Had former President Noynoy Aquino not resorted to subterfuge in dealing with China by employing the anarchist Antonio Trillanes IV as back channel, relations would not have deteriorated to the extent that the country’s giant neighbor occupied features within the nation’s territory. Former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile told Daily Tribune that Trillanes’ assignment from former president Aquino may not be illegal, but “it is improper” since it bypassed the authority of the Philippine mission in Beijing. “It was the first time that the government had given such power to a legislator in a plan taken right out of a James Bond movie. Noynoy Aquino has a penchant for secret agent operations. Look at Mamasapano (the botched Operation Plan Exodus that killed 44 Special Action Force troopers),” Enrile explained.

Who lost Scarborough?. (2021, May 10). Daily Tribune, p. A4.