We have gone overboard in our desire to be hospitable to foreigners.
We have allowed a Panamanian diplomat accused of raping a Filipino woman to leave the country even while the case against him was still being discussed.
Even if the Panamanian Embassy did not waive the immunity of Erick Bairnals Shcks, our government should not have allowed him to leave.
* * *
DJ Jimenez, the rape victim’s lawyer, was right in saying that the government, particularly the Department of Foreign Affairs, was “overly diplomatic” in handling the rape case against Shcks.
He should not have been issued a certification by the DFA.
He should have been made to go through the whole process of defending his immunity before our courts, said Jimenez.
After the court has decided on his immunity, then and only then should he have been set free; and not before.
* * *
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima and Foreign Secretary Rafael Seguis took a beating from Senators Loren Legarda and Vicente Sotto III during a two-hour hearing conducted by the Senate foreign relations committee.
However, the two senators were barking up the wrong tree in berating De Lima.
The justice secretary could not do anything but order her prosecutors to withdraw the rape case against Shcks after the DFA certified that he was covered by diplomatic immunity.
Schks’ walk to freedom was entirely the DFA’s fault.
* * *
Had the Senate foreign relations committee convened before the Panamanian Embassy had time to invoke diplomatic immunity for Schks, things would have been different.
Shcks would still be in the country today, awaiting the outcome of the question of whether or not he should be granted diplomatic immunity.
Too late for us to be talking about why Shcks was granted diplomatic immunity when he’s already gone.
* * *
Diplomats abuse our hospitality because we kiss their feet.
We let go of American diplomat Dean I. Chang after he insulted and cussed a 22-year-old college student whom he nearly run over with his car after he invoked diplomatic immunity.
We readily believed a US Embassy blog that claimed Chang apologized to the girl even if the girl said he never did.
If foreigners don’t respect us, it’s our fault.
* * *
President Noy says the country is willing to share the natural gas deposits at the Spratlys with other claimant-countries.
It’s a good thing the President said that because it would greatly ease the tension in the Spratlys.
Mineral wealth beneath the sea at the Spratlys—or what we call Kalayaan—is at the root of the dispute between the Philippines and other countries claiming ownership over that group of islands and islets in the South China Sea.
Sharing is a virtue that makes one practicing it richer rather than poorer.
The more one gives or shares his wealth, the wealthier he becomes.
That is the Law of the Universe.
* * *
Fortune Star Bus Lines, which is the subject of a complaint at “Isumbong Mo Kay Tulfo,” my public service program, doesn’t have a franchise.
And yet the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board allows it to ply the Manila-Samar route.
Why?