Benigno Simeon Aquino III has a track record of strange behavior like mentioning his yaya, cook and hair stylist in his last State of the Nation Address as if the country owed them a debt of gratitude for attending to the president. It will be recalled Aquino also criticized Catholic church officials in the presence of visiting Pope Francis. The two instances may be unbecoming of a president but at least Aquino did not do any harm to the nation except to raise questions about his impropriety.
Aquino’s apointment of Cabinet factotum Jose Rene Almendras as secretary of Foreign Affairs, however, has to be the most bizarre in his behavioral pattern considering he has only has three months left in his term and an incoming president will surely appoint his own foreign secretary. Why?
“I appointed Almendras because he is someone I can trust to carry out my instructions,” said Aquino in justifying his decision to appoint his school chum who has no experience whatsoever in diplomacy and foreign affairs. Aquino’s action can only give us an insight into his selfish and small-mind thinking. To appoint someone who will do his bidding is hardly reason to fill the most sensitive of Cabinet positions with a political confidante. This, at a time when the country is confronted with an external threat from an aggressive China.
Even if the appointment of Almendras, a former energy secretary, has something to do with the proposal for a joint oil and gas exploration with China in the West Philippine Sea, it would be too late in the day. The Aquino administration has less than 100 days to carry out such a plan. Besides, China has gone too far already in advancing its militarization of the disputed parts of the South China Sea. It is doubtful the Chinese will pull back and dismantle its military bases they built on reclaimed land in the Spratlys and the Paracels.
If the reason for the Almendras appointment is to fill the diplomatic roster with political ambassadors, that too looks remote to be approved by the bicameral Commission on Appointments with Congress no longer in session and politicians too busy campaigning for the May 9 national elections.
Aquino’s appointment of Almendras is also a slap on the face of Albert del Rosario who had served the country and this president well. Before he resigned for health reasons, Del Rosario named career ambassador and Undersecretary for International Economic Relations Laura del Rosario as acting secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs. The two are not related, nor am I to them.
Lula del Rosario, a UP law graduate and economist, had done such a good job in the preparations and successful outcome of the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit of Apec leaders hosted by Manila that her boss thought she deserved at least to be caretaker of the premier department even for three months. It would have provided for a seamless transition for the incoming SFA appointee of the next president. This is a small token the career men and women of our diplomatic corps would have appreciated.
Former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appointed career ambassador Delia Domingo Albert as the country’s first woman to head the department on the untimely death of Secretary Blas Ople. Arroyo made sure the DFA was in good hands before she replaced Delia Albert who served as foreign secretary from Dec. 23, 2003 to Aug. 18, 2004. After a decent interval, Arroyo appointed Alberto Romulo to the post.
The international arbitration court in The Hague, meanwhile, is set to hand down a decision on the case filed by Manila against Beijing’s sweeping claim of nearly the entire South China Sea. While Beijing may not abide by the arbitral court’s ruling, an adverse verdict against it would make China an international outcast.
China’s militarization of the South China Sea and its bullying of Asian neighbors raised the alarm bells in the US, European Union, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and Australia. Their foremost concern is the freedom of navigation along vital SCS sea lanes through which trillion of dollars in commercial cargo pass through.
A military strike against those militarized man-made islands by the US is a scenario too frightening to contemplate. But wide-ranging trade sanctions could bring China’s floundering economy to its knees. If that happens, China’s domestic problems could trigger internal unrest which could topple the ruling clique in the politburo.