We are no puppets

"The Philippines will not follow the Americans’ directive."

 

So, the United States has banned 24 Chinese companies reportedly involved in the construction of military facilities on the contested islands in the South China Sea from conducting business with any American companies or individuals.

And are we expected to raise a glass to them, or even follow suit, banning all these Chinese companies as well?

Thanks, but no thanks.

We may have our own problem with some group islands out there in SCS (I prefer to refer it that way as the title West Philippine Sea, which the previous administration has coined, has yet to be recognized internationally), but we don’t need some Don Quixote act from a country 10,000 miles away. We prefer solving our issues ourselves. As far as I am concerned, whatever rift exists between the US and China boils down to trade war, and we cannot afford to be used as instrument for anybody’s agenda.

The Philippines just has so much at stake to toe the US line here, including the P500-billion Sangley international airport project involving China Airport Construction Corporation with Filipino businessman Lucio Tan. CACC is one of those reportedly involved in reclamation projects on the contested islands.  

Fortunately, President Rodrigo Duterte is not one to be easily swayed into submitting to US directives. He has assured that all the projects involving Chinese companies that have been banned in the US can continue in the Philippines.

In the words of his spokesman, Harry Roque, the Philippines will not follow the directive of the Americans “because we are not a vassal state of any foreign power, but an independent country.”

Duterte’s gestures were reciprocated by Chinese Ambassador to Manila, His Excellency Huang Xilian, when he made sure that whatever efforts exerted by outside forces to undermine the cooperation between his country and ours will never succeed. 

Huang said that they strongly oppose the US move as the participation of Chinese companies and individuals in domestic construction activities – legitimate, lawful and beyond reproach – lies entirely within its sovereignty and that US action, “under the pretext of protecting the South China Sea, grossly interfering in China’s internal affairs and aiming to drive a wedge between China and regional countries.”

On the other hand, Huang stressed that they fully support the independent foreign policy course that puts the national interest at the core that Duterte charted.

According to Huang, the pragmatic cooperation between China and the Philippines has always been based on mutual respect, mutual benefit and win-win results. All projects are conducted in compliance with existing laws and regulations. 

“The in-depth synergizing of China’s Belt and Road initiative and the Build, Build, Build program has achieved fruitful results and is bringing more and more benefits to the people of our two countries,” said Huang.

“I believe that any attempt to undermine the normal economic cooperation between China and the Philippines will never succeed,” he added.

The problem with many of us is that since we have been under direct  American rule for more than four decades, and have been exposed to their political, social, cultural and economic influence for more than a century already, we are inclined to accept whatever the US feeds us.

But we were supposed to have declared independence ages ago. We are now supposed to be a free and independent country. 

And we are not bound by any US actions. We are no longer its puppets.

The problem with courier’s sub-contracting

Last week, I discussed the case of the daughter of reporter Beth Camia with regard to her experience with J&T Express.

Camia’s daughter, a registered online seller with Shoppee, sold some pieces of baby dresses to one of her customers and sent the package through J&T. However, when her customer opened the package, she discovered that several items were missing.

To protect her credibility, Camia’s daughter had to replace the missing items even if it meant losses for her.

Camia’s daughter then reported the incident to J&T’s management. And that’s where she discovered a bigger problem. J&T was using sub-contractors and they are not liable for whatever problem their clients encounter with them.

Actually, I have raised that problem before in my earlier columns. These couriers are now employing the services of sub-contractors. So, if one orders food from a fast food chain and has it delivered by a sub-contractor of the courier, and then the customer suffers food poisoning, who should then be held accountable?

The fast food chain? No, for they can easily say there was a third party which handled the commodity and the food could have been contaminated during the delivery. The courier? No, they could easily escape liability by saying they are only the apps provider. The sub-contractor or the rider? No, kakamutan ka lang ulo nyan and sasabihin:, “Pasensya na po, mahirap lang. Wala po akong ibabayad.” Which is true. But still, someone has to be held accountable. But who is it?

There is currently a resolution pending in Congress calling for an investigation on these couriers. It’s about time Congress started probing this for the benefit of everyone, especially now that we rely mostly on couriers for the delivery of our needs.