NO USE CRYING OVER SPILLED MILK

The escalating China-Philippines tension on the Scarborough Shoal is not only very unfortunate.  It is also totally surprising and unprecedented.  One recalls that before that much ballyhooed April 10 impasse between two Chinese vessels and the Philippine ship, BRP Gregorio del Pilar, with the latter vainly trying to accost Chinese poachers along the shoal's vicinities, China had not been known to be as hostile, bellicose or provocative as it has now suddenly become -- truth is,  for many years it had been relatively cool and pragmatic in dealing with the Philippine authorities to a point even of apparent subservience -- to the Philippine claim on the disputed shoal.  A rundown of old news reports lifted from the Internet archives will tend to give credence to this perception, as follows:

1) GMA-7 TV News (May 29, 1997): "Twenty-one Chinese fishermen were arrested for approaching the Scarborough Shoal.  They were charged with illegal entry and poaching at the Zambales Regional Trial Court."

2) Manila Times (June 10, 1999): "The Philippine Navy arrests 27 Chinese for illegal fishing on June 7th.  Perhaps mindful that even their laws were violated, Chinese authorities in Manila are seemingly taking their sweet time in acting on the Manila arrest of 27 Hongkong fishermen near the southern Philippine island of Palawan."

3) Phil Star Website (March 29, 2001):  "The government will pursue plans to impose a ban on fishing in the disputed Scarborough Shoal, Vice President and foreign affairs Secretary Teofisto Guingona Jr disclosed on March 28.  Meanwhile, the navy has sent a gunboat to Scarborough to ward off any attempt to erect strudtures on the shoal.  According to national security adviser Roilo Golez, such gunboat's presence near the shoal would prevent the Chinese from landing to build structures."

4) Philippine |Daily Inquirer (May 24, 2001): "Philippine Navy vessels are tracking the activities of a number of foreign vessels 'encroaching' on waters claimed by Manila in the South China Sea.  Philippine troops have in the past chased off or arrested Chinese fishing vessels and confiscated their catch.  The Philippine Navy has boarded 14 Chinese-flagged fishing boats off the disputed shoal so far this year and confiscated their catch of giant clams and other endangered marine products.  Last year, they shot dead a Chinese fisherman after he and his crew resisted arrest near the shoal situated 120 miles west of Luzon.".

5) Evening News (August 21, 2008): "Non-Filipino fishermen are tolerated in the area under the strict guidelines set and implemented by the Philippine Navy.  A number of Chinese fishermen have been arrested in the area due to illegal methods of fishing, which destroy the marine habitat of the reef, and for the catching of endangered marine species."


In the interest of fairness and objectivity, I did also search for recent comparative news reports indicating that the present administration had continued to be as vigilant, strict, sustained and effective as the previous one in guarding and preserving the country's national interests and territorial claim on the Scarborough Shoal.  Quite sadly, I did not find any -- well, up until that April 10 impasse.  Alas, maybe -- just maybe -- the Aquino administration has kind of laid low (aka: "noynoyed" or "natulog sa pansitan") in that respect, in turn awakening China into re-asserting its claim to the shoal with relatively greater vigor and belligerent steadfastness.  At any rate, there's no use crying over spilled milk!