First word
SEN. Panfilo Lacson and Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela have a point and history on their side when they denounce “homegrown traitors” and “Filipino trolls” who take the side of China in our ongoing territorial dispute in the South China Sea and West Philippine Sea. They charged that these groups oppose our country’s assertion of sovereignty in our exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea.
The charge of treachery, however, cannot be simply laid on them outright because Filipino history is dotted by the presence of quislings and collaborators with the enemy.
Notable was the Makapili, or Makabayang Katipunan ng mga Pilipino (Patriotic Association of Filipinos), a militant group formed in the Philippines on Dec. 8, 1944, upon the outbreak of World War II to give military aid to the invading Japanese Imperial Army. The group was meant to be on equal basis with the Japanese Army and its leaders were appointed with ranks that were equal to their Japanese counterparts.
During the Japanese invasion and occupation, Makapili units were formed in various parts of the country.
Legacy of treachery
The most enduring image of Makapili treachery were its members donning a bayong (woven basket) over their heads with small eyeholes to hide their identity while pointing out suspected guerrillas and sympathizers to Japanese soldiers.
The Makapili’s primary “service” involved identifying Filipino resistance fighters, which could then lead to the arrest, torture, or execution of both guerrillas and innocent civilians.
Today, the name “Makapili” remains a potent derogatory term in the Philippines used to describe someone who “sells out” their fellow citizens for personal gain or survival.
Following the liberation in 1945, many Makapili members were captured and tried for treason.
Unlike other collaborator groups, the Makapili are uniquely vilified in Filipino pop culture and history books as the most hated examples of wartime collaborators.
To place it all in a contemporary context, if as claimed by the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. government, there is a new Philippines, might there also be a new Makapili of trolls, academics, journalists, media and civic organizations who advance the Chinese narrative and mislead unsuspecting Filipinos?
Lacson warning
On Feb. 5, Senator Lacson, the Senate president pro tempore, warned against what he described as “homegrown traitors” who are willing to sell the country in exchange for personal gain.
Lacson made the verbal charge in a message on X on Saturday as his word war with fellow senator Rodante Marcoleta heated up.
“In geopolitics, the most common sources of information are technical intelligence and homegrown traitors who are willing to sell their country in exchange for what’s in it for them,” Lacson said.
Marcoleta had suggested that the nation should give up the Kalayaan Island Group (KIG), which Lacson said would be no different from surrendering Luzon or even the entire country.
At a Commission on Appointments hearing last week, Lacson countered Marcoleta’s suggestion that the Philippines give up Kalayaan by citing a longstanding legal principle supporting the Philippines’ ownership of the chain of islets, which forms part of Palawan province. He pointed out that the lawyer and adventurer Tomas Cloma had discovered the Spratly Islands and occupied them under the principle of “res nullius” — whoever discovers and occupies the land is recognized as its owner.
Cloma eventually turned over ownership of the land to the Philippine government.
There are Filipino families occupying Kalayaan, which Lacson said he visited in 2021.
In another post on X last Sunday, Lacson called out Rep. Paolo Henry Marcoleta, the senator’s son, for his personal attacks against officials and lawmakers who uphold a pro-Philippine stance in the territorial dispute with China in the West Philippine Sea.
The younger Marcoleta had posted on Facebook that if China declares war on the Philippines, Coast Guard spokesman for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela and some senators should be made the frontliners or cannon fodder. The nation should now ponder taking away all emoluments for this upstart.
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