The Filipino Diplomat in the Time of Duterte
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi [Photo source: GMA Network]
By Cha Coronel Datu
In October 1943, the people of Denmark , with the assistance of a German diplomat, undertook the evacuation of over 7000 Danish Jews by boat to Sweden. There, for the rest of the war, the evacuees remained protected and cared for by the government and people of Sweden. The German diplomat, Georg Ferdinand Duckwitz, tipped off the Danish Jewish community, and his contacts in the Danish government and in the resistance movement, when he learned of the imminent round-up of the country’s Jews by the Gestapo. Duckwitz also travelled to Sweden and secured assurances from the government of the government that they would receive and care for the Danish Jews. Thus, with Duckwitz’ help, Denmark has become the only European country that saved almost all of its Jewish population from the Nazis. Of the more than 6 million total death toll from the Holocaust, less than a hundred were Danish Jews.
Fast forward to September 2016 when Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte erroneously claimed there were 3 million Jews killed by Hitler and then flippantly offered to kill the 3 million addicts in his country. Thousands of dead Filipinos and a year later in September 2017, the Philippines’ top diplomat, Alan Peter Cayetano, stood before the United Nations General Assembly in New York to deny accusations of extrajudicial killings committed in the name of Duterte’s war on drugs. He claimed that the war on drugs primary aim is to “save lives, protect families, and preserve communities”. He referred to the extrajudicial killings as “abuses” which he concluded were “far less than the imaginary numbers of partisan accusers and publicity seekers”. He also demanded that his government’s sovereignty be respected, “that its democratically-elected government’s assessment of threats and how to go about addressing them shall be accorded preeminence among nations—or at least the benefit of their doubt”. And then for good measure, he added that “the Philippines integrates the human rights agenda in its development initiatives for the purpose of protecting everyone, especially the most vulnerable, from lawlessness, violence, and anarchy.”
Mr. Cayetano’s speech and the many other similar pronouncements he has made through both Philippine and international media at the time must have made quite an impression on the Philippine Ambassador to Australia, Minda Calaguian-Cruz, who trumpeted the same assertions of the Philippines’ right to protect its sovereignty and her country’s purported commitment to protecting human rights in her response to a letter from the National Council of Christian Churches of Australia (NCCA). The NCCA wrote the Ambassador last April 2018 expressing concern for Australian nun, Sister Patricia Fox, whose missionary visa was revoked by the Philippines’ Bureau of Immigration because of her alleged participation in “anti-government rallies” .
Ms. Calaguian-Cruz wrote:
“Kindly be informed that the ongoing investigation on the case of Sr. Fox is in line with the Philippine government’s pursuit of sovereignty, such as that which is duly exercised by governments around the world.
The Embassy wishes to assure you that the Philippine Government fully respects human rights. It observes respect for groups and individuals who undertake legal activities in the country.”
The NCCA has posted a copy of both their letter to Ms. Calaguian-Cruz and her response on their website. (Ecumenical service for Sr Patricia Fox)
After complaining about the seemingly unperturbed reactions of those tasked with representing a country that insists on respect for its sovereignty despite its own lack of interest in pursuing the gains scored in a major international victory and favourable judgment in its border dispute with China and a country that proclaims its commitment to protecting human rights amidst continuing reports of growing numbers of extrajudicial killings in both Philippine and international media; I was told that the duty of those in the foreign service is to represent and serve the government of the day, whoever and “whatever” it is. Another one I heard is that it may be difficult for those in the foreign service to take or articulate their own personal stand on such issues outside of the government’s official position. Maybe these were the same guideposts that Ms. Calaguian-Cruz employed in responding rather defensively to the Australians’ concerns about Sister Patricia Fox.
Whether that is a proper interpretation of the foreign service officer’s duty to the country that she serves, however, ought to be examined and questioned.
Some of her colleagues in the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) may have done just that earlier this year. The Philippine Star reported on May 2, 2018 that several career officers at the DFA sent a letter to Philippine president Duterte calling for the resignation of Secretary Cayetano and his appointees for gross incompetence that led to a diplomatic standoff with Kuwait. The then Philippine Ambassador to Kuwait, Renato Villa, was ordered by the Kuwaiti government to leave their country over a botched rescue operation of some Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) from their employers’ homes.
“The diplomatic row between the Philippines and Kuwait has unmasked the gross incompetence of DFA Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano and his top aides who are now a liability to the Duterte administration”, the career officers supposedly said in the letter obtained by the Philippine Star. The officers also reportedly cited in their letter Cayetano’s lack of foresight and wisdom on “other foreign policy issues such as the West Philippine Sea, withdrawal of International Criminal Court membership, rejection of European Union (EU) aid and UN human rights.”
Cayetano afterwards claimed to local media that the calls for his resignation were part of politics. CNN Philippines reported on May 3 that he urged critics to “leave the Department of Foreign Affairs alone”. He did not, however, actually deny that calls for his resignation have indeed been made. Instead he might have suggested that those who did so do not represent the majority in the DFA. He said, “But so far, I have had meetings with them, and so far, they understand. They might not necessarily agree with our direction, but they understand.”
The career service officers who disagreed with Cayetano’s ways obviously did not succeed in having the still sitting Secretary ousted. According to presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, Mr. Cayetano still enjoyed the full trust of the President.
This incident disputes, to some extent, the assertion that the foreign service officers are duty bound to serve the government of the day, regardless their own personal convictions. Those who wrote the president about Cayetano have, at least, manifested a concern for doing things the right way. But what of doing what is, first and foremost, right?
In their letter, the dissatisfied officers mentioned Cayetano’s lack of foresight and wisdom on foreign policy issues such as the West Philippine Sea, the withdrawal of International Criminal Court membership, rejection of European Union (EU) Aid, and the UN Declaration on Human Rights. But aren’t Cayetano’s actions and pronouncements on all these a mere extension and reflection of Philippine president Duterte’s? At what point, if at all, do the foreign service officers intend to make their objections and other opinions on his foreign affairs policies known to the president?
At the recent 73rd UN General Assembly, held again in New York this year, Alan Cayetano addressed the assembly a second time. He repeated the same assurances he gave the world body last year of the country’s commitment to “protecting each and every human being’s rights”. Blah blah blah. This, despite more than 12,000 Filipinos now dead in a brutal war on drugs that has hardly netted those actually involved in its supply and distribution at the top of the chain and Mr. Duterte’s own recent facetious admission that “his only sin is the extrajudicial killings”.
Who hands the Foreign Secretary the towels with which to wipe the egg off his face after these speeches, one wonders?
And how much more embarrassment and consternation are the country’s diplomats willing to endure before they put their heads together again and demand from the government they serve a more intelligent, consistent and coherent foreign affairs policy anchored on justice, truth, and the rule of law in the attainment of the well-being, progress and security of the Filipino people and nation?
How many more incursions on Philippine territory are to happen and how many more dead Filipinos will it take before the Filipino diplomats ask Messrs. Duterte and Cayetano to finally stop making liars of them all?
How many Filipino lives could their doing so possibly help spare?
“Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.” ― Mark Twain
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
Mocha accompanied Cayetano to the UN and sat in the General Assembly. Wonderful.
Bobo sila, she must think of real diplomats.
I considered saying something about that in the article. But then again, there are far more important matters that need a nation’s attention.
Anyway, her being there is the Philippine government adding insult to injury.
Our president is the worst diplomat.
Attempting to gain pogo points to the Israeli’s he apologized to Obama, then went to the holocaust memorial,etc he almost got zilch because if his ejks and human rights abuses.
The benefits he got from Russia only went to far, he thought he could get a “discount” on the subs, no way, Jose!
At the start of his presidency, he bad mouthed Mexico, then continued his bad mouthing til kingdom come.
We already have the worst president there is, if our countrymen still put Marcos to Malacañang…Malala na and pinoy,Pero hindi ko masabing wala nang pag-asa.
Diplomacy according to dictionary.com refers to
1. the conduct by government officials of negotiations and other relations between nations.
2. the art or science of conducting such negotiations.
3. skill in managing negotiations, handling people, etc., so that there is little or no ill will; tact
Duterte is not a negotiator. (Was it Reuters or some other international news agency that tagged him The Terminator?) Negotiations require patience, good communication skills, the ability to think clearly and rapidly under pressure, judgment and general intelligence. Duterte is barely able to finish a coherent statement.
He is the best at being the worst.
Cayetano is the Little Duterte who tried to stamp Philippines’ impunity style of executive action in foreign land in his daring attempt to ”rescue” OFWs in Kuwait, very ably assisted by the strip artiste who can’t make up her mind whether she is a stripper, blogger, information officer, movie star, or dare I say diplomat?
Meanwhile, foreign nationals like Australians Patricia Fox and Gill Boehringer , and the Party of European Socialists deputy executive secretary Giacomo Filibeck have either been threatened with deportation or denied entry to the country outright for getting themselves involved in supposedly political activities in the Philippines.
Cayetano, when quizzed by local media on Fox’s deportation, warned foreign nationals against joining political rallies that would advocate for or against Duterte’s war on drugs, that they will be banned or asked to leave the country for doing so.
There appear to be two key imperatives driving Philippine foreign policy in this current administration: 1) defend Duterte’s war on drugs and deny allegations of human rights violations and extra-judicial killings 2) push for a non-adversarial approach (TOWARDS CHINA) in territorial disputes.
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There is a common trait of Duterte and his minions — like the ecdysiast, they are shapeshifters.
Poke them and they are like jelly. There is no integrity to their being. Whether in their words, their deeds, their bearing, or their postures.
Of course, the original shapeshifter is Satan. He can appear as a sinister goat, a prancing roly-poly clown, or a debonair diplomat.
People who are not deceivers are solid.
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ecdysiast
ɛkˈdɪzɪast/Submit
nounHUMOROUS
a striptease performer.
I had to look that up. 😊😂
True confession. During the 2016 election, I wrote an article to help Cayetano in his vice presidential ambition but I put it in the Word Press trash before it was completed because I started having doubts about his integrity. I am glad I did.
I hope there are more than a few good eggs in the PH diplomat basket than those who called for Cayetano’s resignation. Reading tweets from Locsin Jr makes me doubtful.
For the life me, I do not know how PRD’s sycophants sleep at night. How do they explain their philosophy and motivation to their children?
Cayetano, back then, made quite a good impression on many others as well, I think, JP. He is a good speaker in both English and Tagalog, That’s always good to have when you’re a Filipino politician. But first impressions need to be backed up eventually with consistency not only in one’s words but more importantly, in one’s actions. You saw those gaps early on. Many more saw them soon after and many more are realising that now. Duterte perhaps saw it too himself early on. That is why he agreed to have him as his running mate in the last elections. A shaky hand will have nothing to do with a straight line.
The diplomat is conspicuously silent on the recent Chinese naval vessel brush US vessel in waters that’s near to Philippines. Meanwhile Philippines warship is far away on a meaningless junket visit in a Russian port.
The diplomat is busy making a point about salvaging his deteriorating country over in New York. And no, he didn’t actually meant to say savaging. 🙂
More seriously though, it appears that Beijing has yet to comment about the incident as well. The man in New York could be just waiting.
https://www.rt.com/news/440077-south-china-sea-uss-decatur/
He really meant that in the Filipino sense as in the “salvaging” popularized by Marcos. He is just being honest, as Andres would say.
Distance of Gaven Reefs to P. Princesa approx 1.5 distance P. Princesa to Balabac, due west of PPrincesa.
Too close for comfort, ain’t it? The Chinese military has already spoken on the matter:
“China has indisputable sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and their adjacent waters.”
“Currently, with the joint efforts by China and ASEAN countries, the situation in the South China Sea is developing towards a stable and positive direction.”
And Cayetano is harping on at the UN about his country’s sovereignty being violated by those who criticise the conduct of Duterte’s war on drugs. Fat chance the foreign service officers will write another letter to the President?
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-10/02/c_137507090.htm
It seems to me that the US — aside from its oft stated regular mission to ensure freedom of navigation, supported by international law — is purposely goading China to do something reckless at a time when the US military and economic might is far superior than China.
China tried bullying Vietnam but failed. It knows that the US has a good set of cards in a game of high-stakes poker, It can only bully the likes of the PH thanks to the Administration and its so-called Diplomats.
You may be on to something there. The trade war tit-for-tat has spread over to other fronts.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/25/chinese-anger-grows-as-us-agrees-fresh-arms-sale-to-taiwan.html
The ship in Russia is from Pnoy his time. It is called Tarlac..If it was from the Duterte administration it would have been the ”Davao”…. ;-
The BRP Tarlac visits Russia. The hunt for red October is real.
Don’t laugh, there is a possibility Malacanang may have acquired Marko Aleksandrovich Ramius’ submarine after all.
More like a scale model, haha.
https://www.hobbylinc.com/hobbyboss-russian-navy-typhoon-class-ssbn-plastic-model-military-ship-1:350-scale-83532
🙂
SCHEMA
* = in the time of
FD*A = Del Rosario
FD*D = Cayetano
The stark difference between White and Black; between Day and Night; between Health and Sickness.
Thanks Cha for the read.
Ditto NH’s observation/comment, Cha. Insightful food for thought.
Your points on sovereignty, diplomacy, national security, national interest are all vertical hooks to hang governance on.
The comparison extends to the presidents that hired them.
P.S. Thank you for the encouragement, NH and Sonny. ❤
If Duterte installs Bongbong in Malacanang, will Cayetano diplomatically resign from DFA?
Unless Bongbong diplomatically fires him first.
Quo warranto, I presume also. 🙂
I dont think so. Trillanes and Robredo went against each other too, yet, they are still friends.
I’ve declined to publish two of your remarks. One pertained to the morality of killings, a topic I don’t care to have addressed in my blog, and the other pertained to a further discussion of the Scarborough/Trillanes/Del Rosario situation, which was addressed previously and need not be examined again in the context of your contributions here, which are on the edge of malicious.
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1. Duckwitz is interesting. He first tried to stop the deportation of Danish Jews through official channels. Having failed, he clandestinely arranged for Sweden to receive the refugees.
2. To perform a similar feat, what could Cayetano do to save drug personalities? Officially, he would have to support Duterte’s policies. No problem there. Privately, he would work to undermine Duterte. How? Perhaps by erasing names in the drug lists. Not the names of the drug lords, of course, but of the small users.
2.1. Perhaps he could add the names of unknown drug lords to the lists.
2.2. Or he could record and document the names and acts of officials involved in the wrongdoings of the administration.
3. Publicly and officially, Cayetano, as an alter ego, cannot go against the President and his policies. Privately, he can.
3.1. Note that ASEC Uson seems to be an aide-de-camp of the Foreign Affairs Secretary. And note also that Uson is half of a libidinal duo that constitutes an effective wrecking ball to the administration’s policies. On OFW support. On Pepe-dede-ralism. On insulting disabled minorities.
3.1. On her own, Uson animates considerable animosity against the President by going on expensive foreign junkets. And, as Cayetano’s aide-de-camp, parading herself as a diplomat at the UN.
3.1. Could it be? Could it be that Cayetano is the brain and Uson the front of a Red October operation?
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2. Or he can just do what Lorenzana does every now and then — tell the truth.
3.1 I don’t follow the logic. Red October as I understand it is the communist insurgency on steroids. At least that is the way it was reported in today’s DOD budget hearing at the Senate. DOD cleared LP, Trillanes, and the ‘opposition’ of any collusion in that effort, and reported that there is a movement at 10 universities to marshal enough people to do protests and force the President to declare martial law. Why the extreme left feels it would benefit from that has not been explained, as far as I know. I think Cayetano and Uson are just enjoying the perks of their appointments.
As a side note, it was probably Duterte who killed the Marcos VP effort when he was forced to endorse Cayetano during the campaign period. Cayetano was his VP ticket mate and had contributed something like P70 million to the Duterte campaign.
Thanks for this side note. Makes sense.
In my youth I attended many burials of neighbors who passed. Last viewing is on the open coffin beside freshly dug grave surrounded by survived loved ones. After the crying, wailing and fainting, the cover of the coffin is nailed shot and the demised is ready for burial. I looked at the nails strong and long.
After eight decades those burials are no more. I need not even read the comments under CCD’s article. The article is a sharp shining last nail to the aberrant and diseased, este deceased diplomacy of a foreign affairs secretary. if the coffin is not lowered yet to its cold grave, because the worms eggs in the flesh of any political cadaver still wait to come alive, the bad odor will persist until the people can no longer withstand the auditory pollution.
CCD’s article spells POWER in the new world called BLOGS in social media. Now I can spend time savoring the hammer blows of commentators to make the last nail sink deeper.
One of my PG students with his wife as his classmate who both passed the foreign service exam (tougher if not as tough as the bar exam) in later years I think became consuls or whatever in our own DFA told me of a country I have been to, that in that country the very best minds, the brightest graduates goes to foreign service, and the second best goes to the finance ministry. There is wide knowledge in that country men die of OVERWORK, lately told in the news their young populace forego the thrill and orgasms of sex because of the attraction and joys of work which is alleged causal to the country’s demographic problem.
OOT: Has anyone here in TSoH knows the reason why the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Justice, the Supreme Courts and the Court of Appeals had been permanent squatters on the land and campus of the University of the Philippines Manila (devoted to the Health healing arts and sciences)? Any law can legalized squatting, of course. These government behemoths of Philippine laws have a lot to do with the judicial health of the country.
So sorry, wrong word, wrong adjective to describe putrid odor of decomposing
Flesh or meat: NASAL pollution, instead of auditory pollution
Thank you TW. Let’s hope the foreign service officers under Cayetano might still be jolted back into life.
“He claimed that the war on drugs primary aim is to “save lives, protect families, and preserve communities”. He referred to the extrajudicial killings as “abuses” which he concluded were “far less than the imaginary numbers of partisan accusers and publicity seekers”.
Sounds like Chinese rhetoric to me.
“Kindly be informed that the ongoing investigation on the case of Sr. Fox is in line with the Philippine government’s pursuit of sovereignty, such as that which is duly exercised by governments around the world.”
Sounds like Chinese rhetoric to me.
“… foreign policy issues such as the West Philippine Sea, the withdrawal of International Criminal Court membership, rejection of European Union (EU) Aid, and the UN Declaration on Human Rights.”
Sounds like a behavior according to Chinese interests.
Question: Is the current Philippine administration actually Chinese?
There is a concerted effort going on to bring China into the Philippines. Ships and planes in Davao normalizing such activities, giving away hard-won PH rights to the seas, 3 million new Chinese nationalist immigrants over the past two years, significant real estate investments here, floods of Chinese tourists, PCOO receiving training from Chinese communications professionals, and an increasing number of nonsense postings such as that received here earlier, and elsewhere.
Adolfo Bince Valdez: “The listed names above are the traitors of the motherland. They wanted to burn the country with the help of foreign forces. They use the word freedom and democracy to steal the wealth of the country. They are all self centered and greedy just to satisfy their personal goals.”
He’s referring to Robredo, Trillanes, etc., as listed my the blog article from yesterday.
I can’t really imagine with what kind of comments you have to cope on a daily basis here. And not only in quality but also in quantity. We readers just see this place when the mud caked shoes are already banned from entering.
Actually, very few trolls visit here, so I only get the wayward remarks from hit and run specialists. I often let them through so people can understand the kind of reasoning being done. Andres is a test because he persists in regularly posting material I find offensive, interspersed with benign remarks that I suspect are mainly him keeping a verbal foot in the door.
China’s diplomats are actually trained and educated on how to think and operate in the international arena at the China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing. Here they are taught the ‘us and them’ brand of diplomacy. Cayetano has been a quick study.
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Chinese rhetoric: “This is an internal matter for China.”
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Spot on Edgar. That’s what I was alluding to. That’s why the current developments in the Philippines is so important also for international observers to understand. Rest assured, China has stepped up its interfering game in many countries, especially in Africa. Not as the US and other major powers wouldn’t do that too. But nowhere is increased Chinese meddling and influencing as obvious and blatant as in the Philippines. Of course there are countries such as Mongolia, North Korea or Cambodia, but these countries were never traditional US allies.
This is also why this article is important. Observe and discuss these political shifts. Imagine: the standard bearer of the international non-interference doctrine is actually caught interfering in other countries’ internal affairs. China would lose face on the international stage. And it certainly doesn’t like that. Especially not when just overcoming the “century of humiliation”.
Philippines, rare as a country may have devil-endowed thousands of paradoxes. That the air terminal incident is probably one of the most shameless paradox as it involves a lawmaker who became one by sheer fallacy to represent the highest caliber of Filipino world diplomacy called Overseas Filipino Worker.
https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/10/02/1856620/bertiz-sorry-using-monthly-period-apology-naia-tantrum
Have a listen to an apology made and addressed to the viewing public and NOT to the abused and oppressed victim; cogitate on the infantile reasons that reveal utter disregard, disrespect to women in general and to a wife in particular. Members of Congress (aplenty?) of the same or worst kind should bury their heads in shame este cement.
For those in TSoH with jack hammer or nails of copper and stainless scalpels should apply them, them brains to explicate the relationships between impunity and entitlement, shamelessness and imbecility. For these concepts in their cosmic depths might explain how humans differ from rodents.
Joeam correctly (most times only?) disfavors hypothethicals; this being an example–some OFWs might hypothesize that Sec Cayetano and Rep Bertiz because of their inane diplomatic deficiencies would never make it as OFW, possibly as OFP (Overseas Filipino Prisoner), May be.
It is not hypothetical, I think, to observe that both play to some imaginary ego-audience in their heads rather than to the well-being of Filipinos, humankind, courtesy, or compassion. Therefore your hypotheticals are not without basis, or in the affirmative, yep, they would probably not be able to get and hold an OFW job.
Thanks TSoh; but did I hear right or read wrong that the DFA Sec was in Kuwait to oversee the fracas and was able to exit on time, avoiding being held by Kuwait authorities?
” One wonders, will sexual violence and misogyny be issues in the upcoming mid-term elections here? It’s high time that we viewed candidates who court our vote not just through the lens of likability, capability, or track record, but also how they view and how they have treated women, either in a personal or professional capacity. Will they be our champions, enablers, or worse, predators?”
http://malaya.bayaninetwork.com/?q=business-news/opinion/believewomen
Like many of your readers WONDER NO MORE MS. Abigail. Just listen to topnotch human rights lawyer and presidential spokesperson (respecting genders) who unabashedly assert: EJK is not a crime, there is no law passed by the intellectuals of Congress against EJK. Is MISOGYNY a crime in this country? There is no law against MISOGYNY in the entire jurisprudence history of the country. USA and UK of the Free World have their OWN home grown high and mighty MISOGYNISTS. Watch how the Kanos and the Brits rake them over the coals and jail them. Wonder no more that a few correct human conduct do not happen onli da Pilipins. POLITICS has made the Philippines a different kind of democratic swamp.
In this country “CORRUPTION” is not a crime like “adultery” or plunder ? If “WIFE ABUSE” is a crime, then start wondering who were jailed for this crime. .
My gut feel is that the nature of sexual offences in the Philippines are different from those in the United States. I do not know of many young men during my time (and hopefully not in this current one) who behaved like Kavanaugh and the many other young college/frat boys in the US accused of sexually assaulting their female peers.
We see however the prevalent use of rape threats and sexual taunts in social media directed at women whose opinions and beliefs are found objectionable by their verbal attackers. (And that goes for both sides of the political fence, mind you). In the Philippines, both men and women resort to sex and sexuality references to humiliate and coerce others to conformity. Perhaps because many among us don’t really know how to argue intelligently, don’t actually care to.
What I would rather hope the Filipinos will really start talking about, whether in the context of national elections or not, are the cases of sexual abuse and violence towards children seen on the tourist belts, in online child pornography portals and in some cases, right inside Filipino homes.
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I second your gut feeling.
With a few exceptions like the President, Filipino men are not misogynists. We do not discriminate against women, we do not look down upon them, we do not see them as prey. We do not stalk women as game, nor hunt in packs (like Kavanaugh and his mate).
If at all, there is respect if not reverence. (And if not reverence, a little fear.)
We have had two lady presidents. VP Robredo, the last man standing, is a woman. And, when ambushed, we protect ladies with our bodies.
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I Third Cha’s comment and Second your comment. In this we are superior to the likes of Kavanaugh — he who wants to be a Justice for Life at the US Supreme Court; who would decide among the conservatives on how women should act on their bodies, etc.
Hear hear hear. But I might just also point out that while not mostly misogynistic, there is also a significant number in the male Filipino demographic that is appallingly sexist.
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One might say that the original sin is discrimination.
To see the Other as separate and inferior — or superior. Whether the Other is a woman, a rich man or a poor man, a believer of another faith, an LGBTIQ, a pope or a drug addict.
This is why the concept of equality, which is the bedrock of democracy, is so important. We are all equals before God, before the divine spirit that is within you and within me.
Once one realizes this truth in one’s heart, there is, as I have said before, no going back, no unseeing.
I do not know which is harder — to see an “inferior” as an equal or to see a “superior” as an equal.
A beggar in the street. Duterte in the palace. And you in between. Can you see the similarity? That there but for the grace of God…
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Cayetano is indeed quite a character. Whereas before he wanted to portray himself in a very public way as a righteous or religious man — beginning most of the prolonged Hearing Days of the investigation of Binay, father and son, with a quote from the Christian Bible — he is now a prime apologist for the Administration’s human rights violations in EJKs and China grab of PH territorial waters. I cannot believe he does not know the real score — he is intelligent and knows logic. It is now clear that his display of Christianity is a sham. He is a trickster. Either that or like Faust, he has sold himself for a chance at a future Presidency.
LESSON. Even a priest, sermons aside, does not quote the Bible at every turn. Beware then of a person who handily does that. Just think Cayetano.
Yes, I reflect back on his conversion. At the Binay hearing, he had his first highly visible public stage and he played it to the extreme, with Trillane’s concession, as the lead attack dog. The longer it lasted, the more vocal he became. Then, on Mamasapano he went on a whole-hog rant against the BBL and Muslim extremists. That was like his first step to the amoral dark side, when right got lost in favor of effect. Then he took up with Duterte and the conversion was complete.
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“…he is intelligent and knows logic.”
He is intelligent in the sense of being capable of manipulating abstract thought at a high level. But he is not possessed of intelligence according to my use of the term, which is the union of heart and mind.
He is mind-dominant, and has lost the moral sensibilities of the heart.
I would not consider him to be a mere apologist. He is an accomplice.
And among the accomplices of the regime, along with the likes of Harry Roque and Teddy Boy Locsin, he is more to be pitied than the others because of his “intelligence.”
*****
Good points!
If FRRD followed through with the Arbitral ruling and not befriended THE bully of the seas and beyond…..could have would have should have.
The threat of a nuclear is coming from not only Russia, but also North Korea, if the button gets pressed and depressed, it is game over or the so-called sum of all fears.