By Atty. Howie Calleja
Over the past few days, we have heard and witnessed many historical “faux pas”. First, you have Sen. Bong Go saying we that we have only 707 islands and that Lapu Lapu is a Tausug. Then you have Vice Governor Jolo Revilla III saying it was Magellan who is the hero of the battle of Mactan. Added to this you have a staunch DDS, actor Robin Padilla, stating that DLSU was founded during the Spanish Colonial Rule. As an alumni of La Salle I know that DLSU started during the American Rule and that St. John Baptist De La Salle is French and not Spanish. Well, all these comes as no surprise for this administration is known for so much duplicity, photo ops and social media propaganda.
They say that when something fabricated is constantly repeated in public it soon takes a life of its own, creating a blur from what is true from what is false. Such distortion of the truth should therefore be corrected and not allowed to proliferate. So when our President distorts the facts of our Arbitral Award in Philippines v. China (PCA case number 2013–19), also known as the South China Sea Arbitration (an arbitration case brought by the Republic of the Philippines against the People’s Republic of China under Annex VII to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, ratified by the Philippines in 1984 and by the PRC in 1996) by blaming the Aquino Administration for not enforcing the ruling that we won which is an obvious twisting of the fact since enforcement is now clearly under his purview. All of which was done just to protect his friend Chinese President Xi Jing Ping — all at the expense of truth and our sovereignty.
The narrative is further peddled that there has no territory lost during this regime. Let this be clear that China is the proponent of continued aggression and militarisation in the West Philippine Sea. Their continued abuse of our maritime resource is a fact allowed and consented by this Adminstration and the loss of Sandy Cay is a recent event that this administration rather chooses to turn a blind eye.
In the context of these lies and revisionist statements plaguing our information gateways, I personally appeal to all sectors of our society to see these events through the “lens of TRUTH”. For without the TRUTH all such initiatives will fall prey to duplicity and propaganda. Truth enlightens man’s intelligence and shapes his actions.
We should unmask the “lies” that blur our perception of the events surrounding our government’s policies, programs and pronouncements; and distort our appreciation of the facts. “God has enabled man to share in this divine law, and hence man is able under the gentle guidance of God’s providence increasingly to recognize the unchanging truth” (cf. Declaration on Religious Freedom Dignitatis Humanae, article 3). All we need to do is to seek God’s wisdom in discerning the Truth.
Let me emphasize, China is an illegal settler squatter and should be removed similarly. I don’t agree with demolitions; and I would still propose to pursue proper diplomatic restyling and relocation for informal settlers similarly with China. There is no need for war or scare tactics espoused by Duterte — as his war or nothing scare tactic doesn’t fit the dignity of his office. A true Leader and Father of our country would find and seek every peaceful way of settling disputes without having a defeatist attitude and surrender our sovereignty and sovereign rights of the west Philippine Sea.
Patriotism isn’t just about dying for one’s country, its honoring those who lost their lives for the cause of freedom — and honoring them is to honor the TRUTH they fought and stood for. Lies and Propaganda only brings dishonor to their memories. Our new battlefield is in our communications highway, we should protect it at call cause through wisdom, discernment and truth.
