Was it the right thing to do?

A disturbing question is now confronting the world after US forces bombed targets in Venezuela, seized President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, and US President Trump declared that the United States would run the oil-rich South American nation:

- FINDING ANSWERS FORMER SENATOR ATTY. JOEY D. LINA

Was the US right to do what it did?For some, the dramatic fall of an authoritarian leader accused of corruption, repression, and narco-trafficking evokes relief. But for much of the world, including many of America's closest allies, the manner of Maduro's removal raises deeper and more unsettling concerns.

Among these concerns are upholding a country's sovereignty, abiding by international law, and protecting smaller nations. For powerful states, however, the issue can become much simpler: If the US can invade one of its neighbors, why can't China assert its will closer to home?

Indeed, when a superpower normalizes the invasion of a smaller state, it gives cover to other powers to do the same. This matters profoundly to Filipinos. As Akbayan Party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña warned, the US action strengthens a dangerous doctrine: that power determines what is right. “This act only bolsters similar illegal aggressive acts of Russia in Ukraine and China in the West Philippine Sea,” he said.

Mamamayang Liberal Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima went further, arguing that Washington has undermined the very rules-based international order it claims to defend. “As a US ally, this leaves the Philippines with a compromised moral ascendancy in protesting, condemning, opposing, and fighting China's aggression in the West Philippine Sea,” she said.