Day One of the Defense sa Senate Impeachment Court was white noise — Davao City assessor Engineer Jaime Adalin testifying on tax records of a piece of property owned by VP Sara’s Mans Carpio – that is, until Prosecution counsel Jay Tolosa asked Adalin about a trip to China.
Tolosa : Sometime in November 2025, you’re one of the LGU officials of Davao who went to China on an all-expense paid tour sponsored by the Chinese Consulate. Is that correct?
Siempre nag-object ang Defense: Irrelevant!
TOLOSA: We want to check his credibility your honor, if he will admit this or not.
PO CHIZ: You’re on a short leash, Counsel …. Kindly answer, Engineer Jimmy…
ADALIN: [Seriously] I think that’s irrelevant. [Laughs, covers mouth]
PO CHIZ: [Laughs] Funny ka doon, Engineer Jimmy… funny ka doon…
TOLOSA: It’s my last question…
ADALIN: Actually I can’t remember…
https://www.facebook.com/senateph/ 2:17:51
My theory is, he had anticipated the question, asked someone for advice, and he was told not to worry, it was irrelevant, so that’s exactly what he said. Siempre inusisa nina Sen Risa ang trip to China but Adalin only made matters worse for his credibility by saying he couldn’t remember when and where and had to be reminded of two trips, one in Nov 2025, another in Jan 2026.
Selective forgetting, what else, a defense mechanism, dahil alam niyang masalimuot at kritikal na isyu ang Ph-China relations sa kasalukuyan, and certainly not irrelevant.
JOEL COCHICO: Mukhang nabili na ng China ang local gov’t officials ng Davao City. https://www.facebook.com/
Nothing that has to do with China is irrelevant. Not when China is waging war on us of the “gray-zone” kind — no shots fired, but insidiously gaining EEZ territory in the West Ph Sea, driving away our fishermen, and waging psy-war, mocking our Arbitral Victory, deploying fake narratives, even depicting us as monkeys, and egging on the DDS to push for China’s interests, never mind ours. Just the day before, the VP was in Hong Kong, rallying her OFW troops, talking “unity without borders”.
VP SARA: Totoo man, mayroon tayong girian sa West Ph Sea pero dapat iniisip ng pamahalaan, gaano ba kalaki ang baril mo (raises tiny finger)! Gaano ba kalaki ang baril ng kalaban [raises right fist]?
On Day Three of the Defense, it was Sen Robin who took up the cudgels for China, asking: “Bakit po issue ang pagpunta sa China?” This is of a piece with VP Sara’s question back in October when the Prosecution noted Mans Carpio’s China-linked companies: “Bawal ba talaga magnegosyo with China?”
It’s not bawal, whether junketting to, or doing business with, China, but, to my mind, given the currently testy state of affairs, maybe it would help if visits and dealings do not mean being, and feeling, indebted to China? But then again, sasabihin. nila, what about those of you who are, and feel, indebted to America? What’s the difference, pareho lang sila na pinagsasamantalahan tayo.
BETWEEN AMERICA AND CHINA
Totoo naman. At patuloy tayong pagsasamantalahan ng America at ng Tsina, and we need to come to a consensus on how best to deal with both powers, kahit ano pa ang kahinatnan ng nagaganap na matinding iringan, unahán, agawan nila for global geopolitical dominance.
This should tell us, if we are truly thinking of our nation’s interests, that it behooves us all to step back, take stock, think ahead, lalo na yung maiingay na “progressive” pundits who are forever calling out the “Tsinadors” and “traitors” and Makapilis, and the tiresome hardline leftists who are still forever ranting against fascist America and Amboys and puppets and puppies, among us.
Yes, all we have are words, sabi nga ng isang anti-China political heckler, but resorting to name-calling is just bardagulan, and far from, nothing close to, having a national conversation, which entails hearing each other out, and arriving at an informed and coherent response to the crisis that besets us.
Read Stephen Cu-unjieng’s latest Manila Times column “De-escalation of rhetoric”. https://www.manilatimes.net/2026/
I get the impression that “some government officials” and their more jingoistic supporters in the press are not just trying to impose their views on us, but silence through intimidation and shaming even nuanced views to the contrary. And not just on goals, even on approach and style. Whenever someone tries to brand someone who disagrees with him or his views as disloyal or a traitor, I immediately wonder how sound his views are if he has to resort to shaming and intimidation of those who disagree or may not even disagree with the goals but merely the methods being utilized. I am not questioning their sincerity or belief. But to what effect? [Emphases mine]
Instead of calling each other out on our biases, what if we call out China on the methods it is using against us that’s mostly heavy-handed and insulting? Cu-unjieng is right, the goal is not just to vent but to get results, or avoid a disastrous one.
I disagree with their approach and think it is counterproductive. I am not naïve or ideologically lazy enough to believe any superpower is benign and does not act in its self-interest. I am also cognizant that there are differences in how aggressive and bullying different superpowers can be….
It is good to be reminded that should the situation escalate, our “special relations” with America is not likely to count for much. Huwag kalimutan how we lost Scarborough Shoal anyway back in 2012 even as America tried, and failed, to broker a mutual withdrawal.
We will have to rely on our big brother to support us beyond words and token aid. Is that something we can really count on? Or a prudent route to take given the costs to us even if the big brother gives his full support? In deciding whether the big brother will, think not of the cost to us, but to the superpower to support us in the way we will need. After all, like any mature country, the superpower ally will act first in their self-interest. Words and assurances notwithstanding. Don’t believe me? Then why did we get to the situation we were in during the second Aquino administration in 2012 and its aftermath which continues? Who did they rely on and what happened? If you say that was a different American administration, do you think the present one is more reliable? Don’t be naïve.
Which brings me back to the Impeachment Trial that China is closely watching, according to De La Salle U. geopolitical analyst Dr. Don McLain Gill on Storycon 5 Nov https://www.youtube.com/
GILL. China is watching intently. It recognizes that post 2028 there may be changes that would be significantly in favor of Beijing’s master plan for the Indo-Pacific, for the first island chain (Ph, Taiwan, and Japan) for instance. And this is why as early as now, no matter how much time we have left, [we need] to ensure that we have safeguards erected for the long term
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