I’m not referring to the future, to the likely loss of central Mindanao and even Sulu if we ever give that territory to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to run, as the BBL would if enacted into law.

What I’m referring to is Scarborough Shoal, which we call Panatag Shoal, or its Spanish-era name, Bajo de Masinloc. What the diplomatic community has known since 2012 and what the most objective analysts of the Spratly territorial dispute have known, we Filipinos either came to be the last to know or simply refused to believe: