By REYNALDO O. ARCILLA
THIS piece was written before President Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte made his ludicrous statement that the United States “will have to pay” if it wants to keep the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which he earlier ordered abrogated.
If the VFA is not abrogated, it would mean simply that US troops and military bases will remain on Philippine soil. If they do, it would also mean that we become a target for China in case of an armed conflict with the US…plain and simple! And no amount of payment by the US for the VFA in the form of more war materiel as broached by Digong’s “tweeterboy” of a Foreign secretary will prevent that.
As Digong himself said on the reported return of the US military to Subic Bay, “‘Yang maglagay-lagay ka ng … base at this time, this will ensure, if war breaks out because there would be atomic arsenal brought in, this will ensure the extinction of the Filipino race.”
I will discuss further the implications of Digong’s statement in my next column. But for now, I would simply leave a question for him to ponder…I hope.
“Mr. President, how much are the lives of 110 million Filipinos worth to you?”
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The most compelling reason I supported Digong after he officially launched his presidential candidacy in December 2015 was his vow to get rid of foreign troops and military bases in the country.
To illustrate, following is what he said before a group of businessmen in Tokyo, Japan in October 2016:
“I want to be friends to China. I do not need the arms. I do not want missiles established in my country. I do not need to have the airports to host the bombers…I have declared that I will pursue an independent foreign policy. I want, maybe in the next two years, my country free of the presence of foreign military troops. I want them out.”
That was over four years ago. He has less than a year and a half to fulfill his vow. Will he ever before his term ends in June next year?
In February last year, Digong said the Armed Forces of the Philippines could fight insurgents and Muslim extremists without American help.
“Do we need America to survive as a nation? Do we need the might and power of the military of the United States to fight our rebellion here and the terrorists down south and control drugs? If we can’t do it, we have no business being a republic,” he said.
Last March he ordered the termination of the VFA with the United States. The abrogation was supposed to take effect in August 2020.
Out of the blue, however, he extended the abrogation by another six months, and then by yet another six. The abrogation will now take effect on August 11 this year…unless Digong changes his mind again one way or another which he has become wont to do.
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I fervently pray that Digong who is (or was?) animated by nationalistic fervor, unlike his predecessors and some of his cronies in both the public and private sectors, will fulfill his campaign promise to carve for ourselves a truly independent foreign policy and get rid of foreign troops and military bases on our land that, aside from their other negative aspects, are magnets for attack in the event armed hostilities erupt between China and the US.
As I asked in my column last week, has it ever occurred to anyone, particularly the US worshipers in our midst, that we are the only one in the Southeast Asian region that hosts US troops and military bases that are said to be a key stabilizing factor in the maintenance of peace and security in the Asia Pacific? Why not the other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well? What are we, the sacrificial goat? Or worse, suckers? Or worst, do not know what is good for us?
I believe Digong owes it to the Filipino people to now unequivocally fulfill his promise to end foreign military presence on our land before it’s too late.
His failure to do so would mean going back to where we were before he came along — where the oligarchs, the Yankeephiles, the Yellowtards, the crooked politicians and government officials, the criminal syndicates, the drug lords, among others, made life miserable for the average and law-abiding Filipinos.
If he succeeds, it would be his greatest legacy! If he fails, it would make him the best president we could have had!
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In this regard, I and many others have asked why Digong appointed as foreign secretary oligarch Teodoro “Tweeterboy” Locsin Jr., a true-blue Yellowtard who used to sit on the right side of the late President Corazon Aquino. And Jose Romualdez, another Yellowtard, as ambassador to Washington.
Too, Delfin Lorenzana as Defense secretary whom Digong once publicly said was a Central Intelligence Agency man who spent some 14 years in our embassy in Washington as defense attache and later as the officer in charge of veterans affairs in the embassy?
Lorenzana used to speak with a forked tongue on PH-US military relations. Lately, however, he came out openly in favor of the retention of the VFA. He said the military establishment favors its retention too. And the fellow now wants the military Balikatan exercises covered by the VFA resumed in May.
Assuming he has good reason for appointing Locsin and Lorenzana but would rather not divulge it now, surely Digong must know and realize that their public statements contradicting him on such a crucial foreign policy issue undermine and weaken his position.
His failure to make them toe the line will also be taken advantage of by his detractors, domestic and foreign, to portray him as a weak leader.
Then again, could he possibly be just allowing the two Cabinet members to publicly contradict him now on the presence of US troops and military bases in the country, only to disown their statements at the “most appropriate time”?
Let’s watch what happens.
Miscellany
– I am still awaiting with bated breath what Tweeterboy Locsin is, or will be, doing to implement “his” policy of putting deposed Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi back to her post. He might wish to consider joining the Filipino who is one of Suu Kyi’s supporters in marching through the streets of Yangon with his three-finger “Hunger Games” salute raised.
– What action is Malacañang taking on Locsin’s admission that the Passport Revolving Fund is “gone” on account of its being used for travel and allowances of DFA personnel which is specifically prohibited by RA 8239 that created the fund? As a reader wrote earlier, someone should be held accountable for breaking the said law.
– Locsin said a review of the VFA is now taking place between PH and US officials. “Review”? Digong’s position is abrogation. Why does it have to be reviewed? Is that the instruction from his Boss? Or is it one of “his” policies too?
– What are the government and the Comelec doing about the petition of the lowest bidder that lost to Smartmatic in refurbishing its vote-counting machines? The only other bidder, Power Serve Inc. (PSI), was disqualified by the Comelec’s special bids and awards committee (SBAC) for its failure to indicate “zero” or “dash” in the relevant bid documents. PSI’s bid of P490 million is lower by a whopping P147,443,308.45 than Smartmatic’s bid of P637,443,308.45. PSI has appealed to the SBAC to reconsider its decision but no action has yet been taken by it as of this writing.
– What is the government doing about the reported return of the US military to Subic Bay through the agreement between Austal and US private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management to take over the Subic Bay yard from bankrupt South Korean firm Hanjin Shipping?
“Kaya ‘yang maglagay lagay ka ng base at this time, this will ensure, if war breaks out because there would be atomic arsenal brought in, this will ensure the extinction of the Filipino race,” Digong said.
– What action is being taken by the government to have fugitive ex-Comelec chairman Andres Bautista extradited by the US?
– What is happening to the electoral protest of ex-senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. against Vice President (under protest) Maria Leonor Robredo, which was supposed to have been decided by the Supreme Court’s Presidential Electoral Tribunal last month? Why is the court allowing Associate Justice Marvic Leonen to get away with his antics?
Incidentally, the Supreme Court never responded to the question I posed a while back, whether the members of the PET are still getting the P100,000 monthly allowance they are supposed to be entitled to? The law says they should render a decision with finality on an electoral protest within 20 months from the time the case is submitted for adjudication (Section 3, RA1793). The Marcos-Robredo case is now more than four years old. With 11 members of the PET (Section 1, RA1793), each one would get a cool P1.2 million a year, or P13.2 million a year for all 11 members, at the expense of the taxpayers!
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Reader William+John Balderama on Locsin’s “policy” on the ouster of Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi:
“Locsin is getting too big for his breeches. And he’s probably not too adept in playing the geopolitical game. Doesn’t he realize that it was China that willed the Myanmar military to act the way it did — as it has been in China’s bag pocket for quite some time. Oh, by the way, please someone also tell this genius that China is already in the South China Sea. What is he going to say then — reclaiming it still his ‘policy’?”
Reader Kokis Balles, on the other hand, says:
“Nobody can set straight the Burmese military junta. ‘Drop dead’ is the right term here.”