MY June 2 column, "Sinicization of PH: On becoming China's 24th province," has elicited comments from readers on both sides of the political divide from the Yellows and the diehard Duterte supporters (DDS) and from the many who are neither.
But critiquing Duterte's contradictory remarks on the West Philippine Sea (WPS) issue and the "arbitral award," particularly my rhetorical question "So, what's wrong with being subsumed by China? - suggesting that the Philippines could become the 24th province of China, has provoked virulent verbal assaults, mostly from a veteran journalist. His defense of the "most respected thinking broadsheet" where we both write columns, turning into "a dirty wall... where angry, brainless slogans are painted in the guise of headlines for inane opinion columns...echoing a crude blogger...is a cheap rabble-rousing means to fool the masses."
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