It's Not Ours, It's Complicated!

(An Open Journal Book Review of Sass Rogando Sasot's Book 'A Lighthouse Before a Troubled Sea')

NOTE: THIS ONE MADE WAVES. EVEN THE AUTHOR SHARED IT.

This isn't just another book reviews. This open journal went a little viral after I posted it on Facebook. It clocked in at over 200,000 views and almost 600 shares. It even got shared by Sass Rogando Sasot herself on her official Facebook wall.

I'm reposting it here on my blog because, well social media isn't exactly an archive. And a piece this personal, this layered, deserves a home that doesn't depend on algorithms or temporary visibility.

This was written not just as a review but as a small act of public self-correction: part therapy, part confession. For anyone who's ever performed patriotism without reading the footnotes... this one’s for you.

Sometime in the early 2010s, I became what I now recognize as an intellectual groupie. A fangirl, to be exact. The object of this obsession? Lourd de Veyra. He was smart, irreverent, had a voice like sarcasm dipped in whiskey, and could wear a blazer without looking like a politician. I devoured his books. I laughed at his dry, sardonic delivery in Word of the Lourd. I even watched a video of him talking about the Kalayaan Islands. The gist: China was stealing one of our islands. Period.

And like any loyal, semi-informed fangirl who had just discovered nationalism through spoken word and cafe-colored Marxism, I did what any good netizen would do: I posted a picture of the island on Facebook and captioned it with something like “It’s ours!” Maybe there were three exclamation points. Maybe just one. The point is, I thought I was being both literary and patriotic.

You will not find that post anymore.

I deleted it. Deleted it the way one might hide old love letters written in Comic Sans or photos with that ex who wore fedoras unironically. The today-me read that post in memory and flinched so hard I almost pulled something in my spine. Cringe is not a strong enough word. Naïve is being kind. I had the conviction of a Facebook activist and the geopolitical awareness of a canned tuna.

But then, blessedly, I stumbled onto the idea of bibliotherapy: books as balm, as bandage, as slow-acting medicine for the soul. I even took an online course for it, because when I get obsessed, I overdo it. And one of the books that pulled me out of that nationalistic brain fog was Sass Rogando Sasot’s A Lighthouse Before a Troubled Sea.

This journal entry (this slow, apologetic essay disguised as a review) is written from the perspective of someone trying to unlearn. It’s also for my fellow readers who might still be shouting “It’s ours!” into the internet void. I get you. I see you. And I’d like to hand you this book and a warm cup of “let’s talk nuance.”

THE SEA ISN'T A METAPHOR... IT'A MESS

The South China Sea (or SCS if you’re feeling bureaucratic) is a place where dreams go to drown in maritime law and the ghosts of colonizers past. It’s full of fish, history, and countries throwing flags like confetti on a shipwreck. Sass’ book doesn’t simplify the mess. It marinates in it. It studies it, unpacks it, and then folds it back in ways that make you say, “Oh. Oh no. Was I part of the problem?”

Turns out, yes. Yes I was.

Sass takes you through this dense fog of history, theory, and geopolitical pettiness with surprising clarity. It’s like being handed a flashlight while everyone else is yelling in the dark. She doesn’t dumb it down, but she guides you gently, like a teacher who’s tired but still believes in your capacity to learn.

One of the most liberating ideas in the book is how territoriality (this obsessive need to draw lines around land and water and say “MINE”) isn’t some primal instinct! It’s invented. It’s taught. Like nose contouring or videoke etiquette. It’s socially constructed. And if it’s constructed, it can be deconstructed.

That concept slapped me harder than my mom during my grunge/emo phase. Because it made me realize my patriotic Facebook post wasn’t just shallow... it was performative! It was me buying into a system of thought I didn’t understand, cosplaying as a nationalist without reading the lore.

HOW I GOT HUMBLED, PAGE BY PAGE

Let’s pause for a shoutout to one of my readers from Quezon City. He doesn’t want to be named (so I won’t, promise, QC reader), but he sent me not one, not two, but three copies of Sass’ books. “For your friends,” he said. Which is the bibliophile version of laying hands on the sick and saying “Be healed.”

I had already bought a copy myself, but my mom hijacked it before I could finish. She’s a fast reader and a strong-willed woman who treats books like holy scripture. She would read Sass in the kitchen while stirring ginisang ampalaya like she was preparing to argue with senators. So I gave her one of the three extra copies and finally got to finish the book myself.

And let me tell you: finishing it felt like exfoliating my brain. Painful, but cleansing.

WHAT SASS' BOOK DID TO MY BRAIN

• Made me question every map I ever trusted.

• Exposed how much of our national identity is shaped by colonial leftovers and badly archived treaties.

• Made me want to read footnotes for fun. (I KNOW.)

• Gently but firmly dragged my inner performative patriot by the hair.

Sass argues that the SCS conflict isn’t just about who owns what. It’s about how we’ve been taught to think about ownership. The shift from relational thinking (we all share the sea, it’s a bridge!) to territorial obsession (this reef is MINE, go away!) is at the root of the issue.

And suddenly, I understood why my old Facebook post felt so embarrassing. Because I had absorbed that territorial thinking without questioning it. I had performed nationalism instead of understanding it.

FROM BIBLIOTHERAPIST TO PATIENT

Reading Sass’ book wasn’t just academic... it was therapeutic! I wasn’t just gaining information. I was healing from an earlier version of myself. That girl who thought reposting a meme made her a patriot? She needed guidance. She needed nuance. She needed to sit down, drink water, and read about international law.

I now recommend this book not just as a political resource, but as bibliotherapy for the recovering nationalist. For the person who wants to feel proud of their country but also smart enough to know when their country is bluffing.

This book won’t give you a clean narrative. It’ll give you questions. It’ll give you frameworks. It’ll give you the courage to say, “Maybe I don’t know enough about this yet.” Which is more radical than yelling “It’s ours!” into the algorithm.

IF YOU'RE GOING TO READ THIS BOOK, PLEASE BE:

• Open to being wrong.

• Ready to unlearn things you thought were sacred.

• Willing to sit with discomfort.

... And possibly in need of forgiving your past self. (Hi, 2010s me. You tried.)

Sass Rogando Sasot wrote a book that’s not just a lighthouse. It's also a mirror and a machete. A mirror because it shows you your well-meaning but misinformed face; a machete because it slices clean through the tall weeds of performative, emoji-powered patriotism. It’s not a light read as it asks you to sit with discomfort, unlearn things, and admit maybe you were wrong. Especially if you’ve ever believed everything the mainstream media said about the South China Sea. Especially if you cheered when “West Philippine Sea” got pinned on Google Maps and heart-reacted to the House of Representatives’ post celebrating its so-called recognition by a foreign body... even though literally anyone with a browser and spare time can pin locations on Google Maps.

I’m not saying this book will fix the South China Sea. But it might fix how you think about it. And that’s a start.

Love lots—

Kooks | A former Facebook patriot who now reads footnotes and measures sovereignty in critical thinking, not caps lock | Current Mood: Remorseful but learning 😅

P.S. Thinking of getting the book? Just search for it on Lazada or Shopee... I grabbed my copy from Lazada.

This is the link to the store (Kaykongchi Ltd) on Lazada where you can order the book from, btw: https://s.lazada.com.ph/s.rs2gT

Shopee link: https://ph.shp.ee/veu7rq4

P.P.S.

To Whom the Book Tolls:

• For the overthinkers of national identity.

• For history nerds with a kink for international law and relations.

• For anyone who's been gaslit by the mainstream media and the HoR

• For people who confuse diplomacy with role-play.

• I'd prescribe it to those feeling adrift: emotionally, politically, or geographically.

To Whom the Book Won't Toll:

• Do not hand this to someone with map-induced trauma.

• Avoid if you're looking for happy endings. Or any endings.

• Definitely not for folks who still believe in clean borders and clean politics.