This war hits the poor hard!

At the start, President Donald Trump appeared highly confident that the United States of America can easily crush Iran, until reality began to sink in.

- Atty. Ruphil Bañoc

He then sought the help of countries he considered America's allies to secure the Strait of Hormuz. To say he was turned down is an understatement. Trump thought he could drag everyone into a war that he started.

“This is not our war; we have not started it”, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius was quoted as saying. French President Emmanuel Macron said, “We are not a party to the conflict. And so France will never take part in operations to open or liberate the Strait of Hormuz in the current context.”

And the Philippines? Well, Defense Secretary Gibo Teodoro was straightforward: “Wala tayong capability na mag-escort.” Despite all claims that we have a modernized and world-class Armed Forces of the Philippines, every Juan knows that we still lag behind many other countries in terms of preparedness for external conflict. We cannot even solve our own internal war. We even lose our “gubat batok baha.”