The recent pronouncement made by President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. that he is still open to having backchannel talks between the Philippines and China is such a welcome development.
In my own humble opinion, establishing open communication lines in light of what is currently happening is highly significant and is still the only proper move and right thing to do.
Relatedly, what is hard to understand is this. While our President is willing and open to trying everything to keep the bridges that connects our country to China, the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) is doing another thing.
The DILG has issued a communication prohibiting local government units (LGUs) from entering into any new memoranda of agreement (MOA) or sister-city agreements with any town or city in China.
I note with dismayed surprise that the prohibition came ahead of the national government’s similar actions, as it has not yet cut off its diplomatic ties with China.
I would like to point out here that the local government should not be prohibited from establishing or maintaining its sister-city ties with its counterparts in other countries because we know the good that it brings to our city.
In the case of Manila, our sister-city relations with Guangzhou proved to be highly beneficial during the COVID-19 crisis.
It was through Guangzhou’s representations with the Beijing government that the Manila local government unit was able to buy directly from China much-needed 400,000 vials of Sinovac.
In fact, Manila was the only city that was allowed to purchase directly from China, at a time when such vaccines were hard to come by.
Through what happened, we were able to save many lives in Manila and even outside of Manila, since our vaccination program back then had an ‘open policy’ where even residents from other cities were allowed to avail of the free vaccines.
The Manila LGU was also able to save money on the part of the national government at the height of the pandemic when the country, just like the rest of the whole world, also suffered an economic crisis.
I also would like to narrate here that the Guangzhou and Manila sister-relations was personally arranged by then First Lady Imelda Marcos and Mao Tse-tung, leader and main strategist of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The deal was struck in 1975 through a MOA and an accord establishing a sister-city relationship was formally signed in 1982 by no less than First Lady Marcos herself. That is how long the history of the sister-city relations between Manila and Guangzhou goes.
Now, all of a sudden, the city of Manila is being told to cut off its ties with those who have helped its constituents during time of crisis? This runs counter to the very trait that we Filipinos are highly known for, which is ‘debt-of-gratitude.’
Any disagreement on the level of national governments should not affect the local front, unless the national government formally dissolves its diplomatic relations with China under the ‘One China’ policy.
It is just absurd if you cut off relationship with sister cities while the national government is yet to dissolve its foreign relationship with the country involved.
Let us all hope that President Marcos, Jr. appoints a real key person to do the backchanneling soon. The only resolution to any problem is a compromise.
We all hope for what is best for the country.
