As I look ahead, I see an unsettling threat that looms in our country’s horizon. It is a threat that will define the future and prospect of our sovereignty as an island-nation.  
 
And yet, I think it is a threat to our sovereignty that our current or aspiring leaders are cautious about, if not, afraid to face up.
 
Take for example the recent ramming of a Filipino fishing boat taking shelter off in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) by an alleged Hong Kong-registered vessel. The Office of the President and the Philippine Coast Guard has gone into a tailspin of conflicting speculations that confuses rather than illuminates.
 
Why speculate? Why offer different scenarios of the event? Are we doing this in search of truth or are we doing this because we are cautious to offend or scared to confront someone?  
 
At the moment, I don’t mind whether we know or not what really happened. What I do mind is the unwarranted effort of tiptoeing and the fear of stepping on someone else’s toes.
 
The reality is a Filipino fishing boat was sunk and destroyed and a crewmember died. Let’s investigate–nothing more, nothing less.  
 
I know these are difficult times for us because of our territorial disputes with China. And judging on how China behaves in the region, it looks like an unavoidable confrontation is just waiting to happen between us.
 
After all, the Chinese assistant foreign minister Cui Tiankai reminded us that China’s claims to the West Philippine Sea is on a par with its claims to Tibet and Taiwan (The Washington Post, July 30, 2010).
 
Whether our problem with China will bring us peace or lead us to conflict, one thing is sure: we must accept the simple truth that we cannot protect our sovereignty by being afraid to act.  And if ever we act, we must also accept the simple truth that we cannot protect ourselves alone.
 
If the Chinese had already forcefully ejected our troops from Mischief Reef (239 kilometers from Palawan, Philippines and 1,110 kilometers from Hainan Island, China) in 1995, what guarantee do we have that a similar incident will not happen in Panatag Shoal or in our other exclusive economic zone (EEZ) areas?  
 
Apparently, at the moment there is no guarantee for that. With America’s peripheral rather than direct naval engagement in the region, China is almost unchallenged in its belligerence against its Asian neighbors.
 
Consider the following:
 
In March 1988, Chinese troops killed 70 Vietnamese troops and occupied Johnson South Reef (six kilometers away from Vietnam’s Collins Reef) in the Spratly Islands.
 
In April 2001 a Chinese jet fighter collided with an American EP-3 reconnaissance aircraft 60 miles off Hainan Island.
 
On June 11, 2009, a Chinese submarine deliberately cut the cable of a sonar array being towed by the USS John McCain in international waters about 140 miles northwest of Subic Bay, Philippines.
 
In 2009 alone, Chinese had seized 433 Vietnamese fishermen in the West Philippine Sea.
 
In August 2011, Chinese naval vessels confronted an Indian Navy ship that was transiting between two Vietnamese ports.
 
In February 2012, armed Chinese vessels prevented Vietnamese fishing boats from seeking refuge in Paracel Island during a storm and reportedly tried to rob its crewmembers.
 
In the summer of 2010, a Chinese “fishery management vessel” described as a “repurposed heavy gunboat” threatened to fire at Indonesian patrol vessels confronting illegal Chinese fishermen in its EEZ near Natuna Island.
 
In April 2012, two Chinese surveillance vessels prevented the Philippine Navy frigate BRP Gregorio del Pilar from arresting illegal Chinese fishermen and poachers in Panatag Shoal (also known as Scarborough Shoal).
 
In June 2012, Indian Navy vessels sailing in the West Philippine Sea received an unscheduled escort by a People's Liberation Army Navy frigate for 12 hours (John J. Tkacik, Jr., Testimony for the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs, March 28, 2012 and Territorial disputes in the South China Sea).
 
These bullying tactics are not unusual and will likely to continue in the sense that China’s actions in the seas it shares with its Asian neighbors are part and parcel of its overall maritime expansion in the West Philippine Sea, Taiwan Strait, and East China Sea.
 
China will not stop until it gets what it wants. In fact, it will not hesitate to use economic as well as military advantages to enforce its self-interests.
 
That is, to create a chokehold of the world’s busiest maritime route as well as to control fishing grounds and seabed oil and gas resources in territories that it had conquered and will soon conquer.