MAURO GIA SAMONTE
IN the current tension over the South China Sea, President Duterte appears clear on the fact that China’s belligerence is not toward the Philippines but toward the United States. It behooves him, therefore, to steer the country clear of the confrontation once the South China Sea tension heightens ultimately to an open clash. In such eventuality, President Duterte shall have done exactly what Dr. Laurel did during the period of the independent wartime Philippine Republic, thereby making Duterte’s act in this regard one more occasion for demonstrating the heroism of Dr. Jose P. Laurel.