SUMMARY
It is easy to get lost in the fog of the word war between the Philippines and China. What is clear is this: China wants to take what isn’t theirs, primarily Ayungin Shoal. It’s their low-hanging fruit, the feature that they can occupy once the rusty and decaying BRP Sierra Madre collapses.
That’s why the Chinese embassy here has been on overdrive, dredging up past deals and supposedly current ones, all with the aim of stopping the Philippines from bringing materials to repair the World War II-vintage ship.
Former president Rodrigo Duterte admitted that he, indeed, agreed to China’s demand that only water and food should be supplied to our troops in Sierra Madre. But Delfin Lorenzana, defense secretary at the time, appeared to be unaware of this verbal agreement of Duterte and …