Cayetano is a hero
Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano is being asked by some supposedly career officers of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to resign over the diplomatic row between the Philippines and Kuwait.
Those fools!
Kuwait declared Philippine Ambassador Renato Villa a persona non grata and ordered him to leave the country after Cayetano initiated the rescue of distressed Filipino workers from their cruel employers in Kuwait.
Cayetano may have committed a diplomatic faux pas but to millions of Filipino workers, he is a hero.
The heck with diplomatic niceties if the welfare of Filipino workers abroad is at stake!
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For so long, the Philippines has been a pushover to Middle East countries that treat Filipino contract workers like slaves.
These countries know we need their dollars so they think they can do as they please with our compatriots who toil for their families back home.
Cayetano—whose late father, Senator Rene, was a defender of the oppressed—couldn’t bear to see his countrymen suffering in another country.
He showed Kuwait, albeit undiplomatically, that enough is enough.
The country has made its point.
Cayetano has since apologized.
So let’s stop bashing the guy for defending the dignity of Filipino workers abroad even at the expense of Philippine diplomacy.
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And, by the way, the Philippines should stop sending our Muslim compatriots as ambassadors or consuls to Middle East countries.
They tend to favor the citizens of the host countries when it comes to issues affecting Filipino contract workers.
Their religious affiliation is greater than their patriotism.
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The same rule of assignment should also be used by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Muslim soldiers and policemen who are dedicated to their work should not be put on the spot by being assigned to areas that are predominantly Muslim.
During World War II, the US government sent the Nisei (Japanese born in the US) to fight in Europe and not in the Pacific where Japan held sway.
In the same way, Muslim soldiers and policemen are better off going after the New People’s Army than Moro rebels.
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Special Presidential Assistant Christopher “Bong” Go went home without his shoes recently after he gave it to a fire victim in Sta. Cruz, Manila.
That gesture was not a put-on or gimmick.
I’ve known Bong since he was the alalay (aide) of then Davao City Mayor Digong years back.
The guy really has a heart for the poor, the reason Digong chose him over many others who were fresh out of college.
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Police officers Ralph, Reniel and Rendel Soriano, who are brothers, are in hot water for showing their fangs to an unarmed neighbor.
Their abusive behavior was posted on Facebook through a video that went viral.
Social media rides again.
Hurray!
