As Christmas draws near amid the raging wars in some parts of Europe and the Middle East, holiday celebrations are muted globally this year. Moreso here in the Philippines, where some regions were hit hard by six tropical cyclones within a 30-day period from mid-October to mid-November 2024.
Aside from this climate-related crisis that the country suffered last month, another festering issue is the ongoing territorial dispute between the Philippines and China regarding the West Philippine Sea – a portion of the South China Sea comprising the maritime areas on the western side of our archipelago.
Business leaders from the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc. (FFCCCII) have expressed their willingness to bridge the gap between the two countries. In a press conference at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel in Mandaluyong City last Dec. 12, FFCCCII President Dr. Cecilio Kwok Pedro emphasized the need for peace as the Filipino and Chinese nations celebrate the 50th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations in 2025.
Dr. Pedro believes that both countries are not planning to go to war. He pointed out the following statement of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during his State of the Nation Address in 2023: “Our independent foreign policy – a friend to all and enemy of none – has proven effective.” That same mantra should therefore apply to the case of the West Philippine Sea.
Meanwhile, a local government official in Northern Luzon has appealed to Pres. Marcos to step in and mediate a brewing provincial dispute. Abra Vice Governor Maria Jocelyn Bernos has called for presidential intervention after she and her father, Governor Dominic Valera, were issued suspension orders by the Office of the Executive Secretary and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.
“We are concerned that this will result in chaos in terms of managing public services because the people of Abra are the ones being victimized and suffering due to the lack of due process in issuing suspension orders. The public service process must be orderly because this is what the people of Abra deserve,” Vice Gov. Bernos said in a media interview in which she clarified that the graft complaint filed at the Office of the Ombudsman in 2020 stemmed from an incident at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when she decided to temporarily close a private hospital to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
In 2022, the Ombudsman dismissed the complaint against Bernos for lack of merit. But administrative cases had likewise been filed against her with the Office of the President, subject to review by Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin and his Chief of Staff, Undersecretary Adrian Bersamin.
Last week, Sec. Bersamin justified his issuance of the 60-day preventive suspension orders by saying that they were in line with existing laws and not arbitrary decisions. “I am not personally aware of the appeal to the President. If there is one, the Valeras should accept that there is a process ongoing and they have been suspended in accordance with pre-existing (not whimsical) rules,” he remarked.
Both families are gearing up for a showdown in the May 2025 midterm elections. Eustaquio Bersamin will vie for the governorship against Joaquin Enrico Bernos, while Ana Marie Bersamin is running for vice governor against Maria Jocelyn Bernos. All of them filed their certificates of candidacy under various parties that form part of the President’s Bagong Pilipinas coalition.
It would be interesting to see how this conflict will be resolved. Hopefully reason would prevail and there will be peace and harmony in Abra – a second-class province that belongs to the Cordillera region and is bordered on the northwest by Ilocos Norte, the President’s home province.
J. Albert Gamboa is a Life Member of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX) and Vice-Chair of the FINEX Ethics Committee. The opinion expressed herein does not necessarily reflect the views of these institutions and the Manila Bulletin. #FinexPhils www.finex.org.ph