By Mortz C. Ortigoza, MPA
I bumped into Assistant Secretary Roberto
“Bobby” Ferrer, Jr. of the Department Foreign Affairs (DFA) at the booth of
Pangasinan in the International Food Expo (IFEX) held last Friday at the World
Trade Center, Pasay City.
“O Bob kilala mo pa ako?”
“Siyempre si Mortz Ortigoza,” Philippines embassy in Russia former Deputy Chief of Mission and Consul General and the illustrious son of Binmaley, Pangasinan told me.
ENVOY. Undersecretary Eduardo Jose A. de Vega (right) of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). He was once the acting Secretary of the DFA and Ambassadors to Belgium and Mexico. |
I first met him when was a graduating
student of Bachelor of Arts major in Political Science in 1990 when I joined
the teaching staff of the Social Science Department of the present Lyceum
Northwestern University in Dagupan City. He is the son of the late Pangasinan’s
provincial lawmaker Roberto Ferrer, Sr.
Accompanying Ferrer was DFA Undersecretary
Eduardo Jose A. de Vega who was once acting Secretary of the DFA and Ambassadors
to Belgium and Mexico.
We have an animated conversation when I
asked De Vega why not the Philippines military used a C-130 cargo plane to air drop provisions
and repair materials to the beleaguered Marines holed in at the dilapidated navy ship's BRP
Sierra Madre.
I cited to the duo how the American
military delivered with success their stuffs thru low altitude parachute extraction system (LAPES) and ground proximity
extraction system (GPES) at the Khe San aerial resupply mission in
January 1968.
During that month the mountainous Khe San
- the Dien Bien Phu’s version of the gung ho Americans – where guarded by 6,000
U.S Marines and South Vietnamese Rangers against 20, 000 armed to the teeth and
blood smelling Vietcong and North Vietnamese soldiers. The enemies took control
of the road where supplies like 1.5 million kilos of ammunition and armaments
of the besieged allies passed by and six of their transport and combat
helicopters and the runway had been destroyed by enemies’ artillery fires.
“Why our military would
not emulate the Americans” I posed.
“They have their own reason,” De Vega retorted as
I told him about the incessant utilization of the resupply mission through civilian vessels
but water cannoned by the bigger ships of the Chinese Coast Guard.
“Are
our military continue to use the harassed resupply missions to put in bad light
the Chinese before the bar of world’s opinion”? I inquired.
“That’s probably the obvious reason,” the envoy answered.
I told them that incase a coast guard or a
Marine die because of the dangerous maneuvering of the Chinese ships it will
trigger the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) where the U.S military juggernaut
comes to the succor of the lilliputian Armed Forces of the Philippines.
De Vega nodded his head.
He has all ears when I opined that the
Chinese is not yet prepared to wage war with the Americans as long as the
dilemma of Malacca Strait’s choke point is not yet solved by Beijing.
The Strait is a narrow stretch of water,
500 miles long and from 40 to 155 miles wide, between the Malay Peninsula to
the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connecting
the Andaman Sea and the South China Sea.
Malacca is where China’s seaborne import
from the Middle East like the 10 million barrels (2019 data) per day crude oil
passes to fuel her economy. Because of that the still growing People’s
Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) would not gamble to have a shooting war with the
blue water navy of the United States of America especially through her nuclear
subs that lurk stealthily and treacherously in the three trillion dollars a year South China
Sea’s lane.
I told them in that huddle that incase
President Ferdinand Marcos succumbed to the pressure of threat of a coup from
the military – ala Erap Estrada's presidency – and he stepped down from office
because of that narcotics brouhaha with actress Maricel Soriano, the U.S
government would not allow China friendly Vice President Sara Duterte – whose former
president father cozied up with Beijing – to succeed as the country’s
Commander-in-Chief.
“Do you remember what happened to the bachelor Presidents Ngô
Đình Diệm of South Vietnam and Salvador Allende?” I
posed
“Of
Chile,” Bobby retorted.
They were victims of a Central
Intelligence Agency (CIA) inspired coup d’état where the military replaced the
civilian government because Diem became abusive to the Buddhists, his
dictatorial tendency, and enmeshed himself to corruption and favoritism through
his younger brother and chief political adviser’s Ngo Dinh Nhu and his
wife the prolifigate Madame Nhu that could prejudice the U.S war against the
USSR and China through their puppets North Vietnam and the Vietcong while
Allende was a Marxist that could undermine the U.S business interest in South
America.
“Kalian ka maging Ambassador (When are you going to be an Ambassador)?” I asked Assistant Secretary Ferrer in the vernacular.
“Bahala na si Sir kung kelan niya gusto (It’s up to
Undersecretary De Vega when he wants me to be an Ambassador)
as he glanced playfully to De Vega.
“Mga after one year puede na siya maging Ambassador,”
the high official bantered.
“I doffed my hat to career officials like you who rose from the
rank and to your present perches compare to those presidential appointees who
were generals, average thinking newsmen, politicians, and others being appointed as ambassadors
where some of them did not know the nuances – mga walang alam ang mga p*tang
ina! - of the mandate,” I told the amused De Vega as he and
Ferrer bid goodbye to end the huddle.
Oh by the way, the amiable De Vega
possesses the following credentials: Master in National Security Administration at
the National Defense College of the Philippines (2004-2005), post graduate
studies in International Relation at Escuela Diplomatica de Madrid (1993-1994),
and Bachelor of Laws at the University of the Philippines – Diliman (1986-1991)
where he passed the Bar examination in 1991.
Damn! How can a retired Army or Police General,
politician, or an average opining columnist deals with seasoned foreign diplomats
without those attainments like what former acting DFA Secretary Ed de Vega can
swasbuckle?
READ MY OTHER BLOG:
MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA
I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.
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