Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.
IT was 10 years ago this month that a very serious conflict dubbed the "Scarborough Standoff " broke out between China and the Philippines. This resulted in our loss two months later of Panatag Shoal (also called Bajo de Masinloc and Scarborough Shoal) to China.
The shoal, claimed by both countries, is the first ever territory that we have lost since independence, the tragedy more stark as it is just 240 kilometers away from the Zambales, much nearer than any of the features we claim in the Kalayaan Island Group. Then President Aquino 3rd, his foreign secretary Albert del Rosario, and anti-China commentators condemned the loss as another instance of the Asian superpower's expansionist moves in the South China Sea. That misleading view has been the basis for many Filipinos' support for the shameful restoration of US military bases in the country, under the guise of an Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).
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