How quickly Filipinos’ anger turned into dismay and then indignation when the full picture of the disastrous June 17 Philippine resupply mission to Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal emerged several hours after the incident. That it took days for the Philippine military to release piecemeal details of the walloping its men suffered at the hands of the China Coast Guard (CCG) was a testament to its shame at being so brutalized. It wasn’t the embarrassment of one caught doing wrong, nor the contrition that sometimes accompanies the commission of a crime, but the irrational guilt of one helpless and at the mercy of the wrongdoer.

Pirates of the South China Sea [Editorial]. (2024, June 25). Philippine Daily Inquirer, p. A6.