Former US Ambassador Kristie Kenney was “well-traveled in the Philippines and was extremely sociable. Unlike her distinguished predecessors, however, she was a dismal failure in helping the Filipinos defend our democracy.”
So said Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario on Tuesday in a text message to the Inquirer where he described as “most unfortunate” Kenney’s criticism of the late President Corazon Aquino in a 2009 cable to the US Department of State.
In the unclassified memo that was released by WikiLeaks, the online whistle-blower, Kenney called Aquino an “icon of democracy” but “only a partial icon of morality.”
Kenney, now the US envoy to Thailand, also called the late President a “tarnished” and “weak” leader.
In taking up the cudgels for Aquino, whom he called “our champion of democracy,” Del Rosario said, “It would seem that she (Kenney) constantly preferred instead to be favorably looked upon by the Palace.”
During a brief phone conversation the other day, the former Philippine ambassador to the United States said it appeared Kenney was a “big fan” of former President Macapagal-Arroyo.
Unkind commentary
A senior Philippine diplomat described Kenney’s observations as “so unkind.”
“The timing was also bad… She filed the report to her bosses in Washington while President Cory was battling cancer,” said the Department of Foreign Affairs source who asked not to be named.
In the July 2, 2009, cable, Kenney noted that “Aquino’s credibility as a moral crusader was tarnished when she was seen with former President Joseph Estrada in protest movements against (then) President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo—even after she had supported then Vice President Arroyo’s successful second People Power revolt in 2001 that ousted Estrada.”
Kenney said that Aquino’s “falling out with Arroyo continued after Arroyo moved to distribute Hacienda Luisita—the huge sugar estate belonging to the Cojuangco family of which Aquino was part—to its workers under the government’s agrarian reform program.”
Weak leadership
“Revered as a hero for taking the reins of power at a difficult moment in Philippine politics and at a time of great personal loss, President Aquino leaves behind an incomplete transition to democratic governance that, while marked by great personal freedom for Philippines citizens, never seems to have properly taken root in the institutions that must handle the difficult task of governing a diverse and divided society,” Kenney said.
According to Kenney, Aquino’s “moral leadership, while coming at an important time for the Philippines, never fully compensated for her weak leadership style.”
“Her presidency was marked by numerous coup attempts and allegations of corruption,” Kenney said.
Following her tenure, Aquino’s “antipathy toward President Arroyo led her to ally with more dubious political figures such as President Estrada, blemishing her reputation as a moral crusader,” the memo continued.
Imperfect Constitution
Kenney pointed out, “the Philippines must also live with an imperfect 1987 Constitution that, according, to some observers, was passed in extreme haste to meet an artificial deadline imposed by Aquino, taking the country from one extreme—rigid rule under Ferdinand Marcos—to another extreme, in which minority parties and groups without defined constituencies (such as the Philippine Senate) are given extensive power at the expense of a more mature and stable political system.”
In the same memo, Kenney reported on Aquino’s “serious medical condition after a 15-month battle against cancer.”
“Prospects for her recovery are dim … Having witnessed their father’s political persecution under the Marcos dictatorship, the Aquino children are inconsolable over losing their remaining pillar of strength,” she added.