ON POINT President Ferdinand E. Marcos points to a map of Palawan during a press briefing

When asked why he chose to specialize in Indo-Pacific archaeology, Peter Bellwood, archaeologist and emeritus professor at the Australian National University in Canberra, said, “There was less to memorize compared to Roman archaeology.”

There was not much to memorize then but certainly in the decades since he was at university in the 1960s, more information has come to light about the people in the Indo-Australian or Malay archipelago, thanks to his research and those of others.

The Malay archipelago, which stretches between mainland Southeast Asia and Australia, including Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines, covers roughly 20,000 islands highly dependent on bodies of water for movements of people, animals, and plants as well as for the exchange of cultures, technology, and trade. These waters, which surround the outlines of today’s geographic territories, are very important indeed.

Immersed in the digitization of speeches, diaries, and books belonging to my uncle, the late President Ferdinand E. Marcos (PFEM), I’ve come to inadvertently store many of his thoughts, ideas, and even feelings in my mind on various topics, such as the importance of the waters around the Philippines.

As a war veteran, who was in Bataan when it fell in the hands of the Japanese during World War II, my uncle shared, “If Bataan teaches any lessons at all it teaches the fact that the Philippines is weak in its strength, namely the seas that envelope it, the seas that protect it. But the seas also prevent the entry of support and aid from outside its shores once the air and the sea were in enemy control.”

The persistent encroachment of Chinese government vessels and troops in our waters, where they have established permanent structures on Mischief Reef (135 miles west of Palawan) and other land masses since 1995, has led President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. (PBBM) to rely more on America to help defend our territory. An uptick in the number of Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) military exercises and US military personnel entering the country has been seen in recent months.

The territorial dispute revolves around 50 small islands and reefs we call the Kalayaan group of islands in the Spratlys in the South China Sea. There are six other countries claiming sovereignty over the Spratly chain of islands. China, Taiwan, and Vietnam claim ownership over the entire chain while Malaysia, Philippines, and Brunei only claim parts of it and the surrounding waters.

According to documents, China lays claims over the Spratlys based on maps drawn during the Han Dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD) and found archaeological artifacts indicating the islands were used by Chinese fishermen in the past.
For the Philippines, it’s a matter of legal ownership on two fronts.

RIGHTFUL OWNER? Admiral Tomas Cloma laid claim to the Kalayaan group of islands in 1956 before handing sovereignty of the islands to the Philippine government in 1974

First, after the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1951, which ended Japan’s Imperial ambitions and provided compensation for those who suffered under the Japanese during World War II, a Filipino named Tomas Cloma laid legal claim to the Kalayaan group of islands in 1956 using “Res Nullius,” or “belonging to no one.” Apparently, no one had appropriated the island chain or legally acquired Kalayaan before. In 1974, Clomo transferred sovereignty of the islands to the Philippine government and in 1978 the Kalayaan was declared Philippine territory and a municipality of the province of Palawan by President Ferdinand E. Marcos, when he signed Presidential Decree 1596 into law.

Second, based on PD 1596, Philippine ownership of Kalayaan is “by reason of proximity.” We are the closest country to the Kalayaan islands, which are only about 500 kilometers from Palawan, the approximate distance between Manila and Ilocos Norte. Since the mid-1990s, however, China has been encroaching closer and closer to our shores, building structures and stationing military vessels not only on the disputed area but around it as well, such as Mischief Reef, about 350 kilometers from Palawan, Kota Island, which is more or less 400 kilometers from Palawan, and even Scarborough Shoal, although it’s not part of the Spratlys, located as it is further north, 46 kilometers from Zambales.

Carlos P. Romulo, Foreign Affairs Secretary 1968-1984

Diplomacy seems to be the only option available to the Philippines. Sadly, given our country’s lack of military defense capabilities against China, we can only negotiate from a position of weakness. This is the reason behind our reliance not only on America but also on our ASEAN neighbors. As a group, the ASEAN can negotiate and bargain to ensure “peace, prosperity, and cooperation” in the region.

PBBM’s second State of the Nation Address (SONA) was delivered a few days ago, and I can’t help being reminded of his father’s second SONA, during which he said, “In a moment like this, it is always fruitful to consider our relationship, and perhaps our relevance, to our own history. A historian has pointed out that history resembles a man on a steep ascent, who can hardly see what comes behind him on the preceding ledge. Fortunately, our own history as a nation is young enough for us to see behind us very clearly.”

KEEPING CLOSE TIES PBBM during a visit to the White House with US President Joe Biden

Watching PBBM address issues of sovereignty and the economy takes me back to how his father tackled the same problems when he was president, especially during the latter part of the Third Republic (1965-1973).

Sovereignty is not only in the physical but also in the political, economic, and cultural sense. During his time, PFEM wanted emancipation from pervasive colonial influence. But how does one balance the country’s needs without antagonizing former colonizers that may feature highly in the future defense of the country, in this case America? How does one not antagonize countries that were deemed on the opposite side of America’s ideological spectrum, like Russia and China?  The threat then was communism.

COLD WAR, WARM TIES During the Cold War era, President Marcos maintained strong ties with China and Russia and also established better relations with the Southeast Asian nations

PFEM drew up a plan he called “developmental diplomacy,” which, rooted in nationalism, was neither anti-foreign nor anti-communist. Instead, the plan was focused on Filipino consciousness—Filipinos bound together in “territory, blood, traditions, and aspirations.” It was the Cold War. America stood on one side and China and Russia on the other, but PFEM maintained strong ties with China and Russia and, wanting to improve relations with our Southeast Asian neighbors, the Philippines under PFEM became a founding member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Aug. 8, 1967.

In his book Tadhana, the late president wrote, “Before ASEAN, the country’s identification with Southeast Asia was insignificant. But after the American bitter experience in Vietnam (with the possibility of the US abandoning Southeast Asia), the Philippines looked upon regional cooperation not only as a “vital instrument of anti-communism,” but also as a hedge against overdependence on the US.

Looking at PBBM today one can’t help seeing the similarities in the game being played out, the threat coming from China, this time not for ideology but for territory. PBBM’s response, beefing up VFA activities with the US military in the country, is aimed at getting the help we need to prepare to defend our shores. China’s territorial ambitions in the South China Sea are seen as detrimental to US interests.

FRIENDLY NEIGHBORS PBBM with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar (The Far West Herald)

During his father’s time, the country was faced with the threat of communism against which it relied on the presence of American military bases for security. The Mutual Defense Treaty with America then did not include an automatic retaliation clause, which meant the US had no obligation to defend our interests, only theirs. It was a good thing the spread of communism in the country and in the region was a US concern.

To ensure the cultural, economic, political, security, and territorial goals for the country today, PBBM makes regular state and working visits not just to ASEAN countries but to nations across the globe, forging, maintaining, and strengthening ties, with the main focus being economic trade and investment opportunities. To date, he has made 12 international trips—two times in Indonesia, Singapore, and the US, as well as once in Cambodia, Thailand, Belgium, China, Switzerland, Japan, and the UK. The most recent is Malaysia. As PFEM counseled, “No state could remain stable without economic security.”

So far, PBBM has secured $23.6 billion worth of investments from his international trips. It appears he has been taking a few ideas out of his old man’s playbook.