as well-informed or as open-minded and clear-thinking as a few others.

Among the latter, quite thankfully, is Senator Alan Peter Cayetano whose experience as a former Foreign Affairs secretary under then president Rodrigo Roa Duterte now appears to serve him well back in the Senate. It was Cayetano who laid out both the futility of going to the UN and what the repercussions would be.

Cayetano said Filipinos should not be led into the false hope that going to the UN will solve the problem or draw international support for the Philippines. He said other countries will have to think of their own interests if made to choose between China and the Philippines. Will they risk antagonizing China by siding with us, he asked.

To Cayetano, the best way to proceed is to engage China directly in bilateral talks or discuss the issue multilaterally through ASEAN. At least, in the end, even Hontiveros agreed to amending her resolution to urge the Marcos government to exhaust all diplomatic means without giving up the option of eventually going to the UN. So where does this leave us?

The events of recent days, if anyone had been paying attention, should be instructive. China is willing to talk, guys! China does not want to be pushed around by the US. But neither is it ready to go to war at this time. So it wants to talk. And the only Filipino it trusts is Duterte. Why Filipino? Because the US "trusts" us. Duterte's invite to China was a signal.