MORE than a month after China declared its 'baselines' around Bajo de Masinloc — de facto territorial borders defined by the precise geographic coordinates on the shoal — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. continues to ignore this historic, formal amputation of the country's territory.

Marcos is either so ignorant over the meaning of this recent Chinese move or he is burying his head in the sand, refusing to think about the problem. He has so far not commented on this formal loss of Philippine territory, the first since we lost Sabah in 1963.