US capture of Maduro compromises Philippines moral ascendancy – De Lima

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January 5, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Being a United States ally, the Philippines is now basically under a “compromised moral ascendancy” following Washington’s attack against oil-rich Venezuela, along with the super power’s “aggressor” attitude in arresting the president of the South American country, Nicolas Maduro.

“It throws the global order back to a barbaric ‘might makes right’ regime, discarding all the progress achieved by the UN, 80 years after the end of World War II,” Rep. Leila de Lima of Mamamayang Liberal party-list said yesterday.

Condemning the attack, she noted the US move “undermines the rules-based international order, thus setting a terrible precedent of heightened aggression by superpowers.”

“It normalizes Russia’s invasion and continued war on Ukraine, China’s expansionist aggression in the South and East China Seas and Israel’s genocide on the Palestinian people,” De Lima said.

“It is most regrettable that the US, under Trump, has once again regressed into an aggressor state not unlike China, Russia and Israel,” De Lima said, adding that Manila is now “compromised” in “protesting, condemning, opposing and fighting China’s aggression in the West Philippine Sea.”

“This is due to the fact that our major ally against Chinese aggression uses that same aggression against a smaller neighbor like what the Philippines is to China. This reflects poorly on us as well, regardless of our own faithful adherence to international law, simply because the US is our ally,” she stressed.

“This serves as a reality check on our reliance on the US for moral leadership in the world stage, and as an ally for regional security and a rules-based international order,” De Lima said.

Fellow opposition Rep. Perci Cendaña (Akbayan party-list) and the three-member Makabayan bloc – Reps. Antonio Tinio (ACT Teachers), Sarah Jane Elago (Gabriela Women’s Party) and Renee Louise Co (Kabataan party-list) – also shared the same sentiments.

“US President Trump’s illegal invasion of Venezuela should give us pause, as Trump himself admitted that Venezuela’s oil was the motive of their attack,” Cendaña said.

“This act only bolsters similar illegal aggressive acts of Russia in Ukraine and China in the West Philippine Sea. When the three major powers openly endorse a doctrine of might equals right, then the world must vigorously oppose it,” he said.

The progressive lawmakers, for their part, also condemned what they called the “brazen military aggression perpetrated by the United States government against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.”

According to them, the abduction of Maduro and his wife is a “dangerous act that completely obliterates international law and Venezuela’s sovereignty.”

“The kidnapping of Maduro is nothing short of state-sponsored terrorism,” they continued.

“This is not just an attack on Venezuela – it is an attack on the very foundations of international law. The kidnapping of a democratically elected head of state sets a catastrophic precedent that threatens every nation asserting independence from US hegemony,” they said.

In a joint statement, the members of the House minority bloc, led by Rep. Marcelino Libanan, said the bombing of civilian and military installations in Caracas and other Venezuelan states constitutes a flagrant violation of the UN Charter.