The Inquirer front-page photo on Wednesday of two US Marines folding the American flag was heartrending.
It was like one of the spouses doing an alsa-balutan (packing things) and about to leave home.
The children—the Filipino and American people—could only cry while their parents take a vacation from each other.
The relationship between the United States and the Philippines, taking root at the start of the 20th century when the American took over from the Spanish colonizers, was forged in blood in the World War II battles for Bataan and Corregidor and the eventual liberation of the country from the Japanese.
This is the first time the relationship has become stormy and in danger of foundering.
But you’ll see, both countries will weather the storm —and the sea will be calm again.
In a close relationship—like that of a married couple— storms are expected, mostly caused by misunderstanding.
The Philippine and US governments can patch things up if both learn to respect each other’s idiosyncracies.
The United States should learn to treat the Philippines not as its “little brown brother” but as an equal. It should not interfere in our internal affairs.
President Digong may want to consider the advice of his most able predecessor and elder statesman, Fidel Ramos, on US-Philippine relations.
Mr. Ramos said the long friendship between the two countries has been strained by Digong’s tirades against US President Barack Obama; it has affected the US-PH military partnership.
“So, what gives? Are we throwing away decades of military partnership, tactical proficiency, compatible weaponry, predictable logistics and soldier-to-soldier camaraderie just like that?” said Mr. Ramos in his column in another newspaper.
The words of Mr. Ramos, who prodded Mano Digong to run for president, are worth pondering.
Since he’s a certified womanizer, why doesn’t President Digong follow the example of former president and fellow womanizer Joseph “Erap” Estrada on relationships?
To paraphrase Erap, foreign relations—like personal relationship—are about addition, not subtraction.
We can have relationships with China and Russia while maintaining ties with the United States.
“Mas masarap ang marami (The more the merrier),” Erap once told this columnist.
President Digong is offering a P2-million reward to citizens for each “ninja cop” they report to the authorities.
A ninja cop refers to a policeman who seizes illegal drugs but sells part of the seizure.
Mano Digong might run out of funds giving away P2 million for the capture of each ninja cop because there are so many of them.
By the way, one of the recent presidential appointees was a ninja cop when he was still in the service.