Are you reading this as blue waves sway under blue skies at the onset of your Holy Week break? Or are you, like most of us mortals in the newsroom, tied to your laptop and to the labors that must be done even in the Catholic world’s supposedly quietest week?

“No rest for the wicked” has taken on its biblical and worldly meaning in the last few days. In Timor-Leste, a Filipino fugitive, expelled congressman Arnie Teves, has finally been arrested. What’s next for him? Here’s Jairo Bolledo’s explainer. In our alternate universe, the internet mob that salivated and scoured for answers (ranging from the probable to the ridiculous) for Princess Kate’s absence in the public eye got injected with a dose of guilt: The Princess of Wales said she has cancer. What do we know about her preventative chemo? Read all about it here. In Moscow, terrorists opened fire at a theater, killing at least 133 people and wounding a hundred more – prompting strongman Vladimir Putin, who has just won what Western governments describe as an “unfair” and “undemocratic” reelection, to vow harsh punishment for the culprits. Why did ISIS-K mount the attack? Read an explainer here. 

And in our own seas, China’s saber-rattling persists as it again harassed and water-cannoned Philippine vessels en route to Ayungin Shoal to bring personnel and supplies to a navy ship. “Prepare to bear all potential consequences,” China warned on Saturday, March 23. Foreign governments fumed. 

Days before, Filipino scientists managed to conduct four hours of coral reef assessment at sandbars within the Pag-asa Island in the West Philippine Sea. China also tried to intimidate the coast guard ships carrying the scientists.

It’s no coincidence that all this happened within the week of the second visit to Manila of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s sweet dance with America and its allies is pricking China’s ego to the hilt. 

• After Blinken’s second visit, Manila boasted that its ties with Washington are “on hyperdrive.” 
• Marcos is – again! – flying to Washington in April, this time to join a trilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden and Japanese Minister Kishida Fumio. Hosted by Biden, the meeting is seen to put “a bit more structure” to existing interoperability exercises among the three allies, according to Marcos.
• It was in June last year when the coast guards of the Philippines, Japan and the US held drills for the first time off the coast of Mariveles, Bataan. Marites Dañguilan Vitug puts this “threesome” in perspective.
• But these activities should not be misconstrued as “poking the bear,” because the Philippines is exerting all efforts to avoid war with China, Marcos told Bloomberg.
• The President has also said that tensions in the seas simply can’t be seen through the lens of US-China competition in this part of the world, stressing that the future of the region should not be “shaped by one or two, but many actors.”

China is annoyed, though. Two weeks ago, its defense spokesperson again blasted the Philippines and urged it “not to further walk down the wrong path.” 

• This came days after an unnamed Chinese official disclosed to a friendly newspaper, The Manila Times, details of a supposed understanding between Beijing and former president Rodrigo Duterte to “normalize” the situation in the South China Sea. This meant, according to the newspaper source, the Philippines avoiding any moves that could be seen as reinforcing the Sierra Madre vessel, which is stationed within the Ayungin Shoal. 
• The Philippines’ Department of Affairs scoffed at such revelations, and Marcos himself called out the Asian giant for making such requests based on a “wrong premise.”
• At the time of Blinken’s visit, China said the US should refrain from “stirring up trouble” in the region.

On Monday, March 25, Manila asked Beijing: Just how sincere are you?

How this unfolds in the coming months is anybody’s guess but every leader’s burden.

We wish you advance Happy Easter! – Rappler.com

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