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Flags of the Philippines and other Asian countries are displayed on the MV Kapitan Felix Oca, the main vessel of the Atin Ito Civilian Mission, on May 25, 2025. Jervis Manahan, ABS-CBN News
MANILA — An 'Atin Ito' expedition to the West Philippine Sea, which includes plans for a concert, set sail on Sunday amid the threat of Chinese harassment.
As training ship Kapitan Felix Oca sailed for the tense waters, it left behind in the also hotly contested space of social media a flame war on who 'really' cares about the West Philippine Sea and the people whose livelihoods depend on it.
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SCUFFLE OVER THE 'WPS BLOC'
The online discourse was kicked off by midterm elections top-notcher Akbayan party-list's announcement of plans for a 'WPS bloc' "with other patriotic and pro-WPS legislators."
The bloc, Akbayan Rep. Perci Cendaña said, will push legislation to protect Philippine rights, fishers and "maritime frontliners".
Akbayan is one of two formations that have held protests against Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea, the other being Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan).
Youth activists staged a protest at the Chinese consulate in Makati City on Tuesday, June 11, 2024 calling on China to stop encroaching on Philippine waters. Michael Joe Delizo, ABS-CBN News
Reacting to the planned 'WPS bloc', Pamalakaya — a national fisherfolk federation with Bayan — said it agrees on "the constant need to amplify the situation in the West Philippine Sea".
Where it disagrees is on what it called a failure "to recognize the sinister role of the United States in the territorial dispute" and what it said may be a "one-sided" position on the West Philippine Sea.
It pointed out that just as China keeps fishers away from their catch, "no-sail zones" for drills with US troops also disrupt their livelihoods.
'REHIMENG US-X'
Bayan and the national democratic left see foreign influence and interference, especially by the US, in domestic and economic policies among the problems that have kept the Philippines from developing as a nation.
It is a debate that goes back to the US Bases issue of the late 1980s to early 1990s — a period that many issues among Filipino progressives can also be traced back to — Does US troop presence protect the country or make it a target for competing powers?
Fishers group PAMALAKAYA, along with Pilipinong Nagkakaisa Para sa Soberanya (P1NAS) and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, hold a protest action outside the Chinese Consulate in Makati on April 9, 2024, to condemn China’s repeated harassment of Filipino fisherfolk in the West Philippine Sea. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News
Bayan believes the US is using the Philippines as a hedge against China and that its presence is raising tensions further, a position contrary to that of the government and of many Filipinos.
"China is condemnable over violation of a specific maritime law," Pamalakaya Vice Chair Ronnel Arambulo — a fisherman himself — said Friday, "but our patriotic efforts should extend against the US which has a long history of military interventions and wars of aggression waged against us and other countries."
'BLOC WILL NOT SIDE WITH ANY POWER'
Akbayan has yet to respond to ABS-CBN News' request for comment but Atin Ito lead volunteer Matthew Silverio — also of the Student Council Alliance of the Philippines — said in a post that they "are not blind to the historical and ongoing consequences of US military presence in the Philippines."
He said the proposed bloc will work for "a firm, independent foreign policy" and will not favor any foreign power.
Any disruption of fishers' livelihood "deserves scrutiny and resistance", Silverio also said.
Chinese ships, however, are the more immediate threat, because of their direct harassment in the West Philippine Sea
"It is possible to criticize the US exercises that harm fisherfolk and our peoples' rights while also mobilizing politically and legislatively against China’s incursions," he said.
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The posts have launched snarky tweets from supporters of either side.
These have included accusations of being agents of either Washington or Beijing, and the claim that actually going to the West Philippine Sea is the litmus test for courage and nationalism.
In this photo taken on Aug. 10, 2022, fisherman Christopher de Vera (C, in green shirt) supervises the loading of ice and provisions to their fishing "mother" boat in the village of Cato, Infanta town, Pangasinan province, as he and his crew prepare to leave for a fishing expedition to the South China Sea. Ted Aljibe, AFP/File
'INTERTWINED WITH THE U.S.'
The online debate, De La Salle University Political Science professor Lawrence Anthony Borja said, reflects a "harsh reality...that our interests remain intertwined with the US."
The US has reiterated its “ironclad” commitment to the Philippines, held war games and sent over missile systems to keep the country from China’s influence, said Chester Cabalza of the International Development and Security Cooperation think tank.
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“If we read the lines, Washington’s foreign policy interest with Manila is not to abandon and forbid them, which they experienced during Duterte’s regime,” he said.
"They turned around the situation when Marcos Jr. won and offered us a calculated strategy to invest and support us in our bid for a stronger defense posture," he said.
US NMESIS anti-ship missile system. Sgt. Juan Magadan, US Marine Corps via DVIDS/File
A NUMERICAL MINORITY AT THE HOUSE
The leftist intramurals are happening just after the midterms, where Akbayan and the national democratic Makabayan bloc saw vastly different outcomes.
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Akbayan has been assured three seats in the 20th Congress, with Makabayan getting a seat each for ACT Teachers and Kabataan party-lists.
Hailed by some as a victory for good governance, the May polls still leave the five in a potential minority among more traditional politicians.
That may see the groups, as they have been in past campaigns, natural — if reluctant — tactical allies.
Makabayan and the national democratic national movement may fare better by being flexible as they work to regain lost ground, Borja said, and by "focusing on the simplest of messaging, which is an anti-China one."
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At any rate, Borja said, they will need bigger numbers to push conversations on foreign influence since "any claims against US imperialism would only gain resonance if the one making it is trusted by voters."
Hampered by being dragged into the government's anti-insurgency campaign and the baggage of a perceived alliance with then President Rodrigo Duterte early in his term, the national democratic movement must, Borja said, regain public trust "in order to say anything resonant on a remote topic like foreign affairs."
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