CHINA’S sanctions on Defense Secretary Gilberto “Gibo” Teodoro Jr. and his immediate family banning their travel to mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao have had a way of reviving concerns about his Filipinism. His pronouncements in the recent Shangri-La Dialogue condemning China’s so-called incursions into the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone would tend to depict him as a rabid Filipino nationalist. As such, he should earn the respect of all his peers.
But, no.
Fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya), known for its fierce, radical and thoroughly consistent nationalistic advocacies, said it would not support Gilberto Teodoro on the issue.
The group said Beijing’s action only served to crystallize how US stooges in high Philippine officialdom necessarily advance America’s stand in the “growing geopolitical conflict in the region.”
“We refuse to rally behind officials who rabidly advance double-standard narratives,” Pamalakaya national chairman Fernando Hicap said.
Hicap accused Teodoro of criticizing Chinese incursions in the country’s exclusive economic zone while backing expanded United States military presence and activities.
Pamalakaya said US military activities have affected Filipino fishers’ livelihood and damaged marine resources.
Pamalakaya slammed the Balikatan exercises, which it said disrupted fishing activities in Zambales, Cagayan and Ilocos Norte, and caused long-term damage to fisheries because of military weapon testing and explosions.
The last time Gibo figured prominently in Philippine consciousness was in May 2010, when he ran for president, ending up last among the five candidates for the post won by Benigno Aquino III.
For two decades, Gibo had been in limbo.
But with the advent of the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. presidency in 2022, he suddenly surfaced again with his appointment as Secretary of National Defense.
Why choose a veritable ghost risen from decadeslong entombment?
That was the period of renewed intensification of the China-US rivalry in Asia-Pacific. From a China-friendly stance, newly installed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. suddenly manifested strong siding with America. That necessarily set the benchmark for all top officials at his command. Particularly so with the security sector, which directly implements the various military treaties the Philippines has with America.
No other way Gibo must be viewed: a top Amboy.
Just like Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Romeo Brawner Jr. and Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commo. Jay Tarriela.
For this ilk, protestations of Filipinism are mere cover-ups for the real job of advancing American interests vis-à-vis China.
In Gibo’s case, how credible could he be as a nationalist when at one time he had no qualms forsaking his Filipino nationality?
If not because he stood to benefit more from stoogery to America, Gibo could have just contented himself with the unheralded Maltese citizenship he acquired in that period of his absence from the Philippine limelight. According to reports, in exchange for renouncing his Filipino citizenship, Gibo gained fortunes through business investment perks in Malta.
Certain sectors equate the sanction on Gibo to an affront on Filipino integrity.
The Department of Foreign Affairs officially stated that the sanctions are an unfriendly act that complicates bilateral relations. It noted that the incident has a way of preventing the building of mutual trust and hindering constructive engagement between Manila and Beijing.
Malacañang and the National Maritime Council both affirmed that the sanctions will not stop Teodoro from performing his duties.
Indeed, maybe.
But then again, duties for whom?
The National Maritime Council was created by President Marcos in 2024 precisely to address the tension in the South China Sea. And such a move was less as a means for protecting Philippine sovereignty than making sure that American maneuvers in the region are well on course.
When in 2012 the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy held its ground in the standoff with the MV Gregorio del Pilar over Scarborough Shoal, the US, realizing China meant business, thought of a clever move: back off, bring the dispute to settlement by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, and let its ruling favorable to the Philippines be the legal basis for all actions the US had long planned to do in the region.
What those actions are, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton summed up in such succinct, candid and precise words in an article published by Foreign Policy in 2011, “America’s Pacific Century,” she wrote: “The future of politics will not be decided in Iraq or Afghanistan but in Asia. And the United States will be right at the center of the action.”
So, as contrived, the arbitral tribunal at The Hague ruled the Chinese nine-dash line map, by which China lays claim to almost the entirety of the South China Sea, illegal.
Thereafter, the Philippines embarked on moves asserting its deemed arbitral tribunal victory, conducting its decadeslong resupply missions to the grounded MV Sierra Madre on Ayungin Shoal no longer as a benign tolerance by China but as an assertion of what the Marcos administration calls its victory at The Hague.
In the first place, China never participated in the proceedings and had made clear it was not recognizing its ruling.
No way the Philippines could contest China on that score.
In instances when the frequent near-skirmishes between the China Coast Guard (CCG) and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) threatened to come to a head, the US was quick to respond with belligerence.
Take that time the CCG directed laser beams at the PCG — a move explained by China as a means of measuring distance at sea. Reports surfaced that the laser beams temporarily blinded the personnel of the PCG.
Instantly, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken agitated for calling the Mutual Defense Treaty into action already. The treaty mandates that in the event either the Philippines or the US is attacked in the Pacific, the other is obliged to retaliate.
That could have been reason enough already for the US to declare war on China.
To the fortune of the Philippines, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. proved circumspect and turned down the Blinken warmongering.
What he did was establish the National Maritime Council, tasked with overseeing the situation in the contested sea precisely for avoiding tensions with China.
A big problem here is that Gibo is part of the council — and he just cannot get away from a predilection to parrot the American hackneyed propaganda that the Chinese nine-dash line had been declared illegal by the 2016 arbitral panel ruling and cannot justify China’s assertion of historic sovereignty over the South China Sea.
This was precisely his assertion at the recent Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
He declared that the Philippines will never sacrifice its territorial integrity, rejected Beijing’s refusal to recognize the 2016 arbitral award, and labeled China as the biggest disruptor of peace in the region.
What are these but precise reprises of the American battle cry.
Finally, Gibo got what he long deserved: a unilateral sanction on travel in Chinese lands and ban on business dealings with Chinese enterprises.
He could certainly stay on as Philippine defense secretary. But this time, I’m always on the lookout.
His American tendencies, confirmed time and again, are no longer a secret.
The Filipino people exemplified by the Pamalakaya won’t take him sitting down.
