Anyone who has watched courageous Ukrainian civilians standing up to Russian invaders will realize how deeply they love their country, and how serious they are about defending their way of life.
In one of countless instances of bravery, an elderly man who said he was Russian reprimanded a group of Russian soldiers in the coastal city of Melitopol, Ukraine, that the invaders claim to have taken.
“Russians invading Ukraine is so f—-d up!” he tells the Russian soldiers. “What are you doing here? We have our life and you have yours. I’m Russian too, but I live in this country…. You have your own country and we have ours. Don’t you have any problems in your own country? Are you all rich there? Shame on you!”
In another instance, a Ukrainian man tried to block a convoy of several Russian tanks with just his hands in the city of Bakhmach, roughly halfway between Russia and Kyiv.
In such vivid examples of bravery and love of country, it is disheartening to see some portray the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a proxy war between Moscow and Washington.
Yet this is what political analysts from the think tank BRICS Strategic Studies did this week, warning that “the Philippines should avoid following the footsteps and avoid the fate of Ukraine.”
One analyst said Ukraine was being used as a pawn in the geopolitical maneuvers of the United States because of its strategic geographical location.
“The country (Philippines) should refuse and prevent at all costs the possibility of being a proxy or a pawn of any superpower in their proxy wars,” the analyst, Anna Rosario Malindog-Uy said.
She said this was not aligned with our core national interests and would only add a burden to the territorial dispute in the South China Sea.
The president of the think tank, Herman T. Laurel, noted that the US had used the Philippines as its Ukraine in the South China Sea since post-martial law — until President Rodrigo R. Duterte came into position in 2016 with his China-friendly policies.
“President Duterte sinks the US pivot to Asia by reversing the course of events between China and the Philippines from mutually defeating conflict and destabilization of Asia as a whole towards mutually beneficial dialogue, cooperation and trade, thereby stabilizing the Asia region for continuing economic construction and prosperity,” he said during the same forum.
The notion is preposterous and can come only from those who have imbibed the Duterte Kool-Aid. The US military bases in the Philippines, the largest overseas military installation of the US Armed Forces, were ordered closed in 1991—a step away from the United States if there ever was one. That happened during the term of President Cory Aquino and completed during the term of President Fidel Ramos, when Rodrigo Duterte was still mayor of Davao City.
We also might ask these armchair analysts how well the country has fared under six years of pro-China policies. Have we gained or lost our hold on territories in the West Philippine Sea that are, by law, ours? Or have Chinese coast guard vessels held sway in these areas, driving Filipino fishermen away from their traditional fishing grounds?
Finally, it is absurd to think Filipinos would fight a proxy war for the United States or any other foreign power. Heaven forbid that we may have to defend our homeland from an invading force, but if that time comes, we will certainly do it as proud Filipinos, not as anyone’s pawn, and we can only hope that we do it with as much courage as the Ukrainians are showing.