With the year about to end, the time has come to look back again and identify the events that have made 2015 the year that it has been.
The year could not have started more badly in the dawn hours of Jan. 23. Two groups of PNP Special Action Force troopers attacked a Moro Islamic Liberation Front stronghold in the Maguindanao village of Mamasapano on a mission to capture or kill a high-value Malaysia target namely, a terrorist named Marwan. Thirty-plus force of troopers were all but decimated. The ensuing release of information that there had been no coordination between PNP headquarters and the Philippine Army unit nearest the scene of the encounter—a state of affairs that was caused by the fact that the de facto leader of the SAF mission was the ousted PNP Chief, General Alan Purisima—created much consternation and disgust. The consensus at yearend was that President Aquino will likely have to face an official inquiry when he steps down from office next year.
Not unexpectedly, the Philippines scored an international victory when the Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration agreed to accept jurisdiction over the claim lodged by the Philippines against China for the latter’s violations of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, recognizing the validity of seven of the fifteen UNCLOS related principles put forward by the Philippines. Predictably, there was chagrin in China, which has refused to recognize PCA’s jurisdiction in the matter notwithstanding its having signed UNCLOS. The Philippines has been asked to submit supplementary data. PCA is expected to hand down a ruling around the middle of 2016. A major factor in the Philippines favor has been the support of an international community that disapproves of bullyish behavior.
Three of 2015’s top stories had their origins in the continuing deterioration of the world environment. Two stories were negative in character. The third was a positive story.
In 2015, the Philippines was not visited by typhoons as destructive as 2013’s Yolanda and 2009’s Ondoy and Pablo, but typhoons Nona and Lando packed heavy punches and pummeled the usually vulnerable regions and provinces. Severely damaged by Nona was Oriental Mindoro, through which it passed on its way out to the West Philippine Sea.
While some parts of this country experienced a surfeit of water, other parts reeled from the impact of the worst El Nino phenomenon since 2007. Parched were many parts of Central Mindanao and North Central Luzon. The monetary authorities factored rising food prices into their forecasts of price movements, and the Department of Agriculture placed additional orders for foreign rice. The current El Niño is predicted to persist until the early months of 2016.
The positive environment-related story of 2015 has been the 21st Meeting of the UN-convened Conference of the Parties for the Monitoring of Climate Change. Held in Paris in early December amid great expectations, COP21, which was attended by US President Barrack Obama and the leaders of many of the industrial countries, ended with a landmark accord calling for the limiting of the world’s mean-temperature rise by 2030 to 1.5 degrees Centigrade above the pre-industrial level. The accord likewise embodies provisions for financial compensation to countries that sustain loss and damage from global warming-related disasters. Another of 2015’s top stories was the Philippines’ hosting of the 26th Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders Meeting in mid-November. The Philippines first hosted the event in 1996. The physical arrangements necessitated by the meeting of the 21 heads of economies—especially the rerouting of Metro Manila’s traffic—generated resentment and frustration, but in the end there was general agreement that the Philippines had again demonstrated its ability to efficiently stage international-scale events.
The Philippine security community had undertaken a dry run for Apec with the visit to this country of Pope Francis at the start of the year. The five-day visit of one of the world’s highest-value public personages was a nightmare for the security community, but the Holy Father came to and departed our shares without incident. The Philippines was now ready for Apec.
On the legislation front, 2015 saw the passage, at long last, of a Competition Act. The passage of the new law was in response to the business community’s long-standing clamor for the revision or repeal of laws and business practices that have operated to stack the deck in favor of large and well-connected business enterprises and against small business establishments. The new law has not leveled the business playing field entirely, but it has gone a long way in that direction.
The latter part of the year witnessed something new in the history of the relations between the government and the non-Catholic Christian segment of Philippine society. The Iglesia ni Cristo, whose approximately two million members are said to unquestioningly obey the political instructions of their sect’s hierarchy, posed a challenge to the government over the Department of Justice’s decision to act on the complaints of INC officials who claimed to have been forcibly detained by their leaders. The government had yet to resolve the issue at year-end. How the issue will be resolved remains to be seen; what is certain is that the myth of INC monolithicness has been shattered, with all the implications of that for Philippine politics.
2015 likewise witnessed a criminal trial with important ramifications or relations with the Philippines and its No. 1 ally, the US. The circumstances of the criminal case – the involvement of a US serviceman with a transgender person in a motel in Olongapo City, which was host to a US naval base until 1992—inflamed passions and revived the heated debates over the existing Visiting Forces Agreement and the recently passed Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement law, whose constitutionality has been challenged before the Supreme Court. At yearend, the serviceman, Joseph Pemberton, was convicted of homicide for the death of Jeffrey ‘Jennifer’ Laude. What effect the conviction and the place of incarceration of the serviceman will have on the Supreme Court case and Philippine-American relations in general, it is difficult to tell at this point.
This recitation of the developments that shaped the course of 2015 would by no means be complete without a discussion of the political maneuverings —with the attendant complications—in contemplation of the 2016 elections. The Commission on Elections accepted the certificates of candidacy for the presidency of five individuals (Mar Roxas, Jejomar Binay, Grace Poe, Rodrigo Duterte and Miriam Santiago), the COCs of six individuals vying for the vice presidency (Lenie Robredo, Gregorio Honasan, Francis Escudero, Alan Peter Cayetano, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Antonio Trillanes IV), and the COCs of around 25 serious candidates for membership of the Senate. These numbers will decrease if the Comelec and/or the Supreme Court approve some of the petitions for disqualification filed with them.
With the successful sojourn of Pope Francis in this country, 2015 began on a note of faith and unity. With the onset of the electoral season and all the attendant political noise, 2015 is ending on a note of disunity and doubt.
Best wishes for a joyous, peaceful and love-filled 2016.
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