The good person. Lubert Perona of Ayala Center Security Team turning over to me my cellphone he found on the sidewalk in Ayala Center.
Something happened last week that once again affirmed my belief in the goodness of men.
It was Tuesday, May 23, when my VERA Files colleague Chin Samson and I had a meeting with a visiting German journalist, who was doing a story on the first year of the Marcos Jr. presidency, at the Mentore UCC Café, Ayala Center in Makati.
Throughout the interview, my phone was on silent mode.
We went our separate ways after. I went to the Landmark Department Store, which was just across Mentore Café, then walked to Ayala One Terminal to take the shuttle van to Las Pinas. It was about 5 p.m.
While waiting for the van to leave, I thought of checking my email. I couldn’t find my cellphone!
A VERA Files colleague (Let’s call her “A.”), who is based in Mindanao, received a call last week from a number not listed in her contact list, asking if she knew a certain person, who happened to be another colleague (“B”) in VERA Files.
She replied “Yes” and inquired why she was asking. The caller said she was actually contacting “B” because he took a loan from their company and had listed her (“A”) as a reference person.
“A” told the caller that she is not based in Manila. The caller asked “A” to pass the message to “B” to settle his loan. “A” sensed something fishy so she immediately blocked the number and the SMS that came later.
“A” then asked “B” if he had made her as a reference for a loan and the latter said he did not.
On that same day, another colleague (“C”) received a call from a certain “Joana” of PesoBuffet, a lending company known for its high interest rates, asking if he knew a person named Raymond (“C” couldn’t recall the surname.). She said they couldn’t contact him and the name of “C” was one of those listed by Raymond to call if he is not available.
U.S. President Joe Biden receives President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. at the White House.Malacañang photo.
Number 14 in the United States and Philippines Bilateral Defense Guidelines, forged on May 3 during the official visit of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to Washington D.C, states, “An armed attack in the Pacific, to include anywhere in the South China Sea, on either Philippine or U.S. armed forces – which includes both nations’ Coast Guards – aircraft, or public vessels, would invoke mutual defense commitments under Article IV and Article V of the MDT.”
The first paragraph under Article IV of the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty states, “Each Party recognizes that an armed attack in the Pacific area on either of the Parties would be dangerous to its own peace and safety and declares that it would act to meet the common dangers in accordance with its constitutional processes.”
Article V states that “for the purpose of Article IV, an armed attack on either of the Parties is deemed to include an armed attack on the metropolitan territory of either of the Parties, or on the island territories under its jurisdiction in the Pacific Ocean, its armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the Pacific.”
With these commitments, can the United States invoke the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty to be allowed to use the EDCA sites in Cagayan, just about 600 kilometers to Taiwan, to launch attacks to stop the Chinese from taking over Taiwan?
