A "Po" Protest

Protesters shout slogans during a rally outside the Chinese Consulate in Makati City Thursday to protest alleged military incursions of China into the disputed Spratly group of islands. AP

Most of us knew that the issue about the territorial dispute on the Spratly group of islands has once again ressurected and currently haunting thedaang matuwid administration of Mar Roxas and Jejomar Binay. Oops! My bad, It should have been Noynoy Aquino.

It appears that the sleeping giant, China, is bullying us by (allegedly) sending their warships, patrol boats, and allegedly building their armadas on our territory.

And we, a country inferior when it comes to military power, seem to just let these chinky-eyed bullies do whatever they want. Unbelievable? Go ask the President.

I have been discreet here on Tumblr about this issue for the past weeks. Instead, I have expressed my thoughts on Twitter. It’s easy, straight to the point, and less than 140 characters. (Kids here have a very short attention span and do not care to read long text posts.)

For the sake of putting my thoughts here on the Republic, I gathered some of my tweets - with a little explanation/ comment/ heckling:

• Albay Governor Joey Salceda called for boycott of China-made products. As much as I understand the economic impact and great help to our local entrepreneurs of this move and the “Buy Filipino Only Drive”, I don’t think that this is possible. This will also paralyze the business of many Filipinos. Do you really want to see the impact of these China-made products? I am asking you to do this simple exercise. Go around inside your house and list down things with “Made in China” label. And compare them with “Made in the Philippines” and other non-China stuff. Pass it on a whole sheet of pad paper. Go!


• Just recently, South China Sea was renamed West Philippine Sea. I think this is more appropriate. And very timely.


• No to mining in Palawan! And in case of war against China on the West Philippine Sea, those miners should be the guards at Spratlys and the front liners in battle. Good luck mga Pare!


• The protesters above are very creative of making Kung Fu Panda’sPo as their protest posters. They should have also included Jet Li from the movie Hero and wrote “How swift thy ships!” (from the line in the movie “How swift thy sword!”).


• Uncle Sam is reluctant on giving us help in case the war broke up despite of the mutual defense treaty. Is it because they also have an interest in China? I don’t know. But in case they refuse to help us, I will call ourmanananggals, aswangs, kapres, engkantos and tikbalangs and will shout a la Professor McGonagall: “Our country is in danger! Defend it with all thy might!”


• I still love China. They gave us Bruce Lee, Jet Li, and Jackie Chan. And my crush Zhang Ziyi.

I hope this things will soon come to an end. Let us all be vigilant and continue praying for peace. Or let diplomacy and peaceful talks be the solution to end this problem.

But for now, I must find a way to be reunited with Po. I still haven’t watchedKung Fu Panda 2. Is it better than the first movie?

Ipagtanggol ang ating nasasakupan. Mabuhay ang Republika ng Pilipinas. Padayon!

Photo and caption courtesy of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. Words by yours truly. Obviously.