Aquino: I didn’t work for allies’ respect for one man to undo it
ANTIPOLO CITY—President Benigno Aquino III on Friday said he did not work hard at earning the respect of other nations only for one man to “sever” these diplomatic ties with one or two words.
It was an obvious swipe by Mr. Aquino at presidential aspirant Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who said that should he be elected president, he would not hesitate to cut ties with the United States and Australia for meddling in local politics.
“One of my friends supposedly said ‘severing ties,’ but I worked hard to earn the respect of other countries. And also, so that we can have a reliable and good friend and ally so that when we are bullied by a giant, we have a partner who is a giant as well,” President Aquino said in Filipino.
“All this would be lost with just one or two words?” he said.
The US and Australia, including Japan, are the Philippines’ strongest and most influential allies supporting the Aquino administration’s diplomatic and legal tracks in resolving the maritime row with China.
The Philippine and US militaries are conducting joint maritime patrols in the South China Sea to emphasize freedom of navigation in the disputed areas. The sea patrols will soon be followed by air patrols.
On Thursday, President Aquino told the media that he did not agree with most of Duterte’s statements.
In his campaign speeches in every part of the country, President Aquino always narrates to his audience how at the start of his administration in 2010, he and his Cabinet secretaries each experienced the low regard of foreigners—government officials and businessmen alike—for the Philippines and Filipinos.
One time, he said, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima was at a global finance ministers’ meeting and no one spoke to him. Finally, at the end of the meeting, someone approached Purisima, who thought the man would discuss Philippine affairs with him. Instead, the man merely asked if the empty seat beside Purisima was taken.
In another instance, Interior Secretary Mel Senen Sarmiento was then Calbayog mayor when he was invited to speak at an international gathering.
The President said at the immigration line, Sarmiento noticed the immigration officer stamp the passports of the delegates from Japan and Singapore without any question, and with a warm welcome.
When his turn came, Sarmiento said the immigration officer asked the purpose of his visit and for a copy of his invitation to the event.
Mr. Aquino said that his fellow leaders in Southeast Asia did not immediately warm up to him in the first years of his presidency as well. Two of them, he said, even lectured him on what the Philippines should do to grow and develop.
“I didn’t have anything to show for that time so I just swallowed my pride. But that was then. It’s different now,” President Aquino would say in his speeches.
When finally the country’s economy picked up and the Philippines earned the title “Asia’s Rising Tiger,” the President said one Southeast Asian leader asked him how the Philippines’ grew by 6.8 percent.
As the country’s chief diplomat, Mr. Aquino replied that the Philippine government only followed its leader’s example.
Duterte lambasted US Ambassador Philip Goldberg and Australian Ambassador Amanda Gorely for supposedly meddling in local politics after the diplomats said rape was not an issue to be joked about.
Duterte did not mention rape-slay victim Jacqueline Hamill, an Australian lay missionary, by name when he recounted an incident in Davao where he showed strong will to end a crisis.
Hamill was killed in a prison riot in Davao in 1989. She was gang-raped and her throat was slit.
“She was gang-raped, (the prisoners) had lined up for their turn. But she was so beautiful, the mayor should have been first. Sayang (Too bad!),” Duterte told his audience, who laughed and cheered at his punch line.
Duterte refused to apologize for making the remark, saying he said it out of anger.
His camp now says Duterte’s anti-US stance stemmed from an incident also in Davao City where authorities arrested an American citizen for his alleged involvement in a bombing incident.
The US Embassy, however, spirited the American away.
