Filipino civilians too must prepare for China attack on nearby Taiwan

GOTCHA

- JARIUS BONDOC

We've all heard accounts from our elders. Before the Occupation, Japanese migrant workers flocked to Philippine cities. When war broke out, the Japanese gardener, driver, laundryman, storekeeper, and "sorbetero" suddenly donned Imperial Army uniforms.

They turned out to be advanced parties of the invaders. Swiftly they took over upper-class homes, shops, transport, food markets and construction supplies.

The same is happening today — in a craftier way. Filipino industrialists, politicians, academics, even clerics are spouting Communist China propaganda.

As China warships ram Filipino civilian vessels, they shriek for diplomatic response. As Manila steps up defense, they warn about our being used as pawn in the US scheme for world domination.

As 77 percent of Filipinos declare willingness to fight for the Motherland, the propagandists promote defeatism, claiming that 110 million Filipinos are no match against 1.4 billion Chinese.

AFP chief Gen. Romeo Brawer's alert is timely. "Start planning in case there's an invasion of Taiwan," he told the north Luzon command. "If something happens to Taiwan, inevitably we will be involved...at the very least soldiers will have to rescue a quarter million overseas Filipino workers there."

Brawner didn't have to mention China. The world knows that Xi Jinping plots to invade the island soon.

For months now, China warships and bombers have been trespassing Taiwan seas and airspace. The largest attack drill was held only last week. The People's Liberation Army simulated assaults from all sides of Taiwan, only 51 nautical miles from Batanes.