IT'S most comfortable to be called out for something that you are guilty of. Thus, it has been a wild, uncomfortable ride with President Rodrigo Duterte as he exposes us for the frauds that we are, especially with regards the United States.
True, indeed, that while the Philippines through the different administrations have time and again pledged allegiance to the US, we have been given pittance for all that loyalty, and our people are given the short-end of the deal, especially with regards the US visa.
The oligarchs may belittle the President and attribute all his bitterness against the US for being denied a visa at one time, but we know this isn't true.
What he has just called out is the unwritten one-upmanship among Filipinos measured against how US gives its stamp of approval, in this case by getting a visa.
Imagine, being at the whim of the mood (and maybe visual preference) of the consul assigned at the window you are assigned to inside the US Embassy. How many Filipinos have cowered upon entering the embassy to apply for a visa, and how many more have been turned down without even being allowed to open his or her mouth? Just imagine...
Then, imagine how those waiting for their turn are riffling over their papers, proofs of wealth, some of whom are actually using trumped up documents like a bankbook that has more than a million pesos in deposit, that many resort to borrowing just for the show money.
The one who gets a visa then preens and feels good. The single-entry, multiple entry, one year, five years, ten years visa become part of the conversation, not as a brag, but as an incidental mention, like an unwritten badge of honor.
"If there is one thing that the Americans have failed the Philippines, it is in the province of human dignity," the President said in his press conference upon arriving from his China state visit.
He again recalled how without even coordination with the local police, men with FBI badges accompanied by a police official from the national capital simply spirited out bombing suspect Michael Terence Meiring, who accidentally blew up his own incendiary bomb hidden inside his room inside Evergreen Hotel along R. Magsaysay Avenue in Davao City in May of 2002. Both regional and city police officers were clueless about it.
Despite promises that the erstwhile mayor will be informed about the US investigation on the Meriing case by erstwhile US Ambassador to the Philippines Francis Ricciardone, Jr., not a single report, a note, nor even an apology was ever received by the City Government when Meiring was bringing bombs in and out of Davao City for the five years he was staying at Evergreen Hotel.
"Ngayon, itong America, if you violate their sovereignty, they will raise hell. Kung tayo, ang ginagawa nila sa atin, there wasn't even an apology or anything," he said.
Worse, the US is criticizing the present government for extrajudicial killings that remain unproven and yet the US destroyed Iraq and killed Saddam Hussein on the pretext of going after weapons of mass destruction, that after bombing the country and killing thousands of Iraqis only to find out afterward that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction.
"Tell me if it is right because I will resign. Anyone in this room could stand up before me and say it is moral and it is right to kill a leader of a nation, and have the gall to criticize me about HR violations," he said.
Indeed, the President may have the penchant to cross from one topic to another, but one thing is very clear... we are nobody to the US. And yet, practically everyone has pledged allegiance to it, embraced everything "isteysayd", and are now haranguing the President for daring to cross the global power that has sold the Philippines 20 UH-1 helicopters and one C-130 at the tailend of the Arroyo Adminsitration. Hueys were produced between 1956-1987, Arroyo's term ended in 2010. Indignity defined.
saestremera@yahoo.com