Juan Ponce Enrile Sr.
“The shrewd American served his purpose, whatever that was, and achieved his aim.
From the records I have, it was clear that Noynoy Aquino recklessly handled the 10-week confrontation between the Philippines and China in Scarborough. He committed a couple of blunders that resulted in the loss of a very valuable marine asset of the Filipino people. Bobby Tiglao characterized what happened as “the Yellow regime’s biggest crime against the country.”
First, Noynoy Aquino blundered when he made Antonio Trillanes IV his personal negotiator with Beijing. Trillanes bypassed everybody.
He reported only to President Noynoy Aquino. No records of his conversations with the Chinese officials he met. No hint of his commitments, if any, to them, nor theirs to him.
He prohibited the making or taking of notes and the preparation of records of his activities in Beijing. Everything he said and did in Beijing were hidden. Knowledge of what he said or did was confined only to him and to President Noynoy Aquino.
Trillanes boasted that he achieved success in his mission to Beijing. He pointed to the supposed withdrawal of 41 Chinese vessels from Scarborough as proof of his success. According to him, the pullout of those 41 Chinese vessels was the result of his efforts alone.
If his claim was true, how come we lost Scarborough?
Second, Noynoy Aquino also blundered when he pulled out our forces from Scarborough without verifying the facts. He acted merely on his belief that there was an agreement of the Philippines with China to simultaneously withdraw from that place. What turned out to be true afterwards was that there was no such agreement.
The fatal error of Noynoy Aquino arose from plain carelessness. According to the records, an American official informed Jose Cuisia — then the Ambassador of the Philippines to Washington D.C. — that the Chinese agreed to withdraw from Scarborough.
Cuisia relayed that information to Albert del Rosario who, as Secretary of Foreign Affairs at that time, in turn, relayed it to Noynoy Aquino. No one — much less Noynoy Aquino — bothered to verify the veracity of the information. Coming from a respectable American, every one took it for granted to be true, and simply believed it “hook, line, and sinker.”
The shrewd American served his purpose, whatever that was, and achieved his aim. We, the Filipino people, suffered a tremendous detriment.
Such was the unfortunate saga of our country in the Scarborough issue with China. And such were the unmitigated blunders of Noynoy Aquino that brought irreparable damage to our national interest!
Republished From Daily Tribune 29-05-2021